Emily Kimelman - Sydney Rye 03 - Insatiable (7 page)

“But my job is to bring you home.”

“Do you know about the protests in Texcoco?” I shook my head. “Flower vendors protested being removed from their land so that a Wal-Mart could be built. Do you know what happened to them?” She leaned closer to me. “The Zapatista came to help and the police,” she swallowed and her eyes filled with tears, “beat them, raped them. They shot a 14-year-old boy. A boy only 4 years younger than me. How can I be too young to try and save my country when he was not too young to be killed by it?”

I didn’t have an answer for that. I looked over at Alejandro. “You see, she cannot go home. She wants to stay here and fight,” he said.

I looked around at the luxurious sail boat we were sitting on; the white sails filled with wind, the computer consuls that guided our journey. “I don’t understand how you’re fighting a revolution from here.”

Alejandro opened his mouth to speak but Ana Maria was first. “Alejandro is a very important man. He is going to lead us into the future. Right now he has to play along but when the time comes he will change the world. We will get rid of private property. Everyone will be equal. We have already accomplished this in several rural regions. We do not need the corrupt politicians or hotels or condos. Mexicans can live in peace with one another and the land.”

“That sounds really great,” I said, because it did. Just like the idea of a flying horse sounds awesome.
 
“But you belong at home with your parents.”

She snorted in disgust and leaned away from me. “I expected more from you.”

“Why?” It was my turn to lean towards her. “Your parents hired me to find you and bring you home. What made you think I would join your revolution instead?”

She looked at me and said: “Because you are Joy.”

“My name’s Sydney.”

Her eyes narrowed and she said it again. “You’re Joy. You killed the Mayor of New York, a corrupt politician, to avenge your brother. I know who you are. At least I thought I did. And I’m not the only one-” She was interrupted by a soft laugh on the wind. Blue raised his hackles and began to sniff the air.

I looked around but didn’t see anyone. “Did you hear that?” I asked. They both nodded. Alejandro stood up and approached one of his consoles.

“I’m taking us home,” he said.

“Great idea,” the voice answered. Alejandro didn’t look up. The boat began to turn, the boom swung over our heads and we were facing the other direction. The wind died out of the sails and we slowed to a stop. It was so quiet that I had to strain to hear above my own quickening heart beat. Blue stood and with his nose to the ground, headed toward the mast. Alejandro powered up the engines and with a rumble we began to move again. The sun had almost set and everything was casting long shadows.

I was looking at Ana Maria when her pupils dilated and she made a small gasp of surprise. Turning around I saw Blane. Blue watched him closely as he began to cross the boat.

“How did you get on here?” Alejandro asked.

Blane laughed. “For revolutionaries you guys really don’t know what you’re doing. I climbed on board when you were off looking at that big fish. On your next voyage you might want to think about slightly better security.” He looked like he was enjoying himself.

“Ana Maria you’re coming home with me. And Alejandro,” he paused to let the smile on his face turn into a grin, “I think you might have to die.”

“What!” Ana Maria yelled.

“Blane,” I said, “you don’t need to frighten her like that. I’m sure she’ll come home with us.” I turned to her. “Don’t worry, we aren’t going to kill anyone.”

“Sydney, what makes you so sure?” I wasn’t sure at all. “You think I should just let this revolutionary live?” He said ‘revolutionary’ in a mocking tone. Blue was right behind him, but Blane hadn’t noticed.

“Blane,” I laughed. “What are you talking about? The Zapatista? Come on.”

Blane turned to me. “The Zapatista are trying to bring down the government. They have wide-spread support in rural areas and they cannot be allowed to continue.”

“Are you kidding me?” I stood up. “We are supposed to bring this girl home and that’s it. If you want to go on some government-saving killing spree you can do it without me.” He pushed me hard and I fell back onto my seat, knocking over my drink and smashing my elbow into the wood. Blane whipped a gun out from under his jacket and pointed it into my face. A low rumbling growl came from Blue.

“Sydney, I am your superior and you will do exactly what I say.”

