PoP - 04 Part 2

Keith and Light © Lightwolf21
Housepets! and characters © Rick Griffin
Some characters © Valerio and used with permission
Collaboration with Valerio, since I've used the settings of his stories for the most part.

If you have not read Valerio's fanfics ... *Spoiler Warning*

This story series I'm planning on doing is militaristic in nature focusing on sniping and therefore WILL include weapons use mainly for training purposes (yeah, OK, I lied initially), a little blood (upped the rating, ended up with more blood than initially planned, but still not too graphic), and semi-harsh language (I've kept the language censored or PG, darn, heck, etc.). Reader discretion is advised.

Note about the formatting: Spanish dialogue followed by words in < > is an English translation and words in < > is just Spanish dialogue but written in English. Hopefully it isn't too confusing. Anyway without further adieu, here's the next chapter. Enjoy

---------- Chapter 4 (part 2)

2010 outskirts of Babylon Gardens; 5 minutes from Lucky Charm Grove

Martin and Keith had noticed some sound coming from the back seat, where Light was sleeping. They looked back to see him kicking his legs out as if he was running, in dream, like dogs often do. "I wonder what dogs dream about." Martin pondered aloud.

"Oh, probably the same things they do when they're awake," Keith replied. "You know, chasing sticks and balls, chasing prey … playing D&D… that kind of stuff." As he said it, he wondered if the last one made sense. He figured it was possible, so why not?

Martin chuckled. "I know what you mean…you're probably right."

---

Light was sprinting through the forest. It was the day before the cartel/client meeting, the sun was just rising and both Keith and Light had little time to prepare. He'd disarmed the first few traps, carefully removing each grenade from the tripwires with his knife. After three of them, he'd noticed a pattern and was able to predict where the next one would be within a few yards. It was almost instinctual behavior, he was barely conscious he was doing it. Amateurs, he thought. When he'd almost finished clearing the traps, he heard Keith over the radio. "Light, I'm finishing up here."

Light put his claw to the earpiece to respond, "affirmative."

Keith looked over to where light was, and saw him running towards him. From several locations, he'd ranged several landmarks inside the building area and those surrounding it. They had needed to clear the traps around the buildings, in case they would need to shoot from a different position. They didn't want to have to worry about traps that night, because it would slow them down if they had to search for them during the mission. He'd figured the ferals in the area would be thankful as well. While waiting for Light, he took notes in his log book, including what he'd had for breakfast that day, the temperature, relative humidity, what time the sun rose, wind direction, etc. The log book was the snipers 'bible', and without it, a snipers ability to learn would be non-existent. He knew sniping was a perishable skill, and without practice and discipline, could cause the sniper's ability to decline, which could cause the sniper themselves, to perish at the hands of the enemy. Soon Light was standing beside Keith near the makeshift hide they'd made. It had only taken them 5 hours earlier that morning to create it, and they hadn't had any sleep since the day before. "How many grenades did you find?" Keith asked.

"I don't know if these guys are smart or we're just smarter,"," Light responded. "I found about 20 grenade traps, but they were spread out in a strategic manner. I don't even know how I was able to find them all so easily."

"Are you sure you found them all?" Keith asked, a serious look on his face.

"I neutralized the traps that posed a risk to the mission, sir" Light responded, an equally serious look on his face. "I left the ones near the buildings to make them think no one has tampered with them.

Keith breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the side of their hide, exhausted. "I think we should get some rest; we've earned it. Is there anything else you can think of that needs to be done before the op?"

Light thought back to his plan they discussed yesterday afternoon, but his mind was almost as fuzzy as his tail, from lack of sleep. "We still have time to get some rest before any final preparations that need to be made."

We should go back to camp and rest before moving the gear to the hide. Keith got up and mounted the ATV while Light got on the back and strapped in. Keith drove the two of them back to camp over the uneven terrain, while Light held on.

---

Hector was hiding behind a tree beside the dirt road that lead from the highway to the drop-site coordinates. He'd heard a motorized vehicle traveling by and didn't want to be spotted. He stood out because he was by himself and carrying rope and a large saw…if someone had asked him what he was doing out here with strange items, he wasn't sure he could answer them. After the vehicle had gotten out of earshot he breathed a sigh of relief and continued down the road searching for a tree with a large overhanging branch.

