Cain's Cross

by Dale Mayer

  “I’m sorry about that,” Petra said, and she meant it because she couldn’t imagine how that would have hurt and knew it had been eating at her aunt all these years. “I can only presume that my mother and father were deeply in love and that they couldn’t see beyond that to anything else.”

  “No, they didn’t care about anything,” she said, and her features settled into the heavily wrinkled bitter woman who Petra knew. “But, for me, it was never the same. They were happy, and every day they were happy just hurt that much more. Even knowing she was pregnant with you made my life so much harder. And then, when I could never have children”—she shook her head—“that added insult to injury.”

  “I’m sorry about that too,” she said. “I always wondered why you’d never had any.”

  “Because I couldn’t,” she said. “That’s all there was to it. But I know that, if your father had been my husband, I would have had his babies.”

  “Maybe,” she said, “or maybe you wouldn’t. We don’t know that.”

  “I know that her children were meant to be mine.”

  “And yet you hated me and my sister,” she said.

  “Because you weren’t mine,” she said. “And that makes all the difference.”

  “So now what?” Petra asked. “I can’t imagine this ending in a good way for any of us.”

  “Well, not for you,” she said. “As your only family member, I’ll inherit.” She sneered. “So, as far as I’m concerned, we don’t need you anymore. And, once we have that money, I’ll take care of that nuisance Pedro as well.”

  “Wow,” Petra said, in a mocking tone, her mind searching for any way to get out of this. Her aunt might have a gun, but, short of her getting in a killing shot, surely Petra could overpower the much older woman. She wasn’t sure that her aunt had experienced much defiance in her life, except when her father had broken up with her.

  Maybe he’d been the smart one and had actually seen something in her. Petra thought back in her history, wondering if there had been any sign that her father had been against her aunt, but it was never there. He always seemed to be welcome here, and they’d often commiserated and sat outside, spending many a happy evening together. So, had all this laid buried underneath them this whole time?

  “When did all this surface?” she asked Migi. “I don’t remember you having any arguments with my father, not even when I was a child.”

  “Of course not,” she said. “And I wouldn’t have, until he got hurt.”

  “By your hand,” she said, “as you tried to murder your husband.”

  “Whatever,” she said. “It didn’t work.”

  “So, which of you killed my father?” she said.

  “No one,” the aunt said. “He was debilitated still, from the previous poisoning.”

  “I’m pretty sure my uncle is saying you did it,” she said, frowning.

  Her aunt stared at her in shock. “I did not,” she said. “Remember that part about loving him?”

  “Remember that saying about love and hate being two sides of a double-edged sword?”

  Migi sneered. “But then you don’t really understand what real love is anyway, do you?” she said. “You’ve never even had a boyfriend.”

  “I have so,” she said.

  Her aunt frowned. “I don’t think you have,” she said, instantly dismissing anything she said.

  Petra stared at her and said, “What does any of that have to do with anything?”

  “It doesn’t,” she said. “Nothing has anything to do with you.”

  “Oh.” Petra squeezed her eyes shut hard. Having lost control of the conversation, she could only wonder where her aunt’s mental health had ended up. Obviously she was a very unhappy woman, but how far the poison had actually gone she could only imagine. “So? Now what?” she said, studying Migi’s face and waiting for any sign that she would pull the trigger. “Is that good for you? You’ll just stand out here in the open and shoot me?”

  “Not quite,” she said, looking around, as if for inspiration.

  “You came here out of the blue with a gun?”

  “Not quite,” she said. “I followed my husband.”

  At that, Petra cocked her head and asked, “Where is he?”

  “In the house. Tristan needed him for something.”

  “For what?” Petra asked, a horrible sinking feeling inside her heart.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Migi said. “It’s got nothing to do with you.”

  “You know you can’t trust Tristan, right?”

  “I know. He’s already screwed us out of money, which is why we have to do this, so we can get the full amount he owes us.”

  “Why would he do that now?” Petra said. “He’ll just kill you.”

  “Maybe not,” she said. “Maybe we’ll kill him first. Then we’ll get his money and yours.”

  “Is there no end to the devious, crippled attitude in your head?” she asked. “Surely we deserve a little more than such callousness.”

  “You don’t deserve anything,” she said. “Nothing! Do you hear me?” She started to scream at her. “You’re nothing but a loser! Just like your father.”

  “Right, my father, who you loved so much?”

  But there was no talking to her. Apparently her aunt was well and truly heading down a pathway that didn’t bode well for any of them. Petra took a step to the side, and her aunt moved the gun in her direction.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” she said. “You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Maybe not,” she said, “but we can’t just stand here. You can’t shoot me in public like this.”

  “I can do anything I fucking want to.”

  A shout came from down the street. Her aunt froze and stared at Petra, shocked.

  Petra shrugged her shoulders. “What did you expect?” She looked around, while she tried to keep an eye on her aunt because Migi held that gun steady on Petra. Her aunt was portly. Wider in the middle with skinny legs and a skinny top. But she was strong, even now. Even after all the years of not doing farm work, her aunt was still one of those inherently strong people.

