Chapter Fourteen

Ruby

I’m woken sharply, gagging for air, a hand across my mouth to stop me from screaming. My skin is already soaking wet with sweat without the need for this additional shock to my system, and while I transition from fever dreams of love making with Jaxon on satin white sheets in abandoned buildings on the cusp of Mexico City to the here and now, my only concern is the location of my daughter.

My heart skips a beat as the owner of the hand pressed against my mouth comes into focus. It’s Jaxon, the index finger of his other hand pressed tightly against his lips, my daughter - our daughter - clinging around his neck, her legs wrapped as far around his chest as she can stretch them. Something is wrong.

Behind Jaxon, lined up in against the far wall, where shadows make it almost impossible to see them, I can just about make out Emilio and Rosa, armed, scared, ready for what is about to come for them.

“They’re here”, Jaxon says, before he lowers his hand away from my mouth. “They’ve found us.”

I sit up quickly, careful not to make a sound. “How many?”

“Two cars, maybe three”, Jaxon whispers. “This time they’re not fucking around. They must have followed us, or just waited instead to make sure they got us all.”

“Give me her”, I say, my hands outstretched.

There is a look in Jaxon eye’s I don’t like. He pauses for a moment, crouches down and let’s Jessica peel herself off him. “You should have told me”, Jaxon says, and immediately I know he’s already guessed.

Jessica wraps herself into my arms. “Would it have mattered?” I say.

Jaxon takes two guns out of the holster around his hips and passes them to me. “Go upstairs”, he says. “Into the bathroom. Make sure you lock it. Emilio, Rosa, you too.”

“No fucking way”, Emilio says.

I look at Jessica, I look at my gun and then I look at Jaxon. A moment later the kitchen window explodes under a hail of bullets. Instinct pushes me off the couch to the floor, Jessica curled into a ball underneath me. “Upstairs”, Jaxon cries, his sub machine gun cocked, ready to take down anyone that happens to feel confident enough to come all the way inside.

“Give her to me”, Rosa implores, her hands outstretched.

I shake my head, worried that if I hand her over I’ll never get to see her again. A second round of bullets chew up the furniture, scattering plates from the dresser and biting into the wall. Jaxon is right, this time they’re not fucking around.

“Now”, Jaxon says over the hum of an automatic rifle, “All of us, upstairs. Go!” he screams at me.

Rosa is the closest to the stairs and the first to go. Emilio reluctantly follows her, before Jaxon provides a human shield for me and Jessica, backing us all up the stairwell, while he keeps his guns trained on the entrance through to the front door.

“This is what you call safe?” Jaxon says.

“This isn’t the time”, I snap back.

Jaxon backs us into the bathroom, and while he quickly checks the other rooms, I lay Jessica flat in the bath.

“It would have mattered”, Jaxon says. “You should have told me.”

There is a third blast of gunfire before the house falls silent again. “And what would you have done?” I say, the situation way too tense for me to cope with. “Relocated to Mexico?”

“Shush”, Jaxon orders, listening intently at the door. “They’re inside the house.”

“And that’s where they are going to die”, Emilio says confidently, cocking his antique shotgun.

“What the fuck is on this pen drive anyway?” Jaxon asks.

“Something someone very important doesn’t want to get out.”

“Well that’s nicely specific”, Jaxon says.

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you”, I say. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is they don’t get hold of it.”

“Are you sure about that? It seems like they don’t care if they get hold of it or not. Unless they already know where it is, or they already have it, and now they’re here just to tie up loose ends.”

“They don’t already have it”, I say confidently.

There is a metal clang against the wall at the top of the stairs that draws immediate gun fire from Jaxon. “Fuck”, he says, backing into the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind him. “Smoke grenade.”

Jaxon takes a pair of weird looking goggles from his pack and puts them on.

“They’re coming”, Emilio says.

“Get down”, Jaxon whispers. “Everyone on the floor.”

There is hardly any space for us but we just about manage it before bullets rip through the wooden door, just where Rosa was standing only seconds before, smashing through the small glass window in the far wall before disappearing out into the night.

“So what are you going to do after this one?” Jaxon says casually, as he puts the barrel of his sub machine gun into one of the recently created bullet holes and fires in rapid, controlled bursts. I can hear garbled Spanish and the sound of at least two bodies hitting the ground. “Take down the entire network of crime across the whole of central America?”

“I’m a journalist”, I remonstrate. “I’m meant to piss people off.”

“You call this pissing people off?”

“I call it doing my work”, I say.

“Right, then you won’t mind staying here for a moment while I go and do mine.”

“You’re leaving again?” I say, sitting up momentarily to make sure he can see me.

“Get the fuck down”, Jaxon says angrily, launching himself instinctively at me just as a bullet carves through the door and grazes his shoulder where my head was only a moment ago.

“Fuck”, I scream, while Jessica begins to cry loudly.

Emilio unloads both barrels of his shotgun but it serves to do nothing other than gouge two giant holes in what’s left of the bathroom door.

Jaxon checks his shoulder, as blood leaks into the wound. It’s not deep, but it might need stitching.

