I woke up with Michael's arms around me, I smiled and got out of his embrace, and went into the bathroom.
When I came back Michael was awake.
"Hey" I said.
"Hey, I need to get some supplies before we move" He said.
"That's okay, do you need me to come"
"No, I'll be fine" He said, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before going into the bathroom.
I walked out of the motel with Michael, who had just got back from doing whatever it was he needed to do.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine" I didn't say anything else as Michael put his supplies in the back seat. He got in the drivers seat and drove us to the middle of a dessert. Michael got out of the car and motioned for me to follow him, we walked past a 'No Trespassing' sign into a wide, open area.
We walked for ages it seemed, Michael's shirt was soaked in sweat, and mine was little better. I felt really disgusting, I could only hope I didn't smell.
"Are we almost there?" I asked, Michael looked down at the GPS and smiled.
"Nearly" I groaned, and continued sulking in the heat. Finally the GPS beeped, and we made our way to an old shack.
A pickup truck made it's way towards us. A man got out of the passenger seat and approached Michael.
"Is that my payment? Medical nitroglycerin?"
"As promised" Michael gave him the box, and the man opened it and took out a vile.
"Ooh. You have no idea how hard it is to get this kind of grade. Even with my contacts"
"It's time for your end of the deal. Where's that plane gonna be?"
"They call me a couple of hours before with the drop-off point. Keeps the DEA off our backs. So it's gonna be a while. You might wanna stay out of the sun" He said something in Spanish and tow other men got out of the truck.
"Hey, hey, hey. Hey. Is there a problem? They're just my cousins" The man said when he saw our faces. I looked at Michael who followed them into the shack. I sighed and went in.
"You know, constantly running from the law with a bad heart...Mexico, where's I'm from has got a lot of great things but health care ain't one of them. You all right? You look a little nervous" The man said.
"I don't do this every day. I just wanna get the information on that plane and uh...move on"
"Is that it?"
"That's it"
"Because I know who you are. Oh, you don't have to worry. We can't go within 100 feet of a federal marshal because we got US and Mexican warrants on our head. But, uh...this plane to Panama. Sit down" We hesitated, but Michael sat down. I sat next to him and the man sat opposite us.
"This is all for your brother?"
"Yes"
"I got four brothers. Two in prison. Accept a call? Yes. But break them out?"
"My brother gave me a baseball mitt for my 14th birthday. I owed him"
"You're a better man than I am"
"Time will tell" Michael looked at the men in the doorway and cleared his throat."Shouldn't they have called by now, about the plane?"
"Yeah. But you know, I have a question. I thought that these came in glass vials, not plastic"
"I thought so too. The guy I bought it from said he packed it in plastic for transportation over long distances to prevent a fire or an explosion"
"Really? I never heard of that" He didn't look to convinced. He said something in Spanish and one of the men walked out.
"What's going on?" Michael asked.
"We're gonna do a little quality control test"
"It's the best available"
"We got time" The man came back in and gave the Spaniard some tools.
"It's gonna be a few minutes" The man said.
"My brother should be here soon. I should go outside. Make sure he can see me" Michael said.
"That's a good idea. I'm gonna send Ernesto to do that" He said something Spanish and the man walked back outside again. He started to test the oil, and a cell phone rang.
"Hello. Si" He spoke Spanish, looked at Michael and hang up.
"Was that the call?" Michael asked.
"Yes, it was"
"About the plane?" The man looked at the man doing the experiment and asked him something.
"Sugar water. Now, you just made a big mistake, blanquito"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? I'm not a chemist. The guy I bought it from swore it was medical nitro. We both got screwed"
"Yeah, but only one of us is gonna pay for it"
"Look, I just wanna get out of here, okay? And you want your payment. My brother's gonna be here soon...we'll work something out. Just name your price"
"I already named my price. You didn't come through" He pulled out a gun and aimed it at us.
I sat in the chair with Michael with the gun pointing at us.
"When's your brother getting here?"
"You were planning on turning us in the whole time, weren't you?"
"When's he supposed to meet you here?" Sucre came out of nowhere with his own gun, shouting in Spanish.
"Drop it or I'm gonna shoot him"
"Let him go or I'll shoot you" The two men shouted at each other in Spanish. The man was about to shoot but Sucre shot him in the shoulder. Michael and the other man dove for the gun that was dropped. Michael got there first, I stood up and moved over to where they were standing. We all exchanged smiles.
We tied the three Mexican's up. Sucre was interrogating them.
"Where's the plane gonna land?" He asked.
"Kiss my ass, cobarde" Sucre glared at him, and walked over to where Michael and I were standing.
"What are we gonna do?"
"I don't know. We're not gonna get across the border on the ground. Without that plane, we're screwed" Michael replied.
"He's losing too much blood. He'll never make it like this" One of the men said.
"Should've thought of that before he tried to kill us!" I replied.
"We gotta take him to the hospital, or else he'll die. Please"
"The plane, and we'll let you go" Sucre said, and the men conversed in Spanish.
"Finley Road. Off Highway 8. There's an airstrip there"
"There. Okay? Now let us go!"
"Okay, let's go" Sure said to us.
"No, no, no!" They cried.
"Michael, Riley, let's go" Sucre said.
"No, no, don't go. Please" Michael didn't know what to do.
"Michael, let's go!" Sucre said, getting more agitated.
"Please, help us"
"Don't do this! Huh?" I looked at Michael, to see he looked helpless.
"Let's go. Michael, if we were bleeding, they would not lift a finger. You know that. He was gonna kill us both. Let's go!" Sucre said.
"That's not true!" The man said.
"Michael, we've got to get to that plane and we'll call when we're safe. Let's go now, please" Sucre said.
"Don't do this! Please, don't do this, okay?" Sucre yelled something in Spanish.
"Michael. Let's go. Michael!" Michael didn't listen and went over to the man, cutting him free.
"Hold still" He said.
"Michael, you're doing it wrong. Let's get out of here. Now he's gonna call the cops, he'll go get his buddies or something..." Sucre said.
"He's not gonna make it" Michael replied.
"We'll call when we get safe. Let's go, Michael, let's go!" Michael freed the other guys as well.
"Thank you, thank you"
"You gotta get him to a hospital right away" Michael said. They spoke in Spanish for a second, one of them grabbed the bleeding man and the other goes outside.
"Wait, wait, wait. Hey, man. Forget Finley Road. Plane's gonna stop at the 7-mile marker, Route 4, at sunset. It's gonna stop for five minutes, then it's gonna go to Oaxaca, Mexico. You miss it, you're outta luck" The man said, before leaving.
"Looks like you made the right choice" I said to Michael as we walked back to the car.
"Well, I'm glad I told you about this place" Michael said to Sucre.
"I'm glad I figured out how to work a GPS. Could you make it a little more difficult next time?" Sucre said sarcasticly.
"I owe you one"
"No, we're even. But we gotta leave" We heard footsteps, and I turned to see Lincoln walking around the side of the shack.
"Linc" Michael said.
"Hey, buddy" He turned to me and Sucre. "How you doing?"
"Good" I said, smiling.
"Where's LJ?" Michael asked.
"He's safe. The money?"
"I'll tell you later. We gotta go"
"I brought someone. Dad?" Another man walked around the side of the shack, and Michael looked at him shocked.
"We've met before"
AN: Two chapters in one day :) Aren't I nice.