There is a third blast of gunfire before the house falls silent again. “And what would you have done?” I say, the situation way too tense for me to cope with. “Relocated to Mexico?”
“Shush”, Jaxon orders, listening intently at the door. “They’re inside the house.”
“And that’s where they are going to die”, Emilio says confidently, cocking his antique shotgun.
“What the fuck is on this pen drive anyway?” Jaxon asks.
“Something someone very important doesn’t want to get out.”
“Well that’s nicely specific”, Jaxon says.
“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you”, I say. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is they don’t get hold of it.”
“Are you sure about that? It seems like they don’t care if they get hold of it or not. Unless they already know where it is, or they already have it, and now they’re here just to tie up loose ends.”
“They don’t already have it”, I say confidently.
There is a metal clang against the wall at the top of the stairs that draws immediate gun fire from Jaxon. “Fuck”, he says, backing into the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind him. “Smoke grenade.”
Jaxon takes a pair of weird looking goggles from his pack and puts them on.
“They’re coming”, Emilio says.
“Get down”, Jaxon whispers. “Everyone on the floor.”
There is hardly any space for us but we just about manage it before bullets rip through the wooden door, just where Rosa was standing only seconds before, smashing through the small glass window in the far wall before disappearing out into the night.
“So what are you going to do after this one?” Jaxon says casually, as he puts the barrel of his sub machine gun into one of the recently created bullet holes and fires in rapid, controlled bursts. I can hear garbled Spanish and the sound of at least two bodies hitting the ground. “Take down the entire network of crime across the whole of central America?”
“I’m a journalist”, I remonstrate. “I’m meant to piss people off.”
“You call this pissing people off?”
“I call it doing my work”, I say.
“Right, then you won’t mind staying here for a moment while I go and do mine.”
“You’re leaving again?” I say, sitting up momentarily to make sure he can see me.
“Get the fuck down”, Jaxon says angrily, launching himself instinctively at me just as a bullet carves through the door and grazes his shoulder where my head was only a moment ago.
“Fuck”, I scream, while Jessica begins to cry loudly.
Emilio unloads both barrels of his shotgun but it serves to do nothing other than gouge two giant holes in what’s left of the bathroom door.
Jaxon checks his shoulder, as blood leaks into the wound. It’s not deep, but it might need stitching.
“Just give us what we came for”, someone shouts through from the other side. “Give us what we came for and I promise you we’ll kill you quickly.”
Jaxon shakes his head. “People just don’t learn, do they?” he says, apparently talking to himself. “Emilio, shoot anything that comes in the window, and Ruby, shoot anything that comes in the door unless it’s me.”
“Be careful”, I say.
With one gun rested on his shoulder, Jaxon shoots the lightbulb out without even looking. Suddenly the room falls into darkness. “I’m always careful”, he says. “Didn’t I tell you I’m good at this?”
“You might have mentioned it”, I say. “About a thousand fucking times. Just don’t die, not if you meant what you said.”
Jaxon kicks the door open and fires into the void without looking. I hear a body drop to the ground, while gunfire rushes into the space Jaxon neatly vacates a second later.
“About what?” he says.
A second later he’s back at the doorway, firing again. I hear screams in Spanish and another body drop.
“About it mattering”, I say. “It doesn’t matter anyway, this isn’t exactly the time to talk about it.”
“Don’t go anywhere”, Jaxon says, before leaning over and kissing me on the cheek before I have a chance to respond.
“Asshole”, I shout, but he’s already out of the door.
I try my best to console Jessica, but she’s absolutely terrified. Emilio watches the window resolutely, while Rosa prays and gunfire refuses to cease in the rooms below us. I can imagine Jaxon feels like he’s playing a computer game, fooling around, showing off and taking chances just because he thinks he’s invincible.
