Page 82 of Extraction

One man smiled at me with a set of black-lined teeth. He made a crude comment but shut his mouth quickly when I shot him a look. He stood back from the step so I could climb up to the door. It was barely more than a tin cage.

A big, burly man motioned at me to sit, and I sat where he pointed and strapped the belt around Chase and me, then he left the plane and shut the door. Two men, one of them the rude one, jumped in the front without a word while the other fellow gave me a mock salute and settled into the pilot’s seat. He turned back and studied Chase briefly. I quickly pulled the hoodie over his face and gave the pilot a defiant look. These types of men had very little respect for women or children, but he simply shrugged.

A short time later, we managed to take off, and as we lifted into the sky, I felt the plane shake. I’d flown countless times before, but this hunk of junk felt like it was held together with glue and tape. I didn’t want to know what was in the crates they’d loaded because with my luck it was either cocaine or spare body parts.

I kept my eyes shut for most of the flight. It was very long and uncomfortable with Chase glued to me like paint on a wall. A few times, he shifted about but soon was asleep again. I knew I had to get the child to a doctor.

We stopped three times for fuel, and I barely had enough time at each stop to stretch my legs and give Chase a drink before we were back in the air. Another sign that we were more than likely carrying drugs. I saw the weapons they carried before we boarded, and I didn’t care, and I made sure they knew I didn’t care about what they did by not acknowledging the crates, not even when they moved some of them around to give me more room after the second stop.

Finally, I saw we were close to the border. It had been what felt like a lifetime in the sky. I didn’t have a firm plan, but I’d gone over everything Cole had told me on the phone. The fact I was that close to my home country gave me a burst of energy I so desperately needed. When the tires hit the tarmac, I said my Hail-Marys that we survived.

When I climbed out of the plane, the pilot asked if I needed a lift to and across the border. Even as he spoke, his partners were loading the crates into a truck with potted palm trees. They tucked the crates among the pots and surrounded them with loose straw.

I didn’t want to be associated with Cartel anywhere near a border, even if they didn’t have a tattoo to show their alliance with a specific family. I thanked him but refused the offer, and he merely shrugged and let us go.

The air strip wasn’t too far from where I needed to cross, and my legs were dying for some kind of activity, so we started to walk. It took me about forty-five minutes to get there.

I immediately headed toward the car lot and searched section two. But as my luck had been, there was no gray Toyota with a black trunk that I could find. After a few stress tears, I decided to head to the bus station. What I really needed was to get the attention of one of the border agents and ask for Manuel. Problem was there was always a chance of getting a dirty one, and any border crossing always crawled with Cartel soldiers.

I reached the bus station, and a man held open a door for me, but just as I was about to step forward, an arm hooked mine and I was spun around to come face to face with Bruno Perez.

“No!” I cried without thinking and instinctively wrapped my arms around Chase.

He dragged me around the corner and out of sight of the hustle and bustle of the border. Two of his men stood guard as he pulled me behind some garbage bins. I wanted to scream, but the place was so loud between kids, tour groups, dogs barking, and engines, I knew it would be useless.

His hand wrapped around my throat, and he pressed me against the wall and leaned in. He drew in a deep, controlled breath. His glare was as cold as ice, and it chilled me to my core as his hand tightened against my vocal cords.

“I warned you.” His voice wavered, and I knew he was past all chance of reason. “You broke your word to me.” He smelled like expensive brandy, and it mingled with his cologne. I wanted to vomit. I’d only seen him this angry once before, and I’d promised myself I’d never get there again, but there I was.

“My word,” I fought to speak, and my temper fought to rise against my fear, “was never given.” I ripped his arm away, and he released my throat, then he went to do it again. “You ordered me. There’s a difference.”

His chest puffed out, and I knew I was playing with fire. “Here’s how this will go.” He stuck a finger in my face, and Chase started to cry from all the erratic movement. “You and the child will come with me. I will make my deal, then I’ll throw him to the callejeros so there’s no chance the Canos family will ever have an heir.” I pictured Chase being torn apart by wild street dogs and never felt more protective in my entire life. Something clicked inside, and I knew if there was ever a time to make a big play, it was at that moment.

“You’re mad,” slipped from my lips, and his eyes flared with anger.

“You have no idea.” He grabbed the tops of my arms and shook me, and Chase began to wail. “I look forward to the many punishments I’ve been conjuring up for you,” Bruno shouted over Chase’s cries. He shoved his finger into my chest, and I flinched at the pain. “You sent me on a wild goose chase up to Rosarito because of that article you released. You cost me thousands of dollars, and now you will spend the rest of your life making it up to me.” Then how did he know I was here in El Paso and not Rosarito? What kind of game was being played? Was it all Rafael?

I desperately tried to play this smart and pretended my temper took over my brain. I let my mouth fly.

“You’re so blind, Bruno,” I snarled and slapped his hand away again. “Don’t you know who I am working with to get this baby over the border?” His brows went up. “Wow, you really have no idea?” I laughed to deepen the blow. “Your mother was right. You’re so clueless.”

Whack! He slapped me across the face, but I barely registered it as I carefully slipped my hand down into my bag and felt around for the hard steel handle. I angled my hip. “I was working with Blackstone.” I made sure to enunciate each word and watched as his penis-sized brain swelled to absorb it all. “They offered me a much better deal than you.” I smiled and watched his face. It felt good to rub salt into the wound.

“I’m going to kill you?—”

Pffft. The gun fired and barely made a sound. I was thankful for the silencer; not even his own men would hear it. Bruno’s eyes flickered as his brain registered his pain and he looked down at his bloody boot. I stepped back and pointed the gun at his face.

“No, you’re not.”

“You better run, Nicole, because if I can find out that baby’s father was Eric Noah before this fucking witch hunt started…” His face had turned white, and he held up his foot, unable to stand on it. “Mark my words, I’ll find you and their safehouse. Ben was only the start.” He suddenly lunged at me and grabbed the gun, but I didn’t let go. We both wrestled with it, and Chase’s shrieks made me fight harder. It wasn’t just me anymore. The gun flew out of my hand and landed against the trash can, and in desperation, I drove my heel into his injured foot. He cried out, and I kicked him in the stomach, and he fell to the ground in agony. His eyes were tightly shut as he cried and held his leg.

I dropped into a squat and balanced Chase on my thigh as I snatched his phone where it had fallen from his pocket. “I’m coming for all of you,” he moaned.

“Yeah, you do that.” I kicked him in the leg one last time and ran off before his men showed up. I rounded the corner and almost got to the bus station again when I spotted Agustin.

“Holy…!” I spun on my heel and saw Rafael and some of his men. He had his phone to his ear. I froze behind a post and saw Elva, Jerry’s Canos’ wife, as she scanned the area. I was done. We were surrounded. I desperately looked toward the border, and something caught my eye. A gray Toyota Camry with a black trunk, my getaway car, pulled away from its spot and drove across the border. My stomach took a dive as all hope faded. What chance did we have now?

I looked at Bruno’s phone in my hand, and an idea came to me. I knew what I needed to do. I slipped inside the station and entered the family restroom and locked the door. I was thankful it was a private room.

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