by Karina Halle
If you want to live you’ll do as I say. “Who are you?” I asked incredulously. He sounded like an action hero. My life just turned into an action film. None of this could be real. This couldn’t be real.
But I had said that about my parents, Violetta and Beatriz, too.
“An ex-solider. And I want answers from you.”
“What answers? Derrin, I told you everything I know. I don’t know who those men were. I never saw them before. I don’t know why they want to kill me.”
“How did your sisters die?”
I felt sick. “Oh, come on.” I rattled off a few swear words in Spanish.
“Tell me how they died. Tell me exactly how they died.”
He suddenly switched off the engine and we came to a stop, bobbing up and down the waves. There was no one behind us and the only thing in front of us were banana boats. I could see our hotel from here, maybe just another two minutes of boating and we’d be on the sand. It didn’t feel safe enough. Derrin knew that.
“I will start the engine when I know the truth.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because the truth could save us,” he said, exasperated, and his jaw began to twitch. I had never seen him so bothered before. Part of me wanting to savor the fact that for once he wasn’t being so cool and calm but that stoic demeanor of his was probably the thing that kept us alive.
I tried to look over his shoulder, to see if anyone was following us again, but his fingers under my jaw kept me in place. “How?”
I swallowed hard then coughed up a bit of seawater. I spit it into the ocean and realized there was no use pretending to be a lady around him anymore. Finally I seemed to catch my breath and I willed myself to feel numb. Luckily, after what just happened, I was half-way there.
“Violetta died in a car bomb,” I said simply. “It exploded with her in it.”
“Was it meant for her?”
I bit my lip and looked forward, trying to concentrate on the white sand. So close, so close. “From what I understand, no, it wasn’t. Wrong place at the wrong time. But she was definitely with the wrong people.”
“And Beatriz?”
“She was … it was on the news. She was beheaded. So was her husband. And my niece and …” I sucked in the air, trying not to cry, “nephew. Their bodies were burned. Their heads displayed in public.”
Derrin squeezed his arms around me tighter but didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to.
When he finally spoke, though, his voice was a bit cracked. “Who is your brother? Who is he really? Is his name really Juan Bardem?”
“No,” I said. “His name is Javier Bernal.”
He immediately stiffened. I craned my neck to look at him. He was slack-jawed.
“You’ve heard of him, haven’t you? Of course, everyone here has.”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “I’ve heard of him.”
“So that’s the whole story. Violetta died in a bomb I think was meant for him. Beatriz and her family were tortured and killed and publicly shamed by Travis Raines, some sick fuck druglord who is now dead himself. Courtesy of my brother.”
Derrin was staring at me with the most rigid, unblinking eyes, like he couldn’t quite process this information. Wheels in his head were spinning.
I knew what was going to happen. He was going to take me to the beach. Then he was going to get the fuck out of there, leaving me to fend for myself. I was more trouble than I was worth. He was probably going to do that already, but telling him that my brother’s enemies were probably my enemies really cemented the deal.
I was pretty much a walking dead woman.
And I could barely walk at that
CHAPTER TEN
Derek
I felt like I’d been slugged in the face.
One sharp blow¸ blinding light and then a million little pieces all falling into place like nerves returning home.
Javier Bernal.
Out of all the drug lords I’d worked with over the years, I knew Javier the best. The only thing admirable about him was his tenacity. And his payment. He spared no expense on hiring the best.
I’d seen him rise up in the ranks of Travis Raines cartel, break off on his own cartel and then take over Travis’s in the end, like salmon coming back to spawn.
But Alana was wrong about one thing. It wasn’t Javier that killed Travis Raines. I was the one who the put the bullet in his head. It was a well-placed sniper shot from the roof that took him out, saved the life of Javier’s ex-lover, the con Ellie Watt, and put Javier in the driver’s seat.
For some sad, sick reason I felt compelled to share this information with Alana. I wanted her to know that the man who tortured her sister – and I did know all the grizzly details about that death – was killed by my own hands. I wanted her to know that I had helped.
But it was in the only way I had helped.
I had been hired to kill her and I didn’t.
Which cartel had done it?
I kept my mouth shut. I started the jetski up again and drove it to shore. I was wasting precious time trying to figure it all out here. I needed to get in our room and get us packed up and on the road in five minutes. That is, of course, if they hadn’t already discovered where we were staying. I looked up. No helicopters or small planes in the sky. Behind us there were no boats. Wherever the SUV was, it would be fighting traffic coming down highway 200. If they didn’t know, then we had time.
She was silent the rest of the way back to the beach. I felt a bit bad making her talk about it after everything we just went through – there was no way she’d be able to process that either so quickly, not a civilian like her.
Then again, she wasn’t quite like a civilian either.
I beached it and left it there to the amusement of a few beach bums. They could try and take it if they wanted but I’d taken my makeshift skeleton key with me. There were few things that thing couldn’t start.
We quickly hobbled past the pool and into the lobby. I made sure my gun was hidden, tucked away in the bandage against my abs but I knew I could whip it out at a moment’s notice if needed.
