Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
Gripping tight, I pulled the limp body along the rocky desert landscape. It was that time of day when the sun was barely kissing the sky, so the light was minimal. Just enough to see my way; the perfect time for killing.
As I walked, a sorrowful nostalgia of memories washed over me. Riding the ferris wheel with Tatiana, chasing waves, hopping from rock to rock, laughing as we raced each other down busy streets.
Red ribbons tied to long, beautiful pigtails that I was so entranced with. The same ribbon, blowing in the open window, a symbol of her pain.
Years passing by, from innocence to corruption, as we both grew up to grim realities.
Then, blood and death everywhere. The night that everything changed for me.
And through everything, she’d been there for me, even when I’d pushed her away.
Tatiana was my past, my present, and my future. She was and would always be my everything.
And, tonight, when I buried my face in her hair, fucking her, I knew that I would never, ever let her go.
She didn’t want to forgive me, fine.
Wanted to run from me for forever, let her try.
With that one word—Veracruz—I knew that I would betray the Kings, the men who were brothers to me, to protect her. And then, I would chase her to the ends of the earth to make her mine.
Despite our past, wrapped up in our present, she was the one and only woman for me, and I was never letting her go.
By the time I reached the site I'd prepared, I was drenched in sweat, despite the chill of the Nevada desert night air. I dumped him in the hole, big and deep enough for the both of us, then grabbed my leather bag.
After checking to make sure everything was ready, I jumped down, joining Carlos Garcia in his grave.
If I was wrong about this, then, well, the guy was just having a really shit day.
I couldn't kidnap a cartel member and let him live.
I'd reached the point of no return.
The moment I'd taken him, I'd betrayed my family. The men and women I loved, more than I'd ever loved my own parents.
I was doing something that not only had I sworn an oath to my brothers not to do, but something I'd promised myself I would never do.
All for her, Tatiana. Someone from our past was coming for us, and I never took a beating lying down.
Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a needle and my Beretta. Tucking the Beretta into my holster, I tied his arm then inserted the needle into his skin. He blinked, taking a minute to awaken, and I waited patiently, grabbing a gallon of bottled water and, twisting open the top, drank several gulps.
“ Dios, mio. ” He looked around him in confusion, his eyes racing until finally, they landed on me. Jerking back, they widened in surprise and fear. “You puta madre asshole! What the fuck are you doing?” He struggled against his ropes. “Shit, man. They're going to kill you. This is going to start a war, ese .”
I gave him a grim smile. "Maybe."
His eyes grew even wider when he could see that I didn't give a shit about that. He struggled harder, gasping and drenching himself in sweat, his head beating against the rocky white soil in his attempt to get loose.
I stared down at him impassively until, finally growing impatient with a sigh, I stood, pouring water over his face. He choked on it in his panic and I gripped his shoulder, shaking him sternly. "Hey man, get it together. Your woman wouldn't want you to go out like this."
“Ines? You’d better not fucking touch her, or I'll kill you!"
"I don't think you're in a position to make threats. You're trussed up like a pig, in the middle of a hole, in the deep Nevada desert. If you even managed to get out of here alive, which you won't, you're so far away from civilization, you'll die from the elements. And only the buzzards or the foxes will be around to find your remains." My lips curled up into a grin as a thrill rushed through me. This motherfucker was going to die, and I was going to be the one who did it.
He tried to struggle more, but was quickly waning. I’d given him a sedative, so he didn’t have much energy.
“Look,” he tried to reason with me. “You know I’m just a soldier. I do what I’m told.”
I shook my head. “It’s not about tonight.”
“Then what the hell is it about?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “Let’s just call it destiny, shall we?”
"This isn't my fate, man. I was gonna propose to her."
I clicked my tongue. "Sure you were." I pat his shoulder reassuringly. "Speaking of that girl, I'm curious, where did you get her necklace? It's gorgeous."
"I bought it from one of the pawn shops."
"So you stole it then," I said, "from Tatiana Krapivnik. "
"I didn't! I told you, I got it from the pawn shop, I'll even show you where I got it."
Frustrated, I inhaled a deep breath, shaking my head and stared up, out at the mountains beyond us. "You don't get it. You're not coming out of this alive. So you might as well tell me what I want to know. And if you do," I had to raise my voice because he'd begun to protest, "If you do, I swear to you that I won't touch your girl." That stopped his protests. "I mean, if you love her like you say you do, then don't make her life harder."
“Fuck you, man!”
“No. I don’t think I will, though thanks for the offer.” I began to shovel dirt over his feet. “Her name is Ines Lawson, originally from Jamaica but her parents moved here when she was only two. She lives with you, in the middle of Cartel territory, but it’s only about four blocks from one of the properties I own. Wouldn’t be too hard for me to slip in and find her.” I glanced at my watch. “She’s probably still sleeping, don’t you think?”
“Fuck man.” His face slumped into the dirt.
I began to shovel more dirt over the top of his thighs.
“Fuck!” He screamed, “just let me think!” He swiped his tongue across his lip, catching sand into his mouth.
“Or,” I squat back down, pulling something else out of my leather bag and showed it to him. “If you’re good, you can have a choice. This , before I pull the trigger.”
His eyes narrowed, focusing in on it. "What's in there?"
“Justice."
He studied the soft brown liquid, then looked up at me. "Heroin?"
"Yes.” I nodded, swaying it back and forth and he couldn’t look away. “Isn’t it pretty?”
“So this is about the girl.”
“Of course it’s about the girl. You think I give a shit about anything else?”
“Maybe.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, then tucked it away where he couldn’t see it. “I promise, give me what I want, and you'll go out with a smile on your face."
He took in a shaky breath. "What do you want to know?”
"Did you take that necklace from Tatiana?"
“We were ordered to do it."
