"Off this island
This was an escape plan
This was an escape plan
Carefully timed it
So let me go
And dive into the waves below"
___
~ Labour by Paris Paloma
C H A P T E R T W O
After spending yet another night in the car, Maeve rubbed her neck.
"I can't believe you lived in there."
Robby looked up from the map wich he had been inspecting.
He looked bemused at her dramatic gesture.
Before he could answer, he was interrupted by their dad who came out of a kiosk they parked next to.
"All right. How are we looking?"
Robby looked at his phone and then at the map.
"I think I got it matched up to my phone. Only a few miles to go. Looks like a lot of bars and restaurants."
He showed them his phone.
Johnny took a bite from his wrap that he got and noticed a man standing near them.
"Here, let's ask this guy. Maeve you help me. Hola."
Maeve looked up wide eyed.
Sure she had taken Spanish classes at school, but she wasn't that good.
The man asked her dad if he could speak Spanish.
"No, America." Johnny replied not understanding one word.
"Mexico." The man told him confused before he began to speak Spanish and pointed at their van.
Both Johnny and Robby looked at Maeve for answers.
Maeve only recognized a few words.
"I think he said something about the van."
Johnny nodded and turned back to the man.
"Gracias. It's custom decal."
The man looked confused.
"I want man." Johnny said in Spanish before adding "Hector the Salazar."
The man began to talk to them again, but Maeve cold only understand that he didn't know the man they were looking for.
"He doesn't know him and he keeps on saying something about the van." Maeve told them.
"The guy wants money." Johnny told them, deciding that this is what the man said.
"No, no money." The man told them with something else that had to do with the van.
Maeve tried to concentrate. She had heard this before.
"No, you cannot have the van. It's very special. You tell me, donde Hector Salazar, I give you dineros, sÍ?" Johnny tried again.
The man held his hands up in frustration and walked away shouting something in Spanish.
"All right. Can you believe this guy?" Johnny laughed turning around to his kids.
Robby looked at him wide eyed.
"What?" Johnny asked.
"If this Hector is so dangerous, I don't think we should be throwing his name around."
Maeve nodded in agreement.
"We gotta shake the tree to get the apples." Johnny answered to that.
"Or we could just climb the tree ourselves." Robby said.
Both Maeve and Johnny looked confused.
"What does that mean? What tree?" Their dad asked.
"The apple tree. You just said you wanted- Wait!" Robby started to explain.
They were interrupted by the same guy who talked to them, who was now towing their van.
Both Robby and Johnny ran after them.
"Oh!" Maeve exclaimed, making them both stop and look at her.
"He meant we weren't supposed to park here." Maeve told them, happy to have figured it out.
They both just stared at her.
————
A while later the trio was walking through a busy shopping center.
"Guy at the impound lot said we need 4,000 pesos. That's like, a million dollars." Johnny complaint
"It's 200 dollars. But still, we only have about half of that." Robby answered.
"We're not gonna find Miguel without the van." Johnny told them.
Maeve sighed.
"Yeah, we have to figure out something else."
There was a loud commotion near them with lots of people betting on the two men sitting opposite of each other. One of them was holding a chili pepper.
"That's a Red Savina. That thing's burn a hole right through you." Robby told them.
The other two frowned at him in bemusement.
"Mom and I watch Hot Ones on YouTube." Robby explained to them.
One of them man at the table stumbled away sweating profoundly.
The bald man was handed a bunch of cash.
"This is our shot to get back on track." Johnny suddenly exclaimed turning to the kids.
"If you see me about to choke, cover my mouth so I don't spit it out. "
Maeve cringed in disgust.
"Wait." Robby held out his hand in front of Johnny as he was about to approach the table.
"I'll do it."
"No. Robby, I got us into this." Johnny protested.
"Like you said, this is our best shot. And I know I can win." Robby walked away from them toward the bald man.
Maeve shrugged.
"As long as I don't have to do it." And followed after her brother.
Robby sat down in front of the bald man and slammed the cash down on the table.
The bald man's none existing brows rose and he shrugged nonchalantly accepting the challenge.
Maeve glanced down at the full jar with chili peppers in it which vanished as time lapses forward.
She watched Robby who was already sweating like she never seen before as he grabbed another chili and put it in his mouth.
He grimaced as he chewed on it, before looking up at the bald man.
"That's my boy!" Johnny exclaimed pointing at Robby proudly.
The man started to talk so another man in Spanish wich Maeve did not understand.
Robby in the meantime composed himself.
"One more." He told them.
"Give me the hottest pepper you've got."
Both Johnny and Maeve looked at each other worried.
"El dragón!" The bald guy yelled.
Another man with glassed carefully transported another jar over to the table and dramatically sat it down.
Maeve raised an eyebrow at him.
The man opened the jar and placed one on each side of the table.
"We're going all in. Todo." Johnny said and placed all their money on the table.
"You got this. I'd bat on you any day of the week." Johnny told his son, while Maeve padded his shoulder in encouragement.
Robby grabbed the pepper and held it in between his palms as he seemed to meditate.
Maeve rolled her eyes. He probably learned that nonsense from the LaRussos.
Suddenly he had the pepper in his moth and was grimacing as he chewed.
They all watched him in anticipation.
"You go Robby! Think about the money we would lose." Maeve told him clapping.
