Chapter 58

“Sunny, can you not kick my seat?” I asked, looking in the rearview mirror into the darkness of the back seat.

“Sorry…” she panted in reply. “I was cumming again…”

“Damn man…” I said, shaking my head. “You’re a machine…you’ve been at it non-stop for the last two states…”

“It’s fucking amazing…” she replied breathlessly from the darkness. “I’m so turned on, it feels SO damn good, and it never goes away no matter how much I cum…“ she chuckled. “So much for saving my batteries…”

“You should have brought one that plugs into the power port.” I suggested.

She laughed back. “Yeah well, live and learn.“ she replied, sitting up in the back seat. I could see her eyes shining from the light in the dash board as she leaned forward, putting her mouth closer to my ear. “Where are we?” she asked.

I took a deep breath. “We’ll be in Nevada within the hour.”

“Holy shit! Already?” she exclaimed.

“Yeah. Time flies when you’re having fun, eh?” I said, turning to glance at her.

Sunset chuckled as she climbed into the front seat. She sat down, stretching her legs out while brushing her messy hair out of her face. “I wonder if I did it with Daniels if it would have made any difference…”

“I don’t know.” I replied. “Just count yourself lucky that you got out of that deal.”

“I guess, but still…” she said. “I wonder if taking a load would have helped it…”

I scowled a bit, shaking my head. “Hey Sunny, can we not talk about this?”

She started glaring at me, then a smirk crept across her face. “Golds...does that make you jealous?”

I glanced at her in surprise, then looked back at the road. “No.”

Sunset’s eyebrows went up. “You are jealous…”

I shook my head. “Of course I’m not. You’re crazy.”

She sat up and leaned over to me, pressing her cheek against my shoulder. “Aww…you’re so sweet…”

“I… Sunny, did you figure out a way to get drunk or something?” I asked, making her laugh.

“No…” she chuckled. “It’s nice though…that you’re protective of me. You always were…like at the bar…”

I sighed then looked down at her. “Well…I like you.” I confessed. “And…I think you’re special.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what it is...maybe because you’re from some other world, but sometimes I feel like this world belongs to me, I guess because I’ve spent more time on it than anyone else...and when that guy hit you at the bar, I felt like my world was mistreating a guest…”

Sunset lifted her head to look at me, surprised by my sincerity.

I glanced back at her, then shook my head. “Nevermind. That made no sense…it’s stupid.”

“No!” she said, shaking her head. “I get it…and thank you.”

We drove in silence for a few moments, watching the road rush by us in the headlights.

I looked down at the clock. “When we get to Vegas, I think we should talk to Rare. She needs to know what’s up. We’re gonna be gone longer than we thought.”

She nodded in agreement. “Yeah…do you think anyone will be listening in?”

I shook my head. “Definitely not the CIA…maybe the ‘others’, but I doubt it. We’ll use a pay phone and call her at the boutique later tonight.”

“OK.” Sunset replied, sitting back in the passenger seat. She stared out of the windshield for a few moments. “Fuck, I hate being stuck in this car for so long…”

“Yeah, I know.” I said with a sigh. “So, who is this guy that Daniels sent us to see?”

“Umm…” she mumbled, trying to recall the info. “Retired former FBI and DEA…he’s of Mexican descent, so he did a lot of undercover in South America for the DEA. He snuck into quite a few of the cartels down there, and word has it he was into a lot of secretive shit…which is why Daniels recommended him…he thinks he might know about the ‘others’.”

“Are you sure Daniels knew where we could find him?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. I read his mind before he left…Daniels knew exactly where to find him, and now so do I. He’s spending his retirement in Vegas now, keeping a low profile and gambling his pension away.” the brunette looked at me with a little smirk. “I saw the guy’s face in Daniels’ mind. I know exactly what he looks like.”

I smiled. “And that is exactly why I brought you, Sunny.”

*****

Sunset and I arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday evening, a few hours past a full week after the capture of Fluttershy.

We talked about what we should do while in town, deciding whether we should just hang out in the car or get a hotel. After talking about it for a bit, we decided to spring for a modest hotel room, although Sunset was quite insistent on getting a room with a Jacuzzi. As far as our actions being traceable, we knew at this point that Daniels was keeping the CIA off our backs now. The ‘others’ might have been watching, but we knew they shouldn’t come after us with their own people…although, I was now hoping that they actually would send one of their own after us so I could get my hands on them and force a location out of them.

Sunset had insisted in stopping at a drug store before we checked in to our hotel room. After running in quickly to pick something up, we got our room and went up to decide what to do the next day.

I laid on the bed and stared at the ceiling, thinking about my poor lost princess…thinking about the first time I saw her come scampering out of that hallway, looking so timid and innocent, too shy to even look at me. I felt guilty now for involving such a sweet creature in my kind of life…and now she was someplace terrible because of me.

