The Thorns Under Pedals

Chapter 14:

“Carlos.” Jorge's voice rang in the halls. A groan left Carlos' mouth as his eyes shut for a bit mentally counting. Could he not get through one day without his annoying companion that tried his patience? If he had not seen his family the previous weekend he probably would have snapped at the man by now. Thankfully the image of his daughter in a beautiful purple dress on stage much like her mother used to do in her acting sessions calmed his annoyance to a tolerance level. Even the grip on his left shoulder with Jorge arm wrapped around did not aggravate him like usual.

That didn’t mean that he left it there. No Carlos peeled his hand off and glared at the man. “Keep it down.” Carlos said in response, making Jorge notice all the staff that was in the halls working around them.

“Oh come on man.” Jorge sighed with a shake of his head. “I came to give you great news and you're acting like I’m a pain.”

Carlos was not fooled by the fake pained tone Jorge used or the look of hurt in the guys eyes. Not that he cared either way as he preferred to keep his coworkers at arms length. However, the choice of words that he used did intrigue Carlos into asking, “What news?”

Carlos regretted it as soon as he saw the shine in the other man's eyes. There was no going back unfortunately. Instead of answering right away Jorge guided Carlos to the nearest office that had sound proof walls. This made him even more curious and tense. The only time they used these kinds of rooms for a talk had to do with their duty as Andrews bodyguards or higher up orders. Things that the other staff were better off knowing or else they were silenced swiftly.

“Mr. Williams has found out a possible suspect who pulled that stunt with your car.” Jorge began after the door was locked shut and both men sat across from the other in the desk chairs around a round table used for board meetings.

“Who?” Carlos was at the edge of his seat and anger shined through his pupils clearly. These had Jorge put up both his hands trying to ease him.

“He thinks it is a daughter of the Francisco family that we left locked up in the prison cell for two weeks.” Jorge continued.

Carlos frowned trying to remember the family. All that was coming to mind was the drama between Andrew and the eldest Francisco daughter Stella. The two had been dating off and on. Their fathers were setting them up for marriage however neither of the pair wanted to be together for life. Andrew wanted to continue partying and sleeping around while Stella wanted power. The pair argued more than people in different political parties around election sessions. Their decisions led to the families blowing up at each other to see who was higher on the chain. That included Carlos and Jorge following Andrew into a situation that had left bodies staining the ground a few times. Carlos could not remember any of the other daughters or think of why any of them would be targeting him before Andrew.

“Gabrella.” Jorge spoke into the heavy silence letting the name sink into Carlos’s mind. He could tell when it did because Carlos became tense in his spot and his hands fisted.

“The redhead who had her knife to my throat?” Carlos asked slowly.

Jorge nodded. He wondered if the scene of when they had invaded Francisco's family home was coming to mind. That night they had been told to follow Andrew to settle the problem between the families as all their numbers were thinning and the family wanted a truce. Not all agreed and one of them was Gabrella who stood from her spot at the table holding a dagger to Carlos Adams' apple. Well at first the weapon had been aimed to stab Andrew thru but he had seen the weapon on time to step in target range.

“That fight has ended for five years. Why would they risk starting another war when they have been struggling to keep their heads above water?” Carlos muttered.

Jorge shrugged. “He didn’t answer that or anything else I tried to get out of him. All he said was to follow this address and figure out if she’s the one.” He slid a paper across the table so it was in front of Carlos.

“So we are going to start ticking down enemies until we find who is the culprit.” Carlos grinned. Jorge frowned seeing the anger shift to amusement. It seemed like Carlos had been waiting for the call to unleash his anger at the situation. He had been wanting a list he could start to cross off. “When do we head out?”

“Tonight.” Jorge answered.

Carlos nodded. The room was silent as they let each other drift off into their own thoughts. Minutes ticked by before Carlos broke the trance first. He pushed the chair back and stood. With a swift motion he pocketed the address and walked out. Before he opened the unlocked door Carlos turned to him. “You know where to meet me?”

“Ya.”

“We leave at midnight.” Jorge didn’t get a chance to agree or disagree as the door was pulled open and he watched Carlos walk away down the hall. All he could think was how he was glad Carlos was on his side. The man scared him when he had that shine in his eyes.

Bang. My eyes shot open at the loud sound of a door slamming open and shutting. The fog of sleep washed away quickly as I saw the screen having both Carlos and Jorge. Seeing them both was not surprising as I had fallen asleep watching recordings of the last several days to catch up. This time their clothes were dirty. Blood was staining in streaks along their shirts like someone's hands. I jumped up from the floor to move the screen to the computer sitting comfortably. I paused the image and looked zoomed in. First I looked Jorge over.

