Slipping Into Darkness Read online

  “No. They just had their babies, trying to trap David. I told him about these gold-digging bitches. He paid his child support and everything, but that wasn’t what they wanted. When they couldn’t get him to leave me, they just dumped the babies on our doorstep, one by one. I’ve had them since they were babies.”

  “Didn’t it bother you that Mayhem cheated on you?”

  Appolonia shrugged. “It goes with the territory. Powerful men are women magnets. I was the one driving a Bentley.”

  Hmmm. She sure seemed accepting of Mayhem’s whorish ways. “Why have you always been involved with drug dealers?”

  “As you see, I grew up very poor. The drug traffickers were the ones with the money.”

  “How did you get with Diablo in the first place?”

  She brushed her curly hair back from her face, as she tried to keep pace with me. “I met him when I was ten or eleven. He was just coming up then. He had his eye on me, even back then. He started out buying me clothes he had shipped from America. He had connections with the men on the ship. He never touched me until my period started.”

  “But why him? He seems so–so evil.”

  “When you grow up in the favela, sometimes you don’t even have money to buy Kotex. I was a girl who always wanted nice things. I wanted more than my mother and grandmother could give me. I liked going to school dressed in pretty American-made clothes. All the girls would admire my clothes, and ask, ‘Oh, how can you afford them?’”

  “What did your mother say? Did she ask where you got the clothes from?”

  “She worked hard at the clothing factory, sewing all day, and she didn’t have any energy to see what I was doing. When she asked, ‘Where did you get the clothes?’ I would tell her my grandmother gave me the money for sweeping for her. I was what they called a ‘useful’ child. They used to say, ‘Make yourself useful. ’

  “See, I was one who always swept up and did work for my grandmother at her sewing job, so I told them my abuela bought them. But Diablo bought them.”

  “Well, when you came to America and changed your identity, how come you got with my brother?”

  “David has ambition. I always like that about him. He’s a business man, just like any man on Wall Street.”

  “Mayhem is a drug dealer!”

  “You think that they don’t deal drugs on Wall Street?”

  I turned and looked at her. I couldn’t answer that question. “Well, why didn’t you go to school, get an education, take care of yourself since you were given a second chance? You were in America. The land of opportunity. Right? Why did you hook up with another drug dealer?”

  “Look, I know you’re judging me. I didn’t have a mother or anyone in Los Angeles to guide me. Even when I had a mother and grandmother, I was attracted to Diablo. So this is just me.”

  “Well, how did you meet Mayhem?”

  “I met David shortly after I got to stateside. I was only fifteen. He was just coming up with his business. I started out as a mule for him, and then, when I turned eighteen, I wound up becoming his woman. David is ambitious, he’s smart, and he’s been good to me. All the women see what me and him have built together and they want to take it. They think he’ll do for them what he does for me, but he won’t. He’s shrewd like that.”

  “Well, why do you think Escobar didn’t retaliate against you for sending him away? Most people in the witness protection program are targeted if they turn in someone.”

  “I don’t know. He just wants to keep me near. Now, he may not trust me, but so far, he hasn’t killed me.”

  “I’ll take you to your mother; then I’ve got to get out of dodge. If I were you, I would get out of Rio too.”

  “I’m not leaving yet. You shouldn’t go to the airport from here. I’ll have Idina take you up the Amazon. You can leave from the airport in Manaus.”

  “Who is Idina?” I asked.

  “Idina; she’s the lady who is taking care of your mother.”

  “Yes. She’s from one of those unnamed tribes in the rainforest. She knows the terrain.”

  Chapter Twenty-five

  I watched Appolonia go in to say her good-byes with her dying mother, Axa. Meanwhile, I waited in the living room for Esmeralda to arrive with my traveling bag and my passport.

  Esmeralda arrived within fifteen minutes. She handed me my bag and passport. I frisked in my bag, looking for my iPhone; then I remembered I’d taken it to the Carnivale with me. It was missing when I woke up, tied to Escobar’s bed. I couldn’t worry about that now.

