I had found Tessa's friend in a rundown house in under half an hour, but suddenly I wasn't so sure that she was on my side anymore. When I caught sight of the stripping paint, broken windows and overgrown weeds I was sure that she sent me to the wrong place on purpose. There was an inner debate blazing inside of me as I approached the door, either this was a really good plan to get my team and myself killed or she was actually trying to help me. I didn't know which one to believe, but at this point in time I just had to trust her and pray that she was indeed on my side and this wasn't an elaborate double cross.
The grass had crunched underneath my feet until I made it to the stone steps and raced up to the entrance of the house. The door seemed to be falling off its hinges, it was slanted slightly and was discolored to show its age, along with the rest of the house. With a nervous hand, I knocked and waited for a response. The knock echoed, but no one answered. I wasn't sure if he was there, and just wasn't answering or if he was out.
I had heard shuffling on the other side of the door, a few things scrapped the floor and bumped into walls. There was clearly someone inside, but they didn't want to answer.
"John," I said using the name Tessa had given me. The shuffling stopped momentarily before picking up again, and I took that as a cue to keep talking. "It's time to put the world into perspective," I repeated to him. Once the words left my mouth, the shuffling stopped. All the sound coming from the house came to a complete halt, and for a while I thought I could hear the next door neighbor's television from half a block away. "John, I know you don't know me, but Tessa sent me. It's time for you to go and find a new place. I promised her that I would take you out of here."
There was another pause until the footsteps started their way toward me. A tall Hispanic looking man came to the door, a few years older than Tessa, and looked me over from head to toe. His dark eyes seemed to trace my every curve as if to look for something I had concealed. His lips twitch slightly when his eyes met mine, as if he wasn't sure what to say, but he eventually found the words.
"What happened to Tessa?"
"She had to leave. She was in danger and now so are you," I explained, quickly gaining his attention. "She says that they are going to come and kill their informants so that all the loose ends will be gone. We have to leave before that happens, because we are dead either way. If they see me with you then you won't have a choice, but if I'm not here they will pretend to be your friends and then kill you anyway."
"How do you know that?" John asked with skepticism clear in his tone, but I didn't miss the glances that he was throwing around to see if anyone was around us.
"I've seen it happen," I said, effectively wiping the disbelief off his features and replacing it with shock. "They shot Tessa. They missed the kill shot, but she is injured. She's now working with me, and has asked me to get you out of here alive. Get whatever you can and make it fast, it's been almost half an hour and they will soon be on their way. I have the address for where we have to go, and all you have to do is take me there."
"What do I get out of it?"
"You get to live," I said forcefully, may anger starting to rise as this conversation continued. Why was it so hard for them to believe the cartel would kill them? They have seen enough death around them to know that it was bound to happen eventually. No wonder parents tried to keep their families out of places like this, you either became a part of it or you were killed. Most times it seemed as if you were killed no matter what. "I don't know what else you could ask for, but if you prefer to stay here and wait for them to show up and shoot you then be my guest! But I'm not going to stand here to get shot, give me your car keys and I will take myself." The lie slipped through so easily, but I knew I wouldn't be able to drive myself. If it came to it I would force myself to try, but I wouldn't make it halfway out of Virginia.
"I will come," he finally said, breaking me out of my thoughts. "Let me grab my bag and we can go." With that he left and went deeper into the house. I glanced through the open door to get a glimpse of the house, but I wished I hadn't.
The house was as run down on the inside as it was on the outside. There was trash and garbage littering the floor, empty food wrappers and cups thrown aside, clothes on the floor, and questionable stains on the walls. I didn't mind a mess, but that was extensive. It made me curious why he chose to live here and live in the mess. There had to be numerous homes in the area, so why this one? It seemed curious to me because as an informant I would assume he was being paid for his information. Where was the money going if he lived in a home that looked as if it had been foreclosed on?
"Let's go," I heard his gruff voice say as he raced down the stairs and pushed me out of the door way. "We have to move fast and get away now."
"What's with the interest in speed now?" I asked as I followed him to the car and got in when he gestured for me to.
"I can see another informant from the upstairs balcony, and he knows that danger is coming." His voice was filled to the brim with fear as he threw in the duffle bag he had packed into the back seat. The doors slammed as he moved and got into the driver's seat. "I'm sorry I didn't trust you, but I had to be sure. I know Tessa sent you here, but you could have figured out that phrase another way, and I just had to be sure so that I wasn't leaving her behind to deal with them herself."
"I understand, family first," I said, knowing I would do the same for my family. He offered me a grateful smile as we peeled out of the driveway and raced out of the neighborhood.
