#ghostriot

It was a nice, sunny morning. Too nice and pretty to be listening to a dead man.

Deep inside, she wanted to laugh. From the very moment she knew that what had been found of Mejía had been his right hand, there had been something nagging at the back of her mind. How convenient. He was left handed. How convenient that it was his right hand.

‘‘Puto bastardo, ¿en serio te cortaste la mano? Estás como una cabra (Fucking bastard, did you really cut your hand off? You’re fucking crazy)’’

Next to her, sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall, Gabi listened intently while translating on their comm for Ghost and Soap. On the other side of the phone, Mejía chuckled.

‘‘Big problems require big solutions. Don’t worry, we can have this conversation in English, for your friends’’

‘‘What friends?’’ Riot frowned, glaring at Gabi when the redhead loudly gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. She could almost imagine Ghost’s deep sigh.

‘‘Well, the two big guys that were covering for you from outside, and the pretty pelirroja next to you. By the way, that scar makes you look fucking badass’’

‘‘Ok, where is it?’’ Riot looked around while still sitting on the floor, still frowning. If she could, she’d strangle him. ‘‘Where’s the camera?’’

‘‘Right in front of you, bonita’’

Her eyes stopped on the shelf right in front of her. It was a wooden piece that had been fixed to the wall, and the decoration it once had was either smashed or missing, except for a couple of books held by bookends, with the shape of cats.

One of those cats had a small, minuscule hole inside one of the eyes.

‘‘Hijo de puta (son of a bitch)’’ Riot grunted, rising her middle finger towards the hidden camera, hearing Mejía’s laugh on the phone. ‘‘You could have warned us that they were waiting’’

‘‘I didn’t see them get in, actually. I only knew there were two snipers covering the house from afar, and I only found one of them. Congratulations to your sniper, by the way, I didn’t see him’’

‘‘Que te jodan (fuck you)’’ Riot grunted, ignoring Gabi’s insistent tugging from her sleeve, murmuring something she didn’t quite catch. ‘‘Why are they trying to kill you?’’

‘‘Because Rico knows I know more than I should’’ Mejía chuckled again. On the other side of the phone Riot could hear sounds of traffic. ‘‘And not only do I know more than I should but I also have proof’’

‘‘What proof?’’ Gabi whispered next to her, listening with wide eyes and her ear pressed as close to the phone as she could while Riot held it.

‘‘What proof?’’

‘‘That’s for me to know, and for you to guess’’ Mejía’s laugh made her roll her eyes and flip the bird again towards the camera, which only made him laugh harder, and angered her even more.

‘‘I need that proof, whatever it is’’

‘‘And why should I give it to you, my dearest Vega?’’

‘‘Because I know more about you than you think’’ Riot clutched the phone, glaring right into the disguised camera while speaking through clenched teeth. ‘‘You think you are so clever, so smart. Never saying anything of value, never revealing anything, but sometimes, you slip. I know your children’s names. I know your wife’s name and profession. Don’t play your fucking games with me, Mejía, because I’m not Rico and I swear to God that I’ll hunt you and your family down, and it won’t be pretty’’

At first she thought that he had hung up, and maybe Gabi thought the same because she was staring at her, with her eyes wide with what she imagined was horror. Deception. Maybe even disgust.

But the sounds of passing traffic were still there.

‘‘Veo que todavía muerdes’’ (I see you can still bite)

‘‘Vete a tomar por culo, Gonzalo’’ (Fuck you)

‘‘Sabiendo lo que hicieron… lo entiendo (Knowing what they did… I can understand)’’ On the other side of the phone, Mejía sighed and then chuckled. ‘‘De acuerdo, por ti. Necesito despedirme de mi novia, hice una promesa. Nos veremos alli. A las 4. Ven sola. (Ok, just for you. I need to say goodbye to my girlfriend, I promised. See you there. At 4. Alone.)’’

‘‘¿Qué? ¿Dónde coño vive tu novia? Mejía! (What? Where the fuck does your girlfriend live??)’’

But he hung up with one of his obnoxious chuckles, and if the phone hadn’t been one of those that still had a cord Riot would have thrown it against the opposite wall.

