a rain swept beach in barranquilla, columbia…
by feral
Posted to Stories on 2002-06-08 03:17:00
the night was warm and i was running barefoot along the beach in the middle of a thunderstorm. the crack of gunfire was unmistakable and the ping and whistle of bullets racing past my body only served to reinforce my dire predicament. i tried to concentrate on the sound of my feet slapping the wet sand and the burning in my lungs as i drew in shallow, ragged breaths. how had things turned so sour in such a short period of time?
last week i was sitting by the pool of the el fatback gringo hotel in sunny cancun, eating huevos rancheros and drinking bloody marys with firecracker… i had more money than brain cells safely secured in the hotel vault and firecracker seemed to have an endless supply of pure rock cocaine. life was good…
i tried to ignore the threatening phone calls that began to come at 3p.m everyday while i was getting some much needed rest in the honeymoon suite – ‘the money, man… give us the fucking money, or die slowly.’
‘you’ve got the wrong number, chump.’ i would say as i hung up the phone.
then the shit hit the fan… i awoke one evening and there was a hastilly scrawled note on the pillow next to me:
Jason,
I’ve taken the cash from the safe and returned to Virginia. Get out while you can, this place is hot…
Firecracker.
i was trying to get my drink-addled head around the message, when the front door was kicked open and special agent billectric shot me in the chest with what i now know was a tranquiliser dart. my body went limp, but i was still conscious. i noticed that he was wearing a pair of fishnet stockings and high heeled pumps as he slung me over his shoulder and carried me from the room. he was giggling as he walked…
‘aha… i gotcha now, boy. sell my arse into slavery willya? hehehehe…’
billectric threw my body into the back of a high powered jet boat that was moored at the end of the hotel’s pier, got in after me, started the boat and roared off in the direction of the setting sun. i was slipping in and out of consciousness as the boat cut through the tides, so i have no idea how long we were at sea…
‘ah, barranquilla,’ said billectric as he ran the boat ashore on a deserted beach, ‘time to get my reward for this thieving dope fiend.’
i leapt over the edge of the boat and began running along the beach towards a light that was shining in the distance…