“Just give us what we came for”, someone shouts through from the other side. “Give us what we came for and I promise you we’ll kill you quickly.”

Jaxon shakes his head. “People just don’t learn, do they?” he says, apparently talking to himself. “Emilio, shoot anything that comes in the window, and Ruby, shoot anything that comes in the door unless it’s me.”

“Be careful”, I say.

With one gun rested on his shoulder, Jaxon shoots the lightbulb out without even looking. Suddenly the room falls into darkness. “I’m always careful”, he says. “Didn’t I tell you I’m good at this?”

“You might have mentioned it”, I say. “About a thousand fucking times. Just don’t die, not if you meant what you said.”

Jaxon kicks the door open and fires into the void without looking. I hear a body drop to the ground, while gunfire rushes into the space Jaxon neatly vacates a second later.

“About what?” he says.

A second later he’s back at the doorway, firing again. I hear screams in Spanish and another body drop.

“About it mattering”, I say. “It doesn’t matter anyway, this isn’t exactly the time to talk about it.”

“Don’t go anywhere”, Jaxon says, before leaning over and kissing me on the cheek before I have a chance to respond.

“Asshole”, I shout, but he’s already out of the door.

I try my best to console Jessica, but she’s absolutely terrified. Emilio watches the window resolutely, while Rosa prays and gunfire refuses to cease in the rooms below us. I can imagine Jaxon feels like he’s playing a computer game, fooling around, showing off and taking chances just because he thinks he’s invincible.

I’m sure he’s come up against way worse than this throughout his career, but that doesn’t mean he’s any less vulnerable than the rest of us. One mistake and we’re not going to stand much chance up here without him. I know how to handle myself when it’s one on one, but me and Emilio against what could be an entire army, could prove to be biting off way more than I can chew.

Instinctively I go to check the pendrive is still around Jessica’s neck, and my heart skips a beat for a second when at first it doesn’t seem to be there. I move my fingers along the cord and find it twisted against her back, tucked into the folds of her T-shirt. Enough information to bring down one entire political party, but is it enough to make all of this worthwhile?

It was never my intention to bring Jessica into this, and I’ve always tried as best as I can to keep her away from this world, but I’ve not only failed, I’ve failed to keep my best friends safe as well.

I nearly shoot Jaxon as the door flies open again. “We need to leave”, Jaxon says urgently. “They’ve got a fucking rocket launcher.”

“A rocket launcher?” I gasp.

“Quick”, Jaxon insists. He pulls me out of the bath and takes hold of Jessica again to wrap around his back. “Stay close to me”, he says. “Press her into me.”

I’m so scared, I don’t argue this time, I just do what he says.

“Rosa, get behind Ruby, Emilio, take the rear, back to us and gun up. They’re crawling over this place like rats.”

Emilio drops his shotgun in favor of the sub machine gun that Jaxon gives him. Outside, most of the smoke has cleared and the house is littered with bodies of what look like Mexican police. “Jaxon?”

“I know”, he says. “Whatever you’ve done, you’ve done it to the wrong people.”

We descend the stairwell in a chain, careful not to break apart, the only sound between us our heavy breathing, Jessica too overwhelmed to do anything now but watch this whole thing unfold like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

We just about make it to the living room again, when the house lights up with a huge red flash and an almighty explosion tears the top floor into shreds. I’m on the ground, bleeding from my ears while Jaxon shouts something at me I can’t hear over the high pitched whine drilling through my head. There is rubble and dust all around me, and smoke crawling across the ceiling that looks like it’s coming from a fire on the upper floor.

Jaxon pulls me to my feet, and we make our way into the kitchen, before advancing gunfire forces us to shelter behind the upturned dinner table.

Jaxon’s shouting something at me but I still can’t hear it. I rub my ears but all that does is cover my hands in blood. I’m scared for my life for the first time in what feels like forever, and I’m scared that now he’s here and he’s proved I need him, Jaxon’s going to leave again.

He’s smiling at me. Despite all of this, he’s trying to keep my spirits up. “You’re fine”, I lip read from him. “You’re fine.”

As second later he’s gone, and while I try and crawl after him, Emilio holds my leg firmly so I stay in place.

We’re there for what feels like longer than we should be, until Jaxon finally rejoins us, his face cut, and his shirt covered in blood.

“Jaxon”, I shout, worried he’s hurt, before pulling him into me and hugging him hard.

“Woah, woah”, Jaxon says, and this time I can just about hear him. The loud drone of tinnitus is still there, but right now Jaxon’s voice is pushing it into the background. “You’re going to make me think you missed me.”

“Are you hurt?” I ask, checking his body with my hands.

“I should be”, Jaxon says. “I just killed twenty police officers. I’m alright”, he confirms. “It’s nothing. But we need to go now.”

Jaxon gathers Jessica into his arms, while Emilio takes me by the elbow and helps me up.

“Where?” Emilio asks. “We can’t trust anyone now.”

“There’s one place we can go”, Jaxon says. “At least until this all gets sorted out.”

“Where?” I ask.

“The American Embassy”, he says with a smile. “You never know, they might even have twinkies.”