River shook his head. “Far from it. He wouldn’t be in the cartel if he was. But we better get cracking if we’re going to do this job today.” He pushed his chair out from the table. “I’m taking you downstairs.” He turned to Chase. “Keep me posted on the situation in the US. I imagine they’re going to start panicking soon with two members down already.”
* * *
River had a secret room in his house; completely enclosed in steel, with a spiral staircase that wound its way down into an artillery room. The stuff I never knew. There were guns and other weapons everywhere down there, in cabinets, behind steel mesh cupboards, and even though it was damn hot outside, all I felt was cold. This room was designed to house killing machines.
“So, this is how you put a sniper rifle together,” River said as he laid five different pieces on the steel topped table between us.
I was confused just looking at everything. I had no idea which bit went where, but I was thoroughly enthralled by the mechanical process of it.
"There are a number of things that you need to consider before taking a shot. Disturbance and wind speed are the two main ones you need to be aware of. Also, if the target is moving, that’s another consideration. You need to watch, analyse, and predict where they are going to be before you take the shot. We’ll do some target practice another day so you can get a feel for it.”
“What about gravity?”
River chuckled. “Yes, that too. Gravity has an effect on the shot, the further the distance the more you’ll need to adjust a little to account for that.” River looked a little distant for a moment. “You must not hesitate. Once you decide to take the shot, you’re in the moment for real. You also have to have a sure way to get out, just in case you’re spotted. You need to remember that every shot is a kill-shot. You can’t just take pot-shots at people. It doesn’t work like that. Being a sniper is an art-form.”
I swallowed. “Kill shot… right.” More killing. Again, I suddenly wondered how the hell I managed to get myself into these situations.
River reached out and grabbed my shoulder reassuringly. “You’re only watching at this stage, Mack. I’m preparing you for what may come with Carmen. You cannot let her have the upper hand with you. This training I’m giving you? It’s stuff that took me years to learn. So far, you’re handling it exceptionally well.”
I snorted. “Well, I’m pleased someone has faith… I haven’t tried to put one of those gun-thingees together yet.”
* * *
I may not have ever put a ‘gun-thingee’ together before, but down in that basement, River made me practice until my fingers went numb, and then when we got up to the rooftop across from Filipo’s office, he handed me the sniper case. With shaking hands, I pieced the weapon together while River watched my every move.
From the safety of the rooftop I watched Filipo leave his office through the sights. Filipo looked exactly like his photo. He walked with a self-assured gait, wore a sharp looking suit, with sunglasses on which were a lot like River’s aviator ones. This guy was clean cut, tall, and suave. From the way he snapped at his phone, I was guessing he didn’t tolerate simple minds, and I couldn’t even hear what he was saying. His body language was saying it all for him.
We watched him walk towards the bank, the same run he did every single day at 4.30pm.
“Okay, now that we’re ready with the rifle, we need to make sure our timing is dead on.”
“No pun intended, right?” I smiled, gritting my teeth against the last heat of the day. We were technically in autumn at the moment, but since we had been here it had been warm and dry. An Indian summer. In half an hour the sun would go down, and we would be trying to do this in the dark if we didn’t get on with it now.
River smirked. “No. No pun. Anyway, from Gabe’s intel, we know Filipo comes back to the office at 5.00pm each day, opens a bottle of wine, and waits for his mistress to arrive. That there is our window of opportunity, before the mistress arrives.”
“Before the mistress arrives…” I repeat as I lifted the binoculars to my eyes and looked into his office. It was pristine. An elegant dark wooden desk sat adjacent to the large window; bookcases lined the walls behind, with carefully placed ornaments, photos, and a few books on the shelves. I could see the leather arm of a chair or sofa on the other side of the office. It was an office that Luke would have loved. I cast the thought from my mind with a shake of my head. He was the last person I needed to think of right now.
“That’s right. And when we kill him, you and I are going to pack up as fast as we can, and get down that stairwell and back to the car before the authorities even know he’s dead. Okay?”
