We reached a fully fenced area, and I saw a two storied warehouse to my right. There were a few cars parked here, but not as many as I imagined. One car stuck out like dog's balls to me though. A sleek, black Maserati. I had seen that car before.
River put his hand on my arm firmly. "Carmen's here."
My heart actually stalled. As I looked at the Maserati, memories flooded me. It was the same car that was parked outside Javier's apartment the night Carmen just about shot me. "Fuck," I whispered, giving both River and Chase a panicked look. I shook my head. "I'm not ready."
River shook his head at me. "You have to be. It's either your life or hers. That's all you have to remember."
"Right, mine or hers." I pursed my lips together. This whole situation wasn't exactly ideal. Now I really needed a drink. Every instinct inside me screamed to turn back and run as fast and as far away as I could.
River and Chase walked through the open gates, and down the side of the building. My eyes traced the patterns in the corrugated iron exterior of the building, suddenly fascinated by all the rusted patches. I would have thought that the Cartel had more than enough money to fix the place up. It looked like a slum warehouse rather than a centre of operations for drug exports. There was an open door, and a pallet that acted as a step up to it.
The alley smelt like urine, and hot rubber. I assumed that this was a regular ablution area for the workers to pee into the long grass that lined the fence. "Dirty bloody Mexicans," I muttered. Both Chase and River were watching through the doorway, and I seemed to just be an extra pair of hands. I could hear a few voices inside, but not many.
When I turned my attention back to the warehouse, I saw that they had slipped inside, and I instantly moved to follow them. Large trucks were inside. I felt small in comparison to them.
"This is the large shipment I told you about," River said quietly to Chase. "They've been bringing it all up from Columbia, moulding it, and exporting from here."
"Moulding it?" I asked in a harsh whisper. "Moulding what exactly?"
"Cocaine," Chase muttered. The look he gave me told me to shut up and pay attention. I looked around and saw the most beautiful white sculptures sitting on pallets at the back of each truck. They were works of art.
The historian inside me yearned to just roam free and examine them from every angle, but now was most definitely not the time. I heard a door slam, and lifted my eyes to the upper offices overlooking the warehouse. I sharply inhaled in as I recognised Carmen walking down the steps speaking in rapid Spanish to two large men trailing behind her. She was gesturing like she was pissed about something.
She was too far away for me to even begin to try and understand a word. Chase pushed me against the truck out of sight with him and River, and we waited for them to pass.
A part of me didn't want her to leave. I think I was secretly hoping that either River or Chase would take her out, but they didn't. No, they were still leaving that up to me. Bless, I thought with sarcasm.
We started to move through the warehouse, stopping every now and then when we heard voices. As I got near to one of the sculptures, I stopped to take a closer look. It was remarkable. Before me stood a nude woman with curls falling over her face. I wouldn't have minded her standing in my garden at home. Where on earth did they get pieces like this? Pristine white, smooth, and because of this I wondered if they were fakes. So far on my travels in Mexico, I had discovered that there were a lot of very good fakes of well-known brands in this region. I wondered if this was just another example.
"It’s cocaine," River whispered as he stood right behind me.
I turned to him, hand paused in mid-reach to touch the piece and run my fingers over the smooth stone surface of her clasped fingers. "What is?"
"This artwork. It's been moulded out of cocaine. They'll break it down once they cross the border."
My mouth dropped open. "This?" I pointed to the sculpture.
River gave me a silent nod.
I looked back at it, closer, but there was no way on earth I could tell that it was made out of an illicit drug. It looked like stone.
River tugged my arm, telling me to get a move on. I quietly followed them, but soon found myself getting distracted by another sculpture. Forgetting where I was, I crossed over to it. It was a replica of David. And it was stunning.
As I admired the detail in in, I turned to River seeing that he had stopped to watch me. "Can I have it?" I mouthed at him. Both he and Chase smiled at me.
Then I heard a shout. “Détente!”
