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
“INHUP didn’t put a wanted poster up for him.”
“No, they didn’t.” Nita frowned, seeing where Kovit was going with this. “Zebra-stripes must have something on INHUP. Something so powerful that it’s kept him off the list.”
Their eyes met, and a slight smile curled on Kovit’s face. “Blackmail powerful enough to keep him off the list would be good to have.”
“It would,” Nita agreed, reaching for her phone. “It would be an excellent thing to have, in fact.”
It might even be enough to keep Kovit off the list.
And Nita really did want answers. And vengeance.
She went online, onto the big black market websites, and checked her inbox. Kovit leaned forward and peered over her shoulder.
There, sure enough, was a response to the message she’d sent the ad asking for information on her mother. The account that was likely from Zebra-stripes.
She’d pinged it with an offer when she’d last been online, just to see if it responded—she knew her mother’s location, but wanted half upfront to guarantee she’d get paid. It was a common practice, and Zebra-stripes had accepted. Nita downloaded the money.
She exchanged a glance with Kovit and took a deep breath, her fingers hesitating over her screen. Then she told Zebra-stripes that her mother was in Buenos Aires.
“Done.”
Kovit nodded. “Good. Now we just need to make sure he goes where we want him. We don’t want him running all over Buenos Aires not knowing where he’ll go.”
Nita grinned, an idea sparking in her mind, tangling up with her other plans. “Then we’ll give him a direction.”
Kovit raised his eyebrows, but Nita just smiled at him.
Nita scrolled through the internet, searching for anything interesting happening in Buenos Aires she could use. Her fingers paused a few hits down from the top. Apparently, there was a multigovernment meeting about laws regarding unnaturals starting tomorrow and going on all weekend. It seemed like the sort of thing people in the black market might take an interest in.
The kind of place she might be able to set a trap for those people.
As she clicked through, she learned more. The conference involved trade ministers and representatives from Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. Since Peru wasn’t a part of INHUP, they were often a haven for black market dealers who took advantage of the different laws to run their trade. The article on the conference said it was a meeting to discuss how to enforce stricter laws against unnatural trafficking and get rid of the pervasive black market influence.