Laura 01 The Jaguar Prophecy

by Anton Swanepoel

  The phone is an expensive model, but still widely sold on the island. Due to the capability of the Blackberry handling web applications and e-mail with integrated business function, it is a popular model with expats coming to the island to work in the banking and legal sector.

  Powering up the phone, Victor checks the call log, nothing, no incoming or outgoing calls. He then checks the message log, bingo, just what he is looking for. Russtoff had sent two messages, and received two.

  Victor checks the first sent message. “Primary objective complete, additional information found, attached, advise action.”

  Victor notes that Russtoff had attached the file containing the information about the lost city and scrolls to his message.

  A return message was sent, “New objective, proceed to Peru, Cusco, agents waiting.”

  Russtoff then sent a final message in reply, “En route to Cancun, need papers.”

  A final return message was then sent back to Russtoff, “Alex. 15 Tulum.”

  Victor smiles when he sees the last message. He was worried that they would pick up on him and Laura the moment they use their passports, but this gives him an easy way out.

  Turning to Nathaniel, Victor says, “I’ll take the wheel from here, you still have a long ride ahead of you when going back. I’ll wake you when we’re around 10 miles from Cancun.”

  Nathaniel nods and goes to make himself comfortable on one of the forward chairs, using a life jacket as a cushion. Laura makes herself comfortable in the crew seat and falls asleep.

  Victor pushes the boat as hard as is safe to do. The rain is coming down relentlessly and makes a white wall in front of the boat. Although the waves are no more than 2 feet in height, Victor does not chance it by running flat-out. They average around 30 knots, and Victor checks the miles drift by.

  He has a lot to think about, especially on how to keep Laura safe, and what the two of them will do when they get the scrolls and hand them over - a normal life, kids, a stable home, who knows.

  There is, however, a nagging thought that does not want to disappear. It concerns the contact for the papers, does he know Russtoff or have a description of him, and even if not, what will his reactions be when Victor asks him for two sets of documents?

  He decides to just wing it and see what happens when they reach the contact. Even so, he has an idea of how he is going to play the man.

  Victor watches as Cancun slowly creeps closer on the boat’s GPS system. When they are 10 miles out, he stops the boat and wakes both Laura and Nathaniel. Handing control over to Nathaniel, he takes out his cell phone and opens the maps program and activates GPS function of the cell. As soon as he gets a GPS location lock, he enters the address into the cell phone. After getting an exact match, he plots a course to the address from their current location and directs Nathaniel to the closest part of the beach near the address. Laura and Victor will walk to the place from there.

  Nathaniel points the boat towards Victor’s heading and opens her up. The rain had stopped and a beautiful day awaits them. Laura and Victor remove their foul weather gear and make ready to quickly disembark. Packing the last of the sandwiches into his backpack, Victor thanks Nathaniel for the trip.

  “Do you need help with refueling the boat?” Victor asks when they are in sight of the beach.

  “No, all ok, best I get out to the open ocean as fast as possible before being spotted, still have a good few miles worth in the tanks.”

  Victor nods his approval to Nathaniel’s reply and goes to stand next to Laura on the bow. Nathaniel selects a sandy part of the beach and slowly brings the boat up until the bow touches dry land. Victor and Laura jump off and help push the boat back as Nathaniel puts the jet drive system in reverse.

  The boat pulls back easily off the beach and within seconds Nathaniel has the boat turned around and heading back to Cayman. He gives them one last good bye wave then turns around and opens the boat up to full speed. Victor and Laura are now on their own.

  Victor removes some of the sandwiches and hands one to Laura while eating another. They walk and eat as Victor uses his cell phone to direct them to the address. It takes them an hour from the beach to walk to the contact’s house. The address leads them to stand in front of a single-story house, with an unkempt garden in front. The garden is closed off with a chest high brick wall and has an old rusty iron gate for an entrance.

  At one time, the house was painted white, now faded with most of the paint missing or hanging like dead skin on the wall, ready to fall off, showing the plaster beneath.

  Opening the creaking front gate, Victor leads the way down the pathway towards the front door. There is no house number, but Victor deduces that it must be the right house from the numbers of the houses around it. The door is an old wooden one, of which the varnish had long ago come off, and water stains and damage are visible on the door. The door has a small glass window at face level, but a drawn curtain behind it blocks the view to the inside. There is no bell to ring, forcing Victor to knock on the door with his fist.

  He holds his backpack in front of him with his left hand inside, pistol pointing forward at hip level. No answer comes from inside, again Victor knocks, still no answer. Victor is about to knock again when he sees the curtain behind the window in the door move an inch, someone is watching them.

  “I am here to see Alex, he is expecting me.” Victor hopes using the contact’s name will do the trick.

  “Password?”

  “Damn, did not expect them to have a standard password.” Victor decides to change tactics.

  “I do not have time to play games, you have been informed to expect me, and that I am in a hurry.”

  “Piss off, no password no entry,” comes the reply from inside and the curtain is pulled shut again.