Two bloody hand prints that suggest someone tried to push him off at his stomach. There was a smeared handprint on the side closer to my view that told me that the victim had tried to either grab him for balance or escape to that side only to be caught. Since the shirt was a dark brown the blood looked closer to mud unless you knew from experience what blood could look like on other colors. The fact he had splatters of blood drops on his collarbone to neck from a blood spot at the edge of the collar confirmed the suspicion.

Jorge had a paler tone than Carlos but his black hair that was a mess was similar in shade. Looking into his eyes I couldn’t see anything reflecting through them but I could see panic starting to show. Interesting, I thought as I then zoomed out to take in both of the men's features. Doing so with the mindset of checking how they held themselves opened up to the dynamic in the pair. Jorge is either newer at this craft or has more sympathy. Carlos doesn’t seem to be concerned like this was natural. There was no sympathy considering the grin. Looking back and forth I began to take in other details and a plan was forming in my mind. Soon I unpaused the video to hear Carlos speed away into the darkness which clouded their features from me.

They had obviously been sent to murder someone(s) and Carlos was all to happy to. Jorge seemed less sure. The questions that kept coming to mind were who and why. Honestly I could care less about how I already knew their style after seeing my family's bodies. Nor would it help me to determine how to kill them. Instead I looked straight back which would give me an idea to my questions maybe.

They were driving away from a house that had many different floors. It was almost like an apartment but the places looked larger. Surprisingly though Carlos was speeding off his truck was pretty quiet compared to the noise of traffic somewhere close by. No lights were on at the place or the others around it that were too close for my comfort. I looked over to a clock and saw the red numbers lighting up at 2 a.m. Long past the time people would be awake and too early for most people to be up for work. Even those who went or came home would not notice a thing out of place as the pair likely left everything in place. The only sign they had been there at all would be in the inside where the victims were laying in their own blood.

The pair were quiet as they left until they were onto a freeway merging through traffic. Even then they waited miles away from the entrance ramp to break the silence. Not surprisingly it was Jorge who broke it as he kept glancing at the mirrors expecting police sirens to be blaring behind them.

“We should have burnt it.” His voice was just above a whisper. As if speaking of the event would draw the cops to them.

Carlos took his time to answer. I could tell that this made Jorge more nervous. When he did speak it did not seem to ease Jorge's mind. “ It had nothing to do with my truck or Miss Willams.”

My eyes widened as the words set in. I couldn’t help the chuckle that turned into a full laugh with my eyes watering at the realization. They were looking for me and had stumbled upon something else.

“What if this restarts the war?” Jorge hushed. “By leaving that we openly stated who did this.”

Carlos shrugged as if he could care less. He truly looked unconcerned by whatever Jorge was talking about. “Mr. Willams made the call, not us.”

Jorge frowned. Clearly he was thinking on the lines of what I was but was there to speak the words. “That doesn’t mean it won’t affect us. Look at all the people under Miss Williams' care.”

Carlos’ hands were clutching the steering wheel as the sound of leather creaked under the pressure. His voice was lowered dangerously, “That’s exactly why we have been out looking for the person or people responsible. Or did you forget the oath we swore on?” The hair on my arms stood up as I felt a chill creep under my skin. I could not imagine Jorge's reaction in the poor lighting. There was a lengthy silence.

“We look out for all as if we are family. One injured family is a wound to us all. One death we will avenge.” Jorge breathed as if he was swearing it again.

“We are pawns to protect the Willams family to repay the debts we owe. We breathe, live, protect, and serve them without protest nor hesitation.” Carlos stated.

“An oath broken will take back the lives they saved with the blood that could have shed. Those close to them will receive the same deaths.” Jorge breathed in a hiss remembering some type of pain.

“I swear on my life and families to repay what is owed.” They both finished though Jorge was a whisper while Carlos was in a normal tone.

My stomach twisted in knots making me feel nauseous. Sweat started to drip from my hairline as my breath came out uneven. My vision started to blur as I quickly fled the room down the hall to the bathroom. Tears ran down my face as I hurled up my dinner. Sobs shook my body as I continued until there was no food left in my system. Exhaustion settled in my system. I felt too weak to move back to the room or to my bed. I found myself laying down on the floor I had just cleaned after school today shaking with my stomach hurting. My mind was swirling over the oath they repeated remembering a time before I left hearing it for the first time. Except it had just been the first part Jorge had spoken. Not until now had I heard the rest. As the words replayed my eyes closed and exhaustion took me off to a time when I was happier and much too naive.