I’m sure he’s come up against way worse than this throughout his career, but that doesn’t mean he’s any less vulnerable than the rest of us. One mistake and we’re not going to stand much chance up here without him. I know how to handle myself when it’s one on one, but me and Emilio against what could be an entire army, could prove to be biting off way more than I can chew.
Instinctively I go to check the pendrive is still around Jessica’s neck, and my heart skips a beat for a second when at first it doesn’t seem to be there. I move my fingers along the cord and find it twisted against her back, tucked into the folds of her T-shirt. Enough information to bring down one entire political party, but is it enough to make all of this worthwhile?
It was never my intention to bring Jessica into this, and I’ve always tried as best as I can to keep her away from this world, but I’ve not only failed, I’ve failed to keep my best friends safe as well.
I nearly shoot Jaxon as the door flies open again. “We need to leave”, Jaxon says urgently. “They’ve got a fucking rocket launcher.”
“A rocket launcher?” I gasp.
“Quick”, Jaxon insists. He pulls me out of the bath and takes hold of Jessica again to wrap around his back. “Stay close to me”, he says. “Press her into me.”
I’m so scared, I don’t argue this time, I just do what he says.
“Rosa, get behind Ruby, Emilio, take the rear, back to us and gun up. They’re crawling over this place like rats.”
Emilio drops his shotgun in favor of the sub machine gun that Jaxon gives him. Outside, most of the smoke has cleared and the house is littered with bodies of what look like Mexican police. “Jaxon?”
“I know”, he says. “Whatever you’ve done, you’ve done it to the wrong people.”
We descend the stairwell in a chain, careful not to break apart, the only sound between us our heavy breathing, Jessica too overwhelmed to do anything now but watch this whole thing unfold like a rabbit caught in the headlights.
We just about make it to the living room again, when the house lights up with a huge red flash and an almighty explosion tears the top floor into shreds. I’m on the ground, bleeding from my ears while Jaxon shouts something at me I can’t hear over the high pitched whine drilling through my head. There is rubble and dust all around me, and smoke crawling across the ceiling that looks like it’s coming from a fire on the upper floor.
Jaxon pulls me to my feet, and we make our way into the kitchen, before advancing gunfire forces us to shelter behind the upturned dinner table.
Jaxon’s shouting something at me but I still can’t hear it. I rub my ears but all that does is cover my hands in blood. I’m scared for my life for the first time in what feels like forever, and I’m scared that now he’s here and he’s proved I need him, Jaxon’s going to leave again.
He’s smiling at me. Despite all of this, he’s trying to keep my spirits up. “You’re fine”, I lip read from him. “You’re fine.”
As second later he’s gone, and while I try and crawl after him, Emilio holds my leg firmly so I stay in place.
We’re there for what feels like longer than we should be, until Jaxon finally rejoins us, his face cut, and his shirt covered in blood.
“Jaxon”, I shout, worried he’s hurt, before pulling him into me and hugging him hard.
“Woah, woah”, Jaxon says, and this time I can just about hear him. The loud drone of tinn
itus is still there, but right now Jaxon’s voice is pushing it into the background. “You’re going to make me think you missed me.”
“Are you hurt?” I ask, checking his body with my hands.
“I should be”, Jaxon says. “I just killed twenty police officers. I’m alright”, he confirms. “It’s nothing. But we need to go now.”
Jaxon gathers Jessica into his arms, while Emilio takes me by the elbow and helps me up.
“Where?” Emilio asks. “We can’t trust anyone now.”
“There’s one place we can go”, Jaxon says. “At least until this all gets sorted out.”
“Where?” I ask.
“The American Embassy”, he says with a smile. “You never know, they might even have twinkies.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jaxon
“Promise me that’s it”, I whisper to Ruby as we wait to be processed. “Promise me that’s the last time I’m going to have to rescue you, because I’m absolutely knackered.”
Ruby looks at me with a softened expression of remorse but doesn’t say anything. I wonder if it’s the closest thing I’m going to get to an admission that this lifestyle isn’t really working out for her.
