slightly more angular look to its fuselage and borrowed technology stolen from the US many years earlier. Both allowed the massive jet to have the ability to appear on radar, just as Adam had thought, as a flock of birds. The other most startling ability, which Adam had managed to miss, was how quiet the engines were, barely audible over a revving car engine, allowing the plane to land and take off without alerting the local residents. All in all, Adam was going to have a very hard job convincing anyone of the plane’s existence.
As for the plane itself, within ten minutes, it was back cruising at 40,000 feet and taking three hundred rather bewildered Venezuelan tourists back to Venezuela, after a somewhat shorter than anticipated and promised trip to America. It had also deposited ten of General Yuri Borodin’s most experienced Spetsnaz troops deep in the heart of Laredo. Fresh from jungle training in Venezuela, the soldiers were ready to serve their General and kill Sean Fox.
Chapter 35
Sean arrived at the rest stop, as directed by Luis. Sean had had many bizarre working arrangements in his time with the CIA but he had to admit working with the nephew of the boss of a major drug cartel to supply him with the contacts in order to secure the East coast drug distribution rights was pretty much out there. Not for the first time he chastised himself for not going to the beach. But then James would still have been kidnapped and Katie would have had no hope of ever seeing him again. He chastised himself for chastising himself about the beach. Whether Los Zetas or the Gulf got the contacts, someone would and in the end, what difference did it make? A huge one but he had to think of young innocent James and not the lives of all the drug users he was condemning. Shit, why hadn’t he just gone to the beach.
Thankfully, before he could continue his circle of self-flagellation, headlights lit up the darkness of the rest stop and Luis pulled up alongside. The first issue Sean noted was the unexpected passenger; it seemed Luis had gained another bodyguard. The second issue was the rather clever second bodyguard who had waited until Sean had been distracted by the arrival of Luis to appear and place his gun firmly against the back of Sean’s head, through the open window of the Corolla.
As Luis and the first bodyguard exited their car, Sean noticed that the beating Luis had received had been significant. At least he hadn’t been given up without a fight. His judge of character remained intact. If little else, it was at least one plus point. The second, most welcome plus point, was the look of surprise on the bodyguards’ faces when they recognized who Sean was. Luis had obviously not divulged Sean’s identity to his uncle. The two guards crossed themselves at the sight of the man they had witnessed El Jefe carve to pieces some months earlier.
And that was the final and third plus point. Their strong belief in God sent them straight to their maker. Sean didn’t need another invitation. With the gunman’s hands busy crossing himself, Luis’ Desert Eagle which had been sitting on Sean’s lap, blew a hole through the door of the Corolla and cut the guard almost in half. Before the second guard had a chance to finish his left hand cross, Sean had sent him to hell, heaven or wherever the scum prayed to go.
“Did you get the rifle?” asked Sean, ignoring the two guards had even existed. His mind was on the clock and time was running away.
Luis nodded and walked painfully back towards his car to retrieve the weapon. Sean wasted no time and jumped out of the Corolla, stepping carefully over the latest casualty of the drug wars and retrieved the corpse from his trunk. As he was about to dump the body into Luis’ trunk, he considered the options. He now had another two potential shooters to frame.
“Who’s the most experienced?”
Luis, clearly not able to talk, due to the pain pointed to the sneaky fucker who had caught Sean by surprise. With half his internal organs covering the rest-stop, Sean didn’t feel particularly inclined to use him.
“And between these two?”
Luis pointed to the fresher of the two corpses which, as far as Sean was concerned, was perfect. The closer the time of death to the time of discovery, the better. He threw the freshly selected body in the trunk, torched the rental and set off to protect the identity of the most wanted killer in recent US history.
As they pulled out of the rest stop, Sean hit the re-dial button and connected to a far more awake Vincent.
“I need you to re-instate me!” began Sean.
Silence met his request.
“I need you to re-instate me!” repeated Sean in case Vincent hadn’t heard him.
With more silence meeting the second request, Sean realized what he needed to do.
“I need you to re-instate me, please.”
“There, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” teased Vincent.
“Well?” asked Sean.
“Done. What’s the plan?”
“I work for you for two hours and then I’m off the books again. I just need to make sure I don’t get arrested myself!”
“Why would you get arrested? What have you done?”
“Nothing,” replied Sean. Killing drug cartel members wasn’t an arrestable offence as far as he was concerned. “But you’ll soon see why. And whatever happens, I must be kept out the press. That’s a must!”
The change of tone in Sean’s voice ensured a firm response from Vincent. “Of course, anything I can do?”
“Just keep your guerillas away!”
Vincent’s lack of response unnerved Sean.
“Vincent! Tell me you didn’t send anybody.”
“It’s crazy down there!” replied Vincent apologetically. He had sent his men.
“Fuck! How many and where are they going?”
“Just five and they’ll be on site in a couple of hours. I thought you…”
“Turn them round V,” interrupted Sean, not interested in what Vincent thought.
“I can’t, it’s above my pay grade. Governor Brown’s going to be the next president!”
“That wasn’t the deal, V?” argued Sean, reconsidering his position.
“I’m sorry Sean, it really is out of my control, the pressure from on high is more than I’ve ever experienced.”
Sean had had enough, the arrival of the team would do nothing but aggravate an already precarious situation “Think of something. If you don’t call me back within ten minutes to say it’s taken care of, I’m out!” promised Sean before killing the line.
“Shproblem?” struggled Luis, the beating from his uncle had cost him at least three teeth and a serious amount of swelling.
“Maybe,” pondered Sean, not knowing what he would do if the CIA hit team were not stopped.
“Whatever happens, you need to get me upstream from Juarez-Lincoln Bridge.”
Luis nodded rather than speak in response. The longer he let his mouth heal, the better. He stepped on the gas and used a few lesser-known back roads to get them to the river just a half mile upstream from the bridge.
As they neared the riverside and the ten minute deadline passed, Sean’s cell was silent.
As Sean removed the corpse and slung the rifle over his shoulder, the cell remained silent. He had no option but to go through with his plan. Whatever happened, it would remove a hurdle to getting James back. He just didn’t need V putting more in the way.
“So you know what you need to do?”
Luis nodded.
Sean braced himself and walked towards the water line. Just as he was about to enter, his cell rang, twelve minutes late.
Sean answered and remained silent.
