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The obnoxious sound of Soap telling dad jokes to Ghost over the earpiece, that somehow found its way back into my ear, caused me to stir awake. Slowly blinking my eyes open, the once night sky had turned a bright blue, almost blinding my vision. The next awesome thing I'm greeted with as I wake up is a deep ache starting from the base of my neck down into my spine. Growling loudly, I tried to roll my neck around in an attempt to soothe my angry nerve endings which only resulted in a protest from my stiff joints.

"Of fucking course," I grumbled to myself as discomfort began to gnaw away at my bones, my body erupted into a pins and needles sensation that traveled all the way from neck down to my legs. "You slept like a fucking rock," Soap laughed over the earpiece, looking over in my direction with an amused smile, "How'd ya sleep? Looked pretty comfortable." Glaring in Soap's direction, I shot up the most sarcastic thumbs up I could muster, "Oh just fucking peachy, thanks so much for asking," I snarled, rolling my eyes. Needless to say, I wasn't a morning person.

"Someone's grumpy," Soap mumbled before laughing again. It took every fiber in my being not to rip out my earpiece again and throw it straight off the helicopter. Instead, I took a deep calming breath before flashing Soap my middle finger. Turning my head behind me, a plethora of cuss words spewed from my mouth all thanks to the crick in my neck. "You talk to your mother with that mouth?" Soap joked again. Growling loudly I shot Soap the deadliest glare imaginable before my hand immediately launched up to the side of my head and snatched the earpiece straight out of it.

God, he can be so annoying sometimes. Returning my attention back out to the landscape below, I could tell we were close, and I could finally get off this stupid hunk of flying metal. After a few more minutes of twiddling my thumbs and occasionally glaring at Soap, we began our descent down to Earth. The ground below slowly began to come into sharper focus, and I could make out some military vehicles surrounding what I assumed to be where we would land. Dust and debris stirred up from the powerful downwash, a swirling maelstrom forming beneath the chopper.

The mechanical sound of landing gear jutting out of the bottom of the helicopter sounded throughout the cabin, which I took as my cue to rip off my seatbelt and stand up, Ghost and Soap soon doing the same. The wheels of the chopper took most of the shock as we hit the ground, the floor of it shaking slightly, almost knocking my ass straight down onto it. The ear piercing sound of the rotors finally subsided, my hearing was still slightly muffled from having to listen to it hours upon hours on end.

The doors of the chopper opened, and through them I could see two black military SUV's come into view alongside one very attractive man, if I do say so myself. Soap swung his arm around my shoulders and shook me slightly, grinning down at me from ear to ear, "Don't think I didn't notice the lovey-dovey eyes when you saw Mr. Mexican Special Forces," he chuckled. My cheeks blushed and I rolled my eyes, "Shut the fuck up." Ghost glared at Soap and grumbled to himself before storming past both of us.

Soap chuckled and slapped my back before catching up to Ghost. Tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, I wiped the sleep from my eyes to look as presentable as possible. Who knows, maybe I just found my future baby daddy. Just kidding... mostly. Quickly I made my way toward Soap, Ghost, and mystery man, all of whom seemed somewhat acquainted already. "Alejandro," Soap grinned. Alejandro... a sexy name for a sexy man.

"Sergeant MacTavish," Alejandro replied in a thick Spanish accent, extending his hand out to Soap who gladly took it before shaking it firmly, "Call me Soap," he replied with a slight head nod. A small smile formed on my mouth as my eyes followed Alejandro's every move, biting at my lip without even realizing it. Ghost glared down at me before roughly yanking me off to the side, "Stop fuckin' staring, you look like an idiot," he growled lowly before releasing his grip on my arm.

My eyes narrowed down at him, having to bite down harshly on my tongue to stop myself from lashing the hell out. The fuck is his problem? Scoffing slightly, I refocused my gaze back on Alejandro in all his glory. My anger dissipating soon after. Alejandro's eyes traveled before they fell on me, a smile spreading across his lips, "And who might you be, hermosa (beautiful)?" I failed my Spanish class so I have no idea what he just called me, but I'm just gonna assume it's something nice. "Y/n," I replied, batting my eyelashes at him before putting my hand out for him to shake. He tsk'd his lips and grabbed my hand, kissing the top of it softly.

