Chapter twenty: Cancel lies
Margo began to toss and turn in her sleep when the sound of gravel crunched beneath boots and bounced between the surrounding mountaintops. With a small groan, her eyes flickered open and blinked to adjust to the light, but what she saw made her chest radiate with pure joy.
As fast as she could, she woke her sleepy legs and sprung up, running straight for Ben. He then chuckled upon watching her come closer. With his arms open, he accepted her close to his body and in disbelief, she pulled back to study his face, tracing her thumb over his lips and she leaned in for a kiss, to which he couldn't refuse.
"Next time I'm going with you, okay?"
"Fine by me, darlin'. I was gettin' pretty lonely without ya."
The other men seemed to wake up shortly after and when Ben pulled away from another kiss, breathless, William groggily pulled himself up and walked towards the sore sight. With Margo's head rested against Ben's chest, she could only look at his brother with a small glare that held hostility. She thought it was rich that he was speaking to his brother after the betrayal he pulled after his absence but then again, a pang of guilt seeped into her heart and made her remember that she wasn't innocent either, for she told William that she doesn't know if she can love Ben because he's not him.
"You all right?" William asked.
Ben nodded. "The boat's there. I gave him half the money. I hope he waits." Still panting, he walked over to meet Pope and Fish. "I didn't go into town but it looks like whoever's in charge there has a kindergarten that's looking for us."
"A kindergarten army?" Margo quizzed.
"Yeah. A whole pack of kids that don't look a day over seventeen."
William asked. "How many of them?"
"Two or three pros, twenty heavily armed teenagers."
Frankie looked out of breath by the mere thought of running away from a flock of assassinating kids. "What about the next town over?"
Santiago shook his head. "It's over a hundred miles to the south."
Margo put her two cents in. "I say we take the town closest to us and whatever scumbag comes close to us, we blow their brains out."
"You wouldn't have the heart to kill a kid, would you?"
Margo raised a brow at Frankie before snorting. "If they're man enough to join a gang for the fun, they're man enough to suffer the consequences. Don't underestimate them, Frank. They can be just as dangerous as us."
"I'm sure they got every town covered anyway." William met Margo's eyes and for a second, they shared a lingering glance. "Must be what's left of Lorea's guys."
Sighing, Pope weighed the options and with his hand raised to Margo in appreciation for her input, he nodded his head. "So we go through 'em."
"Through them?" William looked at Pope with bewilderment.
Frankie muttered, looking between Margo and Pope. "I thought you were joking. Wow, okay then. So, what do you mean? We just mow them all down?"
"What's the alternative here?"
William's voice boomed. "I'm not prepared to wipe out every teenager in that town just to get through with this cargo."
"Forty three, right, Will?" Margo's cold eyes found his. "What's the difference? The men and women you killed probably had children of their own and these teenagers are asking for it. You can just tally it up with your total since you keep track of everything."
William glared at her, surprised that she was all go for murdering teenagers, whether they were innocent or not. "That's different and you know it."
"How so?"
Pope silenced her by raising his palm. "This cargo?" He pointed to the money before his finger pointed to Tom's body. "What about that cargo? Will you do it for him?"
Margo bowed her head at the sudden mention of their fallen leader's name. Through the blonde strands that fell over her face, she sat down beside Ben who still hadn't accepted the loss and she rested her head on his shoulder and entwined their fingers together. He only squeezed back in response. He didn't want to let go.
"Tom died for this money and we're not leaving the country without it!"
Ben immediately jerked back, anger written all over his inconsolable features. "He didn't die for the money he dies because of it!" When Pope turned around and ran his fingers through his hair, Ben tried to calm himself down from snapping again. "They're just kids, man. Can't we carry it out through the dark?"
Sighing, William shook his head. "It's over a hundred bags. There's no way." He patted Ben on the shoulder and looked to Pope who'd walked away. "Let me go talk to him."
Margo shut her eyes and listened to Ben's heavy breaths. They weren't the same as they were yesterday morning. From passionate and untamed, came the defeat and the grief. When she looked back, she saw Pope and William come back after briefly breaking away to discuss the plan of action.
"We can't just go through them." Pope began with his arm suggesting the coastal area below. "I don't know what I was saying."
"It's all right." Frankie's voice responded with forgiveness.
Margo nodded in agreement. There was no way these men would kill a bunch of kids but if they got in her way, she wouldn't think twice. "We've just gotta get Tom home."
"That's all that matters." William looked to her momentarily.
Sighing heavily, Ben spoke. "How are we gonna do that?"
"We keep carrying him down." Pope decided. "We fill our day packs with whatever we can carry, and that's it."
"What do we do with the rest of it?"
Minutes later, Margo found herself throwing a bag of cash through a canyon between the mountain and it hit the ground with a thud. After wasting so many days of being greedy in attempts to be a millionaire, they lost a very valuable friend and so, they had to pay the price, and this was it; losing all of the money for a greater good.
