Got Smoke?

Me llamo Luis

Just moments ago, Luis and I had parted ways with Leon and Ashley. Luis hadn't kept his eyes off of me, but something told me he was still worried.

"Amara, you should've followed Leon. He's better with the ladies anyway," Luis said, and I couldn't help myself from chuckling. Luis furrowed his brow in confusion as he asked, "Is that not true?"

"Oh, Luis. Leon's clueless," I replied, still chuckling. "But Ashley's completely smitten with him."

"I can see that... And you?"

I stopped walking. I turned around to face him, giving him my answer, "Hard pass. Leon treats me like his little sister that kicks ass."

Luis laughed, his shoulders becoming less stiffened. "I'm sure you do."

"So, are we going to stand here all day to continue complimenting me or are we going to find that drug you were talking about?"

"I wouldn't mind doing that, mi amor," he said in a seductive voice, the one he used when we first met. I noticed that he had changed the word 'señorita' to 'amor'. I tried hard not to blush, so I cleared my throat instead. Luis gave his signature smile, the confident look he always wore. If he'd ask me, he was the ladies' man.

"Where's the drug? What is it in the first place?" I asked, changing the subject.

I continued to walk, and he kept up with me. I took a sneaky glance at Luis, who didn't seem like he heard me. I stopped walking abruptly, and he almost crashed into me. He started to apologise, but I cut him off.

"We can do this the easy way, you know. Without a gun pointing at you," I said, staring at him dead in the eyes. "Who are you, really?"

Luis took in a deep breath. There was no use hiding anything anymore. Luis' voice became quiet as he said, "There's a lot of things that I haven't said, Amara. I told Leon I used to be ex-policeman in Madrid."

"Mmhmm. You don't look like a policeman."

"No?" he laughed nervously. "Maybe, but I'm... I'm actually a researcher."

I waited for Luis to continue. He seemed to be struggling to get his words out. "I actually work for Osmund Saddler. I thought I was doing a good thing by helping out in the research of the Las Plagas, but I was wrong. I realised it too late. He's a crazy cultist who'd do anything to destroy this world."

When I didn't say anything, he looked away from me. He scratched the back of his head then muttered, "I'm sorry I never told you. I never meant for you to find out this way."

"So you planned on never telling me, or Leon?" I asked, and he shook his head slowly.

"I'm sorry, mi amor."

This time, it was my turn to take in a deep breath. "Before this, I wasn't sure— we weren't sure whether to trust you. After all, it's not just a coincidence that some random stranger would just want to help you. ...I think you've just proved yourself." 

"Really?"

"Not a hundred percent, if you'd ask me. I'm still keeping an eye on you."

"Fair enough," he agreed. "I'm sorry I had a part in all this. I swear I will make it up to you."

"Then let's start with the drug. Tell me about it."

"It's like pills. It will only help to suppress the growth of the Plagas inside. The Plagas, as you've seen, will take control over the body of the host once it fully grows. And once that happens, there's no way to save the host."

"Hell. Okay, then. Let's get them before Leon and Ashley get turned into one of those. Where can you find those pills?"

"My lab. Follow me."

When I didn't follow him immediately, he turned around and held out his hand. I ignored it but kept close to him. I could've sworn I saw his face fall, but nonetheless, he led me to the lower parts of the castle. We tried our best to sneak around the cultists and thanks to Luis who knew his way around, we used the secret tunnels and managed to avoid most conflicts. Some of the cultists managed to find us and started attacking with their medieval weapons. One of them threw a scythe at us, and I quickly pulled Luis down with me. My bullets ricochet off their bulletproof steel helmets, and I cursed. Luis avoided their attacks, giving them a distraction while I stole one of the cultist's sword. I stabbed it in the necks of the cultists. I thought they'd be dead but their heads exploded, and out came the same thing that popped out from the back of El Gigante.

"Careful, Amara! That's the Plagas!" Luis shouted from across the room.

I abandoned the sword and took out my handgun, shooting at all the Plagas. Once the room was cleared, Luis came running to me, slightly panting. "You okay, Amara?"

"Yeah, you?"

He nodded. Cliché as it sounded, it seemed like time stopped when we stared into each other's eyes. He reached his hand out and tucked a stray hair out of my face. Then he quickly turned around and continued to walk ahead. I forced myself to focus before following him. We walked through several hallways before reaching Luis' lab. It had been ransacked, and many of his research was more or less destroyed. Luis panicked, hurriedly searching through heaps of papers on his desk.

"Luis, what are we looking for?"

"White pills in a red bottle. It's labelled with a blue mark..." he trailed off. He exclaimed in triumph when he held something else in his hands.

"That's?"

"The Plaga sample. They didn't find this in my secret compartment," he said in relief. "I need to get this out and make sure Saddler never gets this."

"Okay. We'll bring it back to the U.S., and we'll make sure no one else gets their hands on it."

He looked at me and nodded slowly, slipping the Plaga sample into his pocket. We then continued to search the rest of his lab, but the pills weren't there. "Shit, that must mean that the ones I carried before were the last of it."

"Where did you drop it?" I asked.

"In one of the room upstairs when I was running away from there. I doubt it'll still be there."

"We have to find it. We just have to."

"I know," he spoke softly. "It's the least I can do for now to help Leon and Ashley."

"Let's go then," I said, turning to leave the room but at that moment my radio rang. I picked it up, thinking it was Hunnigan or Leon. An unfamiliar face showed up on the screen and I frowned immediately. "Who are you, old man?"

He snorted, "Ah, it appears Mr Kennedy's partner also has a sense of humour. Me llamo Ramon Salazar, the eighth Castellan of the magnificent architecture."

"I could care less. What the hell do you want?"

"I'm just here to tell you that we have the President's daughter."

"What?!"

He laughed, a sinister smile plastered on his face. "We'll kill Mr Kennedy and then we'll get to you, Miss Rollins. And we'll make sure to get rid of the traitor too."

"Let's see you try," I grumbled. With a scowl, he ended the transmission. I turned to Luis who had a guilty look on his face. "You said you wanted to make up to me, right? Then help me. Do this for me. You know you're doing the right thing."

A small smile appeared briefly on his face. "We'll get those pills."

"And then we'll save Ashley from Salazar."