Delgano: The Intro - Page 101

“She’s in the van!” Hannah yelled. “Adrían, go!”

He raced over to the van, which had smoke billowing from the windows. Part of the frame was already curled, consumed by tongues of angry orange flames. The scent of ash and melting rubber tinted the air, combined with the sickeningly sweet perfume of gasoline. Without thinking, he went to climb inside, but Lee grabbed him and pulled him back.

All the noise in the surrounding terrain died. The sun slowly rose, but it might as well have been midnight, and his chest felt like he’d fallen into too-deep waters. Then the van morphed into a cobbled street. A body lay in the middle, surrounded by a group of men wearing green shirts and dark work pants. This time, however, when the group disbanded, the person left behind was the amorphous embodiment of his repeated failures.

The smoke partially cleared.

Inside the van, he saw Sayeda’s dress, already burned to the point that it began to melt into the metal floor. The stench of burning human flesh followed. In a daze, he stumbled over to a patch of grass and vomited.

Hannah’s scream pierced the air.

He heard Trevor arguing with her, but he couldn’t face her, and he couldn’t look back at the van. If he turned back to the van, not even Lee would be able to stop him from climbing inside, holding Sayeda’s body, and letting nature take its course.

Lee’s hand landed on his shoulder.

When he realized that they would have to leave her like that, alone, without someone to give her a proper burial, he heaved again. Sweat dripped from his forehead, mingling with tears he didn’t care to hold back.

She didn’t deserve this.

Sayeda deserved the world.

Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, he righted himself and headed to the truck, careful not to glance at the van. Lee walked beside him, and Lee spoke, but he couldn’t make out any of the words.

When he reached the truck, Trevor squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sorry, mate.”

Numb, he climbed inside.

Spettro and Barnes rode in the truck bed while Hannah lay with her head on his legs in the cab, crying so much that they still didn’t know the extent of her injuries. In a moment of clarity, he checked her wounds, and the bullets had gone straight through. Yet, she’d lost a good deal of blood, and she had a nasty gash on her stomach.

“I know somewhere we can go,” she said, through tears.

They continued to Marrakesh, where they were directed around the back of a private property. A local physician tended to Hannah, and they were offered rooms, food, and toiletries. One of the owners, he recognized as Mrs. Kashif, and if Mrs. Kashif was working with Hannah, then it appeared that Hannah hadn’t trusted her aunt completely either. Sayeda said it was Hannah who’d introduced her to the smuggling operation, so Hannah probably had more pull in some areas than Mora had realized.

Later that evening, he sat in his designated room, by the window, overlooking the city. Someone knocked, but he didn’t turn around.

“I’m leaving,” Hannah said, her blurry frame on the periphery of his vision. “Once I’m good to go, anyway.”

He didn’t face her. “You’re okay?”

“No.” She cleared her throat. “But the reason I’m here is because I want you to come with me.”

“I can’t.”

“Central is going to expect you to keep going, Adrían, but you don’t have anything they can threaten you with other than your life.” Her voice broke. “Not anymore, anyway.”

“Mora killed Sayeda. So, it doesn’t matter how long it takes or that I have to work inside an organization I despise. I’m going to find Mora, and I’m going to burn the puta alive.”

Hannah nudged his arm. “Glad I’m not the ‘puta’ anymore.”

He didn’t smile.

“Trevor got a notification,” she continued. “You guys have to leave tonight to pick up passports, flight tickets, instructions—you know the deal. As far as anyone’s concerned, Hannah’s dead.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

“I stopped by for a hug.”

Sayeda’s smell still lingered on some parts of him, and he didn’t want to risk losing what little bit he had left. The smoke from the scene had already overshadowed some of it, but he wasn’t ready to let it all go.