Chapters (52)
- Copyright
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Acknowledgments
- Read More from the Market of Monsters Series
- More Books from HMH Teen
- About the Author
- Connect with HMH on Social Media
Kovit blinked. People didn’t usually acknowledge his presence with a name. Just a fearful expression or a desperate plea for Nita not to let him hurt them, like Kovit was a vicious dog and Nita held the leash.
“Fabricio.” Nita stepped forward. “It’s time to go. We have a flight to Buenos Aires waiting.”
He turned away. “Is there anything I can say to talk you out of this? Anything to make you reconsider trying to rob my father?”
“No.”
He sighed heavily, and began the laborious process of getting to his feet. He winced when he moved too quickly, and Kovit twitched with his pain.
“I thought about what you said, Fabricio, about the carrot and the stick.” Nita gave him a smile.
“And?” he asked.
“And I’m taking it under consideration. But for now, I want to make sure we get to Buenos Aires without problems.”
Fabricio eyed her nervously. “Wait, what—”
Nita darted forward and stuck the needle in his arm. The last vial she’d gotten from Adair yesterday, the drug she’d used on Quispe and the other INHUP agent. She couldn’t take it with her, so she might as well get one last use out of it.
Fabricio stared at her a long moment before his eyes moved down to the needle in his arm. Finally, he whispered softly, “We’re all going to die in Buenos Aires.”
Then he crumpled to the floor.
Nita rolled her eyes. “So dramatic.”
She hoisted him over her shoulder, his head flopping against her back, and the three of them left the apartment behind.
Fifteen
THE AIRPORT was much easier with Fabricio unconscious. They put him in a wheelchair when they arrived. Online check-in meant that they didn’t have to go to the counter, and they went straight through the priority security lane.
When they hit customs, Fabricio was groggily beginning to wake, but he was completely looped. Kovit went through separately, and Nita pretended to be Fabricio’s cousin. They didn’t look much alike, but they both had Spanish names, and Nita kept all her conversation with Fabricio in Spanish. The customs agent didn’t speak it, couldn’t hear that their accents were completely different. Nita’s father was Chilean, and she’d been raised in Madrid until she was six, so her Spanish was an unusual blend of the two accents that most people struggled to parse initially. Fabricio spoke standard Argentinian Spanish, his y sounds whispering into sh.
The customs agent side-eyed Fabricio drooling in a wheelchair, only half conscious and talking nonsense in Spanish, but she approved them. After all, Fabricio did have an Argentinian passport, and it looked like he was going home.
By the time Fabricio was fully awake and less drug-addled, they were already in the air.