“He’s a liar and a cheat,” Paz stated simply. “You… well… your trip to Mexico has screwed up a lot of lives. But it won’t for much longer. After what you did to Filipo? You deserve everything that’s coming for you.” She waved her hand in dismissal at me before I could respond, and turned back towards her fish tank. “Feeding time, babies?” she murmured, the sound of her voice carried over towards me.
I gritted my teeth. Something told me that feeding these fish didn’t mean a sprinkle of fish food. Paz disappeared through the door, and after a moment, I could hear her moving around upstairs. I had to wonder exactly how big this place was. Something disturbed the waters of the fish tank. Bile rose to my throat as I recognised a human arm with the hand still attached. A leg was the next appendage to hit the water. I had wondered what the fish were waiting for. Another leg and an arm were dropped into the tank, and then a male torso. I thought I was going to faint. I guess ‘getting fed to the fishes’ wasn’t just a Russian mafia term. Not now. Paz took it literally.
The fish moved as if they were one entity. They swarmed around the dead flesh, manoeuvring it, so they could get to more of their dinner. While I was disgusted, I was also fascinated. Javier was watching them too. He didn’t look surprised, but in saying that, he couldn’t move a muscle in his body, so it was pretty hard to express any emotion.
How the hell was I even in this situation? This wasn’t reality. This wasn’t what real people did. I was trapped in some sort of bizarre alternate reality.
I heard a car pull up, and my insides jumped with anticipation. It was probably more cartel members. I groaned. More cartel members, meant more of an audience for the ultimate demise that Carmen had planned for me. Without looking at us, Paz walked through the room, and straight out to the garage. I heard the garage door lift, and she spoke quietly with someone. The garage door rattled to a close, and they stepped into the room. My heart almost stopped as Gabe’s gaze brushed over me.
“I see you have company,” he said quietly to Paz.
She threw back her head with laughter. “Don’t we always?”
He chuckled along with her, but as she turned away from him, his eyes once again cut to mine. My heart sank with the dawn of a new reality. Gabe was in on this. Somehow, he’d been turned. Carmen had got to him. I could see it. Hope of getting out of here alive was dwindling faster by the minute.
“I’m sorry.” I heard a whisper.
My eyes snapped to Javier. “Did you just say something?”
I saw the smallest of nods.
“The poison is wearing off?”
“Sorry,” he said once again, the words almost indistinguishable.
I sighed. “It’s all right, Javier.” As if these things happened on an everyday basis. “Your wife is crazy, although I kind of knew that already.” I blew out a sigh of regret. “I’m sorry too. If it wasn’t for me, we probably wouldn’t be in this mess, and you would still be living your married life in ignorant bliss.”
A thought crossed my mind, thinking of Gabe in the next room. Why would he turn? What on earth would Carmen have that could compel him to go against his friendship with River and Chase? From what Chase had told me, they were completely and utterly loyal to each other. I swallowed as a tear slipped down my cheek. Anger and disappointment welled within me. Chase trusted him! River loved him like a brother. Why would he do that? I sniffed, and wiped my face on my arm. This was such a huge mess. What an end to my short life. I hadn’t even really lived.
After a while, I could hear sounds of a sexual nature coming from the other room, and I looked over at Javier. He had his eyes on the door. I could see the shadow of a frown starting to form on his features. The thought of Gabe with that woman was starting to make me feel ill. What was he doing? He would probably be the next to die at Carmen’s hand.
I hummed to myself, blocking the noises from the other room from my consciousness, while wondering what the time was. I had been awake for a long time, and I was actually starting to feel exhausted. Adrenaline alone was the only thing keeping me awake but it was now starting to wear off, and being replaced with heavy resignation and exhaustion.
Elsie crossed my mind. I missed her. I actually just wanted Elsie's cuddles right now. I wanted to smell the lavender scent of her clothing as she wrapped her arms around me, drawing me into her bosom. I swallowed, feeling tears spring to my eyes. If anything, I wished that I could at least say goodbye, and thank you for being the best substitute mother anyone could ever have hoped for. Peter Pan’s word came to me then: Death would be an awfully big adventure. I swallowed hard. Tears sprang forth as I imagined Elsie holding me.
