Traffic

Chapter 8

He tried to move. He could only see darkness; a hand was pressing his stomach. The pain was unbearable; he felt his strength fading away. He couldn't figure out where he was; probably the cops that invaded the hotel got him. He moaned; what would he tell Karen? What would she think about him after she discovered who he really was?

"Speed up!" someone said, "We have to get away from here!"

I'm with Thomas, he said to himself trying to smile. He never imagined he'd be so relieved of being with his brother.

He tried to open his eyes; his eyelids were heavy as lead. He felt terribly cold.

"Alejandro, don't dare leave, do you hear me?" the man yelled and pressed the wound, "I need you here; it's your fault that the spy got us and if you die because of that, I will kill you again!"

Idiot... he thought to wince. The pain was receding, the coldness was disappearing; he only heard a whispering voice calling him. That wasn't important, though; the important thing was apologizing to Karen before departing. That was the only thing he could think about.

***

"Can you swim?" he asked Elena.

She nodded excitedly; the huge indoors pool at the back of the house was breathtaking.

"I'd invite you in, but the water is freezing, and I don't want you to get sick" he squeezed her hand.

"I won't" she assured, "Just a few minutes..."

"Won't you rather see the barn?"

Her jaw dropped.

"Are there horses?" she asked smiling.

"Yes, horses" he repeated and tried to hold a laugh, "Shall we go?"

"Sure!" she said full of excitement.

He nodded and led her to the garden; it was more like a greenhouse. Plants of every kind greeted them, along with flowers of every color and size, specimens from every kind and from every region.

Beyond the greenhouse, some miles away, they reached a huge cherry tree; its petals were falling beautifully like a pink shower. Elena recognized this was the tree in the painting that hung in her room.

The barn stood some miles down the tree.

"We have a big mare that gave birth some weeks ago" he explained, "We have a total of 8."

"That's nice" she chewed her lip, "Can I ride one?"

"Of course. I'll give you a tamed one."

"I can ride any horse" she said and pouted her lips.

"I won't take the risk, Elena."

She pouted even more. It was nice for him to take care of her, but this was too much. She was not a kid who needed to be followed around. She frowned, was this way Jack saw her?

"At home I had my own horse" she informed and pulled her hand from his, "I've been riding since age 4, and your exaggerated worry is offensive, do you think I cannot do it?

Jack froze. Was she angry? He felt cold where her hand had been. He was being overprotective; he was being a jerk.

"I'm sorry" he started, "I mean I don't want you to get hurt; I never meant that you cannot ride."

"That's what you meant" she folded her arms obfuscated and went to the barn.

"Wait! I'm really sorry" he went to her and tried to grab her hand, but she refused.

"I know it's hard for you to understand this, but I am not a child" she turned her back to him.

Jack frowned. He knew that she was not a kid. Why did she say that?

"Dear, believe me, I know you are not a child" he said in a low voice. He felt his chest burning.

She looked at him confused.

"Then stop being so overprotective. I don't need that. I'm fine."

He nodded. They went in the barn; Elena watched amazed the group of different-colored horses that lifted their heads to see who had entered.

"I should've brought some sugar cubes."

"It's not necessary" they approached the first horse; "This is Black" Jack pointed at a pitch-dark massive animal, "He's mine. He's been here since I was a kid."

"He was your father's gift" she realized.

"Yes. We've been together ever since" he patted the horse. It snorted in response; it seemed happy, "The next one is Messi" he walked to another horse leading her by the shoulders, "My mother used to ride her. She's old now, but she can still put up with it."

Elena smiled at it. Its hair was a copperish color, and it was eating hay, thus ignoring them completely. The horse in front was white with a blond mane that waved following every movement of its head; it seemed restless.

"This one is Venus. It was dad's. He's a bit stubborn; only my dad could ride him."

"Animals choose you" she smiled.

"Next one is Thunder. This is Thomas's horse" he pointed at a black horse that looked furious.

"He looks dangerous" she tightened her lips.

