by Karina Halle
I’m trying not to cry and my breathing is hard and shallow as I contort from the pain, flinching, trying desperately to escape.
But he works fast. Tapes a bandage to the side of my face and when he’s done that, works on my leg, a whole other story. By the time he’s treated my wounds and wrapped me up, I’ve barely been able to get down the dose of antibiotics he gives me, plus the pain killers.
“They are strong,” he says. “They’ll knock you out soon. Believe me, you’ll want it.”
I nod, my eyes are already starting to shut. Not from the pills but from the pain.
“You remind me of someone, you know.” He says this, crouching low at my side, staring off into the room. “My wife. She was a lot like you. Had a lot of fire, yet she was very sweet. Had a soft spot for animals. Always wanting to rescue every stray cat she saw. One year I think we had over ten of them living in our back yard.” He glances up at me, squinting. “I was a cop, you know. I didn’t graduate high school. I got messed up with the wrong crowd, but after my father died and my mother had no one to care for her, I decided to become a cop. It was all I could do.”
He stands up straight, stares down at me. “I was honest for about a year. That’s when I met my wife. We were young, in love. Teenagers, really. Youngest cop on the force. Married when we were legal. Then the temptation to do something on the side was too great. So I started running drugs for one of the local cartels. It was normal, you know. It’s what you did. There was no shame in it. Not really. But my wife hated the idea. Eventually it got caught up with us. Things went wrong. I killed a man in self defense. He deserved it but it didn’t matter. They came for me. They took her. They killed her. I was only nineteen when they did this. Younger than you. They killed her in front of me. They might have well killed me. After that, I was done. With life. With other people’s lives.”
He runs his hand along his jaw, contemplating me. “People, at their core, are inherently bad. Do you know this? Do you know that if someone drops their wallet, and you return it to them, you are rare? Some would say, stupid. Some would say that person’s wallet was a gift from god to you and you should have taken it and the money in it. It’s yours now. It’s not anything to do with survival. It’s self-entitlement, lack of morality. People do this without remorse or guilt. Every single day. People kill, hurt, maim, rape, without remorse or guilt. Every day. You are a good girl Violet, caught in a bad man’s world.” He pauses, reaching over to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I try not to flinch. “My wife was a good girl too. It’s why I was so taken with her. She was one of the last good things in this world. And then they sliced her up from head to toe. Now there is one less good thing left for the rest of us.”
I feel for him. I do. Even in my hazy state, even after all that happened, I feel for him. His words don’t elicit pity, neither does his expression—it never changes. But I can see how he came to be. I understand.
I have to wonder who I will be if I ever survive this.
Will I still be good?
I feel like Violet McQueen has died a thousand deaths already.
“I don’t take pleasure in the pain I cause,” he says to me. “I don’t take pleasure in anything. It’s just that I have only one purpose now and I follow orders. I work for the ones at the top because I am at the top. The best deserve the best. And when someone else shifts into power, I will follow them. I will take their orders. You understand what I’m saying?”
I nod slowly, trying to keep my eyes open.
“I don’t think you do,” he muses. “But you will, senorita. Until then, I am very sorry.”
Sorry?
Before the apology and what it could mean even sinks in, he kicks at the chair and it gives way from under me and I’m falling to the side, my shoulder colliding with the cement floor.
I don’t even have time to scramble, to get up.
He kicks me so I’m on my stomach.
Brings his foot down on my arm.
Stomps.
On my wrist.
Shattering it.
I heart the crunch of a million bones.
I feel the heat of a thousand suns radiate outward.
I howl like a fucking dog about to die.
“Don’t take it personally,” he says to me, his words throbbing with the torrential pain, just before I lose consciousness.
“It’s just business.”
Chapter Eighteen
Ellie
A lot can happen in a short amount of time.
Javier’s compound is three miles away from El Segundo and its passengers, then another mile up into the mountains. According to Ben’s skills as he maps out their route.
This is as far as they get, though, when it all goes down.
As the Challenger roars past a truck stop, just before the entrance to the protected park, another cop car appears.
This one means business.
It’s an open-top SUV with a roll cage, two men in the front seat, armed, two men standing up in the back. Also armed. With very big guns.
Guns that are now firing at them.
“They’re shooting at us!” Ellie yells.
“Thanks for the update,” Camden says, grinding his teeth. He pushes the Challenger forward, but that doesn’t stop the bullets.
Ben grabs his gun from the glove compartment.
Camden eyes him. “Don’t think they won’t blow your arm off if you try anything.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Ben says.
Ellie, meanwhile, is feeling completely helpless in the backseat, as her father probably is too. With no doors, no windows, they’re pretty much trapped and unable to do anything. As Camden concentrates on driving, Ben is their only chance of retaliation.
He manages to get some shots in.
Actually hits one of the guys standing up, who goes flying back into the road.
Ellie nearly cheers, though she knows it’s too early in the game for that.
Never cheer before you know who’s winning.
But the machine guns don’t stop.
Bullets spray everywhere, dinging the back of the Challenger.