I swung around, and saw three men running towards me from the open doors of the warehouse. "Shit," I muttered.
One of them approached me, his face covered in tattoos. He looked damn scary. I wasn't sure what to do. I had the option of pulling a gun on him, but by the looks of the men behind him carrying their AK-47's, it wasn't going to happen.
“Quién eres?”
I shook my head. "English?"
He spat on the ground, and I grimaced. Then after a moment, he leered at me. "I asked who you were." His accent was thick, and he smelt damn awful, sour as though he'd needed a shower for weeks.
Now I was in the shit. I didn't know what name to give him. So I turned on the charm in hopes that it would save my hide. I gave him my biggest smile. "Am I not supposed to be in here?"
He shook his head and leaned closer to me, his liquid brown eyes meeting mine before working their way down my body. I felt like squirming beneath his gaze, but I didn't.
"These sculptures are just so stunning," I commented. “I saw them, and just knew I had to get a closer look."
He gave me an assessing look, and grabbed my arm roughly. "Who are you? A dirty little cop?"
I swallowed, my fear threatening to brim to the surface and show. "No. No I'm not. I'm an art collector."
He narrowed his eyes, and looked closer at me. "An art collector," he mused. I got the distinct impression that he didn't believe me for one second.
Hell, I didn't believe me, but I nodded as convincingly as I could.
He wasn't letting go of my arm. "And how did you get in here?"
I swallowed and hesitated. Again, I didn't know how to answer him. I knew I should have been coming up with some sort of cover story while I’d been stalling, but a part of me was still hoping that he'd let me go. The longer I stood there with him, the less likely I felt that was to happen.
This could turn to shit, very fast. I glanced up at the other men standing there, but they weren't paying us too much attention... well, they were curious, but they didn't think I was a threat. They had even let their guns drop to their sides.
I pointed in the direction of the side door. "Through there."
He instantly clicked his fingers at the men, and they took off. I wondered where the hell River and Chase were at, and why the hell they hadn't helped me out a little already.
"So you just walk through any open door, not even knowing where you are?"
I grimaced, partly because of my cock and bull-crap story, and partly because of the smell of him. This was not going the way I planned. I hoped that he was just going to let me go, but I didn't think that was going to happen, no matter how innocent I looked. Or hoped I looked.
"Yeah." I choked. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise."
He leered at me, and roughly grabbed my arm, hauling me towards the back of the warehouse. "Well, now you will understand the consequences of walking into private property."
Despite my tripping and stumbling, which much to my horror, I wasn't faking, I was still taking in my surroundings in the dim light of the warehouse. I could see all sorts of different contraptions that I had never seen before. Some were different types of tools, others looked like machinery. If I were to guess I would say that they were constructing the sculptures inside the warehouse.
We stopped at a metal bench, and he threw me against it. I cried out in pain as it lanced down my back. Now I was fucking mad. This was not going the way I had intended. Pl
aying innocent and nice obviously wasn't working for me.
He looked me directly in the eyes, and released my arm. "I have men all over this place that will shoot you on sight. Run, and you're as good as dead."
He stepped back, assessing me once again. Sweat ran down my back, not only from the heat, but from the stress. My mind raced. River and Chase still hadn't shown their faces, and I was beginning to question what the fuck they were waiting for.
"Do you know what we do to pretty girls like you?"
"What?" I whispered, looking down at the concrete ground.
He smirked. "We teach them lessons..." I wanted to correct his crappy English, but he stepped closer to me, running a grubby finger over the curve of my breast. I stopped breathing. I understood every intention he had for me; it was written all over his face. That was not going to happen. Not in a million years.
