Shadow of Death (12 page)

CHAPTER 37

Arista

Mustafa was tied to a chair, completely naked. He was covered in sweat and blood. The Sinaloas had given him a good beating just to let him know they meant business. None of them could understand a word he said, anyway. It took three hours for them to find a translator and drive him back to the warehouse where Mustafa was being held.

The interpreter, a Jordanian man who ran a small grocery store a few towns over in Arriaga, arrived at the same time as Joaquin Salazar himself. The old man, who didn’t want to join the Sinaloas as their Arab speaker, had been coerced to go along when they threatened to kill his wife. He took the ride with the Sinaloas, leaving his crying wife wondering what was happening.

The truck arrived at the warehouse after midnight. The Sinaloas climbed out with their interpreter in tow. The old man, Yaseem, recognized Joaquin Salazar as soon as he saw him, and turned white. Everyone in Mexico recognized Joaquin Salazar, but very few people ever laid eyes on him and lived to tell about it. Yaseem put his hands together in prayer and bowed to the Sinaloa kingpin.

Salazar spoke slowly in Spanish to Yaseem. “Relax, old man. We need someone who speaks Arabic. You were the closest person we could find. Just translate everything you hear, and you’ll go home with a pile of cash.”

They walked inside the warehouse and saw the Sinaloas gathered around a very sick-looking naked man who was tied to a chair. Joaquin walked to the man and squatted down so they were eye to eye. He looked up at Yaseem, then back to the man.

“Do you know who I am?” asked Joaquin. Yaseem repeated it.

The young man shook his head, squinting through his one open eye. The left was purple and swollen almost shut.

“Sinaloa. I know you know
that
name.” Yaseem repeated in Arabic.

The man shook his head.

Joaquin took a long knife out of a leather sheath under his shoulder. He tapped the flat part of the blade against the man’s thigh. “I’m going to ask you some questions, and you’re going to tell me the truth, or I’m going to cut off your dick and feed it to you before I peel your skin off. You’ll beg me to kill you, but I won’t. You only get one chance to avoid all of this.”

The man began sobbing after Yaseem translated.

“Who are you, what are you doing here, and what is that thing you were transporting? Think carefully when you answer. One chance only.” He slid the sharp end of the blade across the man’s naked thigh, leaving a thin red line.

Through slow sobs, the man answered. “My name is Mustafa Ali. I was born in Yemen and was living in Syria. I was chosen for a mission to attack the United States, not Mexico. The Zetas helped us get here, and they told us they had worked a deal with you for a safe trip here. They said we had permission to come here.”

Joaquin listened as Yaseem translated, then said, “Continue. The Zetas paid to allow you to come here. Things change. What’s in the truck?”

“It’s a weapon. To be used against the Great Satan. There’s a boat coming. I swear, it wasn’t to be used here.”

Joaquin stood up and folded his arms. He paced slowly back and forth. “Why would the Zetas help you attack the United States?” As soon as he asked, he knew why. “
Ahhh
. Heroin.”

The man nodded.

“So you attack the United States, and the Zetas get their supply of heroin through you?”

The man nodded.

“Maybe now we make a
new
deal. Maybe now you send the heroin
here
. To
me
.”

“I’m just a soldier. I can’t make deals. You have to speak to the ones in charge.”

“For
your
sake, I hope you know how to reach them by phone.
Quickly
.”

CHAPTER 38

Assault

The team had moved into position. Ray and Eric were inside the fence line, invisible in a bed of flowers and plants that gave them a view of the immense rear yard. The tower they had originally planned on using as their perch had too many sentries walking around it. Moose, Ripper, and Jon had moved to the edge of the forest vegetation and looked across a small lawn to the side of the rear yard. Pete and Ryan had crawled around the front to set a few claymore mines near the front door in case any of them tried to escape that way. After setting the mines, they joined the others at the edge of the woods.

Eric’s voice whispered into everyone’s earpiece. “Just spotted the K9 unit. Sneaky. In the tall grass on the far side of the yard. You know I love dogs.”