"That'll work." Ben patted her on the shoulder but she only kept looking below.
Pope looked to the grey skies above and noticed the clouds forming. "Snow will be coming in soon. Nobody'll ever see it again."
"Good."
"All right." Pope lifted another bag and stood, swinging it in the direction of the hole. "Let's keep going."
Whilst the men tossed the bags, Margo quickly glanced to their faces and managed to unzip a bad and secretly, She shoved an extra two million stack into the padding of her jacket and she didn't even feel bad for it. She and her brother were broke and she had to put herself and Matthew before others as it was her duty as a sister. The money would let them live elsewhere, safe and happy. It's what Tom would have wanted.
And thus, after all bags had hit the ground, they began yet another journey but this one would be the last hike. The four men had taken each side of Tom's body and hoisted him up, and while they carried the body, Margo led ahead with her pistol swinging from her hands and her hips swaying. She was ready for a shit storm of warfare.
***
Through the darkness, a small outing between the jungle came into sight and the city's light caught Margo's eagle eyes. She peered over the thick leaves that got in her way and when Santiago spoke, she turned around.
"Let's put him down for a second."
William panted after they'd set the body down on the ground gently. He quickly checked his watch and grunted. "We're running behind. Benny, you should go. The sun's coming up."
"We'll meet you down at the cove in thirty." Santiago whispered.
"Wait, Benny!" Margo manoeuvred past the men and stood close to Ben.
Ben smiled and kissed her feverishly. "Ain't you going gonna ask to come with me?"
"No, because I don't need your approval. I'm coming with you."
The three men shot up behind her and Santiago was the first to speak. "Are you sure you can do this?"
Frustration found Margo's face, and whether it was the heat or the simple fact they'd protected her when she could do it herself, she spoke with hostility. "I may be sick but I'm a whole lost faster and equipped than Ben. He needs me."
"Thanks for that." He grumbled.
"Alright." Santiago nodded. "Stay safe and look after each other out there."
"Roger that."
***
As the laughter of teenagers and the thumping stereo music, the cricking of grasshoppers and the twinkling of the stars in the descending dark sky, to most, it would seem like the typical teenage house party with beer on standby and parents astray, unbeknownst to the mischief their precious children were up to.
But to Margo and Ben, they weren't the ordinary teenagers. They were dealing with criminals here who wouldn't hesitate to slit someone's throat for looking at them the wrong way, so they had to handle the situation with absolute precaution.
The rocks beneath her feet crumbled. At this stage, in the blistering heat even though it was the early hours of the morning, Margo had stripped from the puffy jacket and bulletproof vest and instead, she wore a white tank top and a loose pony tail to keep the locks out of her vision, showing the silhouettes of her body that Ben had yet to explore. He had to keep his sights ahead but when she looked so imperfectly perfect, he licked his lips and kept marching onward, subtly glancing back every now and again.
Making their way through a small cove, Margo could feel her boots sinking and when she looked down, she realised they'd have to make their way through the water to get a better look. The swampy area that they stood at was able to vibrate with the volume of the stereo and she couldn't help but smirk as she rested against a tree.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd be looking back to six years ago."
Ben looked at her with a scoff. "So you left us to party? Sounds like a good deal to me."
As instinctive chatter was heard and glass bottles smashed on the ground, Ben lowered himself into the water and Margo watched his muscular arms flex at the action. Biting her lip, she copied him and she braced as her body hit the lake but to her surprise, it wasn't half as bad as the river just days prior. If anything, it was relaxing.
With her lips in a thin line to prevent intake of water, her eyes scanned over a fire that illuminated her face with its long, shadowy glow. She could make out both men and women around the bonfire and some even had weapons strapped across their back and whilst they were having fun, they were on standby for any threat, but thankfully, Margo and Ben, with all their experience, knew how to be ghosts and weave in and out of situations that would leave many dead.
Submerging from the water and away from prying eyes, Ben put his finger to his lip and ordered for her to remain silent. Giving him a quizzed look, he then in return nodded to the shack just a couple of feet away from the water and still, she was confused but she continued to follow behind him.
With her gun raised and trickles of water falling down her face and the ends of her hair, she looked like the devil in disguise. As the water had seeped through the material, exposing what lay underneath for all to see, she still looked pure as though she hadn't been touched in the most impurest ways imaginable, but that was the beauty of her.
Indistinct radio chatter fell upon her ears and she kept up the wary pace behind Ben. He moved through the doorway and as soon as a man came into sight, her gun raised, aiming for the stranger's head to which he only looked back at her with dead eyes.
"Gracias por esperar." Ben thanked the man in Spanish and made Margo lower her weapon.
The captain remained emotionless. "The boat is ready."
Author's note // I have about ten minutes worth of footage left to rely on but I'm going to do a lil bitta writing after the movie ends tehe