Chapter 6:Unlikely Allies

"You wanted to see what my world looks like?" Sofia muttered, turning to him. "This is it. No sterile hospital walls. No clean scalpels. Just power, blood, and betrayal."

Rafael's jaw stiffened but he did not falish. "You expect me to be ok with this?" 

She let out a breath, changed her posture. She tightened her gloves against her hands and the leather creaked. "I hope you realize running away is not possible. Doctor, you are in this right now. 

A loud whistle sliced across the evening breeze. Julian, one of her men, arrived sprinting up the steps with a sharp look. "Boss, we ran upon a problem. Sources are low. 

Sofia hardly responded, though her fingers trembled. Dead?" 

" Not yet. bleeding out. We must act immediately if we wish him alive. 

She looked at Rafael, already sure of his response before he spoke. Not even an enemy, his values would never let him turn away from a guy dying. 

She said squarely, "You're going to save him." 

Rafael's hands were already moving, instinct guiding him even while his eyes burned with quiet protest. "where is he?" 

Sofia inclined her head toward the bloodbath down below. "Down in the pit. Try not to let yourself die. 

Antonio rasped, his voice tinged with agony, "Didn't think...I'd end up on the table of Sofia's pet doctor." 

Rafael said, "Try not to talk," drawing a syringe to ease the pain. You're losing blood. Your main attention should be on survival. 

Antonio laughed weakly. "Doc, staying alive has never bothered me. It's trying to decide whom to believe. 

Rafael's hands wavered for only a moment before he started working. "You trust your own men less?" 

Antonio gasped sharply, his laughter dimming. His dark eyes locked with Rafael's something unspoken between them. "Let's just say...you and I might have more in common than you think." 

Rafael grumbled. And then what does that mean? 

Antonio's mouth quitched at a corner. "It means Sofia is not who you believe her to be." 

Something icy slithered Rafael's spine. He had previously felt there was more to Sofia than what she showed him, but hearing it from one of her sworn adversaries seemed like a truth he wasn't ready for. 

He made Antonio look at him by grabbing his jaw. "If you know, say it." 

Antonio's smile grew wider even with the agony. "If you promise to keep me alive, I will tell you." 

His sleeves pulled up to expose forearms covered in blood, looking exhausted. Neither his own. 

"Is he living?" Sofia sought. 

Rafael nodded, rubbing a palm over his face. "Very sparingly. He'll do it. 

She let out a breath and started toward him. Good. We can then obtain responses." 

Rafael did not react right away. Something about his gaze seemed unpleasant to Sofia. a stop-gap. A flash of uncertainty. 

At last, his voice calm but forceful, "You should have let him die." 

Sofia graced her smile. "Doctor, I don't kill helpful men. And Antonio Fuentes still has a role in this conflict. 

Rafael moved in closer and lowered his voice. And with regard to your part? Of all you have told me, how much of it is factual? He seems to believe there are things you haven't disclosed with me; he nodded toward the rear room." 

Sofia clasped her fingers over her glass. "Be careful with the people you listen to, Rafael." 

He shot back, "I don't need to listen." "I just want to know if this whole thing is going to collapse under me or if I'm standing on solid ground." 

Sofia fixed him, her face inscrutable. "Doctor, you have already decided. You are in my reality right now whether you like it or not. 

They were cut off by a harsh knock at the door. Julian leaned forward, his face austere. "We have a matter to address. Rafael received a note just now. 

Rafael grimaced and moved closer to grab the slip of paper Julian held forth. As he perused the strong ink phrases, his tummy tightened. 

"Distance yourself from her. Alternatively you won't live to be sorry." 

Sofia said, "You're quiet," her voice barely perceptibly light as she drank her whiskey. Her lips almost touched the glass, then she laid it down with a crisp clink. 

Rafael breathed, massaging the tightness from his temples. "I just want to know how I got here." 

Though Sofia laughed, there was no comedy in it. Remember? You literally saved my life. You arrived here in that manner. Everything beyond that? That is only survival. 

