Chapter 8
by Christi
Sunset came, and with it the SUV (in which the AC was descompuesto).
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"On a long drive. We have to travel from here down through Yucatan, and Guatemala. We'll skirt the border of Belize..." A huge bump shook the SUV, "then into El Salvador. Where we understand that our companero is imprisoned... down by the coast."
"We gotta bust him outta there," Pedro said. "It's not a legitimate prison. It's a prison, but it's run by the cartel."
"Even though the local police run the place," Hector added.
"Good grief."
"We should have brought more weapons," Pedro said. He glanced at his lone AK-47, forlorn.
"We're on a budget," Hector sighed.
"How do you know he's actually in this so-called prison?" I asked.
"We got a tip from a guy who's in there with him. Sr. Carlos sent a message via the warden - and it cost him, mind you, at least a couple organic chocolate bars from Trader Joe's - then the warden took it to the dude on the outside, and the outside dude arranged to have the note placed at Whole Foods for you to find."
"Wow. Then why didn't he just have the dude who delivered the note come save him?" I shooed an errant flying bug out of my face.
"Because, it costs! D'you know how much he had to pay, just to have Enrique Sandoval and Sons deliver the note?"
"They run a service," Pedro interjected.
"A rescue op is way out of range. He had to pay $5000 USD to deliver that note to Whole Foods. He figured he'd leave the actual rescue to us."
"Aren't you guys getting paid?"
"Si, muchacha. But we need 3 of us to do the op. He ran out of dinero after paying for Pedro, so you were the only option."
I was shocked, and recalcitrant. "I coulda made some money doing this?!"
"When he was trying to figure out what to do, he recalled that you were trying to learn Spanish-"
"What an opportunidad para ti!" Pedro added, and Hector looked exasperated. I was, yet again in this ordeal, rendered speechless.
"Besides," Hector continued, "He mentioned to the hombre in the prison that you had a desire to travel around in South America."
"We're headed to Central America. We aren't even out of Mexico yet!"
"Close enough."
Pedro passed me an icy cold bottled water from the cooler in the back. I drank gratefully.
As for Senor Carlos Hierba de Trigo, well... he owed me big time, now!
Chapter 9 signals from the top of rock formations in the baked red desert, summoning with the reflection of a sun that just won't quit!
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