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CHAPTER FIVE
Francis
He blinked awake into glaring sunlight, already sticky with sweat, and swept his tongue around his mouth, clearing the foul dust. “God.”
“No, just the devil,” Vitari said. “Here.” He handed over a pink bottle with italic Spanish writing on the side. Francis shuffled upright in the Jeep’s reclined passenger seat and took a few glugs.
Fire surged up his leg. He glanced down and wished he hadn’t. Blood stained his pants and his leg, which was exposed where Vitari had cut the fabric to get to his thigh. His head spun. He blinked away, taking more sips of water, and tried to remember how to breathe.
At least Vitari had bandaged it up. Francis recalled that happening like a horrible dream he was still trying to wake from.
He glugged more water.
“It looks worse than it is,” Vitari said. “You’ll scar, but keep it clean, go easy on that leg, and it’ll heal in a few weeks.”
He squeezed his eyes closed and tried not to think about the chaos of last night—the armed men who had stormed the house, and how he’d shot one of them. “Where are we?” he croaked, glancing at the quiet street. A chained dog lay asleep under a palm tree in someone’s yard, but the timber-clad houses were all quiet.
“A few miles from La Mesa. While you were out cold, I stopped at a local store and bought you some slacks to replace those. And the water.”
Francis followed Vitari’s glance to the folded slacks on the back seat, next to the huge bags of cash. His head and leg throbbed with the same heavy beat. Was this his life now? Was it always going to be like this? Forever running from the past? He couldn’t think on it, or he might break down, or explode, or yell at Vitari. He didn’t blame him. The choices that brought him here were his own.
“Thank you.” He took another sip of water, then eyed the slanted wording on the side of the bottle. “What does it say?” He recognized some of the words. Agua, chicas…
Vitari smiled softly and shifted in the driver’s seat, draping his arm over the wheel. “Good Girls Drink Water. It’s the only bottle the store had.”
“Oh.” He side-eyed Vitari and held out the bottle. “Well then, you should drink some. Like a good girl.”
Vitari snorted. “I’m none of those things.”
“If that’s the dehydration hill you want to die on.” He waggled the bottle, enjoying Vitari’s evasiveness. Was a pink bottle not masculine enough for the Mafia don’s son? Now Francis needed to see him drink from it and grinned as he teased, “If you were confident in your masculinity, you’d drink from a pink bottle.”
“Feeling better, are you?”
“Watching you get evasive is a good distraction from my bloody leg and everything else.”
“Fine.” He snatched it, gulped heartily, throat moving, then lowered the bottle and licked his lips dry. “Do I look gay?”
“So gay.” Francis grinned. “Good girl.”
“Fuck you, Padre.” Vitari laughed and handed the bottle back. It was good, hearing his laugh, as though maybe everything wasn’t as dire as it seemed. They had each other. And several bags of cash. And a pink water bottle. Or maybe Francis was delirious from the heat, or a fever.
“Listen, I’m sorry,” Vitari said, still smiling. “It wasn’t supposed to go down this way. I fucked up.” He circled his hand in the air, watch glinting. “Like I always do. On the plus side, we’re where we need to be.”
“You have a plan? We aren’t just in the wind?”
“I can make this work. We’ll head northeast, hire a local boat to Cartagena. It’s easier to get into Colombia than get out. Once there, I know a guy with a small plane. He’ll take you up the coast to Belize. It’s going to be fine.”
“Can’t we fly from Panama?”
“Now I’ve been made? No. Colombia is… easier.”
He said easier as though what he really meant was Colombia had more officials who could be bought. At least they had the cash.
“It’s nice in Belize,” Vitari explained. “You’ll like it. It’s like Venezuela but more refined. Once set up there, you’ll be fine.”
“Me? Aren’t you coming?”
Vitari turned his face away. Francis had his answer. He wasn’t sure what he’d done wrong, but Vitari had made it clear last night and right now that they had no future together.
