"We are here." The driver said as the car came to a stop.
"Then go, Pablo, be quick." Joseph said, which made Pablo look back at him as he opened the door.
"You're not coming?"
"No, my size is probably XS with all the weight I lost, shoe size is 41." Joseph said as he closed his eyes and leaned back. "Go until then, I'll snooze a bit."
"Uh, okay." Pablo said as he closed the door, leaving behind Joseph, who was still so tired even though he was sleeping more than ten hours.
He felt like he was in a loop, where this tiredness is never going to go away, even though he slept well, ate well… like it was a curse on him… or maybe just the mental wounds in his head, in his body, that carved deep within him.
Doing nothing for ten straight years, just sitting in the cell and that's it. He didn't work out to have some muscle, to keep himself in a good condition, not let it rot in, but he couldn't do it, not with bread and water which was sometimes even rotten.
If I move too much, I will be fucked, my body is weak… if I eat or drink too much, fucked and my eyes still hurt like shit… yeah.
"Hey driver, what is your name?" He asked and he immediately looked at the mirror.
"Zola, sir." His voice was firm, the complete opposite of what he thought it would be, but with one look at him, he seemed like somebody who had experience.
"It's Joseph, and call up Pablo to buy me sunglasses, dark tinted ones."
He did exactly that, calling up Pablo, who inside was stuffing the shopping cart with all kinds of things that didn't even make sense to buy. For some reason, he felt the need to buy a machete too, like he was really prepping for a jungle.
But not long after, he was finally out, and he sat back in the car with a whole outfit in his hands, giving it to Joseph.
"My glasses?"
"Here it is."
"What the fuck is this, Pablo…" Joseph asked back as he was staring at the sunglasses, and it was everything but not what he asked for.
"Amber tinted one with straps, so it gives better support."
He looked at him, then back to the sunglasses, but he decided not to argue with him, that this is made for hiking and not for everyday use… which he asked for.
But it wasn't just the sunglasses, Pablo gave him the clothes and the shoes and it was all hiking stuff. Like, he thought he would buy some t-shirt and shorts, but it was not even close to that.
"How much money did you drop for these?" Joseph asked as he started getting off his suit and shirt.
"It wasn't that bad… 2000."
"Thousand?" He stopped as he looked at him and realized it was Pablo… the reason why they have no money is because Pablo is just going overboard with everything…
"Yes, but we can use it other times too. I thought about the future too, and of course, I bought it for everybody, not just for us." He said, and in his voice, not a single realization that he bought the most expensive one of all of the things, not even looked at the cheaper ones…
Well, maybe it's because he was a DAG operative, and they always had the most expensive stuff.
"Anyway, you got the shovel too?"
"Yeah, with backpacks." He opened one of them and exactly the folding shovels.
With that, they started changing their clothes to the hiking stuff and not long after it, they finally arrived at the national park, looking like real hikers who came to have a fun time. Well, they came for a real treasure hunt, but the thing is, it was a little eye-catching, to say the least.
The blacked-out SUVs pulled up on the parking lot, and a dozen people hopped out in hiking stuff and with backpacks… they looked like soldiers who came for training rather than tourists.
It's so different… fuck me… Joseph thought, because it didn't even look a bit like what he had in his memories. It was completely different, with parking lots, shops all around, and of course the forest… and numerous forests and a lot of people all around.
"Four of you stay in the car. If something happens, radio immediately. The rest will come with us." Pablo's voice came, breaking Joseph's thoughts. "Should we go in?"
"Yeah… let's go." He said, and with it, the hunt began for the treasure, a treasure that, who knows, is still there. Who knows if those willows still stand there?
That's why even before they walked into the park, Joseph noticed on the side a park ranger.
"Excuse me, miss." He said as he neared her, and well again, he had no idea what is going on in the news, and well, as the park ranger turned around with a smile on her face to welcome a visitor, it also in a second went away when she saw who stood in front of her… with a whole-ass entourage.
"Uhh… welcome…" She said, stuttering and clearly stressed, because well… she saw the news, of course, everybody saw it, and she recognized that face even though on the cover was his old younger self when he was arrested… he didn't age that much.
And now he was standing in front of him in hiking clothes… after the news said he was kidnapped and tortured yesterday…
But Joseph noticed it, but he thought she just got a little surprised by how many of them were there or something like that.
"Yeah… so when I was a kid, there was a small creek running through the forest and there were willow trees on the sides. Do you have any idea if that's still standing or where it is?"
In her, this was the first moment that she thought that maybe she misjudged it and it is not that Cassian, because why the fuck would a gangster be asking questions about a creek… in full hiking gear?
Not just that but his voice was kinda creamy and calming.
"Uhm, there is a creek with willow trees, but it's off the trail, almost 1 km deep into the old forestry." she said as her voice got calmer. "We highly advise visitors not to get off trails, because the forest is dense and without skills to navigate, it's easy to get lost."
1 kilometer… how much land did they buy…
"Do you by any chance have a map or something I can look at?"
She nodded as he pulled out a little map for visitors that had points of interest on it and the trails.
"This is the waterfall." she pointed. "From there, to the east 200 meters in the old forestry starts, and 800 more meters in the creek." She explained and just got more calmed because yeah, there was no fucking way he is the Cassian… they more looked like those people who thought the creek had gold in it… like many others before.
"You heard it, Pablo?"
"Clearly…"
"Good. Can I get the map?" Joseph said, and she gave it to him. but not just that.
"There is a whistle. If y'all get lost, just start blowing it and we will find you." She said with a smile on her face now.
"Thank you, darling." Joseph smiled back at her and turned to finally go on.
"Can I see the map, Joseph?" Pablo asked, and made the curious mistake… he said his name, and the woman heard it…
In a millisecond, all her thoughts came back, and those thoughts became pretty much reality now that this was really Joseph Cassian. The face, the name, his look, the people around him looking like gorillas… he is the fucking Cassian that's all over the news… and he came to a national park…