Page 11
Story: Extraction
My fear turned to anger, and my temper picked up as I caught his drift. “You’ve never had to ask anyone for help before, have you?” His brows pinched together at my outburst. “I’m just trying to understand the way you went about this.” Why was it my brain screamed at me to shut up, but my mouth just kept going?
“If your men had just said you wanted to talk to me, I would’ve come.” That was a bold-ass lie, but I’d fake it ’til I made it. “Instead, you shot a child’s mother, bagged me, and dragged my ass here, without so much as an explanation. Now you stand here and ask for my help? Seriously? Let’s try this again, shall we?” I clamped my jaw shut and died a little inside. Christ, Nicole, you’re asking to be killed.
So many emotions ran over his face, but to my surprise, he flung his head back and laughed. “Sully said you had a temper and a mouth on you. It’s a shame you never showed that side of you before. I’d never have let you leave.” Christ, he was crazy. “I had no idea you were this entertaining.” Great, I just caught his attention for the second time in my life. “Tienes cojones.” He laughed then stepped forward and handed me a photo of a pretty woman with brown eyes and a big scar across her chin. She held a baby.
“They are?” I raised my eyebrows at him.
He pushed his hands into his pockets as he walked over to the window and looked out. “The two people you’re going to find for me.”
“Why are you looking for them? Are they your family?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Hay una recompensa por su cabeza. Entiendes? You understand?”
“A bounty.” I repeated what he said. I felt I must have gotten something wrong in translation, he said a bounty on his head. Meaning the baby?
“Señorita?”
“There’s a bounty on them?” I repeated to get clarification. He didn’t answer, so I changed the direction of the conversation. “Something tells me you don’t need the money.” I snickered, then reined it in when he looked over his shoulder at me. “Why would Sully recommend me, anyway? I don’t do that kind of work. I’m a reporter, not a bounty hunter.”
He rubbed his chin as he turned. “You have a way to find people.” He slitted his eyes. “If you want Ben Bale to live, you’ll do this.”
That stopped my mouth from firing off again. He knew where Ben was. My cameraman wasn’t just anyone. He was a friend, a fellow man in the fight for truth, one who always had my back, and I his. I studied the photo and hated that Bruno had just won.
A fellow war correspondent who had joined the Washington Post when I did and arrived three months after me flashed in front of my eyes and spiked my temper. “Like how you dangled Elise Manny in my face all those years ago and she still ended up dead?”
“Let’s not get into semantics,” he grunted. “She could have avoided her fate but chose not to.”
I cleared my throat and pulled my temper back. “I say again, this isn’t what I do.”
“You will find a way.” He smiled down at me.
I licked my lips as my brain flew in all directions. I didn’t have much choice, especially if I could help Ben. “If I’m doing this, I need to fully understand what this is about,” I pointed at the photo, “and who they are.”
“I will tell you what I know.”
“And you will let me leave when this is over.” I needed him to say it.
“As you Americans say, we will cross that bridge when we get to it.” I started to protest, but he stopped me. “Señorita, you will listen, as time is not on my side.” He sat down and started to fill me in.
By the time it was over, I had a totally new mindset on what needed to happen. More than anything, I needed to get to this woman before anyone else did.
THREE
BRUNO PEREZ
I hugged the bottle of tequila between my legs and leaned my head against the headrest. The party was in full swing, and my cousins had brought in every female within a fifty-mile radius. They were only a few years younger than me, but they made twenty-three look like the new fifteen. They were here because I needed their reckless souls to do my dirty work, and they were too damn stupid to see I was using them. If one of them should make me angry, I wouldn’t hesitate to take their life. I smiled to myself, as I knew I had my mother’s savage business sense, unlike these one-track pussy-ridden minds.
My phone vibrated next to me, and I swiped it up to read the text.
J: Everything and everyone in place, just waiting for the green light.
I closed my eyes, pleased with how things were shaping up. This would be the ace in my back pocket. Mama may take some of the credit, but it was mine to play. It had to run smoothly, and I knew the timing would have to be just right. It was going to be huge. I thought carefully about my words then responded.
