A trap.
1337 Words
Benedict
I met Ian at the back of the building.
" Dejavu eh?" He said as he held his gun in his hands.
I nodded, feeling strongly about what was about to go down. Last time I didn't listen to my gut. I had a bad feeling and look how that turned out.
I nodded to Ian to proceed. I wanted this part over.
Ian ran to the door, we flanked it on both sides, he swiftly used his booted foot to kick the door in.
We ran in guns blazing.
But we were too late. Chico Sanchez was already dead. He had his throat cut from one end to the other.
Ian called for back up, looking confused. His intelligence reported Sanchez was preparing for the next auction, but there were no signs of girls anywhere.
Infact the whole thing looked quite staged to my eyes.
I suddenly had the feeling that we had walked right into a trap.
" f**k, Ian get out, go!" I yelled.
Ian stared at me, not understanding my urgency.
Those two seconds of hesitation were what killed him.
I saw him bow over, holding his gut as bullets slammed into him, killing him instantly.
I jumped down and crawled to the window not daring to stand up.
I knew who was after us, I understood the rules.
Jorge Armani was gunning for me. But, he needed me alive in order to find Angelina.
I had to find some way to leverage this information.
The floor was dirty, stained with excrement and blood.
My glasses were bent and lying a few inches from my fingers.
Slowly crawling forward, I reached my fingers, grabbing my glasses.
I quickly threw them up and out the window. The gun went off again, spraying bullets all over the small room, above my head. Glass shattering everywhere.
I was stuck here. Stuck like a sitting duck. I covered my head, thinking of a way out.
I heard Charles calling to me.
" Ben, you ok dude?" he yelled in a hushed tone.
I couldn't let Lavender come in here. She would be devastated seeing her husband dead.
I crawled to the door, scrambling as glass cut my hands.
" Shoot at them!" I cried.
Charles and Lavender opened fire, I ducked down and ran out.
Lavender pulled me behind a tree, looking for Ian.
" I'm going in." She said in a deeper voice, eyes looking more black than Lavender.
I believed this was Blue coming through. Steel in that voice, determination to get to her mate.
" No!" I yelled.
"He's gone. He was hit by the first barage of bullets, Sanchez was dead when we entered, throat slit. It was a f*****g trap!" I yelled at her.
She roared loudly in pain as she started to blindly fire shots towards the shooter.
She ran into that building and to my utter surprise, she dragged Ian out by his legs, firing as she went.
We ran to her and helped her get her husband behind the treeline.
Very slowly, as if in slow motion she bent down and kissed his dead lips, tears pouring out of her pretty eyes.
Then she spun on her heel and ran around the brush and to the other side of the building, right towards the shooter.
I stood up and started to go after her. Charles grabbed my arm, yanking me back.
" No, you don't!" He yelled at me. I snarled at him, yanking away from him.
" Think of your kids Ben, please don't be an i***t!" He chastised me.
I stared into his eyes angrily, but he was right. This was not the way. Lavender was on her own.
A few moments later we heard a single shot fired. I shook my head, stupid impulsive girl.
To his credit, Charles was holding it together better than me.
I quietly instructed him to back out and go back to the car.
I motioned with my eyes and my hands. He looked down at Ian and questioned just leaving his body there.
We had to leave Ian. I was pretty sure Lavender was also dead.
Charles gave a cry of shock and wonder, seeing Lavender walking back towards us. She was perfectly fine.
" Where the hell are you two cowards going?" She was pissed, seeing us leaving.
"Not without Ian!" She screamed as her eyes bore down at me particularly.
I nodded and walked back towards Ian's body.
" There were two of them." She said softly, bending her neck side to side to losen it.
" We only heard the one shot." Charles observed.
" Killed em both with one shot. They were amatuers." She pulled the poster out of her pocket.
Lavender threw it on the ground. A poster with Manuel Ortega's picture and a 10 million dollar reward.
" Bounty hunters. Must have took out Sanchez, waiting for you Manuel. It wasn't a secret that you had stabbed him in the gut.
Probably assumed you would come back to finish the job." She grabbed Ian's arms and we pulled him to the road.
I grunted as I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder.
I wanted to walk him out of there as quickly as possible.
Lavender's eyes rose in surprise at my actions.
" Ben, no put him down!" She cried tears in her eyes now. "You aren't strong enough yet to do that, you'll drop him!"
I took her arm and squeezed it, "we have no time, let's go."
" I'm doing it, so let's move." I stumbled a bit as I turned to walk through the brush.
Charles stopped me. "For shits sake, let me do it."
I knew it wouldn't be long and I would have to put him down so I wisely agreed.
Charles pulled him off of me and slung him effortlessly over his shoulder. He was well over 6 foot 4 and had broad shoulders.
" Lead the way guys." He gestured to the road, carrying Ian with ease.
We caught up with our driver and left for my property in Costa Maya.
_______________
Lavender paced the floor nervously, her eyes were red and she bit her thumb. Every so often a cry of pain escaped her lips. She was mourning her loss.
I felt compelled to offer her comfort, though we never really got along before. She looked so vulnerable, so raw.
I pulled her to my chest and held her there.
She let me hold her, breaking down then and sobbing all over my shirt.
" I got you sweetie." I pet her long black hair and kissed her head.
She clung to me, staying at my side all night and into the next day.
I knew it was what Phina would do. She had a big heart and seemed to like Lavender.
Charles went out to arrange for a Ian's buriel as I instructed him to.
Lavender wanted him set out to sea.
The next morning, we set out in the yacht and made our way across the choppy waves to open water.
It was a stormy day, but the cool salty spray of the ocean seemed to sober us all.
I thought about my mother and how much it hurt me to hear of her death.
I knew that moma hated the water, especially after her traumatic childhood. I felt so much guilt at making her go out on the yacht.
I killed her by doing this.
Charles Hudson was very good at executing the eulogy. He said all of the right things, easing Lavender's way by his kind words.
I wanted to hate him so much. I had killed him many times in my mind, it would be so easy to tell Phina that he was killed by the cartel.
But...I knew that her sorrow at his passing would be 100 times what Lavender's was.
Phina loved fiercly, protectively.
I had to protect him, I was growing to respect him.
- Writer
