by Mike Gomes
Finding a hammer that he’d luckily left in the stall the day before after repairing the panels, Antonio peered out through the slats, seeing the strong Russian dressed in fatigues with his hands on his hips and a cigarette in his mouth.
"You're in the stall with your horse. You’re not hidden either." Victor shook his head. "Step out and see me man-to-man. There's a possibility we could come to an agreement."
Scanning the man's body, Antonio looked for any signs that there could be a weapon on him. The loose fitting fatigues could conceal a weapon easily though, and he was sure the Russian in no way would be willing to expose any weapon he may have.
"Come now, step out," Victor demanded. "We have things to discuss."
Antonio pulled himself out from his hidden location in the stall, moving to the center the barn slowly. The two men looked like a scene from the Old West ready for a gunfight.
"Why would you want to strike a deal with me?" Antonio was curious.
"Because you can give me what I want," Victor smirked. "You're a pawn in this game, not a king or queen. It's the Mantis that I want, not you. But depending on how you answer these questions, depends how I’ll move forward."
"So what is the deal?"
"I kill her. I alert the KGB that she's here, and they come and they pick up her body," Victor said simply. "For that, I’ll let you live and leave. You can grab a backpack and water and anything you need, and leave here now. I'll even let you have your horses. But should you break the terms of this deal, and get to her to let her know what's going on, you'll face a worse death than you could ever imagine."
"Fuck you," Antonio growled.
"I'm not a man that's accustomed to asking for things twice," Victor drawled. "Let's make this very simple for you, all I want is a yes or no answer. Do you agree with my deal or not?"
"No," Antonio snapped. "I will not give up my wife to have you kill her."
Taking a long drag off the cigarette, Victor shook his head while looking at the ground, disapproving of the words he heard.
"Then you leave me no choice." Victor flicked the cigarette into the closest stall, immediately the hay ignited, having been already mixed with gasoline. "It was nice knowing you."
The newly ignited hay burst into a high flame, starting to race its way out of the stall and across the barn. Antonio's eyes widened as he watched the flame moving in a direct path, realizing that Victor had set up everything and drawn him into the space he wanted in the barn.
Antonio's eyes locked on the flame as he watched it spin quickly lighting up both sides of the barn, leaving only one direction to go. With Victor stood in front of him. The flames immediately caught onto the boards of the barn growing quickly and more rapidly.
Turning back to Victor, Antonio braced himself to make a rush, but he was holding a 9 mm handgun and pointing it directly at him.
Bang bang.
Two shots rang out, the first landing directly in Antonio’s thigh, causing him to collapse to the ground. The second shot hit him in the other thigh, cracking his femur and causing blood to gush from the open wound.
"You should've taken the deal,” Victor laughed. "It's much better than burning to death."
Chapter Fourteen
Smoke billowed up from the ground, creating a signal that could be seen far in the distance. The various items inside the barn that were mechanical or leather in nature, burned off a black smoke that cut across the sky in a single line, acting as a beacon, giving the viewer the opportunity to follow it to find out where it had come from.
Placing the supplies in the back of the truck, Gabriella looked off into the distance. The puff of the black smoke jumped into the air, alerting her to what might be happening. Her eyes shifted, looking side to side, to see if the trail of smoke had any other location than where she thought it had been starting from. Her own ranch. Jumping into the pickup, Gabriella put her foot down on the gas, jumping the car into gear, and ripped the ground up behind her on the dirt road.
The faster she pushed the truck, the faster her heartbeat rose, waiting for her moment of opportunity to see what was burning. There was still a chance it could be something that was off in the distance, or maybe something that had been from the mountains. But in all likelihood, the black smoke was a signal that machine equipment and some of the man-made items were on fire.
