Divide & Conquer (22 page)

“I’m not on their radar yet because I have not announced my intention to run. So although I’ll get some protection, I’d much prefer you by my side. In any event we can swap stories on your old man!”

The Governor did not wait for an answer. He thrust a card in Sean’s hand and told him to call and get the arrangements. Whatever his per diem rate in Afghanistan would be matched.

Sean stuck the card in his pocket and waited for the governor to take the podium in the main area before sneaking out the back door of the complex. It seemed he had three days maximum to find James or find a way out of the Moscow trip. However, in all honesty, his assessment of hanging by a thread rang true. He really needed to get James back long before then.

Chapter 41

“Luis!” screamed El Jefe as he stared at the TV news in disbelief.

Juan walked into the room as El Jefe threw his coffee at the screen. “He’s not here, El Jefe,” he offered calmly.

“I’m shouting at him not for him!” he barked in frustration as two men ran in and quickly replaced yet another TV screen.

Juan Torres, El Jefe’s number two in command, had been at El Jefe’s side since the two were children. They had joined and left the army together and had created one of the most powerful cartels in the world from scratch. Juan Torres was as ruthless a man as El Jefe but some said, more worryingly, without the temper. His composure never changed. From making love to a beautiful woman to carving a man into twenty pieces in front of his family, his expression remained the same. Where El Jefe shouted, barked and threw things around, Juan spoke evenly and calmly.

“I have just been updated on the evening’s events, El Jefe,” he said pouring himself and El Jefe a fresh cup of coffee.

“The fucking CIA!” screamed El Jefe. “He gave my rifle to someone in the fucking CIA.”

“Yes I heard the report on the radio in the car, it is rather strange but I am sure he knows what he’s doing.” Juan knew when he needed to calm El Jefe down and offering his support to Luis’ plan would instantly help. El Jefe knew Juan was not fond of his nephew but did appreciate that sometimes the boy knew what he was doing.

However, Juan himself was no fool and understood there was a political game being played across the river. For forty years he had followed El Jefe, knowing that with El Jefe, he would achieve everything in life he ever wanted. El Jefe was a natural born leader; men feared and admired him in equal measure. They would lay down their lives for him without a second thought. Juan was far brighter but was also bright enough to know this would not endear him to El Jefe and as such had downplayed his intelligence and instead persuaded and nudged El Jefe cleverly and helped create the most feared cartel in the world. Most of El Jefe’s greatest ideas and decisions had been Juan’s but such was Juan’s ability to manipulate El Jefe, nobody, not even El Jefe realized it.

The introduction of Luis to the mix, the educated nephew, had been a constant thorn in his side but one that he was managing. Luis controlled what Juan wanted him to control and even then most of that was a sham. When El Jefe had suggested Luis look after Intel, Juan had agreed but only after he had suggested that he would act as number two in that area also. El Jefe agreed, seeing no reason as to why it didn’t make sense and in reality, every item of information was relayed to Juan before it reached Luis.

The one thing that had slipped under his radar was the Fat Jake debacle three months earlier. From start to finish, it had been an utter disaster; none of it of his making. Luis had uncovered Fat Jake’s meeting place while Juan was out of the country and had taken it to his uncle. Between the two idiots, they had worked out they could increase Los Zetas’ profits. The idea, in itself, was not a bad one if the meeting was, at face value, as it seemed. However, Juan Torres was not a man who would have allowed Fat Jake to operate without good reason and that was Luis and El Jefe’s first mistake.

The East coast business was a complex set up. Los Zetas dealt with a middleman, Carlos. Los Zetas supplied drugs to Carlos, Carlos supplied Fat Jake and Fat Jake supplied the East coast dealers. Carlos’ end was minimal, his profit was nothing compared to Fat Jake’s. Unfortunately, El Jefe had killed Carlos in the process of uncovering that nugget of information. That had left them with no option but to try and take Fat Jake’s end. By the time Juan had found out what they were doing, it was too late. He knew they’d never get Fat Jake’s end and that was precisely why he had never rocked that boat. And of course, over the previous three months, he had been proved right.

