"Why are you shivering?" Hugo asks out of the blue as I'm struggling to eat the sandwich while my mind is spinning.
My hands stop twitching. "What?"
"You're shaking. A lot." He stands up and goes to the kitchen.
I'm not safe. I'm not safe.
"Must have been the adrenaline from earlier," I say, hoping he'd buy my excuse. "So, uh...the dye. When will you be able to get it?"
"Most likely tomorrow," he replies, dropping a tray on the kitchen slab. "It's not urgent right now, is it?"
I switch to another channel. "Not for tonight, no."
"Tomorrow, then."
I nod, pretending to be absent minded, but inwardly I'm grateful the conversation has been switched from my nervousness.
"You're watching the Habanera?" my new neighbor calls, causing me to lift my head and stare at him in confusion. "What?"
He motions to the TV. "The Habanera. You like the dance?"
I blink twice before focusing on the television once again. The on-screen reporter is talking about a dance called the 'Habanera', a traditional dance in Cuba.
"Uh...yeah." Blatant lie. But just to prove my affection for the damned dance, I watch the proceedings and slowly get immersed in the dance.
However, soon enough my thoughts move from the beautiful movements in the Habanera to getting back to my apartment so I can get my stuff- most especially my car. I miss that blue devil.
At five minutes past ten p.m. I sneak out of the room allocated to me. Hugo's in his bedroom, at least I can deduce that from the creaking of the bed in the next room.
Closing a door quietly has always been easy for me, and the Deville children used that to their advantage- a lot.
I recall one time when Scarlett wanted to go on a date with this Pete guy who had no car [the one he used was borrowed, apparently], her siblings bribed me to help with the opening and closing of the doors- the bribe being five dollars (I was young, dumb and broke, don't blame me).
In the end, the five of us discovered that Pete was just a phony who wanted Scarlett's money. I worked for nothing.
I pass through the familiar alley thirty-two minutes later, occasionally looking behind me to be sure that Hugo isn't following me. Soon after, I arrive at the back of the apartment building, then climb the wall of the building in which my condo is. Thank goodness mine's close to the ground.
I peep in. The bodies of the men have been cleared. Every where's covered in sheets. I crawl through the window, which is still shattered.
I try as much as possible not to make any noise as I move around. It's hopeless. The nylon sheets crinkle with just a touch of my finger, and it makes me so angry and annoyed, I begin to beg the sheets not to crinkle.
After an hour, I give up because I can't find any of my things in the entire apartment. Seems the police took it as part of the investigation. Thank goodness I'm with my I.D. I'm sure they'd have been looking for me if they had found it-
I freeze as I feel hot breath on the back of my neck.
"You might want to come with me now," Hugo's voice whispers.
I spin around, my spiked heartbeat rate slowly going back to normal. "Why did you follow me, you idiot?"
"Because I'm paid to," he replies matter-of-factly. "And because I don't want to die."
His voice is low and sounds dangerous just like Ford's, causing me to unconsciously start shivering again. But I still my roaming thoughts and roll my eyes. "Just be quiet, and stay low."
Apparently he doesn't understand what staying low, because minutes later, he steps on something and a siren goes off. Next we hear footsteps. Lots of them. I hit my forehead with a palm and jump through the window. He follows suit.
I realize we're surrounded by police the moment I land on the ground. And as if it's not bad enough, this is happening in a country I don't know.
I know I signed up for this, but this is just wrong!
"How are we going to evade these guys?" I yell above the sirens to Hugo, noting the approaching figures of police officers.
'Arrested in Cuba'. That'd be beautiful on my resume.
"I don't have a clue!" he replies.
Wait, what?
"Don't you know how things move around here?!"
"I'm afraid not, ma'am!"
"What the- " I hold my tongue at that moment, deciding to not speak further. Instead, I take off as fast as my legs can carry me, sensing his presence behind me a few moments after.
The loud sirens of the police vehicles taunt us for a few blocks, both of us continually doing our best to be off their radar and repeatedly failing.
In a bid to escape, I fly to the right side of the road, looking for any alley I can use to lose them. I get one soon after and run through. Hugo gasps for breath as he follows me.
"Where do we go from here?" he pants when we stop to catch our breaths.
"How am I supposed to know?" I ask with a groan. "I honestly just wanted to lose the cops!"