With Jessica asleep between us and the Mexican in-laws on the bench in front, we look like the weirdest dysfunctional family in the entire continent. Thank God Emilio decided to leave his shotgun behind.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had to seek refuge in an embassy, but it’s the first time I’ve had to do it here. If we manage to work our way out of this place without any further trouble, I expect this is the last time they’ll let me into the country.
Rosa and Emilio look scared, and I can completely understand why. They’ve lost their entire house, and everything they’ve spent their entire life working for. When this all gets sorted, I’ll make sure they get what they deserve to make up for it.
“I’m sorry about your house”, I say, my words echoing in the empty corridor.
Emilio shakes his head staunchly. “No”, he says. “Thank you for saving our lives.”
I lean back into the bench. “I think you did a pretty good job of that yourself.”
An hour passes before anyone joins us again, the clicking of their heels along the stone floor announcing their arrival a long time before they get to us. It’s someone we haven’t been introduced to yet.
“I’m sorry you’ve had to wait such a long time”, he begins. “Jaxon, Ruby, could you come with me please?”
Ruby and I stare a glance before her eyes go down to Jessica. “She’ll be fine”, Rosa says, “They can’t get her here.”
We are led back along the corridor, through a set of doors, up a flight of stairs and into an office that looks more like the executive suite of an upper class hotel chain. Leaned against the desk and awaiting our arrival is the woman I presume will be responsible for how this whole thing plays out.
“Sit down”, the woman says, before moving to behind her desk. “My name is Rachel Harp, I’m the United States ambassador to Mexico, what the fuck are you doing here, Jaxon?”
I’m about to begin to explain, but I’ve barely opened my mouth before her hand is in the air to shut me up. She’s ever more of a hard ass than Ruby is. “There are twenty four dead police officers in a village on the north eastern corner of the city, and there are a further sixteen people dead in an abandoned building in Santa Clara. You have a bullet wound to your shoulder, a stab wound to your chest and you’re bleeding all over my upholstery. Do you realize just how much you have both fucked up?”
Ruby takes a pen drive out of her pocket and slides it across the desk. “It goes all the way up to the very top”, she says. “This isn’t just a single isolated case of corruption in local government, it’s way bigger than that.”
Rachel looks at the pen drive and then up to Ruby. “And why do you think that’s something I’m going to be interested in?”
The question isn’t one Ruby expects and it stuns her enough to hesitate a response. Rachel fills in for her. “This country runs on corruption, it always has and it always will. This entire fucking world runs on corruption. You think you’ve dug up something we didn’t already know? You think you’ve uncovered the one big scoop that’ll turn you from a blog writer into a serious researcher? Let me guess, Sanchez embezzling money, the police chief on the payroll from the drug cartels, the government taking bribes from large corporations, the president turning a blind eye, exploitation of children, the sex trade, the drug cartels in bed with the relevant authorities here in Mexico and elsewhere on the continent. Did I miss anything, or am I way off the mark? Perhaps you’ve got pictures of Francisco Gomez prancing around in woman’s clothes while some fucking tart sucks him off.”
All the color that’s drained out of Ruby’s face seems to have made it’s way into Rachel’s.
“Is this the only copy?” Rachel asks, holding the pen drive up.
Ruby nods.
“You publish this, the wrong people are going to die”, she says. “The country will begin to fall apart at the seams and those innocent people like your daughter, like the two poor Mexicans whose house you’ve just destroyed are the ones that are going to pay.”
“I don’t understand”, Ruby says.
“People like you never do”, Rachel says. “You can’t fight it, all you can do is work with it for the best outcome for everyone.”
“That’s bullshit”, Ruby says. “People are already suffering and people are already dying. Good, innocent people.”
“And the children of the men that your boyfriend has killed?” Rachel begins. “The families of those implicated by this investigation of yours?”
“He’s not my boyfriend”, Ruby says sternly. “And all I’m doing is presenting the truth, the rest is out of my hands.”