Sunset went into the bathroom to use the shower for quite a while, then remained in there long after the shower had stopped running.

After what felt like hours of staring at the dirty ceiling, I heard the sound of the Jacuzzi pump running, followed a few minutes later by Sunset’s voice.

“Hey Golds! Why don’t you come in here and hang out?”

“Oh boy…” I thought as I sat up slowly to get off of the bed and walk to the bathroom.

I opened the door into the steamy room to find her stretched out in the bubbly water, laying back with a relaxed face, naked under the water.

I noticed right away what she had been up to, and what she’d gone to the drug store for. Her hair wasn’t brunette anymore…not entirely anyway. She had purchased some hair dye remover and evidently put it to use on herself, but it was obviously not completely effective since her hair still had a darker shade to it…the red was more of a dark copper colour, and the yellows had more of a bronze hue to them.

That’s not to say it wasn’t a welcome sight to see her back in her signature colours, even if they were off a shade. The fact that it was wet made it look different as well, her face looked different with her hair flattened down against her head and shoulders as she smiled at me when I entered the room.

Her mood had lifted a lot ever since her job in the CIA was finished. Having that task ahead of her while we were driving across the country to DC obviously put her on edge the whole time, but now, she was much more light-hearted after completing her task…especially after she knocked it out of the park, and gained a useful ally in the process.

I leaned with my back on the counter, folding my arms. “Nice hair…”

She locked her aqua eyes with mine, then smiled with satisfaction. “It’s nice to finally feel like myself again.”

“Yeah…you look good, Sunny.” I nodded, still thinking about Fluttershy, wondering if this guy that Daniels had sent us to see would be able to help us find her…that is, until Sunset hit me with an unexpected question.

“What do you think about pussies?”

I looked at her for a second, then smirked a bit. “I guess I think they’re pretty nifty…why?”

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the edge of the tub while taking a deep breath. “Human pussies are weird…”

“Oh?” I replied.

“It took me a while to get used to mine…” she continued absentmindedly.

“Hm…” I nodded, looking at her. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Nothing really…” she explained. “It’s just…different. There’s more flaps n’ stuff…”

I smirked a bit. “That’s all just part of the ensemble…” I said, trying to contribute to the conversation any way I could.

“I know,” she said, “But…well, look.” she suddenly sat up out of the water and stood in full view of me. I was caught off guard by this, but I couldn’t peel my eyes off of her body…watching the water run down her skin, dripping off of her breasts as she shifted forward to sit on the edge of the tub.

Sunset leaned back, holding herself up with one arm as she spread her legs apart as wide as she could, then she slid her free hand down to her slit, using her index and middle fingers to pull her lips apart, exposing every part of her female anatomy to me.

I looked for a second, taking in the details of her full lips held apart by her fingers, exposing the pink inner layer, complete with the more delicate frills of flesh that connected at the top, surrounding the little red bud that resided above the dark shadow of her opening just below. I quickly diverted my eyes to the floor, feeling self-conscious about looking at her like that, even though my own anatomy was lifting its head to up have a peek of its own.

She was looking down at her crotch, shifting her fingers around to manipulate it as she appraised herself. “See? There’s like…these little flaps, and the-“ she stopped when she glanced up at me. “Hey…you’re not looking…”

I scratched the back of my head, forcing myself to look back up at her.

She smirked, then asked me: “Does it look OK? Is this how they’re supposed to look?”

I nodded. “Uh yeah, Sunny. It looks fine.”

Sunset bit her lip for a moment as her cheeks flushed, then she let her eyelids drop halfway, looking at me seductively. “But…did it feel good?”

Hey eyes were locked on mine as I glared at her in surprise. “You mean…the night we did it?...Yeah, of course it did.”

She raised an eyebrow, making me notice again how little she looked like herself right then...the way her normally wavy hair was now wet and stuck against her head and neck, making her somehow look smaller, along with the new shade of colour that she was now sporting after I was just getting used to her as a brunette.

“Do you…wanna taste it?” she asked, quite brashly out of the blue.

My heart almost jumped out of my chest when she made the offer, and I stared dumbfounded at her, watching as she continued to present her body to me. “Not helpful Sunny...not helpful...”

I finally sighed, closing my eyes and covering my face with my hands. “Look Sunny…” I said slowly. “You know that I would like nothing more than to…uh, do stuff with you…”

Her expression went slightly blank as she listened to me talk.

“But,” I continued. “I was thinking about Flutters a lot for the last hour…and I can’t help but feel like she is where she is because of me…”

Sunset suddenly sat up on the edge of the tub, closing her legs as she folded her arms across her midsection, looking slightly embarrassed by her recent behaviour.

“I just, uh…” I said, rubbing the back of my head. “I can’t do this…when she’s in there on her own.”

