Alle Kapitel von ROUGH TRADE: Kapitel 21 – Kapitel 30

Cruz was in a room underground. He could tell by the damp, the smell of concrete and earth, the way sound traveled flat and close. His hands were zip-tied behind him, the plastic cutting into his wrists, his head throbbing from the blow that had taken him down. He could feel the dried blood on his temple, the swelling around his left eye. He'd been beaten, not badly, not yet, just enough to make the point that he was not in control here.Damián had come to see him twice. The first time to gloat, the second time to negotiate. The terms were simple: sign over the territory, the routes, the product, the contacts, everything Cruz had built in twenty years, and Damián would let Nina go. Not Cruz. Just Nina. And the child.The second part of the deal was the one that was killing him. Damián didn't want Cruz dead, not yet. Dead, Cruz became a martyr, a symbol for his people to rally around. Alive, surrendered, stripped of everything, Cruz became a lesson. A cautionar

They reached Zihuatanejo at dusk, the bay spread before them like a postcard, fishing boats bobbing on water so still it looked painted. The town was small and warm and unhurried, the kind of place where time moved differently, where the urgency that had driven them for weeks felt suddenly, absurdly out of place.Pilar Gomez lived in a house above the bay, a white stucco cottage with a blue door and a garden full of hibiscus and a dog that barked once and then licked Nina's hand. She was Cruz's mother's cousin, an older woman with silver hair and dark eyes and the kind of calm that came from having survived things that would break most people."Cruzito," she said, her voice breaking on the word. "I haven't seen you since you were this high." She held her hand at her hip. "You've grown.""Pilar," Cruz said, and his voice cracked. "I need help.""I know. Carmen called." She looked at Nina, at her belly, at the cuts on her hands, at the bruises

They landed in a place that wasn't on any map Nina had ever studied.It was an island, small, tropical, the kind of place that existed in travel magazines and pirate stories, a green dot in a blue sea, reachable only by boat or by the kind of small plane that could land on a dirt strip carved out of jungle. Kane's pilot brought them down in the early morning, the runway bumpy, the jungle pressing in on both sides, and when the plane stopped and they stepped out, the heat hit them like a wall, wet and heavy and smelling of flowers and salt.A man was waiting at the edge of the strip, dark-skinned, lean, wearing a straw hat and a smile that showed gold teeth. He spoke Spanish to Cruz, fast and easy, the dialect of the coast, and Cruz responded in kind, and Nina watched the two men size each other up and come to some kind of understanding that didn't require her participation."His name is Emilio," Cruz told her. "He works for Kane. He's going to take us

Mateo Navarro had never been to Colombia. He'd never been south of Tijuana, in fact, his entire career and life contained within the borders of Los Angeles County and the occasional trip to Vegas. But he'd been a narcotics detective for eight years, and he spoke Spanish like a native, and he knew how to find people who didn't want to be found, and he'd spent the last month doing exactly that.He'd landed in Cartagena two days ago, a tourist with a backpack and a smile, and he'd started asking questions. The island wasn't secret. It was known to the locals, a small place off the coast, a place where rich Americans owned property and locals fished and nobody asked questions. Mateo had hired a boat, a fisherman named Jorge who took tourists to the island for diving and didn't care about the backstory of the man paying him double.The boat left at dawn, and Mateo sat in the bow and watched the coast of Colombia fall away behind him, and he thought about his brothe

The baby came at three in the morning.Not from the assault, not from the fear, not from the running. From time. From biology. From the simple fact that the baby had been ready for days, and the stress and the running and the cliff paths and the gunshots had finally pushed her body over the edge.Nina felt the first contraction in the cave, a wave of pain that gripped her abdomen and squeezed, and she gasped and doubled over and grabbed the wall, and the SIG nearly slipped from her fingers."Cruz," she gasped. "The baby. It's coming."He was at her side in an instant, his face going white, the gun forgotten. "Now? Here?""Now." Another contraction, harder, and she felt something give, a warmth between her legs, her water breaking, and she knew there was no stopping this."We can't do this here," Mateo said, his eyes on the cave entrance where Emilio was still positioned, listening to the jungle. "We need to move her somewher