  Victor decides to try something else. Removing Russtoff’s cell from his backpack, he retrieves the last message showing the address. The phone displays the phone number that sent the message as well. Victor hopes that the same person who gave Russtoff the address would have contacted Alex.

  Pressing the phone against the window and tapping with his finger against the glass he says, “Perhaps I should call them back and inform them you are no longer working for them and have changed sides, maybe you will see tonight, maybe not?”

  The curtain is drawn open just enough for the person to see the cell phone, and after a few seconds the curtain closes and Victor can hear locks being unlocked and chains being taken off the door. “So much for him kicking the door in.”

  Slowly the door opens with a creek. A short and overweight Mexican with a bald head stands in the doorway. He is wearing an old long cotton shirt with food stains and faded blue jeans that are torn at the knees. What impresses Victor more is the sawn off double barrel shotgun he holds at hip level, pointed at Victor.

  “Who is the girl? I was told one person.” He has a hoarse voice from smoking too much and Victor can smell tequila on his breath. His eyes are bloodshot from too much drinking, and it also shows on his face.

  “She is my cover wife, the mission changed.”

  “I was paid for one set of documents only.”

  “You know where to send the bill,” Victor counters quickly, sounding annoyed.

  “Name’s Steve, Alex is my cover name, follow me.” Steve turns around and walks away without checking if they follow. Laura closes the door behind her then follows along.

  Steve takes them through the living room that has only one old TV chair and a television set on a small table in it. There are newspapers strewn around the seat and empty tequila bottles litter the floor. The smell of alcohol and tobacco smoke is heavy in the air. Steve then takes them down a small corridor, past the bathroom and into a small room that has a table littered with passports and other documents on it, as well as a computer and two printers.

  The table has an old bar stool with its legs shortened for seating. Opposite the table is a single couch with seating for two, the covering torn in several plac
es.

  Victor cannot make out if the color of the couch is brown naturally, or if it is so from being filthy. He decides on the latter.

  “Take a seat, I will be right back,” Steve says as he leaves the room. Moments later they can hear him bolting the front door.

  “I need to use the restroom,” Laura says while making her way to the bathroom they had passed earlier.

  Steve starts to lock the door, but then stops. “Something is not right, are they lying, are they police? What if I am wrong and I refuse to do the documents, will they kill me? Best to wait until they are gone, and then report that I have done two sets of documents. If all checks out I will get double pay, and if not they will want to know the details of the people I made the documents for, that should be worth a good sum of money. Either way, I win.”

  Moments later Steve returns with a camera, having made sure that there are no suspicious people idling outside his house.

  “Ok, stand against the wall,” he says while holding the camera ready. Victor goes first, then Laura, trying to comb her hair a bit with an old brush she had found in the bathroom. After taking their pictures, Steve starts to work on the computer.

  “US passports, right?” he asks, not waiting for an answer but continues, “Names?”

  “John and Sue Smith,” Victor replies, choosing easy names to remember and reasonably common.

  It takes Steve five hours to complete the passports, including faking immigration stamps for them to show that they had left the States a week earlier and entered Mexico as tourists.

  Victor oversees the whole process, making sure that Steve does it right. Laura is sleeping on the couch and Victor wakes her when he judges it safe to leave. He had decided it would be best if they wait until it is dark before they leave, hoping that less people will be walking the streets and seeing them at night.

  When the time comes to leave, Steve unlocks the door for them, and after Victor makes sure all is clear, he lets Laura go first. Laura is not sure what to do or where to go and asks Victor what the plan is.

  Victor immediately freezes in his tracks, he knows Steve has heard Laura, and he also knows that Steve will expect two highly trained professionals to have a plan and also not to discuss it in public.

  He waits and listens for any reaction from Steve, no movement. Finally Victor replies, “We need to get transport and get out of this country.”

  “You can get an airplane at the airport; it is not far from here. There is a taxi rank just up the road.”

  “Where did you say that taxi rank is again?” Victor asks as he turns around.

  “Just up the r…” Steve goes silent when he looks down and sees the pistol aimed directly at his heart. Victor pulls the trigger twice, and then pushes Steve’s body backwards into the house. As Steve’s body hits the floor, Victor shoots Steve twice more, both head shots, and then closes the door.

  “Why did you kill him, Victor?” Laura is not shocked, just confused.

  “He was setting us up. The passports he gave us are good for crossing small borders and countries that have no direct link to the US customs system. Although he stamped the passports for entry into Mexico, they are not in the system, the moment we go to a major airport and hand in our documents, they will immediately pick up that the documents are false and arrest us, he knows that and by suggesting it he set us up.” Victor takes Laura’s hand and then walks in the direction of the taxi rank. It takes them 20 minutes to reach the taxi rank, and they get into the first one they see.

  “Casa Bonita,” is all Victor says as they get in. The driver greets them and nods his understanding of the address, then starts the car and heads off in the direction of the address. Victor notes Laura’s curiosity about the name.

  “Small bed and breakfast I used from time to time when I came through here. Secluded, owner knows me, does not ask questions, and we are not likely to be spotted by anyone who may be looking for us.”

