River will never in a million years understand how relieved I am that she’s not angry at me for lying about Klaxton. After what just went down with Boom Boom, I don’t think I could handle more rejection.
“Yes, we could all use some rest,” Grenade says wearily. “We’re not only about to launch the most important mission of our lives… mine included… but it may even be the most important coup in the history of the world. If we succeed, then we stand a decent chance of finally securing the ever-elusive prospect of world peace. But if we fail, Armageddon will come hot and heavy. And millions will burn.”
The ensuing chills that cascade down my spine last for a long time.
Chapter Nine: Boom Boom
“I just don’t get it,” I sob into Alex’s chest. “We’ve been chasing after her for months! Not once have any of us talked about that bitch in a positive light. And now all of a sudden they want to be all buddy-buddy with her? Because of some crazy plan Grenade pulled out of his ass? I just… I… I feel like I’m going crazy!”
Alex continues doing what he’s done for the past hour or so, holding me tight while I unleash all my pent up anger, frustration, confusion, and sadness. The moments following our abrupt departure from Thiago’s hut are nothing but a blur. My head was spinning from my so-called friends’ stunning act of betrayal. I do sort of remember Alex leading me to another hut, the one where all of our weapons were. He grabbed our body armor, utility belts, and his laser-firing goggles (over the protests of a few of the natives) and then he led me away from the village… far, far away. We walked for about half an hour, until we reached this river bank.
At first I didn’t really say anything. I was too hurt… too flabbergasted by what just happened. But after a while I started talking… my emotions spilling out of me like lava bubbling out of a volcano. And for the past hour that’s all I’ve done. It’s been a cathartic experience to say the least. I’m still devastated by what happened, of course, but at least my heart no longer feels like it’s about to self-combust in my chest. I even start to feel a little remorseful for telling everyone to fuck off. Well, I almost feel remorseful.
For a few minutes we’re both silent. The only sounds that can be heard are my muffled sobs, the rushing river, and the screams of a few howler monkeys off in the distance. It had started getting dark when we left Thiago’s hut, and now the darkness is nearly impenetrable. If it wasn’t for the night-vision function on our goggles, we wouldn’t be able to see much of anything. (I can’t believe the day is already over. We must have all been knocked out a lot longer than I initially thought in the hours after escaping Ramirez’s compound.) I’m just glad Alex had the foresight to grab our stuff. If it was just me, I would have dashed out into the jungle half-naked without so much as a knife to defend myself. I’ve only known Alex for a short amount of time, but he’s done more for me in that minuscule time frame than almost anyone I’ve ever known.
My sobs finally stop, as do the tears. I’m still incredibly upset, of course, but I realize crying like a helpless baby isn’t going to fix our predicament. I need to pull myself together and figure out my next step. Do I leave with Alex? Go somewhere remote and start a new life? That sounds both adventurous and liberating. Lord knows I’m not going back to America if Klaxton is going to be president again. But that would mean running away from my problems, something I’ve never done before. No, I need to figure out some other recourse.
This would be so much easier if Lance and Krystal were with me. It’s been years since I’ve been without them. Even though I’m wrapped in Alex’s comforting arms, I’ve never felt this alone. Truth be told, I feel safer in a gunfight against a mob of criminals, with Lance and Krystal by my side, then I do when I’m all by myself, away from danger. We’re the ‘Three Amigos’. The Three Musketeers. We’re always together… fucking up bad guys, saving the world. Life is going to be so weird without them. But what am I supposed to do? Bottle up all my hatred for Klaxton and go along with their deranged plan to assassinate the sitting U.S. President? I mean, we’ve done some crazy shit as bounty hunters, but that’s just absolutely ludicrous! Even Grenade, who I know for a fact has done way crazier shit than we have, would have to admit all those covert missions he undertook in his youth are relatively sane compared to overthrowing the American Government. They tried to make it sound easy and simple. ‘Oh, you just waltz into the White House and shoot the president on live television, and then give a little speech to rally the troops, and boom! Everyone loves us.’ Like, what??? How fucking high and cracked out of your mind do you have to be to believe something like that??