He looks around, and his eyes shimmer with disapproval. "We could have stopped somewhere else. Not here."
"Hey, you come from this country not me! How did you expect me to know that?!" I yell.
He stares at me for a while, then sighs. "It's common knowledge that the person with enough road knowledge has."
I glare at him. "I so want to kill you."
"Sorry, but you can't-"
"¡Detener!"
Oh, barnacles.
I slowly turn forward to find a couple of police officers before us, their guns outstretched and pointing right at us.
'Uh, hey officers' would surely be a weird way to start, right?
I have no idea what they said before, but Hugo seems to, because he walks ahead of me. Instinctively I move back, giving him the floor and hoping he'd use the opportunity to his advantage, then feeling my eyes bulge out in shock when I see him raising his two hands in the air in a surrendering pose.
"What in the devil's anus?" Who the heck is this guy?
"Follow me", he whispers as he walks slowly towards the light. Before I know it he's running past the men.
After running through an alley and into an open space, he stops suddenly. I knock into him from behind. "Why did you stop?" I yell. There are sirens blaring all around us.
"I'm not running into traffic!" he yells back. I look. Somehow we got to a road, with lots of moving cars. I slap my forehead with a palm. Again.
"Come on!" I pull him into the traffic. I pass through tiny spaces of cars, occasionally halting moving cars. I remember my Maserati and almost stop running. He grunts loudly behind me.
"Will you stop that?" I holler, not able to take it anymore. "I've never done this before!" he yells back.
"Well...try to stop that. Just because you haven't done this before doesn't mean I shouldn't have my sanity!"
All around us, car horns blare and angry drivers shout and roar and bawl. They're not half as angry as I am, seriously.
We finally get to the end of the road. I'm pretty sure someone tosses a can at me. I turn back, ready to lash out, then remember where I am. I swivel around and pull Hugo, who's panting rapidly, into the cluster of trees in front of us.
*
"Next time you're planning to do something like that, inform me", he grunts as he puts his key into the lock.
I'm about to retort when the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
Something's not right.
I stop him from opening the door and look around, then hear some rustling. I feel him turn rigid beside me. He heard it too. I reach into my pocket for my gun, then feel the cold reassuring steel against my skin.
Hugo doesn't have a gun.
I look at him and indicate the door, then whisper, "Get in". His eyes say, "I'm not leaving you out here".
I scratch my hair in exasperation, then turn the key, open the door, push him in and lock the door, all in three minutes. Or less.
I hear a bang just as I duck under his flower pots. The bullet breaks one of them. I crawl to the other end, or rather, slither. Then I spot some movement and notice the same clothes the two men from the condo had worn. I aim and fire. Someone falls. Another shot rings out. The bullet glides past my eye in slow motion, then I fall to the mud. Such a close contact with death.
Lifting my head would be suicide; moving from where I am would also be suicide. I crouch and my eyes dart about, looking for any movement. Then I hear series of clicks and something metallic sliding behind me. Loading of bullets. That means a very bad thing.
I crane my head a little bit, just in time to see a gun stretch out of the cluster of trees beside the house, aimed at the building. I aim for the hand that comes with it and shoot. It hits its mark and I hear a groan. The gun falls. Almost immediately bullets are fired in my direction from other angles.
From my perspective, there are five men; one dead, one injured. Three more are free. I try my very best not to move too much as I look for those three.
Then I see something fly from the house to the trees and hear shouts. I turn slightly and see Hugo in a corner of the house, pointing a long gun in the direction of the trees. He's wearing night-vision specs. Two men fall.
I see someone crawling away from the scene and pull my trigger at the legs. The person stops moving.
I think I hit a lot higher above the legs.
Oops.
When the last man disappears from Hugo's vision, he walks towards me and stretches a hand. I take it, then groan as branches pull my hair. I get up anyways. We enter his house.
"I didn't know you could handle a gun", I say as he removes his shirt.
"You don't know a lot about me", he replies with a grin and passes a hand through his hair. I laugh. "Thank you for today".
He nods. "Go into your room and have a shower. Wash your hair too. You have leaves all over it". He walks away.
As I go in, my fears escalate. Hugo can shoot a gun. He can do anything as far as money is involved.
If worst comes to worst, he can kill me.
I don't dance in the bathroom tonight. I'm not safe here, am I?