A Target's Love

16

Jake ground his teeth together as his hands clenched the steering wheel. He revved the engine as the car sped through two red lights. Without looking, he tore off of the main road and around a corner into a smaller street. Renee glanced at him in apprehension but said nothing. She only grabbed onto the sides of her seat and prayed that they would reach their destination quickly. Thankfully, it was quite early still, so there weren't that many commuters out and about. 

Her heart nearly jumped into her throat when Jake skilfully maneuvered the car in the middle of the two lanes, flying between two cars, the sides of the Mazda barely missing theirs by a breath. The drivers honked their horns and fought for control, almost crashing into each other.

"Idiota!" One of the drivers screamed in Spanish.

Jake pushed his head out of the window. "Cierra la boca, estúpido mexicana!"

The man yelled something else in response, but Jake was thankfully too far away to hear it.

"Jake," Renee grumbled through clenched teeth. "This is crazy. Slow down."

Jake shot her a sidelong glare. "Oh, so first that stupid Spanish driver calls me an idiot, and now you're calling me crazy?"

"No, no, no," Renee said quickly. "Of course I'm not calling you crazy. It's just that your driving is crazy right now, and you should slow down before you really hit something. Or somebody."

"So what if I hit somebody? I'm sure I wouldn't miss. . ."

"Look, I've told you a million times that Javier's arrival was unexpected! What was I supposed to do? Stay and fight?"

"Shit, Renee! This isn't rocket science!" Jake banged his hands on the steering wheel, and Renee jumped violently. "He wasn't gonna let Liz go, and you could have and should have jumped at the chance to finish him right then while his hands were full."

"First of all, this is Javier we're talking about. Secondly, I didn't even know what he could do until I saw him out there tonight. He's like a ninja or something!"

Jake scoffed. "'First of all, this is Javier we're talking about,'" He mimicked her high-pitched tone, then sighed heavily. "Fine, Ren, fine. Let's say you get some grace for the fumble with Javier, but what about Liz? You couldn't even take care of her properly, and that should have been a piece of cake. As far as I know, she's inexperienced."

"Well, so am I."

"You're way more knowledgeable than she is. You stand a better chance, beyond the shadow of a doubt."

"Let's just forget it, okay?"

Jake didn't answer. They drove on in silence.

*****

Elizabeth opened her eyes and immediately shut them again. After about a minute, she opened her eyes again just a little, squinting. Cool breeze created tiny openings in between the curtains allowing blindingly bright sunlight to filter through. Her eyes slowly grew accustomed to the light as she looked around, trying to remember where she was. As she took in her surroundings, everything came back to her.

The fight.

Her near-death experience.

Being rescued by Javier.

Elizabeth sighed. No reason she couldn't try to sleep a little longer. After all, she'd been through a lot just a few hours ago. She yawned and stretched. She felt kind of cramped, which didn't make any sense given that she was in such a big, beautiful, soft bed all by herself. She closed her eyes and turned rolled over.