A distant booming sound jolts me out of Alex’s arms. I look around and whisper, “What was that?”
Alex grins and says, “I think that’s what meteorologists like to call thunder.”
Almost on cue, a bolt of lightning streaks overhead. I just barely detect it through a small gap in the jungle’s thick canopy. The subsequent crack of thunder follows a few seconds later, reverberating throughout the river bank. Rain starts to splatter on all the leaves hanging over our heads. I look out over the river, which becomes inundated with thousands of ripples. The rainforest is certainly living up to its namesake tonight.
Alex grips my hands and says, “Let’s run away, Boom Boom. Let’s run away from all this.”
I smile and reply, “Can you read minds or something? I was just thinking about that.”
Alex’s returns my grin and excitedly says, “So you agree? You think we should run away together? We can go somewhere… anywhere! Start a new life together… maybe even start a family. Away from all this madness… away from all the senseless death and destruction.”
I shake my head and sadly reply, “You are such a hopeless romantic. It’s one of the things I love about you. But we can’t run away from our problems. We have to---”
“Why?” Alex asks bluntly, cutting me off.
I cock an eyebrow and ask, “Why what?”
“Why can’t we run away? What’s stopping us?”
“Well for one, I can’t just leave my friends.”
“Some friends they are,” Alex says darkly. “Betraying your trust so they can help an evil tyrant reclaim her throne made out of skulls.”
“I’m pissed at them, too, Alex, but I… they…”
I trail off, not quite sure what to say next. Maybe Alex is right. Maybe we should just leave. Maybe…
A raindrop splatters on my cheek, which snaps me back to reality.
“No Alex, I’m not running away. I never have before, and I’m not about to start now.”
Alex starts to become irate. “What do you propose we do then, Boom Boom? You think we should go back to the village and pretend this isn’t all crazy?”
“No, I’m not saying that at all, I just…”
“Well what exactly are you saying then?” Alex shouts, growing angrier by the second. “I’m not about to become part of some grand conspiracy to overthrow the president of the United States!”
“I never once suggested we do that!” By now the rain has become a torrential downpour, soaking me from head to toe. I shake my head, spraying water everywhere. Shouting so I can be heard over the constant cracks of thunder, I say, “Maybe we should go back, though. Maybe if I can just talk to Lance and Krystal in private, I can sway them back to our side. I know these guys, they’re my best friends. I know I can get to them, I just need some time.”
Alex pounds his fist into the muddy ground and hollers, “Goddamn it, Boom Boom, we’re out of time!”
Wiping away drops of water clinging to my goggles, I ask, “What do you mean we’re out of time? The earliest they would leave is in the mor---”
“I’m not talking about them,” Alex interjects. “I’m talking about…”
We both jump at the unmistakable sound of automatic gunfire off in the distance.
I turn around and gaze into the jungle. “What the hell’s going on? You don’t think there’s trouble back at the village, do you?�
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I grab my handgun from my utility belt and stand up. Alex jumps up as well and grabs my arm. I try to pull away, but his grip is surprisingly strong.
“What are you doing?” I shout, struggling to break free from Alex’s iron-clad grasp. “Let me go! Lance and Krystal might be in trouble.”
I grow alarmed at Alex’s sudden change in demeanor. He’s no longer angry at me. He now looks upset. And scared.
“Boom Boom, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Still trying to yank my arm away, I say, “Alex, what did you do?”
Alex’s voice starts to tremble. “I did this for our own good. I… I didn’t know what else to do.”
This time I pull back so hard that I manage to free my wrist. I step back a few feet, my index finger firmly around the trigger of my gun.
“Alex, answer me!” I say in my own trembling voice. “What did you do?”
