I couldn't see anything.
My hands were bound behind my back, and something warm ran from my temple into my eye.
Blood.
At first, I thought it was only a thin stream.
Then it reached my jaw.
Shouts came from every direction.
Gunfire.
Orders.
Someone screaming for the others to fall back.
I knew exactly what had happened.
Even if I could have spoken, it wouldn't have changed anything.
This was an occupational hazard.
The price of doing something that should have been impossible.
I tried to tense my arms.
Nothing.
Pain tore through my chest and spread into every muscle at once, as if my own body had been burned from the inside. I coughed, and blood filled my mouth.
So that was the cost.
Someone noticed me moving and grabbed me under the shoulders. My heels dragged across the ground as they pulled me toward a vehicle.
At least, I hoped it was a vehicle.
The low rumble of its engine reminded me of a time when life had still been simple.
A few minutes earlier, I would have had something sarcastic to say about that.
Now I wanted it back.
The others were already gone.
They had left me behind.
Not because of the cargo.
Because of me.
I didn't blame them.
That was how the business worked. Everyone knew what they were signing up for, and I barely knew most of them anyway.
They wouldn't have escaped.
Not from this.
A man somewhere in front of me gave the order to move.
The engine roared to life.
That was the last thing I remembered before everything went black.