He pushed me hard against the bench again, almost crippling me in the process, but he wrenched me up and started unzipping his fly. My breath caught with dread as he leered with delight at me, grabbing at my jeans to try and yank them down. I held onto my belt-loops with all my might, until he pincered his hand into my wrist, hitting a nerve, forcing me to let go. Before I knew it, his rough hands had managed to pull my jeans down. White hot fear pummelled my senses as he stepped back to survey me and pull his cock out. I moved a little. Guns dug into my back, and I instantly reached around for one. There was no way I was going to be raped or killed by him, and if River and Chase weren’t going to help me out, I was going to help myself. I took aim, and pulled the trigger.
17
All hell broke loose. It was my hell. I had missed. Sort of. I shot his ear off. He lunged for me, screaming. I’m not entirely sure what he was shouting. It sounded incomprehensible. I tried to get away, but he caught my arm and grappled me back down to the bench. I was pinned by him, his bloody ear dripping on my face. I looked sideways, repelled by the stench of his breath and what I suspected was rotting teeth, and saw my gun lying about six feet from me.
“I will tie you to this bench and fuck you till you scream for me to kill you, and then you will die a very slow death,” he said through gritted teeth. I didn’t doubt it, not if this guy had anything to do with it. He released one of my arms and began to get off me, reaching for some rope to restrain me with. It was the opening I was looking for. This guy wasn’t too smart. It gave me enough time to reach around and grab the second gun from my back.
He was still kind of on top of me. When he saw the second gun, his eyes went wide as I pulled the trigger. I let lose a bunch of rounds into his body, and he slumped back on top of me. There was blood everywhere and I couldn’t breathe. His dead weight was too heavy, and I felt like I was being crushed and suffocated at the same time. I struggled to get him off me, yelling for help. River and Chase both came into view instantly, and hauled the body off me, rolling him to one side.
River picked me up as if I weighed nothing and planted me back onto my unsteady feet, pulling me behind a truck that was parked close by. I stared down at the body a few feet away as I struggled to pull my jeans up properly. I couldn’t tell how many bullets I had used because there was so much damn blood everywhere. I grimaced, feeling the still warm and sticky liquid all over my clothing, rapidly growing cold. I swallowed, tears threatened to come.
“Look at me, Mack,” River instructed, clicking his fingers in front of my face. I did as I was told, breathing hard. “Focus. We still have a job to do,” he said softly.
I shook my head, trying to clear the bloody mess from my thoughts. “The others,” I whispered, looking around the warehouse.
“Have been disposed of,” River said quietly. “Now, follow me.”
I strained to slow my breathing down and calm myself at the same time, and nodded silently. I couldn’t believe that I’d just killed somebody, even if it was in self-defence. My body tingled with fear, dread, and something along the lines of exhilaration. We moved silently around the truck, and I noticed that Chase had disappeared somewhere. As we rounded a corner, I saw the guy’s mobile phone lying on the ground. I looked closer at the screen, and saw that a call was openly connected. I tugged at River’s arm, pointing to it.
River gave it an assessing look, and then stomped on it with his boot. By the time I looked back at the phone, the screen was mangled and dark. “I suspect we’ll have company shortly.” He bent over and picked something up, turning towards me. He handed me my gun, causing me to smile.
My thoughts went to the roadblock we had faced, and I pursed my lips. This was not ideal. A shadow caught my eye as I looked out across the warehouse. I saw Chase on the other side, making his way towards the back. I looked up at the office, wondering where exactly this chap, Osvaldo, was, and why the hell he hadn’t come out to investigate the earlier commotion.
Echoes of shouts from the front of the warehouse alerted us that we were soon to have more unwanted company. As I met River’s steady gaze, he shoved me towards the metal staircase. Reluctantly, I began to climb, Chase following me, and River bringing up the rear. When we reached the top, Chase put me in a darkish corner so I was partly obscured by some metal framing.
I watched the scene below us unfold. The warehouse was suddenly swarming with a bunch of people, all shouting in Spanish. They came across the body of the guy I’d shot, and new orders were given to some of the men. Some of them started towards the trucks, climbing in the back, obviously searching for someone, or checking their stock. Once they jumped out the back, a driver got into the front, and they started the engine and left the warehouse.
