Pandora's Box

Chapter 24

From where Pandora sat on the ground, the gag that had been bound around her lips now fallen after she had struggled, she could see the frame of Carlos Garcia sag at his sister's words, despite the flash of anger that sizzled through his eyes. "Nō. Padre-"

"Papa wouldn't want you like this, hermano." Claudia beseeched again. And despite the antagonistic setting where they were at, in that instant Pandora could see the grief that had driven the nineteen year old to do what he did. Perhaps it was a mixture of desperation and a desire for revenge, but whatever his motives, none of them were thoroughly bad to begin with.

"Rhys, let her come nearer please." Pandora spoke out, letting the echo of the empty warehouse carry her voice over.

Her words made the half-Asian freeze, and then shook his head in a determined fashion. "Not without you."

"I know what I'm doing, Rhys Jarett. Let Claudia over. At least half the distance."

His mind raced, when it suddenly froze when what she had said sunk in, and he looked over his poised and ready gun to peer at Pandora, shock and surprise coloring his dark irises. "Dora? You-"

"A little. Now would you just do as I say, Rhys, please."

He frowned, exchanging a look with Anthony and Benedict. Much to his surprise, his foster father actually gave a nod, and acquiescing to their wishes, Rhys found himself escorting young Claudia half a dozen steps closer, before the brunette young girl of Mexican heritage spoke again. "Don't cause more trouble for ourselves, hermano. She was doing her job. Just like padre, just like you. But lets not let more people die for our jobs, hermano. Por favor."

"Claudia, it's for your own good. I... You were... You barely knew padre and madre, and-"

"I had you, hermano. And that was more then I could ever ask for. Even when they were around, padre was barely around anyway, and madre was so caught up with him she barely looked at me. You were the one who fed me and played with me, brought me out and bought me treats." Claudia's eyes were watering by then, and Carlos himself was biting his lip as if holding back emotions he refused to admit he felt. "I don't need them. I just need you, hermano. Don't let them take you away from me too."

As if a dam had suddenly broke, Carlos' grip on his weapon shivered, and then he finally let it fall as he fell to his knees. Almost immediately, Claudia ran towards her brother's open arms as the rest of the squad burst in to round up the half dozen men whom Carlos has with him, while Anthony and Benedict went along with the CIASF squad to stand around the embracing siblings.

Rhys wasted no time it booking it right next to Pandora, his hands shoving his gun into it's holster before quickly getting to work on her bindings. "Are you alright?" was his first, immediate question, to which the blonde haired one flashed him a grin.

"Better now that you're here."

---

Within an hour, Pandora was now seated in the ambulance on her way to the nearest hospital. She had tried to insist that she was fine aside from a few cuts and scrapes, but Rhys had insisted, practically plastering himself to her side as he had brought her out from the warehouse. They had to have a pitstop, with Pandora insisting to file a statement to the CIA in hopes that it would reduce Carlos Garcia's sentence. After the warehouse had been cleared out, she found she couldn't bear the idea of the heavy sentence Carlos Garcia may have to bear, especially with Claudia being so young. In the end, no decision could be made just yet, but Benedict promised to fill them in as he and Anthony loaded them in to the back of the patrol car.