2025-01-12 14:58:24The streets looked less busy tonight and it looked even more beautiful. His eyes licked up every detail as he drove past a familiar building. No matter how many times he saw it, he couldn't get over how mesmerizing it looked.
“That's weird, I've never seen that before,” Hector said to himself. The familiar surroundings slowly bled into places he hadn't seen. Hector scampered through the backseat and peeped through the other window, he was right, they had entered a place he didn't know. “Where are we going?” Hector asked the driver he had employed a few days ago. The driver remained silent. “I'm talking to you,” Hector leaned forward and tapped the driver's shoulder. The driver slammed on the brakes and Hector's face smashed into the leather seats. The backdoor suddenly opened and a group of four men — two on each side of the door — squished Hector in. A grunt of agony filled the car as Hector's elbow connected with one of their faces. The others held him down and landed blows to his ribs. The driver flicked a syringe and passed it on to another behind. Hector noticed how awfully tired he had become, the repeated hits felt like pats on the back. His eyes suddenly became too heavy to leave open as they fluttered weakly. Hector fell into the comfort of darkness. It was warm, wherever Hector was. He enjoyed the familiarity of darkness, he didn't feel as troubled as he would have been if he were with other people. Here, Hector didn't feel the sadness of losing his family, he felt at peace. A steady chill crawled up his spine and spread to his entire body. He shivered as his teeth chattered wildly and goosebumps riddled his skin. His lungs had stopped cooperating with him, they burned every time he took in air. “Wake the fuck up!” Hector's eyes shot open as they dunked him inside the small pool again. Water spewed out of his mouth as his lungs regained their function. He heaved hard and tried to focus. His eyes danced around the room rapidly trying to pinpoint where he was, but all he could see were men dressed in suits. One, two…six men, who brandished their empty, yet, shiny holsters. Hector flexed his wrists but the fiber used to bind him burned his skin from the friction. He looked down and he was on a metal ledge over a pool swimming with tiny rocks that looked like ice. He was strapped to a wooden chair and the same fibre was wound around his feet as well. He caught the sight of two men whose sleeves were damp. “Sleeping beauty decides to join us,” one of the men said. Hector stared at the guy, his holster had a different color, a darker version than the others. “Where am I ?” Hector roped the leader into a conversation. “You could have just stayed dead you know? Now, you're going about shitting on people's yards? That's not nice now, is it?” The leader whipped out his gun. “To the best of my knowledge, I've kept my shit to the toilet,” Hector's eyes scanned the room again, there was only one door. The leader turned to his boys and chuckled a bit, they followed. “Got a smart mouth on you, well, not for long,” The leader aimed the gun at him. Hector needed to keep him talking. “Look, whatever they’re paying you guys, I can double it, triple it even,” Hector said calmly as he untangled his wrist from the rope. They had tried Hector gave them credit, whoever tied the rope must have been a Boy scouts, but he hadn't gone through the pains of training as a soldier to lose to Boy Scouts. “Say hi to your wife and kid for me. They couldn't stop squealing so I gutted them like the piggies that they are,” the leader smirked. Hector saw red. He flipped himself over and smashed the chair into the ledge, the wooden frame broke and the rope loosened on his feet. Hector dove into the ice pool as the leader shot. “12 rounds,” Hector counted, he was out. Hector climbed out of the pool as the other men scampered to get their guns. He grabbed the wooden frame and threw it across the room. It smacked the leader squarely in the face dropping his now-loaded gun in the process. Hector ran, slid across the floor and smashed his boots against the leader's nose causing him to blackout. He picked up the gun and ran after the men while he shot their legs. When he was closer, he finished the job off with a shot to their heads. “Please, don't kill me,” Hector stared at the last man quivering on the floor, his hands were over his face like they would stop the bullet. “Let him go,” Henry emerged from the corner. “The fuck? You've been here the whole time?” Hector's eyes bulged out. “I can be anywhere, Hector, but I can't do shit to help you except tell you what to do.” “Why should I let him go?” “Who are you talking to, man?” The frightened goon asked. “Shut the fuck up!” Henry and Hector said unanimously. “To convince his boss that the job is done,” Henry said. Hector nodded, it was a smart idea. “I'm going to let you live. You'll go back to your boss and tell him that the job is done, or I swear to god I will hunt you.” “He has a family too, a kid named Blossom and a wife named Emily,” Henry said. Hector felt his heartache, he hated this. “...and your daughter, Blossom? I'll make sure I send her too with your wife.” The goon grimaced as he nodded slowly. Hector cocked his head to the side signaling him to leave. He wasted no time as he ran through the room, and out the door. “What about him?” Henry asked as the leader began to stir. Hector walked toward him and dragged him outside the room and into the back seat. He strapped him in and locked the car. “What are you doing?” Henry asked confused. “They need to believe I'm dead right? I'm giving them a body,” Hector opened the fuel tank and walked a safe distance. He aimed his gun at the small target and shot. The dark alley brightened up quickly with reddish-orange flames as the car exploded.
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Hector lowered the gun and put his hands up to show that he wasn't a threat. "Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my father's house??" Cassie demanded. "I'm a friend of your father, Cassie," Hector said. "How do you know my name?" Cassie questioned. "Like I said, I'm a friend of your father's," Hector stuck to his defense. "He's dead, you're a little too late for a reunion," Cassie responded. She was truly Henry's daughter, she had his smart mouth and wicked sense of humor. "I'll explain everything to you in the morning, you need to get some rest," Hector glanced at her once more before he attempted to walk out. "Don't tell me what I need!" Cassie whipped her hair at him and walked out first. *** Hector had fallen asleep somewhere between 4 am and 4:30 am. He was not ready to attend to the chiming doorbell at 7:30 am. He groaned into the pillow and tried to smother himself. "It's Josh. Wake up," Henry called from the corner of the room. Hector groaned again befor
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Hector had seen blood before, he had seen it a lot during the war. But none had hurt him as badly as this. He stood rooted to his spot, goosebumps littering his forearms. He pressed the telephone tightly against his face, his heart racing with anxiety. If he gripped it any tighter, it would snap in two.The desperation in his wife's voice had opened a door he thought would never exist again after the war — trauma. Hector listened to the static noise over the line, praying to hear her voice again. His glazed eyes fell into the pool of blood for the second time and his heart stopped. Whose blood was it?A distorted voice, clearly enhanced, filled his ears through the phone."I'll only say this once. Fifty million dollars. 10 hours, that's all you have before we kill your wife and daughter. The blood in that room, it's a reminder of what you will see—""Where are they?" Hector's voice was still, a deep rumble to mask the fear coursing through his veins."—10 hours, we will call you when
