Only in our fucked up little world would that be the right thing to do.
I couldn’t sleep after that. Neither could she. We decided to wait until morning to wake up Diego and Evaristo and fill them in, so the two of us went into the kitchen, brewed a giant pot of coffee, good coffee, and sat at the kitchen table, going over maps and Google Earth images. It was all we could do now that we didn’t have access to the federales information, but it helped.
I had to admit, it was kind of romantic. Her and I drinking coffee, the waves crashing outside, the world dark and sleeping, while we planned the murder and torture of Esteban Mendoza. I might have been falling in love with her all over again. Something about that relentless fire in her eyes.
Of course the more we talked, the more I stared at her and fell for her, the more I needed to be inside her again to claim her as mine once more. I understood why she couldn’t stand for me to touch her in such a way and it crippled me to the bones. Because she was mine. Just mine. Always mine.
I hadn’t been denied much in my life but Esteban was still denying her from fully belonging to me. But I had no choice but to suck up that rage, let it fester bitterly inside, and unleash it on him later. Our plans got more and more in-depth as the night slinked off into morning.
When Diego stirred and Evaristo came by for his morning debrief, the both of us were pumped up with bloodlust. Our bags were packed, knives were sharp and we were ready to go fuck shit up.
It didn’t take long before we got the army up to speed. They were like a bunch of caged animals, nearly foaming at the mouth once they realized they finally had the chance to run free again. After seeing them in action before, I had no doubt that they were going to lose their minds during the ambush, but my only rule again and again was that no one was to touch Esteban except for me or Luisa.
The drive to the park took seven hours, our convoys crossing the border into Honduras with no problems. With a fake priest – Father fucking Armando – in the car and our false passports, we were undetected. I did a lot of business in Honduras but with me on the most wanted list all over again, you never knew where the federales or even the DEA were or who was on what payroll.
“Did you know there’s a town called San Esteban near where we’re going?” Luisa asked from beside me, studying a map.
“Must be fate,” I remarked, adjusting my bullet-proof vest. I’d made sure we all had them on. It saved my life last time I was there.
We didn’t end up going as far as San Esteban, but we did drive into a rural town bordered by steep terrain laced with thick vegetation. Just on the outskirts was an abandoned barn that I had used once before to hide our vehicles. The field around also made for a great helicopter landing sight, if we were lucky enough to return that way. If we didn’t, then it would be a long hike back, though at least we’d be heading downhill.
After we parked the SUVs in the barn, I gave everyone a run down about the trail and the property and what to expect. We were a motley crew but at least we all had blood and vengeance on our minds. While the dust motes danced around in the barn, lit up by the setting sun, I had flashbacks to the last time I was there, when I had another motley crew of my own, bound by another form of revenge. Funny how life could come full circle like that.
Thank god I didn’t have to deal with any gringos this time around. They were only good for ruining things and maybe a good fuck.
When we were ready, armed with packs and ammo, we set off down the long dirt road until we approached the outskirts of the Sierra de Agalta national park. I led them into the forest, Diego behind me, then Luisa and Evaristo, Paolo at the end and all the crazy fuckers in between.
It was a long, laborious climb into the night, with only small flashlights shining the way. Even without the sun, it was hot as fuck, the thick canopy seeming to keep in the heat. Sweat poured down my face that I didn’t bother to wipe away. Every so often I would ask if Luisa was okay and she always said she was. She wouldn’t let me think for a second that she was tired or needed a rest.
Still, I knew she was stubborn and made sure we stopped often enough, even though it made everyone more restless and anxious, including me.
Finally at around one am, we came across a small clearing beneath a few banyan trees and decided we should rest for the night. Just a few hours – none of us would be able to perform our best if we didn’t have some sleep.
There was only one sleeping bag between Luisa and I and even though I had so much anticipation thrumming through my veins and needed to get off something fierce, I knew it was best if I didn’t share it with her. She would balk at my touch and I wouldn’t be able to stop touching her once I started.
“Take it,” I told her, leaning up right against the tree while she spread it out on the leaf-covered forest floor.
She didn’t argue. “Are you sure you’re all right sleeping like that?”
I nodded. “I probably won’t sleep anyway. I’ll be watching over you.”
She gave me a small smile and crawled into the bag. True to my word I did stay up most of the night, sharping my knives and stabbing any large bugs or reptiles that came our way. It was satisfying to pin the snakes to the ground, even more so when I pretended they were Este.
We set out again just before dawn, walking faster and faster the closer we came. Finally the jungle seemed to glow, the trees opened up, and the outer wall of the compound appeared, spotlights shining from the top of the wall.
“You must rack up quite the power bill out here,” Luisa said but I immediately put my finger to my mouth to shush her. This was the last chance we had to go over everything before we were too close to the house and within earshot. I didn’t know who was here, let alone if Esteban was here at all, but we couldn’t be too careful, not now.
I quickly went over the plan again. Similar to the raid on the compound in Sinaloa, we would all split up, with Diego, Luisa and I going in from the back while the rest flushed Esteban out. There were no tunnels here, so there was no place for him to go but the jungle, with the easiest route heading back from the pool and pool house.
