“Your usual run over the border to Obsidian, plus a small extra step,” Otto answered, shrugging as if it were nothing.“You’ll hit the Obsidian depot for the camouflage shipment, then bypass to the other side, as you’ve done a thousand times.”
“Hardly that many,” Dy countered.
“And that’s no mean feat,” Cha added.
“Thus your exorbitant fee,” Otto bit out meaningfully.“Once you have the cover shipment of Obsidian dust, you take the Obsidian Thirteen up to Moonstone, cross the border and follow the Moonstone Thirteen up to a location I’ll give you.Meet my contact.Load the package.Come back here, deliver, and take your very generous payday.”
“Let’s see the location and contact info,” Dy said.
Otto slid a document across the desk and Dy pounced on it like it was fae chocolate.Her steely gaze slid up to Otto and pinned him.“This is the same route and contact you gave Monat?”
Otto stepped back, nearly to the glass wall, and held up his hands like Dy had stung him with another tiny fireball.“Monat has nothing to do with this.”He glared accusingly at Cha.“What did you tell her?”
Cha decided to sit after all, sprawling sideways in a swank armchair and crossing her booted ankles.“Goldilocks and I have no secrets.You should know that.Neither do you, for that matter.”
“You should also know,” Dy said, sitting in the other armchair with considerably more grace, handing Cha the document, “that we’re going nowhere until you agree to extradite Monat.”
Otto goggled at her.At least seeing him caught so flat-footed mitigated Cha’s irritation at Dy tipping their hand so early in the conversation.A wily negotiator, Dy was not.“I can’t do that,” Otto squeaked.“Nobody can help Monat now.”
Dy stood.“Then we’re leaving.Come on, Cha.”
Well, Cha supposed, that was one way to negotiate.Otto sputtered out a protest before Cha had to abandon her comfy spot.
“You’d sacrifice a fortune forMonat?”Otto demanded.
“Some things are more important than money, right, Cha?”
Cha scanned the information on the document, in case Otto snatched it away.You never knew when this sort of inside knowledge would come in handy.They were to meet some fae operative going by the unlikely code name of Sugarplum at the Ice Lily Garden.One of her brows crawled up her forehead.Why couldn’t it be a nice little squalid warehouse?Probably because the fae didn’t have anything shabby.
“Hey!”she exclaimed as Dy swatted her on the head.
“Right, Cha?” Dy repeated meaningfully.
Cha transferred her rueful gaze to Otto.“You know how Dy is.She wouldn’t agree to the gig unless rescuing Monat is baked in.You want your package in a hurry?Best just give in now.”
Otto looked like he wanted to tear his hair out, though he gripped the edge of his desk instead.“You say that like I have any influence over the fae.TheMoonstonefae!”
So, Garaile’s gossip was good—Monat was in Moonstone jail.Cha waved the contact info sheet at him.“You got this much.”
He sniffed, putting on a wounded face.“That’s proprietary.”
“Then proprietary yourself into extracting Monat,” Cha suggested.Putting a hand to the side of her mouth as if to hide the words from Dy, she dropped her voice.“Don’t make the scary sorceress angry.”
“I don’t havetimeto do that,” Otto complained, nearly whining.“I’m not giving you a twenty-four-hour turnaround just for the fun of it.This was a rush job to begin with and now I’m way behind the clock.If I don’t have a rig there by tomorrow at midnight, the offer expires.”
“Why?”Cha asked and Otto released his chokehold on the desk to wave his hands frantically in the air.
“I don’t know!You think I asked?They’re fae.They call the shots.”
“What’s the package?”Dy asked.
Otto pointed at her.“That you do not need to know and, believe me, you’re better off not knowing.My contact will know what to do.The cover shipment will obscure any magical signatures and I’m sure your sorcerous tricks can handle the rest.”
Not ideal, but also not unusual for a smuggling gig like this.“Why do we have to get it back here so fast?”Cha asked the next logical question.
“You want to get caught by the hounds?Be my guest, but not with my product.Those are the terms and you’re wasting time.”
“No, you are,” Dy retorted.“You clearly know where Monat is.”