He finally saw the perfect specimen. The branch appeared heavy enough for 6 men to be needed to move it. He tied one end of the rope to the saw and the other around his waist and began climbing the tree. The branch was hanging over the road in just the right spot. The road was blocked on both sides. If any vehicle wanted to get through, they'd be forced to move debris if it was blocking the way. Once he'd gotten to the base of the branch he pulled up the saw using the rope. Once he had brought the saw up he took it in his hand with a sad look on his face. "<Sorry, friend.> he said quietly to the tree as he proceeded to saw the branch. From the looks of things, he was going to be working on this branch for a while. He was hoping Alandra and Antonio would be ok while he was out for most of the day.

---

Light and Keith had been sleeping for much of the late morning and up through mid-afternoon. They woke around 5:00 and the sun was beginning to set. After they'd finished their yoga stretching they had meditated for a few minutes, sitting side by side, and working on controlling their breathing. They were both sitting in a crossed legged pose, with their feet on their thighs. Their eyes were closed, when suddenly Light opened his. "Have we planned everything." Keith asked, with his eyes still closed.

Light closed his eyes again and focused.  He breathed deep regular breaths. "I can't think of anything else."

Keith opened his eyes, unfolded his legs and stood up. Light followed suit, and they went to their food supply to get breakfast. Keith began to boil some water for tea, while Light went to get the laptop out from their equipment. By the time Light had it set up, Keith had his tea in hand. Light didn't care much for heated drinks, so Keith didn't usually make him any. He handed him some orange juice.

Light started up the tracking program for the devices he'd paid the cat to place, the other day. The two looked at the screen and noted the addresses of some of the people that were at the meeting. There were very few of them living in the nearby town. "We know for certain Carlos isn't at these locations." Keith said before sipping some tea. "He wasn't at the meeting. But, we may be able to thin some of their security for tonight."

"Let's get the gear to the hide, and when night falls, we'll start this up." Light said, with a twisted smile, looking over towards the Barrett.

Once Keith and Light had secured the gear they needed that night to the ATV, they rode it to the hide with Light carrying the object that was too large to be secured.

---

The day had passed without incident for Alandra and Antonio, who were staying in the small apartment. Alandra wasn't even worrying about the longer periods of time her 'dad' was gone for that day, she was just happy to have company. The two of them had been conversing with each other in English for practice. Antonio was clearly the better of the two. Eventually he believed she was feeling well enough to hear the exciting story of the huge dog he'd met in the forest the previous day. He told it to her in slow English, explaining the parts she couldn't understand in Spanish. As he told it to her, her eyes grew wide with disbelief. "<…and you didn't even ask the purpose of doing that?>"

"No," Antonio responded. "<…he offered me money. How could I say no?>"

"<So that's where you got the money Dad was talking about?>"

"Sí." he answered, sheepishly. He held a hand on the back of his neck.

Alandra started to look upset. "<Well that was foolish, and dangerous, and … very sweet.>" she said kissing his cheek. Antonio blushed.

Just then Hector walked in through the front door looking exhausted and covered in sawdust. Recently he'd been taking odd jobs from any neighbors that would hire him, to make some extra money, so it wasn't anything unusual. He kissed Alandra and patted Antonio on the head. "<Are you two doing well? Are you ready for dinner?>"

"Sí," they replied together. They looked at each other and giggled.

---

Keith and Light approached the home of one of the people at the meeting. They had finished moving the gear they would need for that evening and stowed it in the hide outside the group of buildings where the drop-off was occurring early the next morning. They jogged silently towards it from the forest behind the house. Light whispered to Keith. "That's a good size house for a small town."

Keith got out his binoculars and started scanning the house. "Yeah, I don't see too much security though. These guys must know they have the rest of the town running scared," he replied quietly, remembering how the man that called himself Hector was reacting the other day. Suddenly he spotted a woman and a child in the kitchen. It didn't faze him though; they weren't there to kill this man. They were there to prevent him from making it to the drop-off, by non-violent means if possible. The mission they took included a clause for minimizing casualties of those other than the primary target and Light had noticed Keith was fond of these types of missions. When it came to drug cartels however…

"How many do you think we'll have to kill this time?" Light asked in a barely audible whisper.

