CHAPTER ELEVEN
My hands were behind my head. I was kneeling beside Aaron, who was lying down, struggling to breathe. Only a miracle would take us out of there.
The Alacráns were approaching, shouting in Spanish, raising the guns to point at us. Then the window behind us exploded, scattering glass around. And I heard her voice.
“ Ethan, get down! ”
On instinct, I threw my body on the ground, chest down, as she, Danny, Ben, and a bunch of new men and women invaded the space on our behalf. Taken aback, the cartel was forced to retreat as our new team advanced.
Mia kept shooting as she walked to me and handed me one of her guns. I stood up to advance again on our targets, and she helped Aaron out of there by pulling him back as he cursed.
She helped him sit up behind a countertop to keep him safe. “Good, the vest took the brunt of it. We can deal with the other wounds. Danny, patch him up. Omega, barricade the perimeter.”
As the new team secured our space, I positioned myself by her side. “What are you doing here?” I was beyond grateful. Just as I was surprised.
She reloaded her gun. “Seeing if phoenixes really rise from ashes. So far, I’m satisfied.”
Ben positioned himself on the other side of her behind our made-up foxhole as the cartel got closer. “What’s the plan, Mia?”
“Honestly, I didn’t think we’d make it this far.”
“ Mia !”
“Okay, okay, let me think.” She looked around the space as our teams attacked. “The three groups are trying to triangulate around us. We need to eliminate the vertices one by one; we can’t fight them at the same time.” She examined our surroundings again until she found a bottle of rubbing alcohol under one of the countertops we were hiding behind. “Got it.”
She opened the bottle and proceeded to collect the scattered glasses around us to drop them inside the recipient. When she seemed satisfied, she fished a knife from a sheath attached to her ankle and tore a piece of cloth from her pants. She placed one tip of the fabric inside the bottle and closed the lid, leaving the rest of the fabric out.
“Is this going to be like when you tried to bake a cake for your parents’ anniversary?” Ben asked.
Danny, Aaron, Ben, and I watched in confusion with a bit of wariness—she seemed way too familiar with whatever she was doing.
“No. It’ll be totally different.”
“How so?”
“Because this is going to work. Does anyone have a lighter?”
She picked it up from one of our guys, and I couldn’t help but ask. “Are you sure this will work?”
She smiled at me. “I’m not only sure it can. I know it might!”
“That’s not very reassuring,” I countered.
“But I said it with confidence. Who’s feeling lucky?” She pointed at Danny. “You’re big and have strong arms. Do you want to do the honors? ”
He chuckled and snatched the bottle. “Never a dull moment with you.”
She lit the exposed tip of the cloth. “Throw it against the first group. Get ready, teams. Cover him .”
Danny stood and threw the Molotov cocktail as we opened new fire against the cartel. As soon as it hit its target, the Alacráns got desperate, trying to fight the increasing fire from the flaming liquid, all the while bleeding from the shattered glass inside. We kept shooting until that vertex was eliminated, then concentrated our efforts on the other two.
“Alpha, advance!” At my order, the assigned agents overpowered the first cartel group.
“Omega, circle the space from the other side.” It shouldn’t have surprised me that the agents were obeying Mia. “Do not let them get closer to the truck with the girls. Coordinate with Alpha and corner the Alacráns .” She turned to me. “Now what, Phoenix?”
I positioned my rifle. “Now we subdue. Danny, you stay behind to cover for us and Aaron. Ben, Mia, and I will get the girls. Beta, get ready. We advance in Three. Two. One. Forward !”
We moved in tandem, forcing the cartel back as our three teams kept shooting against them with no mercy. At the first opportunity, Ben, Mia, and I ran to the truck to get the girls out. Ben managed to break it open so we could help them escape when I felt a blunt force against my back.
I turned in time to avoid being whacked in the head by Tequila , who was holding a hammer.
My shoulder blade was screaming in pain, but I pushed through, trying to gain more time for Mia and Ben. More members of the cartel were approaching, and our window of rescue was closing.
Some of our agents came to help get the girls out as Mia and Ben alternated between shooting on my behalf and taking the victims out of the truck. We were so close to accomplishing it. I could almost taste it.
Almost.
One of the members pulled one of the girls by her arm. If it was a ruse for them to escape, I didn’t know. But it was effective in getting Tequila out. As we channeled our focus into getting her back unscathed, he ran away from the back door.
And it just got worse from there.
We knocked down the Alacrán who had snatched one of the victims and got her out of there. But as we did so, one of the other girls took a gun from the cartel and ran after Tequila .
“Damn it.” Mia raced after them, jumping over dead scorpions to get out.
“Mia, wait!” I sped after her. I understood her rage. I felt it. But something bigger was happening around us. Something we weren’t privy to yet. Something that could cost our lives. More specifically, hers.
I’d almost caught up to her when I heard in my earpiece. “ All the snipers are in position. The order is to take down everyone who isn’t law enforcement .”
“Two women and I are leaving the premises,” I answered. “Don’t shoot. I repeat, do not shoot.”
“ The order is to take them down if they’re not law enforcement .”
“And I’m giving you a new order!”
“ I have visual .”
I reached Mia and held her arm, stopping her from getting out of the compound. “You can’t get out. There’re snipers all around.”
“I know, they came with us.”
“They were ordered to shoot anyone who wasn’t from the DEA.”
She squinted her eyes. “What does that mean?”
