Divide & Conquer (31 page)

“I’ve to get El Jefe and yourself into the car and we will be given directions to the meeting. Once you are happy with the contacts, we have to release the boy and then after the meeting, if we are happy, the woman.”

“We both know there are at least two problems, the boy will be dead in sixteen minutes and myself and El Jefe will not be getting in your car.”

“But they have got your contacts for you?” pleaded Luis.

“And I gave them a deadline, I will not renege on a deal, I never have and never will,” he smiled. His word was his bond.

Luis hadn’t discussed the prospect of failing to get both in the car with Sean but figured if it was going to be anybody, best he removed El Jefe.

“Well I better get going, I have a deadline to keep too,” smiled Luis. “I’ll just grab El Jefe,” he moved to go past Juan.

Juan stepped in front of Luis. “El Jefe!” he shouted. “I will go with Luis and meet with these men that wish to deal with us!”

El Jefe waved in agreement and received another cheer from his men.

Luis walked back to his car. Juan turned to one of his men and whispered in his ear, the man listened and ran off at a sprint. Juan ignored Luis’ offer of the front passenger seat and instead opened the rear door and took a seat in the back.

Luis was being put in his place.

As Luis took his place behind the wheel, Juan leant forward. “Not so fast, we have another passenger coming,” he said as Katie came into view and was torn away from her son, James, before being thrown, kicking and screaming, into the back of the car, next to Juan.

“You don’t want us to hurt him, do you?” suggested Juan menacingly, sending a very clear message to Katie to calm down. She did instantly but her tears and whimpering did not.

As they began to pull away, Juan tapped Luis’ shoulder indicating for him to stop. He indicated for his man to come to him. The message he passed on was simple but deadly. “Five o’clock exactly!” Juan said, before tapping Luis’ shoulder once more.

Luis looked at the little boy crying for his Mommy and couldn’t think but wonder what the hell he was doing with these people.

***

Sean checked his watch, ten minutes to go. The cheers from the courtyard ahead had been good cover and allowed him to make better than expected progress. He was almost at the back of the white barn.

He had watched the car disappear down the hill. Three bodies were inside which was encouraging; it seemed Luis was coming through. He pulled out the cell and hit the dial button.

“Are you on your way?”

“Yes,” replied Luis.

“Put me on speaker,” demanded Sean. If they were on speaker it would sound like Sean didn’t trust Luis.

“No,” replied Luis, they weren’t on speaker.

Perfect. Sean could talk freely “Have you got them both?”

“No!”

“But there are three in the car.”

“Yes,” replied Luis.

Sean thought quickly. He couldn’t ask too many questions otherwise he’d expose Luis.

“Male or female.”

“Did you say first and then second exit?” confirmed Luis.

Male and a female. It had to be Katie. At least he knew where she was and wasn’t being used in one of the cartel’s whorehouses, as so subtly suggested by Luis earlier.

“Your uncle.”

“No, sorry, I didn’t catch you the lines not great.”

“Juan?”

“OK, yes, got it.”

Juan being with Luis was not great news. He would see through things far more readily than El Jefe. Thank God the meetings were real thought Sean. How they had managed, he didn’t know but he had a lot of thanking to do if he managed to get out of this alive.

The noise from the courtyard had died and the men that guarded the ranch house had returned to their milling around or the barracks that housed them while on duty. Sean squatted by the white barn, just out of sight. The small outbuilding that housed James lay just to his right but there was no way to get to it without exposing himself. Time was not on his side, two minutes to five.

He waited for a moment when none of the men were watching the 20-yard gap but nothing. The sight of the Mexican walking towards the outbuilding sharpening a knife with barely a minute to go made any decision with regard to staying out of sight irrelevant. They really were going to kill the boy at five, for absolutely no reason, other than they had said they would. Sean had never before met such a ruthless bunch of bastards in his life and he was including the Taliban in that list.