  Petra was five foot five and 118 pounds on a good day. She could run, and she could do yoga with ease, but she didn’t inherit strength. Nothing like facing death head-on in order to give you a little bit more than you thought you had. She just had to have the perfect timing. More shouts came at the front of the house.

  “Is Tristan expecting somebody else?” Petra asked in wonder.

  “I doubt it. That was your uncle’s voice,” she replied, but she was distracted.

  And, just like that, it was time. Petra took a quick jump forward and hit her aunt as hard as she could with her fist across Migi’s jaw, as Petra grabbed her gun arm and shoved it up to the sky. Her aunt automatically pulled the trigger, firing harmlessly into the air. Migi went down under their combined weight, as she tripped backward, trying to avoid Petra. She heard her aunt struggling beneath her, but Petra straddled her aunt, holding down one of Migi’s arms, as the woman hit her again and again. Finally Petra pulled back her fist and punched her aunt as hard as she could. With a hard, heavy groan, the older woman stopped struggling beneath her. Petra took a long slow breath and looked around. Nobody was around, nobody watching or nearby. She wasn’t even sure what to do with that. It was all just a mess right now.

  But, at the moment, she was alive and safe. She pulled the gun from her aunt’s grasp, as Migi lay unconscious beneath her, then tucked it into the back of her own pants, just like Petra had seen on TV. It was foolish to imagine herself capable of handling it, but she wasn’t a fool, and, if there was one thing she knew how to do, it was survive. Seems like she’d spent a lot of her life doing just that.

  Sad as it may seem, life was all about what you did when shit was thrown at you. Did you buckle under the weight, or did you get up and create something for yourself? As she realized now, her aunt and uncle were both guilty of the former. They had buckled under the weight, and, as far as
they were concerned, the world owed them a living, and they would take it, no matter who they hurt in the process. That was just incredible to Petra. If they would have put that energy into working, they would have been fine.

  Petra had spent her life doing so much for them, thinking it was a family thing to do, only to discover that all they could think about was how to get her money. She’d never delved into the details of her father’s estate because, in her mind, it was his and to be used only if she could get him care any other way. There had to be more to it. There had to be something more that she didn’t know about.

  Sure, they might have killed for that little bit in her father’s account, that she’d added to with the proceeds from the sale of the house, but surely there was more to it than that. There had to be. She didn’t want to think that her father’s life and now hers was worth so little. But then, she was pretty sure that Cain would say that what was so little to Petra could be a lot to someone else. She didn’t want to hear his logic right now. She wanted an answer that said secret millions were stacked away to have made all this even reasonably worthwhile.

  But back to the present, now that her aunt was down and out, what would Petra do with Migi?

  At that Petra smiled, pulled out her phone, and hit the number that Cain had told her to call. As soon as a woman answered, Petra identified herself and said, “Cain told me to contact you if there was a problem, but honestly I’m not sure what kind of problem this constitutes and whether you’re the right person to talk to about it.”

  “Explain, please,” said the crisp melodious voice on the other end.

  Petra quickly explained about her aunt and what she learned.

  “Good Lord,” Ice said, “you really come from a nest of vipers, don’t you?” but her tone was kind and relaxed.

  “They’re certainly not the people I thought they were, and that’s difficult enough without all this other chaos.”

  “I’m sure it is,” she said. “I’m already making calls. Somebody will be there to give you a hand in just a moment.”

  “I don’t even have anything to tie her up with,” she said.

  “No, just sit tight and don’t get off her. You stay exactly where you are.”

  “Will that help?” she asked, smiling.

  “If she shows any signs of waking up, you hit her again, even harder,” she was told. “That woman doesn’t deserve anything but what she’s got coming to her.”

  “I just hope I don’t have to testify against her,” she said.

  “Well, if she does wake up, and you’ve got a handle on it, if she wants to confess some more and talk about things, it wouldn’t hurt to get a recording of it.”

  “But that’s easier said than done.”

  “I know,” Ice said.

  “I don’t have anything other than my phone, and it wasn’t on at the time. I’m sitting here, still waiting on Cain, and now I know my uncle is part of this. Plus, there were some shouts from the front of the house a while ago.”

  “I’m actually more concerned about somebody having heard your gunfire,” Ice said smoothly. “Because that’ll bring you unwanted visitors.”

  At that, she gasped, “I didn’t think of that.”

  “Are you hidden?”

  “We’re on the ground behind a tree, but that’s as far as it goes.”

  “Try to stay hidden, and let me know if anybody is coming toward you.”

  At Ice’s statement, Petra hunkered even lower and looked around. “I can’t really see anyone,” she said.

  “Unfortunately, in this case,” she said, “you probably won’t see anybody until they’re already there.”

  The words sent chills down her spine. “I also haven’t heard from Cain.”

  “You leave Cain alone,” she said. “He’s a big boy.”

  “But these guys are mean. Just think about the things they’ve done,” she said. “You might be used to more international-tourist type people, but these are your garden-variety sickos,” she murmured.

  With an obvious smile in her voice, Ice said, “Good description but unfortunately, in our world, we’ve seen plenty of them too.”

  “How do you handle it?” she asked curiously.

  “One day at a time and cautiously,” she said. “Any reason you’re asking?”