He continued chewing before he stopped and showed his empty mouth to the man opposite of him.
The bald man looked shocked.
He grabbed the pepper in front of him and began chewing it himself.
He looked confident at first, but them he began shifting uncomfortably in his seat as his face turned red.
After a few seconds he trapped the Glas of milk and drank it, spilling some on his shirt.
"Yes!" Both Maeve and Johnny cheered.
Suddenly the bald man spit out his milk wich sprayed on all of them.
Maeve gagged.
Once all three of them got changed, they got their van back as well as buying Robby a big carton of milk.
Maeve was a bit embarrassed as both Robby and Johnny had changed into their FBI shirts.
Maeve was glad that she brought clothes to change.
"You sure you're all right?" Johnny asked his son.
"Never better." Robby replied, which wasn't really convincing.
"It was really cool though. I've got it all on camera." Maeve told him leaning between the two front seats to show him the video.
"I still don't know how you managed to eat that last chili." Johnny shook his head.
"I didn't." Robby said, looking smug.
He pulled the dried pepper out of his pocket and held it up.
"What were you chewing on then?" Johnny asked.
Robby then held up the candy their dad brought with them.
All three of them started laughing.
"Whatever. It still looks like you chewed on the real thing." Maeve said rewatching the video she took.
"That's gonna make for a hell of a story. That's about the most badass thing I've ever seen." Johnny told him.
Suddenly his phone rang.
"Carmen?" He answered the phone.
Maeve looked at him expectantly. This had to be about Miguel.
"He say anything?"
After Carmen answered, he turned to the siblings.
"They're going to El Hoyo Verde." He told them.
Maeve immediately grabbed her phone and googled the place.
"It's back the way we came." She told them.
"We're on our way." Johnny told Carmen before hanging up and turning the car around.
————
Once they were at the right place, they sneaked behind the building to go in the back door.
They were in luck. Just as they turned the corner, a man stepped inside.
Johnny rushed forward, putting his foot in front of the door so it wouldn't close.
Maeve entered behind them.
"Look at this MMA grab-ass bullshit." Johnny said to them, before making his way forward.
"Hector the Salazar, you know him?" He asked.
"I don't think we should yell his name out loud around here. He could be dangerous." Maeve told them looking around at all the muscular man.
"Don't worry about it, we'll be fine. We just want Miguel back." Johnny told her, still asking about the man.
"You go first." Robby gestured for her to go in front of him.
The trio entered a big room wich had some sort of fighting ring set up.
They started looking around for Miguel.
Maeve looked up at the balcony.
And just as she was turning away she fought a glimpse of a familiar face.
"Miguel! Up there!" Maeve yelled, hoping he could hear her.
But since everything around her was very loud, he didn't.
They started walking forward, but were blocked by a tall, muscular guy, who Maeve guessed was a fighter.
"Move." Johnny told him.
The man said something about Hector, but Maeve couldn't understand the rest.
Johnny tried to go around the guy, but he pushed him back forcefully.
Getting impatient as Miguel was walking away, Johnny punched the man in his face.
Everyone around them started getting up from their seats.
Maeve cracked her knuckles, ready to fight if someone came near her or her family.
Johnny tried to kick the tall man, but he grabbed his leg and punched him to the ground.
As Maeve made her way forward, she was stopped by Robby, who pushed her back behind him and approached the situation.
Johnny got up and held his son back.
"No, Robby. I got this. Just stay with your sister."
"Watch out!" Maeve yelled, as the man grabbed her dad's shirt and tried to punch him.
The blond man blocked the punch and they started to fight until Johnny kicked him to the ground.
Maeve was getting agitated.
"This is taking way too long. Miguel cold be miles away until we're done." Maeve told Robby as they watched the man get back up.
Another man grabbed their dad from behind, holding down his arms as the big man started punching him.
They pushed him to the ground.
The guy pushed Johnny back to the ground and ripped his shirt as he punched him in the face.
Johnny tried to grab him, but the man grabbed Johnny in a chokehold.
"Fuck this." Maeve said and was about to move forward when Robby grabbed the chili from his pocked and held her back.
"Dad! Catch!"
Johnny amazingly caught it and squeezed the seemingly dried pepper in the eyes of his opponent.
Them man immediately started screaming and let go of their dad
Johnny roundhouse kicked him to the ground and asked again about Hector.
————
They somehow found out where Hector was taking Miguel and hurriedly made they way over.
"There he is!" Maeve exclaimed as they saw Miguel with his back to them on the phone with someone.
They exited the car immediately.
"Miguel!" Johnny yelled and Miguel turned around.
Miguel seemed to be crying as johnny approached him. The boy fell right into his arms and started sobbing.
Maeve and Robby stepped out of the car and watched them sadly.
Miguel looked up at them with a look that Maeve couldn't quite figure out, before he lowered his eyes again.
Johnny pulled away after a few seconds and grabbed his face.
"All right." Miguel told him.
Maeve smiled softly as they approached the van.
She gave the boy a quick hug and followed him into the backseat.
They were finally going back home.
————
I loved writing the Mexico scenes, but it was kinda hard to add other scenes in so it's a bit short.
I'm really excited for the next chapter.
And I might change the face claim to Olivia Holt, because it's easier for my TikTok page where I make edits for these books. What do you guys think?
Have a good day or night and don't forget to vote!