The next morning, David sat in a diner a few blocks from the prison. He sat alone in the corner, with his back to the wall and swirled the remains of his breakfast in the plate. The fried egg clung to his fork and he dropped it down with a sigh.
“I'm a fucking idiot,” he grumbled, “and I have no clue what I'm doing.”
The bell on the door rang out and David's head snapped up. He watched Carlos entering the diner and he let out a sigh of relief. Picking up the fork, he held it and tried to eat again as the older man sank down in the chair across from David.
“In an hour, we'll be meeting up with Zorro over at his mansion. I hope you know what you are doing.”
David gulped, realizing he stood close to someone that, according to all reports, who responded violently to almost everything.
“Yes, I have someone coming in twenty minutes.”
A truck screeched as it came around a corner and Carlos followed it with his eyes. “Twenty minutes? You might need to stall then, señor.”
David followed his gaze as the truck stopped in front of the diner. Three other trucks came to a screeching halt around the diner and a dozen men poured out of the cars. David gulped as he spotted guns in the men's hands.
“Oh, crap.”
Carlos glanced over at David. “Not part of your plan?”
He started to response, but two men kicked the door of the diner open. The glass shattered, but they just kicked the shards aside with their booted feet and held open the door.
Zorro wasn't quite what David expected. Short, even shorter than Lauren, he looked like a weasel with a black mustache and small eyes. His dark green uniform and matching beret looked pressed within an inch of its life. He sported a hostler on his side, the polished leather reflecting the light except for where it hit the matte surface of a handgun.
David rose as Zorro walked over. The short man regarded David with distaste, then snapped his fingers. One of the waitresses ran out from around the corner and pulled a chair for him. Zorro sat down, his face screwed into a glare.
“So, you are the reason I have an empty prison.” He spoke with a surprisingly deep voice. The eight of his men spread out and David felt fear crawling up his spine as they leveled their guns on him. Then, David saw two men pulling Lauren out from the larger truck. Her naked, pale body shone in the morning light. She slumped in their arms and they dragged her in over the broken glass to jam her against the food counter. She looked up through lidded eyes, then gasped as she saw David standing there.
She wasn't injured like her mother, but he could see the fear and terror in her body. She looked exhausted and tired, with red-rimmed eyes and too much makeup on her face. Her perfume, a choking flowery scent, drifted over to him.
David turned back to Zorro. “Empty prison?”
“Yes, my sheriff decided to flee the night. No doubt with a large amount of your money. He used to be a loyal man, soon to be a dead one. And that dried up cunt you call the girl's mother is also gone,” he smiled cruelly, “but I know where she is.”
Lauren gasped, looking back and forth between the two men.
David stood up straighter. “She's mine.”
Zorro leaned forward and toyed with the butt of his gun. David gulped and tried to calm his racing heartbeat. Zorro's eyes narrowed and he growled.
“I don't like you States folk. You think you have a bit of blood and you can just buy anyone you want. That dried up cunt pissed me off and I want her back in that cell.”
“N-No, but I want Lauren.”
Lauren started toward David, but her handles threw her back against the counter. She let out a shriek and slid to the ground, cowering and trying to cover up her face. Her metal collar clinked on the bar stool she leaned against. A gun from one of Zorro's men came up and David found himself staring down the dark barrel. He gulped and tensed his entire body. His eyes flicked to the clock and back again.
Just a little longer.
“How much for her? I can pay for it.”
Zorro grinned, revealing a line of perfect teeth. “You blooded. You think I'll just roll over and get my money back just like that? Like some fucking whore desperate for a peso? I bought that little bitch and I'm going to use her until she no longer has a hole to fill. I'm sure, we can come up with a reasonable price when I put her into my whorehouse. Say, ten thousand an hour? Or is that too rich for you?”
Zorro made a point of looking over David's outfit. Like usual, David wore t-shirt and shorts. Compared to the pristine uniforms of Zorro's men, he looked almost like a bum. The two-day old beard didn't help his appearance, but David just waited until the laughter died before he spoke.
“Two weregild?”
Zorro rolled his eyes. “Stupid man, you can't buy her from me. And, just knowing that her mother is owned by a weak-willed little pussy like yourself, and having her comfortable life of flowers and money, will just make it so much sweeter. I'll be sure to send you picture of that little cunt as she services my men. Maybe pictures of the bastard babies she'll be squeezing out of that cunt of hers.”
Lauren sobbed and David had to force himself to calm down. Over Zorro's shoulder, he spotted a darkness in the sky and it seemed to be growing closer. He took a deep breath to try fighting his fear.
“Name your price. I just want the girl.”