"As many as we have to," Keith replied, just as softly. "…with any luck, they'll run once they see their "supreme leader" gunned down."

Light nodded just as Keith placed the binoculars in his vest. Keith used his finger in a subtle point towards the alleyway to the west of the house. "See the car?"

"Yeah. Did you want the honors?" Light said with a smile?

"After you," Keith replied with a slight bow and arm outstretched as much as he could without risking giving away his position.

Light slinked through the tall grass, his ghillie suit providing a nearly perfect camouflage, both in texture and color. He arrived at the vehicle without incident, with Keith right behind him. Keith got out a can of washable spray paint, while Light got out his knife. (Remember kids, don't use paint on cars, it really will damage them.)

Keith and Light reproduced the results to several other cars over the next hour. Suffice to say, those people wouldn't be making it to the drop-off in those vehicles. Keith had drawn various anti-establishment slurs and symbols on the vehicles to the point where the owners would have most likely reported in the morning that some kids had vandalized their cars during the night. While Light had made sure, that the cars would have more flat tires than they had spares. The spray paint would draw attention away from the fact that the flat tires were the main purpose of the 'vandalization.'

Keith had also been prudent to point out to Light, that these were the vehicles that had arrived at the meeting that day, late. And that it would be difficult to get a ride with someone else, if everyone else was already at the drop-site.

It was around 2300 hours when Light and Keith arrived at the hide. They had decided to walk on foot to make sure they weren't heard on the ATV. Once they'd arrived they did one last yoga stretching session, before meditating. Keith and Light would need every ounce of concentration and focus they could gather. Tonight was no different from any other mission and they knew they could very well die. They got in a prone position and got comfortable. Keith on the CheyTac Rifle, Light on the rangefinders. "Let the game begin." Keith said with a smile.

---

Dinner at the Garcia Household had gone over well. Hector and Antonio were actually enjoying their company. Once Alandra and Antonio had gone to sleep, however, Hector went to his room and turned out the lights, but he didn't try to go to sleep. He couldn't, not when he thought about what he was going to do. <I must be going crazy. No, I have to do this. This is for Alandra.> He lay in his bed until 11:30. He walked quietly to the window and climbed out. He put on his shoes he had left there earlier and began walking towards the tree he had sawed through earlier.

It was Wednesday morning now. Well, it had just passed midnight., when Antonio woke up. Alandra was having a bad dream and was tossing and turning. "Ali?" Antonio said quietly. "Ali" he continued, this time loud enough to wake her. "<Are you okay?>" Alandra woke up.

"Sí," Alandra said in a tired voice. "<I'm okay, Toni. I just had a bad dream.>"

"<I'll go see if your 'dad' will let you sleep in his room. You should feel safer there.>" Antonio was just about to open the door to Hector's room when Alandra stopped him with her paw.

"<Really, I'm fine. I don't want to bother Dad.>"

Antonio turned towards her and looked in her eyes. She turned her head and looked away from his.

Antonio looked worried all of a sudden. "<Ali, you aren't ok. What's wrong?>"

Alandra put a paw to her face, trying to hide the tears. "<I…I…>" She started sobbing and coughing. Antonio, put his arms around her and slowly rubbed the back of her head. She had her face on his shoulder.

"<Ali, you need to tell me what's wrong…was it the dream?>"

She nodded with her head rubbing against his shoulder.

"<Something happened to your dad in the dream, didn't it?>"

She nodded again.

Antonio broke off the embrace and slid his paws down her arms and took hold of her hands. "<Well, I can think of only one way to handle this.>" He wiped her tears away with the back of his paw.

"<We'll just have to see your 'dad' to see he's okay. It'll put your mind to rest.>" Alandra nodded as Antonio pushed open the door to Hector's room. As he was walking in he saw the room was empty and pulled the door shut and took a step back into Alandra.

"Oof." Alandra said, rubbing her nose. "<Why'd you stop?>"

Antonio tried to keep a calm look on his face, as he turned to Alandra. "<You know what? You're right, there's no need to bother him. Heh heh.>" He made a nervous laugh and put his paw behind his head. Alandra wasn't fooled.

