by Angela Horn
“Once we free my friends, the cartel will give up when they see they can’t win,” Heidi said with a certainty unrestrained by reality.
“Now you’re just making things up.”
“Have faith, Joaquin,” Heidi said, smiling. “Can we go now?”
Taking a deep breath, Joaquin nodded and opened his door. Heidi followed him as they moved towards the outer walls of the prison. Nearing the entrance, Joaquin spotted only one man, watching a small television in the guard’s quarters.
Joaquin’s plan relied on his ability to shield Heidi throughout the firefight. This plan, like her certainty, was detached from reality, but Joaquin knew he must continue. Pausing just before the guard came fully into view, Joaquin turned to Heidi.
Even in the blinding darkness, his fingers found her and he caressed her lips. She would be gone soon, probably within the hour. At that moment, he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. Kissing her gently, he wished to carry her away somewhere safe and keep her with him. This desire was foolish though.
Heidi would not leave with him, would not allow him to walk away from this mission, and would not love him if he failed her friends. As her hands reached for Joaquin and pulled him closer, she did seem to love him. Whether her feelings were love or lust, Joaquin could only hold on for a few more minutes before the reality of their situation took hold.
Once they let go of one another, Joaquin tried to concentrate on the plan – an impossible plan leading to Heidi’s death. He did hope no matter the bloodshed about to take place that she would somehow manage to be at his side in the end. A hope Joaquin had no faith in, but it was all he could reach for to avoid backing out of Heidi’s suicide mission.
“Stay with me. Never leave my side,” he whispered.
He thought she nodded, but it was difficult to tell in the darkness. Pulling out his weapon and checking the silencer, Joaquin cracked his neck to each side and took a deep breath. Right or wrong, win or lose, there was no turning back now.
The shot found its mark and to Joaquin’s relief the man did not fall over dramatically and cause a commotion. Heading down a hallway leading them deeper into the prison, Joaquin kept expecting men to pop out from each doorway. Instead he found only one empty room after another.
At one point, Joaquin felt certain their excursion was one big circle. Behind him, Heidi remained silent and he often glanced back to check on her. Each time, she would look at him with an expression somewhere between enthusiasm and pure terror.
After walking for what felt like a good twenty minutes, Joaquin stopped and frowned.
“No one’s here. Maybe they’ve been moved?” he whispered.
Heidi shook her head. “Maximo said they were still here.”
Joaquin considered arguing whether a boy’s dreams should be considered fact. Before he could, hushed voices drifted down the hall, causing him to raise his weapon and pull Heidi closer. He could not decipher the meaning behind the whispers, yet he recognized them as female voices. Heidi’s big fearful eyes grew excited and she started moving towards the voices and past Joaquin.
Tugging her back, Joaquin wagged a finger at her.
“Stay with me,” he repeated and Heidi nodded.
Heading down the hall, Joaquin again prepared for men to attack. Certain a battle was behind each door, he instead found every hall empty and every room abandoned. At the end of the hallway, behind a door, the voices continued, barely audible.
Pushing open the door slowly, Joaquin discovered a line of cells filled with a half dozen women. The women stepped away from the bars in unison, the fear on their faces intensifying as he approached. An older woman began to cry as the fear became unbearable. Then Heidi stepped from behind Joaquin and shushed them. In that instant, the women rushed to the cell doors.
“Where are your captors?” Joaquin asked them in Spanish.
“They left earlier and have not come back,” said a white woman that Joaquin assumed was the doctor, Maggie.
Joaquin found a set of keys and opened the doors. The women hugged one another and Heidi, before staring at him expectantly.
“They must be here somewhere,” Joaquin said, stating the obvious and accepting how their rescue was too easy. “How many men did you see?”
“There were more men here earlier, but they left before the sun went down. Now, maybe a dozen are left,” Maggie said. She then turned to Heidi and grinned. “You came back.”
“God answered our prayers,” Heidi said, looking at Joaquin.
