The Devil's Syndicate

by Chris Draper

  “Do you think they'll fall for that?” Stacey said. “Martinez may be a scumbag but he ain't an idiot either.”

  “I know the El Hombrez are in desperate need of firepower, so even if they don't believe us, the lure of cheap guns will override anything else.” Byron said. “They don't even have enough arms to go around for all of their members, and I know for a fact some of them have been to our dealers before looking for guns that we wouldn't sell them at the time. And if they do suspect something, then we'll just blast 'em to hell anyway.”

  They all laughed at that and Byron felt good, fed off their laughter which made him feel respected. He could tell they had warmed up to the idea, could see it written in their eyes, spread out across their faces like a wild card. He let them joke around for another minute then cut in again.

  “The plan is this.” He said and everyone stopped to listen. “We'll head to Fiesta Lochez tomorrow at 6 pm and get there by 8. Then when we get to the bar, most of you will wait outside and hide in the surrounding bushes while I go in with Travis and Etaro. You'll wait there until I give a signal, I don't want Martinez to think anything's up. Once I'm inside I'll pretend we know nothing about what went down in Fort Lauderdale and tell Martinez we're there to sell them the weapons they wanted. He'll invite us in, offer us a few drinks, and we'll get down to business. That's when I give the signal. There's a lightswitch that controls the main bar lights by the wall to the bar – I know what it does because I saw one of the Hombrez switch it on the last time we were there. It's located beside the bathrooms. I'll tell Martinez I need to take a leak then hit the switch accidentally saying I thought it was for the bathroom lights, you'll be able to see the lights switch off through the window from the outside of the bar. That's when you come in. I want everyone to count to 30 before moving to be sure we're ready inside and I want most of you coming in the front door. That being said, I also want two or three other guys bringing up the back of the building as well to pick off any stragglers. I don't want any of the Hombrez surviving.”

  “But why have a strategy?” Travis asked. “Why not just flat out ambush them and then just leave afterwards? I don't get why you have to go in first.”

  “Because I want my face to be the last thing that bastard Martinez sees before the world goes black for him. Plus I also have a special present I want to give him before all hell breaks loose.” Byron said then looked at everyone gathered around. “So is everyone clear on what we're doing tomorrow?”

  The Syndicate all looked at each other then nodded that they understood.

  “Good. If you look at the blueprint the layout of the bar is pretty simple.” Byron traced his finger along the paper. “There's only two exits and we'll have them both covered. I know from previous years that the Hombrez will all be focused around these two areas.” He pointed towards a large square that was labelled as the main bar room, then pointed to a smaller room marked as a pool room. “When the rest of you get in I want you to flood into those rooms and blast anyone you see, even if you don't think they're Hombrez. Sometimes they hire prostitutes for Martinez' birthday and we can't have anyone getting out alive. Just make sure to stay at the far ends of the room so we don't shoot our own guys in the crossfire.”

  “What if there are other customers in the bar?” Stacey asked. “Do we kill them as well?”

  “Absolutely.” Byron shot her a glance. “I don't give a crap if the President himself is in there drowning his sorrows, no one gets out of that place alive. We can't afford the liability.”

  Stacey nodded and said she understood then, “What if someone hears the gun shots?”

  “You saw Fiesta Lochez, the bar is secluded on the highway with nothing else around for miles except trees and bush. Plus, no one will be able to hear anything with the cars on the highway zipping past and the loud music going on inside. By the time we get there most of them should be pretty liquored up at that point so I don't see this taking very long. We should be in and out within 30 minutes tops.”

  “The storm,” Travis said. “What about traveling through that storm that's coming in? You heard the news. Hurricane Hector is supposed to be here tomorrow. How will we take our bikes through that?”

  “We won't take the bikes or it would be a suicide mission.” Byron replied. “We'll take the trucks all the way there, and the storm will keep everyone inside the bar to add extra assurance that no one will see or hear anything. It's the perfect setup. Besides, we've driven through storms before.”

  “I can't wait for this.” Larry said, his face flushed with excitement. “We're gonna show them this time aren't we Byron?”

  “Yeah but not you Larry.” Byron looked over at his cousin sitting on the couch. “You won't be coming with us. I need you here to keep an extra eye on Dottie. It's getting close now to the day we meet her father, and she might get desperate and try something again. I want your eyes on her all the time. Got it?”

  “Aww okay...” Larry looked down. “If you say so Byron.”

  Byron looked at the rest of the Syndicate, satisfied his plan had gotten through. “So that's the setup. We can hash out any other details later but unless I say otherwise, I want everyone here tomorrow. That means no traveling out to the cities. We'll need all of us.”

  The Syndicate agreed then flooded back to their rooms, leaving Byron, Etaro, Travis and a heavier set Syndicate named Cleetch left in the main room. The lights were flickering a little in the compound so Byron asked Cleetch to go take a look at the generator in a storage room that was only accessible by a door outside at the back of the building.

  Travis was still sitting near Byron thumbing the top of a can of Pepsi, “I heard on TV that this could be the worst storm they've seen in years. They say it could knock half of the power out in the area”

  “No shit eh?” Said Etaro. “That means they're be a lot of houses with no security...”