"<What are you trying to hide>?" Alandra asked as she walked by him and pushed open the door. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the room was empty. Her eyes went immediately to the note taped to the bed post. "<Alandra and Antonio, I am going for a night stroll. I should be back in a few hours. Love, Dad.>"

Alandra's eyes became as small as needle points and legs gave out as she fell to her knees, staring at the note. Her dad had never left her alone at night. While she would normally not be scared, even without her dad home at night, the unusual nature of the situation and the strange behavior her dad had been exhibiting the last two days, on top of the nightmare she'd just had, this was the breaking point. She was sobbing so hard she started hyperventilating. Antonio rushed to the kitchen to get a brown paper bag and helped her cover her muzzle with it, placing a reassuring paw on her back. "<Nice and steady Ali, nice and steady.>"

Alandra started to breathe more regularly and she suddenly appeared very tired and worried. Her eyes were still tearing and she was sobbing, but at least she seemed to have calmed down a little. Antonio carried Alandra back to her bed and laid her down, giving her a kiss on the cheek. The shock must have used up a lot of stamina, because she was asleep.

<When I find, Hector, I'm going to kill him>, he thought, shaking his fist. He quietly walked through the room and exited through the window in Hector's room. He noticed the shoeprints and followed them into the forest.

---

0100 Hours

Keith and Light were monitoring the changing environment, scopes capped, binoculars ranging the area from their hide. They were dressed in their ghillie suits, completely hidden in plain view and waiting patiently. Light put his ears down with his paws…for the eleventh time. Keith finally spoke up. "Light, if your ears are bothering you, take care of it."

"It's not my ears, I keep hearing this grinding noise, and it's coming from over there," Light indicated with his finger the direction of the annoyance. "It sounds like someone is sawing something. Wait, it's stopped."

Even Keith heard the splitting wood in the distance and the crash of what sounded like a tree hitting the ground. "Great." Keith said, rolling his eyes. "Let's go check it out."

Keith and Light stealthily made their way to where they had heard the crash from. They stopped in front of a huge branch blocking the road. "Huh." Keith said. "Look at that. It's blocking the road." Light pointed to where the branch had fallen, and Keith looked. There was a saw located in the tree. Who ever had been cutting the branch must have been working on it for quite some time, if they were doing it alone.

Light looked at Keith. Keith was holding an open hand above his head. Light brought his thumb and forefinger together in a circle and as he got out his knife, slowly turned and walked away from Keith, searching for the person that left the saw in the tree. Keith walked across the road, upholstered his 9 mil. and began searching the side opposite of Light.

A man was crouched inside some tree roots about 30 feet from the road. Light noticed the man and turned facing him with his knife outwards. "<Don't shoot. I'm unarmed, I'm just a Botanist.>" he cried out, loudly with his hands covering his face.

Light didn't lower his knife. "Habla Inglés?" he asked.

"<No, I don't speak English.>" he replied. Just then a truck could be heard coming down the road.

"$%^&" Light said quietly to himself. He was so focused on localized sounds, he hadn't been paying attention at range. Without taking his eyes off the man, he brought a claw to his radio piece to activate outbound. "Bravo one, I have a situation here…"

---

Keith heard Light's report as he heard the vehicle approaching fast. "Repeat that Light, it sounded like you said you have a civilian here."

"That's an affirmative, sir."

Keith rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Tell him to stay put and hidden. Don't move, I'll make my way over there when it's safe." He was whispering at this point, as the pickup had stopped and men were getting out. Yelling at each other and trying to figure out how to move the branch.

---

With an angry face, Light put a finger to his muzzle, pointed to the man and pointed down, indicating for him to stay there. After that, he slowly moved a little farther from the road and hid behind a tree.

At this point Hector felt he was in clearly over his head. What was he trying to do, get money?! For what, so his cat could be cured of a life threatening disease?... He started to gain some confidence back. That was exactly what he was here for…for Alandra!

