The Voting Machine

Curses and Blessings

After Stevens left I rose up out of the bed, propping myself against the rails, accidentally setting my elbow on one of the remote buttons that changed the position of the headpiece.

I pushed myself off the bed and struggled to stand on both feet, teetering like a surfer riding a wave. My body was covered in bruises from the plunge off the diver's rock, every muscle raw and sore. Still, I trudged forward into the hallway, stinging with every step. The blisters on my bare feet oozed. leaving a thin trail of blood and fluid on the floor.

I remembered how Los Empresarios would skin the soles of their enemies' feet and force them to walk shoeless through the desert. Each step they took would be excruciating, but it was their only hope of survival. Suddenly, an image of agony in the sand flashed before my eyes and I thought of Annabelle. We had nearly died together. Juan Ricardo captured her just like he captured my daughter. He knew that a man's child was the best possible leverage required to force him into submission.

I was prepared to accept Stevens' theory that Marcus was the new boss of Shiro, that the Passion founder had been plotting Chet's destruction all along from behind bars, with assistance of Chen and Teresa.

Juan Ricardo had told me a different story when he held me in the desert. He told me Los Empresarios was acting on its own, that the narcos wanted a seat at the table as an equal partner to Shiro. But in the end on the steps, he admitted he'd been following orders all along. But whose orders was he following?

It would make sense that Juan Ricardo's wouldn't know who he'd really been working for, not until the very end at least. After all, Marcus was in prison so if he'd hired Los Empresarios to carry out his plans, he would have worked through an intermediary. Maybe Chen or Teresa or even J.P..

The use of a middle-man would also explain a different point that I'd had a hard time understanding. If Marcus was really calling the shots then why did he order Los Empresarios to kidnap his own daughter? I couldn't believe that Marcus was as cold as Chet, that he would kill a family member or someone he loved merely to serve his own business interests. And Annabelle was both of those things.

If, on the other hand, Juan Ricardo didn't really know he was working for Marcus at the time, it made perfect sense he would capture the "little fresa" as he called her. Ever since I ran away, Annabelle had been digging up information to prove my innocence, convincing Zeke's widow to hand over the files on Globaltech, going to UNLV in search of David's old papers. Juan Ricardo probably just wanted to sideline her, so she wouldn't uncover his role in the plot until he'd completed the job.

If this is how it went down, then Marcus was incredibly lucky that I'd been there to save his daughter when Chet sent in his drone to destroy the desert compound. Wasn't it only fair that he's save my daughter in return?

If only I could sit across from him, face-to-face, and make my case. I had always found Marcus to be a reasonable man, a loyal man with feelings and decency. True, he was also a criminal, ruthless and calculating. But he was a man with a heart, a man who loved his daughter and loved me for what I'd done to save her from drugs back in LA. I believed I could convince him to repay the debt.

I took the elevator to the intensive care unit and checked with nurse at the front station. He pointed me towards Suzy's room without asking any questions. He didn't reveal any suspicions, though he must've surely recognized me from most-wanted photos.

In spite of the sunburn, the shaved head and the scars, I really didn't look that different from the TV news reports. If he knew who I was, he didn't ask any questions. Stevens had never really been clear on what the public knew about me at this point. He told me I would be exonerated but there had been no official announcement. And his press conference made no specific mention of me one way or another. Judging from what I saw on TV the news coverage was totally focused on Chet's death and the history of Shiro at this point. I was a minor player.

When I entered the room, my wife was just waking up. Her face was pale and thin from grief but she still looked as beautiful as ever to me. Her soft, clear eyes met mine. It was a disappointed look. I couldn't tell whether she was disappointed because of me or simply because she was awake again. I knew what it was like to be so desperately depressed that you wished you could sleep forever.

I held her hand and knew I loved her as much as ever, as much as I hated myself for bringing so much pain and sadness into her life. She had risked everything to marry me and life had punished her for it. No woman, no matter how smart, strong and compassionate, can survive an endless stream of sorrows. She had the look of a woman who was pushed to the very edge of the ocean, ready to be swallowed into the dark and icy depths.

"She's gone, Temo. We brought her into the world. It was our job to protect her. That was the most important job of our lives. And we failed."

"It's not over. I can still get her back."

"How can you say that? How can you go on believing things might get better? They only get worse."

"They don't only get worse. We survive yesterday didn't we?"

"It would've been better if we died. Then at least we'd be with Reina."

"She's not dead, Suzy."

"She is, Temo!" My wife was sobbing. "We're cursed in this world. Maybe we should just join her in heaven. Maybe that would be a blessing."

"We're not cursed."

"Yes we are, Temo. I didn't want to believe it. But how can you not believe it?"

"They've been telling me that my whole life. That's why I can't believe it. They said my parents were cursed. They said my neighborhood was cursed. They said I was cursed because of what I looked like and where I came from. I'll never accept that. I'll prove them wrong."

"I always had faith in you before, because you and Reina were part of my soul. But now that she's is gone it's different. It's like they ripped out a part of me."

I held her tight for a long time, until I saw the nurse and Stevens in doorway.

"Don't give up on life yet, Suzy. Give me this one last chance."

"I am trying, darling."