"Come on, come on!" Gabriella pressed down harder on the gas, pushing the truck up to eighty-five miles an hour on the dirt road. The vehicle was not made with a suspension to take such a beating, but she pushed it anyway. The road was rarely traveled by anyone other than Gabriella and Antonio. Hoping to avoid the potholes and jagged rocks, she shifted the vehicle side to side, locking her eyes on the task in front of her. She kept her foot hard on the gas regardless of the obstacles, racing faster and faster, cutting the twenty miles down inch by inch, before seeing the farm in the distance.
The high blaze that was the barn shortly before, had now dropped to a smolder. The biggest flames had burned out on the outer body, leaving its shell, but the inner still carried flames in certain areas, as well as burning on the stacked, musty hays.
"Oh, God!" Gabriella, gripped the steering wheel tighter, causing her knuckles to turn white. Her lower lip ducked into her mouth, as she bit into it, in an involuntary action, trying to release some of her stress.
The last five miles felt like forever. A moment in time where she couldn't control what was happening, but could see it in the distance. She had no way to help, no way to put out the fire. No way to do anything. But more importantly than all of it, she had no idea if Antonio was safe.
The farm continuously grew on the landscape, getting larger and larger in her eyes, and filling the front windshield. The normally majestic background of mountains and open field had no effect on her the way it normally would. The beautiful enchanting looks of a rugged and difficult landscape, it was exactly what she and her love had always wanted. But now, the barn was ablaze and Gabriella couldn't help but feel that, somehow, though she tried her best not to, she had taken her work home with her.
Racing the car up to the front of the barn, she skidded to a halt, seeing a lumped body laying thirty yards outside the barn. It was clear that the body was of a man, and the size and shape of the muscular arms and back could only point to Antonio. The drag lines from the opening of the barn to the location where he now laid were a clear indication that he wasn't able to walk and had simply pulled himself the whole way.
"No!" Gabriella pushed the car door open and ran over to her husband on the ground. Sliding in with both knees, she stopped right before him. Reaching her hand under his head, she rolled him toward her, looking down to his face.
The burn marks were clear and evident. They rose up from his legs, over his stomach and chest, and onto his neck and face. His hands had bubbled from the heat of the flames where he’d placed his hands in it, in his escape to avoid Victor. There was no way that Antonio was able to go out the way that Victor did, where there was no flame. He was sure to be waiting to see if Antonio would make that move. Mustering all of his courage and using the very strength that defined him as a man, he had turned himself into the flames, forcing his way through with sheer will, despite the agonizing pain that ripped up and down his body, that now slowly pulsated with every heartbeat, extending the pain to every cell of his body.
Looking down to his face, Gabriella reached to touch his cheek, stopping quickly, not wanting to cause him more pain. "Oh my God, Antonio. How can I help you?"
His eyes rolled open, looking at the woman he loved. Out of habit, his mouth turned upward on the edges, giving her a grin, as his eyes again lit up when he saw her.
"Gabriella," Antonio said in nothing more than a whisper, despite using all his strength to get the word out.
"Antonio, I'm here. Let me go get the medical bag. I'll be back out here in a minute. It'll just take me a moment."
"There's no need," he whispered, still struggling to get the words out. "Too
much damage. Broken femur."
Gabriella looked down, thinking that her man's injuries were simply that from fire. The hope in her mind that with proper care and treatment he could recover. There was no doubt that the treatment would be difficult, but it didn't mean the end of his life. But now, the comments that he made about his femur being broken, was a death sentence in the hills of Northern Chile.
Gabriella caught sight of the bullet holes in each of Antonio’s thighs. It was intentional. It was direct, and it left no doubt that Victor had come upon him. A twinge of anguish and pain shot through her body. Her mind crumpled into a mass before she straightened herself out, thinking of what the next step to do was.
"Don't blame yourself," Antonio whispered, connecting his eyes with his wife’s. "Nothing can be done."
"Something can always be done," she said, holding any aggression out of her voice and trying to lay hope into her husband.
As Gabriella attempted to slide slightly back, trying to get to the medical bag to provide some kind of care for him, his hand grabbed her wrist holding her tight.