“Didn’t anyone tell you I don’t like guns in my face?” I said, with pure ice in my eyes.

He turned away from me and grabbed Ana Maria by the hair. She screamed. Alejandro made a move to intervene, but Blane leveled his gun at the man’s chest. Alejandro stopped, his hands out by his side, his eyes trained on the gun. Blue looked over at me where I was still sprawled on the seat. He wanted to know what to do. He could, with little danger to himself, but a lot to Alejandro, take out Blane’s gun arm.

“Blane!” I yelled. “What are you doing?”

“I’m doing what the client wanted.”

“To pull their daughter’s hair?”

“No.” He didn’t take his eyes off Alejandro. “To end a revolution.” A shot rang out. Alejandro crumpled to the deck. I made a small hand motion. Gripping onto Blane’s arm with his powerful jaws, Blue took him to the ground. The gun skittered across the deck and fell overboard. Blane let go of Ana Maria who stumbled to the ground after him. Blane began to hit Blue with his free hand. Ana Maria launched herself on top of Blane and scratched at his face while Blue shook his arm loose from its socket.

The boat was alive with the sounds of violence. Alejandro moaned while clutching his stomach. Ana Maria grunted with effort. Blane yelled part in pain and the rest in rage.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Blane yelled. “Get the fuck off me!”

I pulled the straight razor out of my purse giving myself an advantage over everyone else on the boat. “Ana Maria!” I yelled. “Get off him!”

She looked over from her position, straddling Blane, and I waved for her to get off. She looked back at Blane who was doing his best to punch Blue in the head, then back at me.

“Seriously, get the fuck off him.”

“Get your fucking dog off me!” Blane yelled. Ana Maria crawled away from him, and I called for Blue to release. He released his jaw but only stepped back a couple of feet, never taking his eyes off Blane.

“Ana Maria, check on Alejandro,” I said. She looked at me, her hair was half out of its pony tail, a flush colored her cheeks. Her eyes were bright. Then she looked over at her fallen cousin and started to cry. Blane gripped his arm, blood oozed from between his fingers. Splotches of blood mingled with sweat on his brow.

“You’re in some serious trouble,” he told me.

“I’ve been in worse.” I walked over to where he lay and frisked him looking for another weapon. He didn’t have one. “You only brought one gun?”

“I thought I had a partner,” he said, staring straight ahead at Ana and Alejandro.

“Bullshit,” I said.

“This is your job.”

“What are you talking about? I was told we were going out to get the girl. Not kill someone.”

“We do what the client wants.” He clenched his jaw in either pain or anger.

“Yeah, well I didn’t hear him ask us to murder anyone.” Electric lights came on illuminating the deck. It was slick with blood. The sky was dark and the sea black but the coast was bright with the twinkling of humanity.

“What are we going to do?” Ana Maria asked me.

I looked up at her. She had a streak of blood across her cheek and the bottom left corner of her white shirt was drenched with it. I clenched the straight razor in my hand.

“How’s Alejandro?”

“He needs a doctor.”

“Watch him,” I told Blue, pointing at Blane. Alejandro leaned against the base of one of the computer consoles. His face, drained of color, was set in a grimace. He clenched at his stomach with both arms. Alejandro looked up at me but didn’t say anything. A trickle of blood seeped out of the side of his mouth. When a person gets shot in the abdomen they can live for hours or even days without medical attention. Or they can bleed out in a matter of seconds. Only time would tell us Alejandro’s fate.

“Do you know how to drive this thing?” I asked Ana Maria.

“I think so,” she said. I turned to look at her. Ana Maria’s eyes were wide and bright. She looked at me waiting for direction.

“All right, get us home now.” I crossed to one of the consoles.

She joined me at the computer. “It’s already set to get us back to the dock,” she said.

I knew there had to be a radio on the boat, but I didn’t know how I wanted to do this. Getting the police involved seemed inevitable but was bad for everyone involved. Except Alejandro. I looked over at him. His breathing was uneven and rasping. He was probably going to die. That sound, the noise that blood makes when your body is trying to breathe it, isn’t known as the death rattle for nothing.

