Cattleya

Chapter 6

"I'll take it from here, Rodriguez. Thank you." As I reach for our bags.

"Have a safe trip, Ms. Garcia."

I nod as I walk toward the jet, up the stairs and to my favorite spot that now has a dog bed beside it.

It's going to be a long flight.

We're heading to California to take care of a loose end that has been shorting us cash for too long and had to be dealt with.

I close my eyes and drift off into deep sleep. The last few weeks I've been having vivid nightmares that I can't seem to escape from, but I can never remember what they were about once I'm awake. I just wake up in cold sweat, panting, hands clenching my chest, sometimes tears running down my face. Needless to say, I haven't been getting much sleep lately, so I welcome this 7 hour trip with very sleepy arms.

"Ms. Cattleya! ... Please wake up! ... Can you hear me?"

I feel my body jerk awake. I look around, the flight attendant has a worried look of her face, her lips moving but I can't hear anything, Otis has his head cocked to the side.

"Ms. Cattleya, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. It must have been another nightmare. How long have I been sleeping?"

"6 hours. You were screaming, I wasn't sure what to do."

"It's fine, thank you. Can you bring me some whiskey, please?"

"Yes ma'am."

I pull a few xanax out.

God, my anxiety has been through the roof lately.

After downing the pills with the whiskey, I just stare out of the window, nothing but a dark starless night, we were too high up to see any lights from down below. The rest of the flight was uneventful.

Soon enough we were at our hotel room fast asleep, Otis laying on one arm and the other hugging his waist just like the first night I got him.

After a few hours, it was already time to get started. The faster I got this done, the faster I could get back to Otis.

Maybe I'm the velcro one is this relationship.

I had a small hand gun strapped to my ankle, two hand guns holstered to my sides under my denim jacket, as well as one on my hip. I had a dagger in my boot too. You can never be too careful, especially in unknown territory.

I've traveled alot to the US but that doesn't mean I can even pretend to understand the inner workings of what happens over here. Anytime we're in a different country dealing with our own business, we just get it over with quick, in and out jobs.

I'm currently parked outside of a low level night club, possibly strip club in my rental car, trying to get my nerves together.

What the hell is happening to me?

Finally getting my shit together, I go in. It's definitely a low level strip club. It's empty other than 4 men at the bar. 1 bartending, the other 3 drinking. By the looks of their body type, they're most likely the bouncers, not customers. All 4 of them turning their attention to me as soon as I walked in. I saw their body tense but instantly relax when they saw me.

Wrong move.

"Where can I find Dante?" I ask innocently.

"In his office. Who's asking?" One of the bouncers asked.