“And when he barks, we’re all dead. K9 and handler go first. We’re moving in from the near side,” Moose replied. It was strange fact—they could kill a hundred enemy human beings and not think twice, but kill a dog? That was a heartbreaker. Unless it was trying to eat your throat.

Moose and the others moved rapidly across the yard to the fence and stopped. Moose gave an “okay” sign, which was repeated by the others. He whispered, “Silent assault.”

In an instant, they were over the fence and in firing positions. With their night vision, they easily found the enemy positions, exactly where they had spotted them from their Dr. Who drone. Eric took out the K9 and his handler in rapid succession, only a second before the dog was about to alert to new smells. He then began finding targets all over the yard. The guards sensed something was wrong without actually hearing or seeing anything specific. The pops were quiet, but loud enough to cause the guards to start looking for intruders. As they began moving from their locations to investigate the noises, they were quickly taken out with very well-placed marksmanship. The yard fell silent.

“Clear,” whispered Eric.

The seven of them froze and waited a few seconds in total silence, making sure no one else was in the rear yard.

Moose began crawling across the yard toward the house. “Take up positions near the rear of the house and hold. Checking drone.” He took out the small tablet and tapped the rear of the house. Dr. Who began buzzing around the yard over their heads, moving closer to the rear windows. Moose could see images inside the house with its night vision. There were a lot of people in the rear of the house, some of them moving around, probably looking out into the yard.

Moose tapped a message to Apo. “
10-20?
”

Apo replied quickly. “
Bedroom. Waiting for assault.
”

“
Danger close.
”

Moose and Ripper crawled next to each other behind a few large concrete pots filled with flowers. Ripper looked at Moose and asked, “Where the hell are the Marines?”

“Maybe them boys is Lima Lima Mike,” replied Moose.
Lima Lima Mike: lost like a muthafucker.

“Real comforting. When we go loud, El Gato is either gonna be in the breeze with some secret tunnel or filled with lead. Maybe Apo can get to him?”

Moose considered that. “Dangerous, but maybe he can sweet-talk his way to Gato once we send a few downrange.” Moose tapped out a message to Apo.

Outside secure. Breech in two mikes. Get Gato when the shooting starts.

Moose spoke to his team. “Hodges, you got eyes on the back room?”

“Affirmative. Good angle. Count about twenty tangos, but there may be more. They’re moving around. Negative ID on Gato, over.”

“Ninety seconds. You start working that room. If you ID El Gato you sing out. Jon, move up with the blooper. Apo will be in there somewhere. Don’t hit our friendly. Stay alert, stay alive. Out.”

The team crawled slowly toward the house. Moose sent the drone out to the road that led to their position looking for the Marines, who he knew would be arriving by truck. He watched the image on the tablet, looking down on the road. The drone was flying over the road, following the map line east when the image went crazy. One second he was looking at the road, then the sky, then the image went black and flickering, and for a split second, a hideous face appeared before he lost the image.

“
Fuck!
Dr. Who just passed the realism test. A fuckin’ bat just ate him. Drone is KIA. No more eye in the sky. Marines can come get their picture taken with El Gato whenever they get here. Prepare to assault.”

The team members were scattered around the yard, all of them now scoping and acquiring targets inside the house.

“Go!” snapped Moose. Eric’s sniper rifle popped first, and a sentry holding an AK-47 near the rear door lost most of his head. Jon fired the grenade launcher, using the buckshot rounds to take out the glass at the back of the house. As the men inside dove for cover and tried to shield their faces from the shattering glass all over the room, the team began taking out targets with exceptionally accurate fire.

***

When the shooting erupted, El Gato dove for cover and began crawling away from the rear of the house. Apo used the noise as a signal to look for Gato and began moving down the hallway toward the sound of the gunfire.

Two of El Gato’s men ran out the front door toward the SUVs to escape the fusillade at the back of the house. The claymore mines detonated as the men crossed the trip wires, and the front of the house exploded in fire and a cloud of ball bearings moving at the speed of sound.

El Gato heard the explosion from the front of the house and ran down a hallway that led to the basement. Apo turned into that same hallway from the other end and screamed at El Gato, “What’s going on?”

El Gato saw his guest and screamed back at him. “Follow me! There’s a tunnel! Hurry!”