‘‘Hijo de puta’’ She stood up with a grunt, feeling her bad knee creak in a way she didn’t like. ‘‘Puto gilipollas hijo de puta. Me cago en mi puta vida’’ (obscene spanish swearing)

‘‘But didn’t you say that he had a wife and children?’’ Gabi stood up slowly, checking that the cuts she got from the glass had stopped bleeding, but she was still scared, with her mascara ruined by her tears.

‘‘Fuck if I know what he’s talking about’’ Riot returned the phone to its place, flipping the bird once more to the hidden camera for good measure. ‘‘Let’s get out of here’’

‘‘Get in the van and rendezvous where you left us’’ Ghost’s voice filled her ears, and her brain, instantly calming her down. She even stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes, sighing deeply and focusing on his tone. ‘‘Soap, where are you?’’

‘‘Almost at the house. Found the other sniper, one ye killed, clean shot. Nothin’ in his pockets either but took a photo of his face too’’

Riot and Gabi hurried out of the house and into the van, almost amazed that the single shot hadn’t made anyone in the neighbouring houses call the police. But the morning was as peaceful as it was before, and even the birds started chirping again.

They made the drive down the road in silence, with Gabi still shaken and regreting not having listened to Laswell about field operations, and Riot going over the talk with Mejía, over and over again.

His girlfriend. What the fuck. The only women he had ever mentioned had been his late mother, his wife, and his daughter. Even when he mentioned a girlfriend, she had figured it was a joke.

By the time she stopped the van at the place where they had left Ghost and Soap earlier, there was no one in sight. But right after she turned the engine off and got off the vehicle to take the armored jacket off, and Gabi opened the passenger’s door, both men rose from the ground where they had been hiding among the bushes.

‘‘We need to find a place to stop and think’’ Ghost grunted while getting in the back of the van, placing the case where he had stored the pieces of the sniper rifle already. Then, he started to open his tact vest.

‘‘Maybe change the vehicle too. And eat!’’ Gabi nodded, smiling at Soap when the Scot all but threw his backpack inside, but instead of smiling back, he turned to face Riot.

‘‘Wha’ tha fook was tha’ back there, ye radge wee shite??’’

Riot blinked, surprised by the venom in Soap’s voice, and the storm she saw in his baby blue eyes. Frozen, she didn’t move when he stepped closer and grabbed her arms with more force that she expected, even hurting her.

‘‘What did I do?’’

‘‘Wha’ did’ye do??’’ Soap shook her slightly, furious, more furious than she had seen him in years, more furious than Gabi had ever seen. ‘‘Puttin’ yerself in danger?? Makin’ someone shot at ye??’’

‘‘Johnny…’’ Riot babbled, completely puzzled and hurt, but he was hearing none of it.

‘‘Shut yer puss!’’ Soap practically bellowed, still shaking her and making her to stand almost on her tip toes, while he basically snarled in her face. ‘‘Did’ye think wha’ would to meh if ye were shot?? Again?? When I’m not there to stop ye fo’ bein’ a bampot??’’

‘‘That’s unfair, Johnny’’ Gabi tried to intercede, but he wouldn’t listen to her either.

In his mind, he was seeing his best friend in a hospital bed, in comma for days after surgery. In his mind, he was imagining all the things she had gone through when he wasn’t there to watch her back.

Ghost observed them in silence after getting off the van, wearing his civilian clothing now and a clean balaclava. He had been witness to Johnny’s fury quite recently, but it had been back in Las Almas, ranting endlessly about Graves and his treachery. It had been almost amusing then. But he could hear the hint of grief in his friend’s voice.

‘‘I… We needed to know where the sniper was…’’ Riot muttered, trying to defend herself, and to her horror her vision was blurry. ‘‘So Ghost could…’’

‘‘Awa’ n’ bile yer heed’’ Soap spat, shaking her one last time before releasing her and stepping back, clearly furious. ‘‘Ye could’ave waited for me to find the eejit. But nah, ye had to put yerself out there, as if it dinnae matter if ye died or nah. Dinnae talk to me’’

He turned around to go inside the back of the van to get changed, even hitting one of the back doors in frustration.

‘‘Johnny, don’t be like that’’ Gabi sighed, following him after looking at Riot with sympathy, and climbed into the back after him.

Ghost shook his head and moved closer to her, who was still frozen in place, looking at the back of the van with glistening eyes and her lips forming a thin line, her jaw clenched in a way that he knew surely had to hurt.