“But the truth is dangerous, isn’t it? Take a look at you, it almost killed you and the swelling still hasn’t gone down. Had it not been for Jaxon, it would have destroyed you, your daughter and your Mexican friends. And it wouldn’t have stopped there either. If you publish this, you are not only opening yourself up to attack, you’re opening a path up to destruction.”
“What are you saying?” Ruby asks.
“That sometimes the truth is better left buried for the greater good”, Rachel says.
“How is letting people get away with violence and corruption better for the greater good? How is lining the pockets of politicians and businessmen who have no interest in anything other than keeping the poor poor and making the rich richer in the best interest of innocent people in this country?
“Because nothing is going to change anyway”, Rachel says diplomatically. “Do you think you’re the first person to discover corruption in Mexico? The first person to publish or attempt to publish an expose of the government? This happened on a large scale sixteen years ago and again nine years ago to a lesser extent, and if anything, things have got even worse.”
“Bullshit”, Ruby says.
Rachel gives a dismissive look and pauses to drink her water. I notice neither of us have been offered any.
“Thank you for bringing your research to our attention”, Rachel says. “I’m sorry that we don’t share the same outlook.”
Ruby is absolutely livid with her response, but I can’t say I didn’t expect it. In my job, we learn early not to ask questions about who’s really making the decisions and to whom they benefit on a grand scale.
“Now”, Rachel begins again. “I’m going to give you two choices, Ruby, and only because of Jaxon’s previous allegiance to this country, current illegal project notwithstanding. One, you walk out of here and do whatever you want to do with your life, you publish your research, you go into hiding, you turn up dead in the middle of the desert, your head cut off and left on the spike of a worn metal fence, your body chopped into tiny pieces and left in carrier bags in the trunk of a car, or you go back to America, with your daughter, you forget all about Mexico, and you never return to this coun
try again. As for you, Jaxon”, she says, turning to me, “your two choices are Mexican prison or American retirement, and I know which I would choose if I were either of you.”
Ruby is lost for words. “Was it really only sixteen police officers?” I ask, with a smile. “I thought I counted twenty.”
Rachel’s face storms over again. “I can arrange for that to be solitary confinement if you’d prefer”, Rachel says, while leaning calculatingly against her chair.
I turn to Ruby who appears to be crying. “What about Emilio and Rosa?” she asks.
“Your Mexican friends?” Rachel asks. “I’m sure something can be arranged in your absence.”
“And Jessica?”
“Maybe it’s time for Jessica to begin to have a proper life, don’t you think?”
I reach for Ruby’s hand and this time she lets me hold it, squeezing my hand tightly. Rachel stares at us and shakes her head. “You better thank Jaxon for being here because I’m certainly not going to do it”, Rachel says. “It seems like he’s saved your life three times now.”
Ruby sighs and pulls her hand away from mine. “What now?” she asks.
“That depends on you”, Rachel says. “While I clear up this fucking mess, I suggest you go and get some rest. A car will be leaving tomorrow morning at nine am to take Jaxon directly to the airport, so either you and Jessica get in it as well, or you leave whenever you like, the door is always open.”
I put my hand up to ask a question and Rachel nods at me. “Will it have tinted out windows and leather seats?” I ask.
“I can call that car off, Jaxon”, she says angrily. “I’m not in the mood for this bullshit of yours.”
“No, no”, I say, “nine is good for me. I just hope we won’t have trouble on the way.”
“And, Ruby”, Rachel says, leaning towards her. “You leave here walking, this country can’t do anything to protect you.”
“Where are we staying?” Ruby says, standing up abruptly.
“Michael will show you”, she says. “I’ll call him in.”
“And the pen drive”, Ruby asks.
“Like I said before, thank you for bringing it to our attention”, Rachel says with a chilling smile. “It’s now property of the American government.”
Prime: A Bad Boy Romance Page 7
