Beautiful Sacrifice

air pouring through the open windows.
    Hunter changed chips in his phone and called Jase at the hospital. As he waited for the call to connect, he noticed a flash of color on the right. Another shrine overflowing with flowers and offerings of food and liquor. By the time he was put through to Jase’s room, a second shrine flashed by on the left.
    To Hunter’s shock, Jase answered his own call.
    “’Lo?”
    “Jase, it’s me, Hunter. What are you doing answering the phone?”
    “Enjoying being alive.” Jase’s words were a bit slow and slightly breathless, but otherwise strong. “’Sup?”
    “I took Lina and ran south.”
    “Good. Bullets hurt like a bitch.”
    “Brubaker off your ass?” Hunter asked. He damn well better be.
    “Off it? Hell, he’s kissing it. Dude’s rolling in artifacts.”
    “What?”
    “Got ’em all back and then some,” Jase said.
    “Wait, are you telling me that the missing artifacts have been returned, obsidian mask and all?”
    Lina shot Hunter a startled look, then went back to driving. But she kept listening real hard.
    “Close enough for government work,” Jase said.
    “Amigo, you’re not making sense. I’ll call later.”
    Jase kept talking. “Snake’s lawyer delivered the box, from what I heard. Said he had a client with a dirty conscience. Now it’s clean.”
    “Snakeman’s lawyer coughed up the artifacts?” Hunter asked in disbelief. “Did the lawyer say where the artifacts came from?”
    “Janitor stole them to pay Snakeman a gambling bet.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “Yeah,” Jase said, “but it grows mighty fine roses. Even if they aren’t what you planted.”
    Ali’s voice came in the background, talking to the nurse. It was time for Jase’s pain shot.
    “Give it to me while I’m on the phone,” Jase said.
    Hunter knew he’d have to talk fast. Pain meds tended to hit Jase like a landslide.
    “So you have artifacts,” Hunter said, “even if they aren’t exactly what went missing?”
    “Yeah. They’re in real good shape, too. Like new.”
    “And Brubaker’s buying it?”
    “Ouch! You using a twelve-gauge needle?” Then, “Brubaker ain’t looking in no gift pony’s mouth. ICE will be front and center at the re-pa-tri-a-tion ceremony. Gold star in my file. Maybe a raise, new title.”
    “Are you high?”
    “Getting there. Damn, the drugs in here are prime. Hey, darling, c’mon over and give your big stud a kiss.”
    Ali’s giggle came through the connection, then the sound of a kiss. Over Jase’s muttered protests, she took the phone.
    “Hunter?”
    “Hi, Ali. Sounds like our boy is feeling good.”
    “The stuff they give him hits him hard and fast. Otherwise he wants to get up and go home.”
    “He said something about Brubaker.”
    “Whatever the boss was so upset about is over,” Ali said. “I don’t know the details, but Brubaker got his hands on a box of old stuff and he’s doing the happy dance around Jase’s bed. I don’t understand any of it, but Brubaker can’t say enough nice things about Jase.”
    “Huh.” Hunter saw a riot of color whip by on the left side of the road. Another shrine. Rodrigo’s words echoed in his mind.
    Death is out there. A hard death.
    And the locals were praying like hell that death didn’t find them.
    “…out of danger,” Ali said. “He’s recovering so fast the doctors are amazed. He’s in a regular hospital room now.”
    Hunter snapped back into focus. He smiled as a weight he hadn’t realized was there shifted off his chest. “He always did heal fast. Give your big stud a kiss for me.”
    Ali snickered. “I’ll be sure to tell him it’s from you.”
    The instant Hunter turned off the phone, Lina said, “What’s going on?”
    “Someone returned the stolen artifacts, or something close enough that Brubaker doesn’t care.”
    “That’s…” Her voice died.
    Hunter laughed without humor. “Yeah. But Jase is off the hook and recovering so fast the docs are smiling.”
    “So if we assume that the artifacts and the kidnap attempt on me are connected…” she began.
    Hunter waited.
    “Because the coincidences are pretty overwhelming otherwise,” she added. “So I should be safe now.”
    He didn’t answer.
    “Well, hell,” she said.
    “Pretty much. None of this makes sense. Until it does, I’m all over you like fur on a bunny.”
    A spark of color up on the right resolved into another roadside shrine.
    “Pull over,” Hunter said. “I want a closer look at