(no subject)
Okay. I remember enough Spanish to know that tierra del fuego translates as land of fire. So why is it so cold here?
I'm wearing a fur-lined, hooded coat and I'm still freezing!
Ushuaia. The world's southernmost city, according to some.
"Good morning, miss."
The man's attempt at charm slides off me. He's a smuggler. A hired thug, is what it boils down to. Yes, I realize that that insipid Mundy line about "takes one to know one" applies here. I don't care. What is a problem, is that he's got two buddies along for the ride.
"What's this, Mr. Orundellico? Our agreement was that we'd both come alone. As you can see, I kept my part of the deal. "
He makes some weak excuse. I don't have a lot of good alternatives here. I could strike out on my own and try to locate the package, but that would mean having to fight my way across Ushuaia. There's also the time factor to consider. Clock's running.
I can't shoot them and take the car. Orundellico's weaksauce attempts at sweet-talking me almost change my mind on that score. However, there's nowhere to dispose of bodies. That's also assuming that shots wouldn't be heard.
So I get in the car with them. We drive out of the city, along a stretch of largely unused road that leads into woods.
I sigh. "Where are we going, Mr.Orundellico?"
"I'm bringing you to the package, miss. We kept it out of town for discretion's sake."
I doubt it. We're traveling a bit south and west, and the package is due north of here. Frau Totenkinder didn't send me on this fool's errand entirely without help. She enchanted me with a magical bump-of-direction that lets me always know what direction the package is in.
We go back and forth verbally for a couple of minutes. Orundellico admits with some prodding that he's decided I'd be worth more as goods for sale, than as a buyer.
He also gives his bully-boys the go-ahead to 'sample the wares' first.
Being gangraped really is not on my to-do list for the day.
It'd be foolhardy to attack these two brutes, granted. But even the toughest thug's eyeballs are made of jelly. Blinding him with fingers driven into them cuts his potential lethality at least in half.
The other goon does the expected thing and tries to pull his gun. Silly cowboy. A gun in such close quarters belongs to anyone who wants it bad enough.
And believe me, I want it more than he does.
I empty three bullets into each of the thugs. Even blinded and disarmed, they still could have been plenty dangerous. Better to make sure of such things.
Orundellico loses control of the car when he tries to help them grab me. Idiotic Mundies...! The Range Rover flips over. When we come to a stop, he's out cold.
I hope he's not much worse than that. I need him alive.
He'll do me a favor if he stays unconscious long enough not to see me lever the Range Rover back on its wheels.
Not a good idea to show a Mundy how strong a popular Fable girl can be.