Just Another Liar

Chapter 19: Deandre

Canada was a place I had invested in when I took over for my dad. He was shortsighted in very few things, and one of those things was expansion. I had kept the vast majority of operations in the south, but now and then I would store money in places like Toronto, or have a distributor set up in Montana.

I was not dumb enough to think one day some three letter agency wouldn't come for me. I prepared, I planned even the route we had taken years in advance. "We have the passports, right?"

Aurelio nodded, knowing what we were about to do. We rushed to the car, and he jumped in the driver's seat. He pulled off like a bat out of hell but slowed when we hit the only real road. Every so often he would look at Milo through the rearview mirror. Aurelio had fallen so hard he would never get up. We drove through the town at a normal speed; we were already suspicious in a town full of average Americans and did not need the extra attention.

Aurelio parked on the side of the road and we got out. Milo was a natural order follower, bag in hand and not asking questions. He knew if we wanted him gone we would have left him in the wind. So he followed us as we began walking through the forest in the bitter cold. The only noise was our feet crushing fallen leaves and birds in the sky. A five-mile hike didn't seem like much, but when you had been hiding, there wasn't a lot of time to keep up with cardio.

The sound of something hitting the ground caught my attention. I turned to see that Milo had fallen. The weight of the bag must have been too much on top of trying to avoid patches of icy ground. I walked over to him and helped him up without saying a word. Removing the bag from his hand, I re-began my hike but at a slower pace that he could keep up with.

We trudged through the forest, grunting when we had to step over a downed tree and groaning when the walk got inexplicably steep. Aurelio turned back, eyes honed on Milo, and then he looked at me. There was this look that he gave me that sent a chill through my body. I turned back to Milo and saw that he was staring at my back before turning away the moment he realized I was looking at him.

"Why did you get attached?" I didn't stop walking, we were only a quarter mile away. I had my people leave little landmarks, like a nail with a ragged orange ribbon. We walked for a while longer with no response. I almost asked again, but he spoke up.

"I did not intend to get so involved with you guys. It's against my code of ethics to get involved with people who do what you do. I got into this career to stop crime rings." He spoke in a way I had not heard from him. He was sure of what was flowing out of his mouth and he articulated those words gracefully. Undercover he seemed to think his way through life and playing like he was sure of himself. This was who he really was. The real Milo Eaton did not second guess himself. He possessed a strong determination and knew what needed to be done.

"How do you not intend to get so close, I..." Aurelio could not keep going. He and I grew up knowing to shove down emotions. They made you look weak, and they made you act irrationally. We had allowed emotions to take us down a nearly fatal path.

I took a step forward, feeling my stitches strain. There had been pain the whole walk, but falling into it would do nothing for my attempt at staying out of prison.

"I'm supposed to hate you guys, and when I first started I did. Your whole way of life and everyone that had helped you disgusted me. But I started developing feelings for you despite what I knew about myself. I'm a bad agent, I was a bad agent," Milo said. His words did nothing to clear up the questions in my head and I was sure Aurelio felt the same way.

We kept walking until I saw a tree that had a red ribbon nailed onto the bark. "We're here," I said as we got close.

I should have known it would not have been as easy as just walking into Canada. The crunching of leaves under heavy boots alerted me to four border patrol agents walking up on us.

"Aye what are y'all doing here," A portly officer shouted. His hands were akimbo. It would take him three seconds to withdraw his weapon and another five to fire it. The other officers were two white men that were both lean. The only way to differentiate the two was calling them by their hair color, black and blond. There was also a tall woman who had more muscles than the guys.

Aurelio had his gun hiding in his coat pocket where his hands remained. He only had two bullets. He would fire at the larger man, probably once in his protected chest, to allow him to get a shot at the head. I'd have to take on the woman because she looked to be a brawler, meaning Milo would have to take down two guys at once.

This was the moment Milo would have to prove himself.

"What the fuck," I yelled as Milo raced passed us. The startled portly officer raised his gun and just as expected Aurelio let off one shot to the guy's chest then as soon as he hit the ground began moving closer.

The two officers fumbled to get their guns, probably used to encountering moonshiners in this part of the border. Milo ran past them before turning around and kicking them both in the back of the knee, causing them to fall. I dropped my bag and walked over to the woman, ready to fight. She didn't bother reaching for her gun when I was closer, instead she grabbed her nightstick and swung at me.

I caught her arm and punched her in the side; she gasped but remained upright before punching me in the face. I was glad she had not hit me where I hit her since it would have damaged my stitches. I pushed her away, and she attacked with her stick, ramming it into my sternum. It hurt, but I would not give her an inn. She attacked again, trying to break my rib cage, but I was faster in my counter attack than my size would have her to think. With a burst of both power and speed, I snatched her into my grasp before I dropped her on the ground and stomped on her chest. She let out a scream before my foot came down on her neck, killing her.

A gun shot rang out behind me and I saw Aurelio standing over the portly man who was lying in a pool of blood and had taken his gun. Milo was dodging punches like a trained soldier before delivering elbows to the men. When he got close enough to the blond, he relieved him of his gun and then shot him dead and without ceremony turned the gun to the other officer and aimed it at his head. Milo did not get the chance to pull the trigger before Aurelio pulled his, blowing the black-haired officer's skull off.

"Let's move," I shouted, stopping to take the woman's gun. Milo had blood speckled on his face but was otherwise fine. Aurelio moved to get our bag before he began running.

We ran past the invisible border and kept running, trying to get as far away from the scene as possible. Milo leading the way. It was an attempt to hide the tears he was shedding, but the constant wiping of his nose was a dead giveaway.

He was not a monster like us; it was fine that he was reacting. If he wasn't shaken he would have been acting, and that would have been the end to him.