More gunfire erupts off in the distance, followed by a thunderous BOOM! that sounds way too loud to be thunder.
I raise my gun. “Goddamn it, Alex, answer me!”
Alex lifts his visor, revealing his tear-filled eyes. He holds out his hands and says, “Boom Boom, calm down. You don’t have to worry about anything. I… I took care of it.”
I point my gun at his forehead and snarl, “What do you mean you ‘took care of it’?”
Alex gulps and steps back, his hands still in the air. Speaking quickly, he stammers, “I didn’t know what else to do! I couldn’t just let Klaxton get away! This was our only chance to capture her!”
“Goddamn it Alex, tell me what you fucking did!!”
Alex jumps at my outburst and rambles, “As soon as I retrieved my goggles from the Chiquito, I sent a message to Pitbull!”
My heart literally stops beating for a second. I falter back and whisper, “No…”
Still rambling, Alex says, “Like I said, Boom Boom, I didn’t know who else to go to! We couldn’t let her escape! The Chinese have already started the invasion! We need to hand Klaxton over to the Chinese before this war spirals out of control! I sent Pitbull a message telling him Grenade is in cahoots with Klaxton, and that he’s trying to sneak her back to D.C. to kill President LeBeau. I know Pitbull and the rest of his crew are a bunch of assholes, but they’re definitely not traitors. They would never turn their back on their country. They never would have aided and abetted an international fugitive who tried to start a nuclear war!”
Struggling to overcome my shock, I stammer, “Lance and Krystal can stop Pitbull. They’ve stopped him before. I… I need to get back to the village… to help them!”
I start to turn around when Alex grabs my arm again.
“Get the hell off of me!” I scream, spinning around and pistol-whipping Alex in the face. Alex falls flat on his ass into a muddy puddle. His goggles fall off and land a few feet away, but he makes no attempt to grab them. He’s lucky he didn’t, as I probably would have shot him point-black in the forehead.
“You can’t go back there,” Alex says. “Pitbull and the gang, they’re… well, they’re not alone.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Alex gulps and says, “Pitbull replied to my message. He said a bunch of U.S. soldiers arrived at the compound just a few hours ago. They were checking on our progress, seeing if we had any leads on Klaxton’s whereabouts. The troops were about to head over to Chile, to help repel the Chinese invasion, but they got my message before they left. All those troops are now helping Pitbull invade the Chiquito village. They think if they can capture Klaxton and hand her over to the Chinese, that will be enough to stop the invasion. LeBeau is the one who gave the order. Klaxton is to be apprehended, by any means necessary. Pitbull said they’re going to exterminate every last Chiquito native… for harboring the world’s number one fugitive.”
“No…,” I gasp, staggering backwards, my entire world unraveling before me. “Lance… Krystal…. My God, Alex, why did you do this? Are you insane?!!”
“Don’t worry about your friends, they’ll be okay,” Alex says earnestly. “I made Pitbull promise he wouldn’t hurt them. I know how important they are to you. Grenade has to go, though. He’s the mastermind behind all of this. He has to be executed for his crimes. But as long as Lance and Krystal don’t fight back, Pitbull will let them live.”
“Of course they’re going to fight back!” I explode, still shakily pointing my gun at Alex’s face. “We always fight back, no matter what the odds! That’s what we’re fucking famous for! As for Grenade, he’s a lunatic! He’s going to tear those American soldiers apart with his bare hands!”
“He can’t kill hundreds of them, Boom Boom,” Alex says, the pouring rain mixing in with his tears. “Look, I hate that I had to do this, but it’s imperative that we stop Klaxton! She needs to pay for her crimes! That’s why I led you here… away from the village… to keep you safe. There’s no reason for you to get caught up in this. Just stay here with me. It will all be over soon. Then we can go back to America as heroes… as the ones who secured peace with the Chinese.”
