by David Archer
“Do we really have to drink these?” Neil asked. “I don’t think my stomach can take it, this early in the day.”
Jefferson shrugged. “All we’re doing is staying in character,” he said. “It’s doubtful that Camelot will have you actually present in the bar during the real mission, but just in case something happened and you needed to be familiar with it, we brought you along. You don’t have to drink the beer, but just let it sit on the table in front of you.”
“Or pass it to me,” Moose said. “Sometimes, I have beer for breakfast.” He tipped up his own bottle and guzzled it, then switched it for Neil’s. Neil gave him a halfhearted grin and rolled his eyes.
Jefferson looked at Noah. “The whole idea here is to let you become as familiar with the most likely scenario as you can be. Ortiz is a very difficult man to get close to, and about the only time he’s ever in any position that might be considered vulnerable is when he decides to go to his nephew’s bar to drink and party. From what we know of him, he seems to think it’s the safest place he can go, and if you study the urban layout, you’ll see that the place is incredibly defensible. The back door opens onto an alley that is gated on both ends, and the door itself is made of steel, almost three-quarters of an inch thick. The only windows in the place are on the front of the building, as you can see, and the way the room is laid out, there are several tables that are completely out of any line of sight—or line of fire—from anywhere outside the building. That means that any attack on him would have to come through the front door, or crash through the big window, and Ortiz generally has enough goons and firepower with him to handle anything up to a small platoon.”
Noah nodded. “And I take it the Mexican government isn’t interested in taking him down?”
Jefferson grinned at him. “Are you kidding? He’s in tight enough with some of the more powerful cartels that most of the government would do whatever it took to protect him. Anybody in power in Mexico is terrified of this guy, and that includes the federales.” Jefferson took a drink out of his beer. “That’s one of the things that makes him so dangerous. It’s a pretty safe bet that all the fingers will be pointing our way when he gets taken down.”
Noah looked around the bar once more, then back at Jefferson. “Any suggestions on how I should do it?”
“No, and no one else will give you any, either. You are Camelot, the team leader. You’re the one who has to come up with a plan, and then implement it. Your mission is to eliminate Pablo Ortiz; how you do it, and what collateral damage you decide to inflict, is entirely up to you.”
“So, suppose I decide to just blow up the whole bar with Ortiz in it?”
“That is entirely your call,” Jefferson said. “You have literally been granted a license to kill in the performance of your duties. What that means is that you can choose any method to eliminate your target, and if there is collateral damage, then so be it.”
“That was a rhetorical question,” Noah said. “I’m fairly sure I can manage to kill this guy without hurting any innocent people. Now, as for Henrique Valdes, the boss lady hinted that we might be better off if I leave him alive. Apparently, he has some value to another agency, and may become more valuable once Ortiz is gone?”
“That’s definitely a possibility,” Jefferson said. “It’s still up to you whether or not you take him out. Let me clarify one thing for you that may make the decision easier. Valdes is not a good guy. Yes, he provides us with some very valuable information from time to time, but he does so only when it benefits him or someone he wants to have in his debt. He will probably still provide us with good information, even if he replaces Ortiz, but still only when he expects to benefit from it. Now, sometimes that benefit is monetary, when we pay for his information, but sometimes it’s a matter of expanding his own power base, or someone else’s. Even Ortiz has benefited from information Valdes has given us, but it’s a safe bet that if Ortiz knew Valdes was talking to us, Valdes would be in the foundation of a very large building.”
Noah’s eyebrows went up. “In the foundation?”
Jefferson nodded. “Ortiz is one of the stockholders in a large concrete company, one that’s been in the news a lot over the last few years for its connections to organized crime and government corruption. The company is still going, but yes, we have a lot of information that a number of bodies have gone into the deep foundations of buildings that company has contracted for.”
They spent the morning talking over different options, and Noah asked a number of questions of the bartender and some of the girls who were playing the parts of whores. They told him a lot about how the business worked, and gave him a number of names of major drug dealers and suppliers who were known to frequent the place. There were so many that it solidified Noah’s plan to pose as a drug buyer in order to become a trusted customer of the place.
When it got close to lunchtime, the bartender announced that he had tacos and burritos, so they bought lunch from him and continued to discuss the many different variables. There was no way to predict, for instance, how many customers might be in the place at any particular time. It was known that Ortiz had a tendency to draw customers, common street criminals who just wanted to rub shoulders with such a powerful man. That could create a serious risk for Noah, because it could prevent his escape, or even cause him to miss his target.
Killing Ortiz with a bullet would, as Jefferson had said, point the finger back at the United States.
“Would it be better,” Noah asked Jefferson, “if I can make his death look like an accident? Or natural causes?”
Jefferson seemed to think it over. “It might be, especially if you could convince people it was something natural. An accident? People like Ortiz don’t have accidents, so that would look suspicious, anyway. No one would believe that he died in an auto accident, for instance, because his drivers are too well trained and his vehicles are designed to make sure he survives. Same problem with poisons: they’ll turn up in toxicology, so somebody will know he was assassinated. That word gets out, and suddenly we’ve got an international incident, even if they can’t prove we were behind it.”
