Joaquin Horacio

I’d felt like I was being followed for the past few blocks.. which, for now, was just a feeling. My therapist had advised me to acknowledge those feelings without immediately judging them. Fine.. I acknowledged that it was getting increasingly annoying. I was also supposed to face my fears. He’d probably meant something else, but he should’ve been more specific.

He’d killed one boss by now and was still holding the other captive.. when all he’d originally wanted to do was his job. Even the bodyguard he’d been given at the beginning seemed to be starting to doubt whether the other cartel boss was still alive. Joaquin could hardly blame him.. he didn’t exactly get to see much of the man anymore. Still, he stayed, adapted, and even helped him clear up the occasional little mishap. Joaquin was still pretty high on the list, though. The criminal organizations apparently believed he worked for both bosses.. which meant enemies he’d never had anything to do with before were now crawling out of every corner. It was exhausting.. especially since all he wanted to do right now was buy groceries.

But he didn’t even last five minutes in the store before looking around again. He felt watched.. For a moment, he stood there with the coffee in his hand, then put it back on the shelf. His therapy sessions helped him get through everything he now called his new life.. his therapist was good.. damn good, but he didn’t seem to have any idea what Joaquin was using all those psychological techniques for. If he knew his patient wasn’t just killing mindfully but had now learned to breathe his conscience away.. he’d probably take a different approach.

He left the store.. dinner would apparently have to wait… first, he needed somewhere he felt safe, but he never made it there. Panic seeped in, and he stopped in a deserted alley. Excellent.. exactly where he should be when people would like nothing more than to take his head off.