  Tears rolled down Esmeralda’s face. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for getting my granddaughter here.” Appolonia came in, and the two women broke down crying and hugging at the same time.

  Annoyed, I didn’t answer. Yes, I got your granddaughter here to say good-bye to her dying mother, but at what price? I thought. Now I could never look at my man with the same purity I had before. I would never be able to tell Romero what really happened to me in Brazil, I decided.

  As I was leaving the hospice with Idina, I heard the rat-tat-tat-tattat of gunshots. My heart started pounding and my senses all jumped to attention.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a group of Escobar’s men leap out of a Jeep, two doors down from the house. They were all brandishing their guns.

  “There she is! Kill her!” I heard Alfredo’s voice rise in a stentorian bellow. The other three men began shooting at me. Obviously, I’d been IDed. Alfredo seemed to hold back and just give the orders.

  I pushed Idina back in the house. “Run. Hide!”

  In a leap off the porch, I darted and ducked behind a neighbor’s car, then cocked my gun. My heart started catapulting in my chest. I took a deep breath, trying to center myself. I pulled on all my experience as a former police and all that I’d learned as a P.I. As a final resort, I remembered my Higher Power. I said a quick prayer, “Lord, help me!”

  It was as if a voice spoke out loud to me:

  If you want to survive in battle, you have to improvise. The best laid plans will kill you. Remember; the greatest weapon in any battle is surprise.

  Gratefully, a spirit of calm settled over me. I stayed in position between the car and a house behind me. I methodically took my time whenever I would shoot. It seemed to have provided a good barricade. I didn’t know how many bullets I had, but I didn’t want to waste any of them. The first man who came forward toward me was blasting with all his might, and all I saw was a hail of bullets. The booming sounds of the gunshots let me know he had a high-powered nine millimeter. My ears tingled from the loud boom boom sounds of gunfire. I remained calm, though, crouched on my knees in the eye of the storm. Surprisingly lucid, I aimed and fired. I hit my first attacker between the eyes. He didn’t exactly know where I was hiding, but now the others knew where I was. I moved farther down to another car.

  The second man, seeing his friend fall, seemed unnerved and even more enraged and determined to kill me. He came charging toward me with an indestructible attitude. As a drug lord, I guess he believed in his own myth. That he was larger than life. He just kept coming at me, acting as if he was bulletproof. In his frontal attack, he was shooting aimlessly, though, still walking toward my hiding place. From where I stooped, I saw my advantage. I could see he was losing control he was so livid. I thought he was driven by the nerve of it all. He acted as if how dare I, as a woman, kill his crony?

  I was amazed as he stalked straight toward me, as if to say since he was a crime lord, I was supposed to be intimidated. Well, my back was up against the wall, and I had to do what I had to do. I was in the most dangerous space in the world for a person to be. It was called do or die. Me or him. And truthfully, if anyone had a choice between choosing their life over an assailant’s life, it would be their life every time.

  When he got four feet away, I watched my assailant walk straight into my next bullet, which went straight into his heart. I could see the look of surprise on his face as he dropped to his knees, then crumpled ov
er.

  The third man seemed a little intimidated by my marksmanship. He ducked behind a car and shot from there. I studied him as he developed a rhythm. He would dip, then shoot, dip then shoot. I stepped inside his rhythm and waited for him to come up and shoot, and I aimed. Bam. I hit him on the second shot. He collapsed.

  After exchanging fire, I realized I’d shot three of the four men who had come after me. I felt detached the whole time. I was in that place in the jungle called “survival of the fittest.” I didn’t get triumphant feeling, because I knew it was not over.

  My artillery was gone. Alfredo was still out there. I paused. How would he come at me? I had to get a grip on my emotions and be ready.

  Finally I heard Alfredo calling out, “I’ll kill you, bitch. I’m gonna cut you down ’til you’ll be too short to shit.”

  “Not if I kill you first.” I gritted my teeth. Blood surged to my fists. I pulled my trigger and it clicked. I was out of ammunition. I sucked my teeth in disgust, then threw my gun down and charged forward, filled with hatred. I was in the belly of the beast and I had to slay the dragon. We hit each other with such force, I heard him let out an “Oomph.” We got into hand-to-hand combat.