I nodded. Down on the street, I spied Filipo making his way back towards his office. “He’s coming,” I said in a hushed tone to River. I put the binoculars down, and wiped my hands on my pants. It was too freaking hot, sweat poured off me in buckets, and I started to feel like we were going to get caught.
That’s when I saw the woman walk into Filipo’s office. “Shit,” I muttered, lifting the binoculars. “We got company.” Filipo walked in close behind her, and threw her against the closed door to ravish her. “And it looks like he likes it rough,” I added. I heard River snort, and immediately blushed, refusing to believe those words had actually come out of my mouth. “I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
“Oh, yes you did,” he said beside me, his voice laced with quiet amusement. I heard him sigh, and ready the rifle. “Looks like we may have to take them both out. Then it won’t look so targeted, but more like a random kill.”
Surprise filled me, but I kept my eyes firmly planted against the binoculars. “I thought Chase said you guys weren’t savages.”
“Chase isn’t, but he can’t speak for me.” River chuckled. “I do what I need to get the job done quickly and effectively… I don’t leave witnesses.”
I looked over at him. “You don’t look too savage to me. Not today, anyway.” He flashed me a grin, and peered back through the scope. Witnesses. I was a witness to one of his kills. And he had let me live. I guess I should count myself damn lucky that he hadn’t taken me out at the time. I was about to remark on this sudden insight, when he nudged me, drawing my attention.
“I’m not quite as vicious as him,” he muttered, referring to Filipo. “Oh, here we go.”
I lifted the binoculars back to my eyes and peered over the parapet towards the office once more. “Jeepers. They are getting right into it, aren’t they?” And then River’s phone rang. “Ignore it?”
“No can do,” River answered. “It’s Gabe.”
I heard him answer, but kept my eyes on the couple. I felt sorry for the woman. She didn’t need to die in all this just because she was shagging the wrong man. I heard River swear softly, and turned to him. He had his eyes firmly fixed on me, and I felt my blood run cold. Something was wrong. He would tell me in due course, I was sure. I turned my binoculars back, trying to clear my head. I noticed that the woman was no longer in the room. I double-checked the room quickly to make sure she wasn’t on the floor somewhere, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. I reached out and slapped River on the arm to get his attention. “River, she’s gone,” I said in a loud whisper.
“Hold tight, Gabe,” he said down the phone as he placed it on the roof. He cocked the gun once again, eye to the scope. “Good work, Mack.” Then he took the shot.
I was astonished at how easy it was. One moment Filipo was standing there pouring wine into a glass, and then next he fell on the desk, a bullet to the head. Adrenaline thrashed through me. I could see blood seeping over the paperwork, and the wine bottle rolled and fell to the floor. With the amount of blood and everything else, I was sure that half of his head was probably scattered on the desk. It felt as though everything was happening in slow motion. I gripped the binoculars tightly, keeping my eye on the room. She was going to walk back in, I just knew it.
“Mack, we have to go.”
“Yep, just one moment.” I breathe
d, keeping my eyes securely on the door.
He grabbed my arm, pulling the binoculars away from me. “No. We need to go now. All hell is about to break lose, and we need to get out of here.”
I saw the concern for me in his eyes. Was he worried about my apparent morbid curiosity? Or was there something else? I heard the scream come from the building loud and clear. I immediately turned with my binoculars. The mistress was in there, on her knees, screaming her head off. And she was looking directly at me, standing there like a meerkat watching her. She knew it was me, or that I at least had something to do with it. My stomach plummeted, and I tried to swallow the guilt. By the time I turned back, River had already packed up the rifle, and was keeping low as he shuffled across the roof. I was quick to follow him.
Once we got into the stairwell, he really picked up the pace and he all but flew down them. Adrenaline and fear coursed through me, allowing me follow just as quickly. I felt as though I could run a million miles. By the time we got outside, and ran down a back alleyway away from Filipo’s building, I could already hear sirens coming in our direction. We jumped into River’s truck, and he threw the rifle case into the backseat, only just missing my head as he did.
