“Can I also presume that since we’re still here, eating in this restaurant and not at some exclusive private residence of yours, you intend to let us go after this conversation?”
Williams nodded. “I can see that you’re a man of unmatched deductive reasoning.” He swallowed a forkful of food. “Max, we both understand that it is the nature of my business that there will be the occasional unpleasantries such as what occurred last night.”
Max could see the two narco gunmen glaring at him, holding their weapons. They were probably friends with the dead.
“But there is a more important matter I need to resolve. I want only to find my associate. It is imperative that I find him. Now, my belief is that your arrival here in Mazatlán, and your past employment history, are much too coincidental. But… by the same token, I will grant you that any man of your experience, Mr. Fend, would be a complete fool to stick around after last night’s fiasco occurred, if they were indeed a part of it. So, maybe you really were here for innocent reasons? Let me ask you.” He looked at Renee. “Both of you. Do you know where my associate, Hector Rojas, is located?”
“I’m afraid we don’t,” Max answered.
Renee shook her head, “No.” Her voice was soft.
Williams just nodded. “I thought so.”
Williams turned to one of his gunmen and nodded towards the beach. The gunman headed through the lobby, towards the hotel’s street entrance.
Max watched Williams’s expression grow dark. He recognized this look. Men like him felt the need to demonstrate power. Whatever was about to happen was a warning.
Heads turned at the sound of a woman’s scream. The double doors to the hotel’s front entrance flung open as two of the sicarios walked back in, rifles slung over their backs. In their arms, the men carried a bloodied woman. She had deep lacerations along her back and breasts, and her dark hair was matted with dried blood. She swayed and whimpered as they carried her through the hotel lobby and restaurant area, then out towards the beach.
Renee’s hand went up over her mouth, and Max noticed her eyes watering. As the men hauled the woman through the restaurant area, some of the patrons let out gasps. But many just looked away, not wanting to be a witness to whatever the narcos might do. Max moved to stand up, but the sicario behind him forced him back into his seat and pointed his weapon at Max’s head.
They dumped the woman on the beach, just twenty yards in front of the restaurant, a disturbed flock of seagulls clearing the area as they did. One of the gunmen propped her up on her knees.
Williams said, “Now, I think there’s a good way to determine if you are or are not working with the American intelligence or drug enforcement agencies. This woman here, Miss Sanchez. Is she a spy?”
Max didn’t answer. Neither did Renee.
Williams nodded, his tone sterner. “Do you know where Rojas was taken?”
No answer.
Renee was beginning to breathe heavy as she watched the woman on the beach kneeling down like she was about to be executed. Williams saw Renee’s reaction and leaned towards her. “Miss LaFrancois, I put this girl’s life in your hands. Tell me where Rojas is, right now, and you can save her.”
Max said, “We don’t know. Is this really necessary?”
Williams nodded to one of his men, who came up behind Max fast and placed him in a headlock, pulling him away from the table.
Max knew better than to fight too hard.
Renee was crying. “I don’t know. I don’t know where… ”
Williams used his thumb and forefinger to make a gun shape and then pointed to the girl on the beach.
Several loud shots rang out. There was a collective shudder from everyone in the restaurant, and then quiet. Anonymous weeping and cursing in the restaurant. Angry squirming from Max. But mostly just quiet. The narcos had all the power here.
Max could see Ines Sanchez’s lifeless body, now filled with bullet holes. Dark crimson blood painted over white sand.
Williams stood.
“This is the way business is done in this place. There is a code which must be followed. A balance to be kept. Eye for an eye. That sort of thing. If you break the rules… if someone betrays us, this is what happens.”
Max glared at Williams. “She was a girl.”
Williams shrugged. “The rules apply to everyone. Otherwise we are just a pack of wild dogs.” He walked over to Renee and caressed her neck, allowing his eyes to wander. He clicked his tongue. “Still, dogs need to be fed. Fed in all sorts of ways.” Williams backed away from her and motioned to his men.
Max was released. The gunman trained his rifle on Max and forced him to sit back down.
Renee, her eyes red and watery, gritted her teeth, saying, “Everyone here saw… ”
Williams laughed. “You think that matters here?” He leaned forward. “Now, I don’t know with total confidence that you were involved last night. And… let’s face it. Max, your father is famous. You can thank him for your safety. It would cause me headaches if you were to go missing. But don’t think that because I show you leniency today, this can’t happen to you, Max. Or her.” He looked towards Renee.
Max clenched his jaw and forced himself to slow his breathing. Control his anger, before it endangered them all. He decided right then and there that someday soon, he would kill this Ian Williams fellow.
One of the guards approached and whispered something in Williams’s ear. He looked up and smiled. “It appears that our breakfast has come to an end.”
Max could hear a distant rumble of helicopters. Big ones, by the sound of it. Someone whistled, and the Mexican gang emptied the bag of cell phones onto one of the central tables in the hotel restaurant. Then they left the hotel, getting back into their trucks.
Williams pointed to Max and Renee. “For these two, make sure you take their phones and electronic devices with us. Don’t give them back.”
The man nodded. “En el auto.”
Williams rose and said to Max, “If you’re working for him, tell Caleb Wilkes I said hello. And tell him that his agent was a delicious lay for my men.”
He strode towards the door. Before walking out, Williams turned and yelled, “Max, you have two hours to leave this city. If I see you again, I’ll come for Renee and feed her to my men as their next meal.”
With that, Williams turned and left.
Three army-green Chinook helicopters landed on the beach. Dozens of Mexican military troops poured out, marching up to the hotel and securing the perimeter. A man wearing sunglasses, a blue polo, and khakis walked up to Max and Renee.
“You Max Fend?” he asked in American-accented English.
“Yeah.”
“Phone call.”
He handed Max a cell phone, which he held up to his ear.
“My God, are you two alright?” Wilkes’s voice.
“Hello, Caleb. How are you?”
“I got notified you were in cartel custody there and moved as fast as I could. I had to call in a lot of favors to get the Mexicans to send in the cavalry. You’re both lucky you weren’t chopped to pieces. You have any idea what they do to their enemies down there?”
Max knew he was right, and he was furious at himself for letting it happen. It was reckless of him to bring Renee to Mexico, and even more stupid to come back to the hotel. Not that he’d had a choice. He looked at Renee standing on the pool patio, the wind from the helicopter rotors blowing her dark hair into streamers.
Max noticed that Renee didn’t look scared.
She looked pissed.
And not at him, for once, which was nice. Max’s intuition told him that their little meeting with Ian Williams had cemented Renee’s resolve.