  Petra struggled, wondering whether she should say something, then finally opened up a bit. “It’s just that something is between Cain and me,” she said. “I don’t really know what yet.”

  “If it’s already there,” she said, “chances are there isn’t anything to question. It is what it is, and it’s important.”

  “It is,” she said, “but I don’t quite understand how it happened so fast.” A notable bewilderment carried in her voice.

  “That’s how it is with these guys,” Ice said, chuckling. “The good news is that they’re all solid heroes, aren’t they?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “They’re good men to have at your side, and, if you’re lucky enough to have one of them fall in love with you, you are blessed, indeed,” Ice said, her voice warming.

  “Well, it’s a little early to say that,” Petra said.

  “I’ve known Cain a long time,” Ice said. “He doesn’t fall easily.”

  “I’m not even sure that he’s falling,” Petra said, backpedaling quickly. “I’m not exactly sure what we have here.”

  “Understood,” Ice said, but she was still chuckling. “I suggest you enjoy the ride while you can.”

  “I just wonder what it’ll take to get through this, so that we can find that out.”

  “Sit tight,” she said. “We’ve got help coming.”

  Just then a vehicle pulled up along the back alley.

  “A vehicle’s behind me,” she said, her voice dropping to a low whisper.

  “Can you see the vehicle?”

  “No,” she said, “it’s dark here.”

  “Good,” she said. “With any luck it’s my guy.”

  “How will I know?”

  “Well, he’ll start whistling as he walks toward you, for one thing,” she said.

  “And who is this guy?” she asked suspiciously. “I’m here holding a gun on an unconscious woman. It looks bad for me.”

  “Not in this case,” she said. “I’ve had them open up the file on your father’s accident from a couple years ago,” she said smoothly. “And I’ve already given him a heads-up on what’s happened right now.”

  Just then she heard whistling. “Okay, somebody’s whistling,” she said, “but I still can’t be sure who it is.”

  “I’m glad you’re cautious,” she said. “I’ll have him stop and identify himself.” Just then the other guy stopped, and then he said, “Petra, my name is Antonio. I came to help. Ice sent me.”

  At that, she slowly stood from behind the trees and smiled. “Hi, I’m over here.”

  He nodded and came toward her.

  She said, “I’m trying to stay out of sight of the house.”

  He quickly picked up the pace and ducked underneath the tree beside her. “So, this is your aunt?”

  “Yes,” she said, “Unbeknownst to me, this bitch has caused me all kinds of trouble over the years, including trying to kill my father some time ago, resulting in him being deprived of oxygen and disabled thereafter. She says she didn’t kill him yesterday, but my uncle said she did.”

  “We’ll get to the bottom of it,” he said. Glancing around, he said, “I understand there’s an issue in the house too.”

  “Yes,” she said, “but Ice told me to stay out of that.”

  “Absolutely,” he said, “that’s what these guys do.”

  “But everybody can run into trouble sometimes,” she murmured.

  He looked at her, smiled, and said, “Absolutely they can, but it’s not necessarily something we should be looking at.”

  “I get it,” she said. “I just don’t like it.”

  He chuckled. “I’ll take her out of here. Are you
okay with that?”

  “Definitely,” she said, “as long as you don’t bring her back again.”

  “Meaning, you don’t want her loose again, is that it?”

  “Yes. She’s a hell of a danger to all of us.”

  “That she is,” he said, “so that’s not a problem.” And in a smooth move that appeared effortless, this tall, dark stranger, who she’d never met before, bent down and hoisted her aunt up with his arms. “You won’t see me again either.”

  “What about my aunt paying the price for her crimes?”

  “No problem,” he said. “That’ll happen too. I’ll just drop her off with someone who knows how to handle her.”

  “If you say so,” she said, as she settled back under the tree. In a swift movement, he disappeared with her aunt in his arms. From her own phone came Ice’s voice. “You okay?”

  “Yes,” she said, with a half sigh. “I’m okay. I can’t really believe what just happened.”

  “Welcome to my world,” Ice said in a dry tone. “We flip on a dime because the circumstances are like that.”

  “And what about Cain?”

  “You keep asking about Cain,” she said, with a smile. “What about Eton?”

  “He went in after Eton,” she said, “so I’m assuming they’re both in there. But, yes, I’m more interested in Cain. Except I understand this is a way of life for all of you. How safe are they?”

  “They have each other’s backs. As you said, he went in after Eton. That’s what our intel is saying too,” she said. “So, we’ve got a team approaching, but I want to make sure you’re out of there before they move in.”

  “I’m hidden in the back,” she said. “I can just stay here.”

  “Not a good idea, when the bullets will start flying anytime now,” she said.

  “That’s hardly fair,” she said. “Cain told me to stay here. If I’m not here when he comes out, he—”

  “I could always tell him where you are,” she said. “I don’t want you catching any of the loose gunfire.”

  “There’s no such thing,” she said, “as I’m slowly learning. All these assholes intend to do everything they can. So they’ll shoot to kill, right?”

  “Yes, in this case, you’ve got people without a conscience,” she said. “People who are only concerned about their needs and that alone.”