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The irony.
I never would’ve guessed only a couple of days later, we’d be under attack and end up losing him while almost losing Mia. Just another day I could never forget—the one when we last talked, followed by the one I last saw him.
We bore more scars than we were willing to admit. And one of mine was that, remembering our last moments together, only for him to be pulled away from us, left me in a perpetual state of wondering: who would be next?
“BEN!”
I ran to him, accidentally kicking his gun away. That was the noise that alerted me: his gun falling to the ground. With my heart racing in my chest and adrenaline pumping inside me, I grabbed his legs and tried to pull him up so the rope wouldn’t constrict his airway or his hanging wouldn’t break his neck.
“Aaron! Mia!I need help! In the ballroom!” My voice mirrored my desperation. “Hang on, Ben. Just hang on. Aaron! Mia!Come now!”
Ben tried to pull the rope from his neck on instinct, but it wasn’t enough. I kept forcing him up, yet I noticed he was losing his struggle. Which meant I was losing him.
Aaron arrived from our left. “Fuck!” He ran to us and helped me pull him up. We tried to place the back of his thighs on our shoulders to force him higher and lessen the pressure on his neck.
Mia entered the space from our right and stopped in her tracks for a second. “Benny!” She jumped into action, letting her rifle slide to her back, attached to its string across her chest. She fished a knife from a holster on her shin and ran to one of the columns.
“Hurry up, Mia!” I urged in despair, although I knew she was moving as fast as she could. “Hang on, Ben!”
Instead of crossing the ballroom to take the stairs and round back to where he was tied, wasting time we didn’t have, she bit the sheathed knife and jumped on the closest column, using its decorations to climb it like a spider.
“Hang on, Ben! Hurry up, Mia! Cut the rope!” Aaron stressed.
Reaching the gallery, Mia straddled the railing and slid to where Ben was hanging from. She fished the knife out of its case and proceeded to cut the thick rope. Acting fast, yet with precision, she saw the rope with her knife, letting Ben free. Aaron and I caught him so he wouldn’t drop straight on the floor, and a mixture of fear and relief washed over me.
Mia jumped down beside us and used the tip of her knife to untie the rope from his neck. Ben gasped for air and coughed, color returning to his face, as Aaron was yelling on his phone, demanding the help we needed.
Puffing like a bull, I turned back to my friends. Aaron nodded. “Help is on the way. I got Ben.”
I almost lost someone else. We were past the time of dealing with caution. My breathing became heavy. My relief was replaced by a surge of lethal anger. “MATIAS!”
Experiencing the same murderous intent, Mia went from being terrified for Ben to seeking blood. Her brown eyes turned darker, and her knuckles turned whiter around the cable of her knife. “We’re not losing anyone else. Not today.Not today!”
She jumped up and ran to the back of The Mansion. I followed her out purposefully, and with fast steps.
Once we reached the clearing in the back, my inside froze. At a distance, several feet away from us, Matias carried Lisa over his shoulders. Her arms and legs were tied, and she had a piece of cloth in her mouth. He threw her on the passenger seat and ran around the car. I was ready to shoot him when someone else fired at me.
I ran behind the porch column and looked around, trying to identify where the bullet was coming from. I needed to get to Lisa before Matias ran away with her. I advanced closer and found theAlacránwho had shot at me, only to see him go down from another bullet.
I glanced at Mia. “Did you get him?”
“No, it came from above.” She studied the elements around us.
“Aaron’s men?” I assumed, my voice muffled by the shots.
“I can’t bring myself to care. If it’s shooting a foe, it must be a friend.” She tried to push forward, only to be stopped by another shot. “Freaking hell. We need to get to them.”
Another saving fire came from the roof of the building, eliminating one of theAlacráns.
We were too exposed to advance, and Matias was ready to run away. Lisa’s terrified eyes met mine through the passenger window, and my worry escalated as quickly as my anger. I was brought back to my reality when a bullet flew past my ear. I needed to get Lisa out of that car, and for that, I needed to stay alive.
Mia watched our surroundings. “Cover for me.” She ran to another cartel car parked nearby and smashed the driver’s window with the butt of her rifle. Sliding it along its frame, she took all the snippets of glass off and jumped inside.
While I shot in the general area where theAlacránsseemed to be, I saw her rummaging under the steering wheel. She pulled out some wires and jump-started the car, right before jumping onto the passenger seat and motioning me closer.
“Let’s get your woman.”
Pulling her hoodie over her face in protection, she closed her eyes and smashed the window on her side as I climbed into the vehicle and stormed off after Matias.
