| |
Regan Harris
G and G Brewery and Hostel
Honduras
“We’re trapped,” I whispered, pointing out the obvious.
“We could take our chances and just leave?” Jax suggested.
“But then Guy will know we are coming,” I said. “It’ll be more dangerous.”
“Then what do you suggest? We don’t have a lot of options.” Jax’s tone was sharp with me. I didn’t comment on it. All of us were feeling the stress of the situation. My knees were feeling the stress as well from being crouched down as we debated.
“Best-case, we get out of here without them knowing,” Ben said.
“Obviously.” My tone matched Jax’s. Ben gave me a sharp look but I didn’t apologize.
I looked at Jax and then Liam, hoping someone would come up with an idea. Jax adjusted her shirt, pulling the deep plunge of the neckline closer together.
“It worked before,” I said as I stared at Jax’s cleavage.
Everyone followed my line of sight. Jax crossed her arms as we stared at her chest.
“I don’t like it,” Liam said.
“But it did work before,” I countered.
“What worked?” Gracie asked, her voice thin as her patience ebbed.
“Sending Jax in as a distraction. If she could ask them for directions and get them talking and move them away from the gate, we could sneak out,” I said.
“What about me? I’d be here. Alone,” Jax said.
“There’s got to be something else,” Liam said. “They’d notice our car was gone anyway and would call Guy.”
Liam and Jax pointed out the two flaws in my plan. I shifted my weight to ease the strain on my knees. Adults weren’t built for squatting.
“Let’s steal a car,” Gracie said.
“That’s illegal,” I said.
“Now you have morals? You brought a gun into a foreign country. We’re about to challenge a drug lord. Stealing a car is a small blip on the radar,” Gracie pointed out.
“In for a penny, in for a pound,” Liam said. “Let’s do it. Which one?”
“Can anyone here even hotwire a car?” I asked. It was a skill I’d always wanted to learn.
“That one. The red one.” Ben ignored my question and pointed out a small hatchback parked across the lot closest to the exit. I took his eagerness for a yes. “The trees will hide us until we get to it.”
“It’ll be a tight fit,” Liam said.
“Easiest one here to hotwire.”
Ben didn’t wait for us to agree. He turned and moved toward his target. The rest of us followed. I watched the guards as we moved. They were relaxed and kept talking to each other, unaware they weren’t alone.
Ben put his hand up, and all of us stopped moving. The guards stood facing our direction. We waited. Waited for something to have them turn away.
God must’ve been on our side today. Someone called out from inside the complex. Both guards turned in their direction. The five of us moved quickly toward the car. Ben tried the driver’s side door handle and the door swung open, unlocked. Gracie, Jax and I pushed ourselves into the backseat. The small car was cramped with so many of us in it. We sat hip to hip with our bags in our laps.
Liam and Ben’s knees pushed into the dashboard but there wasn’t any room for the seats to be pushed back. Both hunched their shoulders down to give their heads more room. We were imitating a clown car, not an ounce of space left inside.
Ben fumbled around under the steering column, somehow managing to find room to work. The car tried to turn over twice before catching. The engine roared to life. I looked over my shoulder. The guards weren’t paying us any attention.
Ben put the car in first gear and roared off, quickly shifting to second. I gave him directions when we hit the main road. Ben pushed the old car as fast as it would go. The rest of us willed it to move faster. Trees blurred past as we sped down the two-lane highway. I pointed out the next turn.
“The parking lot is about two miles up.”
Ben drove the remaining distance. He parked the car on the side of the road about five hundred yards from the lot entrance. Everyone scrambled out leaving our bags on the seats.
“I’ll leave the car running. Honk three times if something is wrong. We’ll come back. If anyone stops and offers help, tell them you are just waiting to meet a friend.”
Jax and Gracie nodded. I hugged them both and then followed Ben into the woods. Liam brought up the rear. We took a winding path since there wasn’t a clearly marked trail. The humidity was rising with the sun. Mosquitos played kamikaze with us, diving straight for any exposed skin. I gave up on swatting the bugs away after a few minutes. There were just too many of them.
The trees started to thin as we neared the park. Ben motioned for us to crouch down and hide. Ben, Liam and I all laid on our stomachs, watching through the leaves in the brush. Guy stood with two men. One was the man from the cabin earlier today. Even from a distance I could see his swollen, red nose. His eyes were already starting to blacken. Guy flexed the fingers on his right hand, probably sore from the fight earlier.
A commotion at the entrance had us all turn to look. A Jeep roared into the lot, spraying up gravel as it skidded to a stop. Two men jumped out, both holding guns and pointing them at Guy. Neither Guy nor his friends had time to react. Their hands rested on the butts of their guns but they remained holstered.
“We’re screwed.”