𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 [Expendables]

ii. the brokenhearted people

The rest of the day went by slowly and Pup buried her face in her laptop, searching away about Church and Africa and the Yena and anything she could get her hands on that she could shove into Barney's face to keep him off her back. She was looking over some pictures from a small news outlet involving the mission Church had sent the Expendables on some time ago, in a place called Vilena. The article was in Spanish, which she wasn't great at reading, but she got the gist of it; the General had died in the fire, and a political war was developing for who would take his place. There wasn't any mention of Barney or Church or any of the team at all, but there were some photos of the aftermath that Pup figured she'd add to the collection, just to build a timeline involving Church and his bullshit.

She was scrolling down through the pictures when a headline caught her eye.

¡Líder Potencial Asesinado en Incidente Raro!

Roughly translated, she knew it meant potential leader killed in freak incident. With a curious hum, she pulled up the article in a new tab, and scrolled through until she found the few photos. One was of a burnt up car, or what was left of it, and a tarp stretched out over a small mound that must have been a body. Another was of supporters protesting in the streets. The last one was of the crime scene tape leading up to the "accident," with the jungle vibrant in the background. There were some onlookers trying to get a peak of the gore, and in the bottom corner, Pup caught sight of a familiar face.

"Well, fuck," she said, leaning in towards her screen with a squint. "I'll be damned."

She pulled out her cell phone and called Barney, who answered on around the fifth ring.

"Yeah, Pup?" He asked, and there was a thrash of background noise. She winced away from the phone and rolled her eyes.

"I got something you might wanna see," she said. "Don't know if it's got anything to do with the Yena, but, well..."

"What is it then?" He asked, clearly still in a sour mood.

"Dusty," she said, zooming in on the corner of the picture. "I didn't know you sent her to clean up your mess in Vilena."

From the silence on the other end, Pup assumed he didn't know about it either. She perked a brow and waited patiently for him to respond.

"Proof?" He asked.

"Got a picture of her right here, in front of a car with a dictator-to-be that had just gotten blown real nice, and not the good kind, either."

Barney huffed, and she could already picture him leaning into one hip and squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"Be there soon," he said, and the line went dead.

Pup shrugged and dropped her phone onto the table. The only possible connection between Vilena and the Kalahari was Church, and in the wise words of Ricky Ricardo, he had some splainin' do to.

***

Gunner clamored through the door to find Pup sitting hunched over the kitchen table, smacking a pack of cigarettes against the butt of her palm. She pulled one out and placed it between two dry lips, leaning forward to squint at her laptop. Gunner frowned.

"Cigarettes ain't good for you," he said, grunting as he sunk into a chair across from her. He leaned back and set his feet up on the table, some dirt chipping off the sides of his boots as he did.

"Drugs ain't good for me, cigarettes ain't good for me, alcohol ain't good for me, getting shot at ain't good for me," she muttered, shaking her head. "It's not even lit."

"Good. It'll stink up the hangar."

She rolled her eyes.

"Got intel?" He asked.