“Alex, for once in your life pull your head out of your ass! There is no peace! The Chinese don’t a flying fuck about Klaxton! They want world domination!! They’ve been stringing us along all this time, waiting for the right opportunity to attack! The only thing they understand is force! The only way to stop them is to…”
My mouth drops open in astonishment as the truth slams into me like the nuclear bombs we’re trying so desperately to stop.
“My god… Lance and Krystal are right,” I whisper. “Grenade is right. Only Klaxton can stop this…”
I start to run away again, but Alex leaps to his feet and tackles me from behind. We both fall forward into the mud, and my gun clatters away from me, out of reach.
I turn around and try to punch Alex in the face, but he grips both of my wrists and pins me into the mud.
“Boom Boom, calm down!” he says, putting all of his weight on top of me. “This is for your own good.”
“A few hours ago you watched me tear out a groan man’s throat with my bare teeth!” I growl like a rapacious beast. “Do you really want to meet such a grisly end?”
That does the trick. Alex immediately lets go of my wrists and scoots back, covering his throat with his hands. That’s the only opening I need. In one fluid motion I leap to my feet and deliver a spinning roundhouse kick into the side of Alex’s head. Alex falls flat on his back, moaning in agony. I waste no time straddling him and repeatedly punching him in the face.
“You…”
WHACK!
“… goddamn…”
WHACK!”
“… son of a bitch!”
WHACK!
I punch him a few more times, until his nose oozes blood and his eyes become all puffy. Alex’s head lolls to the side, and he stops making noise. I’ve knocked him the fuck out. But I’m not finished yet.
I pull a knife off of my utility belt and press it against his throat.
“I should do it,” I snarl, pressing the blade so deeply into his neck that it starts to draw blood. “I should finish you off right now.”
Every neuron in my brain is commanding me to slice Alex’s jugular in half. I’ve killed enough people over the past few days… over the past few years. What’s another death? But my heart… as much as it aches over Alex’s unforgivable actions… my heart stops me from doing something I will undoubtedly regret. So I pull back my blood-stained blade and sheathe it onto my belt.
I lean toward Alex and whisper into his ear, “If I ever see you again, I will kill you. And that’s a promise I intend to keep.”
I stand up and make my way over to Alex’s goggles, which are still lying in the mud. If what Alex says is true, if Pitbull and an army of soldiers are attacking my friends, then we’re going to need all the help we can get in order to repel the assault. And I can’t think of a better weapon than a pair of goggles that fire scorching laser beams.
I take of
f my own visor and toss it to the ground. I then grab Alex’s goggles, wipe off the mud, and slide them over my eyes. My vision instantly becomes tinted in a red hue. I think fire and stagger back as two blinding lasers eject out of my lenses and slice through two trees. The trees topple to the ground only a few feet away from me.
“Wow, these are fucking awesome,” I remark to myself as I pick my gun up and sprint toward the Chiquito village and the deafening cacophony of gunfire and explosions. If this is truly the end for me and my friends, then we’re going to take as many sons of bitches down with us as we possibly can. The Reaper will be busy tonight.
Chapter Ten: Lance
“Ugh!”
I massage my throbbing temples with my fingers, desperately attempting to smother the raging inferno inside my skull. After spending several days fleeing Nazi’s, invading a heavily-armed cruise ship, hiking through the Amazon, getting my ass kicked by sadistic mercenaries, and then nearly getting gunned down by the former (and soon-to-be-again) President of the United States, I feel as though all the physical trauma I’ve endured in such a fleeting amount of time is finally catching up to me. Compounding the issue is the fact I haven’t had any drugs or even booze in, what… over a day? Two days? My body is suffering from agonizing withdrawal. It’s like every cell in my body is on fire, and it’s not from repeatedly getting my ass kicked (although that certainly hasn’t helped). And to top it all off, I just learned that a guy I’ve always looked up to as a father figure stabbed me in the back.
World War Forever (Highway To Armageddon Book 2) Page 41