The women again hugged, whispering thanks to Heidi and God. Joaquin peered out of the door and wondered which of the two hallways to trust. One hallway brought them here only after circling half the prison, but the other hallway might lead them into a trap. Not having much choice, Joaquin signaled for the women to follow him down the first hall.
The group stepped into the hallway silently and Joaquin did make a mental note to appreciate the women’s ability to remain quiet. They moved as a silent herd with Heidi bringing up the rear. While this last detail irritated Joaquin immensely, he did not dare complain with them so close to escaping.
Stepping towards an open doorway they had checked on the way in, Joaquin sensed movement. Signaling for the women to stop, he peeked into the room and was met with a gunshot.
“Go back,” he said, firing into the room.
Heidi and the women hurried back down the hallway, but halted when another shot rang out from the direction they were heading. Heidi returned fire and the enemy shots temporarily stopped. Hearing the distinct sounds of approaching men and cocking weapons, Joaquin waved the women into a room while he held the men at bay.
Following the women into an office, Joaquin knocked a bookshelf against the door. As he created a barricade, the women followed Heidi into an adjoining room and to another hallway. Turning to follow them, Joaquin’s exit was blocked when the door between the two rooms slammed shut by an unseen force.
Joaquin heard Heidi call out to him and he saw the doorknob jiggle. While he might wish to aid her, his feet wouldn’t budge, not even when Heidi’s voice switched from concern to panic. The rattling doorknob ceased, followed by the sounds of women crying out in fear and their feet stampeding down the hall and away from him. Sounds of a struggle and a gunfight encouraged Joaquin to act. Yet he did not move nor attempt to save them.
Something lurked in the room with Joaquin and it wanted to talk. Around him, the room shifted as the air thinned. Light and shadow fought for dominance. Joaquin’s legs grew weak, almost as weak as his will to deny the monster its due.
Joaquin slumped to the ground, seemingly powerless against this creature. Expecting death, he was instead tempted with an offer - a deal from one monster to another.
The demon showed him a dreamlike existence he could never possess on his own. This future included Heidi and him living contently like normal people with children and a home in the suburbs. Joaquin saw himself mowing the yard while his children played nearby on their swing set. A yellow Labrador followed Heidi from the house as she brought her man a glass of cold lemonade. All his shame and pain dissolved. Only peace and happiness remained. The perfect life awaited them, if only Joaquin would do what this monster wanted.
“How?” he asked.
“Just forsake the god that has forsaken you,” the thing in the darkness whispered. “Your fickle god doesn’t want you anyway. Denounce him and I will give you and Heidi what you deserve. Your god will only bring you punishment and death.”
Joaquin knew what Heidi would say and so did the demon.
“She will never know. Let her believe her fairytales.”
How to deny a deal with the devil that would give Joaquin everything he wanted? He had spent a lifetime assuming the devil was real, but his belief in a loving God was newer and uncertain.
How ironic that the monster brought Heidi to Joaquin with the plan of using her as a bargaining chip in a deal he would only have agreed to before meeting her. Heidi gave him hope in
his own goodness and in God’s ability to forgive him. This hope was undeniable, no matter Heidi’s fate.
“I have nothing for you, demon. I’m leaving now.”
The monster only shifted in the shadows, unwilling to show itself.
“She will die.”
“We all die,” Joaquin said, rising to his feet and pointing his gun at the monster. “Should I prove that to you?”
Joaquin didn’t know if he could kill the thing in the shadows, but the monster knew and it feared the answer.
“I will enjoy your suffering,” the monster hissed as it disappeared. “And funny enough, so will your god.”
Joaquin rushed through the now unlocked door to find an empty hallway. Sounds of gunfire echoed from somewhere far off in the prison and Joaquin ran towards them.
At the end of the cavernous hall, Joaquin came upon two bodies, both male. Entering a small room, he found more bodies, again male. Blood splatters told him a struggle had taken place here. While the women had won, one or more of them had been injured.
