A shot of anxiety flowed through my veins at the sight. An imposing stainless steel box the size of a minivan stood in the middle of the room. On one end, a small metal door gaped open and on the other, a large pipe entered the ground. A cremator.
Heat still emanated from the machine, as if it had been used recently. I walked over to the pipe entering the ground. It was oriented toward the back wall, toward Salsitas. I had been in that alleyway multiple times and had never seen an exhaust. But, Salsitas had an exhaust on its ceiling. Did it share smoke from this cremator? Had Manuel and Tigre just burnt a body? Or maybe they burned some evidence? My heart rate quickened at the thought. A rush of nausea billowed up from my belly.
I needed to get out of there. Could Manuel actually burn people’s bodies? My senses heightened at the thought. I listened carefully for sounds of them coming. Manuel and Tigre had stopped whispering, so I slid the door back into place and hung the poster just as I heard them open the door of the office. I held down the corner for a moment so it wouldn’t sway before jumping toward the sliding metal door. I tried to look nonchalant as they entered, but I could feel the sheen of sweat on my forehead building.
“Let’s go,” Manuel said without a hint of suspicion.
Tigre opened the sliding door to the alley a few inches, peered out and then opened it enough for us to slip out. Coming outside proved to be an assault on the senses, compared to the relative silence of the mortuary. Maybe the shock of knowing Manuel and Tigre are really killers heightened my senses. The sunlight made my eyes water. Horns honked; cooks in Salsitas’ kitchen barked out orders, and a train chugged loudly along the Santa Fe rail. A regular ticking sound caught my attention. I looked over and saw Tigre’s watch with the second hand moving in staccato beats. These men end life, life that creates noise and movement.
Once in the car my mind fixated on what I had just witnessed. Man, did they underestimate me? I thought. I’m the most observant person in the world; did they really think I wouldn’t find the giant cremator they’d just used? Letting me have all the time I needed to search this place seemed foolish. Or maybe they wanted me to be intimidated? It did freak me out a bit, actually a freakin’ lot. Manuel was more sinister than I had imagined. Could this be the way they could kill me? I doubted my ATP stores could handle 1500° Fahrenheit.
12 The gospel of sound
“Manuel, you promised me twenty minutes with my friends. Can I get that now?” I said as we walked into the hacienda.
“Sure, you didn’t completely fail on this last mission and the one before that provided Jonas, who will prove useful. You’ll help in extracting intel from him, once he wakes.” He smirked toward Tigre. I would’ve loved to deck both of them for what they did to him, but I had to play along. I couldn’t show a single smidgen of loyalty to Talon if I wanted to meet with my friends.
“Thanks for taking him out. He beat the crap out of me, well, really just sucker punched me.”
“Yes, his skills seem far superior to your own.”
“Give me another chance with him, I’ll show you what I can do. Now about that twenty minutes…”
“Sure.” He looked to Tigre. “Escort Jamie to Aedan’s room and then call for Coyle.”
Manuel and I walked back toward the kitchen in the long hallway. A door on my left swung open, and two men strolled out. I caught a glimpse of the room with its rounded concave ceiling and entryway. An altar stood at the back of the room with a few rows of chairs facing it. A thick rope extended into the ceiling. Manuel noticed me staring.
“It is our chapel. Some of the men need to feel the influence of a higher power.”
“Do you?”
“I rely on my own power. Power I fostered and grew with my own hands. I guide myself rather than leaving it up to a god. I will not kneel to him or her when men kneel to me.”
I was speechless. While I had my doubts about God and knew I had some power, his level of narcissism exceeded a sane level. Manuel believed he was a god, plain and simple.
“Don’t tell me you don’t feel it, Coyle. The power to make someone else do your bidding, the pure control over someone else’s life.”
“I feel the temptation, sure, but I don’t relish it, Manuel.”
“That will change.”