"Pretty name for a pretty woman," he winked. The heat from Ghost's glare into Alejandro was nothing short of terrifying, I wondered what the fuck his issue was. Maybe he slept as horribly as me, but you don't see me bitching about it... anymore. Alejandro met Ghost's stare with his own unwavering one, "Lieutenant," he stated, "Laswell says they call you Ghost." The tension was almost suffocating, mostly due to Ghost acting like a psycho but what else is new. Soap looked between them and smiled, "Actually, I believe he prefers to be-," "That'll do," Ghost immediately cut him off. Soap's smile instantly dropped as his lips pursed together.

I wondered what he prefers to be called, I'll just ask Soap later.

Alejandro gave a confused head nod, looking between the three of us momentarily, probably wondering why the fuck we are the way we are. "Welcome to the City of Souls," he stated, giving a once over to Ghost before returning his attention back to all of us collectively. Alejandro just nodded to himself, slightly shaking his head before turning around and walking toward one of the vehicles. "I've never been to Mexico," Soap stated, looking like a kid on Christmas, Alejandro glanced back at him with an expression mixed between a grimace and a scowl, "This isn't México, this is Las Almas."

The most confused expression that I have ever seen in my life flashed across Soap's face, the amount of willpower it took not to laugh was really astounding. Ghost rolled his eyes as he glanced over at Soap who looked like he was gonna ask for clarification. Noticing this, he decided to change the subject thankfully, "Shepherd's contractors are inbound to reinforce. They're bringing hardware, they'll need room," he grumbled to Alejandro, glancing over at him.

Alejandro just nodded his head, "My base is your base," he replied, looking back over at Ghost, his gaze lingering over at me for a second before returning his eyes back in front of him, a small smile beginning to form on his lips. Heat rushed to my cheeks, but I quickly shook it away, I was being way too juvenile. Ghost glared over at me for a second before turning back to Alejandro, "Good," he replied harshly, "Y/n said we'd be able to find him here." My gaze immediately fell to the floor, my heart feeling like it was lodged in my throat again. If my information was outdated what was I supposed to do?

"Yes, he's in a cartel safe-house, 10 clicks from here," Alejandro replied. The biggest sigh of relief ever escaped my lips causing all three men to look over in my direction, my eyes widened and I began to cough loudly, "Sorry, uh, the allergies," I mumbled. Everyone looked confused, Soap especially as his eyebrows knitted tightly together, "How do allergies make you co-" "Shut up," I grumbled, his words getting cut off for the second time in 5 minutes. "Someone's sassy," he mumbled before rolling his eyes.

Finally we reached the SUV's, thank God, this entire interaction was nothing short of awkward or comical. "Get in," Alejandro motioned at Soap and Ghost, both of which began to walk over to one side of the vehicle. As I went to open up my own door, Alejandro quickly stopped me and did it for me, "Ninguna mujer tan hermosa como tú debería abrir su propia puerta (No woman as beautiful as you should open her own door)," he stated, flashing a bright smile at me. Once again, no fucking clue what he said. "Gracias," I replied, butchering the pronunciation of the simplest word ever no doubt.

As I stepped into the vehicle I realized Soap and Ghost already took the fucking window seats, "Are you serious?" I scoffed at both of them, shooting them angry glares. Soap shrugged and gave me a stupid grin in return while Ghost just glared at me and turned his shoulder over, acting like a toddler throwing a tantrum over having to eat vegetables. "Oh for the love of..." I shook my head and climbed over Soap, elbowing him in the gut on purpose as I sat down in the middle seat.

