An officer silently pointed his chin at the back door. There, a man dressed in an official uniform greeted her. “Hi there. I’m Salvador.” His eyes stopped a moment on the horrid scar in her cheek, which also made him pause for a split second. “Oh. Yes, I’m… I’ll be your contact here, I guess.” He offered his hand.
She smiled as she firmly shook it. “Kali. But everyone calls me Kay.”
Salvador returned the smile, and then seemed to doubt for a moment before asking boldly. “So. Do you know … what goes on around here?”
Kay simply nodded.
The man sighed deeply before continuing. “Okay. So, the guys are going out on a raid. Tonight. You’ll be going with them. … I need you to prove …your abilities, so for now, you’re to follow orders to the letter. Prove yourself trustworthy, and we’ll then discuss … the exact situation of yours.”
She again nodded. “... Alright. Just say when and where.”
He looked at her amused. “The old post. At midnight.”
- - -
(midnight, the old watch post)
A handful of men were laughing and drinking inside the crumbling building when the door opened. Silence fell as the dark dressed figure entered the room, a couple of the men drew their handguns at it. “Who are you?”
The figure’s smile could be heard in her voice as she instinctively raised her hands, her palms open so everyone could see she wasn’t a threat. “Calm down. Salvador sent me.”
“So where is he?” said another man.
“Bastard is always late, Armando,” shrugged the first as he turned back into his glass.
“Care to serve me one of those?” said the figure. Shortly after, a glass of an indescribable liquor appeared in front of her. She downed it without hesitation. “Hm. Thought it’d be firewater. What’s it?”
The men laughed and started cracking jokes about rat poison when the door opened again. Salvador whistled loudly, and in less than a minute they all were riding two jeeps towards the jungle.
Not half an hour later, they were in the middle of… what should have been the jungle, but it was a plantation, hidden from the skies by a few trees. On the edge, a rotting cabin was barely distinguishable against the trees’ shadows. The jeeps parked in silence, the men quickly circled the house, then at a whistle, they barged in.
They found it empty. Salvador cursed before calling the men back to the cars.
Kay stopped him. “... we should probably search the place, you know.”
Salvador laughed. “What for. No. That’s not how we do things here.” He fumbled with his pockets for a moment. “Guys, off we go.” Then he lighted a cigar as he looked at Kay. “This” -- he paused a split second for emphasis -- “is how we do things here” he threw the match at the hay bed, which promptly caught fire. “Now let’s go, nothing else to do here.”