Shortly after lunchtime, a man walked through the front door and carefully looked at the place over. He bore such a striking resemblance to the real Henrique Valdes that Noah was certain this was the actor playing that part. The man looked carefully at the table full of gringos, then to the bartender, who nodded. He turned and walked back out the door, to return a moment later with six other men. One of them was obviously in charge, and Noah was sure he must be the one playing Ortiz.
Noah examined the situation from every angle he could think of, and saw almost no opportunity to eliminate Ortiz without taking out Valdes, as well. Valdes had five goons, all of them obviously armed and dangerous. If Noah could get into the right position, he could probably manage to take them all down, but then there was the danger of the bartender and other customers. People who frequented a place like this were likely to be part of the criminal element, themselves, so when one of their own was attacked, there was a good chance they would get involved in the fight. Noah would likely end up stuck right between a number of different killers, and even he wasn’t optimistic enough to expect to survive.
Taking advantage of his limited ability to do so, Noah asked the men playing Valdes and Ortiz a number of questions about the way they did things. Assuming the intelligence they had studied was correct, he learned a great deal about the two men, and developed a healthy respect for the technique that was being employed, that of having actors portray the target and answer questions about themselves. He could have read all of the information he learned out of a dossier, but it would not be as alive to him as it became on hearing it out of the subject’s mouth.
Noah got up and walked around the bar, looking at every aspect of it. At one point, he turned to Jefferson. “How accurate are the little details in this place?”
“We had a man in there a few days ago with a micro video camera, and he got shots of
everything. He’s a local, so we get updated footage every few days. As soon as we see a difference, we’ll match it here, so it’s pretty accurate.”
Noah nodded, and continued his exploration. At two o’clock, he told Jefferson that he had his plan laid out.
Jefferson looked surprised. “Already? Most team leaders take at least two or three days, trying different scenarios out to see what is most likely to succeed. Sure you don’t want to give it a little more time?”
Noah shook his head. “I don’t need to. I know how I want to take Ortiz out, and it will look like nothing but natural causes. There won’t be anything to suggest assassination, or any connection to an outside influence.” He looked around the bar, then back at Jefferson. “This setup has been helpful, believe me. I couldn’t have worked out a plan nearly as well without seeing this, but knowing that it’s bound to be an almost perfect replica of the real tavern tells me I can pull this off the way I want to. All I got to do is find a way to do a little business with Mr. Ortiz, and I’m sure that won’t be too difficult. I understand he used to run drugs, so I’m confident he still knows where to get them.”
Jefferson stared at Noah for a moment, then looked around at his teammates. “Your team leader says he’s ready to go. Any of you have any objection to that?”
Moose, Neil and Sarah all looked at each other,, and each of them shook their heads. “If the boss says we’re good to go, then we’re good to go,” Moose said. Neil rolled his eyes, and said, “I’m still stuck on that part about how I won’t actually have to be in the bar, so I’m good. I’m good.”
Sarah glanced at Noah, then turned to Jefferson. “I’d like to spend a little time driving around here, get a feel for what the real city will be like. Can I do that on my own, or does the whole team have to be here?”
“Actually, you can come out here on your own. Each of your phones has GPS, and I can send you each a special code, so that you can use it to get back out here. Your phones will also trigger the security gates, once you got those codes.”
“Oh, God, you mean this outfit has its own cell phone apps?” Neil asked sarcastically. “Awesome, just awesome.” He rolled his eyes, and Sarah laughed at him.
TWENTY
Jenny, Allison’s secretary, hung up the phone and looked over at Noah, who had been sitting there waiting for almost twenty minutes. “Mr. Wolf? Ms. Peterson will see you now. If you just go through this door…” She pointed to a door beside her desk.
Noah stood up and nodded, then walked through the door into Allison’s office. She was obviously busy behind her desk, but she looked up and smiled when he came in.
“Well, you’ve definitely got this place in an uproar,” she said. “Donald Jefferson threw an absolute fit when you said you had your plan worked out the first day. We’re not used to that around here.” She pointed at a chair across the desk from her, then looked deeply into his eyes. “Noah, are you really sure?”
He nodded. “Yes, I am. I’m going for a ‘natural causes’ death for Pablo Ortiz, one that should be accepted without a lot of questions. If I do it right, which I will, the only one who might have any suspicions will be Valdes, but I don’t think he’ll be complaining or raising too big a fuss. If all the Intel is right, he stands to take Ortiz’s place, and if anyone thinks his predecessor was murdered so quietly, they’re probably going to be looking at him.”
Allison tilted her head slightly, acknowledging the logic of his thoughts. “Just so you know, I’ve got people running a betting pool on whether you pull this one off. We’ve never let an agent get out into the field as quickly as you, so it’s got everyone pretty concerned. Luckily for you, it’s my decision and no one else’s, because I’ve got people who already want to see you eliminated.”
