7. Benji
7
BENJI
“ S hit, I didn’t want to do that.” As I watch the kidnapper’s life slip away, I feel like shit. Of course, death is sometimes necessary in this line of work, just as it was in my last one, but that doesn’t make it feel good. Nor has it made this any easier. I figured that reasoning with him and getting Cassie out without any violence would be better, but he didn’t want to play ball. Now, we are in even more danger than before. I have to get her out of here, and fast.
The gunshot will attract any gang members around. Now, I don’t know if any of them are anywhere to be seen, but since the meeting time is soon and they will all be headed for this one direction, I think it’s safe to assume. I need to move fast.
“I’m here to help,” I call over to Cassie as I run toward her, but to be perfectly honest, I think that she might be in shock. She has glazed over eyes and the look of someone who might be about to really lose her shit. Not that I can blame her. “I know that this is all a bit much, and I’m sure you are very traumatized, but I’m here to help you. I’ll get you out of here.”
I tuck the gun away, hoping that this will show her how serious I am, and I grab out my knife. Those ropes clinging to her are tight and not easy to loosen. Plus, her arms look like shit from where she has clearly tried to free herself. As soon as I’m close enough to do so, I drop to my knees and begin sawing away at the ropes, moving as quickly as I can without hurting her.
“A… Alex?” she stammers breathlessly, sounding monotone, not quite human. “You killed him. Why did you do that?”
Uh-oh. Has she got some kind of Stockholm Syndrome? It doesn’t seem possible since she’s only been with that asshole for a little while, but considering what her life was like beforehand, maybe she did fall for him in a way. Holy shit, that’s a whole other level of bullshit that I’m not prepared to handle. But I’ll carry her out of here if I have to. I’m not leaving her with him.
“He… he was working for you,” she continues, her voice now a little bubbly. It sounds like she might puke. “He was…”
“That little scumbag wasn’t working for me,” I inform her rapidly. “I don’t have anything to do with criminals and people who assume that it’s okay to kidnap women. I’ve always lived my life on the right side of the law, thank you very much.”
“But… but you’re going to kill me,” she whimpers, I guess still not getting it. “You want money from my dad, then you want me dead. I know enough about this to understand that once you show me your face, I’m going to end up dead.”
“Cassie, I haven’t been sent here by any gang. I’m here to rescue you, and we need to get out of here immediately. I don’t know who else is in this jungle, so if you don’t start listening to me and getting a move on, we’re in trouble.”
Finally, she’s free. She rubs the painful parts and darts her eyes toward me, but there’s far too much shock there. I know she isn’t seeing me. Not really. But that is completely irrelevant right now. She just needs to move.
“Come on.” I grab her hand and tug on her a little bit. “I’m dead serious here. We need to get a move on or the people with this Alex character, or whatever the hell you want to call him, will be here. I’ll do my best to protect you, but I’m just one man.”
“And Alex is dead?” she asks me with a quietness to her tone. I don’t know if she likes the fact that he’s gone, but I’m beyond worrying about it. “So, we will just leave him here? We can’t do anything about it? We can’t… take him out? Get him home?”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “That’s something we can send someone back for later once this is done. For the time being, I want to keep you alive, Cassie, so I really need you to forget about Alex and focus on me, okay? Forget about everything else.”
She nods slowly. “I suppose I shouldn’t worry about him. He didn’t care whether I lived or died. It’s just a lot, you know?” Tears fill her eyes, but she doesn’t let them fall. I honestly don’t know if she has the strength to do so. “Seeing someone die like that…”
I don’t respond. I don’t know what she wants me to say to that one, so I simply start myself moving with her not far behind me. I don’t know how willing she is to come with me, but she’s moving and that’s better than nothing. In this heat, in the intensity of this fucking jungle, I would prefer not to have to carry her if I can help it. Especially since we need to move fast. I could , she’s very petite, and I’m sure it would be easy for me under normal circumstances, but there’s nothing normal about this.
I take Cassie back the way that I came, using my memory the best that I can. I don’t know how much time we have at the moment, so I can’t mess about checking maps and compasses. My memory usually serves me well, so I don’t imagine this will be an issue, but I also don’t think Cassie will take a wrong turning well. She seems exhausted, absolutely drained to the core. I don’t know if she will be able to handle anything else going wrong. I need to get this right to keep her going.
