The Engineer

by Rachel Renee

  He needed someone to take out Jose. Or to punish him. Death was too easy. Life imprisonment sounded much better. With Jose out of the picture, Noel could have control of the entire business once more. With total control means complete access to all the funds. Why Noel couldn’t get to him himself, or with the help of Thompson, that I don’t understand.

  Until now… If Thompson let on what the real mission was, I wouldn’t have been sent in. My chief and I were led to believe the leaders were unknown, but it didn’t take me much time at all to find them. I knew that had been too easy. Was it arrogance that kept me blind to it? Thompson needed a way to get out of this mission unscathed, a scapegoat to close things down and allow him to escape with Noel, his Papa.

  29

  NOEL GIVES me a questioning glare as we pass. I’m perplexed at this moment. Do I let the man have the ashes of his wife?

  “Wait.” I snatch the box before Thompson is prepared for me to act. “He needs to give us something. He wants this, he releases hostages.”

  “The chances of him making it out of this alive are so minimal. Let him have this one thing.”

  “This one thing.” I shake the box without thought. “He’s already taken too much.” I point to the head of the man that’s still spiked next to the entrance like a sentry. “How many others has he done this to? How many women and children were abused, tortured under his rule? What about the countless others who lost their lives to drugs, the ones he has created? The very ones you planned to use the proceeds of to cushion your end of days!” I’m in his face, spit spraying him as I shout out my sentiment.

  “Calm down.” Thompson tries to push me off of him but I know how guys like him work and I was prepared.

  “I will not calm down. This is outrageous. What is happening here is asinine.” I move to the chief.

  “We aren’t going to let this happen.”

  I turn to the soldiers. “Arrest this man.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  Thompson reaches for me but I block his advances. “I can and I just have.” Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the glimmer of a smile on the chief’s lips. He doesn’t move to help or open his mouth to speak.

  Two soldiers grab Preston Thompson by either arm, dragging him from the area. He doesn’t protest much, other than to tell me whatever I think I’m doing won’t stick.

  At this moment, I don’t care. I don’t want him here now that I fully understand what he’s all about. I remember asking him on that first day if I should trust him. His that is yet to be determined response is coming back to plague me. It was decided at the very beginning, I just didn’t realize it then. Despite his warnings, I wanted to believe he was a changed man. Hoped he would hold on to his promise to uphold the truth within our agency. Corruption has yet again become the downfall of another agent.

  “Bring him back,” Noel calls from behind the door.

  “That time has come and gone. If you had one of us retrieve your most beloved, this little plan may have stayed buried. You may have left here on your own accord, met with your son on the little island you’d prearranged to spend the rest of your lives on. You’re right, though. You got greedy.”

  I saw the look in his eye before he acted. Selena was being held by her long, dark hair, a rather large knife dug into her neck. He shoved her face right up against the window in the door. “Say good-bye to your beautiful friend.”

  “You wouldn’t. She’s your biggest bargaining piece.”

  “You sent one of my requests away, the other you are holding captive. Right now, I don’t see how this is going to end in my favor. Instead, one more head to add to the count looks better than anything you’re offering.”

  “Here. Take your wife. Let her go. A life for a life. I think that’s a fair trade.” I push the box out toward the door.

  “You would.” He lets her go though, tossing Selena to the side again. “Hand her to me first.” His hand is out of the window, reaching for the box.

  “No chance. Open the door and let Selena out first. Or, we can make the exchange at the same time.”

  “I never said I would let her out. Just trading her life, for my wife. I won’t kill her right now.”

  “That’s the thing. Right now aren’t comforting words to me. It means as soon as you have your precious box, Selena’s life becomes a bargaining tool once more.”

  We argue over this for a couple of minutes. Neither of us willing to concede to the other.

  “What would you do if I dumped her out?” I attempt to unlatch the box.

  “This whole place blows. You wouldn’t even be able to retreat. Hell, those men over there are in range.” His hand is pointing toward the front of the fenced-in area.

  He’s full of it. There’s no way he has enough explosives in there to take out this whole place. He’d have boasted of it already. The latch is unhooked, the small black bag inside scooped up in my hand.

  “No,” he growls. “This is not where her final resting place will be. Fine. I’ll give you some hostages. Selena stays put. As you’ve said, she’s my biggest bargaining chip.” He doesn’t take a breath.

  The first concession he’s made and it will be the only one I’m going to allow. Honestly, I don’t even plan to follow through with it. Once that door is open, I’m going in. Or looking for the opportunity to. One way or another, this has to end soon. The back and forth has gone on too long. I said I wasn’t a hostage negotiator and I meant it.

  Noel disappears for a few moments and then returns. Murmurs of others close by can be heard from behind the closed door. “You stand back.” He points his finger at me.

  “Don’t you want your wife?”

  “I do. After,” he adds. “When I open this door to let these people out, you better not be anywhere near the entrance.”

  I throw up the three-finger salute. If I was never a boy scout and I don’t honor that promise, is there any harm done?

