by D B Steward
“You scare me kid. I mean stay up at night, check around corners, pee myself a little scary. I’m glad you’re on our side.”
CHAPTER NINE
Like an approaching thundercloud, the rumble of the powerful engine crept up his driveway announcing to Arturo that his brothers had arrived. For the first time in recent memory, he actually wished his older brother Angel was alive. Arturo could use his level headedness now.
Born poor, with their father doing life for murder and their mother helping to supplement their meager income by prostitution, the four Garcia brothers learned early on how to survive. They could see that the world was unfair and only the powerful could thrive. Angel Garcia was the oldest and as such took on the role as the man of the house. He craved more from life than scraping by and surviving. He believed that doing whatever it took to rise in the world was not vital for survival, it was his right. The world and everyone in it owed the Garcia family for their lot in life. They had been cheated by fate, but they would settle the score by any means necessary.
Arturo could see the darkness of the soul in his older brother when he was much younger. Angel was not bloodthirsty or vicious for no reason like Ramon. Yet he would not spare a thought about taking someone’s life. The life of anyone that was not family was unimportant to him. If their death was beneficial to the brothers, Angel would kill.
Ramon Garcia was born second. Unlike his other brothers, Ramon actually enjoyed killing. He was their enforcer, ruthlessly dispatching any person that caused the family even the
slightest inconvenience. Ramon was brutal for brutality’s sake and his bloodlust extended not only to men, but women and children as well. Ramon was a cold blooded killer and laconic, seldom speaking more than a few words at a time. His face was a passive mask of disdain and the only time he ever smiled was when he was murdering someone. But he was devoted to MH4 and followed the orders of his older brother without hesitation. Arturo was not afraid of much, but his brother frightened him with the easy manner that he murdered someone. He feared that one day he too would find himself in his heavily tattooed brother’s sight.
A story that resonated throughout the darkest corners of Mexico was how Ramon had dealt with an informant named Omar. Angel had gotten word that Omar, who was of their lieutenants, was talking to the police. Angel sent Ramon to deal with him. That night, Ramon paid a visit to Omar’s house. Omar had a wife and two children. Angel left it up to Ramon how far he could go that night. Ramon went to the house and was invited in by Omar. In seconds, Ramon had shot him through both kneecaps. The family had been about to sit down for dinner. Ramon kept the mother and children at the dinner table by gunpoint. He took Omar to the head of the table and sat him down. Ramon then slit the throats of both children and made their parents watch as they bled out at the dinner table. Ramon then beat Omar until his eyes were swollen slits. Almost comatose, Omar could still hear his wife screaming hysterically. While Omar watched, unable to move or even speak, Ramon raped his wife on top of the table and the bodies of their children. After he finished, Ramon strangled the woman. Her face only inches away from Omar so that he could watch as the life burned away in her eyes. Then for the next hour and a half, Ramon sat at the dinner table and ate as Omar looked on. Tears streamed down his swollen and bloody face, making animalistic whimpering noises. Ramon finished his meal and then blinded Omar using his thumbs. He then cut out his tongue and slit his throat. The story struck terror all over Mexico, the message was clear that MH4 was not to be crossed.
The youngest brother was Hector. He was the last child of their mother and she died while giving birth to him. Hector had been small and sickly as a baby and needed his older brothers to care for him. Once Hector was old enough to walk and talk, the three would use the smaller boy to panhandle for change and food. As the brothers grew older and their crimes became more violent, they had little use for Hector. He soon became an annoying afterthought to his brothers. As such his self esteem was badly damaged. He was prone to anxiety and second guessing any decisions the brothers made. But, Hector was family. A bond that sometimes felt like an anchor keeping Arturo stuck in place. Sometimes Arturo thought that his thin and nervous little brother was more trouble than he was worth.
Hard rubber crackled against the driveway as the large truck slowed to a halt. The gears shifted smoothly as the transmission went into park and the rumbling engine died. Hector was the first to hop out of the cab while Ramon exited slowly, slamming his door shut. Ramon marched toward Arturo, his eyes ablaze with fury.
Rubbing his temple as he tried in vain to ward off the headache that he knew loomed in his near future. “What happened now?” Arturo sighed.
Hector stepped between his older brothers, he looked as if he had not slept in a week. His beady, shifty eyes streaked with a spider web of scarlet veins crisscrossing the whites. “The FBI raided a count house in Phoenix and got a million and a half!” Hector was fit to be tied. His greasy, tattooed face twisted in fear. Although he kept his face calm, Arturo was raging inside his own head. “We didn’t even know they knew about that house! They are hitting us all over the States! My people are saying that the American Attorney General is coming down to ask our government for help. They’re coming for us Arturo!”
Looking over the shoulder of his scared little brother, Arturo could see Ramon waiting for him to decide what they should do. Arturo slumped his shoulders and waved them both towards his flashy home.
“Come on, let’s get inside.” He said, his voice sounded tired.