This was the hand I had been dealt. Life surrounded by the deaths of those I loved. Death was everyone’s ultimate calling. I just didn’t think it was quite my time yet.
I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I dreamed of being wrapped in Elsie’s arms on my childhood bed at home. I woke suddenly, pulled from my dream, disoriented, as something wet spattered on my face. My eyes flew open, but it was pitch black. A flash came from across the room, and a split second later, the mirror behind me splintered and shattered around me. Scrambling, I tried to get away as the glass came crashing down around me, tinkling as it hit the wooden floors. I still couldn’t see a thing, and I was restrained by handcuffs to the rail. But damn, I could move when I had to, no matter how awkward it was.
Someone grabbed me from behind, and I thrashed out.
“Mack, it’s us.” River’s voice echoed in my ear, and I froze.
“Get me out of here,” I whispered. He was already working in my cuffs.
“Sorry, I don’t have any bolt cutters on me, or this would be a lot faster.” I couldn’t see what he was doing, and I had no idea how he could see either, but none of that mattered right now. What mattered was that they were here. With me. Relief swept through me. Moments later, my hands came free from the tight cuffs. Instinctively, I rubbed my wrists. Blood began to flow properly again, making my hands throb.
“Javier?”
“Dead,” River stated. He tugged me across the endless darkness of the room, and opened the door to the garage. Dim light shone through under the roller door.
“So dark,” I whispered.
“Powers out,” he responded. “Come on – we’ll get you safely to the car, and then Chase can finish what we started.”
Chase. His name was almost on my lips, before a scream interrupted my thoughts. Something crashed above us, and we both stopped short. River moved around me, and slammed his hand to the wall. Instantly the garage door jumped in response, slowly lifting as it wound up. Light poured through the widening space, but was it wasn’t blinding sunlight. It was early dawn light. A shiver ran through me. Freedom.
Another crash came from above us. I turned to look at River, and did a double take as I took in the goggles he was wearing. He pressed a set of keys into my hand. “Go. My truck is out there – wait for us. We won’t be long.”
I looked down at the set of keys, but before I could argue with him, he had already disappeared into the darkness. I stood there for a moment in the quiet air, feeling a deep sense of surrealism. The smidgeon of light was growing stronger as the sun began to rise over Mexico, but it was still a long way off before it actually broke through the darkness. Earlier I had been resigned to the fact that I was about to die. This, for some reason felt like I had been cheated. It was a weird and bizarre feeling.
I ran down the dark driveway, towards River's big black truck. I wanted to know what the time was, but Paz still had my bloody phone. If she was still alive. I wrenched the driver’s door open, and switched on the engine. The time splashed up brightly on the display of the dash. Five in the morning. I groaned. It felt like I had been held for days, not mere hours.
I sat in the dark car. Everything felt quiet; too quiet. I couldn’t help but worry that something had happened to River and Chase. I looked towards the buildings on the property. There was a modestly sized cartel house a
fair distance away from the garage-dance-studio-piranha house. The garage side of the building looked like it could comfortably house an enormous long-haul truck. It made me wonder exactly what the purpose of the building was. But there was a second storey, with a large deck overlooking the driveway. It was strange, remote, and it felt ominous.
And then I saw a shadow.
Squinting my eyes to try and see with better focus, an old habit from before I had eye surgery, I peered up towards the second floor of the building. Someone was standing up there outside on the deck, back pressed against the wall so as to not be seen.
Something about the way the figure moved struck me as familiar. It definitely wasn’t Chase or River, and I highly doubted it was Gabe. But it was hard to tell from this distance, and in this light. I watched as the figure climbed over the deck railing, crouched, and then hung from the deck, with about a six foot drop to the ground. My heart beat faster and I held my breath in anticipation. As they dropped to the ground, the hood from their jacket fell back and a mass of dark loose curls fell free.
