A Trail of Smoke and Smugglers (Santi/PopexReader)

Justification

[A/N: Hello my lovely readers! My sincerest apologies for the late upload! I took the day to rest and binged Stranger Things! Anyways, I weeped the entire time writing this chapter, so please, take this as a warning. I love you all and hope you enjoy! -K 🖤]

[🌿This chapter is long, contains swearing, dangerous situations, depictions of violence, and extremely, extremely saddening angst.🌿]
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"Are you sure you've got it?" Tom questioned as he tossed another bag in my direction. I grabbed the straps and heaved the colossal bag upwards and threw it in the growing pile.

"I appreciate that you're acting like my big brother, but I will shoot you in the foot if you ask me again." I returned, heaving the next bag that tumbled next to me.

We had started our last morning quite early, because we knew that we were going to have to manually transfer every bag up the craggy mountain face.

Santi, Fish, and Ben were located towards the lower portion, tossing the bags upwards so Will, Tom, and myself could haul them further upwards, all in that specific order.

I stood up straight and stretched with my hands on my lower back, waiting for the next few bags to arrive. "That's not very nice, (Y/N)." Tom teased, scratching at his beard and chuckling. "And to think we had a wonderful time last night around the fire."

"We did. Now, we're hauling 100-pound bags of illegal money up the side of the fucking Andes." I coughed into my shoulder and cleared my throat. "This damn vest..." I complained, reaching for the straps and loosening the tight grip it had around my chest.

Santi had tightened it this morning, but now I could hardly breathe. I would fix it in a moment, knowing he'd be pissed if he knew I undid his handiwork.

He had also holstered his personal pistol in the back of my pants, which I had adamantly refused. Santi only gripped the back of my pants and shoved the gun into my waistband, despite my pervasive protests.

Tom sighed in exhaustion and heaved another bag towards me. "We're almost finished, okay? I'm sorry for dragging you into this shit." I gripped the straps and lunged the bag into the pile. "But, I promise you, it'll all be worth it. Thank you for being here." He smiled and waited before throwing the next bag. "I love you, kid."

"I made a choice, Tom. And," I glanced farther down at Santi who was relentlessly piling the heavy bags upwards, "I'm glad I joined you guys. You would've gotten yourselves killed otherwise." I chuckled and reached to grab the next bag, but looked up at Tom instead. "I love you too."

We smiled at each other and laughed with quiet chuckles.

Suddenly, reverberating gunshots echoed over the mountainside.

I gasped as bullets whizzed past my ear and pierced into the rock face, causing ruptures of dust to explode on the mountainside.

Tom was the first one to shout. "Oh shit! Shit!" We immediately scrambled for cover as the bullets continued to rapidly target us. I took cover behind a large, jutting rock. My breathing had become labored and my pulse had brutally increased.

We had been purposely attacked while we had dropped our defensive guards.

Will was the next to scream. "Ah, fuck!" He shouted, ducking behind a protruding stone for protection. From my vantage point, I could see all the guys shuffle to a spot of cover, making me feel slightly at ease.

"I'm hit!" Benny abruptly called out. I frantically searched for him and discovered him sitting behind a massive, broken rock formation. He was racking his assault rifle and preparing to use it against our progressing assailants.