  After 25 minutes of driving they pull up to a small place with hip high walls and plants on top of the walls. The garden has several palm trees on either side of the pathway leading to the entrance into the place. On entering, they find an old Mexican lady behind the reservation desk. Looking up she immediately gives Victor a big toothless smile.

  “Ooh, mister Anton, you are back, so welcome you are. How long you stay?” She slowly gets up as she talks and comes around the desk to give Victor a hug.

  “Just for tonight Elisabeth” Victor says as he hugs her. Elisabeth slowly walks back around the desk and gets a key from a rack containing several keys. From the rack, Victor notes that they are the only visitors that night. Victor pays her double the rate she asks and then asks Elisabeth if she can make them something to eat. Elisabeth informs them that unfortunately her cook has already gone home, but the local “Subway” will still deliver.

  After fumbling with some papers on her desk, she pulls a Subway menu out from the pile and places it on the counter for them to see.

  Victor smiles and after a quick glance, he gives Elisabeth their order, deciding for Laura. Elisabeth promises to phone it through and also to bring the food to their room as soon as it arrives. Victor looks at the prices for the food they ordered and gives Elisabeth enough money plus extra for her trouble.

  The rooms are down a hallway that is accessed only by the door leading from the office. Victor holds the door open for Laura and then passes her in the hallway to walk in front. Laura notices that he does not even look at the room key for the room number, nor at any of the room numbers on the doors they pass, he just walks directly to the last room on the left in the hallway.

  When they reach the room, Victor unlocks the door but does not open it. He waits for a few seconds, listening, and then pushes the door open with his foot while holding his pistol ready. Without entering the room he reaches inside and switches on the lights, then carefully enters the room.

  Quickly he checks the bathroom, closet and under the bed, before signaling for Laura to enter.

  The room is nothing fancy, just a clean room down the hall from the office. It has a double bed with new white linen and a small desk with one chair and a television set on the desk. There is a built in closet, and it is the only room in the complex that has its own bathroom, nothing much, just a shower, toilet and small basin with a round mirror. Laura showers while Victor cleans the gun with toilet paper, removing the salt from the gun.

  The food arrives shortly afterwards. Victor thanks Elisabeth for bringing it to their room and asks her to leave it outside the door, in addition to if she can have their clothes washed for them, which she gladly agrees to.

  Victor tells her he will leave the clothes outside the door, and Elisabeth says that she will come back in ten minutes to pick them up, and will drop them off the next morning with their breakfast. Victor takes a quick shower and then they hungrily eat their food before they both crawl into bed. They only now realize how exhausted they are. Laura huddles up close to Victor and holds him tightly. Sleep comes fast.

  Chapter 11

  A knock on the door wakes Victor, he is immediately alert and slides out of bed, still naked. After taking the pistol out from beneath his pillow, he makes sure it has a round in the chamber, even though he knows he left one in when he went to bed, old habit.

  Silently, he tiptoes to the door and puts his back against the wall, then presses the tip of the silencer against the door, in line with a person’s head. A second time someone knocks on the door.

  “Who is it?” Victor listens intently for any sound of danger, his muscles tense, ready for action.

  “Morning, it is Elisabeth, your food and clothes are ready, I will place them outside your door.” Elisabeth knows from experience that Victor never opens the door when she is there; he always waits until she leaves and he hears the glass door to the office close before he opens his room door. She just shrugs her shoulders and leaves. Such a paranoid kid, who would ever want to harm him; he is such a nice person, always kind and gener
ous.

  Victor closes his eyes and focuses his attention on sound, waiting for the squeak he knows the rusty hinges make when Elisabeth closes the office door. Suddenly an arm comes over his right shoulder, sliding over his chest to his left, ready for a choke hold. Victor’s whole body is instinctively ready for action, ready to grab the attacker’s arm and throw him over his shoulder, putting two rounds into the body in mid air; even before the body hits the floor the attacker will be dead.

  But somehow his mind just does not give the signal, he is frozen, something stops him. Then suddenly he feels soft breasts pressing against his back, and a small hand sliding around his waist to his manhood.

  Laura softly whispers in his ear, “Come back to bed, I’m ready for more.” Slowly Victor turns around and kisses Laura. She is still playing with his manhood that responds to her touch. Victor slides his left hand around and grabs Laura’s firm small buttocks and picks her up. She giggles, smiles and then kisses Victor eagerly.

  Victor carries her back to bed, where he playfully drops her onto the bed. Putting the pistol on the night stand, Victor continues what they started in Cayman and Laura’s body responds multiple times to his expert touch. An hour later, Laura laughs and pushes her body away from Victor’s. She is on top and her humble breasts sway rhythmically as she gasps for air.

  Victor lifts his head and takes her left nipple in his mouth, playing with it with his tongue. Laura moans from pleasure, her whole body quivering in delight, then says, “Please stop, else I’ll never be able to get out of bed!”

  Victor ignores her and renews stimulating her nipple with his tongue, hearing another moan from Laura and feeling her whole body respond to his stimulation, then he gently rolls her to his side. After giving her a kiss and a hug, he gets up and puts on a towel.