War of Hearts

Chapter Eight - The City of Souls

The airplane hangar opened at the Las Almas military base, light bursting in. Hex blinked until her eyes adjusted, then her, Soap, and Ghost made their way out onto the asphalt.

"Alejandro?" Soap shouted over the noise of the plane dying down.

"Sergeant MacTavish." Colonel Vargas spoke, he reached out to all of them for a handshake.

"Call me Soap." He said with a smile.

Alejandro nodded his head and looked over behind him. "Lieutenant. Laswell says they call you Ghost."

Soap began to tease, "Actually, I believe he prefers- "

"That'll do." Barked Ghost

Hex chuckled, and the Colonel's attention turned to her.

"And you must be the Medical Sergeant turned legend, Sabrina Murphy?"

Her cheeks reddened ever so slightly at the compliment; it was refreshing to have someone confident in her abilities inherently. She shook his hand. "Hex. Pleasure, Colonel."

"Please, Alejandro."

She nodded and smiled. Ghost rolled his eyes.

"Welcome to 'the City of Souls.'"

Ghost cut them off, gruffly. "Shepherd's contractors are inbound to reinforce: Shadow Company. They're bringing hardware, they'll need room."

Alejandro nodded and gestured ahead, "my base is your base."

"Good. Now, where's Hassan?"

Alejandro led them to an armored vehicle and opened the doors for them. "Cartel safe-house, ten clicks from here. Get in," Soap, Hex, and Ghost piled in the back, while Alejandro took shotgun after shouting for his team to move out. He introduced their driver, "This is my second in command, Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra."

He smiled nervously at them and leaned to Alejandro, "yo tengo miedo a los fantasmas."

Alejandro chuckled and looked in the rearview mirror, seeing Hex giggling too. "You know Spanish?"

Soap and Ghost shook their heads, and Hex was trying to bite back a smile, winking to Rodolfo in the mirror.

Alejandro's gaze returned ahead with a smirk, and they were off.

Their vehicle was in the lead, a group of several more through trailing behind them through the Las Almas streets.

Soap clocked a passing car and leaned forward, reaching for his gun. "White truck, four armed in the back."

Alejandro held up his hand, "Hey- tranquilo. That's normal here. Guns on the street is jurisdiction of the police."

"Where are the police?" Ghost grumbled.

"Well, Las Almas has a very serious problem. There are few here to uphold the law, and many of those who resist corruption...disappear."

Soap's expression began to morph into a scowl. "What about the military?"

"Well, because we are well trained, soldiers are recruited by the Narcos."

"Why not you?"

"We grew up here," he looked to Rodolpho, then looked out the window, pensively. "They call us Los Vaqueros."

Hex smiled softly at the oddly American nickname, "the cowboys?"

Alejandro returned the smile, "Sí. We love this place," he turned to her, "and we will die fighting for it."