Being spotted was an irrelevance, he wasn’t going to be able to stop the man and save the boy without alerting everybody to his whereabouts. Sean lay his ammo on the ground before him, along with the Gyurza and lined up the would-be child killer in the sights of the MP-5. There was little or no chance he’d manage to save himself and James but he’d take as many of them with him as he could.

He pulled the trigger and the silenced shot took out the Mexican’s kneecap, a second shot took out the other and a third hit him in the gut, all delivered in quick succession. By the time the Mexican screamed, all three rounds had hit. It would take him hours to die in agony. Sean grabbed the ammo and as heads turned to the screamer, he raced to James’s outbuilding. The maid who was looking after him was startled as Sean burst through the doors but not as startled as young James to see his dad before him.

As the realization of what had happened hit the courtyard, weapons began to train on the outbuilding. Sean suggested that the maid might want to take her chance to leave. She didn’t hesitate and rushed out of the door away from the large American. The hail of bullets that cut her down as she rushed from the outbuilding only emphasized how screwed Sean and James were. Particularly as with James clamped to Sean’s leg, there was very little he could do anyway.

As the screams of the would-be child killer filled the air, bullets began to ping off the outbuilding’s structure, which was sturdier than it looked.

The small outbuilding was stone built with two small windows and a solid wood door. They were going to need heavier weapons or storm the building thought Sean. He managed a peek through the window and watched as both seemed likely. A rocket launcher was being passed forward while another group looked as though it were readying for an assault. Luis was right again. The guards were ex-military and knew what they were doing. He raised his MP-5 and shot off a couple of rounds through the window. Two hit target while the rest went wayward as Sean was pulled off target by James pulling at his leg and calling him 'daddy’. Sean thought better of pointing out he wasn’t his daddy as it seemed likely the point would be moot soon enough. There were at least forty soldiers surrounding them and from the sounds of it, more were coming.

His cell rang and was a welcome distraction. “Hello?” he answered, keeping an eye on the movements outside.

“Where now?” asked Luis. He was driving aimlessly and Sean should have called.

“Just head to the airport and make sure you get Katie to the CIA, please,” replied Sean, squeezing off a round and stopping the first semblance of an attack.

“OK!” it was as close to a question as Luis could manage, given what he was hearing. It didn’t sound good.

“Not really. Bit of an issue with a few pissed off Mexicans!” replied Sean.

Suddenly the noise outside stopped. Silence had descended. Sean struggled to see why. Then he saw a man walk through his troops in a white vest, muscular and covered in tattoos. He fitted the description of El Jefe, although, he was surprised that nobody had described how ugly he was. It would have been his first word in describing the man that commanded his troops’ silence.

“Come out!” he commanded.

Sean looked down at James whose head was buried deep in his thigh. He owed him a last try and to fight for their lives.

Sean remained silent and made no move.

“Come out and I’ll let the boy live!” was the next offer.

Sean didn’t think it likely but it was a far better prospect for James than was currently facing him.

Sean opened the door, dropped his gun and swinging his leg with James attached to it, he walked out into the courtyard to more than a few gasps.

Chapter 61

Luis pulled into Quetzalcoatl International and drove straight for the private hangars. An area he was well acquainted with as Los Zetas owned more than its fair share of the jets stored in the area. It was of course the first time that Luis had realized how poor a venue the airport was. There were at least ten Los Zetas men permanently on duty protecting and directing Los Zetas products and aircraft.

Juan instructed him to slow down next to one of Los Zetas’ own hangars and instructed the guards to watch the woman. He would call and instruct them when he was ready. He signaled for Luis to continue and Luis drove towards the private apron where two of the three jets had already landed. The third was powering down the runway to land and, thanks to favorable wind, all had landed early.

Agent James Smith waited aboard the second jet. His phone wasn’t ringing. Without orders to the contrary, he was to proceed as agreed. He opened the door and nodded at Luis in the car.

“Tell him to bring the men to that hangar!” said Juan pointing to one of the Los Zetas hangars.

“We are both supposed to board the jet,” argued Luis.

“We’ll do it my way or no way. I am not getting on an American jet!”

Luis exited the car and walked alone towards Agent Smith.

