And Then What?

by D. R. Graham

  “I wouldn’t have brought them here if I thought it wasn’t safe,” Mason said.

  “You knew it wasn’t safe,” Trevor shouted. “You had a bodyguard for a reason. You used an alias for a reason. You didn’t care about their safety. You just cared about trying to get laid.”

  “It wasn’t like that.”

  “No? What was it like?”

  “We have thirty-five volunteers and I’ve been down her for four months without one single problem. I wouldn’t have brought them here if I didn’t believe it was completely safe.”

  “Yeah, that doesn’t answer the question. Why did you ask her to go to the camp?”

  Mason didn’t answer, but whatever the look on his face was, it must have triggered Trevor because Murphy stepped in to hold Trevor back.

  I climbed back up onto the rock and shouted, “Stop it. Please.”

  I stormed straight at Trevor. My fingernails dug into his arm as I pulled him and made him walk behind the cave with me.

  Once we were alone, I said, “I specifically asked you not to get into it with him. He’s injured and sick and it wasn’t his fault that the kidnappers came after us.”

  “He was trying to move in on you. It’s not cool to move in on another guy’s girl.”

  “Excuse me. I’m not your property. I thought you trusted me.”

  “I do trust you. He’s the problem.”

  “You’re acting immature and I find it really unattractive. We have way bigger things to worry about than what Mason’s intentions were when he invited us to the camp, which were innocent, by the way.”

  “Really? Are you honestly going to try and tell me that he had no intentions of winning you back?”

  I didn’t answer.

  “See. He deserves a shit-kicking. He knows it, and you know it.”

  “Grow up. He’s been a perfect gentleman the entire time and I didn’t make it easy for him.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? Did something happen between you two?”

  I stared at him for a while, then made a face and bit my lower lip for a second. “Sort of.”

  “Sort of? What the hell does that mean?”

  “I sort of kissed him.”

  Trevor turned and walked away.

  “Trev.” I caught up and slid in front of him. “Don’t walk away.”

  His eyebrows angled together. “Did you come to Mexico to see him?”

  “No. I didn’t know he was here. It was a coincidence.”

  “Really? Do you think I’m stupid? You randomly changed your trip from Tofino to Acapulco. Then you just happened to run into him while you just happened to be wearing the jewellery he gave you. It doesn’t sound like a coincidence.”

  “I haven’t even talked to Mason since you and I started dating. Sophie’s dad gave us the tickets to Acapulco. It was a total coincidence. Ask them.”

  He inhaled heavily and then paced as he spoke, “When I heard that you and Sophie were with Mason and you were being chased by drug dealers with guns, my world felt like it was crashing down around me. The thought of you being harmed, or worse, was the most devastating thing I have ever experienced and I literally couldn’t get here fast enough to find you.” He paused, took a breath, and scratched the back of his neck. “When we found you and I saw you standing on that rock, it was—I can’t even put it into words—it was seriously the best feeling in the universe. I never stopped thinking about you for even one second. So, to hear that you were not only, not thinking about me, but you were thinking about someone else and kissing someone else, really hurts.”

  “I was thinking about you,” I protested. “I dreamed about you and our future together. I prayed for you to find us. I had visions about you constantly. When we had to jump off the top of a fifty-foot waterfall in the dark and I didn’t know what we were going to land on, my dying wish was to kiss you one last time.” I reached forward and pulled at the strap of his bulletproof vest so he would stand closer to me. “When I was delirious, Sophie and Mason told me that you wanted me to drink water and get stronger, so I did, because I thought you wanted me to. They knew you were the only person I would do it for.”

  “You kissed him.”

  “It’s not exactly as bad as it sounds. I lost a lot of blood and I got a little confused. I thought you had already come to rescue us and I kissed you because I was so glad that you were here with me. Later, when I started to feel better, Sophie told me I had been hallucinating and you weren’t really here. I realized that I must have kissed Mason by mistake. I thought he was you.”

