“Dace, is that really you?” she says, looking up at me through the fallen strands of her hair.
“Yes, we came back to rescue you and your father.” I smile, quickly assessing the locks holding her hostage.
“The keys. They are in the box outside the door,” Nidia says with hope in her eyes. Nate volunteers and grabs the keys to hand to me so I can release her from her captivity, finally.
When the chains fall off of her, I smile. “Let’s get you back home.”
“But, Dace, this is my home,” she says oddly.
“What?” I ask as I begin to hear screams and confusion over my ear piece.
“Abort! Abort it’s a setup!” Leandra screams at us all.
The moment I turn toward Nidia, I see the sudden evil awaken within her eyes, and she stabs me with a syringe. “All this because I was bored and I wanted a sex slave myself and who better than you, the one that turned me down. I don’t like people to say no to me, Dace.” My body begins to go weak, and I fall to my knees as I watch my crew being overrun, killed, or forced out to who knows where. Nate is screaming at me as he is being taken away, but I begin to lose focus and can’t make out his words clearly enough to respond.
“They are all taken care of, Ms. Luis. Do you need me to handle anything else for you?”
“No, I’m good for now. Leave me alone with my new lover. I want to get reacquainted.” Collapsing fully to the floor, I try to shake off the dizzying feelings. “Oh, my poor dear. Let’s get you out of these horrible clothes and into your proper uniform and chains. I have a lot of plans for us.”
“You are going to have to kill me. I want nothing to do with you.” I manage to say through the dizzying effect of the drug she gave me.
“Oh, still the honorable, defiant one? I missed that. Do you know how hard it was to find you? Not knowing anything about you people—no last names, no understanding of where you come from. It was nearly impossible. The only thing I could think of was to hire you again, and of course, I had to have faith that you would be unable to let go of your past failure. Sure enough, you people came running to right your wrong. And right into my hands, maybe arms, depending on my mood. Right now, I could use some.” She rubs her hand down my pants.
“Fuck you, bitch…”
“Hmmm, well no problem. My father has created a new drug we have been wanting to try. It makes people wild with desire and blind to anything but satisfying their sexual needs. It will be nice to try it out and see how much fucking it will allow in one session. With a stud like you, I might have to bring in some extras for you to fuck. I’m not sure my pussy can handle you for too long. Cheer up, my slave. I will take good care of you, even better so than I did that moron Guzman, who is sitting at the bottom of the sea at this moment. I grew tired of him. I thought people would respect my organization more if they thought a man was in charge, but he was such an idiot that they kept thinking they could challenge us. So, I finally had to string up a few people and cast away my so-called partner.”
“You killed your own sister.” I mumble, finally realizing why she went home. She set us up from the beginning. Damn. Damn, Austin, I’m sorry.
By the time I start to focus again, I am in chains and little else. The balcony doors are wide open and give me easy access outside of this room, if only I can break free from these damn chains. Breaking locks is one of my specialties, even these ancient ones. All I need is some kind of tool. I search the room for anything that may prove itself useful. My eyes wander upwards and a smirk creases my face. The hanging artwork has everything I need to break free. Taking it down, however, is not as easy, as usual. I can barely reach it with one hand, and one handed is not going to be easy without alerting anyone. It takes some time, and I have to take several breaks to shake off my still dizzy head. With one last, calming breath, I work the hanging device away from the wall. After I get what I need, it takes less than a minute before I am able to completely free myself. I don’t care for this outfit, or lack thereof, much, so I grab my pants and put them back on. If I die, I want to die with my pants on at least. I carefully approach the balcony, making sure to spot the guards’ locations before searching for a way out. None of them seem to be concerned about me here. They continue to chat and yuck it up while watching some horses screw. So no problem, until I realize that the balcony is located over a canyon. No wonder the guards couldn’t care less about watching me. I have no fucking where to go from here but out the door I came in. Alright, so that’s the plan then, because I will be damned if I am staying here. I allow myself a few moments to clear my head and get my adrenalin pumping before busting through the door, taking out the guard, and stealing his gun. I get myself together again and move strategically through the house. I get halfway through before I have to shoot someone. I was hoping to get out without firing a shot as gunfire pretty solidifies the fact that I will not get out undetected. As expected, an entourage of men come my way. I run and jump behind some furniture as they fire at me.