Sunset closed her eyes and nodded, seeming to finally snap out of her sexual conquest. “I know…it’s OK, Golds.” she replied as she turned to step back down into the water. “I’m sorry about that…what I just did there.” she continued as she laid back again. “You know that’s not really me talking when that’s happening, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s OK. Don’t’ worry about it.”

“It’s just…now that we’re done with the CIA and I’m not nervous about it anymore, my mind isn’t as occupied as it was…and I’m losing control more and more…” she explained.

I put my hands on my hips as I looked at her, thinking about the situation. Here we were, in Las Vegas, looking for a stranger that we were referred to by someone who was also basically stranger, to ask about a super-secret agency where my girlfriend was being held…and now my partner was losing her mind to a sexual arousal that she couldn’t control. I didn’t know what to do to help her, giving her what she desired might help…or maybe it wouldn’t.

Or what if it made it worse?

I shook my head as I looked at the floor. “Sorry. I just don’t want to be that guy…” I said. “You know, who cheats on his girlfriends…especially when one of them is in trouble.”

Sunset nodded back. “I know…and I don’t want to be that slutty douchebag who sleeps with her friends' boyfriend…” she sighed, looking down at the swirling water. “I’m trying my hardest to control myself…”

“I know you are. And it’s hard for you…I can tell.” I said, before taking a deep breath and turning to leave the room. “It’s 10:30, I wanna talk to Rarity pretty soon. Like I said, I want to tell her what’s going on…plus I just wanna hear her voice.”

“I actually wanna talk to her too…” she said.

“OK, I’ll wait for you to be done.” I said.

She suddenly pressed the button, turning off the pump and then pulled the plug in the tub. “I’m done now, just let me dry off.” she said as she stepped out of the tub, grabbing a towel to dry herself with.

We were down in the lobby about ten minutes later. Sunset was dressed in her usual jeans and long aqua t-shirt, but she had left her jacket upstairs this time. Her hair was still wet, and she had simply brushed it back to let it dry on its own.

We found a few payphones in the lobby, so we put one of them to use to call the fashionista.

*****

Rarity was in the work room of her boutique, working on another garment when the store phone rang. She looked up briefly, glaring over her red magnifying glasses out of the room at the customer service counter where the phone sat.

She watched as the line on the phone flashed as the phone rang again and again…until finally it went quiet. She rolled her eyes as she looked up at the clock in her work room. “Who on earth would be calling at ten-to-eleven on a Sunday night?” she wondered as she lowered her head to go back to work, only to hear the phone ring a second time.

She scowled as she looked at the phone, noticing the same line flashing again. “What the devil?” she said to herself as she stood up and set the garment down on the work counter. She walked out to the main counter in the show room, standing over the phone, biting her lips as she thought about what to do. “Could it be a trap?” she wondered. “Someone from one of these agencies?”

She bit her index fingernail as the phone kept ringing. “It could be Golds...maybe he found Fluttershy!…or maybe he needs help…?”

She hesitated for a moment, then reached out to put her hand on the phone, clenching her jaw. “So what if it’s a trap? Let them come! I can look after myself…”

She picked the phone up, straightening her posture as she answered like a professional. “Carousel Boutique…Rarity speaking.”

“Hey, it’s me…” I replied through the phone.

Rarity let out a sigh of relief, putting her hand to her chest as her heart fluttered at the sound of my voice. “Oh darling…how I’ve missed-“

“No names or specifics, OK?” I cut her off.

She paused for a moment, somewhat shocked by my sternness. “Yes, of course.” she nodded.

“Sorry about that.” I said. “So how’s it going there?”

“Oh, pretty uneventful, darling. Just work and…well, that’s about it.” she explained. “How is it going on your end? Have you found…her?”

There was a pause before I answered. “No…not really.”

She frowned a bit, feeling a wave of disappointment go through her. “What do you mean, not really? Didn’t you get into the…uh, place?”

“Yeah, she did it. She did an amazing job, you would’ve been proud of her…but unfortunately the information we needed just wasn’t there, and neither was our friend.” I replied.

Rarity covered her mouth. “So…is she…?”

“Yeah…” I replied. “She’s at the ‘other’ place.”

The fashionista closed her eyes, shaking her head as she realized that she wasn’t going to be seeing her lovers for longer than expected. She then took in a deep breath, opening her eyes to speak again. “So, do you know where this ‘other’ place is?”

“Nope. Not a fucking clue.” I replied, making her heart sink into her stomach.

“B-but…darling…what are you going to do??” she stuttered.

“Don’t worry.” I replied. “We were sent to talk to someone who might know where to look…but we had to go across the country again…”

“Oh my goodness…” she mumbled, her mind blank, yet overwhelmed at the same time.

“Don’t worry.” I repeated. “We’re gonna make it. You hear me?”