  His expression softened. “You thought he was me?”

  “Yes.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted in a borderline cocky smile as he stepped closer to wrap his arms around my waist. “Couldn’t you tell the difference?”

  “I was delirious. Give me a break.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and said, “There is nothing else that I want in this world more than to be with you. You’re all I have ever wanted and you’re all I will ever want, but I’m not going to lie to you. I care about Mason as a friend and it’s not his fault that I do. It doesn’t change how I feel about you, though—you’re my everything.” I touched his chest above his heart.

  He dropped his head down so our cheeks rested against each other. “I love you,” he whispered.

  A twig snapped in the forest a few metres away from us and I peeked over Trevor’s shoulder as a figure slid behind a tree. I grabbed Trevor’s arm and spun around so we could run back towards the security guards. They were already standing in wide stances on the rock above us and aiming their weapons at the spot in the forest where I had seen the figure go behind the tree. I heard movement behind us again and they opened fire above our heads.

  CHAPTER 20

  Trevor and I both ducked and scrambled up the rock towards the others. The figure sprinted between trees. It was a small person and I saw a flash of blue and white. The sun had already dropped behind the mountain and it was too dark in the forest to know for sure, but I thought I knew what it was. I yelled, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”

  The guards didn’t hear me, or didn’t care that I was telling them to stop shooting. I rushed towards the guy nearest to me and pushed his rifle towards the sky. He flexed and pushed the gun across my chest, which made me fall to the ground. Then he aimed the barrel at my head. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for him to shoot me.

  “What is your dysfunction?” he shouted at me.

  I opened my eyes and tried to spit out, “Stop shooting.” I cringed because I thought he was going to pull the trigger. “It’s a child,” I muttered.

  “Hold your fire,” he yelled.

  The shooting stopped and Mason shouted, “Stop pointing the gun at her.” The guy moved the barrel so it was facing the ground next to me, but he didn’t relax his hold on the trigger. “What the hell is going on?” Mason asked, furious.

  “She says the target is a child.”

  “Derian, are you sure?” Mason asked.

  “I think so. I saw what looked like a school uniform. Maybe I was wrong. I don’t know. They shouldn’t be shooting at something if they don’t know what it is.”

  Mason called in Spanish out into the forest. I couldn’t understand him. It sounded as if he repeated the same thing again and then there was movement behind a tree. A little boy poked his head around the trunk. He looked terrified. His mouth was wide open in a silent scream and tears ran down his cheeks. Mason said something else in Spanish.

  “Señor Murray,” the boy choked out between sobs.

  “Oh, my God,” I gasped and started running as I realized who it was.

  Mason got to Hector before I did and scooped him up into his arms. He spoke to him in Spanish and checked his limbs to make sure he was all right.

  I reached them and fell to my knees. “Hector! What are you doing here?”

  Hector sniffled and used his own shirt to wipe away his tears. “Miss Darianna, I am here to help Señor Murray. I am the best a
t helping.”

  “Oh, my God.” I wrapped my arms around both of them as Mason cradled him in his arms. “They could have killed him.”

  “He’s okay.”

  “How did you get here?” I asked.

  He pointed at the men in black. “I followed them. To help Señor Murray.”

  I squeezed Hector’s face and said, “You’re crazy brave.”

  “What is crazy brave?”

  “It means that you are the best.” I kissed his forehead, then we walked back to the cave.

  Sophie rushed over to give Hector a big hug. The security guys relaxed and moved a short distance away to watch the forest.

  I sat Hector down on a rock and gave him some water to drink. He took a sip, then said, “The men with guns maybe are watching. I will show the way back to the village closest to my village.”

  “How long does it take to get there?” Sophie asked.

  “If we go when sun rises and walk the way that is not hard, after siesta. If we walk the way that is hard, before siesta.”