Two of El Gato’s bodyguards were with him, escorting him as he headed for the basement door. Apo ran to catch up. One of the bodyguards pulled open the door and held it for El Gato, who ran down the steps with the other guard right behind him. The one holding the door screamed at Apo, “Hurry up!”

Apo ran as fast as he could. As soon as he got to the door, the man holding it open for him looked past him to see if anyone else was coming. Apo throat-punched the guard, then kicked him as hard as he could in the crotch. The man dropped silently and Apo wrenched his head, instantly breaking his neck. He pulled out his garrote and ran down the steps after the other two. El Gato was out in front, his footsteps echoing on the stone floor. The guard was behind him, a bit fat and out of shape, and was having trouble keeping up. That man turned and yelled back, “Hurry up, you two! Move faster!”

He then turned back around and did his best to keep up with El Gato, who was moving much faster, fear being an excellent motivator. Apo eventually caught up to the guard, who put his hands on his knees and bent over to catch his breath. He was about to ask where the other guard was when Apo dropped
la loupe
around his neck and yanked as hard as he could. The man’s face turned crimson and his eyes bulged as they searched for oxygen. Apo held on as hard as he could as the big man tried his best to get the wire cables off his throat. He managed to get two fingers under one of them and tried to pull, but the device worked just how it was supposed to, and as he struggled, he only tightened the other cable. Apo and the guard went to the floor together, with Apo pulling tighter and tighter until the man choked to death. When Apo was sure the man was dead, he ran after El Gato, whose footsteps were receding farther away down the long stone hallway.

CHAPTER 39

CIA HQ

Dex Murphy and Darren Davis were four coffees past midnight, and were sitting in front of multiple screens watching the team from a satellite as well as a drone they had put on station, without permission, in violation of Mexican airspace.

Kim Elton rushed into the room, coffee mug in hand as well. “I came as soon as I got your text. They hit the house yet?”

“Just now,” said Dex.

Kim Elton was currently the desk chief of their Mexico desk, but hadn’t been brought into the loop until late in the game because she had her own projects going on in Mexico at the moment. She sipped her coffee and watched the green figures on the screen captured by the drone’s night-vision camera. Several people were outside the house, lighting up as they fired their weapons. Light flashes from the edge of the house indicated return fire.

“When was last communication from the team?”

“Ten minutes ago, right before they began the assault. Hey—there’s the Mexican convoy.”

Dex pointed to the satellite image, which was a larger field of vision, although not quite as clear. Four vehicles could be seen snaking their way up the hill toward the house. Dex grabbed his sat-phone and tried to reach Moose.

“Sierra One, you copy?”

“Good copy, in contact.” Gunfire popped off in the background as he spoke.

“Marines arriving on station. ETA less than two minutes.”

“Roger. Out.”

Moose was a little too busy to chat. The team had blown out the back of the house and was taking heavy, although not well-aimed, suppressing fire from the mansion. Unlike the team outside, the guards inside had no night vision. They fired in the general direction of the muzzle flashes, but it was ineffective. Meanwhile, Eric Hodges was twelve for twelve with his sniper rifle, and was acquiring new targets every few seconds.

“Any confirmation on El Gato?” asked Kim.

“Apo’s in the house, Gato’s in the house—that’s all we know. Something else, Kim. They knew we were coming.” He let that hang out there.

“You were dealing directly with General Ortega, right?”

“Ortega and President Pena Nieto. Directly. Ortega’s been helpful in the past, always trustworthy. The president is too new to make an assessment, but it
was
his idea to go after El Gato. Not sure how word leaked.”

“Mexico,” said Kim, sounding exasperated. “Operation FUBAR. About the only thing you can count on down there.”

She took a seat next to Dex and Darren and watched on the monitors as the firefight continued. Strange, to sit and sip hot coffee while your team fought for their lives. Or maybe, just typical.

CHAPTER 40

Alex and Apo

Apo ran after El Gato, down a descending hallway that seemed to go on forever. They were getting deeper and deeper below the house, reminiscent of an ancient castle. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all made of stone. He turned a corner and found El Gato dialing the combination to a giant vault door that sealed off the end of the hallway.