Rarity nodded. “Yes…I heard you, darling…I’m just…I’m so worried about her...” her voice was starting to crack under the weight of her emotion. “And I miss you so much…”

“I miss you too…trust me, not a day goes by that I don’t think of that beautiful, little white ass of yours.” I said.

She smiled a bit, even while sniffling as her eyes continued to moisten up. “Oh stop...don’t be so lewd…” she forced a giggle. “How is your partner doing?”

“Oh, well….like I said,” I began, “She did great…she’s serious about finding her too…”

Rarity nodded a bit. “Well, actually…I was asking about her, uh…little condition…”

“Oh…” I replied with a pause. “She’s managing, but it’s been hard for her to deal with…”

“Could I talk to her please?” she asked.

“…Sure.”

Rarity listened as she heard the murmur of Sunset and I talking in the background, then the muffled rattle as the phone was passed to the copper-haired girl.

“Hey.” Sunset greeted.

“Hello darling…how are you doing?” Rarity asked.

“Uh…” Sunset replied somewhat timidly. “It’s been pretty crazy. I got in...to…you know…that big place. That was pretty amazing, but it turned out to be a waste of time.”

“Nonsense! He said you did very well.” Rarity replied. “I very much appreciate you putting yourself at risk for us. You truly are a good friend, darling.”

“Oh…well…I’ll do what it takes to get her back, you know that. We’re not coming home empty-handed.” the copper-headed girl replied.

“It will not go overlooked, I assure you. I will forever be in your debt.” the fashionista said with sincerity. “What about your little…issue?”

There was a short pause before Sunset answered. “Well…it’s been happening non-stop this whole time.”

Rarity gave a small gasp of shock. “The entire time? Oh goodness…” she said. “Didn’t your little plan work?”

“Uh, it works for like ten minutes, but then it just comes back…” Sunset replied.

The purple-haired girl shook her head. “You poor thing…I’m so sorry! This must be so hard for you to deal with…”

“Well, I’ve been managing so far,” Sunset said. “But it’s been worse the last few days…we kind of had a close call on Friday…”

“A close call?”

“Like…we maybe accidently started doing stuff…” she answered. “I don’t want to do that to you guys, and I’m trying my best to control it…but I thought I should be up front and tell you what happened…”

Rarity felt a small pang of jealousy in her chest, but she swallowed it down, knowing that Sunset couldn’t help it, and was being a good friend by being honest about it. “What kind of stuff did you do?”

“Oh…like some kissing…and touching…”

Rarity tilted her head. “Oh that’s not so bad…" she thought. "Poor thing, she must be absolutely losing her mind…it must be terrible going through this. She’s just trying to help after all…and after all she’s done it’s not fair for her to suffer this way…”

Sunset continued, nervously filling the space of the silent pause created by Rarity’s thoughts, not knowing what the fashionista was thinking about. “You’ve got a good man, though. He sure has some strong-ass will power…some of the things he’s refused to give in to…things I’ve said or done when I’m…losing control…”

“Darling…” Rarity finally said. “Go ahead…if you need to.”

“Huh?”

“It is simply not fair that you have to go through this, especially after all you’ve done for us.” Rarity explained. “I give you full permission to indulge yourself when you feel the need.”

Sunset was silent.

Rarity frowned. “Are you still there?”

“Y-yeah…sorry. I’m here…I’m just…” Sunset stammered. “I…no. I can’t. He’s YOUR boyfriend…I can’t…especially with, you know…our friend missing.”

“I know darling, but I’m afraid I must insist.” Rarity replied. “With her gone, that leaves me in charge of this relationship…and I cannot bear the thought of you to suffering any longer, plus you need to be thinking clearly if we want to be successful in bringing our friend home.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I can handle this on my own.” the copper-haired girl lied.

“Suit yourself, darling. But my offer stands indefinitely, should you decide to change your mind.” Rarity informed her.

“Fine.”

“OK, then. Good luck, darling. Now, could you be a dear and put him back on, please?” Rarity asked.

“Sure thing.” Sunset answered.

“Thank you, darling. For everything.” Rarity said softly.

“…no problem.” was the reply after a short pause.

There was a silence for a moment, followed by the sound of the phone passing hands again.

“Yep?” my voice said.

“Darling…” Rarity started. “Please do not allow your partner to suffer. If she is out of control, you have my permission to fuck her brains out. Do you understand me?”

There was a pause.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Do I sound unsure?” she asked back.

“No, not really.” I said with a chuckle. “But don’t worry, it won’t come to that.”

“Well, consider it a standing order, should the need arise.” Rarity replied sternly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, darling…as much as I hate to let you go, I must return to my work, post-haste.”

I sighed into the phone. “OK. You’ll hear from us as soon as we find her, or figure something out…OK?”

“Much appreciated.” the fashionista replied. “Thank you for letting me know what is happening…and it was good to hear your voice again.”

