CHAPTER 25: BLOOD IN THE MUD

Xitllali 

He hit the mud hard.

My heart skipped a beat. I reached out to catch him, but I couldn't. He was too big and too heavy. His full weight pulled me down into the freezing mud with him.

Guillermo, the man who scared everyone who knew his name, was lying face down in the mud like he had been knocked down and left there.

"Guillermo!" I screamed.

I dropped to my knees beside him, the cold mud soaking through my jeans. I grabbed his shoulder, the uninjured one, and pushed with all my strength to turn him over. He was so heavy.

"No, no, no," I whispered, my hands were already shaking.

I finally managed to turn him onto his back. His eyes were closed and his face had already gone pale. Blood was spreading across his left shoulder, soaking through his shirt as the rain poured down.

I placed my hands against his face. His skin was so cold.

"Guillermo, wake up!" I yelled, shaking his shoulder. "Please, look at me! Wake up!"

He didn't move. He didn't even twitch.

I looked down at my hands. They were covered in his blood. It was thick and warm against my freezing hands. My stomach twisted.

I can't lose him.

The thought hit me so hard that my chest hurt. Two years ago, I ran away because I thought he was my worst nightmare. Now, kneeling in the mud with his blood on my hands, I realized he was the person I couldn't bear to lose.

Heavy boots splashed through the mud down by the road.

"Boss!" Valdo shouted through the rain.

Valdo and Mateo ran up the steep hill as fast as they could, their rifles still in their hands. They saw the dead sniper in the ditch, then saw me kneeling beside Guillermo.

Valdo dropped his rifle and fell to his knees on the other side of Guillermo. His jaw was tight as he looked at the wound. I had never seen the calm enforcer look this worried, but now his hands moved quickly and without stopping.

"Mateo, get the medical bag from the truck!" Valdo shouted. "Now!"

Mateo turned and ran back down the hill.

Valdo pulled a small knife from his belt and quickly cut open Guillermo's jacket and shirt around the left shoulder. The wound was deep. Blood kept flowing from it, soaking through his shirt.

"He's losing too much blood," I said through my tears. "He told me he would be fine. He told me he wouldn't die."

Valdo didn't look at me. He pressed a thick dressing against the wound with both hands, pushing down as hard as he could. Guillermo's body moved from the pressure, and a low groan escaped him, but his eyes stayed closed.

"Keep talking to him, Señora," Valdo said, his voice tight. "Keep him awake."

I grabbed Guillermo's right hand. It was cold and almost lifeless. I held his fingers tightly with both of my bloody hands.

"Guillermo," I begged, leaning close to his face. "Listen to me. You promised me. You promised you wouldn't die out here. You don't get to break a promise to me."

His chest barely moved. Rain ran down his face, washing away the mud and blood and making him look even paler.

Mateo finally reached us and dropped beside Valdo in the mud. He opened a large green medical bag and pulled out a pressure bandage.

"Hold his right arm down," Valdo shouted, keeping pressure on the wound.

I didn't understand, but I grabbed Guillermo's right arm and leaned my weight against it.

"This is going to hurt," Valdo muttered.

He placed the pressure dressing over the wound and wrapped the bandage around Guillermo's shoulder and upper arm to keep it firmly in place.

Guillermo's whole body suddenly tightened. His back lifted off the ground, and his right hand squeezed mine so hard that I cried out.

His eyes suddenly opened wide, but they looked lost from the pain.

"Hold him!" Valdo shouted as he tightened the bandage around the wound.

"I'm here!" I cried, pressing my forehead against Guillermo's arm to keep him still. "I'm right here, Guillermo! Look at me!"

His head moved from side to side as he struggled to breathe. After a few seconds, his eyes finally found mine. He stared at me, breathing hard, his jaw was tight as he fought through the pain.

"We need to move him," Valdo said, looking at Mateo. "He's lost too much blood. If we stay out here in this cold, he could go into shock."

Guillermo blinked slowly. The pain had made him weak and dizzy. He looked at Valdo, then at me. He tried to speak, but only a weak cough came out.

"Don't try to talk," I whispered, gently moving his wet hair away from his forehead. My hand was shaking badly.

"Help me get him up," Valdo told Mateo.

They supported Guillermo carefully, with Valdo holding his upper body while Mateo helped steady his legs. With a loud grunt, they pulled him out of the mud. Guillermo swayed, unable to hold himself up. His head fell forward onto Valdo's shoulder.

"I've got him," Valdo said, putting Guillermo's right arm around his neck. "Mateo, watch our backs. Señora, stay behind me."

The walk down the hill was slow and painful. Every time Valdo took a step, Guillermo let out a quiet groan. When we reached the dirt road, I saw the two black pickup trucks. The men Guillermo had shot were still lying dead in the mud.

"Open the back door, señora," Valdo told me.

I pulled the heavy door open, and Valdo carefully put Guillermo inside, laying him across the back seat. His eyes closed again, and his breathing was fast and shallow.

I climbed into the back and I gently pulled his head onto my lap, careful not to move his left shoulder.

Valdo got into the driver's seat and grabbed the satellite radio from the dashboard.

"Mateo, secure the area and follow us!" Valdo shouted. He pressed the radio button. "Hector. We have a Code Red. The Boss is injured and he's bleeding heavily. We're going back to the safehouse."

"Understood," a distant voice answered through the radio.

"Call Dr. Vargas," Valdo ordered as he started the engine. "Tell him to bring his medical team to the safehouse now. Get O-negative blood and plasma from Monterrey and have them flown here as soon as possible."

"Where are we going?" I asked, panic rising as the truck moved over the muddy road. "Can't we take him to a hospital?"

"No hospitals," Valdo said, checking the rearview mirror. "Severo's men are probably already stationed everywhere. The moment the boss is taken into a public hospital, they'll know where he is and they'll come after him. We're going back to the safehouse."

"Keep pressure on the bandage, Señora," Valdo said, holding the steering wheel tightly.

Every bump made Guillermo flinch. Even while unconscious, pain showed on his face. His dark hair was soaked with rain and mud, staining my jeans. I wrapped my arms around him and kept my hands over the thick bandage, trying to keep him still as the truck rushed down the mountain.

When the truck finally stopped, we were back at the safehouse.

Valdo and Mateo pulled Guillermo from the truck and carried him inside. Valdo quickly cleared the maps and radios from the large wooden table and laid Guillermo down on it.

"Señora, get every clean towel you can find," Valdo shouted as he opened the medical bag. "Mateo, get the generator running and turn on the portable lights."

I ran to the bathroom and grabbed the towels. When I came back, Valdo had already cut away the rest of Guillermo's shirt. He was putting a needle into Guillermo's right arm and connecting him to a bag of clear fluid. I guess he learned how to do all this in case of injury in battle.

"Where is the doctor?" I asked, my voice shaking as I pressed a clean towel against Guillermo's shoulder to catch the blood leaking through the bandage.

"He's flying in from the private airstrip," Valdo said, checking his watch. His face was serious. "Thirty minutes."