Zorro grinned. “And I have her. Look, gringo, there is nothing you can give me that will get her. I want that cunt and I got her. You got her dried up pussy of a mother and I heard you have the skinny little bitch of her sister, so be happy with two out of three.” Zorro leaned back and held out his hands, “I mean, that's like a win, right?”
The Mexican mayor laughed again.
David's eyes flickered back up to the growing dot and he could see the helicopter blades as it drew closer. He worried his lip. He pushed his plan forward, terrified that he would fail.
“How about a different type of deal? Maybe we bid on the owners?”
Zorro pulled the gun from the hostler and set it down on his lap. His gunmen held up the barrels, aiming directly at David's head. David cringed inside, but then Carlos stood between him and the guns. The older man spoke desperately in Spanish as he held out his hands. David stared at his back.
“Don't do this, Carlos.”
Carlos shot him a glare. Zorro answered his grandfather in Spanish and David stepped back. He watched the helicopter coming sharply into view, wavering in the heat of the Mexican sun.
Zorro stood up with a snarl. He belted out a sharp line of Spanish, then fired his gun. The sound of the shot deafened David and it felt like it punched him the gun. But, it was Carlos who dropped to the ground, grabbing his knee as blood poured out of the wound. Zorro took a step and knelt down on his grandfather's chest, shoving the smoking gun to the older man's forehead.
“Keep out of this, grandfather. I don't want to waste my blood money in killing you, just like I don't want that dried up cunt the States bastard bought. But, I'm sick and tired of you meddling in my affairs. I told you to leave La Mina and I meant it!”
Carlos glared at his grandson and the tableau held for a moment. Then Carlos slumped down to the ground. “Damn you, Zorro.”
“Damn yourself, grandfather.” Zorro glared up at David, then stood up. He jammed the gun right under David's chin. David felt the heated muzzle burning his skin, but he held himself still. “Are you threatening me, pussy?”
David's heart beat painfully in his chest. He swallowed carefully. In the distance, he could hear the beat of the helicopter in the air, a drum that felt too far away to help.
Looking into the honey brown eyes of the Mexican man, David choked out his response. “I'm serious, Zorro. I want the girl by any cost.”
Zorro snarled, bathing David with his breath, “And you want to bid on me? I'm not some common folk, pussy, I have blood money.”
“So? It just means I need to spend more.”
“And what if you can buy me?” He smirked, “You'll just take the girl and leave me being your damn slave?”
David found new strength and he leaned forward, grinding the gun into his chin as he glared back. “Yes, I want that girl.”
“You know what would happen if I win?”
“I can guess.”
“No, you can't. I'm going to put you and those three cunts into my donkey show. I bet you'll squeal good getting your ass raped by a burro. And, when it gets stretched out so far I can't hear it anymore, I'm going to have one of my stallions shove a meter of cock into you just to hear you scream.”
Sweat dripped down David's brow. He could picture it far too well. His voice cracked as he answered, “I-Is that a deal?”
Zorro growled in a deep voice. “You think you have more blood money than me, pussy?”
“I have enough.”
“You States bastards, you always think you have more. I'm worth over a thousand blood. You don't have a chance.”
The sound of the rotor blades grew loud and Zorro looked around in surprise. David leaned back away from the gun, but half of the gunmen kept their weapons trained on him. Zorro glared at him.
“What is this?”
“Insurance.”
“What kind of insurance?”
The answer came when something slammed into the roof of the diner. It shook the ceiling tiles and one bulb fell out of its socket to shatter on the ground. As one, everyone in the diner looked up at the sound of footsteps walking across the roof. There was a pause, then someone jumped off the roof, landing powerfully on the concrete walk outside of the dinner.
Then she turned around.
The black suit looked entirely out of place in the Mexican diner, neatly pressed and making Zorro's outfit look shabby. She wore sensible shoes, the type you see in an office building. Her hatchet face regarded everyone in the room. She brushed some dust from her hair, cut short to her shoulders. Silently, she put her hand in her pocket and pulled something out. The nearest gunman spun around to aim his weapon at her.
“Freeze.”
The tall woman finished pulling out a photo badge and clipped it to her small breast. Then, she spoke to the room.
“Good morning. I'm looking for David Hadin.”
David cleared his throat and raised his hand. “That's me.”
She walked through the broken glass and pass the armed men without even batting an eye. Up close, David could see the solid colors of her eyes and it sent a shiver down his spine. Zorro turned to follow her, his gun never wavering as she stopped in front of him.
“I am Agent Sharps, from the U.N. Arbitration Board.”
Zorro gaped, then stared at David. “You brought an Arbitrator?”
David shrugged. “I want a fair deal.”