“You too.”

“I love you, darling…”

“Love you too.”

After finishing our farewells, Rarity slowly and reluctantly hung up the phone. She stood by the counter for a moment, staring blankly at the device that had just delivered to her the voice of her lover, who she missed more than anything else in the world at that moment…aside from her other lover.

After a moment, the fashionista snapped out of her trance with a couple of blinks. She raised her right arm, turning her head to look at it as she closed her hand into a fist, studying the long, shiny black glove that ran up the length of her arm, almost to her shoulder…

*****

The next morning, Sunset and I set out to travel the Vegas strip in search of our target. We decided to start at the Bellagio and work our way from there. Luckily, Sunset would be able to recognise him after reading Agent Daniels’ mind, which was good since I didn’t know who this guy was…

We circled the first casino a couple times, taking in the surroundings of the place…the constant dinging and chiming of the slot machines, the flashing colours, people of all different shades and walks of life, all scurrying about, looking to hit the jackpot and win big time.

After coming up empty-handed, we moved onto the next casino, then after not finding the target there, we moved on to the next one, and so on.

Sunset and I spent the better part of the day looking around in the casinos on the Vegas strip, until we finally ended up at the MGM Grand around 5:00pm as we made our way back along the other side of the strip. I could tell she was starting to lose her mind after hearing the sounds of the machines all day, more or less the same constant chiming in every casino that we went into rang ruthlessly against her eardrums over and over again.

I knew the exact moment that she saw him. She was rubbing her temples, trying to tune out the racket when I saw her eyes suddenly lock onto someone at the craps tables.

Sunset nudged my arm, not realizing I already knew she was onto something. “There he is…” she pointed discreetly in the direction of his location, where I followed with my eyes, trying to locate him myself.

As I scanned the craps tables however, a large group of businessmen in suits walked in front of us, obscuring my view.

“Fucking dicks…” Sunset cursed as she grabbed my shirt to coax me to walk around them, getting another clear view for me to see the man we were looking for. As we found another clearing in the crowd, Sunset started to gesture to his location again. “Right th-“ she stopped suddenly, cocking her eyebrows in confusion. “What the fuck?”

“What?” I asked, wondering what she was seeing now.

“He’s gone…” she replied, frowning as she shook her head.

I looked over at the table that she had gestured to, noticing that there was one empty seat at the head of the table. I smirked, looking back at my copper-haired partner. “Are you losing it? You’re starting to see things…”

Sunset scowled at me. “No! I’m telling you, he was right there at that table.”

I raised my eyebrows, giving my head a little shake. “If you insist. So which way could he have gone?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “He really only could have gone that way, or else I would have seen him.” She pointed directly past the table, where there was a walkway that went between a bunch of Black-Jack tables, eventually leading to a hallway to the washrooms, and the hotel elevator beyond that.

We decided to follow the path that Sunset had pointed out, weaving in between the tables as we walked until we reached the entrance to the hallway, which was fairly quiet compared to the rest of the place. We walked about ten feet down the hall, then stopped.

I put my hand on my hips, looking down the empty hall for a moment, wondering what Sunset thought she saw. “You’ve got us on a wild goose chase, Sunny.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know…this is the only way he could have gone…” she said. “He was at the table one minute, then he was gone. He couldn’t have gone too far…he looks pretty old.”

Just then, we both heard a voice at the entrance of the hall behind us. It was a rough sounding voice that spoke with a Latino accent. “I thought I recognised you, you old gringo…” the voice said, rolling its R’s as it spoke.

I frowned, recognising the voice as being one from my past, albeit older sounding now. Sunset and I both turned around to face the man…and yes, I knew who he was when I saw him…although he did look a lot different.

He was a short man, quite pudgy in build, with a bald head and a dark, wrinkly face, with flabby jowls that hung above his droopy neck. He was wearing an orange golf shirt and light gray dress pants with brown leather loafers.

I leaned my head over towards Sunset. “Is that who we’re looking for?”

She nodded silently.

I shook my head slowly. “Un-fucking-believable.”

I had met this man back in the 1980s in Texas, just above the Mexican border. He had been unknowingly ratted out by someone on the inside of the cartels, and was heading back to the DEA headquarters after an undercover investigation when he was ambushed by the same particular group that he had infiltrated.

Lucky for him, I happened to be passing by, test driving a ‘67 Mercury Cougar…

“You know this guy?” Sunset asked me, snapping me out of my surprise.

I nodded with a small chuckle. “Yeah…” I said as I stared walking towards him. “Jorge-“

“SHHH!” he shushed as he stepped forward, walking with an obvious limp from the bullet he took in his leg that day he was attacked…and he had me to thank for the fact that that was the only bullet he took that day. “Don’t call me that, muchacho…”

“Muchacho?” I smirked.