  “We would like to walk the way that is not hard,” Sophie said and handed Hector a small fish-shaped origami animal that she had woven out of long blades of grass.

  Hector seemed to recover fairly quickly from being shot at. Maybe because he was a kid and really didn’t understand how serious it was, or maybe because Murphy was sneaking him pieces of liquorice. My heart rate still hadn’t recovered. I sat on a log and Trevor gave me a protein bar and some Gatorade. When I finished that, I wolfed down two hard-boiled eggs, an apple, and an orange.

  “Whoa. Slow down,” Trevor said. “Your stomach isn’t used to eating.”

  I gulped Gatorade and looked over at Mason. He was avoiding making eye contact. “Hector, do you know what happen to Orrett and the other security guards?” I asked.

  He answered in Spanish and spoke quickly. He made hand gestures that looked like explosions and then he pointed to the sky in a squiggly motion. Mason mostly nodded and then asked more questions.

  “Well? Is Orrett okay, or not?” Sophie asked impatiently.

  “It sounds like all four of them were injured. He doesn’t know if they’re all right or not.”

  “Who’s Orrett?” Trevor asked.

  “He’s the dentist from the camp and he’s Mason’s good friend. He was standing with us when the cartel guys showed up and opened fire. He got shot and we had to take off without him. There were three security guards at the camp who all took bullets for us too.”

  Trevor stretched his arm over my shoulder. “I’m sorry you guys had to go through that. It sounds really traumatizing.”

  Mason’s posture tensed as if he expected Trevor to come at him again. Trevor didn’t look at Mason, but the muscles in his arm twitched.

  “What did Hector say about the cartel guys?” I asked.

  “He doesn’t know anything.” Mason looked at Trevor. “What do you guys know?”

  “All we were told was that the village you guys were at still wasn’t secure. Your dad flew us down in a private jet with the security crew and had a helicopter fly us into a village that’s about five kilometres from where you were working. The pilot had seen the fabric in the tree and we mapped out the route on foot.”

  “How long do you think it will take to get to that other village?” I asked, since I still wasn’t very strong.

  “I’m not sure. We’ll have to trust the kid. We got a little lost and turned around. We probably wouldn’t have found you if you hadn’t lit the fires. I don’t even know which way the village is from here.”

  “You? You got lost? I don’t believe it,” I poked fun at him.

  “Don’t sound so surprised. I was searching for a needle in a haystack in a foreign country.”

  “I knew you were going to get lost. I saw it in a vision. I told these guys you weren’t coming for us at all. I’m actually surprised that you showed up.”

  He chuckled.

  “How did you guys know what happened to us?” Sophie asked Murphy and Trevor.

  Murphy laughed before he answered, “Some guy sent Trevor an email. It was hilarious. How’d it go?”

  Trevor started talking with a surfer accent, “Dude, your girlfriend wanted me to tell you that she took off to build an orphanage or something with some guy she picked up at a bar. Tough luck. Call this number if she doesn’t come back or something.”

  “Fortunately, Sophie had someone a little more responsible send an email to Doug,” Murphy added.

  I looked at Sophie. “You asked someone to send an email to Doug?”

  “Duh. I wasn’t going to take off into the Mexican wilderness and not let someone know where I was going. I asked Luis to send it when the internet was working again.”

  Trevor continued, “Luis’ message to Doug mentioned what day you were supposed to be back. When I didn’t hear from you, I called the hotel. When I couldn’t get a hold of you, I called the number that you sent. Mason’s dad had just gotten a call telling him what had happened at the camp. All he knew was that Mason had disappeared with two females. He was pretty sure you guys were still on the run in the forest, so I volunteered Murphy and me to come down. Sophie’s dad flew the private jet.”

  “My dad’s here?”

  “Yeah.” Trevor nodded. “He’s back at the resort.”

  “Was he pissed?”

  “Worried,” Murphy said. “All of your parents are worried.”

  “Oh, my God,” I said. “My mom’s here?”