He sneaked around to the back side of the truck. Light watched him with surprised eyes, and facepalmed. He was far enough away from the road to whisper into the radio and not be heard by the men, but he knew Keith wasn't so lucky. He contacted Keith, "Keith, our civilian just walked behind the truck. No, no I'm not joking. I'm sure you would tell me to stop him because he could jeopardize the mission. Yeah, I'll get right on that." Light was running towards the truck when another truck came up behind it on the road, casting its headlights near his position. He quickly dropped and didn't move. "$%^&"

"<Hey, what's going on!>" Keith recognized the voice of the man that was in charge of the meeting the other day, Juan Camilo 'the Chameleon' Morales. He got out of the second truck and discussed the branch with the men from the first truck. <"Move it, we've got enough now."> He motioned for the men in the second truck to help move the branch. 20 minutes later and after much strenuous activity, they had cleared it from the road. The men piled back into their trucks and continued to the drop-site.

After they had gone, Light came out from the tree and regrouped with Keith back at the hide. "Where's the civilian?" Keith asked.

Light looked defeated. "I tried, Sir. I…I couldn't get to him in time. I lost sight of him as I hit the dirt to avoid being spotted by that second truck. He must have used some rope to hide underneath one of the trucks"…he paused…"We didn't plan for this, we should pull out now…is what I'd like to say, but knowing you…"

Keith smiled. "Things have just gotten interesting."

Light rubbed his temples with his paws. "Why do I do this to myself?"

It was approaching 0215 hours; Keith and Light were back in their positions in the hide. The clients would be arriving shortly, and there was no sign of Carlos Diego Morales. "He's with the clients." Light said. "That's the only explanation. He must want to make sure they find the place alright, and to make sure they don't try to double cross him."

Keith didn't respond. He didn't move at all. He had his cross-hairs on one of the men near where he predicted the drop would be made, which so happened to be where he assumed Carlos would be standing. He saw the crosshairs slightly bump with his heartbeat vibrating throughout his body and into the firearm. "Wow, that's cool..." he whispered, "…it never gets old."

Light looked through the rangefinders and took the range to the target area. "Bullet drop compensation, 400 yards", he whispered to Keith. Keith confirmed the setting. Light looked at his Smartphone, with the light setting dimmed, beside him. Wind-speed, angle, number of obstacles between them and the target, temperature… everything had been accounted for. As they had feared, the moon was bright that night, but they had built their hide in the shade of a tree, so they wouldn't be found too easily. They continued to wait.

Soon the final vehicle was arriving. Light followed the vehicle with the binoculars, and focused on the man in the passenger seat… Carlos Diego Morales, he checked his Smartphone photo and showed it to Keith. Keith looked through his binoculars. "Yep, that's him," he whispered. "Now we just wait for him to stand still long enough."

"Did you hear that?" Light asked.

"Light, you know I can't hear half the things you do."

Light tried to listen for it again, but he couldn't hear anything. "Never mind, it could just be a feral. It was quiet, so…probably far away."

---

Carlos got out the car, followed by some Caucasians wearing suits. He had a typical drug-lord military appearance, down to the green military uniform and beard. He gave his brother a hug and turned towards the suits. "Welcome to my establishment, gentlemen." He said with a smile and rubbing his hands together. "Never will you find a better product." He walked with confidence, pacing back and forth. Suddenly the door to one of the buildings opened with force and a man carrying an assault rifle was pulling a struggling man by the back of his shirt. "<Who is this?>" Carlos asked, with a coolness that could only stem from that of a cold-blooded killer. "" the man with the assault rifle said, throwing the trespasser to the ground in front of Carlos. Carlos pulled out a Desert Eagle and aimed it at the man. <"Do you have a name?">

"<Please don't shoot me, I have a family.>"

"<I did not ask this question, I asked your name.>"

"<Hector, my name is Hector.>"

"<Good. I like to know the names of people I kill.>" Carlos brought the gun to level with Hector, and pulled the trigger as a cat bit into his arm. The shot went wild and struck one of the armed men in the chest, dropping him instantly. The men started backing up and getting behind cover, as Carlos was trying to wrestle the cat off his arm. He finally grabbed it by the back of the neck and threw it on the ground. The cat rolled a few times ending on its belly facing away from him. Carlos aimed his gun at the cat with fury in his eyes, just as the cat looked back at him with fear.

---

Suddenly everyone in Light's range-finders turned as Light heard a noise coming from behind them. The man from the roadway was being dragged by one with an assault rifle. Keith was watching through his scope, he took his finger off the trigger; his eyes were wide with astonishment. "I guess we know where the guy from the roadway is." Light said with a smile. He noticed Keith wasn't smiling. "Keith?"