  All it takes is a look. Lieutenant knows what I’m up to and he’s on board. With a nod of my head, he moves in from the left. Unless Noel changes direction, he won’t see him coming. I stand back as I said I would, but move to the right, slowly out of view as the man unlocks the door.

  My hands are sweaty and I wipe them against my pants leg.

  “Where are you?” Noel calls out, his head swinging left and right, trying to peer through the window. “I have to keep my eye on you the whole time.”

  I move a little into his line of vision.

  “Not too close. Just want to be able to lead the hostages to a safe place. By the way, how many are you letting loose? How much is your wife worth to you?”

  “You’ll get five. Still plenty more to be used to light the place up.”

  His words strike me. Lieu picks up on it too and slows his approach. My plan may be too dangerous to attempt.

  The door is cracked open and Noel shouts once more. “I’ll let them out one at a time. After the fifth one, I’ll lock the door and you will bring me my wife’s ashes. Slide them through the opening. Any funny business and I’ll press it.” His hand juts out of the small opening, a little black device in his palm, his thumb hovering over detonate.

  We watch in silence as the first victim is shoved through an opening I would barely fit through. A woman, young, less than twenty and very pregnant, waddles slowly out. Her eyes are wide and you can physically see the rise and fall of her chest.

  “Come this way,” I call out to her.

  A small belt is wrapped around her protruding stomach, wired and ready to explode at the press of that button Noel has hold of. “Noel,” I yell. “Are all the hostages strapped like this?”

  “No, not all. Everyone coming out to you is.” His southern twang rings out with his answer.

  “What if we free them of their burden? Is that against your rules?”

  “Once they’re out there, I guess they become your burden. You can do what you want with the people, but if the bombs leave the compound, they’ll blow.”<
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  I sigh, frustrated with the situation. Even if the hostages are freed of the bombs, the bombs will still be capable of destroying the rest of us. When the woman finally reaches me, I take a look at how the explosives are attached to her. He’s literally got them strung up on a thick belt. All I need to do is press the sides of the buckle in and it’ll be loose. The pregnant woman will be freed.

  My hand continues to sweat as I attempt to unlatch her. She’s unmoving, realizing the finality of a mistake. The moment she’s unwrapped, one of the soldiers grabs her, ushering her quickly toward a waiting vehicle. We will get these hostages out of harm’s way, one person at a time.

  The door is spread open before I’ve laid the bomb on the ground. I’m surprised to see an old man among the people being released. He waddles as well, even slower moving than the woman. “You may know that one. Take a good look, Liam.”

  I lower my eyes, squinting to take a good look through the bright afternoon light. “Luis,” I call out. The letter carrier from the factory. How did he end up here? He perks up at the mention of his name, recognition in his glare. “Let me help you get out of that belt,” I say to him. He appears to not have eaten in days, his bones protruding under his skin, the button-up shirt ripped open, revealing all. “These men will get you help.” Two more soldiers surround us and help Luis travel away from the bombs.

  The third hostage is agile, young, and in fantastic shape considering what else we’ve witnessed. She saunters over, almost too carefree. The other thing I find odd…she smells clean. Once she’s unbuckled, and the soldier starts to take her away, I whisper in his ear. “We need to talk to this one. Something is off about her.” He breathes in and his brows raise, understanding hitting his senses.

  After the fourth hostage comes out in the same fashion as number three, smiling and extremely relaxed, I’m beginning to wonder who Noel has locked away with him. Not that I want to let anyone die, but if these people are here of their own accord, we might second guess our previous notion of who really wants to be saved. And are these explosives truly explosives?

  Lieu is on the other side of the door now. He’s crouched low, waiting for his moment to pounce. I shake my head no, maybe we should wait. He nods his forehead in agreeance.

  “This is your last one. I better get my wife as soon as this door is locked or all those bombs you have lying on the ground will blow you and your team of soldiers clear to the other side of Mexico City.”

  “If you did that, this little box would be no more. All of this”—I wave my hand around the camp—“would have been for naught”

  His bottom jaw drops as if he hadn’t thought that through. “I better get that box,” he reiterates. “A deal’s a deal. I’ve kept up my end, and I’ll know if you’re a man of your word when you keep up yours.”

  The more I think about it, the more I’m realizing if Noel genuinely wants to secure his wife’s ashes, he’s not going to blow anything up. I should be more worried about someone losing their head than losing my own in an explosion. That is, at least until I’ve given up my one bargaining tool.

  When the door opens for number five to be released, I reach into the box and quickly pull out the black bag, shoving it in my jacket pocket. After the woman is secure, another just as chipper as three and four, I move to deposit the box in Noel’s awaiting hands.

  “Here you go. The box that held your wife’s ashes.”

  He hastily grabs at it, caressing the wood and speaking in hushed tones as if what remains inside still has feelings. There’s a demented look in his eyes after a moment, his right one twitching and the left at half-mast. His hand reaches out of the window, the detonator encapsulated in it.

  He’s going to set off the bombs anyway. I should’ve known. His thumb is hovering. All it would take is a simple tap. Reaching in my pocket, I pull out the bag and swing it lightly in the air. “I knew you’d pull a stunt like that. I kept some insurance. All you have is the box.”

