The man noticed Perisa, one of my housekeepers, hiding in the corner and confronts her at gunpoint. I see it from my peripheral.
“Tell me where they are, or I will kill you and your entire family!” he spits at her.
“Por el tunel,” she cries, pointing toward the wall. “Por favor no me lastimes!”
Through the tunnel. Please don’t hurt me.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! They’ll find Hazel. I failed.
The man slaps her across the face with his handgun, and she falls to the floor. My vision blurs as I try hard to stay awake. Miles’s voice is gone.
I hear the helicopters circling the compound. I know he has what he wanted. I can feel it. My body won’t let me rise. Like a weight has me pinned to the ground. More shots are unleashed on the security headquarters. I hear my team fire back weakly. The house shakes. We’ve been hit bad. There must be carnage. I try to drag myself to all-fours. My phone is on the ground, not far from me. Blood seeps out of me faster than I can catch it from my chest.
Luckily, one of my security team members finds me. My mouth goes dry. It feels like cotton. The roof of my mouth and tongue are stuck together. I try to raise my hand to speak, but I drop it and close my eyes.
“Mav, stay with me, buddy. Open your eyes. You have to open your eyes. Don’t die on me yet.”
Mike is standing over me. My vision is blurred, but I manage to get the word out. “Hazel…”
“They got her. They got her, sir. I’m sorry. We got bloodshed here. The house. Casualties.”
The room spun and then faded to black.