“Don’t you kill him! And stop shooting up my house!” Nidia, the fucking psycho bitch, yells. If she is going to forbid them from shooting me, then I am going to take advantage. I rush out the door and run towards a car. “Dace! If you try and leave, I will let them shoot you.” I glance over my shoulder at the five men aiming their guns at me. My mind races to do quick math to determine the probability of five men missing me completely while I run the remaining ten feet to the car I need to escape in. If, for some reason against all odds I make it, I must also account for the chance that they will not be able to destroy the car before I can get away. Things aren’t looking good. But, my chances didn’t come out to zero, so what the hell?! I am going to bet she won’t let them shoot me, so I figure it’s best to try. I start to run, and the bullets fly. By the time I slide under the car for safety I look back and see Nidia running inside and her five men dead on the ground. I’m not sure who is attacking Nidia, but I doubt they care about me, so I stay put under the car, waiting for the onslaught of an army to come rushing into the compound, except they never do. I slowly move out from under the car and climb inside to find the keys waiting for me. I drive away from the main house only to catch sight of some of my crew being pushed out into the open and down onto their knees. One is shot immediately. They hold a gun to another’s head and call out to me. I turn around and stop the car, staring at Leandra as she curses the men behind her.
“Get out of the car!” they yell. “Or she dies right here.” I step out with my hands up, and they surround me and take me back to Nidia who is clearly on edge.
“Problem?” I ask with a smartass smile.
“Who was that firing on us?”
“I don’t know. Another one of your boyfriends, I imagine. He’s clearly unhappy with your last date.”
She meets me face to face. “Your humor is not the part of you I like.”
“Too bad it’s all you … are getting.”
She cocks her head with a forced smile. “Will see about that. Bring in the syringe and shoot him up. When you finish, put him in my bedroom. I’m in the mood to fuck that smartass look right off his face.”
A man comes from behind two guards with a syringe. “I am going to need him held down. I doubt I can get this into him on my own.” The guards come at me, but I fight them off as best I can. More and more jump in to help until they get my arm pinned down. I strain to pull away as the syringe man comes at me. “This won’t hurt a bit if you’ll just be still for a second. Then, you will have a will to fuck anything that moves.” The fuck has the nerve to smile at me like a crazed killer. I make one last attempt to move away and succeed with the help of someone shooting Syringe Fuck in the head, along with a couple of the other guards. I move away from the window as the other guards lose interest in me and search for the shooter.
“Who the fuck is doing this?!” Nidia yells as I am escorted back to my room. I begin to smile when I realize whoever has opened fire is purposely missing me, and I only know a couple p
eople that would go to that much trouble.
As I pass by Nidia, I look at the woman and laugh, “You’re so fucked.” Her snarl is more than enjoyable.
Chapter 7
Austin
Something is wrong. I know it! We haven’t heard from them in three days. The part of the crew that stayed behind has decided to have a vote on whether or not they should go in search of them, wait it out a few more days, or disband forever. For some reason, Antony and I were not invited to the meeting, so we barge in with demands. “We are going with or without you cowards. I’m taking supplies and the gay man with me. If you want to come, grow a pair. Otherwise, run like the pussies you are.”
“Yeah, what she said.” Antony follows forcefully while I stomp my way into the supply room to suit up and get what we need to do this job. “You know, when this is over, I am going to need to tell this story in a way that makes it seems like I barged in first and said something cool.” I squint my eyes at him and shake my head. “Oh come on, I never get to say anything cool.”
The meeting didn’t go quite like they had planned, and they didn’t even consider stopping me from taking their gear. Eventually, five decide to come with us, and the rest take what’s theirs and go out on their own. Considering the amount that went in and have clearly been compromised, the seven of us don’t stand much of a chance. Doesn’t matter though. I won’t let my happiness die because of some failed mission. Dace is still alive, and I am going to get him back so we can get our lives back like he promised me.
The only thing we don’t have is a pilot since he went with the first crew. We luck out with a plane that happens to be available and a pilot who has no problem lying about its cargo, which relieves us of both passport issue and weapons transport issues. When we land, he gives me a map along with some locals that may have useful information. I would have thought he was flirting with me if he hadn’t been so straightforward about the information and neglected to give me a name or number to reach him. The man disappeared as fast as he appeared. Either he is the worst flirt ever or some kind of angel sent to help us. I am dead, so it’s about time I see an angel.
As far as the lost crew, we know where they went and who their target was, but that’s about it. They kept their plan and point of return to themselves. We can only assume that wherever they were holed up and keeping their equipment must have been taken by Guzman or whoever has them. I do my best to think like Dace and find a hotel that recognizes them. My Spanish is rusty, but luckily, Antony is a little more up to date. He finds out that the few remaining in the rooms were overrun and the others never returned. They won’t tell us much else except to go away and let it go. They are scared and not the least bit interested in talking to us. Our next step is to find out where Guzman lives, and the answer comes in the form of a local prostitute who is kind enough to show us the way for some cash and a ride out of town.
Our surveillance of the Guzman compound reveals that Guzman is nowhere to be found. Strange, but even stranger is that the person in charge seems to be a female. From what Dace told me, she resembles the woman they were supposed to rescue. It doesn’t take me long to put the details of the puzzle together, but once I do, I’m not only angry, I’m ready to destroy.