“Is he not coming?” he shouted nodding towards Juan.

“He will meet in that hangar over there or not at all.”

Smith looked around; the area was devoid of any activity. His orders were to allow the meeting to happen on the plane, get the woman and get out. He did not have instructions to allow the meeting to happen elsewhere. He shook his head.

Juan opened the window and held up his phone. “If I don’t give the OK in,” he checked his watch, “two minutes, the bitch dies! Your call!”

Smith looked helpless but the voice in his head saved his indecision and said OK.

***

“Look unhappy and nod half heartedly,” said the voice in Agent Smith’s earpiece.

The Team Leader of the CIA hit squad sent to assassinate the Los Zetas bosses and the majority of the East coasts drug dealers, checked the infrared scope again. There was nobody in the hangar. No bright spots to indicate anything other than an empty hangar.

While the FBI and DEA were rousing the drug dealers, the CIA team was being quietly parachuted into a location as near to the airport as they dared. They had spent the afternoon securing the best sniper spots and checking the lay of the land. Nobody outside of the CIA was aware of the plan. The other agencies leaked like a sieve when it came to information regarding the cartels. The CIA was on foreign ground, Mexican ground and with five of their men down, there was a serious thirst for blood. This was their fight and their fight alone.

“Tell them they need to give us the woman and then we’ll send them in.”

Smith relayed the message but got a negative response; the woman would only be let go only after the meeting was over.

“Team 2, do you have the woman in sight?”

“Negative.”

“Thirty seconds!” shouted Juan. The Team Leader heard him loud and clear.

“OK, we’re going to kill the fuck anyway. May as well not lose the woman,” said the Team Leader in Smith’s earpiece.

***

Luis stood between the car and the jet as Juan dictated how things would be done.

Surprisingly, the CIA guy accepted and the two large Italians disembarked from one jet while four disembarked from another and another five from another. Eleven men in total walked towards the hangar. Luis noted that Juan made no attempt to move and realizing, he wasn’t going to exit the car, Luis ran back and drove Juan to the hangar. Juan remained seated as Luis first had to stop, exit the car, open the hangar door and finally drive in.

As the men started to enter the hangar, the first and most worrying thing Luis noted was the warmth in the greetings between Juan and the East coast drug dealers. These were men with whom they had had no contact since Fat Jake had been the intermediary. These were men who every time they had been contacted had suggested that there was a contact that supplied their product and they would need to speak with him first.

It seemed Luis knew the contact very well after all. Juan Torres was the East coast contact they had been trying to find for three months. It all became clear. Fat Jake was just a patsy who worked for Juan. Juan was skimming billions from Los Zetas and making up for El Jefe’s inadequacies.

Juan looked at the open mouthed expression stuck on Luis’ face.

“It doesn’t mean I love him any less!” promised Juan. “I just needed a fairer cut. After all, I made Los Zetas what it is!”

Luis couldn’t argue. Not because he agreed but because of the bullet that hit him right between the eyes.

Juan lowered the silenced revolver he had slipped from his belt and turned to his customers.

“Gentlemen, I suggest we board as a matter of urgency!” he indicated towards the aircraft that lay with its engines exposed.

They looked at him with some confusion but he herded them on. Walking to each of the engines, he pushed the tool carts aside and flipped the switches that lowered the engine covers.

Within a minute, he had them aboard and was preparing to start the engines. He picked up the cell and called his men.

“Take her out with all your men and release her. As soon as she is about to board the aircraft shoot her!”

“Of course, Mister Torres.”

“I’ll wait on the phone as you do it.”

***

The first sign that their plan had gone to shit was when the ten men appeared with the woman at gunpoint. The Team Leader watched in despair as she was let go and all ten Mexicans trained their weapons on her. It was a long walk to Smith’s airplane.

The sound of the jet engine kicking to life in the hangar was when he really knew he was screwed. He didn’t have enough men to protect the woman and stop a plane. He wished she would run but she had been clearly told that wasn’t an option. She walked slowly and carefully as though her life depended on it which was probably exactly what she had been told.