"Oh, he is. He has thrown Thomas off several times. He actually has thrown everybody off at least once" he remembered with a smile.

"I think I know why he is so tough" she said. She was talking about a group of scars that Thunder had on its neck, abdomen, and cannons. Did he beat it for throwing him off? What kind of person would do that?

Physical aggression towards animals indicates a violent and dangerous behavior. It's a common symptom in serial killers ...

Elena stepped back clearly frightened. Where did she hear that information? Was Thomas dangerous or evil? How could she be so sure?

"What is it, Elena?" Jack put a hand on her shoulder.

She gave him an eyes-wide open stare.

"Nothing..." she whispered, "I'm surprised at his scars."

"I understand" he winced, "It was a bad day. Thomas went out to ride and fell into a covered well some miles from here."

Elena looked at him, wondering if that had really happened.

"That's were all these scars came from..."

"Exactly. Thomas got hurt too. He broke two ribs and he cut his leg. He was lucky that Harold heard him and rescued him."

"That's terrible" she covered her mouth.

"It was many years ago" he said to calm her down, "Come, I'll show you Alejandro's horse, Klaus" he pointed to a white, speckled horse.

She nodded and tried to be calmed.

"How pretty. He seems docile."

"You can ride him. He's very peaceful."

"I'd rather ride Venus."

He frowned.

"Don't be stubborn."

Elena smiled.

"This one in the front is Dahlia. She gave birth to two foals; here they are."

"She's so cute" the white mare had a brown spot on her back, and the foals were completely white.

Jack opened the stable door and patted Dahlia. The foals made guttural sounds and went near him.

"You can see she's very loving" he smiled at the mare.

"The foals are very cute" she approached them and patted them.

"Do you want to ride her?"

"No, thank you. I prefer Venus."

"That's funny" he stopped patting the mare and turned around, "I told you that Venus won't let anyone ride him. Not even me."

"I don't care. I'll try."

Jack took her hand and led her out of the stable.

"Listen, I'm not saying this because I think you're a child or because I think you are not capable" he cleared, "I'm serious when I say that Venus won't let you ride him."

"Can I at least try?"

"No" he frowned, "Venus was very close to my father. Since he did, he's been very depressed. That's what the vet said; he gets violent when somebody else mounts him."

"Oh. He must miss your father."

"Now you understand..." he said relieved.

"So can I ride Black?"

"Sure. I'll saddle him up for you" he smiled.

She sighed happily. They went back to the first stables. When they walked by Thunder's stable, she stopped. The beast snorted and puffed, showing uneasiness. Elena studied it; some of the scars were fresh and still bleeding. Something was wrong.

"Jack, has Thunder had any recent accident?"

"Not that I know of, why?" he turned around to face her.

"He's got fresh wounds" she said gravely, "They look like whiplash injuries."

"You're wrong" he went near her; "We don't whip our animals" he looked at the horse.

"Maybe you don't" she pointed at the beast's neck.

"It can't be true" he whispered and his jaw dropped, "How could he do that?"

"It was probably an accident" she tried to convince herself.

"I don't think so" he pulled out his cell phone, "I'll call the vet to be sure."

Elena folded her arms. She suddenly felt cold. She didn't mean to create conflict between Jack and his uncle, but she couldn't ignore the voice in her head urging her to escape.

***

Sirens resounded at the Radison Hotel at 4 in the evening. Dozens of police officers walked down the corridors; they were armed and hooded, and they were looking for survivors. One of them found the body of the dark skinned spy that ordered to open fire.

He was shot in the chest. He checked his pockets; there was no gun or wallet. They had taken everything. Paramedics arrived minutes later.

"Take him" the officer commanded, "Sent the corpse to the city. Detectives will analyze it."

The paramedics nodded and took the body whit them. The officer sighed and called the detective.

"Sir, they escaped" he said gravely, "We lost several men too" he paused, "The spy that you sent is dead."

On the other side of the line, Eric held the receiver tightly. These men were killing him. How could they escape? The hotel was surrounded!

