To Catch A Ghost: a Red Dead Redemption fan fiction

Chapter 12 - La Masacre

Part 12:

La Masacre

By the time Maddie and Jack got back to El Presidio, it was nearly dawn. Their horses were dripping with sweat and their sides heaved with exertion as they pulled their mounts to a stop before the perimeter fence. The soldiers stationed there held up their hands and beckoned them to come no further.

"¡Detener!" one of the men shouted. "¿Dónde estabas tú? ¿Dónde ir?" He glared up at them with suspicion.

"¡Ellos han traicionado a nosotros!" the other soldier proclaimed and went for his pistol. "¡Ellos son espías de la Phantasma!"

"¡No somos espías!" Maddie proclaimed. "Venimos con información acerca de La Phantasma. Estábamos espiando a ella. Ahora, bajar su arma. Tenemos que ver al Presidente."

The soldiers exchanged dubious looks. "¿Cómo podemos confiar en usted?" the first one asked.

Maddie sighed with irritation. "¡Paso de lado, idiota! Este es un asunto del Presidente."

After another moment of deliberation, the soldiers stepped aside. "Muy bien," the first soldier said. He motioned them to ride forward through the make-shift gate and onto the main gates of El Presidio. "Proceder."

"Gracias," Maddie said, inclining her head in appreciation. She nudged Gypsy's sweat-soaked sides; her tired mount walked forward. Jack urged Sundance to follow as the gates opened. Once inside, they unsaddled their horses, fed and watered them, then went in search of the President.

He found them before they were not even ten feet away from their horses. The bounty hunters flinched and halted the second they laid eyes on Reyes, who was marching straight towards them with his generals following right at his heels like a pack of obedient dogs. The outrage that enveloped the President seeped into Jack and Maddie as he approached.

"¡TRAIDORES! ¡ESPÍAS!" Reyes roared as he stopped in front of them. Since his injured arm was held in a sling, he pointed harshly at the two with the other, his finger inches from their faces, as he spat, "HOW DARE YOU LEAVE THIS FORTRESS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! YOU MET WITH LA PHANTASMA, DIDN'T YOU?!" Abreast of him, his generals rested their hands on the butts of their firearms, ready to shoot if need be.

Maddie was the first to retaliate. Before Jack could hold her back, she boldly stepped forward and shouted, "¡No somos traidores o espías! We are bounty hunters! We're just doing our jobs!"

"You left without my permission! You're conspiring against me!"

"Like hell we are!" Maddie retorted. "We've been spying on La Phantasma, not you, you idiot! We left last night without your permission because we knew you wouldn't let us go anyways, and we knew you wouldn't go spying on her yourself! You're marching into this battle unprepared! It doesn't matter how many men you have over her; you need to go into a fight with a plan, Reyes, not just your ego!"

"¡SILENCIO!" he screamed. "I AM THE PRESIDENT, AND I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M DOING! I WILL ATTACK HER TOMORROW WITH ALL THE FORCE OF MY ARMY, AND I WILL DESTROY HER!" He pointed once more at her and her husband and added, "AND YOU WILL FIGHT ALONGSIDE MY ARMY!"

Livid, Jack stepped forward and glared at the President with a countenance that could make a rattlesnake quiver with fear. "We're not a part of your army, Reyes," he boldly declared, looking him firmly in the eyes. "Like my wife said, we are bounty hunters, and we'll do as we damn well please. So go ahead and storm that place; kill as many soldiers as you want, yours and La Phantasma's alike." He pointed harshly at him and spat, "All that blood is on your hands." He gestured back to Maddie and himself. "We will not be a part of that massacre. We have one job, and that's to stop La Phantasma by any means necessary. ¿Comprende, amigo?"