Chapter 10: Bargain

Vaas slings Dominique over his shoulder, irritation deep in his conscience.

First his captives try to escape and make his life harder than necessary, now the Jefe decides to get bold and pull a blitzkrieg in the dead of night. To kick it off, his captives have scattered and the only one he managed to pull was none other than the fucking hairstylist that is slowly becoming a pain in his ass. Couldn't he get the doctor, the nurse even, or maybe the cook who has knowledge of healing herbs and salves? No…he gets the remotely useless sack of American flesh that hasn't any experience in the jungle whatsoever.

The Gods have a morbid sense of humor.

He hisses; the gash in his leg is throbbing and inches away from hitting an artery. That machete motherfucker got him good…

"…Oh, my head…where…where am I?"

His headache is coming back.

He should just put a bullet in her and be done with it, but he lost his gun somewhere in the ambush and something in him told him not to. 'She's useful,' his mind reasons, 'Trust me, she'll be of use to you in the end.'

"Nice to see you're awake. I hope I didn't hit you too hard in the head." He snarks, tearing into the foliage with his machete.

His captive begins squirming.

"Put me down, let me go!" she kicks her legs and pounds at his back. He swats her on the ass.

"Calm your tits. You should be thanking me that I even decided to keep you alive after what you did tonight. I don't even know why I'm letting you live but believe me, hermana, we're not on good terms. You need to shut the fuck up and do what I say, or we die. Comprendes?"

That did the trick. She falls slack, any ounce of bravado she had evaporated. Good; it wouldn't do if she blew his cover.

Ever since the Jefe began attacking, his men have since scattered and many of them were killed. He's been lurking low, snuffing out any privateers that get too close. He needs to take out the Jefe and fast; this boldness puts a dent in any progress that he made to getting these islands back to harmony and outsider-free. Any more interference, and it'll be like Hoyt all over again.

"I am going to kill every motherfucker," he slices through vines, "that thinks they can come to my island like the imperialistic fucks they are."

His blood is boiling; he just wants to sate his bloodlust and get high but he knows until this is taken care of, he'll have to do with taking his anger out on foliage.

He hears footsteps and halts.

"Sit tight,"

He throws Dominique to the ground and blends in with the darkness. The footsteps belong to the Nurse, bloodied and wielding a machete.

"Dominique? Carmen? Anika? Are you here?" he calls out.

Dominique tries to call out to him, but Vaas muffles her.

"One word and you die." He hisses in her ear.

"Dom? You there? You…oh, shit!"

Arrows come out and with some stroke of luck, it only grazes him. He hisses and runs off into the forest.

"I'll come back for you guys. Just sit tight!" Mike hollers out.

"Fucking idiot. Always someone trying to play hero. He'll be the first one to die."

Dominique sobs through his hand.

"Shut the fuck up. I have no use for tears."

He slings her over his shoulder and he continues his trek.

"Where the fuck is Vaas? I wanted to make a formal meeting with the king of these godforsaken islands." A bizarre accent breaks out through the walkie-talkie. They managed to plow through the privateers (Well, he managed to plow through the privateers. Dominique was too chicken-shit to even attack someone.) and find a walkie-talkie on one of his victims.

"Shit, that's the man that gave me the pouch. I did his hair." Dominique whispers.

"He gave you a name?"

"No."

"You're fucking useless." He presses his ear to the walkie-talkie.

"Vaas…I know you're out there. I'll find you even if I have to burn this island to the ground. I even found some of your friends."

Screams erupt from the walkie-talkie.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are…"

"I'm right here, motherfucker. You think you know my islands? Huh? You think your lily white ass can stroll through my island and disrespect me? Do you know how fucking rude that was, bombing my fucking forests and villages? Don't you white boys have any manners?" Vaas replies. The talkie crackles with laughter.

"Well, if it ain't the man of the hour? Just the man I've wanted to see!"

"You know, hermano, if you wanted to see me so bad, you could've came here yourself. Or are you too much of a pussy to do it without back-up?"

