Page 9 of Into Hell: Prelude (Holding Cell: Return to the Island)

W here are we meeting him?” Cochise asked.

“The mansion,” Clint said. “I called Anthony, let him know.”

“Who else will be there?”

“Cruz and Sanchez. I don’t know what Alvarez wants of us, but I wanted those two there, in case we need their help as well. Everyone briefed at the same time.”

The Egyptian nodded and turned his eyes to the passenger window, his face tense as he looked out into the gray morning light.

“Something on your mind?” Clint asked.

Cochise quietly cleared his throat but didn’t look at Clint. “Any of the other agents going to be at the meeting?”

“Maybe. Not sure. Why?”

“No reason,” he mumbled.

Clint didn’t buy it. “Wondering if Agent Renley will be at the meeting?”

The Egyptian didn’t reply.

“You were starting to like the little guy, weren’t you?” A half smile formed on the cowboy’s face. “Me, too.” Clint cleared his throat. “What did he say the last time you two spoke in Canada, before he and the others headed back to Texas?”

Cochise let out a long, stiff breath. “He said the next time we met… he would tell me his story.”

“How he knows you?”

The man nodded.

“At least, you’ll finally know.”

Cochise looked ahead through the windshield and stayed silent, a tension tightening his large frame.

Clint glanced at him. “Are you thinking you don’t want to know?”

The Egyptian shook his head once. “Maybe I don’t.”

“Why?” Clint could think of many reasons he wouldn’t want to know.

Whether his brother admitted it or not, the young agent had become a friend during the difficult trek to Canada a few months ago.

He was there for Cochise at a time when it would have been bad for Cochise to be alone.

Although Renley started with a grudge against the Egyptian due to mysterious events of the distant past, by the end of the Canada trip, he had begun to show respect and even admiration for the big man.

Renley had been with them during the trek across the tundra; he’d witnessed Cochise’s dedication and raw determination to get those kids and families to safety.

The young agent and his comrades proved who they truly were during that journey.

Clint deeply respected each of them, especially Agent James, who immediately took care of Axel when he was shot in the woods that night—the most terrifying night of Clint’s life, when he thought he was standing over Axel’s dead body.

An icy shiver ran down the cowboy’s spine; he didn’t want to think about that night.

He had come too fucking close to losing the love of his life.

Clint didn’t need to “imagine” what life would be like after.

.. all he had to do was look at Rodriguez to see the devastation that comes after such an unbearable tragedy.

Months after losing Greco, the young man still grieved—hard.

Once a rambunctious, cocky, high-spirited young man…

Rodriguez no longer showed signs of his former self.

Because that part of him died with Greco—as you would have died with Axel.

Clint sighed heavily and mentally shut down that train of thought. There was nothing he could do for Rodriguez, maybe nothing anyone could do, and thinking about what happened and what could have happened only fucked with his head.

Cochise hadn’t answered Clint’s question and appeared to be thinking it over.

“Are you afraid that what he tells you will alter your perspective of him?”

The man continued looking forward, a slight quiver in his facial muscles as his jaw tightened.

That wasn’t it. Cochise had managed to bury his past, with the help of Nathan Sanitini, Clint, and the rest of the family.

Clint knew almost nothing about the Egyptian’s life before the family.

The fact that he refused to talk about it to Clint—or Kane—was enough evidence that his past was a dark place he didn’t wish to revisit.

Agent Renley’s “story” would surely force him to do exactly that.

“Just tell him you don’t want to hear it,” Clint said.

Cochise sniffed and cleared his throat. “It isn’t my place to do that,” he mumbled. “It’s his story. If he decides to tell it… I have to hear it. I don’t have a choice.”

“Why don’t you have a choice?”

Cochise tilted his head, gray eyes distant and brittle. “Because I wronged him—and it’s his right to call me on it.”

“Maybe he put it to rest. Left it in the past where it belongs. You’re not the same man you were back then, and I think he understands that now.”

The Egyptian slowly shook his head. “It doesn’t matter,” he spoke low, hollow.

“They’re my sins, and I own them. A few good deeds don’t undo what I did to him, what I did to so many innocent people back then.

Innocence meant nothing to me then. Adult, child…

they were all the same. I followed commands and didn’t consider the right and wrong of it.

I was trained from the start to do as I was told, follow orders, and…

” His throat quivered. “… not spare for their crying.” His eyes focused a bit, but he didn’t look at Clint.

“They weren’t human to me. I felt nothing.

” He finally looked at Clint. “People ask how these monsters can do horrifying things to innocent people—to children—and not feel a goddamn thing. It’s because they don’t see them as human beings.

” Cochise swallowed hard and turned his eyes forward once again.

“I have more in common with the monsters… than those battling the monsters.”

Clint stared at the highway before them and shook his head. “Bullshit.” He glanced at his Egyptian brother and reiterated, “ Bull shit.”

