CHAPTER 37: THE PRICE OF PEACE

Guillermo

Four heavy rifles pointed directly at my chest.

The morning wind was freezing, but the sweat on my forehead was hot and my left arm was throbbing with a sickening, deep ache.

The leader of the squad stepped away from the old woman. He looked at my empty right hand and smiled. It was a greedy, arrogant smile. He thought he had just caught a ghost. He thought I was weak and unarmed.

I was dying on my feet, but I wasn't dead yet.

I kept my eyes locked onto his face, my expression completely blank. I didn't care about him, and I didn't care about dying. I only cared about Xitalli. If this old woman died today, she would carry the guilt forever. I was not going to let that happen.

I waited for the exact second the leader dropped his guard to gloat.

His finger relaxed on the trigger of his rifle for a fraction of a second.

That was all I needed.

My right hand dropped to the back waistband of my trousers and my fingers wrapped around the cold, heavy grip of the pistol. In one fluid, practiced motion, I pulled the gun, raised it, and pulled the trigger.

BANG.

The leader's arrogant smile vanished. The bullet hit him square in the chest, throwing him backward onto the wet cobblestones before he even had the chance to blink.

The other men froze in shock.

Before they could even aim their weapons, the sky opened up.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT.

Heavy, rapid automatic gunfire rained down from the edge of the bakery roof next door. Valdo didn't miss. Two of the men dropped to the street instantly, their bodies hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

The violent recoil of my pistol tore through my torn shoulder like a hot knife. A wave of nausea hit my stomach. I stumbled backward, my heavy boots slipping against the wet stones. I slammed my back hard against the thick iron base of a streetlamp to keep my legs from giving out.

The street was in absolute chaos. Dust and gray smoke filled the air.

I forced my heavy right arm up, aiming through the smoke, and fired two precise shots at the last man standing.

Then, tires screeched violently against the wet street.

I turned my head, my vision blurring from the pain. The men in the truck parked at the north end of the street had panicked.

They just watched their squad get wiped out. Their heavy engine roared, and the truck peeled away, disappearing completely into the mist.

I tried to raise my gun to shoot out their tires, but my fingers wouldn't respond. My arm was too heavy.

Silence fell over the street. The only sound left was the ringing in my ears and the old woman crying on the ground.

"Clear!" Valdo shouted from the roof above.

I pushed myself off the cold iron streetlamp. Every step felt like dragging my boots through deep mud. I walked slowly toward the old woman stopping a few feet away so my height wouldn't terrify her more.

"You're safe now," I rasped, my voice sounding rough and hollow. "It is over. Go inside your house and lock the door."

She looked up at me, tears streaming down her wrinkled face. She scrambled to her feet, ran to her small house and slammed the heavy wooden door shut.

She was safe.

I turned around to face the flower shop. I needed to get back to Xitalli.

But as I moved closer, my jaw tightened.

She wasn't in the cellar. She was kneeling in the ash right behind the broken front counter, her hands gripping the charred wood. Mateo was kneeling right beside her, his massive body positioned to shield her from the street.

She had disobeyed me. 

I wanted to be angry. I wanted to yell at her for risking her life. But looking at her pale face, her messy hair, and the pure terror in her eyes, all I felt was a crushing wave of relief. She was breathing, she was alive.

I took a step toward the shop, but my body finally gave up.

Warm, fresh blood poured down my left sleeve, dripping steadily onto my boots. The violent recoil of the gun had ripped my shoulder completely open.

Xitllali didn't wait. She scrambled over the charred wood and broken glass, running out of the ruined doorway and straight into the cold street.