Chapter 32
Forrest and Granger were glued to the screen. They didn’t know what half the conversation was since it had been in Portuguese and that worried Forrest. Especially when Granger gave him the what the hell look.
The room was silent as the door closed and then they watched as Uncle Beni walked around the bed slowly looking at Pedro from all angles. He stopped at the chair, and if Forrest lifted the bed skirt he would be looking right at Beni’s shoes.
“Pedro, Pedro, Pedro,” Beni clucked as if Pedro did something wrong before saying something in Portuguese.
Pedro groaned and opened his eyes. “Beni? Are you real or am I still hallucinating?” Pedro asked in English.
Beni began to talk in Portuguese, but Pedro’s face creased in confusion. “It must be a dream because I don’t understand you. Go away.” Pedro closed his eyes again.
Forrest grinned at Pedro’s acting. This was how he was going to get Beni to confess in English. Beni spoke again in Portuguese and Pedro didn’t respond for several seconds. “Be quiet. You’re not real and I wish you would stop speaking gibberish. I just want to sleep.”
“You fool. You’re so far gone you don’t even realize it. You never did realize what was going on right under your nose. You even welcomed me back into your house after I had Bruna killed.”
“What?” Pedro’s eyes shot open and the horror on his face was not an act. “Bruna. My love.”
Beni laughed as he opened his bag and pulled out a needle and syringe.
“I hated you so much for not being home that night. My sister should have been the one taking Jordana to science club that night. It’s your fault I had to have my men kill her.
But I couldn’t have you looking into my business.
Then, instead of focusing on Jordana and giving in to your grief, you sought revenge.
I almost lost everything and had to regroup before I could come back into your life.
You made it so easy after that though. You spoke freely around me about all your plans in the . I was able to own the .”
Beni stuck the needle into the vial and began to draw the medicine out.
“Then Jordana, with her do-gooder attitude found the one vine on the tree that made me the most money when harvested. If her medicine actually worked, then Big Pharma would move into the to protect those trees. And there’s one entity with more power and money than any criminal organization, and that’s Big Pharma.
I couldn’t have that. It was perfect—two birds one stone.
Kidnap Jordana and get you to back off and kill her research.
I underestimated you brother. You and your brat just won’t die. ”
“What are you doing, Beni?” Pedro asked, struggling, as Beni stuck the needle into the IV port.
“First, I’m killing you. Then I’m killing your brat.
After that, I’m finding out where that Forrest went to and killing him so he stops bringing drinking water to the tribes I need to force out.
Then, my dear brother, I will be the sole King of the Forest. I’ll have complete control.
Cartels already pay me to move product, then my mining and logging businesses will flourish if I no longer have to worry about military raids. ”
“I don’t understand,” Pedro said, his voice sounding stronger when it should have been weakening.
“You killed Bruna? Kidnapped Jordana and then sent your men after her to have her and Forrest killed, and when that didn’t work?
Then tried to kill me, several times? And you did this all because you’re Rei da Floresta and wanted to run your criminal organization without the government trying to hunt you down? ”
“That’s right. And in about two minutes you’ll be dead and as Jordana cries on my shoulder I’ll kill her.
” Beni looked so proud that rage caused Forrest to shake.
Granger had to put his hand on Forrest’s shoulder to try to calm him.
He didn’t know how Pedro wasn’t killing the man right where he stood. Surgery be damned.
“How many men are in your organization? How did I not find you?” Pedro asked.
“Six hundred strong, brother. And you never found me because I was hiding in plain sight as an upstanding doctor. All my top men work from my office. I own the whole building, not only the floor where my office is. The top floors are legit-looking companies. My men come to work every day. I issue orders and run the world just two kilometers from your home,” Beni bragged.
“But maybe I’ll now do it from your house, since I’ll be Jordana’s only surviving relative.
After you die and then her, well, I’ll inherit everything. ”
“Don’t be so sure of that,” Pedro said a second before one hand ripped the cover off him while the other slammed the knife into Beni’s chest. “You never poisoned me. The IV isn’t attached to me. It’s not me who is going to die today.”
“Afonso!” Beni managed to call out as he crumbled to the floor.
“Go!” Granger yelled, rolling from under the bed. Forrest tried, but had to scramble over Beni’s dying body.
Beni’s eyes met his and Forrest saw his eyes widen. “You.”
Forrest grinned. “You lose. You were never a king.”
The door crashed open and Afonso filled the doorway as Spivey, Mayfield, and Hunter appeared along with the sheriff’s department, climbing up from the root cellar. However, no one moved because it wasn’t just Afonso.
He held Jordana against his chest with his arm locked around her. His gun was pressed to her head as Afonso took in the scene around them.
“Put the gun down, Afonso. It’s over. Beni’s dead,” Pedro said, struggling to sit up.
Forrest looked around at all the guns aimed at Afonso, but no one was going to fire. If they missed and hit Jordana, or if they missed and didn’t instantly kill him, he could still shoot Jordana.
Forrest reached slowly to his side where the knife he used in the woods rested in its sheath. Forrest’s hand closed around it as the world stopped spinning and everything was focused on the gun to Jordana’s head.
Her eyes were wide and she never took them off Forrest’s, even as he slowly walked around the bed to stand next to Granger. Afonso was speaking in Portuguese and no one understood him, but his body language told Forrest he was looking for an out and would kill any of them to get it.
Jordana whispered something and then spoke to the room. “Afonso said to put your guns down or he’ll kill me and use my dead body as a shield.”
Afonso’s body was so wide it was hard to see around him, but Forrest and everyone in the room knew the Bells, Damon, and Kane were out there somewhere. Pedro spoke, holding up both of his hands as he did so.
“My father told Afonso that Beni was dead and if he didn’t want to follow his boss, he needed to release me. If he did that, then you all wouldn’t kill him,” Jordana interpreted.
Afonso spat back and no interpretation was needed. It was clear Afonso had told Pedro off.
“Lower your guns,” Granger said slowly, holding his gun up with a little bit of a dramatic flair, before bending to put it on the ground. “Now, Damon.”
Suddenly the muzzle of a gun was pressed to the back of Afonso’s head. “Drop the gun or I’ll kill you.” Damon’s voice was eerily calm for this situation. Some things didn’t need translating, and the unwavering gun and the ice-cold voice of Forrest’s eldest brother was one of them.
Forrest saw Afonso taking in all his options and saw it happen. The moment he decided on his course of action.
Forrest pulled his knife from the sheath and threw it, all in one fluid motion. The knife sank into Afonso’s arm, the same arm holding the gun. Afonso grunted and for a split second his gun arm moved away from Jordana.
“Don’t kill him unless you have to!” Pedro ordered.
Jordana smashed her heel into his foot and went completely limp.
She was dead weight in his arms. Both Damon and Forrest moved.
Forrest rushed forward as Damon used the butt of the gun to smash Afonso’s head.
However, Afonso didn’t go down. His arm dropped just enough for Jordana to fall to the ground at his feet.
She spun on her butt so she could kick up with her leg, right into Afonso’s nuts.
Granger was only one step behind Forrest, but one step wasn’t enough. Forrest saw the moment Afonso decided to go down with maximum destruction. He aimed his gun even as Damon slid his arm across his throat and put him in a chokehold.
“No!”
Forrest dove. The gun fired. Jordana screamed. And the sound of Afonso’s neck breaking filled the eerie silence that followed.