“It isn’t bullshit, Clint,” Cochise whispered heavily. “If you knew what I’ve done… you would string me up in the Guest Room.”

Sighing, Clint mumbled, “We’ve all done things to warrant a spot in the Guest Room. ”

The distant, brittle look returned to the man’s eyes. He didn’t believe Clint’s past sins were as atrocious and unforgivable as his own.

“Did you rape children?” Clint knew the answer; there was nothing within the Egyptian that would have caused him to cross that line—orders or not.

Cochise flinched at the question. “No.”

“I know you didn’t,” Clint said. “So, again— bullshit.”

“There’s more than one way to harm a child,” Cochise murmured. “Rape is only one of them.”

“You’re not a fucking monster,” Clint said stiffly.

“We all have shit to atone for when the time comes, but I saw you out on that tundra on the trip to Canada—piling kids into your arms and on your back right along with the rest of us, practically breaking bones to get them across that nightmare terrain, refusing to stop or give up until the fucking job was done , and those kids and families were safe at the sanctuary.”

Cochise didn’t respond.

“A monster doesn’t give that level of shit about others.” Clint glanced at him, his throat tightening. “And a monster doesn’t drop everything and come running when his brother is in distress.”

The man turned slowly and looked at him.

“When you thought Axel was dead, you got to me as fast as you fucking could because you knew the devastation it would cause me. And when you found me…” Clint blinked as the memory flooded him with emotion and insurmountable love for his Egyptian brother.

“… you held me and told me, I got you, brother.” Clint cleared his throat.

“That’s not the behavior of a fucking monster— it’s the act of a goddamn hero. ”

“What is happening?” Manny asked in broken English.

Over the past few months, he had learned enough English to communicate with Jax, while Jax had taken Spanish lessons from the other men in the house to better converse with Manny in his native language.

They were both making progress, yet it remained a slow process—Jax had never been a good student, even as a kid.

“I’m not sure,” Jax said. “Something about a meeting, I think. I heard Anthony speaking to Clint on the phone.” When he noted the unease in the young man, Jax took his hand to comfort him. “What’s wrong?” he asked softly in Spanish. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

After months away from the prison, Manny still spooked easily.

Anything out of the normal routine of the house put him on edge.

Though he knew he was safe within the mansion—a fortress that few would dare try to breach—Manny continued to fear ICE showing up one day and deporting him back to Mexico, or worse, caging him back up in one of the border stations to possibly be sold to traffickers again.

When they first arrived at the mansion, the plan had been to stay only long enough for Jax and Jesus’ criminal records to be erased, then find jobs and their own places.

However, noticing Manny’s lingering fears and trauma, the men of the house suggested they stay longer.

Manny quickly warmed up to the men and the kids, learning to trust them.

He felt safest inside the mansion. It hadn’t taken Jax or Jesus long to learn that these men were on the same level as the cowboy and Egyptian; men of integrity and honor, despite their vocation. Men to be trusted.

Until Clint arrived at the prison, Jax hadn’t trusted anyone in a hell of a long time. It mattered... having someone to trust, and the more, the better.

“It’s just a meeting,” Jax told Manny, stroking his hand, then bringing it to his lips. “No one can hurt you here.”

When the agents arrived a short while later, Manny’s anxiety skyrocketed, believing they were ICE agents. Stepping into the hall as the men entered the mansion, Jax recognized the senior agent—Javier Alvarez, the man who had cleared their records so they could live a free life.

“They’re the agents from Texas,” Jax comforted Manny. “Clint and Cochise’s friends. The ones who made our criminal records disappear. They’re good guys.”

“Why are they here?”

“For the meeting, I assume.” He kissed Manny. “When Clint arrives, I’ll go see what it’s about.”

Manny leaned against him. “I’m sorry I’m so…” His words trailed off.

“What you’ve suffered,” Jax murmured against his hair, “it doesn’t go away so quickly, maybe never.

You don’t have to keep apologizing, as if you’re taking too long to heal.

There is no time limit on trauma. Healing is a journey, sometimes a long one.

But I’ll be right here with you every step of the way, okay?

” He tilted Manny’s face up and kissed his mouth. “Believe me?”

Manny smiled shyly. “Si.”

“Good,” Jax whispered. “I love you, and I’ll never leave you.” He kissed him more deeply. “I promise.”

Clint and Cochise arrived ten minutes later. Jax gave Manny another kiss. “I’ll see what’s going on. But don’t worry, baby. Remember, we’re in a safe place.”

Jax left the young man in the bedroom and headed toward the lounge where the men had gathered. Jesus was already in the room when Jax entered.

“I was about to come get you,” Jesus said. “Clint wanted you here for this.”

“For what?”

“I’m not sure. They’re waiting on Cruz and Sanchez.”

They only had to wait a few minutes before the two Spaniards arrived and joined the small group.

Clint turned his full attention to Agent Alvarez. “What about the island?”