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“That’s two and a half each.”
“And how do you propose we split the last one?”
“We won’t have to worry about him if he’s down. Eleven o’clock. Get ready for a distraction.”
I focused my lens on the guard as he went on his rounds and checked the clearing’s perimeter, swatting mosquitos. We stayed low until he passed.
“Hunter, what did you do?” Rachel elbowed my ribcage.
“Nothing yet.”
I gripped the rock in my fist, rose to my knees, and launched it into the forest. The wind blew, the trees swayed, and we couldn’t hear the rock hitting the ground. My fucking bad timing always got the best of me. I found another rock and threw it closer to the path, where it rolled down a slope and drew the guard’s attention.
“Who’s there?” He shone his flashlight over the path.
“Go check it out.” The other guard waved him away.
“There. That should help.” I moved Rachel aside and took my position, removing the dart gun from the holster at my thigh. I took the blind shot before she stopped me, and the dart hit the guard’s back. He jerked, turned around, and dropped to the ground.
“Carlos?” his friend called out, and rushed his way.
“That was a risky move,” Rachel said.
“Leaves two out here for you and two inside for me. Stay low, and see you soon.”
I hunched down behind the shrubs, but the commotion alerted the guy at the rear door. I pressed the trigger and darted him before he turned the corner. Rachel shot one of hers down by the trees. I knew this would be easy. The brawny guard remained inside with a group of bound girls. There were nine of them. The smell of gasoline hit me as I crossed the threshold. I stepped around the trash scattered on the floor and pressed my back against the wall before rounding the corner. I removed a lens and checked the reflection from the main room.
A muscled gorilla stood in front of the bound girls with a handgun. His face was smeared in mud, and his body cast a demonic shadow in front of the candles on the table.
Rachel should have darted the last guard by now, and she’d take the front entrance to cover me. I moved forward and accidentally kicked a bottle. The guard lifted his gun, and I took my shot into his arm. He swatted the dart off his shoulder, stumbled, and I shot another dart into his thigh. The man was a beast; I should have used my gun. He fired two rounds. The first bullet hit my thigh, missing an artery, and the second one got in between the gear, right into my pelvis.
Fuck!
A scream tore from my lungs as I stumbled and fell to my knees in a room full of confused girls. On his way down, the guard tumbled into the table, knocking over the candles, and flames caught a corner mattress.
Rachel. Where’s Rachel?
My vision blurred. I removed my headgear and pressed my hand over the wound. Blood gushed from between my fingers. I could taste it in my mouth. And just like that, the sound of the cracking fire and crying girls disappeared.
I tried to call out for Rachel, but only one name left my lips: “Grace.”
* * *
Four yearslater
“Come on, Hunter. I don’t want to be late!”
Rachel’s scream echoed from the ground. The beauty of an eco-lodge without easy access was the solace from the crazy world below. Living in a jungle hadn’t been on my radar when I moved to Costa Rica. The day after Grace’s award night, I’d flown down and never looked back. Well, that’s a lie. Of course, I looked back every fucking day and night; but Grace had been right to kick me out. I’d humiliated my queen on one of the most important nights of her life. I didn’t deserve her.
I combed through the nest of facial hair and tied my dreads up in a bun.
“Hunter, the clock is ticking,” Rachel called out.
Her words struck deep in my chest. Grace used to say the same thing every month she ovulated. Four years ago, when Pierce didn’t show and we should have aborted a mission, a bullet had cut through my insides. Rachel had saved my life; but the injury had caused irreversible damage. I no longer had a ticking clock.
“Coming.”
I kicked the looped rope into the hole in the floor, gripped the line, and lowered myself to the ground.