The update of the previous night’s events, culminating with El Jefe’s target practice, had not gone down well and it had been a far calmer Juan that walked into the room with El Jefe. However, as he looked at El Jefe, all of the anger dissipated. El Jefe needed Juan to guide and assist him. Without Juan, he did crazy things. It had always been the same. Even as young boys, El Jefe was the loose cannon. However, with Juan by his side, he was lethal. They were a team, they were brothers and Juan loved him more than anyone else alive. He was the brother he never had. He was the brother who, when needed, was always there. He was the brother who would stand by his side to the death. He was the brother he would happily take a bullet for.

“You think so?” questioned El Jefe, not really understanding how the CIA having the rifle he used to kill a US officer could possibly be a good thing.

“I’m not entirely sure they’re being honest. There are politics at play, El Jefe,” he offered. “And your nephew would never do anything to put you in harm’s way!” he added sincerely.

“You’re right, Juan, as always,” replied El Jefe, as he accepted the coffee and relaxed for the first time in hours.

“Your plan to stop the meeting was genius, El Jefe!” offered Juan thinking it was in fact madness but it was done and they just had to move on. “Have we had any luck with the names for Fat Jake’s contacts?”

“Not yet but Luis assured me this morning he will have them within the next day or two!”

This was new information to Juan. Luis had not mentioned anything to him the previous evening when Juan had spoken to him.

“I have not heard how Luis has managed this, El Jefe,” he commented eliciting the desired response from El Jefe.

“When I spoke to him this morning and gave him the rifle, I may have been a little rough with him,” admitted El Jefe, to which Juan smiled inwardly. He always enjoyed when El Jefe did to Luis what he spent his day dreaming of doing himself. “ Anyway, Luis assured me he is nearly there and that was why he needed the rifle, it would clear the way to get us the contacts. We’re almost there, Juan!”

“Excellent,” smiled Juan warmly, wondering exactly what the little shit was playing at. Los Zetas, his baby, was at the mercy of Luis. It was anything but excellent. He could have added that 'there’ was where they were three months ago but of course did not.

Chapter 42

Luis loaded the last of the bodies onto the wheelbarrow and pushed it the length of the garden to the small rowboat that already held two bullet-ridden bodies. He had taken a roll of garbage bags from the kitchen as instructed along with a number of tools. The next part of the clean up was the one he looked forward to least, dissection of the bodies into parts and bagging them to be sunk in the lake behind the house. He had of course witnessed his uncle doing exactly the same to Sean’s look-a-like but never before had he wielded the implements and undertaken the task. Sean had been clear that to ensure the bodies remained at the bottom, just like in the TV show 'Dexter’, they had to be in bits.

Luis rowed the small boat to the center of the lake and began the macabre work with the jigsaw borrowed from the garage workshop. Fortunately, the darkness spared him the true horror of his task but after thirty minutes, he had thrown up twice and felt certain he’d be a vegetarian for the rest of his life. All in all, it took just over an hour to ensure the remains of his men would stay at the bottom of the lake.

Before setting back to shore, he stripped off his clothes and placed them in another bag and sent that to the bottom of the lake too. He then plunged into the dark waters and manically rubbed himself from top to toe. Sean had been explicit with every instruction he had given. The final instruction was to sink the boat. The jigsaw, despite being low on battery, had just enough power to ensure the boat would disappear by the time Luis had swum ashore.

Luis commenced the longer than he realized swim to shore as the final portion of the boat disappeared from sight. To say he had underestimated the distance was incorrect; it was more an over estimation of his swimming ability that nearly killed him. By the time he was a hundred yards from shore, his body was all but done. He had to stop and tread water to try and regain some energy.

***

Pushkin’s men who were responsible for watching the back of the property had watched with great interest as Luis had loaded the bodies and then rowed out into the small lake. They watched carefully for his return and wondered if in fact he had made it back. After 90 minutes, there was no sign of the rowboat returning. The noises that had drifted ashore of the buzzing tool had stopped some time ago and naturally they had expected the boat to return soon after. As the first rays of sunlight broke and the lake’s surface became more apparent, it was clear for all to see, the rowboat was gone. The male disposing of the bodies had obviously dumped them and gone to another location.

