Chapter Text
I suppose I should be grateful to pinche federales for saving my life but being stuck in this hot office ratting out my friends is making me sweat like a pig. They could have turned the heat down at least.
“Guero, who is this?”
Shit! There on the screen of the laptop are surveillance photos of Camila Vargas meeting none other than mi Teresita. ¿Qué estás haciendo Teresa? You were supposed to make sure you stay alive with that book! And I was supposed to finish with the federales and get you to go do all the things we planned.
The pendejo that brought the laptop in slaps the table.
“Who is the girl, Guero?”
“Teresa Mendoza.”
I’ve been stuck in this shitty motel for months now. I can’t do anything or go anywhere without cops watching my every move. Loya is fine for a federale but his company got old about 2 days in.
Ever since they showed me that photo, I can’t stop thinking about what is going on with Teresa. She was supposed to be safe and Epi was supposed to leave her alone because she has that book. ¿Cómo fue que ella se quedo al final con Camila? Loya is not telling me anything except that they are watching her and that my position got worse because they think I’m lying about her.
There is a knock on the door and here we go again. I look out of peephole to see Loya shifting his feet and holding a fat folder in his hands.
“¡Vamos Güero! We have work to do!”
I let him in and walk across the room to light up a cigarette. He sits at a rickety table and opens the folder that is filled with HD photos.
“I know you’re mad because your plan for making contact with Teresa was denied but there are ways for you to help her still. Look at these pictures and tell me what’s going on.”
He shows me some pictures of few of Camila’s foot soldiers carrying boxes and I explain to him how this method of moving product works. He asks about locations for exchanging shipments and I give him few locations I know are burned.
Loya gets up and goes outside to give his boss the information, leaving me with rest of the pictures in the folder. I see a bit of curly brown hair that I recognize and quickly dig for the picture.
What I see is so unexpected that I genuinely freeze for a moment.
Teresa is standing by the side of the road next to a giant, black Chevy truck and she is looking at a man. She’s looking at him with gentleness that I thought was reserved only for myself. Their body language indicates that they are arguing but her face says that she is not angry or annoyed with the man.
The man is taller than Teresa. Looks to be around our age and definitely mexicano. Thick dark hair, olive skin and beard. He is dressed in all black and is holding black aviator sunglasses in his hand.
I start looking through other photos and find that it’s a series. I put them in order and my heart boils in jealousy.
They seem to be arguing in the beginning photos. Pendejo seems to be explaining something to her. She then touches his arm first as if to calm him down and reassure him and then she cups his face gently. He turns his head and kisses her palm seeming to calm down. They then get closer to each other and touch foreheads and seem to breathe each other for a second with their eyes closed. Then they hug and he kisses her forehead. She gives him a gentle smile and they return to the truck.
Creak
The door startles me out of my rage. Loya comes into the room and sees what I was looking at. He looks at me with uncertainty.
“¿Quién es este cabrón?” I ask barely containing my emotions.
“Oh, you don’t know him?” Loya tries to play coy but my temper is shot.
“¡Claro que no! ¿Quién es?”
“His name is James Valdez, we think he’s Camila’s number 2 but we have nothing on him. He was US Army sergeant and finished sniper school with flying colors, was decorated in the service. Honorably discharged after his 5 years was up. Rumor has it that there was some personal problem he needed to solve and that’s why he didn’t re up. We haven’t figured out how he ended up with the cartel and Camila specifically.”
I know that name but Loya’s speech makes my stomach churn. Even he thinks the guy is admirable.
“I heard about him. El soldado gringo de Camila. He supposedly saved Camila’s life, killed the Castillas cartel’s sicario when he came after her. She took him under her wing after that.”
I can’t stop thinking about them. The pictures are burned in my brain and I want to punch something. How could she move on so easily?
I’m not listening to Loya’s rambling until a word catches my ear.
“....the mic managed to catch part of the conversation. We want you to listen to it, there might be something we didn’t get but you might.”
Loya is looking at me carefully and he is right to do so. I feel like I’m on the verge of exploding but now that I know the recording exists, I need to hear it.
“Yeah, sure, let’s go!”
I’m back in the DEA office but this time they put me in a nice, well lit conference room. That’s what I get for my girlfriend moving on months after she thought I died. The pity I see in the eyes of the Federales only makes my blood boil more.
Loya is here looking at me with hopeful eyes. El Tonto thinks I’m going to bring him a promotion if I’m angry enough at Teresa.
Three more of them enter the room with that maldito laptop. Older guy who looks more like a leader of biker gang than Federale is Loya’s boss Finnerman. And the younger is that same pendejo that first showed me a picture of Teresa and Camila. The third is a pretty black woman that looks like she has “cop” tattooed on her forehead.
“Mr. Davila, we have a recording for you. Let’s see if there is anything you can tell us.”
At least Finnerman doesn’t beat around the bush. I’m ready to get this over with. I need to hear this with my own ears.
The pendejo presses play on the laptop.
[crackling sound turning into a truck driving by then into man’s voice somehow harsh and soft at the same time]
“Or what? You think you’ll become like me? Is that what you’re afraid of?’”
“You’re a good person James.”
The gentleness of her voice hurts me in a way I never felt before. Not that long ago, she talked to me like that.
“Listen to me! There is no good or bad in this business! There is win or lose, live or die. Today…”
[another truck passes by drowning out the voice]
“...and we’re short. Short with money means survival.”
“You mean I left a witness.”
[the man’s voice becomes a little gentler]
“We’re in this together. It’s on us.”
The way he talks to her makes me uncomfortable and makes my fists itch to punch him.
“That thing you’re trying to keep alive inside you? That’s what’s gonna get us killed.”
“It’s still alive inside you too, James. It’s the reason we’re in this together. No matter how many people you take care of.”
“Come here.”
[there is silence and then shuffling sound of fabric rubbing together, then barely audible man’s voice]
“I’ll fix it later.”
The rage that was simmering inside of me suddenly explodes and I throw the glass of water they provided me into the opposite wall. It shatters into million pieces and droplets but I don’t feel the satisfaction or release of the rage and pain inside me.
“¡Maldito hijo de puta! ¿Quién se cree que es?” I shout with impotence at the situation.
I realize that they don’t plan to ask me any questions. This was a ploy to try and make me more cooperative. There is no way I have any information on what they are talking about in the recording.