Page 28 of Trig

“And you? Are you ready?” She waves her hand down, indicating my gimp leg.

“It’s different.”

“I want my life back. I need to breathe again. It feels like I’m wearing this heavy coat of suffering and all I want to do is shed it. I want the honor.”

“Nine, everyone in this room is wearing the same damn coat.”

“I said I want it. If you don’t let me come and rip out his insides, I’ll rip out yours instead,” she pushes.

She looks away from me while biting her bottom lip. Her persistence makes me want to breathe out fire. I take a moment to steady my nerves and suffocate my lack of patience. We all need this to happen, to be there, and to extract our piece of the revenge pie. I nod as the realization sets in.

“I don’t want you anywhere near Carmen.” I pause. “But…you can have someone else.”

She knows. “His daughter?”

She licks her lips and throws her head back as if I just sweetened the deal.

“When do we leave?” she asks.

“Now,” Gabriel says.

We all start to shuffle around. With the mission on, the energy shifts from dark to light and then back to dark again. Gabriel’s brothers-in-law run out to their vehicle and come back in with a few suitcases loaded down with a variety of guns. I feel like a kid in a candy store. The beauty of these weapons excites me.

“Those are fucking nice,” Gabriel says. Everyone else just nods.

While we’re all admiring the display of today’s murder weapons, the doctor’s wife keeps Mya busy in another room. My adrenaline is ramping up with each second.

“Everyone, grab your fav, and I’ll toss the rest in the car,” one of the brothers says.

We pick out a few and stand there waiting for a few seconds. It’s the quietness that sets in; maybe a realization that today may go terribly wrong.

“Everyone ready?” Gabriel asks.

The other three men nod. Nine and I just stare at each other.

“Give us a second. One last thing to do,” I say.

We walk hand in hand toward the room where Mya is playing. She sees us and jumps off the doctor’s wife’s lap. I move my bad leg out of the way as she barrels over to hug my good one.

“Hey, listen! Mommy and I are going to go out.”

“Like on a date?” She grins.

I swallow to coat my dry throat.

“Yeah. Like on a date.”

“What time are you coming back?” she asks.

“Um,” I hesitate to reply because I don’t know if we will safely return.

“We’ll be back when the stars go to sleep and the sun comes out,” Nine cuts in.

She looks at the doctor’s wife. “Woman to woman, I am asking you to protect her with your life. I owe you and your husband for a lot of things and I’m not good at expressing gratitude, but I will forever be in your debt if you keep her safe.”

“Of course. She’s in good hands,” she responds.

Nine squats down carefully and gives Mya a huge hug and a kiss. “I love you very much. Always remember that.”

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