Ace

SAM

               I sat in a chair in the hospital with Benjamin the next day. He was conscious now, and I tried to call Rodriguez, but his phone was off, so I couldn't track him, either. Rodriguez said that LeBron was trying to kidnap him, so it could've been LeBron that took Rodriguez.

               My phone dinged with a message. I picked up my phone and looked at the notification. An unknown number texted me an audio recording. I was almost too scared to click play, but I did anyway. It was just audio of Rodriguez screaming in pain. The recording was about twenty seconds long, and then it ended. I stared at my phone, wide-eyed and shocked. They were killing him!

               "What was that?" Benjamin asked, looking as startled as I was.

               "It was nothing," I lied. What was I thinking? He was a trusted spy in the SIU, I had to tell him, but I didn't want him to worry about anything, especially with the condition he was in.

               "Don't lie to me," he looked at me sternly. "You know damn well that was something important."

               "Rodriguez has been kidnapped and they're killing him as we speak, and all I can do is sit here and cry without one single lead," I buried my face in my hands as I started to cry.

               "Don't panic, Samantha. We're going to get him back," he assured me. "Just contact the police, notify the SIU, and leave it to them–"

               "No! I want to search for him myself!" I interrupted and got up quickly to leave.

               "Listen, Samantha–" I slammed the door, marched down the hall, exited the hospital, and got into my car. I started driving to the last place I saw him in hopes of some clue. I'd go back to the parking garage.

               As I was driving, I saw the same car I did when Rodriguez and I were parked in the parking garage. I stopped, got out of my car, and loaded my pistol. I followed the man who had gotten out of the car. He was very young. In his teens, I think. When he went into the parking garage, I waited, then made a quick phone call.

               "Hello, Rodrigo, it's Samantha. I'm sorry, but I need you to babysit Antonio for a little longer. Please don't ask questions,"

               "Don't worry, no questions will be asked. I enjoy keeping a close eye on him," he told me, and we hung up. I put my hair up and then put a beanie on to help hide my identity. I quickly turned, aiming my gun into the empty parking garage. He was nowhere to be found.

               As I passed by a cement pillar, someone suddenly slapped the gun out of my hand, jabbed their knee into my stomach, and then kicked me to the floor, my face flat on the cold cement platform. He took my hat off to reveal who I was. I groaned in pain and tried to get back up again, but he put his foot on my back to keep me down.

               "A woman," he discerned, "Sorry, I thought you were a man."

               "Where's Rodriguez?" I asked, getting to the point, "You tranquilized him."

               "Me? No, I didn't tranquilize him. I'm looking for him now," he stated, "I heard that he was kidnapped."

               That statement couldn't be true, because I didn't tell anyone Rodriguez was missing except for Benjamin and the police, and the police wouldn't tell anybody due to confidentiality, and they were still working on the case, too, so there was only one solution to his statement.

               "You're lying," I assumed. "Who are you, and where's Rodriguez?" He stood there for a moment with his foot on my back, then let me go after a few seconds. I got up quickly, picked up my gun, and aimed it at him. He didn't even put his hands in the air. He just stood there with his hands behind his back.

               "Hands where I can see them!" I demanded. "Answer the questions!" He sighed.

               "Alright, you got me," he waved his hands in the air in sarcasm. "I lied. But where your husband is and who I am cannot be divulged." I walked over, still aiming my gun at him, reached in his pocket, and took out his wallet. I smirked.

               "Guess I'll just find out myself, then," I said, flipping open the black leather wallet. Indeed, he did have an SIU ID card. I read his name out loud. "LeBron Moralés. Huh," I looked back at him. "So you do work for the SIU and you are Rodriguez's brother. He told me not to mess with you, you know, but I guess I overestimated you."

               "Well, I guess since now you know everything, I might as well not keep it a secret anymore. I wasn't planning on telling you any of this because you're not on my level, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore..." he paused. "The SIU's gonna kill Rodriguez,"

               I screamed a scream that sounded less than human. I aimed at LeBron, then pulled the trigger. I shot him in the shoulder. He swore and fell to the floor. I heard him swearing under his breath for a minute, then he turned his head and looked at his bloody shoulder.

               "Aw, dammit," he complained, "Come on, Samantha, this was one of my special white shirts. Now it has a huge bloodstain on it. I'll have to take it to the laundromat and get it washed, and sewed back together." I aimed my gun again.

               "I'll shoot you again!"

               "C'mon, Samantha, if you kill me, I'm not quite sure how my brother would take it. Our mother died the same way, and Rodriguez has PTSD from it, so experiencing it all over again would just cause him to have even more psychological trauma," He smiled as I hesitated to shoot him.

               I've never actually seen or known LeBron's personality before, but I wasn't expecting any of this.

               "Don't challenge him, he's never unarmed," Rodriguez had warned me. I threw my gun away from me and put my hands on my hips.

               "Take it easy," I said. He sat up.

               "Rodriguez warned you about me, huh?"

               "Yeah," I answered, "He did. And I intend to take heed of his warning."

               "Good choice," He stood. "Then, I'm guessing that you also know that I can easily make you forget that we even met." He got out something that looked like a tranq gun, except it wasn't. He shot me with it and then I passed out.