“To take the necklace?"
“No, claro . Not the necklace.” He shook his head. “Take her, shoot her up with h, then release her."
"So stealing the necklace was just greed on your part."
He shook his head, leaning it against the ground.
I squat next to him. "Who gave you the order? Your Jefe?"
"No, not the Jefe. Some guy they sent from Veracruz. But he might as well be, he bosses everyone around and we have to obey his orders." He laughed, the sound a bit unhinged, “He’s crazy, man. They call him the Caminante ."
“What? Some kind of insane hiker?”
"Nah man, the Caminante de la muerte. Deathstalker.”
"Why?"
"I told you. He's fucking crazy."
"Okay," I shook my head, not caring at this point. The cartel was superstitious and weird. “Where can I find him?”
He laughed again, shaking his head, then he suddenly stopped, his gaze fierce. "Just know, the Caminante is coming for you and your girl, man. He’s going to stalk you down and torture you. Then, when you’re begging for death, he’ll give you what you want."
Fuck .
I'd been right, and any guilt I felt about betraying my family was swallowed in my determination to protect Tatiana.
I'd been right to trust my instincts.
Rage simmered in my stomach then billowed up into my chest. I grabbed his shirt, shaking him. "Tell me how to fucking find him!"
“I'm not tell you anything else,” he shook his head, “otherwise the Caminante will find a way to torture me in the afterlife.”
"Where you're going, you won't need el Caminante to find you. You’ll be too busy.” I let him go, and his head fell to the ground.
He looked pitiful now, and I only wished Tatiana was here to see him, tied up and weak. I pulled out a joint and began to smoke, reveling in this moment. It was a heady feeling—knowing you were exacting revenge on someone who deserved it.
On someone who thought they had all the power, and you were the one to open their eyes to the truth: they were nothing.
Carlos grew restless. “Ese? You going to give me the brown beast, or what?”
“This isn’t from Mexico.” I grinned. “Straight from Afghanistan.”
“Shit,” His eyelid fluttered. “Do it man.”
“You got any prayers to say?"
Nodding, he closed his eyes, whispering to his Santa Maria as I maneuvered him on his side, injecting the liquid into a vein on his arm. I knew the moment it hit his brain, a smile curling his lips, he grew lax.
We sat there for a long moment, him enjoying the high from the heroin while I looked up at the sky, staring at the stars, remembering that night when my little Polvicita and I emerged from the cave after the hurricane. The night sky had been similar to this one, the world silent, as if holding its breath after the storm.
Except, this was the beginning.
After a long moment, I pulled out my Beretta, pointing it down at him, ready to pull the fucking trigger with a bullet named vengeance .
I knew that if I was discovered, the Vegas streets would run with the blood of our kind.
The cartel would not lie down after this act.
And yet, I just didn’t give a shit.
It was worth it, for her .
* * *
Sixteen hours later, I stood outside the black door labeled number ’ten’, knowing that tonight was the night I would lay everything out.
I would really bear my heart to Tatiana, even if that fucker, Rook, insisted on staying in the room.
It was time for her to know why I’d left her in Cuba.
Why she’d thought I’d abandoned her.
I would get on my knees if necessary.
She was everything to me, and she needed to know it.
As I entered the room, it was already aglow with the soft, yellow light of the lamp, situated on the stand next to the bed.
As always, the sight of Tatiana arrested me. She was on the bed, the stunning creature of both my dreams and my nightmares. Exquisite, dressed in a dominatrix outfit: a black leather corset leotard, with ties crisscrossing across her magnificent tits and down her belly. Once again, she straddled the bed, facing me with intense eyes and a grave look on her face. Her back was straight, her hands tied behind them.
This was new. Something about it was…different.
I entered the room, quickly glancing around me and noting the fact the glass wall was down. Rook wasn't here.
“Hello," Tatiana said, her voice soft, like crushed velvet, “I’ve missed you this week."
My gaze honed in on her. Like always, I was drawn to her, like gravity draws the moon to the earth.
She was so beautiful, it made my chest ache.
“You…” I couldn’t speak, only stare at her in awe as I made my way to the bed. Reaching out, I brushed a thumb across her cheek, and a shiver crawled over her.
“Do you remember…” she said, then paused. Her chest hammered in and out like a hummingbird and a blush of red flushed across her cheek. “Do you remember that first day we met?”
“Like it was yesterday.”
“Then you remember the promise you made to me?”
“Of course.”
“What was it?” A slight bob to her throat.
“That I would always keep you safe.”
“And that if I gave you my trust, you’d protect me.”
“Yes.”
“You broke your promise,” her voice had grown soft, pained and tortured. “You broke your promise and it killed me inside.”
“I know, baby.” I closed my eyes, leaning down to brush my cheek across hers. “And I will never ever stop regretting that.”
“Well it doesn’t matter now.” Her voice had changed.
I opened my eyes, stepping back, staring at her, trying to put a finger on what was different.
“You left me, Knight, and it was the best thing you’d ever done for me.”
“No.” I shook my head. “It was the worst?—“
“It was the best. Because then, I learned to take care of myself.” She tilted her chin up. “Yes, at first, things got worse. Worse than you can ever imagine.” She paused, once again trying to find her words, and the red coloring to her cheeks grew deeper. “Do you know what it’s like to be paralyzed in your own body, unable to move, for hours and hours?”
I furrowed my eyebrows. “Tati. What are you talking about?”
“To be berated and talked down to, all day every day? To be fucked when you can’t even move an inch.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
She shook her head, shaking my question off. She pulled her arms out from behind her back. They weren’t tied. Instead, she was holding a gun. “I do, Knight. And I’ll never let that happen to me again.” She pointed it up at me and clicked off the safety. “You aren’t safe for me, Knight. So I have to protect myself. You need to die.”