She struggles. I don’t know how she was brought into the jungle, but Cassie finds it very hard to get herself through the horrible, unforgiving terrain with any kind of ease. Getting worn out doesn’t help. She wants a break, I can tell without her even needing to ask me, and I would love nothing more than to grant it to her, but not until we’re safe.
“Why the fuck is Alex not answering my call?” The sharp voice bolts like lightning through me and Cassie. We both freeze exactly where we are and attempt not to get ourselves caught with our loud, panting breaths. “That fucking no-good piece of shit. I told the boss that we should get someone more capable on the job. That fucking lowlife has no idea…”
“You know why he was chosen,” a weary reply floods through the jungle, seemingly coming from a different direction than the other person. That’s the fucked up thing about this kind of place. It’s almost impossible to tell where anything is happening. Cassie feels it too and sidles a little closer to me. I guess she trusts me more than she even knew herself. “Because he doesn’t want anyone known to just go missing. But you can’t have someone kidnap the kid of a famous dude and then be out there in the world for the cops to capture and question. Someone with no loyalty to anyone but themselves will always squeal. A dead witness will not be able to say anything. Even if you pay a fortune for their silence, a live one still has a mouth.”
“Plus, you still get to keep all the cash you promised them.” Is that a third voice? Holy shit. “Which is always better.”
I guess it’s a little better on me to know that Alex was going to die anyway. I might have even done him a favor by making it fast, so his fate was already sealed, but that doesn’t help me right now. I don’t know which way to run because I don’t know exactly where they are. Cassie and I need to get ourselves out of sight until we can no longer hear them. That’s the only way I can guarantee that I won’t do anything dumb like accidently running smack into one. And Cassie does want a break…
“This way,” I whisper as I pull her toward some rocks. I feel like they will assist us more than any trees right now. “Come on.”
Thankfully, there’s a small space which we can just about squeeze ourselves into. Even better, it’s shaded as well. We can get out of the scorching heat and allow our bodies to recuperate before we have to move on again, with the most important thing that I’m sure the pair of us need. Water. I grab my bottle and hand it to Cassie first. She must be so thirsty because she doesn’t even hesitate to see what I’m giving her. She gulps it back like she’s never had a drink before.
I alternate between watching Cassie, trying to ensure that she’s okay, and listening out for the voices some more. I can still hear the men around, but I can’t make out what they’re saying anymore. Not that it matters, I suppose. We know what we need to. They are here for the meeting, they are the men here for Cassie, and I got her just in time.
It doesn’t matter how strong or good I am. There’s only one of me. I could be against any weaklings and if they outnumber me, it makes life difficult. Since this is supposed to be a stealthy mission, I’m glad that I handled it as I have. So far, anyway.
“That’s them, isn’t it?” Cassie asks me as soon as she’s done drinking. “The men who want to kill me.”
I part my lips, about to tell her that they might not want her dead, it’s more that they want to extort money from her father, but I stop myself at the last moment. These situations don’t often end up happy, do they? You don’t very often find out that people get their lives back and the kidnapping hasn’t affected them badly. Brutal deaths are more the norm…
Thank God Cassie isn’t going to be one of those people. I’m more convinced than ever that the world needs Cassie. She isn’t in her right frame of mind right now, but there’s still an essence about her which needs to exist.
“I think it’s safe to say that they are the Cartel guys, yes,” I offer her instead. “But don’t worry. Like I said, I’ll get you out.”
Cassie examines me for a second with her head tilted to the side. I can see that she’s trying to work me out, even now, even after I’ve pulled her away from a nightmare, but eventually, she chooses to give in and trust me. So much so that she actually leans into me. I guess the exhaustion is finally taking control of her and there isn’t anything left that she can do.
I let her weight rest against me. I even wrap my arm around her to hold her in place. While we’re in the middle of this little rock bubble, the rest of the world blocking out around us, it seems like the most natural thing to do in the world. I rest my head against hers and inhale her deeply, breathing her in. Since I feel like I know her as much as I do, it’s okay. This is right.
In fact, I really like it. It’s been longer than I realized since I’ve had a human connection like this. Too long, really. It might only be to comfort her, to keep her safe, but I feel emotions darting and dancing through me. There’s a change, one that I don’t have a name for yet, but it’s swallowing me up whole.