He answered slowly rather right away. Before Sofia Alvarez had bled upon his operating table, his universe was unambiguous. One hand holding a scalpel, morals in the other underlined. But right now? Right and wrong were not here precisely delineated. Gray became the color of everything. 

Sofia moved forward, her perfume slicing through the stifling mix of smoke and alcohol. Tell me, Doctor; Do you wish you could undo it? 

Rafael gazed back at her. "Surviving your life? No." His voice tightened. But everything after that? Unknown. 

Something raw and flickering appeared in her face. Defensive. But it disappeared as fast as it first showed. 

The big oak door opened before either of them could speak more, and Bernard Milton came marching in. The elder man exuded quiet power, his graying hair slicked back, his custom suit as perfect as it had ever been. 

"Sofia, a moment," he said, then focused sharply on Rafael. "alone." 

Sofia wrinkled her brow but waved Rafael aside. He hesitated, then left the room letting the door close behind him. 

Bernard moved for him to follow. "Walk alongside me." 

Rafael focused on the man. Bernard had always been one step ahead; his allegiance to Sofia never called doubt. But tonight his attitude was different, a rare break in his often unquestionable consistency. 

They moved into the poorly lit hall. "What's this regarding?," asked Rafael enquired. 

Bernard changed his cufflinks and then spoke. "In Sofia's inner circle there is a traitor." 

Rafael had chilly blood. 

Bernard's voice decreased to lower level. "Right now I have no names. But you, "you need to be careful," he said, leveling Rafael with an unflinching glance. You are new to this, Doctor. You perceive differently. And that may kill you just as well. 

In his ears Rafael's pulse hammered. "Who are you suspected to be?" 

Bernard hesitated then let out a sigh. I have to look for that. If I were you, though, I would start observing the people closest to her. 

Rafael wrinkled his nose. And why should I tell you? 

Bernard smirk. "Because you might be the only person she really listens to." 

Sofia leaned against the railing, her dark hair's loose strands pulled at by night air. You have that look once more. 

He shifted to face her. "What looks like?" 

"The one claiming you are challenging all that." 

He burst out in a sour laugh. "Maybe because I am.." 

She moaned, whirling the whiskey in her glass. Save it; if you came here to discuss right and wrong. 

"That's not the reason I'm here," he said. "I just, " His fingers tightened around the glass in his grasp, he hesitated. " Bernard said something to me." 

Sofia's back tensed. "Did he?," asks 

Rafael watched her response very closely. "He believes a traitor is near by." 

Though her jaw tightened, Sofia did not seem astonished. If anything, she seemed to be reluctant. 

"I don't need Bernard to tell me that," she said quietly. "I know for a while now." 

Rafael let out a strong breath. Then, why have you done nothing? 

She looked at him, one that carried weight he could not quite understand. "Because in this world loyalty is worth more than truth." 

He gave his head a shake. "That is not a response, Sofia. That serves as an excuse. 

She turned to squarely face him and stepped forward. You see this as black and white? That the instant I learn someone wronged me, I could simply...fix it? She laughed at this. "That's not how this runs." 

Then, how then does it go? 

Her eyes grew black. People betray because they fear something. Because they perceive a chance. Because they believe they are smarter than me. Her voice was steady, yet it had a slight edge. But the minute I act without knowing? The instant I name the incorrect suspect? That marks the instant I lose control. 

Rafael let out a cough. He wasn't sure what bothered him more, the knowledge she knew she was surrounded by vipers, or the reality she had learnt to live with it. 

He looked toward a movement far away. He saw Michael Richards seated close to the rear exit underneath the tinted glass of the club. 

He was not on his alone. 

A dark man stood across from him, their quiet but heated exchange subdued. 

Rafael focused his gaze narrows. 

Michael was not speaking only here. He was passing something, a folded scrap of paper, exchanging one fluid move. 

His belly twisted. 

There Something else more was at work. Something deeper.