“You saved a life today, Mack,” he said quietly as he started up the engine. “Well done. I would have taken her out.”
Once again, numbness started to take over my senses. “Why?”
River shook his head. “I don’t like witnesses.”
We pulled out of the alleyway, and I looked down the road behind us. I could see a few police cars race across an intersection, lights flashing and sirens wailing. “What about them?”
“What about them? The El Diablo Cartel owns most of the cops in this town anyway. They’re not going to do anything to us.” He checked his phone. “Not yet, anyway.”
We joined the rest of the traffic, and I replayed the image of Filipo falling onto his desk. My heart pounded at the memory of all the blood and bits everywhere. It was a very quick death. “That was quite a humane way to die, really, wasn’t it?”
“I like to think so. I trained as a sniper, and to be honest, regardless of what was said earlier – it’s my preferred method of killing. Doesn’t always happen that way though, not every situation is suitable for it. Killing up close and personal requires a certain level of skill. Sniper shooting is almost lazy in comparison.”
I was silent for a few moments as I thought about River and his precise concentration up on that roofline, and then I remembered the phone call. “Hey, what did Gabe want?”
River looked over at me. “It’s Carmen. She’s discovered that you weren’t on the plane.” He paused and sighed. “And she’s put a price on your head.”
5
My blood ran cold. “How much,” I croaked.
River reached over and grabbed my trembling hand. “Ten million US. She wants you caught and dead. It’s a large enough amount that it gives everyone in Mexico an incentive to hunt you down.”
“Oh my God.” I suddenly couldn’t get enough oxygen. I opened the window, inhaling the warm Tijuana air, but it didn’t feel like enough. “I can’t breathe,” I whispered.
River turned on the air-conditioning full blast, and handed me a bottle of water. “Drink,” he ordered. “You’re hyperventilating. The water will help you regulate your oxygen.”
Fuck the water, I thought. Instead, I reached down to the bag at my feet, and before River could even utter a word of protest, I lit a cigarette. He coughed and spluttered in mock protest, but I didn’t give a shit. I now had a dollar value on my life.
After a few puffs, I started to feel a bit better, if only slightly.
“Mack, they don’t know your real identity yet. All they have is Rachel White’s details. We’ll sort something out – like getting Gabe to get you a new passport and name.”
“Rachel White.” I took another puff. Small blessings.
When we got back to River’s house, Gabe was in a panic. Something was going on with border control into the States, and Chase had been held up, meaning that Gabe’s set up over there was now in a mess.
“Everyone is looking for a blue-eyed blonde haired woman, going by the name of Rachel White. The border is a flaming mess. They’re pulling women out of cars to prevent them going across the border – even if they aren’t blonde. I wouldn’t be surprised if this turns into some sort of international incident. It’s holding up Chase, and he’s not going to get to Alicio Mendoza in time – so he’ll be delayed another day over there.”
My breath left me. “Rachel White is being hunted,” I whispered. My head snapped up. “What the hell is going to happen to those women at the border?”
Gabe shrugged. “I guess they’ll double check passports and other supporting identification and let them go. I can’t imagine they’ll detain many.”
River passed me a glass of wine, and I collapsed onto the sofa. He turned the fire on, even though my shaking was only from my nerves. So I lay back, sipped my wine and watched the flames, only partially listening to River and Gabe talk shop. My thoughts were more on how long it would take for Carmen and her team to figure out that Rachel White didn’t exist.
“No, it’s not just on her head, its payment on the delivery of her physical head.”
“So I guess that means we can’t fake it then,” River murmured.
I sat up alert, and turned towards Gabe and River. “What?”
Gabe ran his hands through his long surfer locks with frustration. “Carmen wants your physical head delivered as proof of death, and then she will hand over the payment to the successful person.”