We didn't talk while we were in the area of the compound. There was something about silence that eased the tension between us, it was a healthy reminder that we had to work together to get away from a common enemy. Tessa and I had figured that out and now John and I had a similar agreement. So far it was working, but with the silence brought back memories. I tried to ignore the flashbacks of the car crash that raced through my mind as he drove. I could see the headlights, feel the car shaking and remember the fear as if I was back to that night.
"Where are we going?" John asked, breaking me from the trance as I tried to focus on him more than the memories.
My hands were clamped onto the seat on both sides of me. The fake leather material crumpled under my grip, and my knuckles were starting to turn white due to the pressure I was using to hold onto the seat. My teeth were starting to hurt from my jaw clenching and soon I couldn't even feel my fingers from the death hold I had on the seat.
"You doing all right?" John asked, gaining my attention again. "Yeah," I lied. "I just don't like car rides."
"I can see that, so how about you talk a little bit, ease your mind from the ride." His voice was calm, it could have put me to sleep if I focused on just his voice and not the motions of the car. "Like where we are going? I can be on the highway forever if we wanted, but if Tessa sent you to me that means you have a destination you have to get to. So where you going?" he asked curiously.
"I'm going here," I said as I slipped a shaking hand into my pocket and pulled out the other address that Tessa had given me. Once the paper was firmly wrapped in my hand I passed it to John. I didn't miss the worry in his expression when he looked at my shaking figure, I just chose to ignore it. He seemed to worry about my fear and took the time to pull over so he could read the note, instead of giving me a heart attack if he was reading and driving at the same time.
"I'm taking you to Ash Crest? Why are you going there?" he asked, turning to me so I could see the confusion and worry in his dark brown eyes.
"That's the man I'm going to kill," I said bluntly.
John's lips turned into a frown as he looked me over again. There was a look of pure doubt on his face before he spoke, "You're going to get yourself killed! Do you have any idea what you're up against?" His voice cracked as he yelled at me. "He became a hit man and would take out people that just bothered him over the years. Soon he was getting paid to do it and it was a dream come true for him. What reason could you possibly have for going to see him?"
"He killed my family, and left me for dead," I said honestly. John's eyebrows shot up, he looked stunned momentarily before he turned back to the wheel and started driving again. "That's why I don't like cars. That's why I have a hard time when others are driving. You don't have to go with me, you just have to drop me off and then go wherever you need to afterward. Just take me there."
"I can take you there, but you have no idea what you're in for. I used to work for him whenever he was in the compound. I heard the stories of what he did to people that confronted him or made him their enemy. Even people he didn't know, he would kill whoever he had to to make a payday. Everyone has a price, one that will make them confess their darkest secrets and another that will get them killed. I don't know what your family was, either an enemy or someone that another paid to have taken out, but it's over and you don't want to end up like that, do you?"
"I don't, but I want answers, and then I want him dead so he can't do this to anyone else ever again," I said honestly.
"That's a good goal to have, I guess," John said, breaking the silence. "But you're going to be in for a rough time. I've never seen him go easy on someone. He doesn't have a remorseful bone in his body and he will not take pity on you or let you live if you get too far in. In his mind, anyone is better off dead then as a risk to him. Even if you just get in and he doesn't find out who you are, you will die and you won't know anything so you have to be careful."
"I can do that, just get me there and I can make sure no one else is ever hurt by him again." I felt my own voice falter before I saw John react to it. I knew that it sounded weak, but that's what I had to do even if it scared me. This was my new mission, one that I was going to complete no matter what. I owed myself that much, and I owed my family more.
"Thank you for getting Tessa out of there," John said. "It means a lot to me." "Why does she matter to you?"
"She's my sister," he answered. "Dad tried to keep her out of it, but it was going to happen eventually. With Dad and me in the cartel, she was bound to follow. When I became an informant, it became easier to take her out of the compound, but you couldn't take the cartel out of her. She grew up around it after our mother died."
"What happened to her?"
"Killed by Ash Crest. Someone in the cartel ordered the hit," he sighed heavily. "I found that out before he kicked me out of his office. I don't know what happened to your family, which must have been after I left or I would have heard about it, but he will never stop." There was a pause before he spoke again, "Do me a favor, kill him and make sure my sister is somewhere safe."
"She won't be able to talk to you where she's going, you know?"
"I figured as much, and I can't go with her. As long as I figure out he's dead, I'll know you are somewhere with her, and that means more to me than you know."
"I understand," was all I said yet it effectively ended our conversation and allowed me to sleep through the rest of the car ride, lulled to sleep by our generic conversation. Unaware at the dangers that were about to come true, and just how close I would come to the choice between life and death.