That’s where we would be waiting.
“Good luck,” Evaristo said, shaking my hand.
I grinned at him. “Thanks, father.”
He rolled his eyes and then took off with the rest of them along the wall, heading north. Luisa, Diego and I turned and ran along it to the south. Once we came along a tree that would be easy to climb, I swung myself up there until I dropped onto the wall, Diego and Luisa staying below.
Flattening myself, I brought out my binoculars and took it all in.
Travis’s old complex was larger than I remembered. The pretentious asshole had it built in the same style as a French estate and had been terribly out of place at the time. Now, since the property had come under my possession and I hadn’t been here in many years, it was looking more natural, like it belonged. The jungle had reclaimed it and vines had begun to grow up the sides of the sprawling house, resembling an ancient relic instead of the palace it once was.
The pool was black with stagnant water and leaves, the pool house was gone, collapsed under the weight of vines. A helicopter sat on the landing pad but I couldn’t be sure if it would start or not. After I’d taken over Travis’s cartel – albeit briefly, before his loyalists splintered off and formed a new version of the Zetas – I’d only stayed up here for a few months. I’d come and go into Mexico all the time but it was the only place I felt secure enough to start building a new empire.
Everything was pretty much as I had left it, which made me smile because if the outside looked this bad, this inside had to be pretty disgusting. I wondered how Esteban liked it, holing up inside a rotting palace filled with shit, mold and snakes.
Because, now I knew for sure he was there. In fact, I could see him right through my binoculars. He was in the kitchen, staring out the window at nothing, a cup of something, coffee maybe, in hand. For a moment he almost looked human, but I knew I shouldn’t be foole
d. That was the man who betrayed me. The man who killed my sister. The man who made my own wife flinch whenever I touched her.
That was the man I was finally going to kill.
I gripped the binoculars hard in my hands, trying to calm my heart and stop myself from just rolling off the wall and sprinting toward him, guns a blazing. But I was too far away and I knew one of his men would try and pick me off by then. I could already see two of them patrolling the outside, one with an AK in his hands, the other with what looked like a sledgehammer. I had no idea what he expected to do with that if someone approached (throw it?) but I knew if I could get my hands on it, I would have a lot of fun, especially if it were between me and Esteban.
I jumped back down the other side of the wall between Diego and Luisa. “He’s there,” I told them. “We need to keep moving and come up the back. He’s got a patrol set-up.”
Luisa’s eyes flashed beautifully. “Did you really see him?”
I gave her a nod. “In the ugly flesh.”
She gave me a vicious little grin but didn’t say anything else. She didn’t need to.
We ran along the wall until it curved to the west and then used another tree to get ourselves over the wall. Luisa was more difficult because of her shoulder but she managed to do it, grinding her teeth from the pain.
The back of the property provided the most coverage and was pretty much a tangled forest between the wall and the pool. We slid through it, going from tree to tree as we moved forward, making sure to stay as hidden as possible. We all had guns, which was a good and bad thing. Good because we’d be protected, bad because the sight of Luisa holding one always made my cock hard as concrete. She knew this too, which is probably why she was avoiding looking at me. It was as distracting as sin during a time I didn’t need any distractions.
When we got to the last shrub that offered a bit of coverage between us and the house, I told Diego that as soon as we heard the ambush begin, he would run straight ahead and start picking off any of the patrollers. Meanwhile, Luisa and I would head for the helicopter.
“How do you know if it even works, it’s a pile of rust,” Luisa whispered as we all kept crouched down.
“It doesn’t matter if it works or not. Esteban is a chickenshit. That’s the first place he’ll head. And that’s where we’ll be waiting.”
Suddenly the air erupted into gunfire. It was bedlam at the house.
It was time to go.
Diego nodded at me then leaped out from around the bush and took off toward the mansion. I cautiously poked my head over the leaves and watched him go, shooting as he ran at a few of Esteban’s soldiers who were spraying bullets into the air. Diego was one of the best marksmen and he took them down without missing a stride.
“Okay, now,” I told Luisa, grabbing her by her good arm and hauling her up. We ran alongside the filthy pool, curving toward the helicopter, while the house lit up like sparklers, a cacophony of gunfire and screams. I knew Evaristo and my army were doing their job, I just hoped it would be enough to drive Esteban out of the house and to supposed safety.
Then Luisa tripped, fell, nearly taking me down with her as she landed on the grass. She cried out and I went back for her, bringing her to her feet.
Just in time to hear something land near us with a dull thump.
Roll toward us.
I whipped around to see a grenade at our feet.
No pin.
“Run!” I yelled at Luisa, covering her with my body and turning us away. We ran for the trees again but didn’t get far enough.
The grenade went off, a blast that tore through my ears, filling my vision with fire and stars. It ripped Luisa out of my grip, sending me flying forward in the air until I landed in a heap at the base of the same bush we came from.
I lay there for a few moments, unsure if I was alive or dead. I couldn’t hear. I tried to get up to my feet, wondering if I even had feet anymore. I did but they didn’t work. I fell back down.
Luisa.
Luisa.
I managed to roll over and lift myself back onto my elbows.