"I'm a lot of things, but stupid ain't one of them. I know how you and your kind are."

"My kind? Oh, hermano, you really got me fucked up. Bad mistake. You don't know me, hermano. You don't even know what my favorite color is. Tell me, when do you want to die?"

"I should be asking you that same question. Hoyt was a good friend of mine, you know? Gave me the best connections from here to Colombia, got me on to the money with human trafficking and drug manufacturing. Broke my heart when I heard he was gone and you're putting a dent in his legacy."

"As much as I want to take credit, I'm not the one that did him in. It was a fucking white boy, just like you. A SoCal college boy who wanted to play white savior and Rakyat warrior." Vaas chuckles, "if anything, you should be paying him a visit."

"Tried. Snow White is often talked about among my men, but we never could find him once he left the island. The one that actually tried to snuff him out never came back."

"So I'm the next best thing, yeah? You white boys, man. Never know when to leave well enough alone. Now you want to play Conquistador and come on my island to cheapen our culture and way of life. I can't allow that, hermano. You won't be the first, but I'll make sure you'll be the last."

"Silly island savage. You think your arrows and spears are going to save you from our guns and technology?"

"It worked before, hermano. Believe me when I say that these natives aren't going to bend over and let you fuck them. They're going to fight. They're going to kill. And they're going to stomp a mud-hole in that lily white ass and send you home to your mama in a body bag."

"You talk big for someone who doesn't show their face."

"You're on my island. Remember that."

Static.

Vaas sets down the walkie-talkie and picks up a gun.

"Wh-what's going on? What happened to my friends?" Dominique asks. Vaas slams her against the wall, barrel of the gun jammed into her jaw.

"I'm going to count to three, and when I count to three, I'm going to pull this fucking trigger and drive a bullet through your skull. Because, right now, you're dead weight and I got a colonist fuck I need to kill. One."

He cocks the gun.

"No, no, no, no, no…"

"Two…"

"I can still be of use!"

"How?"

"Your wounds. I can dress them. Anika taught me how to fix broken bones, disinfect wounds, and dress bandages. I…I can be…a spy."

"A spy?" he barks, "You think this is a game? This is fucking war. We don't have time to have you fuck around playing dress-up!"

"No! I can get information. I can get information for you and you can use it as leverage to drive that man out. I'm unnoticeable; I can blend in, get his secrets, and he won't know a thing. He'll never see me coming!"

"You're a fucking slave on my island. What makes you think he'll trust you so easily?"

"You trusted me. You told me all of your secrets. All of them. Within a span of three days. That should tell you something."

"That gives me all the reason to kill you…"

"But I never told a soul. I told you before about my hairstylist and client policy. I protect those secrets to the grave, but for this occasion, I'm willing to break that rule. On one condition; my friends get to go home."

Vaas cackles.

"You got some balls bargaining with me, especially now!"

"Look, I'm the one who deserves whatever punishment you dish out. I may not be a doctor, a nurse, or a cook, but I don't think you want a doctor that hates you and knows the human body enough to shut it down at any time, a nurse who has more than enough reason to dope you to death, or a cook that can give you a medley of toxins that stop your heart in a matter of seconds.

"I'm an asset; I'm loyal, I keep secrets, and I know basic first aid and medicine. They were not the ones you shared a bed with. I was. I'm the one that broke your trust, so I'm the one that deserves the punishment. If I bring you to glory, I'll happily be your prisoner and you can kill me any way you choose. Just…just let them go home."

"You're sacrificing your freedom and life again for your friends. Why?"

"Because they're my friends. And I'm willing to die for the ones I love."

Vaas scratches his chin and assesses his prisoner. Her head is bowed down and her arms outstretched in surrender. Her spirit is broken; she has this one plea and it's over.

He'll humor her; her friends may be dead anyway, but he can kill two birds with one stone: dead Jefe, dead pain in his ass. Win-win.

"It's fucking beautiful you're willing to die for the ones you love."

He takes her hand and gives it a curt shake.

"You got yourself a deal."