“It is not fear, Jefe. It is respect.” Raul refused to meet his gaze. “I do not wish to appear too familiar…the others…they would talk.”
“Let them talk, Raul.” He walked purposefully back to his desk and sat down quietly.
“What of the second team, Jefe?”
El Fantasma leaned back in his chair and rocked slightly side to side. “Have them observe.” He sat forward and pointed at Raul. “Cautiously observe. If these people bested my matar escuadrones then they, too, should be respected. It would appear that time has not dulled their abilities.”
“Si, Jefe. I will pass your word to them immediately.”
El Fantasma sat back in his chair again and swiveled to the side. “I have studied you and your people for a long time, Mister Bridger.” He smiled to himself as he pulled a file to his lap and opened it. He slid a photo of Bobby Bridger out, studying it. “If I know you as well as I think I do, then you are about to do something very stupid.” He chuckled to himself as he slid the photo back into the dossier.
“You will bring the fight to me, Bridger.” He stood slowly and walked to his bar. He pulled a crystal decanter of brown liquor from the tray and poured himself two fingers. “And save me the trouble of chasing you across the globe.”
8
Southeastern Oklahoma
Bobby Bridger stood over Gregg’s shoulder as he scanned the information encoded on the keycard. He brought up what little information that was hidden in the ones and zeroes and bounced it off of the FBI’s internal database for correlations.
“Looks like it was either a Super 8, or it could possibly be any number of independent hotels that run similar software.” He pushed the chair back and gave Bridger a raised brow. “The closest Super 8 is almost twenty miles from here.”
Bridger cursed under his breath. “But it could be any place?”
Gregg nodded. “If I were a betting man, I’d say check the biggest names first. In this case, it would be the Super 8.”
Mauk grunted from the kitchenette. “Not exactly five star accommodations if you ask me.” He pushed off the counter and stepped toward the pair. “If I were a hit man, I’d want to stay someplace nice. Just in case it was the last place I’d rest my head before the nice, satin-lined box.”
“Not everybody has your tastes though.” Bridger tapped the computer. “Does that keycard say what room number?”
Gregg pointed to the screen. “208.”
“Then I suggest we try the Super 8 first. If that isn’t it, we hit the smaller no name places on the way back.”
Lisa pointed out the window. “It will be sunup in a few hours. Should we wait?”
Bridger shoved his matching 10MM pistols into their shoulder holsters and pulled his jacket over them. “Nope. The sooner we track down this room, the sooner we find out where to take the fight.”
Mauk nodded to Gregg. “Any way you can clone that card? If we split up we can find the place in half the time.”
“I don’t have a blank to write it to, but I have a scanner that I can load the data onto.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a handheld device. He ran the keycard through the slot then plugged in the mule, creating an electronic duplicate. “You guys take the plastic, we’ll take the digital.”
Mauk snatched the plastic keycard from his hand then nodded to Lisa. “Let’s do this.”
DJ stepped forward and cleared his throat. “I thought the whole idea of us all coming out here was strength in numbers? Now we’re going to split up the team? I don’t like it, Top.”
Bridger nodded toward the SUV outside the door. “I think the immediate threat is neutralized.”
“That’s if they don’t have backup sitting out there somewhere, like, the cheap motel, maybe.”
Bridger shot DJ a crooked smile. “If you were going to send a hit team after US…would you only send half your troops?”
DJ pondered the question a moment then nodded. “Point taken.” He reached for his jacket. “Y’all go shopping for the right hotel room, I’ll dispose of the bodies.”
Lisa held a hand to his chest, stopping him. “I thought we were going to leave them in the hotel parking lot?” She turned to Bridger. “To send a message to the cartel.”
Bridger shrugged. “Let DJ dump ‘em. Maybe it’s better if the cartel doesn’t know we’re coming.”
She lowered her hand but leaned in close and lowered her voice. “All the same, you be careful out there.”
DJ shot her a winning smile. “No worries, little darlin’. I got this.”
“There ain’t no gators to feed the dead to around here,” Mauk muttered.
“That you know of.” DJ fired a wink at him as he stepped out of the door. “I’ll meet y’all back here when you’re done.”
Bridger motioned to Gregg and the pair walked out to the Tahoe. They warmed the engine while Lisa and Mauk gathered their gear and crawled into the rear of the SUV. “My truck is parked down by the boat ramps.” Bridger gave him a confused stare in the rear view and Mauk shrugged. “It was the most secluded place I could think of that was within walking distance.”
Mauk pulled the Tahoe around to the paved road and pointed the nose towards the docks as DJ finished peeling the blackout tape from the SUV’s lights. He slapped the side of the Tahoe as it idled by then crawled into the driver’s seat of the rented SUV. “Time for you boys to find out if bears shit in the woods or not.”
Luis Mendoza watched the black Tahoe as it pulled out of the state park and slapped at his compadre sitting in the passenger seat, dozing. “They’re leaving.”
Hector Medina sat up and rubbed at his eyes. “I guess that