I felt sick. At this rate, the bitch would have me dead before the week was out. My only consolation was that she was hunting for Rachel White, and not McKenna Carmichael. Tears sprang to my eyes. I wasn’t ready to die. Now it wasn’t just her hunting me, it was anyone who wanted to take my life for a shitload of money – and it was becoming increasingly clear to me that the number of people who might want to take her up on that offer was higher than I’d have ever imagined before.
If I died, there would be no one to take care of my aunt, who was living in an aged-care facility. She had taken over my guardianship when my parents died when I was twelve. She was also the same loving woman who signed over her house to me when she went into care. If Luke hadn’t been trying to take my aunt’s house off me, I wouldn’t be here at all, nor would I have tried to prostitute myself to make the money to pay him out.
I slugged back the rest of the wine, and slammed the glass down on the coffee table. I needed something stronger.
I crossed the room to River’s booze cabinet, and extracted the tequila, muttering obscenities about ‘fucking Luke’ as I poured a decent portion into a crystal tumbler. I had to get out of this fucking country alive, for God’s sake. I couldn’t die here. I didn’t want the light from my eyes to go the same way as Regina’s. I had now seen death up close and personal. I didn’t want to have the first-hand experience of being assassinated just yet.
I just wanted to wake up when all this was over.
The tequila burned my throat as I sculled it back, but I didn’t care. Something had to give here, and I’d be damned if it was my life. Alcohol it was.
I put the glass down hard on the sideboard, and poured myself another. I felt River move up behind me, and I forced myself to turn and face him. “I’m going to die, soon, aren’t I?”
He shrugged. “Who knows? You could die of alcohol poisoning tonight if you don’t slow down.”
I couldn’t help it. I smiled. “Yeah well. I would prefer that option to being hunted down like a wild bull and slaughtered.” I took a sip from the glass, and leaned back against the sideboard, feeling lightheaded.
He put his hands on my shoulders to steady me, and looked me in the eyes. “Mack, I know this is hard. Trust me when I say this – I’ve been in your position before. But you need to fight. That's why I am taking you out on observations with me, so you can learn. I�
�m not going to let that upstart bitch take your head. Not yet anyway.” A smile played on his lips, and I was captivated by his reassuring words. They inspired some sort of confidence in me. Or perhaps that was the tequila burning through my system. Right now it didn’t really matter which.
I felt myself nod, and looked down at the floor. I took a deep breath and looked back up at his unwavering gaze on me. “I guess you'd better start teaching me more then.” And with that thought, I disappeared out onto the terrace to light another cigarette, wishing it was something strong enough to make me forget everything I had seen and heard in this godforsaken country.
* * *
Hangovers sucked. It was still dark outside, but as I groped around for my glass, I could tell that dawn wasn’t too far away. I drained my water, and went to find some orange juice. I never dreamed properly when I had a large intake of alcohol, but it didn’t stop me last night from dreaming about my aging aunt being tortured by that cracked cartel bitch.
When River and Chase told me about this job in Mexico, I hadn’t even hesitated in saying yes. I guess I had been attracted to the riskier side of it, and also the money talked a hell of an argument. Never did I imagine that it would end up like this. All I was supposed to do was become a sort of extra-curricular fascination for Javier Amaro to play with for a while. I didn’t even sleep with him, but I did have the ‘pleasure’ of accompanying him to a few places publically, and ‘enjoying’ his company. And while I was out with Javier, Gabe, Chase, and River were extracting information from Javier’s computer systems on the El Diablo Cartel’s operations.
Everything was running smoothly until Carmen, Javier’s esteemed beauty queen wife, discovered I was on the scene, and interrupted our dinner one night when I was at one of his apartments in the city. I had never considered myself beautiful, but for some reason River and Chase thought that I would be the perfect distraction for Javier. But when I compared myself to Carmen, I had nothing on her. She was stunning. She had dark, calculating eyes, long flowing locks, a body of an hourglass, enhanced breasts, and a backside to match. Her skin was flawless, and she had big pouty lips. Apparently she had claimed some beauty queen title a few years ago, and damn, she probably still could.
Tijuana Nights (The Nights Series Book 1) Page 4
