I should have killed Travis the first chance I got. Now the necklace was still around my neck and it was useless.
A machine gun went off in the distance, the rattle of bullets. We were heading for the jungle, for the darkness and depth that promised shelter and shade. We moved just inside the first trees, where a wide but overgrown path had cut through, when we were suddenly illuminated with light. A row of them went on a few yards in front of us, lights that belonged to a Jeep or a utility vehicle. Someone appeared at the top of the vehicle, standing on the seat, gun propped up over the windshield and aimed right at us.
Camden made the move to go in front of me, to block me from the gun. The gun went off, the single shot ringing throughout the forest. I screamed and gripped Camden as he became a shield, feeling for where the bullet would have gone into him. I felt like my heart had been shot too.
Camden gripped my arm right back and said, “I’m okay,” as the man with the gun fell from the Jeep and landed on the hood. The fuck?
The bushes rustled to the left of the Jeep and another man stepped out into the lights. I couldn’t see his face, only his silhouette but I’d always recognize him.
“If I were you two, I’d get the fuck in this car, or this would have been a big waste of my time,” Javier said.
I exchanged a glance with Camden, not understanding any of this. He didn’t look at ease but he glanced behind us at the Jeeps that were rolling over the lawn and coming for us, the gunfire in the distance that wouldn’t stop until we were hunted down. It was either go with Javier or die here. It wasn’t an easy choice but I’d gotten pretty good at making hard decisions.
“Come on,” Camden said, squeezing my arm and running me over to the Jeep. Javier had already hopped into the driver’s seat and I climbed in right beside him. Camden was barely inside before the Jeep started speeding backward along the rough path, our bodies knocking against each other from the bumps and dips. When the clearing opened a bit, Javier brought the Jeep around in a quick spin and we went off following it through, the way lit by the headlights.
I had so many questions but why Javier was here wasn’t one. I didn’t want to dwell on that, not now, not when we had to focus on getting out of there.
“What’s your plan?” I asked him.
He glared at me and I realized how fucked up his face had gotten. From the cutting look that he briefly shot Camden, I could tell he was the source of all the blood and bruises.
“Before I kill your Clark Kent over there, my plan is to get us the fuck out of here.”
“How?”
“Let me show you how Mexicans drive.”
Once bullets started flying at the Jeep and we were lit up from behind, Travis’s men entering the path, Javier turned the lights off on the Jeep and quickly turned to the right. Against the flashes of lightning, we could see the bushes and trees lighting up in front of us. Another flash of lightning and we were seconds from colliding with a tree. Javier yanked the wheel just in time and we went bounding out of the jungle and back to the smoothness of Travis’s groomed lawn. The house glowed in the distance, people running in all directions, guns going off but who knows where or at what because at the moment they weren’t after us.
That moment lasted about a minute, until people could hear the roar of the Jeep and we drove onto the area that was lit. Then guns were going off at us. People taking aim from all directions. There wasn’t enough time to shoot, we were swerving radically and bounced down around to the front yard where people were fleeing the mansion in a convoy of fancy cars and limos. The gates were open, trying to let them out.
“Hold on,” Javier yelled and he sounded like he was smiling when he said it, like this was all a fucking game. A gun shot came from the side and hit the door of the Jeep as Javier aimed the vehicle at a red sports car that was trying to leave through the gates. I held onto Camden for dear life, he held onto the roll bar and Javier held onto the wheel as we all braced for impact when we rear ended the red car, sending it flying off, crashing into the guard’s booth. We were stalled for just a second, enough time for the guard to get out his gun and aim it at us but Javier was faster and shot him in the head first. Then he violently thrust the car into gear and slammed his foot on the gas. We rocketed forward and raced down the street. There seemed to be a light at the end of this tunnel when you were facing the other way.
We sped through the streets, not slowing, not stopping, weaving in and out of the Sunday evening drivers until Javier thought we were far enough away. He pulled the Jeep down a lonely road and parked it with a lurch.
A heavy minute passed as the rain started falling again. With no roof above our heads, all three of us were soaked thoroughly. We sat there breathing, me between them, trying to find some sense in this ever growing mess.