Of course they were both manspreading, so not only was I in the middle seat, arguably the worst seat possible in any circumstance, I also had no fucking room whatsoever. Ghost and Soap's outer thighs smushed against my outer thighs, which meant I had to sit like a box, squishing my own body parts together. Shaking my head, I mumbled curses to myself, hoping the car ride wouldn't take ten trillion, billion, quadrillion years. Once again, I cannot seem to catch a fucking break for the life of me. Alejandro called out to the vehicle behind us, saying something in Spanish which I'm assuming meant "Follow us" or whatever.

As Alejandro hopped into the passenger's seat, he motioned toward the driver of the car, "This is my second in command, Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra," he stated, giving a slight nod before turning back around in his seat. Rodolfo glanced back at Ghost before whipping his head back forward, a scared expression on his face, "Tengo miedo de los fantasmas (I'm scared of Ghosts)," he muttered to Alejandro who concealed a smile. Alejandro turned his head back around and glanced at each of us, "You know Spanish?" he asked. Rodolfo gulped from the front seat.

Soap's eyebrows furrowed, clearly deep in thought about his answer before smiling, "No." Alejandro just nodded, forcing a smile in return before returning his gaze back to the street in front of us, "You will," he replied, looking very unamused. Shaking my head, I bit back another laugh. Why the hell was this all so funny? I'll miss Soap's dumbassery when I'm with my old squad again. My lips pursed together as I dropped my eyesight back down into my lap. It was the right decision for everyone... wasn't it?

We began to drive off, the hum of the engine sparking to life filled my ears, the familiar sound brought me some sort of comfort. Kinda dumb, but I'll take comfort anywhere I can get it at this point. Sighing softly, I craned my head to try and look out Soap's window but his big stupid fat head was blocking most of my view. My eyes narrowed down at him as I shoved his chest back, smirking slightly when he turned his head at me, looking offended as ever.

"Sorry not sorry," I grinned before peeling my eyes away from him and out toward the window. The vehicle glided down a tree-lined street, flanked on both sides by a colorful assortment of different buildings. Some houses were adorned with cheerful pastel hues of pinks, yellows, and greens, while other buildings were colored with grey, muted tones, creating a mosaic of color. Large leafy trees and other shrubbery created a green canopy above certain parts of the road, branches intertwined as if sharing secrets with one another. Dappled sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting a speckled pattern on the road.

We passed a white truck, four armed men holding large guns sat in the the back causing Soap to stiffen up next to me. His goofy smile was soon replaced by a dead serious expression, one I hadn't seen since my interrogation. "White truck, four armed in the back," he darkly stated to Alejandro, his fingers grazing the pistol attached to his thigh. Alejandro whipped his head around with a concerned expression, "Hey tranquilo... Easy, that's normal here," he quickly replied, his gaze flitting down to the gun gripped in Soap's hand.

Soap pursed his lips and nodded, tucking his gun back in his respective place. My eyes scanned him up and down before returning my vision back out to the scenery passing us, it'd been a long time since I'd been out of military confinements. "Guns on the street is jurisdiction of the police," Alejandro further clarified, my eyebrows knitted together as I began to listen in on the conversation. That was unheard of even where I was from.

"Where is the police?" Ghost questioned, almost causing me to jump up in surprise. I literally forgot he was even in the fucking car with us from how weirdly quiet he is, even with his fat ass fucking thigh squished up against mine. Alejandro nodded his head, his face taking on a more serious look, "Well, Las Almas has a very serious problem," he explained, his voice lower and more raspy, more sexy... stop. He glanced at Ghost through the rearview mirror, "There are few here to uphold the law. And many of those who resist corruption disappear," he continued, his lips pulling together.

Soap nodded his head and leaned his body over to the side, crushing me in the process to further hear what Alejandro had to say. If they weren't talking about something important, I would've uppercutted Soap straight in his jaw, I mean... does he have no sense of personal space? My eyes narrowed down at him and I shook my head, mumbling curses under my breath. "What about the military?" Soap asked, scooching up even more, basically smashing me into Ghost's rock hard arm.