"It's the man you warned me about the other day. The one that was going to rob the bank, don't you recognize him." Then Keith remembered Light hadn't seen his face. "…never mind. His name's Hector and he has a sick cat. It's why he was going to rob the bank." He never took his crosshairs off the target as he explained this to Light. He placed his finger back on the trigger and started squeezing, after he saw that a gun was being aimed at Hector. What happened next surprised the two of them.

Light almost jumped as he saw a wiry, gray cat come from nowhere and bite Carlos' hand. Keith and Light saw the Desert Eagle go off in their scopes and soon after heard the gunshot. Keith began to squeeze the trigger, a second time. His sights aimed at Carlos' center of mass. He moved the gun with him, following as he struggled with the cat. "Light, now!" Keith called out.

Light pulled on the wire beside him. The Barrett in the tree above them fired an explosive tipped round into the top floor of the 2nd story building in the group. Keith held his breath. Time slowed down. When the cat was thrown clear, his heart beat with a pulse just as he was about to take the shot, he waited for it to pass, squeezed the trigger, and fired.

---

For the second time that day, Carlos' shot missed its mark. Although this time, not entirely, and this time, because of the explosion in the top floor of the building in front of him that he'd instinctively protected himself from. He suddenly felt something strike him in the chest, and that was the last thing he felt before he slumped to the ground.

Juan watched the scene in horror. Time seemed to pass at a crawl as he saw his brother die in front of his eyes. The explosion had been unexpected and as a result many of the men were in disarray, especially after having seen their 'supreme' leader gunned down. Hector figured this was a good time to flee, and at this point, the men in the suits had had enough, and were getting back into their car. "Oh, you aren't leaving until you give us that money." Juan shouted regaining his composure, trying to take the briefcase from them. The armed man wearing a suit standing beside the one with the briefcase, suddenly deposited blood on the side of the car, shattering a window, after which a gunshot was heard. Juan and the briefcase man paused briefly. Juan pulled out his own Desert Eagle and shot the man with the briefcase before staying low and quickly carrying the case towards one of the buildings. A claw dug into his leg. "Aiee!" Juan shrieked and looked down.

The gray cat was bleeding badly, but wasn't out of this fight yet. He'd figured Hector had come here for money to help Alandra, he'd overheard him talking to himself when working on his plan and had just hoped he wouldn't go through with it, sadly this wasn't the case. Juan pointed his Desert Eagle at the cat and began to pull the trigger.

---

This time, Keith took no chance. He fired earlier than last time and thankfully his pulse had cooperated this time. A slight breeze caused the bullet to stray a bit and strike the Desert Eagle in Juan's hand causing it to break into pieces and dislocating Juan's trigger finger. He cried out in pain and dropped the case. Just then a round from the Barrett struck the building a second time, creating another explosion. "Ejecutar, es el ejército!" <Run, It's the army!> Light heard several of the men calling out as they ran off into the forest.  Juan kicked the cat away and ran with them.

"KW 3 knots west. One mil left." Light called out, looking through the range-finders. Keith had already entered another round in the chamber and adjusted his crosshairs, but didn't see anyone between the trees past the buildings. Light listened. All he could hear was the weeping of a man and the roar of the flames on the second floor of the building. "Area clear?" Keith asked. "Yes sir." Light responded, bringing down his binoculars and breathing a big sigh of relief.

---

Hector had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around Antonio, covering his wound. It didn't look good. The bullet hadn't gone through and it was still lodged in his chest. It was amazing he was still alive. I can't die yet, there's something I still have to do. Antonio thought as he started to go into shock. Keith and Light arrived at the scene quickly considering the distance. Keith grabbed Hector by the shirt and tossed him against the building. "<What did you think you were doing?>"

Hector was sobbing. "<I…I…don't know.>" He covered his face with his hands and collapsed to the ground. Keith slammed his fist against the side of the building. "$%^&"

Light got out his medical kit and helped Keith attempt to bandage the cat up. When they did the best they could do, Light picked up the cat and Keith picked up the briefcase in one hand and picked up Hector under the arm with the other and pulled him along. Several moments later Antonio spoke. "Ali." he said weakly, barely audible." Hector shook Keith off and ran to Light, who was carrying Antonio.