The world spinned and I couldn’t see her anywhere. There was smoke and flames licking the grass from where the grenade went off. My head felt like a million of them were still exploding inside.
Luisa!
But I couldn’t scream. I staggered to my feet, weaving forward, until I saw her.
She was floating face down in the pool.
I didn’t know where that grenade had come from, who threw it and if there were any more but I didn’t care. I jumped right into the thick, black water and swam for her. Halfway across the pond, just out of arm’s reach, my feet tangled in weeds and branches, trying to pull me down and my body, so tired, so nearly decimated by the blast, wanted me to just give up.
I couldn’t protect her before but I would die trying to protect her now.
I started kicking, propelling myself forward until I was free. I reached Luisa, quickly turning her over and trying to clear leaves from her mouth.
“Luisa,” I croaked quietly, my voice almost absent.
She didn’t stir.
And bullets rained from above.
Son of a bitch.
I grabbed hold of her and swam her to the edge, hauling us out of the pool with what strength I had left. Every now and then I’d aim my gun and shoot at the dark figures in the distance, not caring anymore whose side they were on.
Once out of the pool, I threw her up over my shoulder, her body heavy from the water, and ran for the chopper. Inside, the helicopter body rusted and covered with weeds, I brought her to the backseats, placed her on them and started giving her CPR.
“Come on,” I said to her, tapping her cheek quickly, listening for breath. “Come on my queen. Don’t die on me now, not after all this. You’re so close.” I breathed into her again, then tore off her bullet proof vest and started pumping at her heart. “You’re so close.”
“Not close enough,” a voice said.
I closed my eyes, trying to absorb the fucking fury of it all.
I slowly turned around to see Esteban pointing a gun at me.
“Jesus,” I exclaimed, unable to help myself. “You look like fucking ass.”
For one thing he had no eyeball. Luisa really fucked him up that way. It was just a bloody hole of pink and black tissue. His hair was falling out, with huge bald patches everywhere. He was the ugliest motherfucker I’d ever seen, inside and out.
Part of me wanted to laugh, but I wasn’t about to provoke him, not with Luisa not breathing beside me. Also, there really was nothing funny about the situation whatsoever.
Still, he wasn’t easy to look at.
“Put your hands up,” he said, gesturing with the gun.
I frowned at him. “Put your hands up? You’ve been watching too many American cop shows, puta.”
He stomped forward so the gun was just inches from my face. I stared down the barrel and then raised my brow. He wasn’t going to shoot me, not yet. He had a speech prepared, he wouldn’t let me die without me hearing about all the different ways I was about to die. I knew this because I had planned on doing the same with him.
But I needed to get Luisa to start breathing again. Time was running out to a point where I wouldn’t be able to bring her back.
Don’t think about it, I told myself. Get around the situation.
But the situation said the two of us were fucked right up the ass, which was usually my favorite thing but not this time. No, definitely not this time.
I breathed in deep through my nose.
“So let’s hear it then,” I said. “Or can I at least save my wife so she can hear whatever bullshit it is you’re about to spew.”
“I don’t have much to say, so let her stay dead,” he said with a nasty smirk. He quickly rubbed underneath his nose and stared down at me with one bloodshot eye. “She was a feisty little cunt, I’ll tell you that. But nowhere near the finest pussy I’ve ever had. Maybe even overrated. Gave it up
a little too easily. A little too loose, to be honest. I hope you’ve been keeping that whore on a leash because there’s no way your small dick could have stretched her out like that.”
I swallowed the bile in my throat, every nerve inside me rattling like a beast in a cage, wanting to unleash. But the gun was pressed against my nose and even though I knew he’d lost some depth perception with that missing eye, he wouldn’t miss blowing my brains out if he pulled the trigger.
“But no,” he said, “other than that I don’t have much to say. I don’t believe in buying you anymore time. You got this far Javier, but you didn’t get all the way to the end.”
“You’re not going to torture me at all?” I asked, my eyes boring into his. “That doesn’t sound like you.”
He shrugged. “I’m a busy man, hey. Seeing you finally fucking die will be good enough for me. Seeing your ugly puta already dead beside you is just icing on the cake.” He sniffed hard through his nose. The guy was high as a kite. No wonder he just wanted to get this over with.
“So you’re saying you don’t want me to suck your dick?” I asked.
He blinked at me. “What?”
Suddenly Luisa wheezed loudly from beside me, taking in air, coming alive.
It was enough to startle Esteban.
It was enough for me to take advantage and knock his hand out of my face.
He pulled the trigger but it was too late for him, the bullet went whizzing into the side of the chopper and I leaped on him, forcing us both to the floor where we rolled toward the doors. For a moment he was on top, then I was on top, trying to hold him down and keep the gun from firing again. I was strong but he was on one hell of a cocaine high, which meant his adrenaline was on overdrive.
Then Luisa was above us both, gun in her hand, trained at Esteban’s face.
“Do it!” I yelled at her, my arms straining to keep him down, sweat dripping off my face and on to his.
“We’re doing it my way,” she said, voice hoarse, then aimed the gun at his legs. “Get out of the way, Javi.”