A moment’s notice would be if we were lucky. It’s usually less than that.
After I did a quick sweep of the area and not seeing anyone unusual, I led her over to the elevators, one hand firmly gripped around her arm, the other hand hovering above the hidden gun. I pressed the button and then kept her off to the side when the doors opened.
They were empty.
Then I brought her inside and pressed the button for the 16th floor.
We stared at ourselves in the mirrors that lined the elevator. Both of us where soaking wet and though you couldn’t tell I had a gun on me, you could tell there was something funny going on underneath my shirt. Her hair was tangled all over face, dripping down her back, her dress was clinging to every curve. She might as well been naked. I hated the fact that I was so fucking turned on right now. That was the problem with this job. I was used to the guns, the chases, the violence. It didn’t damper anything for me. Sometimes the excitement only fueled desire, except I usually got off by shooting a different gun. She wasn’t used to it at all.
When the doors opened, I decided to take my gun out. Her eyes widened at the sight of it, even though she knew it had been there, she had felt it when she was holding onto me.
I wanted her to feel safe and I wasn’t sure what it was going to take for that to happen. It wasn’t the sight of a gun.
We moved silently, swiftly down the hall to the room. I immediately plugged up the keyhole with my thumb and knocked quickly. I gripped the gun and waited, motioning for her to move back against the wall and out of the way before I put my head against the door.
There was no answer, no sound. I looked down and knowing I had left the curtains open, there was no shadow passing on the light coming through under the door. I hadn’t expected there to be.
I quickly slipped the room keycard out of my pocket and jabbed it into the slo
t. When the lock turned green and the mechanical locks whirred open, I opened the door, crouching down as I followed through, my gun drawn and ready to shoot.
The room was empty.
I stood up and then motioned for Alana to come in. She did so like she was walking on eggshells, her arms held stiffly against her. She seemed to be going into shock.
I told her to stay put and then did a quick search of the room. My guns were there, my other stuff was there and nothing had been searched or tampered with. They hadn’t found us. We still had time.
Just not much of it.
“Alana,” I said to her but she didn’t look at me. I went over and placed my palms over her upper arms, holding her as I peered at her frozen face. “Alana Bernal.” She finally looked up. “Listen to me, Alana,” I said, knowing it was best to keep calling her name. “We’re safe for the time being but we have to leave. I’m giving us a ten minute window and then we’re out of here. I’m pretty much already packed – you know I travel light. I’m going to pack up your stuff while you take a shower. Hold on.”
I went into the bathroom and brought the gym bag out from underneath the sink. Her blank eyes followed it as I placed it on the couch. Then I took hold of her arm and lead her into the bathroom. I ran a hot shower, stripped her dress up over her head until she was just in her bra and underwear and then took those off too. She may have turned me on in the elevator but now it was apparent she was frightened to death, a scared, lost little girl, and that made my protective instincts go into overdrive.
I was going to get her far away from here. Then we were going to solve this.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Alana
I think it must have been late when I finally stepped out of the fog. That’s what I called it, the fog. I guess some might call it shock but when I looked back at that day, the events between being shot at from the Puerto Vallarta bell tower and being in Derrin’s newly rented Camry while he handed me a Coke from the gas station, it was all just a fog, like grey, hazy mist that never really cleared.
Sometimes I wondered if it really all happened. If it had been a dream. But my body ached and my limbs were covered with scratches from trees whipping us and my eyes still burned from the salt.
It had happened. Someone tried to kill me. Actually, a bunch of people tried to kill me but I had no doubt they were all hired by the same person.
Now, Derrin knew the truth and because he was with me, taking care of me and making sure we were making all the right steps, I didn’t mind that he knew. He was one of the few people on earth now that did. He knew the truth about my sisters, about Javier. And he was still with me. In fact, I think he was the only thing keeping me alive.
“How are you feeling?” he asked gently as he got in the car. “You’re looking better.”
I took a timid sip of the Coke. It wasn’t very cold but it was fizzy enough. “I think I’m finally, um, here.”
“Good. I missed you.”
I eyed him, caught off guard by the sincerity in his voice. I swallowed the drink down, my throat buzzing. “Where are we?”
Now I was really looking at my surroundings. We were in the parking lot of a gas station beside a highway. It didn’t look to be an overly busy one, so I didn’t think it was the one that connected Puerto Vallarta to the coastal cities. Though it was dark out, there was a line of orange and purple to the left of us, burning the tops of some mountains. We weren’t near the ocean either.
He tapped the GPS. “This thing is telling me we’re outside Tulepe, two hours east of Mazatlan.”
“I miss the Mustang.”
“And I missed that attitude,” he said. “But you know we had to take it back. These people have connections. Everywhere. If there was any chance they would have stumbled across the hotel, our identities would be really easy to find, valet would fess up and they’d be looking for the black mustang everywhere. No one looks twice at a Camry.”
“And how are we supposed to get away in a hurry?”