I could see Chase carefully scrutinising the man who was giving instructions, a dark glint in his eye. He mouthed something to River that I didn’t understand, and I saw River acknowledge him with a quick nod.
River then raised his gun, aimed it precisely at the man, and fired. He dropped dead instantly. I didn’t see the full shot because of my vantage point, but I did see a huge amount of blood splatter hit a number of the pure white sculptures behind him. My mouth went dry as a swarm of men suddenly started looking around the warehouse for the shooter, and I sank back as far as I could behind the warehouse framework. I looked over towards Chase, but he had disappeared. I assumed he’d slipped into the office since he was quite close to the door that we had seen Carmen come out of earlier.
River signalled for me to follow Chase, and I didn’t hesitate. I ran. Behind me, I could hear River opening fire on the floor below. Bullets pelted into the walls and pinged off the framework around me, but I didn’t stop. Adrenaline pounded through my veins, forcing me to move. As I reached the door, Chase grasped my arm and pulled me through, slamming the door shut behind me.
“This is not my idea of fun.” I breathed heavily, his hands steady on my shoulders.
“You’re doing well,” he whispered. “Come on, we have to find Osvaldo.”
I looked behind him and saw a relatively short hallway with three doors leading off it. Chase pointed to one. “Toilets.” Then to another, “Storage and server room… and that—” He pointed to the third, “I assume is the main office.”
I swallowed, fear reigning. “So I guess we’re trapped.”
Chase frowned. “Observant. Only way is forward, Mack. Let’s get going.”
I stayed behind him as we moved silently down the corridor, with one gun drawn, and the other tucked into my holster at the small of my back. I could still hear shots being fired in the warehouse area, and bizarrely, it reassured me that River was still alive.
We edged closer to the door and Chase stopped, lifting his finger to his lips. His eyes twinkled with mischief, and I realized that this was the part he really got a thrill out of. Me? Not so much. I just wanted to make it out of here alive, and I knew my best chance of that was with either Chase or River.
Chase silently turned the handle, and slipped into the room, leaving me standing there. I could hear shouts from the warehouse, and more gunfire. I imagined that the warehouse was going to
be a total mess, and I couldn’t help but worry about River. Even if he was a commando type dude, he still wasn’t invincible.
I looked back at the door, and slid through the opening.
The room was empty. Of people, that is. There were a number of desks with computer systems set up on them. The place looked like a completely different building compared to the warehouse downstairs. If I was going to call it anything, I would say it looked corporate, in a rustic sort of way. Companies paid designers craploads to achieve this sort of look with exposed pipes, wooden floors, and halogen pendant lights over each desk. I looked at Chase, who was eying up the room critically. He caught my eye, and gave a quick shake of his head, warning me not to speak. I understood, loud and clear. He thought that someone else was in here.
I could see another room off to the side, and when I moved closer, I saw that it was an industrial kitchen set up, complete with a couple of sofas and a high table with stools. I heard something move, and our attention immediately snapped to the area where the sound came from.
There was definitely someone else in this room.
Chase dropped to the floor, and looked around the room under the desks. He aimed his gun, and let off a round. I heard a squeak and a groan and tried to identify where the noise had come from. Someone was on the other side of the room, over by the window.
I waited till Chase stood before moving slowly towards it. My heart thudded violently in my chest, and I was holding my breath as I focused. I didn’t want to trip over anything as I made my way across the room, nor did I want to make a sound. This was multitasking at its finest as I held the gun out in front of me with both hands.
Chase dropped to the floor once again and shot at a desk. Wood splintered from the impact, and so did a man. He scrambled out from under the desk, eyes wide, as he sharply looked up at us.
“Nice to meet you, Osvaldo,” Chase said looking directly at him.
Osvaldo shook his head. “Do I know you?”
Tijuana Nights (The Nights Series Book 1) Page 18