Camden continues to maneuver it, weaving in and out of passing cars, trying to lose them.
But unlike the cop car from earlier, this SUV has a big engine and a driver with a greater resolve. Ellie guesses that this is probably a car from Javier’s own crew, and if that’s the case, they won’t stop at anything.
They won’t lose them.
Ben has to take them out.
Or Ellie will.
She leans over the center console, wondering if she can get to Ben and take over.
Gus won’t let her. He grabs the back of her shirt and pulls her back down and gives his daughter the look. The one that says, I’m your father and so don’t you fucking dare.
Just then a shot zips through the back of the car, over their heads, over the center console that Ellie was just trying to climb over, and into the front windshield. It shatters, scattering glass everywhere.
Another bullet blows the back left tire.
The car starts to spin to the right.
Camden’s hands work fast, knowing how to handle the spin, to correct it.
But even so.
The bullets are flying.
The angle of the car to the SUV is almost perpendicular.
Bullets smash into the window.
Smash into Camden.
It happens too fast.
He grunts from the bullet wounds, lets go of the wheel and the car spins again.
Ben nearly falls out his window.
Ellie lunges forward to grab the wheel from Camden.
Gus manages to grab Ben’s legs.
Ben hangs there, alongside the door, twisting at the waist to keep firing at the SUV.
Getting the driver in the head.
The SUV goes off the road in one direction.
El Segundo is about to go off the road in the other direction.
Ellie yells as sh
e tries to hold the wheel, her husband slumped over in his seat, but still alive, still breathing. That’s enough to give her the strength to try and hold on.
But it’s not enough.
The car careens off the side of the road, slamming through the brush and then down an embankment, branches slapping the vehicle until it slams to a stop, the hood bent around a tree.
Silence fills the car along with the hiss of the engine.
It takes Ellie a few moments to realize what has happened.
She blinks, her head spinning, finding herself lying across the center console, half in the passenger seat where Ben was.
Ben is gone.
She gasps, easing herself up to look at Camden.
He’s unconscious, slumped over the steering wheel.
For a terrifying second she’s afraid she’s lost him
Her moon and her sun.
The love of her life.
With a shaking hand she checks for his pulse.
Heart is still beating.
Oh thank god.
She looks behind her at her father. He’s fallen over to the side, bleeding from his head, but stirring, moaning softly in pain. Alive.
Which leaves…
Ben.
She turns around, staring out the shattered back window. Sees the cleared path where the car flattened the foliage on the way down.
Doesn’t see Ben.
“Ben,” she cries out but the words die in her throat. “Ben.”
She crawls over the console, into his seat. Opens the door. Climbs out.
Falls to the ground, her legs shaking.
She forces herself to get back up, to push the accident behind her.
She has to find Ben.
She runs up the hill, tripping over roots and broken branches.
Oh Ben, Ben, please be okay. Please be okay.
“Mom,” a voice cries out.
He’s alive.
And he just called her mom, after everything.
He still calls her mom.
“Ben,” she calls out just as he stumbles out from behind a tree.
His shirt is torn, he has dirt all over him and a gash on his head, but he’s otherwise looking no worse for wear.
She cries in relief and then runs over, throwing her arms around him.
“Thank god,” she says, wishing she could hold him forever. “I saw you were gone, I thought the worse.”
“Don’t worry about me, mom,” he says. “Dad was shot.”
“I know, I know,” she says softly, turning around and hurrying back down the hill with him.
Gus is now out of the car and at the open driver’s door, crouched beside Camden, who is sprawled back against the seat, head lolling to the side, eyes closed.
An absolute wreck.
“How is he?” Ellie’s at his side down, running her hand down Camden’s face. His forehead is split open from the steering wheel, blood in his eyes, his arm and shoulder bleeding from their own bullet wounds. “Oh god, come on baby,” she says to him, hoping he’ll open his eyes.
“The cut looks worse than it is,” Gus says. “It’s already starting to dry up.” He glances up at Ben. “Where did your gun go?”
“I don’t know, I guess I dropped it when you let go of me.”
Gus mumbles something under his breath. “Get another one from the trunk. If we didn’t get all those cops and if their own crash didn’t kill them, they’ll be looking for us at any moment.” While Ben does that, Gus looks to Ellie. “Camden will pull through. We’ve been in this exact same situation before.”
“Yeah. In Mexico. And you took him to a vet.”
“I’m afraid that won’t cut it this time,” Gus says. “He’ll have to go to the hospital in Mazatlan. One bullet wounds would have been pushing his luck. He has two.”
“No. We have to go after Violet,” Ellie says, shaking her head. “We have to keep going.”
“Ellie,” Gus says slowly. “Look. Your husband isn’t going anywhere except to the emergency room. I’ll flag a car on the highway, someone will take you there if we offer enough money.”
“Me? Dad, I want to be with Camden but I have to go for our daughter.”
“I’ll go for her.”
“Like hell you will.”
“Who is the ex-cop here, Ellie?”