“We won’t be doing that in a hurry,” he said. “We’re being extra cautious, extra safe and staying one-step ahead. At this point, they’ve lost us. If they’ve found us, then we’d be dead. Now we figure out what our next moves are.”
“You’re awfully good at this.”
“I watch a lot of spy movies.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I was in the army.”
“That I know,” I said, and went back to sucking on the straw, feeling like a confused little child. Derrin did know a lot, about everything, it seemed. But it was still making sense for the time being. And the fact was, he was saving my life and I trusted him more than anything.
“Can I call Luz and Dominga?” I asked hopefully.
He shook his head. “No,” he said. “Not yet.”
“Not ever?”
He sighed and rubbed his hand over his eyes. “I’m tired. Let’s get a hotel room.”
“Do you think that’s safe?”
“For now it is. They don’t know who I am.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.” He shrugged and thumped his fist against the steering wheel. “You’re the bigger problem. But don’t worry about that. I know a lot of people here who can get us fake IDs. They don’t ask questions and they don’t talk.”
“Do any of these people work for the cartels?” I asked suspiciously.
He gave me a look. “Everyone in Mexico works for the cartels, in one way or another.” He paused. “Isn’t that right?”
“No,” I told him, just to be difficult. “In the morning, I want you to take me to see my brother.”
He wiggled his jaw uneasily. “That wouldn’t be wise.”
“Are you scared?” I had a hard time imagining he was scared of anything.
“I’m not scared but it wouldn’t be good. People just can’t meet drug lords. It doesn’t work that way.”
“I’m his sister.”
His face turned grave. “You are. And he had more sisters. I’m sorry, but I have no reason to believe that Javier is going to protect you.”
That stung even though it was the truth. “He’s all I have.”
“You have me.”
“I don’t even really know you.” It just feels like I do. It just feels like I don’t need to.
“And yet I’m still here, saving your tight little ass today. Where was your brother when you were in the hospital? Did he ever come to visit? What about after? Do you think he’ll be here for you now?”
The lashes kept coming. My nose felt hot and I blinked a few times, trying to hide the disappointment. “This time it’s his fault.”
“It’s always been his fault, Alana. You never asked for this.”
“It was my father’s fault before then.”
“And still, you never asked for this. Your father is dead. Your brother is not. You’re alive and I am here with you.”
“I need to see Javier.”
“Then get him to meet you somewhere. I’m not taking you there, wherever he lives. That’s like walking into the lion’s den. A gringo like me … he’d never let me out of there alive.”
I glared at him. “Oh, he’s not that bad.”
“I know what he did to Salvador Reyes and his men, the way he swooped into the Sinaloa Cartel the way he did to Travis Raines’. That made the news back in Canada too. I’m not taking my chances. Tomorrow, you call him from a payphone, I’m sure there’s one somewhere, and you tell him what happened and you tell him to meet you there. Tell him to bring his wife too.”
“Luisa?”
He nodded. “Yes. From what I’ve heard, she keeps things civil.”
“I think you’ve heard wrong. You can’t believe everything you read on the internet.”
He went on, not hearing me. “I’ll be waiting with a gun trained on his head just in case anything goes wrong.”
I slapped his leg in protest. “No you won’t! Jesus, Derrin, he’s my brother. He’s not out
to get me. He’s not the one who ordered me taken out. For all I know, he might be behind the vigilante killing.”
He shook his head ever so slightly and stared out at the fluorescent lights of the parking lot. In the distance, the sky was completely black now. Only the lone headlights blinded our eyes as they passed.
This was a lonely, lonely place and I was suddenly aware of how alone I was.
But I wasn’t, was I?
I stared at Derrin’s profile, the strong, hard features of his face, the way his chin dimple was only visible in a certain light, like now, the way his hair was starting to grow-in more, a light brown color. He still had the perfect head. He had the perfect everything.
“Okay,” I conceded. “I’ll do as you say. But please, don’t do anything stupid. None of this forgotten army stuff. If you’re suffering from PTSD, and I’m pretty sure you are, from a lot of things I might add, this won’t be the time to sort it out.”
He turned his head and held my gaze. “I’m not going to shoot your brother. Or your sister-in-law. Or you. I just want to keep you safe. And I will, at any cost.”
I frowned, studying him further but not finding any other layers beneath his handsome features. “Why are you doing this for me?”
He smiled sadly. “Because I can.” He sighed and then started the car. “Let’s go find ourselves a hotel, drink some beer and see if we can fuck each other to sleep.”
Twenty minutes later we were staying in rustic but fairly clean motel. No one was drinking. No one was fucking. We were asleep the minute we hit the pillows.
***
The next morning I woke up feeling wooden. My tongue was swollen from where I kept chomping down on it during the motorcycle chase and every part of me hurt.
But I was alive when I shouldn’t be and I couldn’t complain. I cheated death more than once. Hell, I’d given it the finger.
Derrin was already up, shirtless with his back to me, staring out the slip of light on the drawn curtains and fiddling with something in his hands.