"What the hell happened?!" he asked, losing control, "Tell me what stupid mistake you made!"

"It seems like every man in the meeting had brought a bodyguards team" he said, looking at the scene, "They took us by surprise. We don't know where they are heading now."

"Could you capture anyone?"

"No" he swallowed hard, "We found two bodies under the desk. They had shots in the mouth. Suicide."

"The fuckers killed themselves to avoid confessing."

"We're clearing the scene. Employees had no idea of what was going on in there, or at least that's what they claim."

"Arrest them. Interrogate them individually; they're possibly bribed" he hissed angrily, "Torture them if it's necessary; I want them to squeal!"

"We'll do" the officer said. The call ended and he closed his eyes.

At his office, Eric threw the phone against the wall. How could that happen? He lost dozens of men! He put his hands on his head, took a deep breath, and released a powerful yell of frustration. His co workers gave him a surprised stare. They were aware of how little control detective Wood had over his emotions, but they were still freaked out.

"Damn it!" he yelled with his eyes shut tight; he had to do something to catch them.

There was no other solution; he'd had to act by himself. The rest of the team was utterly useless.

"I will do it" he hissed, his jaw tensed up, "I will finish them on my own."

***

He heard a something like a TV; maybe the news was on. He tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't. The smell of alcohol hit his nose; was he at a hospital? The pressure in his stomach was feeble now; the pain was tolerable.

"Damn it..." he heard his brother, "I'm fed up with those cops."

"Sir, the spy was killed by one of your men" one of the bodyguards, "We got his ID and this" he showed a recorder. He pressed play.

Thomas heard his voice coming from the recorder, he frowned and snatched it; he removed the tape, dashed it to the floor and smashed it with his shoe.

"Burn this" he commanded furiously.

The bodyguard nodded, picked up the pieces of the smashed recorder, and handed the wallet.

"I'll let you know of any problem" he assured before leaving.

Thomas breathed deeply to regain control. He looked at the unconscious body of his brother and winced.

"It's your entire fault" he whispered and went nearer to him, "If you had arrived on time, none of this would've happened."

Alejandro listened; he was right. It was his fault. He took a risk when he escaped with Karen, and now he was paying the consequences. He finally could open his eyes; he couldn't focus his eyes. Blurry dots were all he could see. Thomas turned the TV off and sat on the sofa next to the bed.

"We're at a hospital in Vancouver" he informed, "One of Lovera's."

He barely nodded in relief.

"One of the cops shot you, but my men killed him and carried you to the car. You were i***t enough to let them hurt you" he folded his arms furiously, "The spy that you caught died. I destroyed the evidence he collected. Basically, the entire operation failed."

Alejandro closed his eyes. Everything went better than he expected. Now he could concentrate on what to tell Karen and Jack.

Thomas stood up.

"We lost the Tahiti guys" he mumbled, "They got them, but they died instantly."

He winced at the stupid idea of killing yourself if cops got you. He never imagined he would live to see that happen; he thought that nobody would actually do it. He was wrong.

"Have some rest. I'll tell Jack that we'll be back in some days. You will have to find a good excuse this time" he headed for the door, "I'll see you later" and he left.

Alejandro raised his eyes to the ceiling. The wound would keep him from moving for several days. What would he tell Karen? He needed to let her know that he would be back later than expected. His gaze searched the phone in the room, but there was none. His fists balled in frustration. There was nothing more he could do; he was praying for her to wait.

***

The veterinarian confirmed Elena's suspicions; the horse had been whipped recently. He indicated them to keep it isolated for some days; he cured its wounds, injected a sedative, and left.

Elena looked at the animal fighting against the effect of the medicine. A knot grew hard in her throat; it was wrong to hurt him that way. She still couldn't believe that Thomas did that.

"Let's go inside" Jack took her hand.

She nodded, and they started walking out of the barn. All the animals were silent, as if they knew that something was going on; it was terrifying. The sun was setting down on the horizon; it was a beautiful image, but in those moments it only felt sad. She squeezed his hand, and he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. When they reached the door, he stopped.

