“What the…?” The smoker had witnessed the sudden attack but hadn’t had time to do anything to save his coworkers. Instinctively, he reached for his gun and remembered leaving it in the other room.
The first victim toppled over onto the floor, still hopelessly grasping at his neck. The smoker turned and darted through the door. Adriana chased after him, catching him by the shirt collar a moment before he reached the chair where his weapon rested.
“No!” he yelped. “Carlos!”
He spun around and tried to swing a fist at her face, but she caught him by the wrist and jammed the blade tip through his forearm. He yelled out in pain, a noise that was muted a second later as Adriana crushed his larynx with an elbow chop. She pulled her weapon from the wound, and the smoker fell to his knees, grasping his throat. With no air, he’d be dead in half a minute.
On the other side of the room, the door handle jiggled. She kicked off her heels and sprinted the ten feet to the corner just as it cracked open.
“You okay in here?” Carlos opened the door to a narrow slit.
Adriana watched, keeping her mouth open wide as she breathed to lessen the sound.
When no answer came to Carlos, he pushed the door open a few inches farther and peeked inside.
“Mierda,” he muttered and rushed in to help the fallen guard.
The smoker had collapsed onto his back and was rolling around, still clutching his throat.
“What happened?” Carlos asked.
The silent answer came from behind him as Adriana thrust the blade through the back of his neck. She grabbed his head for a moment as his body resisted, but in mere seconds it began to twitch, and he fell on top of his dead comrade.
She padded back over to the door and locked it. Back in the control room,she found the breaker box she’d noticed on her first visit. She stepped over the first dead guard and pushed the one in the chair out of the way to reach the gray panel. It only took a second to pry it open and find the switches she was looking for. They were clearly marked in Spanish. Adriana knew that turning off the power for the entire house would cause panic from the guests, and it would result in the two gallery guards shutting the room down. She didn’t have time to figure out another way in now. Getting past those two was the only way.
Cameras, though, had to be shut down and erased. Leaving her recorded image in the possession of a power-hungry drug cartel would be suicide. She ran her finger along the list of locations until she found the first one marked for the cameras. Just as she suspected, they ran on separate power from the house. She’d learned a long time ago that paranoid people required that their security systems run on a different line from the rest of the house, and usually a different source. Adriana was certain the gallery had its own backup power.
She flipped the switch,and the room darkened as all of the monitors went blank. A smile creased her face, and she closed the breaker box. She turned around and retreated to the door, rushed through it, and came to an abrupt halt.
Four men stood with pistols aimed at her. In the middle of them, a fifth man stared at her with his arms crossed, daggers flying from his eyes.
Espinoza shook his head slowly. “What is it you thought you were going to do here? Hmm? Did you honestly believe you could simply kill my guards and shut down the security system? You know, it has a backup system.”
Adriana’s heart thundered like a train in her chest. What happened? How did Espinoza know? That was impossible. Or was it? Monique must have told him her plan. It was the Dutch woman. It had to be. It was the only thing that made sense.
The story rapidly flashed before her eyes. Monique had convinced Adriana to come to Mexico to steal a painting, all the while planning to use her as a decoy. Of course there was another possibility.
“When I ask a question,” Espinoza paused, “you answer it!”
Out of nowhere, a man lunged from behind and punched her in the kidneys. She dropped to the ground near the dead guards. Her lungs forced air out in violent coughs, which only made the pain worse. Leaning over onto all fours, she regained her balance and started to push herself up, but the man who struck her from behind grabbed the back of her hair and held it tight. He pressed a pistol to the side of her head.
“Do you know what we do to people who cross us here in Mexico?” Espinoza asked.
Adriana swallowed but did her best to show no fear. No answer passed her lips. She could feel the tiny metal disk pressing against her skin, held up by the garter belt, but reaching for it right now would be suicide. Instead, she remained perfectly still.
“No? You will know soon enough.”
25
Adriana’s eyes opened like an old garage door. She blinked a few times to get rid of the blurriness. Wherever she was, the place was dark, and the floor against her face cool and hard. Her fingers and toes twitched, signaling she had all her faculties. The next thing she noticed was the throbbing pain coming from the back of her skull. Reaching back and touching it revealed a swollen lump. Remembering what happened was futile, but she knew exactly what Espinoza’s men had done. As soon as he was done talking to her, they’d hit her on the back of the head and knocked her out.
She planted her palms against the floor and pushed herself up. Her balance looked more like that of a newborn foal, wobbly and uncoordinated. After struggling for a minute, Adriana finally recovered enough to stand up straight.
Her victory was short lived.
A door opened on the far side of the room, and yellow light poured in. Three large men stormed in and grabbed her before she could react, dragging her through the doorway and up flight of stairs. When they reached the top, she realized she was in the hallway leading to Espinoza’s pool. The walls were easy to remember, painted cardinal red.
One of the three opened a nearby door as the other two hauled her outside to the pool area. A bonfire burned just beyond the line of shrubs and flowers. Something else was new about the scene. All of the guests were gone.
She blinked wearily, still attempting to regain all her senses. A woman screamed near the fire, but she couldn’t tell right away who it was. Her feet scraped against the concrete and then the dirt as the men carried her under her armpits to where a group of eight other people stood around the blaze. Then Adriana saw who had screamed.
Monique was on her knees in the rocky dirt next to the fire. Her dress was smudged and stained. Blood seeped out of a cut on her face, and her right eye was swollen. Her makeup was dripping down both sides of her face from tear-stained eyelids.
“Put her next to the other one,” Espinoza ordered.
Adriana turned her head to the side and noted the man standing between Monique and the fire. Two guards loitered on one side of the fire, keeping watch of the situation, while two more stood behind Monique. With the three escorting Adriana, that made for seven guards. Another man stood next to Espinoza. In the orange light of the fire, she realized it was Jorge Sanchez.
The guards dumped her next to the Dutch woman and took up positions to the side and behind their boss. Espinoza stood with his arms crossed, staring at the two.
“You,” he pointed at Monique while one of the guards behind her yanked Adriana up onto her knees. “You brought this one here to steal from me? I trusted you. You were an honored guest in my home, and this is how you repay me?”
She shook her head vehemently. “No, Francisco. I swear!”
He smacked her with the back of his hand hard enough to tip her over onto her side. Her face struck the ground, bringing more tears. The nearest guard picked her back up and forced her onto her knees again.