He snickered back. “I go by Chupacabra now…that was my code name during the last decade of my career…”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Chupacabra? That’s fucking lame…”

He scowled at me. “Why you gotta break balls, hombre?”

I chuckled at his response.

“What are you going by these days?” he asked.

“Golden Arrow.” I answered.

“Pffft…” he spat, waving me off.

We stared at each other for a moment, before he let out a hearty laugh and put his arms out, wrapping me in a tight hug, patting me firmly on the back as he continued to chuckle.

Once he released me from the embrace, he backed up a step and looked at me again. “So, what brings you here, old man? I thought you had disappeared off the face of the planet…”

I took a deep breath. “I’m looking for a friend. Someone very close to me, who was taken…” I paused. “By a secret agency.”

He turned his head, looking at me sideways. “What secret agency?”

“Well, that’s what I was sent here to ask you…” I replied.

He frowned. “By who?”

“The CIA.” I replied.

The chupacabra shook his head in confusion. “CIA? I thought you and them didn’t see eye-to-eye?”

I glanced over at Sunset, who was watching the conversation unfold with interest. She always seemed to enjoy learning more about me and my past. I looked back at the old Mexican. “It’s a long story…but I guess me and them are cool now…kind of.”

I could see him glance at Sunset as well, somehow figuring that it had something to do with her. “Let’s get out of here to talk.”

“Sure.” I replied as we started walking out of the casino. We exited the building and made our way to the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, looking at the large, blue glass T-shaped hotel behind us with the square gray building in front of it, adorned with golden cups on the roof. In front of that was a large, round fountain with a huge golden lion perched on top.

It took a while to get out there. The old man’s pace was slow in his old age, especially with his previous leg injury. As we walked, he gestured to Sunset. “Así que, quién es la chica?” he asked.

I glanced at the copper-headed girl, who was following a few feet behind us. “Ella es una amiga... ella me está ayudando a encontrar a nuestro amigo que falta.” I replied, looking back at him.

“Ella es caliente, puedo follarla?” he asked with a chuckle.

I laughed. “Tal vez, pero ella tiene herpes, usted probablemente no quiere nada de eso...”

Chupacabra chuckled back. “No me importa una mierda, todavía voy a joder. Nunca me detuvo antes.”

I cringed. “Ooooohhh, demasiado, hombre...”

Once we actually made it to the corner, we stood and quietly continued our conversation about the agency as random tourists passed us by.

“So, what is this agency you’re looking for?” the old man asked.

I put my hands on my hips. “They run in total secrecy…but they use CIA field agents, which is how they took our friend.”

He put his finger up, shaking it as he thought. “Hang on…I think I know who you’re talking about.” He started rubbing his chin. “‘Us’.” he finished, looking me in the eye as he spoke.

“Us?” I said.

“That’s what they call themselves, amigo.” he explained. “Good luck, if you’re trying to find them.”

“Well, we are looking for them, Chupie.” I replied.

He shook his head. “It’s Chupacabr-r-ra.” he corrected, rolling his R.

“Whatever.” I said with a sarcastic wink. “So do you know where they-”

I stopped talking suddenly when I saw a small red glowing dot floating around on the old man’s forehead. I quickly put my hand up next to his head, placing the laser dot in my palm, and not a moment too soon…

There was a thump as the bullet struck my hand and fell to the ground.

The old man backed up a step, his eyes wide with sudden fear. “What the fuck was that??”

“Someone’s shooting at you. They’re here…and they don’t want you talking to me about them.” I pulled him behind me, then I turned to Sunset. “Get on the other side of him, keep him covered.”

Sunset complied, and we started making our way off the street, keeping Chupacabra shielded the best we could. I could tell the shot came from a fair distance, from the direction of the MGM Grand rooftop…which was too far to see with the naked eye where the sniper might have been.

I put my middle finger up in that direction, knowing they could probably see it…especially after I looked down and saw the laser dot on the center of my chest. Only a second or two went by before I felt the impact of the round ping off my chest, leaving a small hole in my shirt.

Sunset and Chupacabra both heard it.

“Did they just shoot you??” The old man chuckled.

“Yeah…” I laughed. “Can’t blame a guy for trying…”

Then a thought struck me…I had Sunset covering the old man. If they shot her and she didn’t die, then she could become another target of theirs. She was essential to this rescue mission, and I couldn’t have gotten this far without her. I could not afford to lose her, nor did I have time to protect her constantly.

“Sunny!” I shouted, turning to her. “Run!”

She glared at me. “What about him?” she asked, referring to Chupacabra.

“I have him, just go! Don’t get shot or they’ll know…” I said back in a quieter voice.

Her eyes went wide, realizing the implication I was making, then she turned to run back towards our hotel dodging tourists as they sauntered around the sidewalk, not realizing there was a firefight going on right then.