Carmen.
I swallowed as I saw her start to run towards the driveway, heading for the road. There was no bloody way that woman was going to get away after everything she had done to me without us having words first. I reached for the glove compartment, finding an array of River’s weaponry. I selected a handgun, which was a shitload bigger and heavier than the ones I had been using, but with the adrenaline that was rapidly coursing through me, I didn’t care.
I turned over the trucks engine, keeping the headlights switched off, and took off after the figure running through the dark. While I was conscious of the noise levels of the engine, I was also aware that time was playing a huge factor. My focus was fine-tuned, and my target was in sight.
She turned when she heard the engine, her eyes wide. I wanted to swing the truck around in front of her path, and have the final say with her. I tried to go around her, and swing the vehicle around. She must have thought I just wanted to pass, because she side-stepped right when I was pulling the handbrake on to spin the truck, and the vehicle hit her with a sickening crack. It was as if suddenly everything moved in slow motion. I saw her head bounce off the bonnet of the truck and, slumping, she disappeared under my wheels. The truck screeched to a halt, and I sat there wondering what the hell had just happened.
“Oh my God,” I whispered to no one but myself. My hands still gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles deadly white. I didn’t know if she was still alive or not. I picked up the gun from my lap, and glanced in the rear-view mirror. I couldn’t see her anywhere, which gave me no comfort whatsoever.
I inched my way out of the car in the stillness of the emerging morning light, my feet hitting the gravel as I went. I walked slowly around to the back of the vehicle, not wanting to know what I was going to see. In some ways, I would have much rather buried my head in the sand and lived in blissful ignorance. But I knew that if I didn’t confirm with my own eyes, I would never know. River, Chase, and Gabe were right when they told me that. I had to know.
I knew she was dead as soon as I saw her. There was absolutely no doubt about it. Her skull had cracked open, and part of her face was severely impacted. I didn’t remember running over her with the wheels, but everything seemed very blurry all of a sudden.
I collapsed onto my knees, ignoring the gravel digging into my knees and shins. Tears streamed down my face. I didn’t know if the tears were from the sadness of taking another person’s life, or if they were from relief. Whatever it was, it felt good to finally release some of the pent up emotion. My hands shook as I lifted them to wipe away the salty tears with the backs of my grubby hands.
“She was a bad person,” I whispered. “She was a bad person.” I swallowed, and breathed through my nose to try and calm myself. “It’s okay, she was one of the rotten apples.” I closed my eyes, replaying everything that had happened over the past twenty four hours. It had been a horrific rollercoaster of a ride. I sat up straight, and once again sucked in a lung full of air.
I heard the sound of footfalls on the gravel drive, and whipped my head around, gun raised, instantly scanning for the next danger to come at me. Three figures walked towards me. I squeezed my eyes shut, swallowing the next well of emotion that pounded through me, breathing deep through my nose again. Chase, River, and Gabe. They were all okay. Realisation hit me that Gabe must not have been a traitor. Visions of seeing Gabe and Chase arguing in the kitchen rose to my memory’s surface, and I knew for sure that he was still on our team. He was just playing a role, one that Chase didn’t like, but they had come for me. I pursed my lips together, and looked through teary-eyed vision down at Carmen.
All of this had been because of her. I had no idea how one woman could wreak so much havoc, but she had. In this moment, I felt a deep sense of remorse for her sweep through me. Carmen had lived a hard life. One that it seemed she hadn’t chosen for herself. I knew that she was going to kill me, but it had been no different from any of her other killings. I was just the last loose end before her ascension into the Santa Muerte Cartel.
I never wanted to be forced into anything I didn’t want to do. I never wanted to let someone else have that sort of power over me.
Arms wrapped around me, and hauled me to my unsteady feet. The scent of Chase’s cologne encircled me. I was safe. I closed my eyes, letting him lead me away from Carmen. We stopped a few paces off, and he lifted my chin, staring into my eyes. “You scared me,” he whispered.
