One Last Favor (Canvas/Capstone)

I was helpless. My legs were tied with old phone cord to frigid steel rails. The 1970s robins egg blue plastic chair was shaped like a punch bowel ladle and cut into the sides of my arms. It had been years since I saw a chair so horribly suited for sitting in. The discomfort didn't matter much, I would be dead within the hour.

On the outside of the old lean-to, the boys where talking softly amongst themselves. They had to hike back up the hill to find a signal, leaving me blessedly alone for the first time in days. The tall one, I think they called him Raphael, had to transmit the account codes out to his boss.

I had lasted two days. Two days of cold and pain. Two days of thirst. I didn't want to tell them. To many people had died getting that money. In the end it was touching, soft and gentle, that did me in. I could handle the beatings. I could bare the pain of the cigarettes against my skin. It was his hands that broke me in the end. His hands softly touching me, his low voice whispering softly what he was going to do. I sobbed, choking it down so they couldn't hear me.

My swollen tongue tripped over dry, cracked lips and I winced with the burning pain. Weakness and hunger had stolen my wits from me and bled away my strength. My head hung, like a broken necked chicken, to weak to raise up and look for a way out.

The crunch of twigs under foot, snapping with the approach of Raphael and his men, roused me from unconsciousness. "It's done chica. See so simple, I dont know why you had to make it so hard on yourself." His grimy finger slid down my face and I swallowed hard, attempting to keep my vomit down.

"It's over, we clean you up, drop you back off at the hotel."

I didn't believe for a minute he would set me free. I knew too much. "And all of this? It all happened in a dream I had? None of it was real."

"Exactly baby." His hand slid up my thigh and the sob I had swallowed earlier tore free. "I couldn't believe your no good imbecile brother, tricked me. I should have given him more credit. And then he stepped in front of my bullet...so sad. I didn't know what I would tell the boss man. I thought I was done." He reached behind me, his breath sticking to my neck. He untied my wrists from the rope binding my feet. Kneeling he kissed my knee and ran his hands down my leg, freeing my feet. "I stood outside of your brothers funeral, planning my next move. I thought I was done, but there you were. So beautiful. I remembered your brother, how he loved you and I knew...I knew where the money went."

Damn Thomas. He had just wanted one last favor. Come to Brazil and pick up a package for him. I hadn't planned on attending his funeral, or being kidnapped. "What do you want from me? I told you want I know." His hand grabbed my neck and he jerked me up right on my feet.

"I have to call the boss in ten minutes, make sure your not a lying puta. What do you think we can do in ten minutes hmmm?" His mouth slimmed its way across my face. Ten minutes was enough. Reaching behind me, I grabbed the back of the chair with my bound wrists. I swung it around, cracking Raphael's face open. Lifting my foot I kicked him in the chest, sending him to the jungle floor.

"Damn Rapheal!" The fat one called out. "Leave some for the rest of us." I pressed the edge of the chair into his throat, leaning my body into the chair. Rapheals face turned purple and his tongue gaped out of his mouth. Sliding his knife from its sheath, I slide it across his bruised throat. It was like slicing open a rare steak.

Part of me wanted to scream or cry. There would be time for that, but first I had to take care of the boys. And then I was going to get the hell out of this jungle. The boss would find out soon enough the codes were fake...and I had a lot of clean up to do. It was the least I could do for my baby brother...It was the last mess I would clean up for him. If I got out of it alive, it would be the only scheme Thomas set up that actually worked. To bad he wasn't alive to see it.