  “Good thinking.” Said Travis. “Think of all those rich homes in the 'burbs of Miami, makes my mouth water when I think of what we could find in them.”

  Byron cut in, “You won't be finding anything 'cos you're not going. Robbery is a small time game for street punks who don't have the talent we have. When we're done getting the ransom money we'll have enough bread to own the entire neighbourhood.”

  Travis laughed, “Yeah I can just see all of those white collar dickwads mowing their lawns and seeing us moving in with our motorcycles. Could you imagine that?”

  “Yeah well pretty soon you won't have to imagine it.” Byron said. “Because it'll be a reality.”

  ≈

  Hawk was pushing forward through the thick foliage of the Everglades towards the grey building, stepping across fallen branches and mud built up on the ground from the heavy rains. It was chilly now from the wind and cold rivulets of sweat crept down the small of his back as he cursed the sudden downpour, realizing he hadn't seen real sunlight in almost 48 hours.

  The brick building he'd seen with Clyde from a distance was just ahead, hidden a little to the right behind some Palmetto trees, and he squatted down on one knee, took out the binoculars from his duffel bag and looked ahead at the structure. He moved some wet branches out of the way with his free hand and focused his vision on a large man walking beside the building.

  He was clad in dark pants and a black leather jacket and was quite heavyset. He reminded Hawk of a large Cheshire cat the way he lumbered cautiously over the slippery grass behind the building with his paunch hanging over his waist. Hawk saw that he was following a black cable attached to the side of the wall that wound around and disappeared somewhere in the back. He continued following the man in his vision until he lost him behind some thick trees, tried moving his position but couldn't seem to regain a visual so he moved in closer. The rain was still coming down in sheets and he wiped some water away from his brow, pushed onward through the vast greenery. He suddenly became aware that he was still wearing his canary yellow rain coat so he tore it off, bunched it up in a tight ball and shoved
it back in the duffel bag. The last thing he needed was to be spotted now after coming all this way. His plan was to come from behind the building, scope out the area from a closer distance, then follow the man to see where he was going.

  He moved the rest of the way to the back of the building as silent as a ghost until he was within 15 metres of the back. He stopped and looked through his binoculars again for the man but saw nothing besides pellets of rain hurling down upon him like tiny daggers being discarded from the clouds. He squinted hard but couldn't seem to find the Cheshire anywhere.

  From this distance the building looked much larger than it had from where Clyde had landed the airboat. Hawk guessed it to be around 30 feet tall and 200 feet long with sinewy thick vines growing up the side of the old brick like veins feeding the place with life. Tall trees had grown around the bricks, arching over the top of the roof which was probably why they hadn't noticed the building until they were much closer. The large trees gave it cover from anyone who wasn't within a direct 100 yard distance down river and seeing it from the air would be pretty difficult as well unless you were really looking for it.

  Hawk crept closer, using the sound of the rain to mask his footsteps in case the large man heard him coming. When he was right at the edge where the trees cut off and became land, he stopped and peeked through the green. He saw an open steel door behind the building to his far left where he guessed the man had gone into, but couldn't make out anything beyond the dark frame of the door's entrance. He waited another a minute to see if the man would come out, then cautiously came out of the trees and started flanking the right of the building away from the open door. The brick was old, moss-covered and all of the windows seemed to be too high for him to peer inside so he decided to try to see what was on the far right side of the building. He was quite tempted to go back and deal with the man but had to make sure no one else was around first. He stepped gently over the slippery grass when something caught his eye near the ground and he looked down quickly.

  There was some heavy brush built up along the bottom of the building and something else – an opening perhaps? - hidden behind some of the leaves. He bent over and tried moving some of the bushes out of the way but found it difficult – the roots had seen plenty of years to grow and were as thick as tree stumps in some areas yet he managed to move them enough to step toward the opening. It was a window in fact – small, maybe no larger than 2 feet wide – with old rusty metallic bars running between the centre which meant that he wouldn't be going that way. Hawk crouched down making sure to check behind him every few seconds in case the man appeared, took out his flashlight from his bag and shone it down in the cubbyhole.

  It was hard to see in there but he could make out a small mattress in one corner, a faded oak dresser, a table with the top bare and a few clothing items scattered around the ground. It looked like someone was or had been living in the space. Hawk was about to switch off the flashlight when he saw another window similar to the one he'd found another few metres over to the left. He slowly pushed through the heavy bushes built up on the ground, breaking roots tangling around his feet with every step, until he came upon the next window. It was similar to the first with heavy bars in the centre and Hawk figured he would find the same thing in the room below, was about to quit and head back before the man found him but decided to check down there anyway.

  He got down on his knees again and shone the flashlight's beam through the heavy shroud of darkness below, slowly working the heavy beam around the room like a spotlight. He stopped the beam when he reached another mattress and the light bounced off something shiny there. It was hair – a woman's hair and the woman looked over with surprise when the bright rays illuminated her face. Even before she stood up and came to the window he knew who it was. It was what he'd been looking for all along and seeing the fruits of his search come to fruition brought a large smile to his face and a gigantic sense of relief swept up from the depths of his belly.

