Their confidence had evaporated. On the plus side, this made them less likely to take bold action. On the downside, they might still do something stupid.
Javier dragged a hand slowly down his face and pressed his palm hard against his eyes. He then exhaled the long, defeated sigh of a man who had just realized he had definitely fucked up and nothing was going to plan.
“Rafael is coming,” he muttered.
I tilted my head slightly, as if I were just idly curious instead of actively trying to assess whether I was about to live or die within the next ten minutes.
“Is that good or bad? Not gonna lie, the suspense is starting to kill me.”
Also … who the hell was Rafael in their organizational chart? Boss? Boss-adjacent? “Guy you call when you’ve absolutely ruined your life”?
Please be good. Please be the kind of bad that doesn’t involves me dying.
Angry Chihuahua began pacing again, moving in short, tight lines across the concrete floor as though walking fast enough might somehow undo the last hour.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” he eventually exclaimed, his voice strained and his finger pointing accusingly at his companion.
“You did not tell me that,” Javier snapped.
“Ithoughtit.”
“That doesn’t count.”
I watched them for a moment, my fingers curling slightly against the edge of the crate I’d been unceremoniously parked on earlier, forcing myself to breathe normally despite my chest feeling tight, uncomfortable and slightly too fast.
Okay. Don’t panic.
Panicking was useless. Panicking got people killed.
Talking, though? Talking bought time.
A shaky breath escaped me before I could stop it.
“You know,” I offered, trying to be helpful, “from a personal growth perspective, this seems like it could be a valuable learning experience.”
Neither man acknowledged that.
Javier shifted his weight, leaning one shoulder against a stack of crates, and rubbed the bridge of his nose as if he could feel the beginnings of a migraine settling in behind his eyes.
“Fuck! We shouldn’t have taken her.”
“You’re arriving at that conclusionnow?” I blinked at him.
Because, and I couldn’t stress this enough, this felt like something that should have come up in the planning stage.
He shot me a look, but it didn’t have nearly the same bite as before.
Good. Keep them off balance. Keep them talking.
Angry Chihuahua rubbed his face again. “This is the worst hostage situation inhistory.”
“I’m sure there’s been worse.” I attempted to console him.
Pompadour squinted at me. “How wouldyouknow? How many times have you been kidnapped, huh?”
I winced. “… Definekidnapped.”
Angry Chihuahua stared at me in disbelief, while his friend looked up toward the ceiling like he was reconsidering his life choices.