Caught In A Name

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Anton asked if it was possible to smuggle him out of the forest and out of Columbia altogether, when we leave the next day. He begged us. He stated that he was tired of the life he had, being the son of a druglord and all. He didn't want to see anymore innocent deaths just because of illegal drugs. He didn't want anymore blood in his hands. And you know what, we believed him. It wasn't so much because he was crying but because his eyes were just blank. Vacant! Not a spark of life left. Empty. Even if he didn't beg, I would've stuffed him inside a suitcase and smuggled him anyway."

Nicomaine took a much needed calming breath and extended her hand for the shot glass full of Patron that Richard was holding. Richard seeing that Maine needed some fortification and since she looked like she was on a roll, gave it to her. Once again, she took it all in one gulp. But this time, instead of giving the empty glass back to Richard, she gripped it with one hand and stared at the bottom of it as if she can see the next part of her story. 

"But as much as we wanted to take Anton with us, we couldn't find a way how. It was too short of a notice to forge papers and he was too big, too bulky, too conspicuous of a man to just pass off as one of the guides. We didn't have any options but to promise him that we will come back for him. However, we all knew that it might not happen. Because nobody gets out of the Castro cartel alive! Nobody! Ricardo Castro is known to kill his own flesh and blood just to keep his business going. It was rumoured that he executed his own daughter, who was pregnant at that time, in cold blood because she married a man that wasn't part of the cartel. And then killed his son in law right after. But of course nobody can prove anything. That's how notoriously evil he was.

That night, as we were boarding the raft that was going to take us to the city, the undercover agent we were with, decided at the last minute, to go and take pictures of the workers while they were being forced to pack the drugs. We begged him not to. We tried to convince him that we had enough evidence in my camera but he argued that if we show the workers in action, then we might be able to help in their relocation. Pictures to show both government that these people were being forced to work for almost free. Who can argue with that logic? So, with the three tour guides, Hanna and myself, boarded and ready to go on the raft, he went back with a camera in hand. It felt like eternity but it was only after five minutes when we heard gunshots coming from the camp. None of us had a gun that time so there wasn't anything we could do. Two minutes more when the agent, together with Anton, came running through the forest and straight to the raft. Both had gunshot wounds. Anton got to the raft first and as the agent was about to jump in, he was shot in the back. The last thing he yelled to us was, 'Anton take them home! Go!' And then he was gone! Just like that, he was dead. We were able to escape with barely an inch of our lives.

When we got to the city, we dressed Anton much like the agent. The agent that we left dead on the forest floor. It was easy because they had the same height and built and they both sported facial hair. I don't even know his real name until now" Nicomaine whispered as her voice hitched remembering the events of that night. 

"We chartered a private plane that same night to avoid the hassle of the airport security and all three of us got back here in essentially one piece. We submitted our findings the next day and that was that. I'm not even sure if they knew of the agents death. Hanna and I were just so glad to have been done with that assignment that we didn't bother following up if the agent had any family left behind. A wife perhaps? Children? We just left him there! Like he was nothing! And we moved on as if he never existed! As if he was never there! Yes I know. It was selfish and heartless. I know that now. Oh god!" 

Richard, seeing how Maine was getting quite distraught, instantly sat down next to her. He was about to put his arms around her but surprisingly Maine pulled back. She shook her head and looked at him, silently pleading for him to stay away. Silently asking him to let her continue. And as much as Richard's mind and body were screaming for him to engulf Maine in his arms and make her stop reliving the past, he acquiesced to her silent plea. Instead, he reached over, plucked the half empty glass from his brother's hand and gulped the amber liquid down. 

"A month later, it was all over the news that Ricardo Castro was caught and imprisoned. We thought we were safe then. Boy we were wrong! We were so wrong!

Anton, upon landing, applied and was instantly granted refugee status. He became the 'anonymous' key witness to his father's crimes. He changed his last name from Castro to Perez, his maternal grandmother's maiden name. He worked odd jobs here and there until he was granted permanent resident status. Only then did he get a job for what he was educated for, an accountant. That was the reason why his father kept him in that small camp, in the outskirts of nowhere, because he was an accountant, and was very good at it.

The following months, the three of us lived as if our lives were still threatened. We didn't tell anybody of what we witnessed, not even our family, because we didn't want them to be targets as well. Hanna and I quit our jobs at CBC and decided to put up our own photography business. Hanna became the spokesperson and I the photographer of course. Our business thrived! Because we were good at it. We got local celebrity clients like Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. Even Justin Beiber! Can you believe that?! It was amazing! Even with us looking over our shoulders, looking for any threats to our lives, we were living the dream. With our business booming, so did Hanna and Anton's relationship. They became inseparable. Anton moved in with Hanna and they got engaged. Then the pregnancy announcement followed. 

After a year and so much months had passed, we became complacent about our safety. Careless even. We neglected to check over our shoulders, forgot to lock the doors to our houses, used our credit cards as if no one was watching. Because that's what we thought! Well, we hoped anyway. That it was over. That no one was watching. And nothing did happen. Nothing too obvious anyway. There were subtle hints but because we were all so happy and content with our lives, we ignored them. But looking back, there were signs. Like, a misplaced fixture in the living room. A stray footprint in the garden. An unknown phone call in the middle of the night. A noise outside the house when no one was around. We ignored all those signs. Perhaps because we were comfortable with our lives or perhaps we were in such denial." Nicomaine stopped and silently extended the empty glass in her hand for more of the liquor to which Daniel readily obliged. How he got the bottle in his hand that quick nobody knows. But Nicomaine gulped the liquid down and asked for another. As she asked for another one, and Daniel was at the ready to pour, Richard placed his hand over the glass and shook his head. 

"That's enough. We can continue this in the morning" he commanded. 

"NO! No! If I stop now, I won't be able to continue" Nicomaine blurted, her words starting to slur a little. 

"Maine. RJ is right. We can stop...for now" Daniel spoke out for the first time. 

"I can do this" Nicomaine insisted. "Anyway, 34 days ago, Anton found a note on the windshield of his car as he was leaving work to go home. It boldly stated 'Papa found you'. He rushed home as I rushed to their place. We were all getting ready to take off when Hanna went into labour. We couldn't leave. It was a planned home birth and 18 hours later, she gave birth to a baby girl. As that first cry echoed inside their house, it seemed like everything else was forgotten. That baby girl brought sunshine and rainbows with her. She became our sole focus in the next two hours after that. And then it happened. The world we thought we left in the Colombian forest caught up with us. It....happened...so fast!" Nicomaine stated in between dry hiccups of anguish and pain as she hugged herself and rocked her body back and forth. 

"I was walking home when I heard it. The sound of glass shattering and Anton's scream. I ran back to their house but I was too late. Too fuckin late! What could I have done anyway? I don't carry a gun on me. Hanna was lying on the floor, bleeding, taken out by a sniper shot and Anton the same. My best friends, shot like animals." Nicomaine started hyperventilating, the house seemingly closing in on her. As if she, once again was inhaling the smoke coming from the fire that burnt Hanna and Anton's house. "Hanna died instantly but Anton was able to give me instructions before he took his last breath. He wanted me to take the baby and run! To never let them catch up with me because they will surely kill me and take the baby, to be raised as one of them! Anton didn't want his child to grow up in the world that he worked so hard to leave behind. They died so fast that they didn't even get a chance to name their child. And me, much like the agent that we left behind 2 years ago, I did exactly that. I took the baby and left the bodies of my two best friends, in their burning house, and ran." 

"We were on the run ever since."