"Let's keep Lisa out of this" he asked softly. He glanced at the big man with gray hair that was watering the plants, "Let's keep everybody out by now."

"I understand" she agreed, "But you have to promise that you'll talk to Thomas."

"I promise. I'll talk to him as soon as he arrives."

"They will arrive anytime" she looked at her wrist watch, "It's almost time for dinner."

He winced; he had forgotten about Alejandro telling him they wouldn't be home that night. He frowned confused. He opened the door and went in after Elena. Lisa was in the kitchen waiting for them. They made an effort to keep on smiling.

"Did you have fun riding?" she asked while she pulled a tray out of the oven.

"We didn't ride" Elena said nervously, "We decided to do it tomorrow."

"Oh" she whispered, "I thought you wanted to ride" she looked at Jack.

"Elena wants to let the horses get used to her" he lied.

Lisa stared at him for seconds.

"I don't want to frighten them. I'm a stranger for them" she added smiling, "This way we won't take any risks."

"I see" she smiled; she believed them, "Are you hungry? Dinner is almost ready."

"Sure" she lied, "I just need to shower" she informed and headed for the door.

"Of course; go up and freshen up. I'll see you in half an hour" she waved at them.

Jack walked behind her silently. Elena stopped at the stairs.

"I don't like lies" she was worried.

"Neither do I, but what can we do?"

"I'll go to my room" she said and went up the stairs. Jack followed her.

When they reached her door, he smiled at her and turned around. Elena stood on the threshold; she looked at him while he was ready to enter the room and went to him.

Jack felt her arms around his waist. He froze, and glanced at her.

"Elena, what is it?" he said surprised; his throat was dry.

"I'm sorry, I felt scared. It was too much" she whispered.

He turned around and hugged her. Elena sighed, cuddled in his chest, and closed her eyes.

"I know darling. I was surprised too" he closed his eyes and smelled her scent, "Everything's ok. I'm glad that you noticed Thunder's wounds. I hadn't seen them in a long time."

"I don't want to think badly of Thomas" she affirmed, "I know he is a good man."

He caressed her back. He didn't want to think badly of his uncle either, but evidence was in their faces.

"I'll talk to him" he promised, "Go and take a hot shower. You'll feel better."

She nodded, still holding him.

"Thank you" she whispered, "I needed this."

Jack smiled and pulled away from her. Elena looked at him smiling. She got closer to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'll see you at dinner," she said and closed her bedroom door.

Jack opened his eyes feeling shocked; he felt her kiss like a hot-coal burn; it was amazing. He closed his eyes and felt his body shudder. He would need a cold shower to go through dinner all right.

His cell phone rang and brought him back to reality. He answered without checking who was calling.

"Hello"

"Jack" Thomas's voice boomed on the line, "I call to let you know that we'll be back a couple of days later than expected."

"What happened?" he asked worriedly.

"Nothing, but it's taking more time to close the deal2 he lied, "I'll let you know later. Goodbye."

Jack winced. He felt sick after talking with his uncle. After seeing what he did to a helpless animal, he wasn't sure that he was a good man.

***

At dinner, Jack was waiting for her with some impatience. Lisa had almost finished setting the table, and she was nowhere to be seen. His hands were shaking; he looked at his watch every two seconds. It was 7:45; why was she so late?

"Jack" Lisa called; it sounded like she was holding a laugh, "Could you go get Elena? Dinner is ready."

He leaped to his feet and ran up the stairs. He was so transparent; Lisa smiled at this and finished setting the plates. Jack was on the corridor breathing slowly to calm his racing heart; it seemed to call her with every beat. In front of the door, he swallowed the knot in his throat and knocked lightly.

"Elena? Dinner is ready" he said mechanically. He was so nervous. There was no answer, so he knocked again, "Elena?"

The door opened after some seconds. She went out, red-faced.

"I'm sorry. I'm ready" she looked at his eyes, "I took a longer shower than expected, and I became dizzy."

