Page 56 of Saving Bonnie

“Don’t be stupid,” Rick warns from next to me.

He aims the barrel in my direction. My back and shoulders go slack. Part of me is glad, because I would have probably gotten myself shot.

Sergio takes hold of my wrist, using a plastic tie to link them together.

“Rick, my man.” Conrado, Olga’s perverted kid, saunters over. His friend, Izzy, hangs back.

“Let’s get this over with,” Rick says in a tight voice.

“She wouldn’t talk?” Sergio asks.

“I brought her straight here. I didn’t want the security guard to show up.”

Security guard… He’s lucky Tino wasn’t there. The pang of loss echoes through me again.

Conrado comes within inches of me. Running his thumb along the edge of his nostril a couple of times, he juts his chin. “What’d you do with the carrots?”

Okay, not something I would have expected to hear. “Carrots?” I frown. “What are you talking about?” He can’t possibly mean…

“The box of carrots, Bonnie.” Sergio’s bitter words come from behind. “I put them in the storage room when Rick dropped them off.”

“They’re not there now.” Rick jams the gun into his belt, at the belly. “I checked every box.”

I shake my head, glancing from one to the other. They aren’t going to let me go, even if I tell them where to find the box. The best I can do is stall. Not that anyone will come looking for me. Who knows how long Cord will be busy with their guy. And he wouldn’t know what happened anyway. “Why don’t you ask Sergio?” I send him a glare. “He was the one stealing from my storeroom.”

All eyes turn to him. Sergio’s attention darts from one man to the other then he takes a careful step back. “Hey.” He raises his hands. “I don’t have it.”

“She had no idea about the package,” Rick points out. “Even you said so.”

“What about the dude you sent in?” Conrado asks.

Rick scowls. “What guy?”

“He had a guy go in to look for the box last week,” Conrado explains. “But the guy ended up dead.”

I bite my bottom lip, barely smothering a gasp. Sergio was responsible for the break in? He’s the reason I almost died that night.

Rick pulls his gun. “Where’s the heroin?”

“Heroin?” Blood’s pounding at my temple. These idiots were bringing something illegal into my place. How many law enforcement officers go in and out every day? What if one of them… Well, I’m not sure how they would come across it, but what if they did.

“I don’t have it.” He slaps his hand over his heart. “The guy never contacted me.”

“Are you for real?” Conrado shoves Sergio by the shoulder. “Are you trying to fuck us over?”

“Noooo.” Sergio’s gaze is glued to Rick’s gun. “Dude was in an accident in Nuevo Laredo. He and two others died.”

“And he had the box?”

Sergio swallows hard, his nervous glance finding Conrado for a brief second before turning to Rick. “I don’t know.” His whispered admission a plea for understanding.

Rick turns to me. I hitch my shoulders. “How should I know?” My mind races through facts so I can put together a plausible scenario. He’s aware of the security system. Why would I have it all of a sudden?

“Did someone break into your place?”

“I-I heard noises.” I have to avoid saying anything about the thieves. “I got scared and installed an alarm.”

Rick narrows his eyes. “When?”

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