El Gato looked up from the dial with surprise. “Alex! Where’s Ramon and Cesare?”

“They’ll be here in a second. They’re just making sure no one was following us. Why are you bothering with a safe now? The cops are shooting at us!”

“This isn’t a safe. This door opens to a passage. No one gets in from the outside through here, even with dynamite. I had this door made in Germany. Once we get through here, there’s a car on the other side. Takes us out through a tunnel on the other side of the hill. We can get out of here and find out what the fuck’s going on. Those aren’t cops or Sinaloa shooting at us.”

He went back to dialing the door’s combination, and then spun the large wheel in the center when the combination was entered. The massive steel door unlocked, and El Gato began pulling it open. Apo walked up behind El Gato and, using the blade of his hand, chopped the side of his neck. El Gato’s forehead bounced off the steel door, and he dropped like a stone to the floor.

Apo pulled the plastic zip ties from his pocket and dropped his knee into El Gato’s back. He quickly zip-tied Gato’s wrists behind his back, then snapped on a second one to make it impossible to break out of. He hoisted the dazed man to his feet and pushed his back against the stone wall.

El Gato blinked his eyes repeatedly, trying to focus on Apo’s face. “You? You fucking traitor! You’re a dead man!” El Gato was working himself up into a rage. That ended when Apo kneed him in the crotch hard enough to drop him again. El Gato remained on his knees, coughing and spitting. Apo pulled him back up to his feet and shoved him again.

“Listen, Cat Boy. You either behave yourself, or you’re going to use up all nine lives right here in your basement.”

“You’re a fucking
dead
man,” El Gato hissed. He looked even uglier than usual as he sneered at Apo.

Apo grabbed him by his arm and began walking back up the long incline. His communication equipment didn’t work so far below ground, surrounded by stone. When he got back to Ramon’s body, he picked up the man’s Uzi. Likewise, he took a .45 ACP from Cesare’s corpse.

“Ahh, I feel dressed again,” he said with a smile to El Gato. The man didn’t find any humor in his guest’s comments.

El Gato asked, “Who are you? Sinaloa? Who put you up to this?”

Apo smiled. “You have a really nice house. I mean that. Really nice. I don’t think you’re going to like your next accommodations nearly as much.”

“No way. You’re no cop.” El Gato was horrified at the idea of being totally duped by law enforcement. On the other hand, a cop would arrest him. A rival cartel would cut him into little pieces.

“Move.” Apo gave him a shove and they continued their walk back up to the main part of the house.

***

Jon had moved closer to the rear of the house and then sprinted across the open patio to a large fountain for cover. From his new position he had a better angle on the back of the house. The large glass windows and doors had been blown into the house, and several bodies leaked blood all over Gato’s very expensive pecan hardwood floors, imported marble, and Persian rugs. The sun broke behind Jon as a new day began—the last day for many of the men now faced off against each other.

Moose called Apo several times, but got no response. He then called out to his team. “We need to get inside. Backup arriving on scene up front. Boomer, give us some cover.”

Jon pushed an HE grenade into his M203. His first shot exploded inside the room, sending fiery shrapnel all over the house. Jon sprinted forward, followed by the rest of his team except for Hodges, who tried to find targets in the smoke and dust from his concealed position. As soon as Jon stepped into the house, he fired off several shotgun pellet grenades that sent furniture and bodies flying. The SEALs behind him assaulted into the room and killed everything that moved.

“Clear! Cease fire!” barked Moose.

The men found cover and went silent, waiting for any enemy movement. It was so smoky they could barely see across the large room. What had recently been a magnificent room full of antiques and fine furniture was now utterly destroyed. The team checked bodies. Twenty-two enemy KIA. The adrenaline in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife.

Moose’s earpiece crackled. “Alpha to Moose, you copy?”

“Copy. All clear. Do you have the package?”

“Affirmative. Below deck, working back. Out.”

Moose and the others began slowly moving through the house making sure there were no more enemy soldiers hiding anywhere as they tried to get to Apo.

Outside, four large military vehicles roared up the winding road to El Gato’s mansion.