“I see it,” Matt said. He reached back into Stevie’s bag and tossed a pair of night vision goggles to Nick, then slipped on his own pair. Before Nick could figure out a plan, his partner was climbing down the metal stairs, his gun out.
Nick grabbed Matt’s arm and was shaken off with lightning speed, like trying to hold back a hungry lion with a string-thin leash.
“Matt, wait,” Nick said.
“Wait, my ass.” Matt scowled at him. “I’ve waited too long already.”
Nick knew this was coming. Matt was below ground before he could react.
“Shit,” Nick said, slipping on night vision goggles and heading down the ladder. Just before he went below, he said to Stevie. “You stay here and watch these guys. Don’t come down no matter what.”
“Do I call Walt?” Stevie asked.
Nick was three steps down the ladder, then came back up and said, “Yeah, call Walt.”
Matt was down in just seconds, Nick close behind, wanting to stop him, but realizing now their biggest commodity was silence. They had obviously found Garza’s conduit to the United States and needed stealth to survive the discovery. He glanced quickly at the pallet of packages. Cocaine. Maybe half a ton.
Matt crept up against the wall and Nick mirrored his pace against the opposite side. As they moved away from the opening, the night vision goggles kicked into gear. Through the lenses, the green image showed a highly sophisticated passageway with wooden floors and a rail system to transport drugs into the country.
They took slow steps as they advanced down the tunnel. The air was musty and cool. The passage was wide and tall enough to move without crouching. As they moved deeper into the tunnel, the light began to dissipate. Even the night vision goggles were needing more illumination. Matt gently snapped his fingers and pointed to his headset. Nick understood. He turned on his infrared illuminator to intensify their ability to see.
In the middle of the rail, an object came into view. Matt was a few steps ahead of him and he was pointing furiously at the object. After a couple of steps, Nick saw that it was a cart. Inside the cart sat an object the size of a large guitar case. Except it was wrapped in black tape.
The bomb.
For a moment, Nick thought they should get the bomb out of there and finish their mission. But the moment passed as Matt’s silhouette faded into the darkness. As much as his partner was blinded by revenge, he couldn’t leave him down here by himself.
Nick kept his head on a swivel, keeping his eyes as far ahead as the lenses would allow, but watching the wall as well, looking for an ambush. Matt’s pace began to quicken and Nick felt they were being lured somehow, as if Garza knew they would be coming eventually.
The tunnel was deadly quiet. Their footsteps creaked slightly with each step. Something up ahead moved. Matt held up his hand and Nick stopped. The noise was coming toward them. Nick squinted, but saw nothing. Getting closer now, Nick squeezed the handle of his gun, ready to fire.
The movement came at him quickly, low, at his feet. He nearly fired his gun, before capturing the image of a rat scampering along the side of the wall, bristling against his pant leg as it scurried between his feet. Matt had already tracked the rat with his pistol and shook his head as Nick tried to get his breathing under control. He looked back and saw how far they’d gone from the opening, realizing they would be passing over the border soon.
Nick’s pulse pounded in his ear as he tried to match the cadence of Matt’s stride, keeping the noise of their footsteps to a minimum. Another object came into view through the infrared illuminator. It was on the floor on Matt’s side of the tunnel. A male body. As his partner approached the man, he leaned over and felt the neck. He examined the corpse through his goggles which were becoming increasingly more difficult to see as the light diminished even further. He turned to Nick and shook his head.
Matt stepped over the corpse and continued on. Nick didn’t know if it was the confined quarters or his PTSD, but he found it harder to breathe as well. He felt drops of sweat trickle down his temple as his gun hand began to tremble. He couldn’t afford an attack. Not now. But Dr. Morgan had warned him about the possibility under extreme stress.
There was a sound ahead. It wasn’t a mechanical sound, but a thicker, more complex noise. Matt must’ve heard it too, because he stopped and lowered himself into a crouched position. The movement continued on for a few more seconds, then stopped. It was probably only twenty yards ahead of them, but still outside the reach of their vision.
A powerful light pelted Nick’s eyes and temporarily blinded him as he squeezed his eyelids shut and threw off the night vision goggles. He tried to open them, but immediately squinted into submission. The intensity had assaulted his pupils and forced him to crouch down with his head between his knees.
From next to them, he heard an ominous voice crack the silence of the tunnel.
“Welcome to Mexico,” the voice said.
The voice had power and confidence and Nick was certain it was surrounded by a large supply of armed soldiers. It was the voice of death.
Nick heard Matt murmuring curses, obviously just as blind as Nick. The overhead lights had come to life and left them helpless.
“I would drop those guns now if you would like to survive a few more seconds,” Antonio Garza said. “I will allow you a proper good-bye. One deserving of a respected government agent.”
Nick dropped his gun, but didn’t hear Matt’s gun land. His eyes began to adjust. Through squinted vision, he was able to see Matt crouched down, his gun still in his right hand.
“Please, Mr. McColm, do not try any of your Mad Max crap,” Garza said. “It will only quicken your death.”
Nick could see Garza now, standing behind a tall man with his rifle pointed at Matt. There were another five soldiers with their assault rifles also trained on his partner. They were never going to survive this encounter and Nick knew this was their only chance to take Garza with them. Matt was capable of taking three or four down in just a second.
“Shoot him,” Nick urged.
Matt seemed to examine the entourage of weapons facing them and his expression lost all its vengeance. As if he’d resigned himself to the fact they were leaving this earth and might join Jennifer Steele in a better place.
“Shoot, damn it!” Nick shouted now, his voice bouncing off the walls.
Matt held out his gun with two fingers. As the weapon fell to the floor, Nick’s heart dropped into his stomach and immediately thoughts of Julie and Thomas flooded his mind. The ones he’d left behind.
“Good boy,” Garza said. “Now, let’s step inside and have us a quick drink.”
The group of soldiers spread apart and left a path to an opening in the tunnel forty yards away. Nick and Matt walked between the soldiers, getting some shoves along the way.
As they stepped up through the opening, Garza gestured to a couple of wooden chairs waiting for them in the middle of the room. The soldiers patted them down thoroughly, then pushed them into the seats, while Garza walked over to a bar and poured a drink into a shot glass. One of the soldiers began tying Nick’s hands behind his back with bailing wire while Garza’s main enforcer tied up Matt’s. The soldier squeezed Nick’s wrists so tight, he instantly lost feeling in his fingers. The wire dug into his skin and his capillaries began seeping blood down his hands. The more he tried to fight, the more pain it caused.
Garza raised his shot glass and said, “This one is for you, Victor.” He pointed to a TV screen hanging on the wall and added, “He’s the one who suggested we monitor the mine for company.”
On the screen was a clear image of Stevie sitting on the pool table, talking on his cell phone with his gun at Chizek, who looked smug as ever.
Garza downed his drink, then went behind the bar to produce a chainsaw with red stains and bits of meat clinging to its teeth. “And it was Victor’s idea to lure you into our basement,” Garza said, casually plugging the power cord into the wall. El Carnicero.
Victor acknowledged Garza’s words with a terse nod, then grabbed his assault rifle and looked at their hostages with a penetrating glare.
Once Nick and Matt were tied up, Garza reached behind the bar and seemed to press something. A moment later, there was a mechanical noise while the basement wall began sliding back into place. The wall groaned until it slammed shut like a tomb. All the marines in the world couldn’t save them now.
Garza turned to Matt and sighed. “Revenge is a dangerous aphrodisiac, my friend,” he said, almost looking
