Page 59 of Trig

Cisco fiddles with his thumbs.

“This isn’t a good idea,” he says

“You should have thought about that before you chose to dive in like an idiot and bring in your sister.”

“We’re good shooters. You taught us. You know. We can protect ourselves.”

“Best in the west, bro,” Mya adds.

“Mya…shut up. You’re nowhere near being off the hook. I’d sit there quietly if I were you. Cisco, put your ego away. There are nightmares walking around as humans, and guess what, they’ll be better than you.”

“Respectfully, I don’t think you jumping in this is a good move,” he says.

“Respectfully, I don’t care. How does this operation of his go? Is Oscar the supplier or is he just a middle-man reseller using you and others to push them?”

“He’s the supplier. He gives them to me. I bring money each time to cover the last batch of guns. When I pay him, he pays me. Mya handles all the contacts and sets up appointments.”

“The customers. Who are they?”

Cisco scoffs. “Who aren’t they, is the question. They look like normal-looking people. They could be anyone. The list is an encrypted message. It takes a fingerprint. A code and a face scan to even see the names and contact info.”

“Is the gun supply pickup for you always in the same location?”

“Yeah, but you can’t just run up in there and be like, ‘I’m Cisco’s daddy. I’m a photographer. Now stop it’.”

Mya giggles. I ball my hands into fists and grit my teeth. I lean into both of them

“Ask me what I did before photography. Ask me why both of you know how to shoot guns well. Ask me why I have knife and bullet wound scars. Go ahead!”

They both look at me in fear. Right then Mya’s phone rings. We all look at her to answer.

“It’s an unknown number,” she says.

“Put it on speaker,” I command. “Now!”

“Hello!” she answers.

“I miss you, Hips. I had a good time last night.”

Mya swallows the lump in her throat as she looks at me.

“Yeah. Dinner was great,” she replies, as she begins to pace.

“I’m not talking about dinner. I’m talking about you naked on my—”

“Aye! You’re on speaker and my dad is in the room.”

Cisco looks away uncomfortably. I scowl at her.

“I’m going to break his kneecaps,” I whisper.

“When am I going to see you again?” Oscar asks.

Mya uncomfortably chuckles when she notices Nine has re-entered the room.

“That’s an interesting question.”

“Then give me an interesting answer,” Oscar shoots back.

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