“They were set up by the woman they came to help.” Antony swears under his breath.
“Yep, and now we have to figure out how to turn the tables on them.”
“Okay, so how are we going to do that? We have seven people against …” He turns around and begins counting. “One, two, three, seven, nine, twenty … errr.” He turns back to me. “A lot of fucking people. They have a lot of fucking people with guns. We got mad skills, but like Dace says, we can’t stop bullets. And they got a lot of them.”
“You know that saying, ‘my enemies’ enemies, are my friends’? Well, we are about to make some new friends.”
“But I don’t need new friends. Austin, are you listening to me? Enemies? Friends? No, that sounds bad.”
It wasn’t too hard to figure out the identity of Nidia’s biggest competitor. Thiago Fonseca is a popular name in the next town. He likes to seek appreciation where he lives, and he gets it in his town by giving to them and taking from others. This man is not one to put up with anything less than what he wants, but from what the locals tell me, Nidia has made his life a living hell lately and is moving in on his territory. The hatred between them escalates by the day. Recently, Nidia has attacked one of Fonseca’s offsite homes, his brother’s residence. They killed his brother and his entire family in, what she believes to be, retaliation for a hit on her own home. Fonseca had just returned from attending their funerals when I showed up to offer him an opportunity.
He seems like the perfect partner, only we need to convince him to be our associate and not our captor. I decide the best way to convince him of that is to dazzle him with our skills. The layout of his compound is fairly easy, typical security guards at all necessary points around the perimeter, cameras, dogs, and gates with voltages high enough to strike any would-be trespassers dead in an instant. All I need to do is to get in. I study the place closely and watch for an opportunity. It needs to be unexpected and precise, leaving an opening to retreat with ease. When a truck pulls up to the gate, I see it as my chance and go. In this case, there isn’t much time to think. I have to take what I can get, and with Dace’s life on the line, no one or nothing is stopping me. Antony and the others stay behind just in case I don’t make it out, but outside of Antony, the rest are itching to run and forget the whole thing.
Antony’s last words to me were, “Bitch you better fucking come back or we’re fucked.” Inspirational to say the least. Diving into the back of the truck, I smuggle myself into the compound and jump out the moment it stops. After making my way inside, Antony comes in clear on my ear piece and doesn’t waste time with small talk. “Take a right once inside. That pathway is clear. Now, go down until you get to the next opening. Wait until I tell you and then run past the opening and to the third door on the left.” I wait until … “Go.” Dashing past the opening, I don’t bother to look at the guards walking in the opposite direction. I head straight for the door and burst into an office. Caught off guard by the sheer magnificence, I stand in awe. Stunned by the Egyptian king sort of absurdity, I have never seen such ludicrous décor in my life. I don’t have time to redecorate the place, unfortunately, so I redirect my attention and go for the man’s laptop. He’s smart enough to put a password lock on it but not smart enough to make it to something I can’t figure out from reading up on his typical pastimes and hobbies. Once in, I dive directly past his hard drive and into the security system mainframe. I download a virus to be released within minutes after I leave. The malware is debilitating; however, it can be clearly followed back to its origin—his own computer where he will find a message I left on his screen for him.
“I’m done, Antony. Now get me out of here” I say clearly, anxious to get back to safety.
“You are clear to move.” The moment he clears me, I am out the door, past the clearing, and down the corridor to the door I entered from. The truck is being loaded with sacks of trash. I am not anxious to get back in there now, but that’s the plan. Unfortunately, rotting food and rancid stenches do not constitute life or death. So, I’m going in. Once the trash collectors get back in the cab, I rush to the back and jump in with all the trash. I stay hidden until the truck stops and waits for the gate open. The engine begins to stutter as the truck inches forward. I jump out and hold still as it lurches ahead and clears the gate. Two guards notice me, but not before I set smoke bombs off in their guard house. Before I waltz through the front gates, I blow a kiss to the camera watching me leave. He needs to know who just fucked him; I need him to recognize me later.
I reach Antony, and he doesn’t look at all happy. “What’s wrong? It worked.”
“You got out and posed for the camera? Really? What the hell are you doing?”
“Antony, everyone knows the first rule to m
aking friends is to make sure you leave them with a good first impression.”
“Sure, now he knows exactly who to kill. Good work,” he mumbles as if I can’t hear him.
My new angry friend wastes no time meeting me at the address I left on his computer. I guess he wants his system back up and running. The virus I implanted is a wicked bitch to try and eliminate. Fonseca shows up with guards galore. They surround the restaurant, but only two guards walk in, clearing the rooms of any security threats. Once they are satisfied, Fonseca walks in, and we lock the door behind, eliminating his option to call for back up.