Page 68 of Dark Horizon New Dawn

"He will." Alberto put his coffee cup on the tray and rose to his feet. "I'll come later to give you another dose. You are sobering up too quickly."

Damn, she should pretend to be more out of it than she was. "I'm not. If I were sober, I would be throwing stuff at you or trying to escape or both."

"You can try, but I promise you will regret it." He gave her a salute before opening the door and closing it behind him.

Margo waited to hear the lock engage, and when that didn't happen, she waited a few more moments before getting up and trying the door.

It wasn't locked.

"I'll be damned. We can just walk out of here." She turned to Jasmine. "Do you want to go exploring?"

Jasmine kept staring out the single window in the cabin.

"Come on, Jasmine." Margo snapped her fingers in front of her eyes. "Are you pretending, or are you really out of it?"

"I'm so dumb, but I don't care. I don't care about anything."

Margo sat on the bed next to her. "It's the drugs talking, sweetie. You are not dumb. Alberto was just saying that because he felt guilty for doing this to you."

She shrugged. "Julio Modana might be an improvement over Alberto. Instead of being a small-time crook's girlfriend, I will be a big-time crook's pet."

Margo chuckled. "That's a very smart observation. You see? You are not dumb."

"Why did he drug us?"

"To make us more compliant. But it's not going to work." Margo gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Do you know why?"

Jasmine shifted her big brown eyes to her. "Why?"

"Because I am so contrary that even drugs can't make me agreeable. That being said, from now on, I'm going to pretend to be drugged out of my mind, and you keep doing what you're doing. Perhaps it will buy us more time between injections."

49

KIAN

After most of their war council had left, only Kian, Roni, Toven, and Turner remained.

Kian ran his fingers through his hair. "Why do I have a feeling that we are missing something?" He briefly closed his eyes. "I hate making hasty plans, but it's not like we have a choice."

"Your gut feeling is correct," Turner said. "We are missing something, or rather someone." He looked at Roni. "I didn't want to bring it up in front of everyone, but we need Sylvia to join the mission. Without her disabling the surveillance cameras along the way, Modana's people will see our teams coming from miles away. We don't know what kind of firepower they have on the premises, but we need to assume that they have the latest and most advanced weapons at their disposal. Also, the compound is likely to be surrounded by explosives buried in its perimeter, ready to be detonated from the control room inside the compound. It's crucial that we take them by surprise and get Kalugal within hearing distance, and regrettably, shrouding is just not going to cut it."

Great. Kian didn't want a civilian on a mission that involved explosives and machine guns. "You should have mentioned that before. Perhaps we should abandon this ambitious plan of yours and simply continue on an intercept course with the yacht. We will face fewer opponents and retrieve Margo and her friend with little to no effort."

Turner arched a brow. "Did you forget why I came up with this idea in the first place? Doomers and cartel thugs chasing after us?"

"Right." Kian let out a breath. "We need Sylvia." He looked at Roni. "Are you okay with that?"

"Of course, I'm not, but what can I do? Turner is right, and it's not going to work without her. Besides, I can't speak for Sylvia. It's up to her whether she wants to go."

"We need her," Turner said. "If she says no, we have to abort or come up with another plan."

Roni let out a sigh. "Sylvia will say yes. She's too brave for her own good, and she knows what this is about. If we tell her she's needed, no one will be able to stop her from coming."

"Call her," Kian said. "Explain what's going on and have her come to the promenade deck in half an hour."

Roni winced. "Why don't you call her and explain? Sylvia is a sweetheart except for when someone dares to wake her up, but she won't be yelling at you."

Kian stifled a chuckle. "Fine, I'll call her."

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