“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.
“I’ve stopped them!” said Vincent curtly.
“Stopped?” asked Sean.
“Stopped,’ he repeated. “Although there is one thing I need you to do for me,” said Vincent.
Sean didn’t quite know if Vincent knew what 'one’ meant. Everything he was doing was for Vincent, 'one more thing’ would have been more appropriate.
“What?” replied Sean unhelpfully.
As Vincent explained, Sean wasn’t comfortable but, at the end of the day, it wasn’t going to make too much difference to him.
“Fine but when you say stopped, where did you stop them?”
“Corpus Christi, best I can do.”
Sean didn’t say anything else. He was too pissed off. Corpus Christi. The fucking beach!
He threw his cell at Luis and, grabbing the corpse, he entered the cold waters of the Rio Grande, a world away from the warm gulf waters lapping at the white beaches of Corpus Christi.
Sean kicked off and was soon caught in the river’s current that would wash him down towards the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge and the scene of the earlier shootings.
Chapter 36
Katie Fox tried to sleep but it wasn’t possible. The day had started as they all had since Sean’s death, with tears soaking her pillow. From there it had quickly deteriorated to the worst day of her life, with the kidnapping of James. The miraculous re-appearance of Sean had brought joy and hope back into her life. Joy at his being alive and hope that with Sean back, she would get her baby back. Sean exuded a confidence like no man she knew. That same confidence had convinced her that James would be returned unharmed to her and their family would be perfect again.
The realization that the new Sean wasn’t her Sean had been devastating and almost as though she had once again lost her husband, the grief had passed only to return with the added loss of James. Tears began to flow freely as she reflected on the day, the kidnapping, the killings, the bodies, Sean. Sean, it didn’t make sense, he was exactly like her Sean, his mannerisms, the confidence, the power he exuded. Everything about him said it was her Sean but her Sean didn’t have a metal hip. Even if he had had one, there was no way in the space of three months it could have healed in the way the new Sean’s had. It wasn’t her Sean but everything else was the same. How could a man have an exact replica. Only twins could be identical but Sean didn’t have a brother and even if he did, nobody calls their twins the same name.
Just as sleep and some respite from the trauma began to descend, the creak of the front door being opened snapped her awake. She jumped from bed and rushed to the door, perhaps it was James. The sight of the facially battered Luis met her as she rushed towards the door. The sight of the bruising and lack of Sean by his side sent her in to a fresh round of panic.
“It’s OK,” offered Luis in an attempt to placate her. “Sean didn’t do this, it was my uncle!”
The thought that her son was with a man that did that to his own nephew, not surprisingly, did the exact opposite of what Luis was hoping. Katie began to struggle for breath as a full-blown panic attack washed over her tired and stressed body.
Luis ran to the kitchen and managed to find a brown paper bag, placing it over Katie’s mouth and guided her towards the sofa. Luis explained what was happening and that Sean and James were both fine, which immediately calmed Katie down.
“It’s probably best you get some sleep,” suggested Luis rising from the sofa.
An exhausted Katie could do little more than nod in agreement and force herself up from the sofa.
“What about you?” she asked half heartedly as she made her way towards the staircase.
“I have my orders, I have to clean this place up!”
“Your uncle wants my house cleaned up?” she asked somewhat startled that the madman would care if bodies and blood littered her house.
“No, Sean wants me to clean it up!”
Katie could not think of anything to say. The nephew of the leader of the world’s most feared drug cartel was now following the orders of her, she caught herself, the man who looked exactly like her dead husband. If the day could have got any stranger, she didn’t know how. However, the knowledge that James and the other Sean were OK helped her fall into a fitful sleep.