  Alfredo’s face was lobster red where I had thrown the hot tea on him, but the purple rage that colored his skin came from a different source–he wanted revenge. His eyes blazed murderously; his veins stood out in livid ridges. He threw his gun down on the ground. For him to be an older dude, Alfredo was in good shape. He was amped because I had embarrassed him in front of his boys, and I was pumped because of my anger at him for taking advantage of me when I was drugged.

  I fought with everything in me. Everything I learned in my tae kwon do class helped me in the fight. We circled each other, and for every thrust Alfredo made at me, I was able to kick and deflect his movement. He knew some form of martial arts too, but I was younger and faster. I was shocked at the calmness that stayed in the center of my mind, but I knew it would be a fight to the finish. Either I would die, or he would die.

  Finally I was able to strike Alfredo’s carotid artery with the side of my hand turned like a hatchet and watched blood spurt out his mouth. He slumped over on top of me. I pushed him off, trying to keep the blood off me, but I was covered in his blood.

  I couldn’t believe it! I’d killed a man with my bare hands. My adrenalin, which coursed through my arteries, was just beginning to slow down. I didn’t really think about it. I scooped up Alfredo’s gun, which still had bullets in it, from the street. I decided to keep it for safety until I reached the airport. I didn’t know if they would kill Appolonia or what. She made her choice. I made mine. All the money in the world that Alfredo offered could not buy my soul. Everybody has to make their own choices. All I knew was now I had to get home.

  Breathing in ragged snorts, I staggered back into the hospice. I was sore, covered in Alfredo’s blood, but I didn’t have any marks on me. The mark I had was a deeper scar on my soul.

  “Are you okay?” Appolonia rushed to me.

  Esmeralda looked shocked. “I’ve never seen a woman fight like you. You just took down four men. You did what the police here haven’t been able to do. Keep that amulet with you.”

  Dazed, I didn’t answer. “Give me my suitcase and my passport. I’m out of here.”

  My arms hung loosely at my side as the two women hugged me. I felt floppy as a dead fish, eyes wide open, shocked. I was so numb I couldn’t even feel my own hands. I glanced down and saw the trigger burns on the inside of my palms.

  “Here, put this jacket on,” Appolonia said. “You’re covered in blood.” Samaria slipped a khaki jacket over my shoulders. “Please leave before Escobar gets here. Idina will get you to safety.”

  Without saying good-bye, I followed Idina as she rushed into her small Tracker Jeep. I climbed in the car and rode in silence as she drove us to the Amazon River.

  There was a boat leaving for Manaus when we arrived at the dock. The ride up the Amazon was terrifying and mind-boggling. I was in a single motor boat. The hunter green tree branches hung over the river and you could see strange birds I’d never seen before shoot out. I didn’t know what to do. A fog arose from the water and the only light I could see was the one from the boat and the only sound I could hear was the one from the motor, putt, putt, putting.

  Idina warned, “Keep your hands in the boat. Look out for snakes. They hang from the trees. We’re going through the rainforest.”

  I didn’t answer. I just shivered and sat covered in a net, the insects were so treacherous. A mosquito had bitten my neck, and when I squashed it, I was surprised at the size of the insect. I felt a stream of blood on my neck, and I rubbed it absently with my finger.

  I was frozen in time. Suddenly we were engulfed in blackness. I was in the heart of darkness. I saw a few tribes on the shore, waving at us.

  “Headhunters. Cannibals,” the boat captain said. I was too numb to be afraid.

  It turned so dark, you couldn’t see stars; you couldn’t see anything but black. We floated through different levels of black. Purplish black. Blue black. Indigo black. We were swallowed up by the wilderness.

  My eyes darted about maniacally, trying to pick objects out of the gloom. Finally the clouds parted like the Red Sea and a glimmer of moon eased through the tree branches and the world turned grey. It was like watching a drop of dew on a rose petal. You could make out the outline of the thicket on each side of the river, and I felt a little more relieved.