Jack tried not to smile. Elena was swinging from side to side.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, I think..." she whispered holding on to the door, "I just need to freshen up."

"Right" he said worried, "Let me help you" he went to her and took her by the shoulders. Elena smiled; her face was fully red.

"Thank you."

He put a hand on her forehead; it was warmer than usual.

"I think you have fever" he said frowning.

"It's just that I spent too much time in the shower" she breathed deeply, "It's happened before. I'll be fine."

"All right. But I will help you to go down the stairs."

He walked next to her holding her by the waist; he could carry her, but he decided not to try. She was breathing slowly; her wet hair smelled beautifully like mint.

He tried to ignore the perfume she had sprayed on; he tried to ignore the feeling of her body so close to him. He tried above all not to look at the deep cleavage of the elbow-long sleeved blouse that showed a big portion of her large breasts.

He gulped and his jaw tightened; his body tensed up. She seemed to be comfortable though he was almost dragging her, but Jack was fighting against his libido and his common sense.

He remembered the bet and blood ran frantically to a certain point of his body; they reached the end of the stairs and he parted from this delicious and dizzy temptation.

"Can you walk?" he asked begging inside that she said yes.

She nodded, took a step, and staggered. Jack quickly took her in his arms; she held him by the neck, while he put his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him.

He could feel every curve of her body; the pressure of her breasts against his chest drove him mad. He pulled her away and turned her around.

"Be careful" he said in a low voice. He needed a cold shower now.

"I'm sorry" she held his hand looking for support.

He took it back ashamed; he felt hotter than ever, and he would take some moments to calm down.

Lisa appeared at the living room like an angel; he walked faster and told her that Elena was feeling dizzy. He handed her to Lisa in one movement and ran away. In the closest bathroom, he splashed cold water on his hot face. It didn't help much. He frowned with frustration and undressed.

He went in the shower and let cold water run. Every muscle in his body tensed up; his teeth were grinding, and he started shivering. Some minutes later his appendix was back to normal, and he turned off the water. He stood there freezing and cursing inside; he grabbed a towel and dried up with it. His body was urging for some heat. He got dressed quickly and combed his hair. He looked at his reflection in the mirror; his cheeks were rosy, his jaw was shivering still slightly, and he felt better. He went out of the bathroom; in the dining room, the two women were seated, clearly waiting for him.

"There you are" Lisa scolded him; she leapt to her feet and put her hands in her hips in one movement, "Where were you?"

"I had to go to the bathroom" he smiled nervously; Elena was smiling at him, "Do you feel better?"

She nodded.

"Yes, Lisa gave me a glass of milk, and I feel much better" she affirmed.

"I'm glad" he sat next to her, "You didn't need to wait for me."

"We did" she said and sat back at the table.

"Thank you" he took the silverware, "Lasagna, my favorite."

"It's my favorite, too" Elena said smiling.

"Here's another thing we have in common. What an interesting day" he smiled.

They started eating, while Elena was staring at the empty seats.

"Won't we wait for your uncles?" he asked at him; her face was full of innocence.

Jack felt terrible. He had forgotten about the bet; now he didn't know what to tell her.

"They won't come" Lisa said, "They warned that they will be back later. Some business got stuck" she informed.

Elena nodded. She didn't seem to remember the bet either. She started eating; her eyes found his and suddenly she remembered; she lost! It couldn't be true. She moved her stare from his and looked down; it wasn't fair. She would have to do anything that Jack ordered for a whole week.

She swallowed the knot in her throat along with a sip of her cup. She decided she would discuss it with him; he probably was just joking. She dared a glance towards him; he was smiling like a jerk.

I'm lost, she admitted ashamed. She was a fool; she never said no to a challenge.

"Jack, why are you so pale?" Lisa fixed a stare on him, "Are you cold?"

"A bit" he lied, "I'm all right" he sipped his drink.

She tightened her lips. She thought it was weird that he disappeared in the bathroom so suddenly, and seeing him so pale made her suspicious.