returning to pump on Rellik’s chest.
“Yeah, still above ground,” replied Jack, looking at Damien for an answer.
“Carlos ... you kill ’im?” asked Laura. She glanced at Jack, while still pumping on Rellik’s chest.
“Pencil snapped in his throat. Damien finished him off,” said Jack, while placing two fingers over the carotid artery in Rellik’s neck. “He’s dead, Laura. What the hell are you doing?” He looked at Damien and asked, “What is he doing here?”
“You didn’t really think I would trust the Feds to protect me down here, did you? I had Rellik and two of his crew tag along for protection.”
Laura continued to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation until Jack said, “Laura! Will you cut this out! He’s dead! We will be too if we stay out here in the middle of the street!”
Laura looked dazed as she slowly sat upright before picking the 9mm up from where she had dropped it in the dirt.
“I sent Rellik to protect you,” said Damien. “Didn’t know you had a piece. This other guy, he kill Rellik and then you shoot him?”
Laura shook her head. “I thought Rellik was shooting at me. I didn’t know this other guy was behind me. I ... I didn’t know....” Her voice trailed off and she stared down at Rellik.
“Yeah?” replied Damien. “Well, shit happens. Honest mistake. Rellik wasn’t exactly one of my favourites, anyway. Guess we don’t have to worry about him climbing any more trees.”
“Where are your other two guys?” demanded Jack, looking around.
“They helped me take out the four guys outside of Carlos’s Mercedes. I told them to take off after I waxed Carlos.”
“You shouldn’t have brought them here! Damn it, Damien!”
“Yeah, right. And if they weren’t here, you both would be dead!”
Jack, Laura, and Damien hardly spoke as Ramirez gave them a ride back to his place. Once there, he gave them jogging suits to wear and took their bloodied clothes to be burned.
Ramirez told them that nine men who worked for Carlos managed to escape Palmira in a van. He said they did not arrive back in Buga.
It was almost four o’clock when Jack, Laura, and Damien arrived back at their hotel and hurried to their rooms before Jean-Louie and the narcs could see their jogging suits.
Jack waited a few minutes for Jean-Louie to return, then called his room.
“Went really well,” said Jack. “Some details still have to be worked out, but we can head home now.”
“Long night. Was starting to worry.”
“Partied hearty. Helped gain his trust. Right now we’re all beat. I’m going to grab three hours of shut-eye, then meet you at seven. We want to catch the morning flight back to Vancouver.”
Jack then knocked on Laura’s door. She came out in the hall and quietly closed the door behind her. They gave each other a hug before walking down the hallway.
“Think I could round up a drink if you want one,” Jack said. “It’s just that if you feel like talking, we can’t do it in our rooms.”
Laura shook her head and said, “One drink would-n’t be enough and forty-seven would be too many. Glad you’re here, though.”
“How do you feel?”
Laura didn’t respond.
“You okay?”
“I don’t know. Right now I just feel numb. I just killed a guy for saving my life. How do you think I should feel?”
“Numb. Same as I feel.”
“I should have ordered him to drop it. I just ... I was so freaked out with what was going on ... then to see his face. The guy I figured for the epitome of evil. I double-tapped him without thinking. I should have known that he wouldn’t have missed me at that range. My presumptions got him killed!”
“Rellik didn’t save your life. Damien did. Rellik was just a soldier following orders. The fact that he was ordered to save you doesn’t make him a good guy. He acts without conscience. He could have just as easily been told to torture you. Knowing his personality, he likely would have preferred that.”
“I thought of that, but I still fired without weighing all the evidence. He even told me to duck! I was so convinced about him being evil that I didn’t listen. What if he had been a good guy and I did that?”
“He wasn’t.”
“But me thinking he was...”
“We don’t live in a courtroom. We don’t have the luxury of taking months or years to decide whether or not a decision is right. Out here, it’s survival. You reacted how you should have.”
“It’s the consequence of my prejudgement that is eating at me. It made me react...”
“Consequences! Tell me about it! Everything I’ve done lately brings about a consequence I hadn’t planned on. I guess there are things we have to accept. Things we can’t control. There are always consequences. You shooting Rellik was a consequence of the type of guy he was. In a way, he got himself killed. At least, his lifestyle did. It wasn’t Mother Teresa running toward you!”
They walked for a little while longer, both lost in the silence of their own thoughts. Eventually they returned and stopped outside of Laura’s door.
“Thanks, Jack,” she said. “I’ll be okay. Just need time to sort things out.”
“You sure?”
Laura nodded and said, “You’re a good friend. Goodnight.”
“A good friend?”
Laura smiled and said, “Yeah. This time you’re helping me bury a body ... if only in my mind.” She then hugged Jack. He kissed her on the forehead and returned to his own room.
It was six-thirty in the morning when Jack was summoned to Jean-Louie’s room.
As soon as he entered, Jean-Louie waved a copy of El País in front of him and yelled, “What is this?”
“A newspaper,” replied Jack.
“What it says,” snarled Jean-Louie, holding up the headlines reading CARLOS — MORTE!
“I don’t know,” replied Jack. “Haven’t seen it and I don’t read Spanish.”
“I’ll explain the grisly details,” said Jean-Louie. “Sit down!”
Jack took a seat and listened.
“Norte del Valle,” Jean-Louie started, then paused and said, “Early this morning, on a road outside of Buga, travellers were shocked to discover the bodies
