I shrugged and aimed the gun at him. “Whatever makes you feel better.” Then I paused and aimed it at his dick. “On second thought, I don’t want you to feel better at all. And what could feel worse than having your dick shot off, hey?”
My finger pressed against the trigger.
And suddenly the room shifted to the left as an enormous roar filled my ears and everything was aglow, shrapnel flying everywhere. I hit the ground as parts of the roof rained down on me. There were screams, I could smell smoke, and I didn’t know which way was up until I heard Diego’s voice, so small and tinny, and then his hands on my shoulders, pulling me up.
“Come on,” he said, maybe he was shouting, I didn’t even know where I was for a second. As he hauled me out of the room I looked back in the room to see Luisa and Esteban gone and embers falling down from the ceiling like snow.
“Luisa,” I said before I broke into a coughing fit.
“Borrero is on it,” Diego said and he brought me into the hallway, shielding me as we went. Blasts of gunfire came from the kitchen but there was no time to dwell on it as we headed for the basement door. Between staccato shots, a man screamed in agony. I had no idea who it belonged to.
We quickly ran down the dark staircase and into the basement. The single bulb swung from the commotion, casting the room with an eerie glow and beneath it all was Evaristo, bound to the cot and looking at us with wide eyes.
“Get him!” I yelled at Diego, my voice struggling to be heard above the gunfire upstairs. “We can’t afford to leave him behind.”
Not because I had any sentiment for him but because he knew too much about my escape route and if he was questioned by anyone for a second, he would give it all up. After all, I was the monster that tortured him.
Diego gave me a look and then pushed me forward so that I was in the closet. I squeezed past the hot water heater and pushed on the brick wall as I heard him undo Evaristo and they quickly followed.
Once on the other side, Diego closed the door behind him and there was only the tunnel in front of us leading us to freedom.
“What the fuck is going on?” I asked them. Diego had Evaristo by the scruff of his neck and I noted with a strange pang of sympathy that the man could barely walk.
“I’d ask you the same thing,” Diego said and nodded down at my crotch. My fly was unzipped, my cock just poking out.
I grimaced and quickly did it up. I eyed Evaristo. “Is this the federales?”
Evaristo didn’t say anything at first and Diego pulled him along as we hurried down the tunnel.
“Could be Tijuana,” Diego said, “if they got wind of what you were after.”
“Could be the Zetas too,” I said.
“Could also be my guys,” Evaristo managed to say, struggling to keep up. “Bomb blast to get you running, not uncommon.”
I eyed him sharply. “Seems like you could lose innocent lives that way.”
He smiled, his lips still puffy from the beating, his cheeks black and blue. “No one is innocent in Mexico, patron.”
Unfortunately, he was right about that.
“And you didn’t see this coming?” I asked him.
He shook his head and then winced, a piece of matted hair falling on his forehead. “I’ve been with you. And even if I did know something, I wouldn’t tell you. You’re not torturing me anymore.”
The tunnel curved to the right, the thick dirt walls blotting the view in front of us, and for a moment there I feared that perhaps there was no way out. I’d never actually done a test in this finca, let alone any of the other ones.
But then it straightened and you could see the end, a rough wooden ladder heading out of the ground. The lights above flickered as the ground shook from another blast, albeit further away, and then went out.
Diego’s flashlight went on in a second.
“Almost there,” he said and now I was thinking back to Luisa. Even though I had threatened to kill her moments earlier, now that I was faced with the possibility that she might be back there, she might be hurt, I couldn’t even bear it.
“Are you sure Borerro has Luisa?” I asked Diego as we came to the ladder.
He nodded. “I saw her run with Esteban out the door before I got there. Borrero was right behind me. He and Morales, it’s their job to keep her safe.”
I tried not to grit my teeth at the mention of Esteban. Just the fact that the two of them ran out of the room before I could even get out added insult to injury.
Had this been their doing somehow?
“Did …” I tried to think of a way to phrase my fears without losing face, “did it seem like Esteban was taking her.”
“I’m sorry Javier, I do not know,” he said. “But what I do know is that you are safe. This ladder here will lead you to safety. That is my job.”
I nodded and gripped the ladder for a moment, before climbing up.
The top of the hole was covered in planks of wood. I pushed them up and to the side as the cool desert night assaulted my face and stars gazed down.