The funeral home had a smell that seemed like a mixture of death and antiseptic to Kelly. She stood with the funeral director in front of her. Sonny was standing behind her, keeping a respectable distance. It all felt so surreal to her. It seemed like only the other day she was with Lori. She had been in bed with her. Now she was watching the woman, her ex girlfriend, being cremated.
Her guilt was tangible. She felt it hanging in the silence of the room. She could feel it from the harsh artificial lighting that seemed to penetrate her like an x-ray. Leaving her insides visible to the whole world.
Lori did not deserve this. She did not deserve to be lying there on a metal tray, waiting to be burned to ashes. Kelly had caused this. She was the reason that Lori was dead. If the Russians had not been looking for her they would never have crossed paths with Lori. She had gone to Kelly’s apartment to try and get back together with her. Instead, she had walked in on the men while they were tearing the place apart. The thought that Lori had spent the last moments of her life in pain, physically caused Kelly’s knees to buckle for a moment. An innocent life had been taken because of her. Kelly could never make up for it. No matter what she did from now on, no matter how she lived her life, none of that would ever matter to Lori.
They had a relationship that was like fire and ice. Filled with passion and troubled by addiction. Lori was an avalanche of chaos. Her life was all sex and drugs when they met. Kelly had willingly stepped in front of that avalanche and let it swallow her whole. Kelly had been released from prison after serving six months for betraying her oath to the FBI and her country. At the same time she was still trying to deal with her father’s death. Kelly was also battling her own demons. Gambling, drugs, alcohol, and meaningless one night stands. When they had chanced upon each other in a bar one night, it was like a nuclear explosion. Within minutes of their introductions they were a mash of hands and lips, arms and legs. Before they knew it, they were falling onto Kelly’s bed and ripping off their clothes.
“Would you like to say anything before I begin the process Miss?”
The morgue attendant’s words shook Kelly from her thoughts. She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it. She could not think of a single thing to say, so she only shook her head. The attendant nodded and slid the metal slab with Lori’s corpse atop it into the compartment. As he secured the door, Kelly felt ashamed that she couldn’t come up with anything to say about Lori.
All she had known about
the woman was that she was originally from St. Louis and her last name was Martin. She knew Lori’s parents were dead. Trace found out that Lori was adopted and had no living relatives. It was tragic that Lori was being mourned only by an ex girlfriend and a world class assassin. Had her life been so inconsequential that its end made almost no difference in the grand scheme of things? She had lived and died and that was the end of her story. There would be no monument to her. There would be no items passed down to family members. There would be no legacy.
Would that be her own ending? When Kelly died would she be left alone in the morgue and forgotten too? The furnace ignited and Kelly started from the noise. She watched the flames lick around the small window as Lori’s corpse caught fire. She surprised herself when a tear ran down her cheek. Their lives were similar. They had both pushed away, or been abandoned by, anyone who had ever cared for them. Kelly and Lori were both self destructive. Lori had abused every drug she could get her hands on and slept with anyone that caught her eye. Kelly chased the high of winning even as she bankrupted herself and found herself on the wrong side of the law.
A hand came to rest on her shoulder. Kelly looked back into dark chocolate eyes holding compassion and understanding. Sonny gave Kelly a caring smile. She needed the acknowledgement that someone in the world cared about her. Maybe Kelly would be mourned by someone after all.
CHAPTER TEN
“Are we there yet?” Kelly said playfully as she leaned into Sonny’s seat as they sat together on the plane.
“How have we only been on the plane for fifteen minutes and I already want to throw you out of the emergency exit?” Kelly replied to Sonny’s jab by sticking her tongue out.
“Why are we flying coach?” Kelly scrunched her nose in disgust. “Trace could have put us up in first class.” She leaned in to whisper to Sonny. “You know, I've never flown first class before.”
Sonny raised her brows in mock amazement. “Never? A cosmopolitan socialite like yourself? Shocking.”
“Har dee har har.” Kelly huffed. “I bet you always flew first class Miss Global Assassin.” Sonny scowled at her and then looked around the cabin.
“Will you keep your voice down?!”
“Oh please.” Kelly dismissed her with a wave. “Nobody is paying attention to us. Relax.”
Sonny shook her head in frustration, she knew that Kelly was right. She was being paranoid. There was no real reason that anyone would be looking for them. Still, Sonny was finding it hard to adjust to the new normal of her life. Trace had assured them that she
was shielding the two of them from any kind of surveillance. But knowing that did not make Sonny feel any safer.
Kelly’s head tilted to the side as she looked at Sonny. “You don’t like relying on someone else. You want to be in total control at all times. And when you have to give up any control you go into a hyper aware state of paranoia.”
Sonny grimaced. “Did you profile me Agent King?”
“This is what I trained to do. I can read you like a book Moretti.” Kelly winked.
“Wait, hold the phone. You can read a book?” Sonny shot back and Kelly rolled her eyes. Kelly pulled a deck of cards from her pants and began to shuffle them expertly. Sonny raised an eyebrow. “Where did you get those?” Kelly shrugged.
“I got them from the gift shop while you were doing your umpteenth SDR in the airport.”