I couldn’t speak. All I could do was slightly shake my head, and stare back at him. His gaze softened and I felt my lip wobble. His arm wrapped around the back on my neck, pulling me towards him. His lips met mine briefly, before he encircled me into his arms, holding me tightly.
This is where I belonged. I found my voice. “Chase,” I whispered. “Don’t ever let me go.”
“I won’t, Mack. No matter what.”
23
I sat staring out the window of the plane, deep in thought about my life, when something hit me. “What about Luke?”
River looked up from some paperwork he was reading, and put it down on his lap as he considered me. “What about him?”
I could see Gabe almost smile as he looked at his brightly lit computer screen, and if I wasn’t so damn tired, that smile would have infuriated me. “I mean – what about Luke?! I don’t want him to die, but Alvarez said that they had him.”
River looked thoughtful for a moment, and nodded “They did have him. But not for long. While we were trying to find you, Chase put in a call to one of his contacts in London. Gabe ran a trace on Luke’s mobile. And between us, they managed to find Luke,” River paused and picked up his paperwork again, looking back down at it.
“But—”
“No, no.” River shook his head keeping his eyes on the document. “Before you ask, Luke’s fine. A bit knocked about, but alive.”
Chase chose that moment to plonk himself down in the seat next to me, and I gave him a tired but relieved smile. “Did I just hear you talking about Luke?”
I nodded, fighting to stop the tears from filling my eyes. I was utterly relieved that Luke was actually okay. I didn’t love him anymore, and I think that in my time of being held captive by Carmen, I had even forgiven him.
I swallowed as Chase’s fingers laced with mine reassuringly. These guys were an amazing group of men.
I wished I could email Elsie and tell her I was on my way home, but that bought up the image of my phone slipping into Paz’s pocket.
“What happened to Paz?” I asked.
“Fish-tank,” Chase whispered.
I pursed my lips and gulped. For some reason, it felt like a fitting end. “I guess I’m going to need a new phone then…”
“Now that all the paperwork’s done, we’ve been paid.” Gabe announced, looking across the table over his computer, causing me to snap my head up in attention. “All except for you, Mack,” he looked pointedly at me.
I was ab
out to utter some sort of expletive at him, when he held up his hand, making me hold my tongue.
“Just hang on a moment.” He smiled. “You will be paid accordingly, but there are a few things to discuss first.” He glanced at River beside him, who gave him a nod. Chase laced his fingers reassuringly between mine.
I wriggled in my seat. “What?”
Gabe cleared his throat. “While you were snoring your head off at the back of the plane before, we had a meeting. A discussion of sorts. You will receive payment for Carmen’s kill, Alvarez’s kill, and Alicio. But here’s the catch.”
I held my breath. Monetary numbers in the millions were stacking up in my head. That was a lot of money. A shitload of money. “What? Carmen? She was never on the hit list.” I squeaked.
Gabe laughed. “She made the Santa Muerte hit list with Javier last night just before she took you. Orders came through while I was waiting in the car for you lot at the warehouse. She would have died anyway, but we thought we would take the opportunity for a payment as well as a rescue mission. That’s why I was there. Two birds, one stone.”
“How much was Carmen?”
“Five million U.S,” River replied. “So was Javier.”
“Anyway…” Gabe sighed “That’s not what we want to talk about.” He looked up at Chase, and threw his hands in the air. “Come on,” he urged impatiently.
Chase squeezed my hand; his eyes glittering with amusement. “We’d like you to join our team,” he said.
“You want me to what?” I looked from River to Gabe, and finally at Chase. “You want me to join your team? …to become an assassin?”
“Yes,” River said quietly. “It’s what we do, and how we make a living … a fairly decent one, might I add.”
I licked my lips, and settled on chewing my bottom lip for a second. There was so much to think about. Chase being in the relationship mix was a completely different kettle of fish. I shrugged. “Are you sure?”
Tijuana Nights (The Nights Series Book 1) Page 23