Joaquin tracked the blood trails to where the cars were parked. Beginning to run, he was terrified by the sudden silence. For there were no gunshots, no voices, no engines revving. Only the painful silence which accompanied dawn in a hellish place like this one. To Joaquin, the silence screamed death and he prepared to find the women slaughtered behind every doorway.
Turning a corner, he found himself eyeing the barrel of a gun, his gun in fact. Heidi did not lower it immediately. Her green eyes were glazed, not as much afraid as shell shocked. Joaquin pressed the gun downward with his palm then pulled her against him.
The blood trail belonged to Heidi and she continued to bleed in his arms. Most of it appeared to come from a large hole in her stomach, but deep wounds riddled her chest, legs, and arms. Heidi relaxed against him, but tensed again when a car started.
Yards away, the rescued women piled into a van and headed away from the prison. Waving goodbye as the van swirled dirt in the air, the women disappeared quickly into the horizon.
Heidi frowned, trying to move away from Joaquin. “We have to help them.”
“The cartel wants us. It’s safer for the women to keep their distance.”
Heidi watched the women disappear, a frown stuck on her bloodied face. Joaquin slid his gun into a holster and picked her up just as her legs began to wobble. Even muttering her objections, Heidi grew limp in his arms as they reached a car.
Arranging Heidi in the passenger seat, Joaquin felt the warmth of the exploding sun on his neck. Even with only a taste of light over the horizon, inside these prison walls, the air seared Joaquin’s skin. A threat still hung over this place and Joaquin felt it claw at him as he started the car.
The noise of the car’s powerful engine startled a barely conscious Heidi. Joaquin knew the Lord had kept her strong against these men and their weapons until he could find her. Even if it was the devil that originally united them, Joaquin accepted God was who kept them together now.
As the car began to move, Heidi shifted in the seat and laid her head against Joaquin, using his chest as her pillow.
“We need to find Maximo. He’ll know what to do,” she muttered, staring at him with unfocused eyes.
Nodding, Joaquin caressed her hair while increasing the car’s speed. As Heidi dozed against him, her blood darkening the tan leather seats, Joaquin again seized a sliver of hope.
No matter their luck so far, Joaquin pushed down hard on the gas pedal. He also refused to look in the rearview, afraid of what might be looking back at him.
Chapter Fourteen
On the drive to the safe house, Roman told Sophie about his old packmate Gus who won the lottery two months before learning he was a hunter. Besides hunting, Gus paid for missions and patched up the lucky hunters who didn’t die in the battlefield.
Sophie pulled the SUV down a long dirt road at the urging of Roman. The jagged road felt unending and Sophie wondered if Roman had made a mistake, figuring the unflappable hunter was starting to crack under the pressure of losing Lila. Just as she thought to ask him about the route, she noticed a lighted security gate ahead.
Stopping at the intercom, Sophie pushed the button, but didn’t know what to say. When a male voice asked for the pass code, Roman rolled his window down and announced himself in an icy calm voice.
“Welcome back, man,” Gus said, buzzing open the gate.
Roman said nothing, instead motioning for Sophie to drive. Sophie started down another long dirt road and this time she spotted the distinctive lights of a large compound ahead. Parking near a huge house with a driveway packed with SUVs and trucks, Sophie waited for Roman to tell her what to do next.
As Roman eased out of the car, he signaled for Sophie to follow him. The front door of the compound opened and a man with dark red hair and a big smile appeared, carrying a rifle in one arm. He threw his free arm around Roman’s shoulder and gave him a quick tight hug.
“We thought you were dead,” Gus said, peering at the SUV. “Who do you got there?”
“It’s Lila. Do you still have medical supplies here?”
“Uh, dude, not this again.” Gus said then paused upon seeing Sophie. “Is that who, wait, I’m confused. What’s going on?”
Sophie watched him frown at her and she responded with her own dark scowl. After a long day of driving and praying her seemingly dead friend was in fact alive, Sophie wasn’t in the mood for delays.
“Are you going to help us or not?” Sophie asked.
