Once he rolled onto the flat earth of the forest Michael laughed. Compared to the harsh rock, the ferns beneath him felt like a soft mattress. Every muscle shook, partly from cold, partly from exhaustion. He smiled as he saw stars through gaps in the trees.
“You look like shit.”
“I’ve been better.” It was only now, when letting go, that Michael realized just how weak he felt. Just a moment ago he had been climbing, but now, he couldn’t even imagine standing up.
“You need to see someone.” Miguel looked him over. The concern in Miguel’s face didn’t inspire confidence.
“Who?”
“Someone needs to stitch you up.”
“It’s fine. I just need a little rest.” He closed his eyes. This was a fine place to sleep, enveloped by ferns, watching the stars above.
“They took my car. Need to call someone, but I can’t. Most of my guys were Samuel’s guys too.”
“There is this one guy,” said Michael.
Chapter Thirty Four
They waited by the roadside for ten minutes before one of them spoke. “So this friend of yours, you trust him?” Miguel asked
“Implicitly?” Michael had perked up a little now, but staying upright was a struggle, so he sat on the gravel. He had used Miguel’s phone to call Alex to pick them up. Hearing his voice and knowing he was okay was something at least.
Miguel unbuttoned his shirt, took it off and slipped his t-shirt over his head, before putting his other shirt back on. “Here, take this. Use it to stop bleeding. Put pressure on it.”
“Thanks.” Michael bunched up the T-shirt and pressed it against his side, although it looked like most of the blood had congealed now.
“No tighter. You have to put real pressure on it.”
The headlights of an oncoming car temporarily blinded the pair of them. Michael wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been Samuel, coming to finish the job, but he recognized the car as Alex’s as it got closer. The car pulled in front of them, coming to a sudden stop.
As his muscles had grown stiff, Michael lowered himself slowly onto the front passenger’s seat, and Aleksander’s eyes widened when he saw the state he was in.
“I’m so sorry, man. I didn’t know what to do. I should have come back. Where is Josie?”
“Thank you for coming. I don’t know where she is. I think Samuel still has her. This is Miguel by the way.”
Miguel let himself in the back and thanked Alex for picking them up.
“So, what now? Do we take you to a hospital?” he asked Michael.
Miguel spoke before Michael could even open his mouth. “No! No hospital. We get a sewing kit. I do it.”
“Where are we going to find a sewing kit?” Michael broke into a cold sweat, thinking of an amateur sewing him up with some cotton and thread. His mind tried to conjure up any way around it. “There is this one guy.” It seemed like a distant memory now, before things had gotten out of hand. That man he had met briefly in the bar in Arelanes was a surgeon. He didn’t know if he could trust the guy but he wanted a professional working on him. “There was this guy I met. He was a doctor, a surgeon. I met him in Arelanes”
“Álvaro?” Michael asked, wondering why Miguel hadn’t suggested it if he knew the guy.
“You know him?”
“He’d always be in La Cocina De Maya. Liked the ladies.”
“Yes. That restaurant. Is he a good guy? He gave me the creeps a bit but I feel like he’s harmless enough.”
“I know him only a little. He’s not in the game. Why would he help you?”
“Maybe if I pay him?” Michael wasn’t sure what surgeons earned in this area, and if he had anything of value to offer the almost perfect stranger.
“How would we even get in touch with this man?”
“He gave me his number. All my contacts are available in the cloud. It’s worth a try?”
“Not to be a downer, but what’s the plan beyond that?” Alex chimed in.
“We get Josie.” Michael didn’t even know where to begin, but he could worry about that later.
Aleksander’s satellite navigation struggled to find Álvaro’s house, but eventually they found it nestled in a town close to Arelanes. The place was less built up and more rustic. The simple houses nestled in amongst trees. Many looked hand-built by the owners with mismatched bricks and scrap iron roofs. The house they were looking for was the only blue house on that street, and they pulled up outside onto the dusty driveway.
Álvaro had been awake when they called, on his way back from work after a long shift, the annoyance and exhaustion clearly apparent over loud-speaker. He let Miguel do most of the talking, and here they were. They walked up to the boxy house with a satellite dish poking out of the top, and Miguel knocked on the door. They heard the noise of someone moving stuff around in the house, and Álvaro
