“Get the fuck down here!” I yelled.
Camden squinted then nodded and I noticed he wasn’t wearing his glasses anymore, while Javier pointed at an awning that sat above a convenience store. They ran over until they were above it, Javier glancing nervously over his shoulder, then with one fluid leap they jumped down onto the awning.
It crashed and collapsed under their weight and brought them down over crates of fruit, but they were up quickly and running across the road to the car, all while the store owner was emerging from the wreckage and swearing his head off.
I jumped down from the roof and quickly pushed the seat back to make room for Javier. He could sit with his sister and comfort her.
Camden was going beside me.
“Get in,” I told them.
Javier’s eyes locked with mine briefly and he said, “Thanks” before slipping inside.
I slammed the seat back and got in just as Camden got in the passenger side. Two bullets exploded nearby, one hitting the street, the other hitting the trunk of the car. The man was firing at us from the roof. I had half a mind to fish out my gun again and finish him off, but we had an opportunity to escape and I wasn’t going to lose it.
I put Jose into drive and peeled out, avoiding the cars that were now making their way around me, zigging in and out until we were on the right side of the road and speeding through the city. The traffic was growing thicker by the moment, but still moving fast enough that I was able to keep up my speeds, as long as I paid close attention to the road.
“What happened?” I cried out at the same time that Camden did. He was missing his glasses – his big blue eyes looked startling - and covered in sweat but other than that he looked okay.
“What happened to your arm?” Javier asked Violetta. She whimpered in response.
I eyed him in the rear view mirror. “We were running and came to that first gap. She fell. I think her arm is broken. I jumped down and we ran back to the car.”
“Did you kill the rest of the men?” Javier asked, his eyes meeting mine. They danced, looking alive. If he was a lion, his tail would be twitching.
I swallowed hard and ignored the lump in my chest. “Yes. I had to.”
His lips curled in delight. “I’m impressed.”
I looked away and back at the road before I nearly took out a green and red taxi cab.
“Do you know those men, Javier?” I asked.
“No. But I bet my little sister here does.”
Violetta moaned from the back and at that Camden quickly pulled out a few of his pills from his pocket.
“Violetta doesn’t know them,” I told Javier while Camden twisted around in his seat and dispensed the pills to her.
“So Violetta says,” Javier said.
“We’ve got to get her to a hospital,” Camden said.
“Not yet,” Javier said calmly.
My eyes flew back at him. “Not yet?”
He smiled, lips tight together. “We have to go straight to Aguascalientes. It’s about five hours from here, four if you hurry. My friend Dom will be able to help us.”
“Is Dom a doctor?”
He shook his head. “He’s part of my cartel and he’s really into bullfighting. I have to talk to him first, tell him the situation. Then we can get Violetta sorted out.”
“But she’s in pain,” I said.
He shrugged and sat back in his seat, looking away from me, away from her, out the window at the city’s smog-filled sky. “She got into this mess when she started spreading her legs for the Zetas. She can afford to suffer for a bit.”
Violetta groaned, writhing in discomfort.
“You’re a sick fuck,” Camden seethed at him.
“You’re going to have to start coming up with more original insults. I believe you’ve already called me that before.” Javier looked at him briefly, his face lighting up at the sight of Camden so angry and bothered. “Don’t make me regret not leaving you on that roof to die.”
Silence filled the car.
It was going to be a long drive to Aguascalientes.
CHAPTER FIVE
We made it to Aguascalientes in just under five hours. Traffic on the main highway was thick and we had to stop to use the restroom and fill up on gas. Thankfully, Camden’s pills worked well on Violetta and she was out like a light for most of the drive, her head on Javier’s shoulder – though I was sure it wouldn’t remain that way when she woke up.
I only got to speak to Camden alone, briefly, when I went into the store to pay.
We were waiting in line at the cashier and he grabbed a bag of the ubiquitous pork rinds you find all over Mexico and tossed them to me. I caught them one-handed and found myself smiling shyly.
“What happened to your glasses?” I asked him.
He bit his lip, his eyes darting to the car. “They fell off somewhere. Probably when I fell. I can’t remember. That whole thing was … a blur.”