I went over to Blane. He was still lying on the ground being as still as possible while Blue watched him. “What do you want to do?” I asked.

He shifted his gaze from Blue to me. “What are you talking about?”

“How do you see this ending?” A rogue wave hit the boat and I stumbled a little but quickly regained my balance. Ana Maria screamed. I turned to see Alejandro slumped to the side, his arms still wrapped around his belly, his eyes open but unseeing. Ana Maria ran to his side and was trying to sit him up while she sobbed uncontrollably.

Basically what I had here was a fucked situation. Blane, my so-called boss, was injured but alive and there was no way he was going to just let this go. What I didn’t know was whether this was his personal plan or if we were really supposed to kill Alejandro. I couldn’t imagine that Ana Maria’s parents, any parents, would want their daughter to witness her cousin’s murder. And what would be in it for Fortress Global Investigations?

“Was this your idea?” I asked Blane.

He laughed. “Are you crazy? This was so not my plan.”

“I don’t mean the way things went down, I mean killing Alejandro. Did the Vargas’s really want us to murder him in front of their daughter?”

Blane laughed again. “I’m not telling you shit.”

“If you want to live you’ve got to.”

“Please, you’re not going to kill me.” He smiled up at me and I knew he was right. But I wasn’t going to let him know that. I dropped to my knees and pushed his razor up under his chin. His eyes got wide but he didn’t really look afraid.

“Don’t you know about me?” I asked. He didn’t answer. I pushed the blade harder into his neck. He leaned his head back trying to get away from it. “I’ll kill you. And I’ll sleep like a baby afterwards.” I pushed harder and felt the blade cut into his skin.

“She’s the reason you’re on this case. We were using you as bait.”

“For what?”

“For her, for him. We wanted to find out if it was true. That they were plotting to take down the government. We knew she’d tell you.”

“Her parents are in on this?”

He smiled. “It was her mother’s idea.” I couldn’t tell if Blane was lying. “The Zapatista are dangerous. They have to be stopped.”

I leaned back on my haunches taking the blade with me. Blane took his hand off his injured arm and used his sleeve to wipe away the thin line of blood under his chin.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“We had a feeling you wouldn’t go along. I guess I underestimated you.” He smiled.

“Does Mulberry know?”

“Sure. He’s a partner, isn’t he?” Blane watched my face. “Or didn’t you know that?” He smiled.

I chewed on my lip. This could all be lies; it was possible that Blane was acting alone but why? He could be working with Pedro without his agency’s knowledge but again, why? A man this ambitious, who had come this far, why would he throw it away?

“What about the girl?” I asked. “Were you going to kill her too?”

“I’m going to take her home to her parents. They will deal with her.”

“What does that mean?”

Blane smiled. “I don’t know what they plan on doing with her, but I wouldn’t trade places with her.”

I left him lying there on the deck with Blue watching. Ana Maria was holding Alejandro in her arms and crying. He wasn’t breathing anymore. I looked down at the young girl. Less than an hour ago she’d been so full of hope for her country, for the ability of man to change his place in this world. And now she was holding a corpse in her arms.

If we went back to shore I’d have to explain a dead body and an injured man. I could hide the body, drop it in the ocean, but what about Blane? I couldn’t keep him captive forever. Eventually I’d have to let him go and he would come after me. The lights from the land closed in on me as I surveyed the bloody deck.

“Drop the anchor,” I said to Ana Maria. She looked up at me. Tear streaks lined her face. “Drop it.” I pulled Alejandro off of her. He was still warm. If I didn’t know better, I could almost believe he was alive. I grabbed Ana Maria by the arm and hauled her up. She didn’t fight me. I pulled her over to the console and repeated my demand. She sniffled back tears as she pushed the buttons. The engines died, the slow whirl of the anchor dropping started. When it stopped, there was no sound except the lapping of the ocean against the hull, the wind playing in the rigging above our heads, and the thump of my heart beating in my chest.