Page 69 of Cartel Rose (Jorge)

Jorge says little more than thank you before hanging up and walking to the door. I follow, but he only opens it wide enough to see out and to receive what the guard hands him. His shoulders are far too broad for me to see around, and despite my height, I can’t see over his shoulder to know what he received. I observe his arms move, and I can tell he’s opened the package. He nods before stepping away and closing the door emptyhanded.

“Jorge, what is it? What’s in the package?”

My questions are more demanding than I intended. I know how rude they sound, but if he received something from Papa, then I want to see it, even if it is grotesque. After all, my father’s hand is truly chilling in the fridge right now.

“It was an eyeball.”

Before he can say more, my mom screams. He walks purposefully to her and offers her a comforting embrace.

“Mrs. Schlossberg, it wasn’t your husband’s.”

“What?” It’s Heidi who asks the question the rest of us are thinking.

“It was a pig’s eyeball.”

“How can you be sure?” It’s my turn to pose the obvious question.

“Because a pig’s eyeball has a thicker cornea, and the iris is larger than on a human’s. I could tell just by looking at it that the iris wasn’t from a human eyeball.”

He steps back from my mom, and I realize he has a piece of folded paper in his hand. I move to stand beside him and my mom. We shift to make room for Heidi to see as well.

There’s nothing we don’t see.

My gaze locks with his, and I shudder. Queasiness washes over me as I consider the truth of that warning. Before any of us say anything else, my computer pings on the dining room table. I step away and unlock it with my fingerprint.

I really need to remove the biometrics and revert to a password.

I open my email, and there’s a folder attachment. “Jorge, I’m uncertain whether I should open it.”

Not only do I fear seeing what I might find inside, I worry about a virus or malware being downloaded onto my computer.

“Let me forward this to Joaquin and see what he says. We won’t open the folder. He can do that safely.”

He taps his phone screen and puts it to his ear as I step aside and gesture to the laptop’s keyboard. I watch him forward the email. It must have only rung once or twice when Joaquin answers. Jorge is quick to explain the situation. We wait in silence as Joaquin must receive the email. I can’t tell if he’s speaking to Jorge or not.

Jorge’s watching me, his attention solely on me, even though I’m certain he could tell you how many times my mom and sister have breathed in the last thirty seconds.

“Está bien. Gracias.” Okay, thank you.

Jorge hangs up and slides the phone back into his pocket. I notice a new email comes in, and he clicks on it. He opens the folder, and I can’t swallow. My gasp escapes before I can stop myself. My mom and sister rush forward. I twist the laptop toward them, and they spy the photographs sent to me.

There are ones from within this room but were clearly taken from outside. There are photos of Bastian and Friedrich being picked up, and even ones of them arriving at the loading dock here. There’s a photo of Bastian returning to the hospital.

“How did they get pictures so up close?” All the colors drained from Heidi’s face as she speaks.

“Drones. I feared a telescopic lens from one of the other nearby windows, but the clarity through the flimsy curtains tells me the camera was just outside the window. As for the photos of Bastian and Friedrich, it’s obvious these people knew to watch them, assuming you’d contact them, or they’d come to you. I’ve arranged for guards to be with Bastian, so he’s not alone.”

I nod my thanks.

It’s odd to consider the man I’m now involved with providing security for my ex-boyfriend, who was my boyfriend up until an hour ago. Everything about this situation feels like it’s either on warp speed or slow motion. Nothing feels like it’s happening at a normal pace. Time has taken on a different value than it had three days ago. With photos taken this clearly, the threats escalated.

Exponentially.

“I refuse to risk anyone’s safety beyond what’s already happening. It’s time to have my family come and help. It will take a day for my brothers or cousins to get here. I’d prefer to get all of you out of Frankfurt, but I can’t do that immediately.”

There’s a knock on the door, then it opens before Jorge can say anything. He immediately reaches toward his lower back. We’ve all grown accustomed to the sight of his gun holstered there since he stopped wearing his suit coat yesterday. He relaxes as Friedrich walks to Heidi and engulfs her in his arms. I knew she was texting him as we waited for the return email.

“Friedrich, I’m going to ask for a couple of my family to join us to help me with this, since things just escalated.”