Noah shrugged. “That’s pretty much been the story of my life,” he said. “There’s always somebody who wants me gone, or out of the way, or dead. So far, I’ve proven to be pretty hard to kill, but I owe this last attempt directly to you. If for no other reason than that, I intend to make this mission a success.”
“Well, if you do, you’ll shut up a lot of your detractors, and I’ll take care of the rest of them. I understand Sarah has been spending the last couple of days driving around Hollywood? How do you feel about her?” She waved a hand, dismissing her own question. “Sorry, let me rephrase that. Do you have confidence in her abilities?”
“I went out with her the day before yesterday, and rode along. That girl can definitely drive, I’ll say that. On the other hand, if everything goes according to plan, she’s not going to have to play Jeff Gordon. We should be able to drive out just as pretty as you please.”
Allison smiled. “What about the rest of your team? Still holding it all together?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Noah said. “Neil and I are getting to be pretty close, and Moose has come a long way. I’m absolutely confident that he’ll do what I need him to do, and he’s even started loosening up and acting more friendly, lately. I think dating the Jefferson girl has helped a lot.” He cocked his head to one side and looked at Allison. “I’m still curious about that situation,” he said. “It’s really hard for me to believe that so many people who know about us can live out in the world, but the secret doesn’t leak.”
Allison held her smile, but then she winked at him. “Noah, sometimes it pays for us to have one of our own in places like The Sagebrush. It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally one of our people, especially a new recruit, tends to brag a bit. Needless to say, we discourage that, to the point that if one of our people, like Miss Jefferson, were to overhear such bragging, that recruit might very well disappear.”
“Is that what happened in this case? Did Moose go out there and run his mouth?”
“On the contrary, not a bit. Quite the opposite, in fact. Miss Jefferson was here one day when Moose had to come in, and her father told me that she asked about him that day. From what I understand, when she saw him out at the Saloon, she actually went out of the way to make sure he knew that she was aware. You’ll remember, I’m sure, but I told you she was one of our computer whiz kids, so it wasn’t hard for her to get into his bio. I would imagine she was delighted when she found that she is precisely the type of girl he seems to be drawn to.”
“Well, good for him, then,” Noah said. “I guess it just worked out.”
Allison grinned. “Yes, I guess it did,” she said. “Sort of like you and Sarah; that seems to be working out pretty well itself.”
Noah raised his eyebrows and looked at her. “Is that a problem? If there’s a rule against it, I never heard about it.”
Allison sat there and looked at him for a long moment, then shook her head. “Normally, I would say it would be a bad idea for a team leader to become romantically involved with a teammate,” she said, “but you are an entirely different case. I’ve already spoken with Sarah about it, and she seems genuinely aware that you’re not likely to have any kind of feelings for her, and she insists that that’s exactly what made you so attractive to her.”
“That’s what she told me, too.”
Allison grinned. “I did caution her about one thing, that sex is actually something that we use as a tool in this business, so there may be times when you seem to be involved with other women. She assured me that her relationship with you is purely physical, and that she won’t let jealousy become an issue. Noah, if it does, I want to know about it immediately. I would try removing her from your team, but if she can’t be salvaged…” She let the rest of the sentence hang in the air, unsaid.
Noah nodded. “I understand,” he said. “I won’t let anything affect a mission, and especially not that.”
She looked at him for another moment, then nodded as if dismissing the issue. “Okay, then, we need to go ahead and get this show on the road. I’ve already sent Jefferson to El Paso to make sure everything is ready for you when you get there. He’ll provide you with your burner IDs, phones, weapons and anything else you need. We’ve got you booked i
nto the Holiday Inn, each of you with your own room.” She looked meaningfully at him for just a moment, and said, “For the record, we do discourage any kind of intimacy between teammates when you’re out in the field. That doesn’t mean we’ll be watching, but it’s just a guideline to prevent problems.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Noah said.
Allison laughed once, then went on. “You and your team will fly out of Denver tomorrow afternoon, and meet Jefferson in El Paso tomorrow evening. He’s got vehicles and everything waiting for you, so just let him know what else you need for your plans.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Noah, this is the part where I have to say that if you or any of your team is compromised, as in captured or killed, our government will deny any knowledge of you. You don’t exist, so there won’t be a rescue mission. As far as Mexico would be concerned, you would probably be treated as a criminal, which could mean anything from prison time to execution, depending on what the charges are. Unfortunately, I can’t even offer you the chance to back out. This is the reason we recruited you, and I’m hoping, really, really hoping, that you will turn out to be as good as I think you will.”
Noah gave her his best grin. “Relax,” he said. “I’ll be even better than that.”
She grinned back. “Good. Now, go prove that to me.” She handed him an envelope. “These are your plane tickets. Everything else you’ll need, you’ll get from Jefferson. Noah, I want you guys to be careful down there. This is your first mission, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an important one. It’s got to be successful, but I want you all to come back. I have high hopes for this team.”
“I appreciate that,” Noah said, “and I promise you I’m going to do my best to make sure we all come back safe.”
She nodded once. “Excellent,” she said, and then picked up the file from her desk and began reading through it.