"Stay with me." A small trail of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, decorating his cheek as it rolled down on his neck, past his ear. "This is all I've ever really wanted."
"What are you talking about, Antonio? Why would you ever want this?"
"I've only ever wanted to be held by you, to have you hold me in your arms and take care of me." Antonio’s eyes slowly rolled downward, and were now being held at half-mast. His eyes reflected that of his lungs. Now only half filling with air, his breaths becoming short and chopped. The occasional gasp came from him, searching for the air and life that he so desperately wanted, but the lack of blood was too much. No longer would the oxygen roll through his blood stream providing him with the life and care that he needed. It dripped from his legs and from his mouth. The opportunity to strike back was passed and gone.
"Antonio, you can't go." Gabriella could feel her eyes watering. Putting her hand behind his head she positioned him to look at her, despite his lack of strength to hold his body any longer. "We were going off the grid, we were giving it all up. This was all just to make some money. The dream is still there, it just takes work."
"It was a beautiful dream," Antonio smiled at her, his eyes opening and closing without an ability to stop them.
"Stay with me, Antonio. Don't go anywhere,” Gabriella begged. “You need to stay with me. Just focus on my voice, it will be okay."
"It's okay, Gabriella. It's time to let go." He loosened his grip on her wrist and let his body relax from the center out.
"No, it's not. It's not time to let go. It's time to make everything right, time to make you better." Gabriella refused to hear her husband’s words. "There's been worse to fix than this. We can change it."
"No, Gabriella, this one's the worst. It was Victor."
A flash of rage darted through her, causing her eyes to tighten and her mind to become sharp with anger. There was no other word that could be said that would have jolted her out of her emotion and love for her husband in that moment. The caring stopped, the love stopped, all for a split second, as rage induced her, sparking her desire for blood lust and revenge for what was happening to the man she loved.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"He told me his name," Antonio whispered, taking a big gasp of air at the end of a sentence. "He wanted me to sell you out. Said he'd let me go if I gave you up. What a fool."
"You should have told him yes. I'd rather have you alive than me. You've lived a better life anyways."
"I could never give you up, my love. I can never let anybody take advantage of you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. And if I die to keep you alive, then I've done something good with my life."
As the tears finally darted down from Gabriella’s eyes, the burning of the salt stung. Wiping away the tears as fast as she could, not wanting them to drop on the man she loved, she stared at him as his chest began to rise up and down out of rhythm with continuously longer and longer stops.
"No, Antonio, not now. I can keep you alive I can give you CPR," Gabriella cried. She laid him on his back, but he was no longer able to respond to her words. "No, you can't die. You can't go yet."
Gabriella's hands moved on top of him, ready to press down and start CPR. Her hands pushed down rapidly, trying to force air back and forth and to make his heart start to move again. She placed her hand on his neck, there was no pulse, his eyes had glossed over and the brightness that once filled his soul was gone.
She wouldn’t accept that, she knelt next to him, breathing into his mouth, trying to give him life-giving air that would fill his lungs and return his heart to beating. But it was all in vain. The breaths went in, filled the man's lungs and exited, causing no stir. The blood loss had simply been too much.
"God, no!" Gabriella cried, looking directly up into the sky, searching for some reason why this twist of fate had to happen to her man at this time. Leaning back on her haunches, Gabriella's shoulders dropped in defeat. Antonio lay dead in front of her, and only the taste in her mouth from the CPR would remain to torture her in the days ahead.
"I love you, Antonio."
Chapter Fifteen
A grave.
A grave for a man she loved. He wouldn't want anything ostentatious or anything that would draw attention. A simple hole in the ground on the homestead that he loved would more than suffice. But for now, his body laid limp and lifeless on the ground next to the woman that he loved.
Using both her hands Gabriella pushed her hair back, pulling it tight and wrapping it into a ponytail. The work would be all the more agonizing because it was for Antonio.
