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***
That night, Janet couldn’t sleep. She felt extremely uneasy. She kept thinking about Pablo. He was acting rather sketchy. He was eager to get the truck, and he said that he wanted it by Sunday. Why Sunday? Janet asked herself. Him wanting the truck by Sunday, and his conversation with Mateo made Janet feel sick. She replayed the conversation in her head. Janet sat up quickly.
She had got it. Pablo was going to use the truck to kill someone on Sunday.
Janet jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom and started throwing up. She felt sick thinking about Pablo’s plans. He wanted to kill a family and didn’t even care that there was going to be a child in the car. Janet rose to her feet and washed her face. She rinsed the sick out of her mouth. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. Life in the cartel was not for her. She couldn’t work for Pablo any longer. Killing an innocent child was the last straw.
Janet had to leave the cartel. The problem was, the only way to leave was in a body bag. Tears streamed down her face. She had applied for a temp job at Jinco Exports. She was good at her job and got Pablo’s attention quickly. When he promoted her, she was so happy thinking she was doing good for herself. That happiness quickly turned into a living nightmare. She found out Pablo was part of the cartel. Knowing that chained her to her job for life. There was no quitting once you knew about the cartel. The only way to leave the cartel was by death.
Janet jumped to her feet and ran to her mother’s room. “Wake up!” she screamed.
“What is wrong with you?” her mother asked.
“We have to go.”
“Janet, go where?”
“I don’t know, let’s leave. Now, Mom!”
Her mother sat up and switched on the light on the nightstand. “You better not be playing a joke on me,” she said.
“Mom, I’m part of a drug cartel.”
“What?” Her mother laughed a little. “How would you have joined a cartel?” Her mother pressed her back against the headboard and crossed her arms over her chest.
“My boss is part of the Jimenez cartel and—”
“Jimenez cartel?” Her mother jumped out of bed. “How?”
“I didn’t know at first. I thought I was just working at an export company, but when I got promoted to be Pablo’s secretary, it meant managing all his affairs. Including cartel-related affairs.”
Her mother ran her hand through her hair. “Tell me this is a joke,” she said. Janet shook her head. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she spat out.
“I couldn’t, I was scared. I didn’t want to drag you into it,” Janet replied. She told her mother how the cartel used the export company to smuggle drugs into Texas, about the meetings she set up for Pablo. She was never present at the drug meetings, Mateo did that but all the paperwork and phone calls, she did that.
Her mother was silent for a moment. “Why are you leaving now? What did you do?” She started to panic and pace up and down the bedroom.
“He’s planning to kill some people. He didn’t tell me, but I heard him talking to Mateo about it. Mom, I can’t keep working for him and be engaged in killing even if I am not doing this with my hands. I have to run away because he won’t let me quit.”
Her mother was silent for a moment. She wiped a tear off her cheek. “Okay, let’s go,” she said. Janet nodded, ran out of the room and went back to her bedroom that she shared with her six-year-old sister.
“Kim, wake up!” she said as she shook her sister.
“What is it, Janet?” Kim complained. Janet quickly packed a few things for herself and her sister.
“Put your shoes on,” Janet said. Kim reluctantly put her shoes on. Janet grabbed a coat out of the closet and put it on for Kim. She took her hand and they ran out of the room. Their mother had finished packing. The three of them dashed out of the front door and into the night. They headed to the nearest bus station.
***
Three months later…
“I’m here for an interview,” Janet spoke into the intercom.
“What’s your name?” someone asked through the intercom.
“Janet.”
There was a buzzing sound, and then the gates opened. Janet walked through the gates and up the driveway. She walked up to the big house. A smartly dressed woman waited at the front door.