“I was trying to make sure we weren’t being followed. Meanwhile you decided to help by going shopping I see.”
“How about a little strip poker?” Kelly grinned seductively.
“On a plane in the middle of coach? Hard pass.” Kelly chuckled at Sonny’s response.
“Prude.” She kept shuffling the deck. “How about a little Blackjack? It’ll pass the time until we land.”
Sonny shrugged and Kelly began to deal. As their game progressed, Sonny began to notice a slight change in Kelly’s demeanor. The other woman grew more intense as they played. There was something in Kelly’s eyes that was unsettling to Sonny. She saw a kind of ecstasy in Kelly that she couldn’t explain. By the time the plane landed she had lost over three hundred dollars to Kelly. The redhead looked as if she was coming down from an orgasm.
“You owe me Moretti.” Kelly’s smile was seductive and Sonny couldn’t help having a physical reaction to it. It was mesmerizing, even though Kelly’s excitement over the game gave her pause.
“Oh, I’ll pay you back King.” The plane reached the gate and the passengers began to disembark. “We’re here.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
They moved easily through customs and out of the airport. While Sonny hailed a taxi, Kelly called Trace on the encrypted phone she had given them. The line rang once and then the voice of the young latina came through the other end.
“Trace here.”
“Yeah, I want a large pizza with double cheese and sausage. Oo! I’ll also take an order of those twisty breadsticks.”
Trace sighed over the line. “I wish you were as funny as you think you are.”
“I’m hilarious, you’re just too young to get me.”
“There is going to be a car with a driver waiting for you outside the airport.” No sooner than she said that, they saw a black town car with a man standing near it. He was apathetically holding a sign with their names on it. “He’s going to take you to the hotel. Call me back when you get there.” Trace ended the call and Kelly turned to Sonny.
“Your chariot awaits my lady.” Kelly indicated the car with a flourish of her hands.
They rode in silence to the hotel. Sonny was in her woman of steel mode as Kelly had come to call it in her head. Her beautiful face with her sharp cheekbones was an impassive mask. Still as a statue, revealing nothing to the outside world. Kelly knew that Sonny was trying to keep a low profile in front of the driver and Kelly decided to play along. Kelly was almost positive that the driver didn’t care what they said to each other. But she was growing used to the assassin’s paranoia about being exposed in public. If she was honest with herself, Kelly found it kind of a turn on knowing that Sonny was like an arrow in a drawn bow. All the tension ready to explode at a moment's notice stirred something primal inside her. She imagined the assassin like a jungle cat. Sonny was a lioness, unmoving but alert to her environment. Ready to pounce in an instant.
They arrived at the hotel shortly. Check in went smoothly and they found their room. Unlike the luxury suite they had been staying in, the room was tiny and had only one bed. Kelly tossed her bag onto the bed and growled.
“She thinks she’s so funny! I know she did this on purpose! I’m going to dye her little black hoodie hot pink!” Sonny was doing her best to ignore her tantrum and put her carry on down on the bed. Kelly snatched her phone out and dialed furiously. “Trace! You couldn’t find a smaller hotel room for us?” She shouted sarcastically into the phone.
“Hey, I got yelled at before when I booked the honeymoon suite. So this time? Hotel? Trivago. Now is there an adult I can talk to, little girl?” Trace said and Kelly stuck her tongue out at the phone before she tossed it to Sonny.
“This is Sonny.”
“Thank God. Someone with an actual brain. There is a long term storage place where your gear is. There is also a clean car nearby for you guys. The keys are on a magnet under the rear bumper. Inside the car the nav system is set up with the directions to the storage unit. The key to it is on the keyring with the car keys.”
Sonny nodded. “Impressive.”
“It’s my job.” Trace said matter-of-factly. “MH4 has a place, a dirty little gambling place, a few blocks away from you guys called La Casa Rojo. It’s a seedy little spot that tourists avoid. You’ll likely make contact with some of them there.”
“Thank you Trace.” Sonny admired the precautions the young girl had taken for them. Her attention to detail was quite similar to what she would have done for the operation. This arrangement could work out after all. “We’ll handle it from here.
”
“Cool. I’ll be monitoring you guys wherever I can.” She chuckled. “When you’re out on your op though. You guys don’t have to worry about me watching while you get busy.”
“I’m hanging up now.” Sonny ended the call while blushing.
“What’s up?” Kelly asked, wondering why Sonny appeared so flushed. “What’d she say?”
Sonny cleared her throat. “Nothing.” Her mask fell back into place. “Let’s go. We have a car to pick up.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Walking outside of the hotel was a bit of a shock for Kelly. Having read a little about Monterrey, Mexico online while on the plane, she had expected a tourist paradise. What she found around their hotel was like some of the rougher neighborhoods in her home city of Chicago. Old Town, or Barrio Antiguo, was a crowded, rundown mess. There were more boarded up windows than normal ones. Kelly noticed that cars could park on either side of the street and point in either direction. The traffic on the street looked like a Nascar race to her. The cars left very little following distance between them and she wondered how they didn't hit each other.