I looked back at the small chapel. The shape of the room reminded me of a topic I read during my Somatotech training. Dead spots. Acoustic dead spots. The concavity of the ceilings and walls created destructive interference areas where sound waves would cancel. I analyzed the path I believed the sound waves would travel and determined that the outer row of chairs near the altar and just inside the entrance were dead spots. An individual standing here would have a hard time hearing or at least understanding speech at specific locations in the room. This is where we needed to meet.
“Manuel, can Aedan, Jamie, and I meet in here? Jamie misses her church.”
He looked inside, then at the hallway, and then back inside. “Sure, have her pray to her God that her boyfriend can continue his work for freedom.” Manuel seemed pleased with the new meeting location. Probably due to there being only one entryway and its proximity to the kitchen, it was much easier to monitor.
“Thanks, Manuel. Can I stay here and wait?”
“Yes, with a guard,” said Manuel as he walked toward the kitchen. Perfect, I thought. I needed someone to test my sound wave theory.
I walked into the chapel and sat down on one of the seats. “Hello, hello, hello,” I said and listened for the echoes, their direction, and intensity. I moved to other locations and repeated the task.
“Hello?” One of Manuel’s men stood behind me.
“Uh, just seeing if God listens.” I stood up. “Come join me.”
“No, señor.” He kept his ground. I needed him to step one foot forward.
“Please, come forward,” I whispered and looked at him expectantly. He looked confused because he didn’t hear me clearly, not because of a dead spot but because I spoke at a barely audible level. He took a small step forward. “What is your name?” I said loudly before he could come closer. He stopped but didn’t respond.
“OK, I’ll just get my prayer on.” I sat back down, ducked my head and waited for my friends. I’m not sure whether it was reverence in the room or something else, but I slipped into introspection. My near death experience and now Roxanne and her clone crew have both claimed I am Coyle’s clone. My knowledge and memories were trained, implanted in my brain. They weren’t real for me. They aren’t mine but Coyle’s. I am living his life. What am I making of it? If anything, I have brought tarnish to his name and family. And what had I done to his friends? I’m deceiving Jamie into thinking I am her boyfriend, not intentionally, well until now. Did I dare tell her now? Telling her about her dad nearly ended our relationship. Revealing that I'm an imposter would surely destroy her. My head started to throb.
Two people approached the chapel. “Vete de aqui hombre.” Tigre pulled the guard out as he entered the room. “Les voy a vigilar.” Thank you, Tigre, I added those words into my bank, but no thank you for removing my well-positioned guard. Tigre planted himself at the entryway but on the other side, a good three feet from where I needed him.
Jamie walked in from behind Tigre.
“Coyle,” she said as she approached me with wet red eyes. My heart sank and I wrapped my arms around her trying to pull her close. She crossed her arms in front of her body, pushing me back with tense muscles.
“I’m sorry Jamie, I’m so sorry about your dad and about me being an idiot.” I gazed into her eyes, but they shifted away. How could I deceive someone so beautiful, inside and out?
“Coyle, you gotta get me out of here.” She stared at the floor.
“I’m doing the missions. I think Manuel was proud of my more recent work.”
“Hmmph,” said Tigre. He could hear us. I had to get him over to the dead spot.
“Tigre, how many more missions until you let us go?”
“Manue
l keeps the tally. He will let you know.”
“What would happen if I left right now?”
“You wouldn’t make it past this door, muchacho.”
“Oh really?” I walked to the entryway on the side I needed him. He pushed off the opposing wall and stopped my path. He pushed me back, and I deliberately tripped over a chair behind me.
“Are you an idiot?”
“I was kidding Tigre, geez. I know I could never get past you,” I said while grinning. I stood up using the chair and then slid it over to him in the exact spot I needed him. “Relax, I am not that stupid.” He grabbed the chair, sat down, and unholstered his gun, resting it on his lap.
“Where is Aedan?” I asked.
“He’s too slow; Stefan brings him.”