“Who will kill you on sight?”
“And you think he won’t do the same to you?”
“Dad, earlier you said that Violet was bait, that Javier wants me.”
“That was when it was the four of us going in. We can’t leave Camden alone and he’s not going anywhere.”
“I’ll go,” Ben says, shutting the trunk, sticking one gun into the waistband of his pants, while he holds another. “Grandpa you take Dad to the hospital. I’ll go with mom.”
“Ben,” she says but stops herself from going on. Because as much as she hates the idea of him coming with her, she needs him and everyone knows it. There’s only two people who are crucial to this game plan, and that’s Ellie and her son. She can get into the compound without being killed. He can keep her alive after that.
“Fuck that,” Camden says roughly.
Ellie looks down in surprise and sees him staring up at her, awake now.
Fury in his dazed blue eyes.
“I’m fine,” he says, trying to get up and out of the car. Trying not to wince and whimper from the pain.
Gus grabs Camden’s good arm, puts it around him, helping him to his feet. “Keep on kidding yourself, boy. We’re getting you help.”
“Fuck,” he yells, face growing red with anger. “I’m not going without my daughter!” He looks at Ellie. “And you’re not going without me. Okay? We do this together. We do this as we always have, you and me. Ellie, please. Please. I’m okay. I can get fixed up and we’ll stick to the plan. I’m not letting this get in the way. I can’t let this get in the way.”
“Dad,” Ben says, coming over to him and putting his hand on his good shoulder, peering at him closely. “I know you want to get Violet back. I know you don’t want to let mom go. But I will protect her, okay? She can’t do this without me and you can’t help the way you are, so this is just the way it is. Gus will take care of you. I’ll take care of mom. And we’ll get Violet back. I promise.”
Camden doesn’t back down. He won’t.
There is no easy way out of this.
Ben goes around to passenger seat and pulls out his backpack, putting it on. “Mom. We can walk there from here. It will take us until dark but we have to wait until dark anyway for this to work.”
“Ben, no,” Camden says, wiping the blood from his eyes. “Ellie. Just… fuck.”
“Your son is right,” Gus says.
Ellie knows that her husband won’t accept it. And if anything were to happen to any of them, he would only blame himself. That’s the last thing she wants.
But the longer they stand here in the jungle by the wreck of El Segundo, Camden shot and bleeding, the less chance they have to get Violet back.
Secretly, Ellie is relieved that Ben is taking charge. It takes the pressure off of her and she doesn’t trust herself right now, her emotions are too high with all that’s happening. And if Camden has to stay behind, then Camden is safe. Javier has never met Ben, he doesn’t know what Ben is capable of. Javier and Camden, however, know each other very well, right down to their fighting styles.
It’s the right thing to do.
But they have to leave now.
Ellie looks at Gus. She doesn’t have to make him promise to take care of her husband. He loves Camden like a son. He will.
“Dad,” she says softly and he pulls her into a hug.
“Take care of them,” he says to her, kissing her cheek. “But please promise to take care of yourself.”
“I can’t do one without the other,” she says, putting her palm at his cheek as she pulls away, so grateful to have a father like him, even if she found him later in life.
Then she looks
at her husband and the world slows, as it sometimes does when she’s around him. The earth pauses on its axis to let their love shine.
“I’ll be back,” she tells him, running her fingers through his hair, damp with blood. “I promise you I’ll be back and I’ll have her.”
“Ellie, baby, please,” Camden whimpers. “Don’t do this. Don’t go.”
She stares into his eyes, pleading with him. “You know I have to. You know I do.”
He wants to keep fighting this but it’s a losing battle.
He shakes his head. “I love you, Ellie.”
“I love you too,” she says, kissing him soft, then hard, and long and wet, passionate enough to make both her father and son look away, clearing their throats in embarrassment.
Then she pulls away and looks into his eyes and knows he’s going to be okay.
Ben hugs his father, gently. “I’ve got her dad. Don’t worry.”
Camden tries to smile but fails.
Ben hugs Gus. “Keep out of trouble you two. I’ve got a long walk ahead of me and I’m hoping mom will fill me in on all the stories I’ve missed out on growing up. Pretty sure it will only make me worry about you more, but, hey.”
Gus gives Ellie a warning look. “Don’t tell him everything, Ellie. You gotta keep some mystery.”
Ellie nods, feigns a smile, her heart heavier than it’s ever been.
Then she and Ben turn and walk off into the jungle.
Heading straight for the tiger’s den.
Chapter Nineteen
Vicente
I could hear Violet’s screams.
Even from the basement.
The first time I heard them, I tried to kick down my door.
The second time, I threw my TV at the window.
The third time, I put my fist in the wall.
Mercifully they stopped after that.
There was nothing left for me to destroy.
My father wants to break me. In his deluded, fucked-up way of thinking, he thinks this will make me a better leader. It will make me the kind of crazy ruthless man he needs to take over his business.
My mother, despite her misgivings, thinks along the same lines. Afraid to go against him, or maybe she really does agree with him.