  All I wanted was to see America again. I couldn’t wait to get back home to the land of the free, the home of the brave. I didn’t know if I’d ever be the same again.

  I was concerned for my brother’s release but now, all I wanted to do was to get home safely.

  Everything seemed surreal. I think I dozed off, but I remember waking up because, at one point we had to outrun an anaconda, which floated near our boat. I woke up in time to see what looked like a sea monster. I took out my gun and shot three bullets into the huge snake’s body.

  Afterward, I didn’t–no, couldn’t–go back to sleep. I felt like I was in hell, and didn’t know if I would ever get out safely. Why did I get involved? Why didn’t I just agree to marry Romero and lead a safe life? Well, if I made it back safely to America, that’s just what I was going to do.

  I touched my amulet. What danger lurked in the rainforest? What if Escobar’s men followed me up the Amazon? I didn’t have my iPhone and the gun only had a couple of bullets left in the chamber.

  To tell the truth, I wasn’t a religious person, but that day I prayed and meditated like crazy. In the wilderness, the laws of battle change. I will just sit still and pray. I need courage. At the end of the day, I just wanted to make it home with as much of my integrity intact as possible.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  As soon as my plane landed at LAX, I let out a sigh of relief. I’d never been so happy to be stateside–America. However, my return home was bittersweet. I didn’t have my gun, or my iPhone, which I left behind in Brazil. But I had my life, which felt strange now. I wondered if I’d ever be the same person I used to be. Even so, I felt a sense of happiness.

  But my happiness wasn’t long lived. I was met with two surprise visitors, Agent Jerry Stamper and Agent Richard Braggs aka Glass Eye, at LAX Delta terminal when I was trying to get my suitcase.

  “So you made it,” Agent Richard Braggs said rhetorically.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked drily.

  “We want that money,” Stamper barked.

  Their eyes darted back and forth between each other. I glared at them, my eyes filled with venom.

  Almost like a movie reel being rewound, my mind went over a collage of images of what had happened since the Academy Awards a week ago. The image of Mayhem’s battered face, the meeting with Tank, the getting Mayhem’s boys safely out of town with Venita, the sight of Tank’s beheaded face, the Santera in Brazil, the being raped, the almost being killed, then outrunning the anacond
a until I shot it: it all flashed before my eyes. I’d seen too much.

  I had been through too much to be afraid of either one of them now. I’d faced the devil and lived. They would have to bark up another tree. Now, my attitude was like, “Yeah, show me what you got.” They were going to have to come with something stronger for me to be afraid this time around. I’d been to another world and back, and I’d really seen a cartel up close.

  “I don’t have it.” My voice was flat, dead.

  “We’ll arrest you,” Agent Braggs threatened.

  “Then you won’t get the money.” I jutted out my chin with determination. I watched both men visually back up. I could see a dark cloud of evil surrounding both of these men. I wondered if this came from the magical amulet that the Santera gave me. It was as though I was on some higher consciousness.

  “So you do have the money,” Braggs said.

  “Do you know where Mayhem is?” I ignored his question. My face was set in a stony expression.

  “Do you have the money?”

  “I’m not releasing anything until I get my brother.” They didn’t realize with all I’d been through, I was no longer the pawn in their game of chess. I was the queen and it was about to be checkmate time.

  “All right. We know where your brother is. We’ll make the call.”

  That’s when I knew for certain that they were behind the kidnapping. I had to make a decision and I had to make it quickly.

  “Where can we meet to make the exchange?” I asked.

  “We’re going to that Warehouse in San Pedro we took you to,” Agent Braggs said.

  “No.” I was adamant. “Take me to the Venice Beach Pier. That’s where I want my brother released. Out in the open. I know one thing. My brother better be alive.” This was war. They were playing for keeps. Now I had to get into the trenches to do my guerilla warfare.

  As we walked to their car, which was illegally parked in the drop off/pick up section at the airport, Braggs and Stamper gave each other a conspiratorial glance. Stamper nodded. After I climbed in the backseat of the unmarked government car, Agent Braggs stayed outside the car and made a phone call. I assumed he was calling the kidnappers, telling the where the drop-off point would be.