  It was Dottie Wagner down there. He hadn't failed and she was still alive. She came over to the window and peered up at him for a moment, not saying anything, completely in awe of the stranger outside who'd come unannounced like a ghost from the past. Hawk was worried for a moment that she might scream or faint – but then this fear subsided when she smiled at him and he realized she must have known why he was there. Her ash blonde hair was folded over to one side of her head and the bags below her eyes were more apparent than in the photo her father had shown him, yet she still had a girlish innocence and he was glad that whatever had happened to her here hadn't robbed her of that. She had a pair of shiny crystal-green eyes, scared and faultless eyes that must had seen a lot in the past weeks and she looked at him for a second longer then asked, “Who are you? You don't look like one of them.”

  “One of who?” Hawk asked bending a little closer to the window, keeping the flashlight off to the side so he could see her more clearly. “I've been hired by your father to bring you home.”

  Dottie paused for a second and Hawk thought he saw a tear fall down her cheek, she looked ragged and disconsolate reminding him of the caged animals he'd seen in zoos. When she spoke again he thought he heard a glimmer of hope rise in her voice.

  “I...I can't believe it.”

  “Can't believe what?”

  “That he really cares about me that way.” She said. “I thought he would have just left me here...but I had hope that somehow he would get to me.”

  “He cares all right.” Hawk said. “He's worried sick about you. Now who did you mean when you said I wasn't one of them? Do you mean the bed men?” Hawk was surprised he had used Abji's term but it seemed to be the most fitting.

  Dottie looked down for a second then raised her head again and nodded slowly and everything in that nod told him all he needed to know. It told him all what she had been forced to endure while she was here and told him how desperate the situation had become and he felt shards of guilt pooling inside him that he'd not been able to find her sooner.

  “How many of them are there?” He asked. “Ten? More?”

  “I don't know exactly but I know there's a lot.”

  “And Byron as well?”

  She looked at him with an odd expression, perplexed that he knew of her captor's name then nodded again. “Yes and Byron as well. But how did you know about him?”

  “I can't explain everything right now.” Hawk said. “All that matters is that I get you out of here as soon as I can. You know about the exchange they have agreed to do with your father?”

  “Yes. They say I will see my father again soon...but I don't believe them.”

  “Neither do I.” Hawk said taking a quick look around behind him to make sure the coast was still clear. “That's why I plan on getting you out of here before that has to happen.”

  “But how? They always have men around watching, I don't even know how you managed to get all the way here...wherever here is. They kept me blindfolded when they brought me here.”

  “You're in the Florida Everglades, several miles away from any town or city. A friend brought me here but we'll talk more about that some other time. Right now I have to figure out how to get you out of there.” Hawk grasped the heavy steel bars and tried forcing them but they were built too solidly into the wall and he knew there was no point in trying to break them.

  “Hmm that's not going to work. I'm going to see if I can find another way in.”

  “And then what?” Dottie asked and a sad look came across her worn face. “Just run off into the forest? Byron told me even if I escaped I wouldn't survive a day out there in that jungle.”

  “You let me worry about that.” Hawk said. “I made it here didn't I? I think I can make it back out again. I have a feeling that neither you or your father will survive if that exchange takes place.”

  “I have the same feeling.” Dottie said and at that moment they both heard a man's cough further down the building and Hawk shot up alarmed, remembering the large man who had went into
the backdoor.

  “I have to go.” Hawk said hurriedly. “You sit tight. I promise I'll get you out of here.”

  “Okay.” She said. “Please try, I am so scared here.”

  “I will, be safe for now.” Hawk said switching off the flashlight and Dottie's face folded back into the darkness below. He stood up to get out of there and that was when he felt something hard press into his back and knew it was the barrel of a gun.

  15

  “Move an inch and I'll blow a hole in your back.” Said a deep voice behind Hawk and he knew it was the voice of the man he'd seen earlier. “Now drop that case and the bag.” The man pushed the gun deeper into Hawk's back and he did as he was told and slowly lowered his rifle case and duffel bag to the ground, then raised his hands back up.

  “Take out that gun from the holster on your waist and lay it beside you.” The man commanded and Hawk did so, slowly placing the gun on the ground without looking behind him. When he stood back up the man started patting him down and took out the damaged cellphone from his side pocket. “Bet you thought I wouldn't find that did you? Now move forward and don't step out of line.” He gave Hawk a firm shove to move then led him to the front of the building where they walked over some crushed stone to a large blue steel entrance caked over with rust on the sides.

  “Open it.” The man ordered and Hawk did so, stepping inside with his hands still up. It was gloomy and damp in there with only a few lights above providing any illumination, but he could see three men seated in front of him. Two were on a couch and one was sitting in a large chair. The man on the chair stood up first with a surprised look on his face.

  “What have we here?” Byron said with a smirk and Travis and Etaro stood up from the couch and came beside him. “An unwelcome guest?”

  “I found him sneaking around outside.” Cleetch said and shoved Hawk in front of Byron. “He might be a cop or something. I found him carrying this stuff.” He tossed the handgun and the broken cellphone on the coffee table in front of Byron.