After three hours of not moving, all were pleased to be informed that they could stretch their muscles. The woman was asleep in her bed and no other person overlooked their location. The Spetsnaz troopers stood up and stretched their muscles. Not knowing how long it would be before they had the luxury of another break, all took full advantage of the situation.

***

As the six bushes apparently came to life, Luis almost choked. His mouth was barely over the waterline and as the small waves lapped at him, more often than not it was well under. The sight of the men who had obviously been staking out the house and had witnessed what he had done over the last couple of hours filled him with dread. Why federal agents had not intervened, he didn’t know. What he did know was that whatever they wanted, it wasn’t going to be in his, or his uncle’s best interests, nor for that matter Sean’s son, James. They had obviously assumed he had taken the boat across the lake. They didn’t know he was all but drowning within their sights. If he had anything to do with it, nor would they. What he did know was that he had to warn Sean what was happening which meant getting ashore unseen. Getting ashore in his current state was going to be difficult enough. The added complication of six heavily armed soldiers was a complication he could happily have done without.

***

It was only as he exited the guards’ complex that Sean realized he didn’t have any transport. The road South was gridlocked while the road North was empty. The border was still closed, despite Sean finding the shooter and from what he had heard, it would remain closed for the rest of the day. It was going to cause chaos but anything less would dishonor the brave guardsmen who had stepped up to defend their state and country. There was also the slight issue of proving the man Sean said was the shooter was indeed the shooter. Of course the rifle was correct, or at least Luis claimed it was. As for the identity of the shooter, they were just going to have to accept what Sean said.

Sean checked the time, 7.20 a.m.. The first rays of sunshine began to break the darkness. Not a cloud in the sky, it was going to be hot. Sean noted the plane coming into Laredo and knew the house to be a mile to the right. Fixing his bearings, he set off at a jog. He reckoned 6 miles and on flat tarmac, rather than Afghan mountainside, that should be less than 30 minutes.

Had he not taken two wrong turns, it would have been less than thirty he figured as he turned into the lakeside area and noted the familiar selection of street names all cleverly bearing the word Lake in some form.

A familiar house stood at the end of the road. From there, Sean just needed to turn left and another two hundred yards would see him back at Katie’s house. Someone, he realized, he was looking forward to seeing.

***

Luis managed somehow to get ashore; it took every ounce of strength his body possessed but he managed. The property he had come ashore at was a few hundred yards down from the troops and despite definitely being out of sight, he crawled on his belly from the shoreline to the safety of the house, just in case. Sitting in his boxer shorts, exhausted and dripping wet, he thanked God that the home owners hadn’t witnessed his sorry sight as they had exited their property, thankfully it seemed, running late, as they air kissed one another before jumping in their respective cars and screeching from the driveway.

It had been hours since he had left Sean at the riverside. He wondered if he had walked into the trap at the house. He realized then that he had become so embroiled in working with Sean, he hadn’t even considered the prospect that Sean had called in the troops. Sean had double-crossed him. Luis kicked himself for being so stupid. He was El Jefe’s nephew, what in the hell was he doing getting into bed with an ex CIA assassin? He needed to get out of there and alert his uncle to the scheming Sean Fox and his miraculous reincarnation. El Jefe would know what to do.

With renewed energy, Luis got up and edged himself to the side of the house. He looked carefully around the corner and fortunately could not see Sean’s house. He was out of the sight of the watchers but half naked and carless. He stepped back from the corner and tried the windows and doors of the house, all locked. The noise of a door opening across the street caught his attention. A young mother was struggling from her house with a stroller. With no one else in sight, he had his chance. He grabbed a rock from the garden and rushed across the street. The young mother’s car would be perfect as a get away car.

***

As Sean neared the street corner, the sight of a naked Luis racing across the street caught him somewhat by surprise. The rock in his hand and his focus on the young mother with her child were alarming. Fortunately, as she struggled with the door, her back to the imminent danger, she was unaware of Luis’ attack. Sean could have called out but that would have alerted the young mother to her peril and probably resulted in Luis’ incarceration and James’s death.