My teeth gritted together in frustration, subtly trying to shove Soap off of me. "Well because we are well trained, soldiers are usually recruited by the narcos," Alejandro stated, glancing over his shoulder at Soap who has now rested his pointy ass elbow on top of my thigh. Seriously, was he doing this on purpose or something? Ghost jutted in, pressing his body forward, smushing me between his sweaty back and the hard leather seat behind us, "Why not you?" He questioned, glaring slightly. I was basically a pretzel at this point, this was getting absurd.

Alejandro nodded, looking over at Rodolfo for a second before peering at Ghost in the rearview mirror, "We grew up here," he stated, some softness in his voice. I felt bad for him, but being smushed between two large, sweaty men and bent at a weird angle stole most of my compassion away. I was about two seconds from blowing up the somber mood in a fit of cuss words, shoving everybody off of me. But, somehow, I held myself together by the grace of God himself.

"They call us Los Vaqueros... Cowboys," Alejandro continued, a small smile forming on his lips, nodding over at Rodolfo before turning his attention out of the window. How nice would that be, being able to fucking twist and turn and look wherever you want, but nope, not me, no, I get to be crushed in the backseat. "We love this place... and we will die fighting for it," Alejandro muttered under his breath.

Finally, fucking finally, Soap moved back to his seat and settled into it, Ghost doing the same. Sweat was pouring from my body from their fucking body heat and the hot ass air outside, I was seriously about to ruin the mood and ask if they have air conditioning in Mexican cars... or no, I'm sorry, Las Almas cars. Using my hand to fan myself, I did my best to try and cool myself down, which quickly became apparent how impossible that task really was.

Rolling my eyes, I looked back out of the window, the sight I saw was concerning enough that suddenly I didn't feel as hot anymore. There were rows of vendors littering the sidewalks of the streets, some selling tacos in sizzling tortillas that I would sell my left tit for right about now, others selling festive balloons decorated in words I don't understand, or random people scattered about holding flowers for passing people to buy. Oh, and the fucking bulky ass men totting guns up and down the streets that no one else seemed to be bothered by. That too.

Soap turned around and smacked his shoulder into my chest causing me to growl as he moved his body to look over at Ghost, which of course, caused Ghost to do the same thing, smacking me with his bigger shoulder. Yeah, that's it, I'm at the end of my fucking rope. "Kids, guns, and balloons... that's a new one," Soap muttered at Ghost. "You wanna know what's gonna be a new one? My shoulder replacement because you keep fucking slamming into it," I snapped at Soap, pointing my finger in his face.

A cheeky grin formed across his lips, "Sorry lass, you're so small sometimes I forget you're there," he laughed, shaking his head. My eyes narrowed down at him, "One more time and I swear to..." I bit down on my tongue and huffed, crossing my arms over my chest as I looked back out of the window. Alejandro stared at us for a few moments, opening his mouth to say something before shutting it again. After a few awkward seconds he spoke up again, "Narcos use generosity to win over the people," he explained, glancing over at Soap for a moment.

"Even the children?" Soap asked, anger and concern intertwined in his tone. Alejandro sighed and looked back out of his window, shaking his head slightly. It was clear how much he cared about Las Almas... he was one of the good guys. Not only was I going to be fucking over the Task Force... I'd been fucking him over too. "Especially the children," Rodolfo replied, nodding his head with a solemn expression.

We drove in peaceful silence for a moment before the SUV pulled up to a stop, Soap turned his head to look out of his window which I mimicked shortly after. The sight was enough to make me shudder. In the middle of an alleyway, between two worn down brick buildings, laid two bodies beneath separate bloody white cloths. Blood soaked through the sheets, the crimson substance trickled through the cracks and divots of the stone walkway, painting the path in a sea of red. Not only that, but the sheets were covered in words I didn't understand... maybe for the better. I felt bad for looking at these bodies... left to rot on the side of the road. I'm not a religious person, but I prayed for them to find peace wherever their souls may be now.

