GRINGA (73 page)

             
‘Digger and Pedro – they killed Taco Bell and tonight, when you’re gone, they’re gonna kill me. Then when you get back, you and
Troy
are going to walk into an ambush.
’

             
He stare
s
at me, an inscrutable look on his face.

             
‘Did you hear  ...?’

             
‘How do you know th
i
s
,
Payton?’

             
I’m
ready with an answer. ‘Remember when I went looking for
Troy
earlier on? I walked into the wrong villa and overheard them talking.’

             
He is thoughtful for a moment.
‘You make a mistake, no?’

             
I shake my head. ‘No.
I’m
sure about what I heard. Positive.’

             
He nods slowly,
his jaw setting.
‘Okay,’ he finally says and walks to his closet, where he begins rummaging.

             
‘“
Okay
”? That’s it? Diago, they’re gonna
fucking
kill us and you’re “
okay
”
with that?’
My voice is high and shrill.

             
Pausing with his rummaging, he turns and looks at me.

             
‘You don’t believe me?
Aw for fuck’s sake, Diago!
’

             
‘
Payton, i
s no
t
goin
g to
happen,’ he says
firmly
and resumes his rummaging. A moment later he walks to the door. At the door, he pauses, turns around and walks over to me. Gently, he cups my face with both hands and
plants a light kiss on my lips
. ‘Is no
t
goin
g
to
happen, Payton,’ he repeats in a low, adamant voice and I catch a glimpse of steel determination in his eyes.

             
‘Really?’ I so badly want to believe him. ‘Diago, I couldn’t bear if something happened to you,’ I say, stroking his arms.

             
He gives me a hug. Then
he
hold
s
me away and looks into my eyes. ‘You mine now. I protect you. I l
ove
you. I l
ove
you more than me, so I die for you,
si
?’

             
‘Oh God Diago
, d
on’t talk about dying, please. I love you and I don’t ...’ I cling to him. 

             
‘You goin
g
to break me in two,’ he says, his voice devoid of mirth.

             
I quickly release him. I have no idea how he
’
s going to handle this but I hope he’s able to thwart their plans.

             
A short while later, as planned, Diago and
Troy
leaves the ranch.

             
Trying to act casual is an effort, but I
manage it.
When Diago leaves
Tana -Mera
, I go to bed and lock the door. Too scared to turn off the lights, I read for a while. At least, I try to read, but
I’m
far too distracted and jumpy to concentrate. Finally
around ten, when nothing happens
, I
turn
off the lights and try to sleep. Maybe Depp was wrong. Maybe they wanted to just scare me
. May
be Depp heard wrong, maybe...

             
I hear a sound and fr
eeze
.
It has to be
my imagination
.
I need to relax.
Fuck! I wish I had some opium.

             
But seconds later and to my absolute horror
,
both Rocky and Digger enter my room. They
wave
a key
at me.
Oh God
!
Depp was right
after all
.

             
I
open my mouth to scream, but
Digger
lunges at me and hits me on the head,
almost knocking me out. Almost.

             
I lie dazed but aware of what’s happening.
Where the hell was Diago? He said he “got” me, so where was he?

             
When Digger tries to lift me up,
I kick
and
scratch
him. ‘Leave me alone!’
             

             
But together, they overpower me, slap duct tape across my mouth, tie my hands with rope and bundle me into their Jeep
where Pedro is waiting in the driver’s seat.

             
While Pedro
drives, Rocky
and Digger
hold
down my thrashing body
in the back seat of the jeep. I try to kick
Rocky in the nuts like I learned in self-defence classes but he
knock
s
me over the head a couple of times
and I go limp.
 

             
‘Say goodbye
,
Payton,’ Digger chuckles. ‘Today you die.
We
finish what Diablo start
a long time ago
,
si
?’

             
I am terrified but I try not to show it.

             
As they approa
ch the entrance of the ranch, Pedro yells, ‘Is Diablo!’

             
‘Turn around!’ Rocky shouts.

             
Ah! Thank God Diago’s here.
I scramble to sit
and look out the window.
Diago
is standing in front of the Jeep,
his
shotgun
pointed directly at
Pedro
.
I quickly duck out of sight. 
  

             
Pedro
loses control of the Jeep and we careen off the road and land in a ditch. 

             
I’m a little dazed but okay. E
veryone in the Jeep is
slowly moving about
.
Through the window I see Diago approaching our Jeep, a vacant look in his eyes
.
When
Rocky
sees Diago, he quickly
grabs me in a chokehold
and shoves his 9mm into my temple.

             
Diago stops walking.

             
I
know I have to do something to help my former tormentor turned dragon-slayer,
so I do the only thin
g
I can – go limp and
try to
drop out of sight. Rock
y
tries to hoist me up, but
I’m
dead weight.

             
I scream when I hear a shot being fired. Suddenly I am covered in blood. I’ve been shot! Oh God! The horn is blaring. I see Pedro slumped over the steering wheel. I look at the huge exit wound in his back and suddenly I realise that the blood on me might be Pedro’s not mine. Since my hands are tied, I cannot really examine myself but I eventually determine that Diago has not shot me after all.

             
Rock
y looks at Pedro’s body and flounders. He raises his gun then lowers it, then raises it again.

             
Then I hear
a
thud
and
a muffled sound from
Rocky
. He’s been shot. That was so close. What the hell is wrong with Diago for firing so recklessly? Doesn’t he realise he could have shot me? I ease out of Rocky’s arm
and sink even lower in the Jeep, allowing Diago and
Troy
a clean shot
at Digger – the only one left
.

             
Digger
scrambles over to
me when
he sees Diago at his window. I back away from him and start lashing out with my feet again.

             
I think I’m too much to handle because Digger stops trying to get to me. He
looks
at Rocky
, then at Pedro and his shoulders slump. He looks at
Diago
and
Troy
and
slowly
lowers his
weapon. His head hangs in resignation, I think. Well, that better be resignation or he’s going to get his ass shot here. 

             
I scuttle upright
and look out the window.
T
roy
appears in my vision and
stares
at
the brothers Diago shot. His nostrils are flaring and
I’
ve
never seen
Troy
’s eyes
so hard, so focused, so
dark
. For a moment it was Diago I was looking at, not mild-mannered
, wine-making
T
roy
.