I gulped. “If you go out on the street, they might shoot you.” I wasn’t ready to analyze what that meant for the honesty of the agency I dedicated my life to. But I had more urgent matters to attend to. Like not letting Mia get shot in the head.
She pulled her arm. “If they’re willing to shoot me, they’re willing to shoot the vic. And I wonder why that is. No matter the reason, I’m not leaving her behind. ”
Mia started running again towards the street, and I ran after her until I got in her way. “I can’t let you go. You’re going to die!”
“And if I don’t, she will!”
“If you don’t stay put, I’m going shoot you myself!”
She snorted. “Do your worst.”
Mia ran again right towards danger. With not many options and with no other way to stop her, I raised my gun and fired up to the sky. She stopped in her tracks and turned around with a mixture of indignation and rage. I pointed the gun at her as she walked silently to me. I wished she’d yelled. It’d be less disturbing.
When we were inches away, she took off her bulletproof vest. “You know what’s sad? You’re hardly the first person to threaten me at gunpoint. But you’re the first one unable to go through with it. Which is a shame, because right now, only a bullet can stop me.” She placed her hand over the barrel of my gun, leaned it down until it was pointed at her chest, and stepped closer until the gun was touching her clothes. “I’m going after the victim. So, if you want to keep me from doing it, just shoot me and stop with the idle threat. It makes me believe you less.”
After that, she turned around and ran through the gate. I stood there with my gun pointed at her back, unable to pull the trigger. It was even less surprising that I sped after her. "Damn it!"
The fucking sniper talked in my ear again. “ I have a clear view of the target .”
“If you shoot one of the women, so help me God, I’m going to fuck with your life. Do. Not. Shoot! ”
I was approaching the alley they seemed to have run to when I heard a loud bang and scream. I rounded the corner and stopped in my tracks. Tequila was on the ground, holding his bleeding leg. The victim was pointing a gun at him with shaking hands and disturbed eyes. A sniper was positioning himself over the side building, so I positioned myself on a higher step to be in his way, so he couldn’t shoot either of the women.
Mia was trying to get closer to the victim. The shaking-hand-gun-holder-lost-in-her-hatred victim.
“It’s okay,” Mia spoke softly. “He’s not going to hurt you anymore. It’s over.”
The woman sniffed but not once let her eyes away from Tequila . “He’s already hurt me. And it’s only over when he stops breathing.” The man whined and cried on the ground, and she snapped. “ Stand on your knees! Stop crying and take it. Isn’t that what you said to me? ‘Take it like a bitch.’ So, now take it!” Mia stepped dangerously closer, and the woman freaked. “ Stay back! ”
“I’m not here to hurt you. What’s your name?”
She was breathing hard, eyes focused again on the man. “ Maria.”
Mia gave her an encouraging smile. “That’s a lovely name! Maria, I need you to look at me. You don’t have to do this. We’ll deal with him so you can get the justice you deserve. You don’t want to carry his death on your conscience.”
“I had to deal with worse. His death will be my cure.”
Mia shook her head. “It won’t. Killing him won’t take away your pain. Believe me!”
I tried to get closer, I even considered killing the man myself. But one wrong move and Maria might end up hitting Mia instead.
The girl started crying. “Just let me kill him.”
Mia took one step closer, and her voice got even softer, “I can’t do that, honey.”
“Then go away so you don’t have to see it. I just need to end his life. And mine.”
A little bit closer. “You know I can’t do that either.”
Her hands shook. “He ruined my life.”
One more step. “No, he didn’t. You’re stronger than whatever he did to you. Now you can get the help you need; I’ll make sure of that. There’s no shame in being a victim. Now you can work on yourself as a survivor. Please, Maria, just drop the gun.”
Maria sobbed as the devil cried on his knees, holding the wound on his leg and begging for mercy.
Still staring at him, the girl whispered, “I can’t. I just can’t drop the gun.”
Mia nodded. “Then point the gun at me.” What the fuck? “You don’t have to drop it yet if you’re not ready, so point it at me.” Maria looked at her as if Mia was crazy. And I was sure my face mirrored hers. “I know you won’t shoot me.”
I wasn’t so sure. But my tongue was tied. I wanted to shoot Tequila and bring peace to Maria. I also wanted to interrogate him, then send him to be convicted—as if the legal system were effective. I wanted to take Mia and Maria out of that trap. And I wanted like hell for Maria to just drop the gun.
Instead, she turned her shaking-holding-gun-arm to Mia, her eyes screaming for help.
Mia raised her hand and walked slowly. “I’m going to touch your hand, okay? I’ll just grab the gun, then we can get out of here.” She placed her hand over Maria’s carefully, pointing the weapon to the ground. Mia looked over her shoulder at me and nodded to let me know she had the gun, then hugged a sobbing Maria. “I got you.”
I ran to Tequila , who was still wailing, pulled him up from his elbow, and handcuffed him. “You’re under arrest—”
Bang .
Before I could react or understand what was going on, Mia raised the gun she picked from Maria, aimed it at Tequila ’s head, and fired.
The man screamed even louder, as he fell on his knees again, holding his ear, which was bleeding profusely. She kneeled in front of him and put the barrel of the gun in front of her lips as if it were her index finger. “ Shhh . Not another word.”
The man gulped and controlled his sobbing at Mia’s lethal voice. She hugged Maria again and led her away, as the Alacrán and I followed them. Hopefully toward justice.