I grabbed the old man under my arm, not really wanting to expose my abilities in public, but knowing there was no other way, and I carried him with me as I ran down the sidewalk, running after Sunset and out of sight of the shooter…assuming there was only one, of course.

*****

We made it safely back to our hotel. I had been hit twice, but the old man was safe. Sunset couldn’t find any bullet holes in her clothes at first, until she took her leather jacket off to inspect it and found a small hole in the back…one shot must have missed her, but went through the tail of her jacket as she ran.

“Fuck!” she cursed. “They put a fucking hole in my jacket! Dicks...”

“It’s OK, Sunny. At least you didn’t get hit.” I said.

We entered the parking garage under the hotel and headed for the rental car. Sunset and I had purposely brought our stuff down from the room and put it in the car, just in case we needed to leave in a hurry like we were now.

“Stay back.” I ordered as I approached our vehicle. “I’m gonna make sure they didn’t put a bomb in the car…” They hung back, hiding behind a cement support column as I casually got into the car and started the engine. Nothing happened, so I put it in gear and drove to their position to let them climb in.

“We’re gettin out of town.” I said sternly. “And you’re coming with us, Chupes.”

“It’s Chupacabr-r-ra!” he corrected, rolling his R again this time.

“I don’t care!” I shouted. “It’s fuckin stupid.”

As we pulled onto the road and left the city, Sunset, who was in the front seat leaned over to say something. Evidently she had touched the old man while she was protecting him and had picked up a few of his thoughts.

“So you told him I have herpes??” she said, glaring angrily at me.

I glanced back at her as the old man laid down in the back seat. “Is that what I said?” I asked. “I guess my Spanish is getting a little rusty…” I lied.

She groaned, pressing her fingertips to her temples. “Nevermind…” she said, turning back to me. “What the fuck happened back there?”

“Obviously, these ‘Us’ guys have been following us…but keeping their distance.” I surmised. “They don’t want to try to engage cuz they know if I get my hands on them, I’ll make them tell us where their headquarters is. That is probably their main goal right now…preventing me from knowing their location. And where Flutters is.”

She turned to look in the back seat at the old man, then turned back to me. “And I take it they didn’t like this guy talking to you…?”

I nodded at the copper-headed beauty. “You got it.” I replied, looking in the rearview mirror into the back seat. “So spill it old man, before they shoot this car up or some shit…where are they located? Do you know?”

He sighed, sitting up part way. “Not exactly…”

I groaned, rubbing my face. I glanced over at Sunset, who was looking down at the dash, shaking her head. “That’s great…” I said flatly. “So you can’t help us?”

“Well, I can’t tell you exactly where it is…but I can tell you where it isn’t…” he answered.

I frowned in confusion as I looked up into the mirror at him. “OK…? So where don’t we look?”

“On land…” he said flatly.

Sunset and I both stared through the windshield in surprise.

“Supposedly,” he continued. “It’s somewhere in the Pacific…built under an old oil rig.”

I shook my head. “Are you fucking kidding me??”

He put his hands up. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, amigo.”

“So, do you know where this oil rig is?” I asked with a sigh.

He shook his head. “No…and there are a bunch of them out there…maybe if you found one that is still running…”

“Huh? What does that mean?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

He rubbed the top of his head with his palm. “Well, word has it, they found one oil rig with a well that still had some oil in it…not enough to be viable to the market, but there’s enough to run generators to power the facility that they built down there for a couple hundred years…”

Sunset and I looked at each other. I shook my head. “This is like some James Bond shit…”

“It’s the real thing, hermano.” Chupacabra interjected. “Listen, I’ve worked for the Feds, DEA…I even worked at Area 51, and I ain’t never seen a fuckin place like this…”

“So how can we find it?” I asked. “Helicopter? Boat? Deep sea diver?” I started thinking in my head about how much hiring these things might cost. “I might have to go get some more money…”

He shook his head. “That won’t work…a large radius of the air space around it is heavily restricted…if they shoot you down, whether in a chopper or a boat and you get swept away by the current..."

"We accomplish fuck-all in the big picture." I finished for him, shaking my head

"Right, and under the water it just looks like rock on the outside, and it has blockers in place to avoid detection by sonar and what not…” he finished.

“So what the fuck are we supposed to do?” I asked, getting frustrated.

“Well,” he began. “Their secrecy is their biggest advantage, but it is also their biggest weakness…”

“Like how they can’t use their own field agents to come after me…” I said flatly.

“That’s true…for you.” he said, raising his eyebrows, thinking about how he he'd almost been murdered not too long ago. “Or how their headquarters is in a location that cannot be self-sustaining…”

I tilted my head. “I’m listening…”

He took a deep breath. “Well, since they live under the water, they obviously can’t just go to the grocery store, or the hardware store whenever they need something…”

“Right…” I listened.