The Mexican snorted.
“You should have hired an army for you, not some Arbitrator. If you lose, she'll just hand your ass over to me.”
“I know,” sighed David, “but if I did win, would you really let me own you?”
Zorro snorted for an answer.
David shrugged. “So, forgive me if I want some insurance that we have a fair deal.”
Agent Sharps stood between the two men and folded her arms behind her back. Zorro looked at her, then grinned. He snapped his fingers toward Lauren. Two men grabbed Lauren and hauled her up from the ground. The teenager screamed as they dragged her to Zorro. The militant man grabbed her from behind, pulling out a knife from his side pouch. Lauren froze as the first touch of the blade against her belly. Zorro grinned wildly.
“You just killed her, pussy. You and that expensive agent are going to watch her bleed to death right here, and legally,” he spat the world, “there is nothing you can do.”
David glared but he didn't move. He remembered how Terrance died when Victor bought him out and suppressed a shiver.
“Then, name your price. According to the U.N. laws, and the laws of both of our countries, you get a chance to buy me before I can do anything.”
Zorro looked David over from head to toe. The disgust burned brightly in the Mexican's face and he snarled.
“You think you have money, don't you. I'm worth ten times you and we both know it. I can buy you ten times over and still have enough to piss in your skull.”
David clenched his fists tightly. The reports told me so many things and Zorro spoke the truth. David glared back and spoke as calmly as he could.
“But, you'll have to bid more than my liquid funds.”
“Like you have that much. I bet you have a bunch of brain dead slaves at home, all waiting for your limp dick to get home.”
David didn't rise to the insult. Zorro glanced over, then he grinned.
“Let's get this over with. I say you are worth…”
The world seemed to pause for a moment and David's heartbeat stopped. He stared at the terrified look on Lauren's face and pictured Naomi's, Christina's, and even his two new slaves. He dreaded that next moment in time, where he could lose everything for a girl he barely knew.
“… twent… no, thirty weregild for David Hadin.”
David almost sobbed with relief. Across the diner, at the ever-present terminal, the computer buzzed. “Transaction denied, insufficient funds.”
“No, fifty!”
Another buzz. “Transaction denied, insufficient funds.”
Zorro gripped Lauren tightly, choking her as he yelled at the terminal “Damn it, eighty!”
“Transaction denied, exceeded bidding limits for five months, thirty days, twenty-three hours, and fifty-eight seconds.”
David let out a long sigh of relief.
“Remember, you only get two bids in six months, Zorro.”
Zorro's face screwed up with rage. He dropped the knife on Lauren's body, pressing the sharp blade right up along the line of her pussy. The handle tilted up and he made a show of getting ready to drag it up to gut the sobbing teenager.
“You will never get her, pussy. She'll be dead the second you open your mouth.”
David's body hardened. He glared at Zorro. Zorro started to step back, dragging Lauren with him. David watched for a moment, then spoke in a hard voice.
“134 weregild for Zorro Salazar.”
The world slowed down once again. Zorro's eyes widened. He screamed as his muscles tensed. David gasped as the man shoved down on his knife, parting the skin of Lauren's pussy. David couldn't even move as the man started to drag up.
Then Zorro's hand exploded along with a large chunk of the counter. The impact of the explosion crashed into David and he stumbled back. Shards of wood and metal flew in all directions as Zorro fell back, grabbing for his gun. Two of the gunmen brought up their AK-47's to bear on Lauren and David, but they exploded in showers of blood and gore. A fraction of a second later, the entire front of the diner blew out.
Agent Sharps stepped in front of David, holding a gun as large as her arm. One of the gunmen managed to get a shot off, stitching a line of bullets toward her. It ran up her jet black suit, but she didn't even flinch as her weapon moved with supernatural speed to line up with the shooter's body. A supersonic bullet exploded from the muzzle of the gun and David saw the shock wave crashing into him as the attacker disappeared in a shower of blood, along with the two tables and the far side of the diner. Across the street, windows in a church shattered from the shock waves.
Then, the computer beeped. “Transaction accepted. Transfer made.”
David gasped with relief, his heart pounding a thousand beats a second. He panted, trying to hold back the sob.
Then, he saw Zorro pushing himself into a sitting position. The black muzzle of his handgun aimed straight at Lauren's. David stumbled forward as the gun went off. He felt a sharp point slicing along his side.
Another shot from Agent Sharp's gun went off.
The roar of the explosion echoed off the walls.
Then silence.
David opened his eyes and looked down at the naked teenager under him. She looked up with terrified eyes and he realized her perky breasts ground on his chest and one of his hands held her by the hip. He gulped, then smiled. “Your mom says hi.”