The Beasts of Juarez, R.B. Schow [books to read for self improvement .txt] 📗

down her spine, the cold spreading to the connecting tissue. How long had these men been planning to take her and the girls? Sydney had just learned they were going to El Paso last week, but apparently, Santiago knew this as well. What the hell was going on?

“Why did you take me and my daughters?” she asked.

“Because we could.”

“How did you know we’d be in El Paso?”

He looked away, glanced back down at his phone, and then he said, “We’re just lucky, I guess.”

“You said Santiago is a proficient planner, that he is good with details. You don’t just wing something like this. And you certainly don’t plan for someone’s arrival before they even decide to be someplace. Not unless this is part of a larger plan already in the works.”

“Your daughters are gone, Mrs. Fox. You are never going to see them, your husband, or the United States ever again. That is the only thing you need to know.”

“That is also what makes me so dangerous,” she said in a moment of pure, unbridled anger.

He stood up fast, ripped the towel off of her body, then grabbed her head with a giant hand and drove her face into the mirror. Her cheek, half of her nose, and one eye were shoved so hard into the glass she was surprised it hadn’t cracked. He kept her pressed against the mirror. And then this frothing-at-the-mouth maniac leaned forward so close, she felt the warmth of his breath upon her. Her pulse quickened as Jose peered down into her one available eye.

“Do you really think you are dangerous in this world? To people like us? Because that kind of thinking will get you killed in a hurry,” he said. “You only live because we let you live. You only get privacy because we allow it. You will only be spared from suffering if we decide you’re not worth the effort. But guess what? After biting off part of Mr. Cardenas’s ear, and now trying to play tough titties with me, your suffering might just be worth the effort.”

With that, he pulled her face off the mirror then slammed it into the glass again, making her world go black for a split second. When she came back around, her head was spinning ever so slightly. Was he even aware of his strength? Did he even care what he was doing to her?

“I’d think with what you’re about to go through, you’d be smarter than this,” he said calmly into her ear.

“You don’t even see me as human, do you?” she asked, her face still shoved into the mirror.

He started to laugh, and then he laughed even harder. “You’re not even a dog to us,” he said.

“Nor are you to me,” she retorted, her anger getting the best of her.

He held her there, looking into that one eye just long enough to make his point—that he was in control of her—and then he let go.

“Get dressed before Mr. Cardenas thinks I’m doing something with you that I shouldn’t be doing.”

“Am I off-limits to you?” she asked, grabbing hold of the edge of the sink to keep from falling over.

“Yes, but not for sex,” he answered. “That’s not something I want with you or any other woman if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s the killing that’s off-limits to me. Well, until it’s not.”

She put on her underwear and bra, and then she asked, “Are you going to be the one to kill me?”

“I thought so until you did what you did to Mr. Cardenas,” Jose said with deep sorrow. “Now he may want to kill you himself. Or maybe not. He is the kind of man who appreciates a strong woman. He likes the challenge.”

She pulled on her pants, which fit nicely, and then her blouse, which was the perfect size for her frame. When she was done, she slipped on her socks, laced up her shoes, then looked up at him with nothing more to say.

“Mr. Cardenas will want to see you now,” he said.

The two of them walked out into the hallway, a long wide hallway replete with full-sized statues, decorative vases set in perfectly-sized wall niches, expensive paintings, and all number of ornate and foreign décor.

In his rather large office, Santiago Cardenas sat at a presidential-sized desk facing the open doorway. Looking up, he said, “Behold, the princess.” He said this with a fair amount of sarcasm. “Although a princess would never have such disastrous hair, nor would she attempt to eat someone who was still alive. But I digress.”

“How’s the ear?” she asked, aware that her stylish clothes stood in direct contrast to her butchered hair.

He looked up at her, held her gaze for a long time, and let out a chuckle. Fixed to his ear was a large white bandage from where Sydney had Mike Tysoned him earlier. Making mention of it was her way of saying she could go toe-to-toe with his sarcasm any day.

“She’s all clean, boss,” Jose said.

“Were there any problems with her?”

“No boss.”

“Come here, Sydney,” Santiago said. “Pull that chair over here next to me so that I can show you something.”

“Sir?” Jose asked, the rest of the question being unspoken.

Santiago nodded. Jose then joined the three of them behind Santiago’s desk where there was a large computer monitor with what looked like an online human auction going on.

“Do you know about the dark web?” he asked.

“Of course,” Sydney said. “It’s a place for perverts, pedophiles, drug dealers, and hackers, free from the prying eyes of the NSA and the US government.”

“Oh, it’s so much more than that,” Santiago purred.

She felt the metal end of Jose’s gun press against the back of her head. Now she knew what Jose had been asking his boss