GRIM, s. mactavish

Chapter 9

italics for spanish

"It's Valeria. She's El Sin Nombre."

Carmen's face fell. Valeria. A woman who left Carmen to die in the middle of the desert where time stopped and everything stopped working. She grew furious but bit her tongue. She wasn't going to allow just anyone to know about her affiliation with Valeria.

"Are you sure?" She asked as she walked beside Alejandro.

"Yes."

Graves shoved Valeria towards the fold up chair in the middle of the shipment container. She sat down while looking at the ground ahead of her.

"Have a seat," Graves walked behind the chair, "Alright. How do you two know each other?" He motioned between Alejandro and Valeria.

"Know is a strong word."

"Strong words are important. Our word is our worth, right?" Valeria remained calm while her sentence only infuriated Alejandro. She leaned back into the chair with a smirk on her face.

"Go to hell you fucking son of a bitch- I'm going to kill you." Alejandro walked forward with aggression but got held back by Soap and Rodolfo.

"Calm down, Commander." Rodolfo tried to calm Alejandro down and it seemed to have worked.

"Go on. Tell them." Alejandro adjusted himself and placed his hands on his vest, holding it with his thumbs underneath.

Valeria was having fun. Carmen could see that. Valeria was testing Alejandro, seeing how much longer she could get on his nerves without him killing her. Valeria looked around until her eyes met Carmen's.

The expression held on Carmen's face was the face Valeria saw when Carmen had almost killed her. Determination. She moved her gaze to Alejandro.

"I don't take orders anymore. Even the dogs in Las Almas know not to bark at me." The stare between Alejandro and Valeria was strong. The tension grew as Valeria would only respond with words that hit Alejandro with frustration.

Carmen and Alejandro scoffed at the woman in the chair. Alejandro looked at Rodolfo, "Look at this- She's ex-military. Her and I served together."

Valeria lifted her leg and crossed it while putting her arm behind the chair so her wrist would rest on the back, "Different squads, same unit. You were the wild ones, huh . . . 'los vaqueros'. My squad was clean cut señores y señoras. . ."

"Until the raid on the son of La Araña. Do you remember?" Alejandro fired back.

"I remember perfectly."

"Her team was told to cordon off the city to keep out La Araña's enforcers and prevent bloodshed." Alejandro explained to Soap and Ghost.

"That's exactly what we did." Valeria recalled, glancing between Alejandro and Carmen.

"Well, you kept out his enforcers, because you were his enforcers, huh?"

"He was escorted to the mountains without incident. Also to prevent bloodshed."

"He was supposed to go to prison," Rodolfo mentioned behind Carmen with his arms crossed.

Graves put a hand on Valeria's shoulder to pull her back, "So you killed him and you took over."

"I created a power vacuum . . . And I filled it. Las Almas needs me." Valeria stated, not giving two shits about the information she was telling them all.

"Las Almas needs soliders, not sicarios. . And you. . . You disgrace the army," Alejandro looked back at Rodolfo and Carmen before facing Valeria again, "And your brothers, no?"

"Why're you doin' this?" Graves asked, wanting answers now. Graves was done sitting around and waiting for answers.

She leans back in the chair to face Graves, "You tell me. . ." Valeria gestures to Graves, "You're the contractor, no? What you don't do your competitors will."

"You're a narco, harboring a terrorist." Ghost rolled his eyes as this was a waste of time.

"Terrorism is good for business. It's insurance." Valeria smirked at the group.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Alejandro asked, crossing his arms.

Valeria started to lean towards Alejandro, "Can you get your fucking head out of your ass for a second? For fucks sake, Alejandro."

"Who the fuck do you think you're raising your voice at, Valeria?" Carmen walked towards Valeria while pulling out her knife from its sheath. However, she was stopped from Alejandro. His hand was on her arm, gripping it tightly as Carmen would try to break free and attempt to murder Valeria.

Valeria smirked at the woman before her expression fell serious, "As long as there is a war on terror, there will be no real war on drugs. To find your so called terrorist, and your missiles, you need me. To prevent bloodshed." She mocked the last part, getting on Alejandro's nerves.

"No. I'm not doing this. ." Alejandro grabbed his gun off the wall and went to make his way to the door but Soap stopped him.

"Doesn't change anything."

"It changes everything! Fuck! Don't make a deal with her . . . It won't end well." He left the container angry.

"Looks like it's your turn to tell the truth." Soap stood in front of Valeria who only had a smirk on her face.

Graves bent down to level with Valeria's face, "I want the missiles, I want the target and I want Hassan. And you've got ten seconds or I'm gonna show you the difference between the military and me."

"I don't know the targets. I'm a courier. I move things. I can tell you where to find the missiles. When you return, I'll tell you where Hassan is. In exchange, you will let me go. And get the fuck out of Las Almas. Now leave-"

They were considering the deal but Carmen was curious if anyone truly listened to her brother. Or why they were seriously considering taking the deal. Valeria is a rat. A scorpion.

"Did one person listen to Alejandro?" She asked as she glanced between each person, purposefully avoiding Valeria.

"Can't always listen to your brother if you want intel, Carmen." Valeria stared at the woman in front of her. She still had her knife out and was fidgeting with it.

"Shut the fuck up or I swear I will you leave you the exact way you left me for dead." Carmen glared at the poisonous woman as her hand balled tightly. Rodolfo was almost wondering if he should drag Carmen out of the container with how heated she was getting.

"Deal." Graves stated from beside Valeria, watching Carmen glare at the enemy. They didn't look away from each other. Valeria wanted to piss Carmen off and Carmen was thinking of different ways she wanted to kill Valeria.

Cut her stomach open and leave her in the hot desert where the nearest town is over two-hundred miles away like Valeria had done to Carmen. Kill her quick with a bullet to the head.

Graves walked passed Carmen, "Until then. . . you're stayin' right here."

Carmen followed Graves out the door with a furious look at the man. Look, she wanted to find Hassan and the missiles but making a deal with the devil itself, wasn't the right choice. She would rather kill Valeria and get their intel another way. Perhaps that is the raging revenger inside her, beating at the walls she had built up in her head. She knew her thoughts were out of pure anger, and she did know that it wasn't logical to kill Valeria to get intel a different way.

She kept walking until she was in front of Graves and stated, "If everything goes to shit, just know, everybody's lives are going to be in your hands." Carmen bumped shoulders with Graves. Carmen's boots echoed throughout the warehouse as her emotions took over how much pressure she put into each foot.

    He stared at her as she went away from the group and bit his lip, thinking of a way to get Carmen gone. He didn't like her sass nor her attitude.