Jeanne Stein - Haunted

“Any idea how Pablo found out about us?”

One of the guards pokes Max with his rifle. “Silencio. No hablan.”

We’re almost at the door to the hangar. The Explorer passes us, a soldier at the wheel, and disappears inside.

“Wonder what other surprises the brothers Santiago have for us?” I whisper to Max, earning myself a sharp poke in the back from the same guard.

Didn’t have to wait long to find out. She steps forward the moment the hangar doors swing shut.

Maria is all smiles. “Ah. Here you are. We have been waiting.”

Luis is standing next to her, his arm around her shoulders. He grins at the disbelief on our faces. “I think you have already met my lover.” His tone is smug. “It was a good plan, was it not? Rid ourselves of an old enemy and a troublesome husband.”

She puts a hand on his chest. “You are very clever,” she says. Her eyes shine with undisguised adulation.

Stupid bitch.

Luis plants a kiss on her cheek, then reaches to a table behind them and picks up a laptop. “Maria just told me. Those security cameras you were so careful to avoid? It did not occur to you that one could monitor the cabin from a distance, did it? As soon as we entered the clearing, we were spotted. Pablo had only to wait for you to return for the plane.”

Pablo joins us. He takes Maria’s hand and moves her away from his brother. The expression on his face makes my blood pump faster. It is no longer the look of one relieved to welcome his brother back, but the calculating look of a predator closing in for the kill.

He picks up the laptop. “It is true. We monitored your arrival at the cabin. But we monitored something else, as well.” He pushes another key on the computer.

Luis’ voice fills the room.

“I’ll give you everything. Supply routes, operations, dealers in the States. Help me and I’ll help you.”

THE COLOR DRAINS FROM LUIS’ FACE. “YOU WERE listening?”

“Of course. Ramon was the one paranoid about listening devices. But then he was gone. It was Maria’s idea to plant a bug in case Tomás and his friends escaped and returned to the cave. She has been a great help.”

Maria now looks at Pablo with the same adoration she’d shown Luis a moment before and Ramon, days before that.

I amend my assessment. Crafty bitch.

Luis is backing away from both of them. “You know I lied, Pablo. I would never betray you. I said what was necessary to get them to bring me here.”

“So you knew we had spotted you?”

“Of course.”

Pablo steps after Luis, closing the difference between them. “So when you said Maria just told you about the cameras, you were lying.”

Luis is caught in his own web. He backtracks. “Well, maybe I didn’t know . But I knew you were too smart to let them get away. Tomás, the man who killed Rójan to get back at you? I knew you’d be keeping watch.”

“So then you are aware I know the last shipment of llello is gone.”

“I don’t know what happened. I think Ramon—”

“Not Ramon.” Pablo’s tone is ice. “It was your perversion. Su gusto para las chicas jóvenes. ” He takes a deep breath. “You sent six of your men away to find four little girls who escaped. You left the shipment unguarded.”

“But the men ran away. It is them you should blame.”

“They came to me. They told me what you had been doing. How business was taking a backseat to pleasure. I didn’t want to believe them. Then I got the news about the shipment. I was on my way to see for myself when Maria contacted me. When she told me who Ramon had brought here and why.”

Luis turns flashing eyes on Maria. “You told Pablo? Why?”

“Why do you think?” she snaps back. “You and Ramon are weak. You should have taken care of Ramon yourself when you knew he had murdered Rójan. Instead you let him talk you into this ridiculous plan. You left Gabriella and me rotting in that cave.” She turns burning eyes to me. “And Ramon left us with that puta . I don’t know how she did it, but she tied me up and destroyed the door. If Gabriella hadn’t smuggled a cell phone in with us, we’d still be trapped in there.”

I feel a smile tickle my mouth. I was right. Good for Gabriella! Bad for us.

Not so good for Luis, either.

Pablo says, “You are my brother. We have taken care of each other all our lives. It saddens me to see what you have become.”

But there is no sadness in his face. Pablo’s expression is harsh, cruel. His eyes have lost all traces of humanity. They are dead.

Luis sees the change. “I will go away, Pablo,” he says, breathless with fear. “I will disappear. You will never hear from me again. I can’t hurt you. You know that. Let me go.”

Pablo half turns to one of his soldiers and holds out a hand. The man places a revolver in his palm.

“I give you a choice,” he tells Luis. “Do the right thing. End it yourself. Or I will do it.”

Luis looks at the gun in his brother’s outstretched hand. He looks up at Pablo. There is no reprieve there.

I know what is going to happen before it does. Luis is not smart enough to realize that the choice his brother is offering him is no choice at all. He snatches the gun and turns it around on Pablo. The soldier who has come up quietly behind him fires before Luis can pull the trigger.

The bullet enters the back of Luis’ shoulder, exits in front, sending bits of collarbone and a spray of blood onto the floor. It’s a wound to injure, not kill. Luis topples forward, the gun falling from his hand. Pablo reaches down and picks up the revolver. Luis meets his eyes and he opens his mouth.

Pablo shakes his head. “Vaya a dios, hermano.”

This time, it’s a kill shot.

PABLO STEPS BACK FROM THE BODY OF HIS BROTHER and snaps an order. Two guards come forward, haul Luis away by his arms and legs.

There is not a glimmer of sadness in Maria’s eyes as she watches them. She doesn’t even bother to turn to see how they dump him unceremoniously behind the plane.

Another adjustment. Cold bitch.

I glance up at Max. He said as long as the plane remains in the hangar, his troops will not approach. If they are watching, they saw what happened when we arrived. How long will they wait before the sounds of gunfire bring them in to save Max? I look around. Besides the twenty men they saw, there are at least twenty more inside.

Maria and Pablo are talking quietly. I feel Culebra’s gentle intrusion into my head. What do you think they’re talking about?

I smile—grimly. Who to kill first, I imagine. Time for another snake act? How quickly do you think the guards would retreat if a giant rattlesnake suddenly appeared in their midst?

Pretty quickly. Let’s see, forty guards, a pilot, Pablo and Maria. I think we can take them. We need a distraction. Will Adelita help?

Are you kidding? It’s too dangerous. I don’t want her hurt.

Dangerous? As opposed to how secure her future is now? Shouldn’t it be her choice?

And he’s whispering in her ear before I can stop him.

She meets my eyes. “I know what to do.”

“No.” The guards closest to us turn our way. I lower my voice and they resume their stance, waiting for Pablo to give orders. “Adelita, it’s too dangerous.”

But she’s already making her move. She runs toward Luis’ body, screaming in Spanish—that he was a pig, that he deserved to die, that she hoped he was burning in hell. When she reaches him, she drops to her knees, pounding his corpse with her fists, dragging her fingernails across his flesh.