“Who are you calling slow?” Aedan came in swinging on crutches. Stefan strolled in behind him. I smiled at both of them. Stefan smiled back, nodded, and then left.
“You are a cripple, a very slow cripple,” said Tigre. He didn’t move his chair to let him by. Aedan struggled to squeeze through with his crutches. He looked up baring his teeth until he noticed where Tigre’s foot lay. With his next movement, he placed his crutch on his foot and put his full weight on the crutches.
“Coño!” Tigre jumped up and slapped the crutch out from under Aedan’s shoulder. He came tumbling down, but I dived forward, catching him before he collided with the chair in front of him. Tigre glared at me and made the universal symbol for “I’m going to kill you” with his finger across his neck. I shook my head in disgust.
“Sorry Tiger,” said Aedan as I helped him up.
“Don’t test me, cripple,” he said while sitting back down in the chair. While Aedan’s assault was genius, it threatened my plan. Gratefully, Tigre plopped down on the chair without moving it.
I moved to the exact position I had been in while I spoke with one of Manuel’s men.
“Tigre,” I said at a normal conversational level. Nothing, he sat there glaring at Aedan. “Guys, come over here. At this spot, Tigre can’t hear us well.” They could have the whole placed bugged and then we would be hosed, but I hadn’t seen any wires or any other indication of any bugs. We had to take the risk. Besides, I had to believe they suspected we would plot and try an escape.
Aedan shuffled over and sat on my right. Jamie moved up a row of seats but kept her distance.
“Jamie, can you come closer? He can probably hear you from there.”
She turned away from me but scooted over to the seat next to me on my left.
“Thank you, Jamie, I’m sorry again.”
“In the doghouse, dude? What’d you do this time?” asked Aedan.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, looking at the floor.
“Oh, just like you didn’t want to tell me?” she yelled. Tigre looked up but only smirked when he saw how pissed Jamie appeared. So, there was a threshold at which he could hear. We had to maintain our voices at a conversation level. But, from Tigre’s response, maybe Jamie’s outbursts would keep his suspicion low.
“Tell her what?” asked Aedan.
I looked at her. She kept her back to me. “Her dad was shot and I knew it and didn’t tell her until a couple days ago. I’m an idiot, I know.”
“Dang man. Jamie, I’m so sorry. Do we know if he’s doing OK?”Aedan rubbed his brows.
“Manuel says he is, he—“
“I don’t believe a single word that comes out of that snake,” said Jamie while staring at Tigre.
“Fair enough. I gotta find out from someone else, and I will on the next mission.”
“You’d better,” said Jamie, loud enough for Tigre to hear.
“Jamie, Tigre can hear you when you talk that loud. That’s fine if you aren’t saying anything about our escape.”
“So you want me to talk loud?” she asked.
I nodded.
“But, you only want me to talk about things other than what I really want to talk about? Like how are we getting out of this place?”
“Not exactly. When we talk about our escape, we have to talk at a normal level. Anything else, we talk loudly so he can hear.”
“How’s your leg?” I said loudly, changing the subject to save some face.
“Aches, but I can take it, man,” he said, then hushed his voice. “What’s the plan? Oh, and what’s all the fuss been about round here?” He sat up and rubbed his thigh.
“They captured Jonas, well; he gave himself up. Oh and get this, he actually goes by Talon.” Aedan nodded approvingly.
“So he’s here to help us?” asked Jamie.
“That was the plan originally, but he won’t be doing crap for a few days. They shot him up.”
“Uh, as you can see by my continued cripple state, it takes more than a few days to recover from being shot up.”
“He’s not like you. He’s more like me.”
“Ah ha! I thought so! He was a little too perfect.”
“Anyway, here’s the plan; we have to take this place over, by ourselves.”
“As in a hostile takeover? A three-teenager uprising against an army of angry armed men?” His eyes widened reflexively.