Bruno: Hold tight and keep your head up.
Armondo lowered his phone and glanced at me from the rear-view mirror. “She’s ready.”
“Any word on the cameraman?”
“If your men had just said you wanted to talk to me, I would’ve come.” That was a bold-ass lie, but I’d fake it ’til I made it. “Instead, you shot a child’s mother, bagged me, and dragged my ass here, without so much as an explanation. Now you stand here and ask for my help? Seriously? Let’s try this again, shall we?” I clamped my jaw shut and died a little inside. Christ, Nicole, you’re asking to be killed.
So many emotions ran over his face, but to my surprise, he flung his head back and laughed. “Sully said you had a temper and a mouth on you. It’s a shame you never showed that side of you before. I’d never have let you leave.” Christ, he was crazy. “I had no idea you were this entertaining.” Great, I just caught his attention for the second time in my life. “Tienes cojones.” He laughed then stepped forward and handed me a photo of a pretty woman with brown eyes and a big scar across her chin. She held a baby.
“They are?” I raised my eyebrows at him.
He pushed his hands into his pockets as he walked over to the window and looked out. “The two people you’re going to find for me.”
“Why are you looking for them? Are they your family?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Hay una recompensa por su cabeza. Entiendes? You understand?”
“A bounty.” I repeated what he said. I felt I must have gotten something wrong in translation, he said a bounty on his head. Meaning the baby?
“Señorita?”
“There’s a bounty on them?” I repeated to get clarification. He didn’t answer, so I changed the direction of the conversation. “Something tells me you don’t need the money.” I snickered, then reined it in when he looked over his shoulder at me. “Why would Sully recommend me, anyway? I don’t do that kind of work. I’m a reporter, not a bounty hunter.”
He rubbed his chin as he turned. “You have a way to find people.” He slitted his eyes. “If you want Ben Bale to live, you’ll do this.”
That stopped my mouth from firing off again. He knew where Ben was. My cameraman wasn’t just anyone. He was a friend, a fellow man in the fight for truth, one who always had my back, and I his. I studied the photo and hated that Bruno had just won.
A fellow war correspondent who had joined the Washington Post when I did and arrived three months after me flashed in front of my eyes and spiked my temper. “Like how you dangled Elise Manny in my face all those years ago and she still ended up dead?”
“Let’s not get into semantics,” he grunted. “She could have avoided her fate but chose not to.”
I cleared my throat and pulled my temper back. “I say again, this isn’t what I do.”
“You will find a way.” He smiled down at me.
I licked my lips as my brain flew in all directions. I didn’t have much choice, especially if I could help Ben. “If I’m doing this, I need to fully understand what this is about,” I pointed at the photo, “and who they are.”
“I will tell you what I know.”
“And you will let me leave when this is over.” I needed him to say it.
“As you Americans say, we will cross that bridge when we get to it.” I started to protest, but he stopped me. “Señorita, you will listen, as time is not on my side.” He sat down and started to fill me in.
By the time it was over, I had a totally new mindset on what needed to happen. More than anything, I needed to get to this woman before anyone else did.
THREE
BRUNO PEREZ
I hugged the bottle of tequila between my legs and leaned my head against the headrest. The party was in full swing, and my cousins had brought in every female within a fifty-mile radius. They were only a few years younger than me, but they made twenty-three look like the new fifteen. They were here because I needed their reckless souls to do my dirty work, and they were too damn stupid to see I was using them. If one of them should make me angry, I wouldn’t hesitate to take their life. I smiled to myself, as I knew I had my mother’s savage business sense, unlike these one-track pussy-ridden minds.
My phone vibrated next to me, and I swiped it up to read the text.
J: Everything and everyone in place, just waiting for the green light.
I closed my eyes, pleased with how things were shaping up. This would be the ace in my back pocket. Mama may take some of the credit, but it was mine to play. It had to run smoothly, and I knew the timing would have to be just right. It was going to be huge. I thought carefully about my words then responded.
Bruno: Hold tight and keep your head up.
Armondo lowered his phone and glanced at me from the rear-view mirror. “She’s ready.”
“Any word on the cameraman?”
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