She had dug many a grave in her time, and dispatched of many bodies. In every event, no matter how bad the adversary, she tried to hold the level of solace that showed respect for the person that she was placing into the ground. She felt that she owed it to them. She felt that she owed them honor, respect, and even a certain amount of admiration, despite the fact that they opposed her. The buried were always a person that was willing to die for the cause that they had and to take steps to try to further it.
"I'll make it the way you wanted it." Gabriella whispered, staring down at the man she loved. She knew that Antonio had always talked about being placed out in the pasture. The place where the cows would roam and where he would often go horseback riding, trying to make sure that the predators stayed at bay.
A smile rose over her face, remembering Antonio coming back after a day out on their plot of land working the range, being frustrated to no end at the wolves who may have snatched a young calf, or the encroachment of other wild animals upon their homestead. It was a never-ending process, one that began when the sun rose, and never stopped when the sun set. Antonio would spend many nights out sleeping with the herd while still maintaining his balance on horseback. With nothing but a rifle and a high-powered flashlight to scan the herd, making sure those same predators weren't moving in for an easy meal.
Gabriella squatted down next to the man she loved and caressed his cheek gently, despite the burns. It didn't feel the same, what was once smooth or holding a small amount of stubble was now the playground of raised bubbles from burns and a dark crispness that fell over his skin. The smell of his burnt flesh filled her nostrils, causing her to turn away and see the man she loved in her mind, rather than what was the remains of him lying on the ground.
The man who was dead, was not the man she loved and married. At least it didn't look like the man that she loved and married. This man had had his looks completely erased by a savage, who found that torturing him would be far a more enjoyable sport than if he had simply just shot him once in the head. The message to Gabriella was clear and decisive, Victor would come after her and she knew it.
Grabbing Antonio's horse from the stable, she led him out by his collar. Rubbing the beautiful animal’s neck, she placed a saddle upon him and hopped upon his back.
"Pr
ima Guerra, Antonio loves you, he always loved you." Gabriella spoke to the horse leaning forward and rubbing his neck, trying to give the horse some affection.
Like many equine, the horse knew that something was wrong, it understood the devastation that had happened in the barn. And if not for a chance at faith, the horse survived despite the fire burning around it. A hard, rough cough emanated from the horse every few moments, letting Gabriella know that he had taken in an excess of amount of smoke, and that getting him some water and getting his body moving would hopefully help him clear it from his system and replenish it with fresh air.
Gabriella packed the shovel and rode Prima Guerra out onto the fields. The trees were sparse and far between, and something that Gabriella felt she had no need for. Antonio was not the kind of man to sit under a tree and relax. He liked being in the country, he liked working the land, and he liked coming to grips with whatever challenge that land would hold for him.
More than once he told his wife that fighting the northern lands of Chile on the feet of the mountain was far more challenging than any mission he had ever been sent on around the world. The land was an enemy that he had to work hand-in hand with and develop a relationship, he had to sense its frailties and accept its strengths. He had to flow with it within each movement, finding the optimum place to place his cattle, grow his vegetables, and maintain his homestead.
Gabriella smiled and nodded to herself as she found a central location, the perfect spot. She hopped off of Prima Guerra to get down into the soil.
"I'm sure you'll like this, honey." Gabriella looked across the wide expanse. Taking in a long and deep breath, she pulled the shovel from the saddle attachment that held it.
The first strike down into the earth was soft and smooth. The summer sun had done its job, the winter had yet to freeze the ground. The digging would be easy, but the anguish overwhelming.
"You know I'm not gonna be able to stay here," Gabriella spoke her words to the wind, hoping that they would float upon it and rest within Antonio's ears wherever he may be. "I wish I could stay here for the rest of my life. I could watch over you, make sure that nothing would happen. I want to make sure that those wolves don't come and dig you up. I want to make sure that the ground doesn't flood, and that the winds don't blow away the marker. I just want to be with you."