“Yep, we are going to turn this place to our cause. I’m gathering some seriously sensitive info to help them turn. The plan is to take out the ringleaders; Manuel and…” I lowered my voice because Tigre looked over, “Tigre. Once we have them, the rest will join us or surrender.”
“What on earth is going to convince their men to betray them?”
“Manuel and Tigre kill people and burn their bodies in a cremator,” I said without emotion.
Aedan and Jamie stared blankly at me. I could hear Jamie’s heart rate pick up, she dropped her head and began to weep.
“Get me outta here Coyle!” she yelled and Tigre looked over and then stood.
“What’s going on?” he yelled.
“We will, again once I complete my missions,” I said, ignoring his question. “She’s just homesick,” I said loudly.
“You have five more minutes,” he said and sat down.
“How are we going to take them?” Aedan glanced back at Tigre, who was now toying with his gun. “You aren’t talking about doing the deed, right? I had my fill of that at Somatotech dude.”
“No. No killing. Maybe a few bruises, but no killing, I can’t take it anymore either. Capture and exposure. That is all we are after. I will apprehend Manuel, and you will take care of Tigre.”
“And how am I supposed to overpower that chunk of Mexican muscle?”
“With these.” With my back turned to Tigre, I showed him the syringes chock full of sedative. He grabbed one of them.
“Ah yeah man, going all doctor on them. I like it.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“How fast does it work?” He inspected the opaque liquid inside.
“It would work a whole lot faster if you could get it in his veins, but I doubt you could convince him to sit down with a tourniquet around his arm. Just jam it into his arm or leg and press down the plunger.”
“So, what am I supposed to do until it works?” He slipped it back into my hand.
“Just get out and lock him in your room,” I said, tucking the syringe in my pocket with the other.
“So, let me get this straight. I have to stab him somehow with a syringe, get the key, convince him to stay in the room and lock it from the outside, all with me having a bum leg. Sounds like I could use your help.”
“I can’t, I gotta draw Manuel away from here just as you have to draw Tigre away from Jamie and into your room. Talon is incapacitated, so he’s no help. Listen, Manuel and Tigre seem to go on their killing missions in the morning, so this has to go down in an afternoon. It could be soon. After you take him out, you need to get into the room next door. In it, you will find a bunch of cellphones. Grab one and wait for my call. I should have Manuel down for the count around 1 p.m., and that’s when I’ll call.”
“Dang man, I’m not
in the best shape. Couldn’t we wait a few weeks until I am fully back to my impressive original self?”
“No freakin’ way, not weeks. The longer this goes, the more power they feel they have over us. I hope I can give you a week or so, but if the opportunity knocks, we gotta take it.”
“And how will we know when that is?”
“I’ll find a way to let you know. It will be something only you, Jamie and I would recognize. Keep your eyes and ears open.”
“And are we staying here after this little mutiny?” Aedan asked.
“Where else can we go? This place is off the grid. It’s the perfect center for our operations.”
“I’m leaving this place the first second I can,” interjected Jamie, loud enough for Tigre to hear.
“Only if it is safe, Jamie. What if they’re waiting for you to come home? They could snatch you so easily, and I doubt they would just lock you up again.”
“I’m leaving here,” she said, slowly annunciating each syllable. “What do you want me to do while this is all happening?”
“Stay safe. If anyone comes to get you, knock out the air conditioner in your room to escape. It’s really loose. Once you get out yell for the Doña, Dr. Bartnev or… ” Who else could we trust? My mind flipped through the men and landed on Stefan; he seemed trustworthy. “Or Stefan.”
“Who’s Stefan?” asked Aedan.
“A new friend on Manuel’s crew.” I described what Stefan looked like, and both Aedan and Jamie indicated they knew who he was. “I’m working on him. I hope to turn him before this all goes down. Maybe he could relieve your guard, Jamie?”
We sat there in silence before Aedan spoke up. “What are these operations you want to do from here?”
Reverse (The Infusion Series Book 2) Page 9