“Wait, so Sophie didn’t die? What about what Ivy said?” Gus asked, moving to where Roman leaned into the SUV. “Hey, is that really Lila?”
Roman turned to Gus and sighed. “She’s hurt. Will you please help me?”
Sophie glared at the man, hating him for showing the kind of uncertainty she suffered. Yet in her mind, he should know better.
“Yes, of course, bring her inside and I’ll get you guys set up.”
Roman leaned into the SUV and picked up Lila. Carrying her, he gestured for Sophie to follow. Gus watched Sophie who watched him as they both followed Roman into the compound. Once inside, Gus shut the door and set an alarm.
“Take her into the first room to your left. I’ll go get the supplies.”
Sophie watched Gus rush down a hall away from them. In his wake, a woman appeared. She said nothing and made no attempt to follow either Gus or Roman. Sophie studied her for a moment before ducking into the room where Roman laid Lila on a bed.
Sophie couldn’t bear to look at her friend with that gaping hole in her chest. While she didn’t know much about death, Sophie knew Lila seemed dead with her cold pale skin. Yet hours after taking her last breath, Lila’s body showed no signs of rigor mortis, let alone decomposition.
Even with this glimmer of hope, Sophie felt that Lila was gone. No matter how long Lila went without reacting to his touch or words though, Roman continued to hold Lila’s hand and whisper in her ear.
“What happened to her?” Gus asked, returning to the room.
“A demon attack.”
“It sure made a mess, didn’t it?”
Roman glanced at Gus. “Where is everyone?”
“The guys are in the town over. There’s a hunter here who lost her pack to a rogue. Otherwise, it’s just you, me, and Sophie.”
Roman stepped back so Gus could slip a needle into Lila’s arm. Frowning, Sophie watched the men.
“What is that?”
“A little concoction the professor came up with years ago. It’s like medicine for our kind,” Gus said then eyed Roman. “Why doesn’t she know that?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Uncomplicate it for me, will ya? These two died and now they aren’t dead. Was Ivy lying? If so, where has the pack been all these years?”
Roman studied Sophie then looked to Gus.
“They did die, but God brought them back without any memory of who they were. Sophie and Lila only met a few days ago. Neither of them remem
bers me or you or each other. I can’t dumb it down anymore than that. What I can tell you is that Lila, no matter how she looks, can recover. I can feel it.”
Gus nodded, setting up the IV next to Lila who never reacted to the pinching of the needle or the medicine pumping into her body. Sophie watched the men, without allowing herself to contemplate the full meaning of Roman’s words.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I was dead. Now, I’m not. I get it.”
Roman watched her for a moment, clearly worried. He finally looked at Gus.
“We need the guys back here. I felt some villains on our way in.”
“Where?” Gus asked, immediately alarmed.
“Near the main road. I’m thinking at least a half dozen, but there could be more now.”
“Are they after you?”
“I don’t know. The villains that ambushed us today weren’t there for us. A demon attack plus the numbers at the rest stop and the ones outside makes me think something’s riling them up. We need backup.”
“I’ll call Ethan.”
Roman glanced at Sophie. “Go with Gus and he’ll get you something to eat.”
“I want to stay with Lila.”
“You can’t help her and you haven’t eaten today. Lila will want you strong when she gets better.”
Sophie sized up Gus who hovered near the door. Moving closer to Roman, she leaned down.
“I don’t like him.”
“He’s one of us, Sophie. He’ll watch your back while I watch Lila’s. Please trust me about this.”
Sophie nodded, unwilling to pitch a fit with a grieving Roman. Following Gus out of the room, Sophie did peek back at Roman who continued to whisper to an unresponsive Lila. Once in the main hall, Gus turned to Sophie and smiled a wide infection grin.
“You don’t know me, but I know you and you’re going to warm up to me real quick. To save time, how about we just skip the distrust part and go straight to you thinking I’m a great guy?”
Sophie rolled her eyes, yet couldn’t help giving him a tiny grin.
“Fine. I like you, so now what?”