"<What, Toni?>" Hector asked. Then he understood. He walked quickly ahead of Keith and Light. "<Follow me!>" he called out, his face, serious.

---

Alandra had awoken. She'd had another bad dream. She curled into a ball and sobbed, coughing. Antonio wasn't there. Her father wasn't there. She had no one at that moment…when she needed someone most. Her ears twitched as she heard someone approaching the door. She turned her head to the front door, she had stopped crying at that moment.

The door opened and a smile immediately came to her face, followed by absolute horror. Her dad walked in, with a sad expression on his face. But when she saw Antonio…

Keith shut the door behind them. Light carried Antonio to a cat bed and laid him down. Alandra slowly walked towards Antonio, as if in a dream…no…a nightmare, except this one felt more real than any nightmare she'd had before. She knelt beside Antonio. "<Hey, Ali.>" Antonio said as he coughed and some blood trickled out of his mouth. Alandra collapsed on top of him, crying…sobbing, tears gushed from her eyes and covered Antonio's shoulder. Not Antonio, anyone but him. Take me, God. Just spare Toni. Antonio embraced her and pulled her away from him, smiling. Hector embraced Alandra and apologized.

He summed up the events that had happened during the last couple of days, apologizing every fourth word, tears filling his eyes. "<Toni…he saved my life…I was a fool and I should have died, but not Toni, he's a hero…he doesn't deserve this. I only hope you can forgive me.>"

Alandra turned back to Antonio, he was still smiling. "<Alandra, I want you to listen to me…>

She nodded, still too upset to speak. "<I want you and Hector to live happily, just forget about me. I want you to move on and find a new friend, and when you're old enough to live happily with them and start a family. Can you…do…that? Can you live enough for the both of us.>"  Antonio's voice was getting weaker by the minute, but he needed to tell Alandra…his Ali, these things before he died.

Alandra was shaking her head. "Noooo!" she sobbed. "<Toni, don't do this, to me.>"

Antonio stroked her head, she was still sniffling. "<It'll…be…okay>" His arm fell off her head and down her arm as it came to rest at his side. He closed his eyes, and gave a weak, but sincere smile. He'd breathed his last, and Alandra had no more tears to shed. She cried softly until sunrise.

The next day, Hector told Keith and Light what had happened to help them fill in the blanks. Light made an especially detailed mental note of everything. They helped Hector bury Antonio, near the forest near where Light had first met the cat. "It was one of his favorite places to wander." Hector said. Keith and Light had helped pay for a nice gravestone for Antonio. Keith, Light, Hector, and Alandra stood beside the gravestone, which was marked

"Antonio Garcia,

?? - December 9, 2009.

Friend, adventurer, hero!"

Hector and Alandra were crying. Tears flowing down their face. Alandra had lost her best friend, and Hector had felt responsible for his death.

Keith and Light stood at attention and saluted for their Brother in Arms. "Bravest soldier, I've ever known," Light said quietly.

"One of the best." Keith continued. He placed a hand on Hector's shoulder. "<Use the money to get Alandra treated and move out of the country. They know what you look like, it's only a matter of time before they come looking for you.>" Hector nodded, his eyes were sad but also filled with thanks.

Keith pulled Hector along back towards the town, while Light and Alandra were left at the stone. Finally Light spoke. "<That string around your collar, it seems like it doesn't belong…Antonio gave that to you, didn't he?>"

"<Yes, it was a gift, when we first met. I didn't have many friends so, I gratefully accepted it.>" She looked very sad.

"<Don't let go of the memory. I would keep it.>" Light said, as he began to walk back towards the town.

"<Wait,>" she called out.

Light turned and as she kissed him on the cheek. "<Thank you, for trying to save him…and for telling me that. I won't forget him, but I will also follow his wishes and try to live for the both of us.>"

"No problem." Light said, in English.

"Light, we gotta go." Keith was calling to Light.

He wasn't moving.

"Light..."

"Light..."

"Light!"

Light woke with a start. He saw Martin and Keith in the front seats of the car. He rubbed his eyes.

"We're here," Keith said, pulling the car up to the compound. Light's eyes opened with amazement.