“So there is a shipment of supplies that is sent out there every few weeks…things like food, toiletries, filters for the air and water systems, maintenance items…all that stuff…” he explained.

“Who sends it? And from where?” I asked with new determination.

The old man shrugged. “That’s the part I’m not sure of…I assume it’s sent by helicopter so they can land on the top of the rig…but beyond that, it’s kept pretty secret. Supposedly, they randomize the schedule, as well as the takeoff location. The supplies are gathered in a truck by a shipping company, the orders are placed anonymously and it goes out to pre-determined coordinates out in the desert where they meet the aircraft, then it flies out to the rig from there. The meeting location coordinates are randomly selected ahead of time…this is so there is less chance of anyone noticing them taking off repeatedly from the same place.”

I was rubbing my chin as I thought. “Any chance we can find the guy making that schedule?”

Chupacabra shook his head. “I seriously doubt it.”

“Hmm.” I thought out loud. “If we can catch them when they meet the truck, we could hijack the aircraft and have it take us to the rig…”

“Maybe, amigo…but you have to find out where it’s going to be.” he replied.

“Well, how big of an area do they choose their coordinates from?” I asked, glancing up at him.

“I don’t know…” he rubbed his flappy old cheek. “Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona…”

My eyes went wide when I realized the scope of this search. “That big??”

He nodded. “I told you, It’s a serious fuckin operation.”

“Is it government controlled?” I asked.

The old man shook his head. “No…it’s privately owned.”

“What??” I asked in shock. “By who?”

He shook his head. “Many people…rich families, banks, oil companies…”

“Why?”

“Control…power…you name it…” he replied. “Tom Ogle is one example of their influence…”

I frowned, thinking about the name, which seemed vaguely familiar. “Isn’t that they guy who supposedly invented the 100 MPG carburetor in the early eighties?”

Chupacabra nodded. “Si.” he replied. “And then he and his partner both ended up dead not long after. You think that’s a coincidence, amigo?”

I chewed my bottom lip as the conspiracy story came back to me. “Yeah…the fuckin oil companies didn’t like his invention.” I mumbled. “So that was the work of ‘Us’?”

“Si, senior. They do that kind of bullshit all the time. That’s why they want someone like you…imagine if they had a field agent who was unkillable and had your level of skills?”

I glanced at Sunset.

“Flutters…” she mumbled flatly.

I looked back at Chupacabra. “Our friend that they took…I think they took her because she’s like me…and they want to use her.“

“Hold on, hermano…” the old man said, sitting up a bit higher. “There’s more people like you out there?”

I looked at Sunset, watching her green eyes looking back at me. “There is now.” I said, before changing back to an earlier topic. “So how do we find this supply helicopter?”

“I told you, I don’t know.” he replied. “Unless you plan on just roaming the desert and hoping you see it…”

I shrugged. “That’s the best we have right now…”

The old man scowled. “You can’t be serious, amigo. You could be out there for a hundred years…”

Sunset spoke up. “But if these ‘Us’ guys are watching us, and they know we’re looking for the helicopter, won’t they just tell their people to keep the location away from where we are?”

I stared out the windshield for a moment. “Shit…you’re right.” I said, looking at her as I thought about something. “Just let me think for a bit. Don’t talk.”

We drove until we were quite a few miles out of Vegas, then I pulled over when we were sure there was no one close on our tail. I got out of the car, signalling them both to get out with me. We walked out into the desert from the side of the road for about 100 feet.

“We need to lose them.” I said. “I didn’t want to talk about it in the car…in case there’s a bug or something in there.” I didn’t know if there was a bug, in fact it was doubtful since there wasn't a bomb either, but I didn’t want to take the chance in trying to formulate a new plan with them listening.

They both nodded.

“How are we supposed to lose them? They’re watching us like hawks…” Sunset asked.

I pursed my lips, thinking as I looked at the rental car. “First of all, we need to get rid of the car…it has a GPS in it for the navigation system.” I explained, before pointing at Sunset’s pocket. “So does your phone…they are probably able to track us pretty easy.”

Her eyes suddenly went wide. “You want me to get rid of my phone??”

“We have to Sunny…we need to go stone age, which is my specialty. They’re using all these electronics against us, and I didn’t care before, but now it’s gonna stop us from searching for that supply chopper…” I explained.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket to look at it.“So, what? You wanna crush my phone like yours?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

I shook my head. “No, I think we can use it against them…” I said, looking at Chupacabra.

He was looking at me with his eyebrows cocked. “You’re not seriously gonna walk around the desert hoping to find that chopper, are you? It’s never gonna happen, amigo.”

I nodded. “Until we come up with something better…yeah, that’s what we’re doing. Do you still have any connections to the Feds or DEA?”

He nodded. “Always…why?”

“I have an idea.” I answered.

Author's Notes:

I used Google translate for the Spanish, so if it's all fucked up, don't blame me. lol