  “Yup.” He looked at Mason. “And your dad’s at the village.”

  Mason’s eyebrows angled together for a brief second but he didn’t say anything. Murphy noticed that Mason’s arm had bled through the gauze again, so he got up and redressed it. He made him drink a ton of Gatorade too. While he was drinking, his nose started to bleed. Murphy exchanged a look with Trevor and Trevor seemed to purposely avoid looking at me. I hated when they did their own private silent language.

  “What?” I said softly into Trevor’s ear.

  “What what?”

  “Why are you and Murphy exchanging knowing looks with each other?”

  “Just to mess with you.”

  “Nice try. I’m not buying it.”

  “Well, I wasn’t going to say anything, but we only have seven dehydrated meal packs left. Three of the security guards are going to be shit out of luck.”

  “Really? That’s what Murphy was saying with that look?”

  He nudged his shoulder against mine, trying to be light-hearted. “Yeah, wasn’t it obvious?”

  “Liar.”

  “What? It’s a serious problem. They’re going to have to fight over it.”

  “There’s something’s wrong with Mason, isn’t there?” I whispered.

  He glanced sideways at me and his face got serious. “He’s going to be fine.” He stood and walked over to one of their bags. “Do you want Beef Stroganoff or Mac and Cheese?” He held up two foil vacuum-packed pouches. “Just add water.”

  I was too distracted to answer. I watched Murphy work on Mason and bit at my fingernails. Sophie claimed a Mac and Cheese, then she sent Hector over with the one pack that the four security guards were going to have to share. Murphy tried to stifle his laughter as the sound of the guards groaning and complaining reached us.

  After we ate, they turned the lanterns off and, since it was cloudy and the fires had burned themselves out, it was really dark. Hector had already curled up with his head on Sophie’s lap and he was sleeping peacefully. Trevor and Mason were sitting on either side of me with their backs propped against the rock face. I slid down to rest my head on Trevor’s lap. It was quiet except for the sound of the stream and the creatures in the forest.

  “I know you only came for her, but I appreciate what you’re doing for me too. So thanks,” Mason said.

  “We didn’t only come for her,” Trevor answered.

  “Well, yeah. Sophie too.”

  Trevor ran his hand over my hair. “We would have co
me for you even if the girls weren’t with you.”

  “Yeah right,” Mason scoffed.

  “We would have come for you,” Trevor repeated.

  “Why?”

  “Because she would have asked me to.”

  They were all quiet after that and I fell asleep. I had Mason’s nightmare. I was sitting in an empty room that had no furniture. I walked around the abandoned house and looked out the window at the vacant neighbourhood. It was cold and when I slid my palms down the glass, it left a trail of bright-red blood. Someone whispered in my ear, “I will always love you,” but when I turned to see who said it, there was nobody there. I panicked.

  When I woke up in the morning, Mason and one of the security guards were gone.

  CHAPTER 21

  The three remaining security guards stood close to the cave and waited for everyone to wash up and eat so we could get going. I walked up to the sandy red-headed one in charge. He crossed his arms across his chest and turned so he wasn’t facing me.

  “Why did Mr. Cartwright leave early?”

  “Not sure,” he said, without looking at me.

  “Was it because he’s sick?”

  “Not sure,” he repeated and turned to look at me with a completely cold expression.

  “Is he going to meet us at the village?”

  “Not sure.”

  “What time did they leave?”

  “Not sure.” He smiled at the other security guards.

  “I’m glad you find this amusing. You do realize that if anything happens to him you will not only be out of a job—you’ll be out of a career.”

  “It was his decision to leave.”

  “Why didn’t you go with him?”

  “John went with him. He gave us orders to make sure you made it back safely. I’m just following orders,” he said and saluted me.

  I turned and walked away from him without saying anything else. His attitude aggravated me and I didn’t really have the energy to squabble with him. I shared an orange with Hector instead.