Page 196 of Ruin Me With Lies

“Yup.That’s what she does when she’s...”He frowns, takes a swig of beer, then continues, “Wish we’d gotten a heads-up you were coming.Today would’ve been a…lessintenseday for everyone.A couple of ribs would’ve been spared.She would’ve been waiting for you at the gate, not up there.”

Yeah, I didn’t know I was coming either, big man.“And climbing that ugly-ass mountain’s the only way to get up there to her?”

“Youcan’tclimb it.Half of us here can’t.”

“How aboutcallingher?”I suggest.Because, what the fuck?

“Phones aren’t allowed up there.”He shrugs and swigs his beer again.“Ray doesn’t like to be interrupted when she’s sparring.”

Straightening my stance, I take them all in.Several still refuse to acknowledge me.“You guys just fucking with me because you hate me, or what?”

“Hate?Nah.No one hates you here,” another responds.“Some of us just don’t think you deserve her.”

“Well,tough shit,” I bite out.“That woman ismine.I didn’t hunt her down and got my ass kicked for shits and giggles.So quit fucking with me and tell me where she is.”

“No one’s fucking with you, Castello.”A hulking Black man, who’d been ignoring my presence, stands from his stool, flexing every inch of his towering frame and mountainous build.“Rayisup there sparring and shedoes notlike to be disturbed.You know ‘Raya.’Weknow and work forRay.You’re gonna have a hard fucking time convincing anyone here to risk going up there for you.Because Ray has her rules.And we’ve learned the hard fucking way to respect those rules.”

He lifts his chin.Not hostile, just final.“You might run things in the desert, but here, we all answer toher.You can either chill here with us until she comes down, or go get familiar with ThreeFours.Everyone here knows who you are, and most will avoid you until they know what’s up.I’m sure after spending time with Pavlov, you’re desperate for somerealfresh air.”

Yeah.I think I’ll take this big motherfucker’s word for it.

Damn, Pavlov really is an asshole.Why wouldn’t he tell her he was bringing me here?

“No shit,” I say, agreeing with his last line.“What’s with all the white rooms and masks and fake outdoors nonsense?For a minute I thought I was either kidnapped into outer space or tripping on acid.”

The men laugh.All this time.

“Welcome towithinThe O, Castello,” one says, raising his beer.“It only gets crazier.”

~

INSTEAD OF ADDINGto the sea of testosterone at the blue bar, I opt to roam ThreeFours.

This place is like an oasis.Nature in all its glory.

Random skinny brooks slice jaggedly across the endless green.One wrong step and you’re ankle-deep in a stream.

To the far east is a fenced-off area marked “Training Grounds,”

rigged up with every kind of military training setup imaginable.Further along the stretch are various red-signed buildings: Tech, Weaponry, Admin, Medical.

The west is more residential—aged chalets scattered loosely across the hills, each framed by wildflowers.Fucking beautiful.

Realizing there’s too much to explore on foot, I stop and turn toward the mountain that Soraya’s on.No amount of squinting helps me see what’s happening on top of that monster rock.But something catches my eye.A line, thin and taut, running from the mountain top all the way west.

Is that a zipline?

Head tilted up, I follow the run of the line, moving westward, until my feet trip against something.

“Ow!”someone grunts.

I glance down.

Some dude’s just lying there in the grass, chewing on a stick or some shit.Hand shielding his eyes, he squints up at me.“Oh, shit,” he laughs out, a thick Spanish accent cutting through.“JB didn’t whack you?”

“She did.I’m a ghost.”I nod toward the mountain.“Tell me, where does that zipline run to?”

“What, you trying to get up on Grumpaa to Ray?”