“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” said Ghost.
As I stared her lifeless body, I said “I’ve never killed someone before.”
“I’ve seen you kill plenty of people, Patches. Don’t think too hard about it.”
“I know that. But I have never killed someone. I have always killed them. It was me or them.”
“Don’t be too hard on you. Remember, you took it upon yourself to end her suffering. I know what you feel. When I was fifteen, my dog Maria, an old German Shepherd by then, began to suffer all sorts of maladies that they get when they’re old. And as much as I wanted to see her live as long as possible, I knew she was suffering. And every day she was alive, was a day she would suffer. And I could not let her suffer like that. So one day, I took her to the vet, and came back home alone.”
“I never knew you liked dogs.”
He chuckled “I love dogs. They’re born and bred to be man’s best friend. You treat them right, and they’ll take care of you till their end.” With a somber ring, he handed me an E-Tool and said “I suppose you should get to burying her.”

 Twenty-four hours earlier. 

As I was spreading my jam on some hard tack, I saw the woman in a cot and blanket we rescued rise into consciousness. As she woke up, she seemed rather confused by her surroundings. 

I signalled my commander, Sgt. Rodriguez, to my side.
“What is it, Patch?”
“She’s awake, sir.”
“About time she got up. Was afraid she died on us.” Turning to the woman, he asked “Senora, what is your name?”
She mumbled “Where am I?” her eyes adjusting to the dim light.
Sgt. Rodriguez replied “In better hands. What is your name, senora?”
She said groggily “Miranda. Miranda Cortez.”
He said “Call me, um, Ghost. That’s what my comrades call me.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Filing through some documents he recovered, he asked “You are a journalist, am I correct?”
“Se.”
“And who did you work for?”
“El Comercio.”
“How did you end up in the compound?”
“I was kidnapped by the thugs that I assume you all shot.”
“Why would they kidnap you?”
“I was investigating the excessive spending in the military. It was how despite the millions of pesos we spent on our army, most of it was still issued obsolete and broken weapons.”
With a face of guilt and self-pity, she continued “My publisher told me not to do that, but stupid me, I did that. I dug deeper and deeper. I think about a week ago I was fired from my job. Can’t tell, really, because I have no idea what is today.”
Rodriguez sighed. “Today is Wednesday, twenty-first of April.”
“Then it must have been a week ago. But I digress. I was at my home, when, when…” she cried.
“It’s alright, Miranda. I understand if you can’t tell me what happened.”
Miranda said “It’s alright,” before she asked “I have never seen your uniforms before. Whose army do you belong to?”
He said “Paternia.”
“I see you are a Hispanic. Why do you fight for gringos?”
“I fight for my people. The people of Mexico. Paternia is not only of Americans, but also Mexicans too. We are equals.”
She said “I’ve always believed Paternia to be some demon that seeks to subjugate all Hispanics a slaves, like the Spanish.” She sighed “I suppose I was wrong.”
“Well, the gringos are taking better care of you than your own country. As far as we can tell, you’re officially dead.”
She sighed “Might as well tell you what I know. The cause I have pledged myself to for so many years has turned upon me. I don’t care I am going to be, a, what do call that Mexican traitor woman?”
“La Malinche.”
“Yeah, Malinche. But what is a woman to do when her country turns upon her? They burned all my work, but I can tell you what I wrote.”
Ghost asked Patch “Do you know where the voice recorder is?”
I said “It’s with Kim. He’s got it.”
He flagged down Kim as he walked down. “Hey Kim, do you have the voice recorder?”
“Yes sir.”
“Get it. I interfaced with her, and she’s got some good intel. I’ll need you to record everything she says.
He then asked me “Do you think we can extract her?”
I gulped and said “Not unless we compromise our mission objective.”
She said “I’m pretty much a dead woman now, anyways. If you must kill me when I am done, then so be it. God’s fate is that I die in this cursed forest. But if I am to die here, I will make sure that whoever sent me here will not get away.”
Kim returned with the voice recorder, and handed it to Ghost. He asked me “Are you sure she cannot reach the extraction point without making us too vulnerable?”
I looked at her. I knew that in a couple of days, with the resources we have, we could easily bring her to health in order to move at a good pace. But I could see that in her eyes, she sought salvation in Heaven. I said “I think she is neither fit for extraction nor movement. We must extract what information she has.”
Ghost said “You do know that we cannot leave her alive if we do not extract her, yes?”
“Yes.” I looked at her once again. Although her lips were silent, her eyes told a story of their own. I have seen those eyes before.
They were the eyes of someone who had nothing to live for but vengeance on those who have brought her harm.
Ghost switched on the voice recorder, it’s faint red light blinking, and said “I suppose we should begin our formal interrogation. Shall we?”
“What are we waiting for?”