He racked the slide to put a bullet in the chamber of his pistol. I stood akimbo. My palms were sweaty. I started to think I’d messed up with having the meeting.
‘Speaking of surprises, I guess you won’t be expecting the guy standing behind you to pull the trigger and blow you away.’
‘Kurt, Kurt,’ he said and shook his head. ‘This is not a B movie drama.’
Seeing a shadow, I needed the distraction, when I heard a tinkle of metal on the concrete floor to his right. He wavered, pointing his gun in the direction of the sound. I reached for my gun from behind my waistband and dropped to one knee. His aim deflected. I flinched at the flash of powder and an explosion of sound. Instantly, I heard a bullet ricochet next to where I knelt. A dark figure standing beside Rob with a pole brought it crashing down on Rob’s gun arm and then he swung it horizontally into Rob’s gut. Rob doubled up and dropped his gun, the figure kicking it out of reach.
‘He’s all yours.’
‘Jesus, you waited long enough.’
‘Sorry, but it was too interesting to intervene.’
I rushed over to Leandra and Pedro and tore at their binding. ‘Did you get it on camera?’
‘It’s all on my cell phone, man,’ Surfer said and showed the whites of his teeth with a broad smile. ‘What should I do now?’
‘Look in his pocket for the roll of duct tape and secure him. He should have a pen drive. Pass that to me. I’ll free Leandra and Pedro.’
Leandra clung to me, tears streaming down her face. Pedro darted over to Surfer and helped him to bind Rob.
‘What now?’ asked Pedro. ‘And who the hell is this?’
‘I’ll tell you who he is on the way, and maybe you can tell me how Rob got the jump on you two. First we need to find the entrance to the tunnel.’ My eyes rolled in all directions. ‘Look, there at the end of the conveyer.’ I pointed. ‘There’s a chain and pulley over the top of the hopper.’
Pedro tugged at the chain and slowly the hopper lifted to reveal the entrance to the tunnel. I walked over to the tunnel and picked up a small burlap sack from the floor. Turning, I knelt down, slipped the bag over Rob’s head, and pulled the drawstring to secure it around his neck.
‘Surfer, hand me your cell phone.’
He passed me the phone and I tucked it into Rob’s pocket.
‘Enjoy your journey,’ I said.
Surfer found the light switch in the tunnel and with the help of Pedro, they guided Rob down the ladder, one step at a time. I retrieved my cell phone, looked over the hole, and dialled a number.
‘Your parcel is on its way for collection. Check his pockets.’
‘Will do. Listen, like you asked, it’s just my partner and me. We’ll only notify DEA about the tunnel when we get back to headquarters.’
I walked away from the hole.
‘Thanks, Jeff. I don’t suppose you could take him there in the trunk?’ I shook my head. ‘No, sorry, no one deserves that. He’ll have plenty of time to work out his life once he’s in prison.’
With Rob on his way to justice, we all walked back to our SUV. I opened one of the canvas bags, took out some bundles of hundred-dollar bills and handed them to Surfer.
‘Here, don’t spend it all at once. There’s enough to pay off MS-13 and extra to buy you a small business. Be good and look after that girlfriend and daughter of yours.’
‘Man, that’s cool.’
Surfer grasped my hand and we shared shoulder nudges.
‘Give it another twenty minutes and you can get under the border through the tunnel.’
‘No sweat. My girlfriend has already driven through the border and she’ll be waiting at the gas station. Good luck.’
Surfer walked away and I placed my arm around Leandra.
‘No more heroics, please,’ her moist eyes pleaded.
‘Don’t worry, we just need to finish our trip, then we can rest easy.’
Leandra swung her arms around me and we shared a kiss. Leandra drew her head back.
‘Promise me you’ll never leave me alone again.’
‘I promise.’
Chapter 63
Epilogue
Four years later at a location in Bolivia
Who am I? Good question, and one I often ask myself. I used to be Kurt Rawlings, a citizen of the United States of America and a DEA agent. A loving husband, and father to two wonderful children, Craig and Claire. Often, I think of the times I had with my children, and those special memories will stay with me always.
I’m lucky I came across a true friend in Surfer. He never did open a surfboard business, but instead, opened a business selling, repairing, and giving desert sailboat lessons. Since that night at the industrial complex, he went on to marry his girlfriend and they’ve had another two children, so he’s turned out to be quite the family man. He sends me photographs and details of how my kids are progressing. It’s not the same as holding them in my arms, but at least it keeps the memories alive, with the hope that one day, we will meet again.
Rob is still battling and appealing his capital murder sentence, while stewing on death row. The cell phone recording was enough for Jeff to get a search warrant. Like many murderers, Rob stupidly kept trophies. They found the chocolate box in his garage, together with my service revolver and watch – and believe it or not, my shoes. I guess he was thinking of stepping into them after all. However, those things aside, the forensics taken from his assault rifle clinched his fate. The casings and bullets matched those at what they thought had been a gangland slaughter back at the RV.
Mary? Well, she’s married again, this time to a doctor, but I don’t dwell on that.
Angelina is still my attorney and trying to negotiate on my behalf. We haven’t passed on all the contents of the computer, but we’ve given some of the information to the authorities to secure some concessions. You won’t find me on any Most Wanted lists, but then neither side will give up on wanting prosecution and jail time of some description. Especially FBI agent Walters, who seems hell-bent on carrying on with his feud.
I have a team of private detectives chasing up leads to get corroboration affidavits for my story, but with most of the witnesses being criminals, it may never happen.
All I’m left with is my book, the story of my deadly journey. Only the names and places have been changed. Surfer is going to arrange for it to be printed up as a print-on-demand novel, and I’ll send copies to all the government agencies and the presidents, north and south, in the hope of a pardon. Rich really, when you consider that I’ve done nothing wrong. The kids will get copies when they get old enough, but other than them still considering me guilty I’m happy with my life.
Pedro? Well, Pedro is Pedro, if that’s his real name. He has a farmhouse down the road from us and goes on his travels for months at a time. The last time he returned he was badly injured and it took two months for us to nurse him back to health, before he set off on his travels once again. We never ask what he’s up to on these excursions, but then you wouldn’t if you knew him personally.
I’m now married to Leandra. Andreas Jiménez de Silva is my name, loving husband and father to a girl and a boy, Maria and Alphonse. I found the new career I was looking for as sugar cane farmer and a citizen of Bolivia.
Leandra, bless her; she put her business studies to good use. She opened investment companies on her visit to Panama, transferring sizeable chunks to her accounts from Perez’s offshore bank accounts as compensation for both our incarcerations. The money is put to good use. Some of it she invests with farmers to steer them away from making cocaine and some of it we’ve donated to drug rehab centres. It won’t end the drug wars, but at least we’re happy that any small – though not insignificant – contribution we may make, is creating a positive difference in someone’s life. After all, to answer the question, that’s who I am, with whatever name I use; who we are is defined by our deeds.
What would I say to the guy with the “death and ingratitude” saying if I met him
now?
I think I’d tell him my first instincts were correct and that he was full of crap. I’d also tell him that whatever life throws at you – and forgive the cliché – there’s always light at the end of the tunnel of adversity on the journey we take through life, deadly or not. It just takes faith, hope, a will to live, and a little nudge from Lady Luck.
The End
Dear reader
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for reading my story. If you liked it please tell a friend - or better yet, tell the world by writing a review on the book page of Deadly Journey on Amazon. A few short sentences are helpful. As an independently published author, I don’t have a marketing department behind me. I only have you, the reader. So please spread the word!
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Kind regards
Declan Conner
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Contents
Copyright
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Table of Contents
Copyright
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Deadly Journey Page 35