Soap glanced over at Alejandro through the rearview mirror, "What's on those sheets?" he asked, returning his stare back to the bodies. Alejandro glanced over at him before looking back out of the window, rolling it down. The putrid smell filled my lungs, almost making me gag, why the fuck did he have to roll down his window? "Narcomantas," he replied, his eyes resting on the once lively bodies which were now reduced to nothing more than a political statement. "Cartel cloths," Rodolfo stated, nodding his head and keeping his eyes on the road.

The window remained rolled down causing me to groan. If Alejandro wasn't so hot I would've gave him a piece of my mind for letting the rotting smell of dead people permeate the air of the fucking car we have to ride in for God knows how long. "Messages from El Sin Nombre. Warnings, marking territory," Alejandro continued darkly, his hands clenching slightly in his lap, "Our streets are laced with death." The vehicle took on a much darker atmosphere as we drove off. Alejandro rolled up his window, trapping the disgusting smell in the SUV. These people I'm surrounded by must not have a sense of smell because holy shit.

Wafting the air around me, I tried to pretend the aroma was just overcooked meat or something. My eyes slightly watered and my nose hairs felt like they were getting singed off, but I wasn't gonna be the one to complain. "Who's Sin Nombre?" Ghost asked, his British accent and butchering of the words almost causing me to laugh. Biting my lip to conceal it, I looked away, shaking my head. "El Sin Nombre," Alejandro clarified with an unreadable expression, "The nameless... the leader of the Las Almas cartel," he continued, glancing back at Ghost.

"Where can we find him?" Soap butted in, leaning forward for a second before I elbowed him in his ribs, he shot me an annoyed look before resting back into his seat. Alejandro sighed, "You can't. No one knows who he is," he replied, shaking his head before looking back out of the window. Of course the most coincidental thing happened because why not, we passed a beautiful mural on the side of a brick building, "El Sin Nombre" was painted in big bold letters. "But he is everywhere..." Alejandro muttered.

Alejandro took a deep breath before looking between all three of us in the rearview mirror, "And this is a challenge," he grinned before glancing over at Rodolfo who looked back at him with a smirk, they both shared a laugh before glancing away from one another. I wanted to ask how that could possibly be funny, but I refrained myself. "But Los Vaqueros like challenges," he continued, a huge grin still prominent on his face. Again... not getting the humor but whatever.

Ghost continued to just look out the window, I wondered what he was thinking. He had been silent almost the entire car ride, I think he spoke five words in total and half of them were butchered attempts at Spanish. Rodolfo glanced at Ghost through the rearview mirror, "With your mask, you will fit in well here Ghost," he smiled. Ghost snapped his head to glare at him through the rearview mirror. "Oye, fácil (Hey, easy)," Alejandro quickly stepped in, giving Rodolfo a "Why the fuck would you say that" look.

Rodolfo took a deep breath, probably deciding to never interact with Ghost ever again. Don't worry pal, I'm right there with you. Rolling my eyes, I looked out of the window in front of me, noticing we were pulling up to what looked like a checkpoint. "Checkpoint, it's the army. Turn right, we'll go around," Alejandro stated, motioning over at Rodolfo. He quickly swerved the SUV to the right, driving through an alleyway that I'm surprised this bulky ass car fit through.

Soap glanced over at Alejandro, "Why?" he asked, looking confused. I'm pretty sure Soap's emotion of the day is confused, because 99% of the time that's all he seems to be. Alejandro looked back over at Soap and nodded, "Some troops are in the pocket of El Sin Nombre," he explained, looking back out to the road, his eyebrows furrowed, "Like I told you... he is everywhere," he muttered quietly. Soap nodded his head in return, looking like he had more questions but decided not to ask them. Thank God.

"Cartel is hiding Hassan in the village across the river," Alejandro stated, looking back at all three of us, his gaze lingering on me a moment too long causing me to blush slightly. He turned his body back around and kept his attention on the road, "Let's hope he's still there." My heart began to race again at those words, what would happen to me once they found Hassan? There were way too many possibilities, way too many risks. I only hope I can escape tonight, only hope they won't look for me if I manage to pull it off.

The worst part is, hope can only get you so far.