--Book of Shadows: Sanctuary--

"Shall I make spirits fetch me what I please,

Resolve me of all ambiguities,

Perform what desperate enterprise I will?" –Faust

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Chapter VII

To Robin's surprise, it didn't take very long for Mr. Rodriguez to revive. Upon finding himself tied firmly to a chair, he began writhing around, hissing and spitting expletives like a mad cat. One long glance from Amon was all it took to silence him, however.

"What do you want from me?" the man asked plaintively, hanging his head. "I didn't do anything wrong, I swear. . .it was all Cortez, please, don't kill me. . .I swear. . ."

"What on Earth are you raving about?" Amon snapped, a little more irritably than he would have liked.

"You killed Cortez, and now you will kill me!" Rodriguez shouted, his face red with a mixture of anger and fear.

"We aren't here to kill you." Amon replied calmly. Rodriguez' eyes widened in shock as he looked from Amon to Robin. Upon seeing her, her emerald eyes gazing at him almost kindly, he seemed to calm, as if unable to suspect her capable of doing him harm. Inwardly, Robin sighed. He had no idea of the Craft that lurked behind her gentle eyes. . .

"Then. . .why are you here?" He asked, sinking into the chair in a defeated posture.

"We would like to ask you about Cortez," Robin chimed in before Amon could open her mouth. He shot his partner a stern glance, but allowed her to continue. "You see. . ." Robin began, pausing as she tried to formulate an excuse. The STN was a strictly undercover operation, one which no one- human, witch, or seed- was supposed to know about. But right now, Robin found herself unable to think of anything now that she had jumped headfirst into an explanation.

"Oh, I see," Rodriguez echoed, the gleam of anger back in his eyes. "It's about what happened in Spain, isn't it. You a messenger for the boss? Well, you can tell him I'll go back over my own dead body!" He paused, taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself, then added in a grim whisper, "That's the way it will end anyway,"

"What do you mean?" Robin asked gently, not wanting to press him for information and incite his anger. "Why did you leave Spain? Why was Cortez killed? Why would someone want you dead?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Amon glancing at her furtively, the look on his face clearly telling her to halt her barrage of questioning.

"What? You don't know?" Rodriguez said with mild surprise. Then, a wry smile spread across his face. "Heh, typical. Everyone so secretive these days. People going out for hits, don't even know why, si?" He shifted his glance to Amon, who nodded mysteriously, then back to Robin, looking her up and down as if assessing her. "This one, she's too young to be a killer," he remarked, sighing remorsefully. "But that shows you how things are over there."

"In Spain." Amon said, his voice betraying no emotion. Rodriguez nodded nevertheless.

"Si."

"Is that why you left?" Amon asked, taking up the interrogation himself.

"No. Cortez and I left because of something we had done." He paused, as if dragging up unwelcome memories from the depths of his mind. Robin noted that he had made no mention of the third man, Menendez. She also noted that Amon made no move to reveal they already knew of him.

"It was two years ago. We had set up an important deal with an Italian crime ring, for arms." He looked at Amon, as if for a pardon of the fact that they had been trading weapons illegally. Amon nodded for him to continue. "Cortez and I"-once again he omitted Menendez, Robin realized- "had scheduled to meet them at a dock, after midnight. We had everything planned perfectly-or so he said. We would meet our contact, show him some goods, then he would make an offer. But it went bad." Rodriguez was now staring past the two Hunters, his eyes looking back in time as he relived it in his mind.

"When we got there, the contact was waiting to meet us. But so was someone else. A young man, a boy, really. Said it was his "apprentice," you know? I thought nothing of it at the time. Cortez and the man started talking, striking a deal. And then. . .we were busted."

"Busted?" Robin interrupted, the words coming out of her mouth before she could stop herself. It seemed to bring Rodriguez back to reality, for he now turned to regard her thoughtfully. There was a sadness in his eyes that had not been there before.

"Si. By the Federales. Somehow, they had gotten word of our little meeting. Swarms of them descended on us, from boats at the dock, they leapt up, their guns trained on us. They came down from the sky in masses, surrounding us. There was nothing we could do. The boy. . .he panicked. Dropped the suitcase of money and tried to run. Such fear in his eyes. . .like I have never seen before. . .he was struck down immediately. Cortez used the opportunity to grab me and run, and somehow we made it out. But I still remember that old man, cradling the boy in his arms. . .crying, not even noticing the guns pointed at him. . .he had no care for himself anymore. . ."

Robin turned away, tears springing unbidden into her eyes. Rodriguez's voice trailed off, and he cleared his throat, sadness welling up inside him as well. Only Amon maintained his aura of distance and calm.

"It was not until later, we found out the boy had been the man's only son. The Italians refused to trade with us, saying we had tipped off the police ourselves. How else could we have escaped, they accused? And our boss was not pleased, either. We were trapped on both sides. If the man did not come for us in revenge, our own men would. So, we fled. We came here."

Rodriguez stopped, and it was clear he would divulge no more information than he already had. Amon regarded him quietly for a moment, then turned toward the door.

"Let's go," he said firmly to Robin, who turned to look at him, then back at the man, who was still tied to the chair.

"Aren't we going to let him go?" She asked, quickening her steps to follow Amon out the door nevertheless.

"If he really wants to get out of there, he'll find a way to do it himself," her partner replied coolly, staring straight ahead as they exited the building.