  His growl is loud and the door shakes from impact. “Bring her to me now!”

  “Or what?”

  He doesn’t know how to answer me. Disappearing from view, he gives us time to formulate our next move. We’ve waited long enough, and now that he understands the price he has to pay, he knows what we’re willing and not willing to do.

  “You let everyone go, including Selena. That’s when you’ll get your wife back. The thing you risked everything to get to.”

  He doesn’t answer or appear back in the window. The bomb squad is in the process of eliminating the threat out here. It doesn’t take them long, the sequence predictable and easy to defuse. “What’s it going to be, Noel? We’re waiting, but losing patience the longer it takes for you to answer.”

  Still nothing. “Giving you five minutes.”

  “What will happen then?” we hear from inside the bunker. It’s not Noel asking, but another familiar voice curious as to what we’re going to do.

  “Thiago. I’d say it’s nice to see you again, but the situation doesn’t lend itself to niceties.”

  “I knew you were an informer. It was written all over your face. Dom had us all fooled. He was the only reason we even believed you were who you claimed to be.”

  “Dom had me fooled too. We’ve got one thing in common. Where’s Noel?” I ask. “We’re ready to get this over with.”

  “Not sure. He told me to hold down the fort and ran off.”

  “Is there another way out?”

  “Why would I tell you that?”

  I signal to Lieutenant to survey the land around the bunker. Though it goes partially underground, there’s a possibility of a tunnel exit further into the property. If he’s planning to sneak attack, I need to know.

  “Did you have anything to do with what happened to Miguel?” I tilt my head toward the one on the spike.

  “It was his fault.” Thiago’s eyes never stray from mine. He won’t even look in the direction of his old friend. “I had nothing to do with it though.” As those words leave his lips, Noel resurfaces, pushing Thiago out of sight.

  “My five minutes are about up, what’s it going to be?” He throws my words back at me. “Am I pressing the button or are you giving me my wife?”

  “Press the button. The bombs were defused.”

  “Maybe the ones on the belts were, but I’ve made sure Plan B was set into action.”

  “Plan B?” What could he have been up to?

  “Guess you’ll have to wait and find out. Or, give me the bag, and we can be done with it.”

  “But it won’t be done. This isn’t over until the hostages are all released and you’ve exited the bunker.”

  “So you aren’t going to give me the ashes?”

  I shake my head side to side.

  The door opens unexpectedly and Selena is shoved out it. There’s a gag in her mouth and enough explosives strapped to her to blow up the entire surrounding area. “You’ll notice a timer on that one. No one will clear those in under five minutes. Too many possibilities. And, in case you were wondering, you can’t take that vest off her or it will activate the sensor and set the thing off.”

  I move closer to Selena. One, to get a good look at what we’re dealing with. And two, to show resistance. “If she goes, we all go.” I hold up the bag.

  “I guess it’s come to that.”

  Noel slides the barrier to the window shut and the timer on Selena’s chest begins counting down from five minutes.

  30

  “I WASN’T PLANNING to die on my first mission, but here we are.” Those words slide out in a sigh as the gag is removed from Selena’s mouth. “At least it wasn’t a complete failure. I got all those women and children to safety. I saved them.” She hiccups back a few tears and tries to see some positive in all of this.

  “You did. You’ll get the chance to save countless others.” I want to stay positive too. She lowers her eyes, shaking her head to and fro.

  The men who are trained to defuse bombs are on us befor
e I have to say a word. “We’ll do what we can,” the captain tells us.

  “I hate that it’s come to this. These men know what they’re doing so don’t lose hope.”

  “It’s hard not to. I can’t stop thinking about all the things I haven’t accomplished. I truly did want to be a nurse practitioner.”

  “When we get through this, I want you to tell me how you ended up in the agency when your heart was set on another career path.”

  “I’m not getting out of this. And, if you don’t clear the area, neither are you.”

  Lieu rounds the corner of the building, out of breath and clearly wanting to say something. He hasn’t noticed Selena yet, but the moment he lifts his head from his knees, he spots her.

  “We’ve got four minutes.”

  His breath is shallow when he speaks. “There’s a tunnel, underground, that leads to the building. We better act fast.” He looks at Selena. “How many more hostages?”

  “A handful. All his lackeys.”

  Lieutenant looks to me. “Do we even care if he blows himself up? Selena is freed, everyone else is there under their own volition. If we can stop this bomb, I’m willing to forego the rest of them.”

  We don’t have time to hash out a plan or decide it’s the right thing to do. If we’re going in, we have to act now. If there’s a chance we can shut the bomb down from the little controller Noel has, it’s worth a try to get inside. “The switch may be the only thing we have time for. The squad is working diligently, but even they don’t know if it’s possible.”

  “Let’s go then.”

  I follow Lieu. Racing against time, we run at a pace neither one of us are used to. The entrance is nothing but a sewer grate, steps are rusted, but it may be the only chance to save Selena. After all, she’s the reason we even gave in to any demands. We wanted Noel, but his life can be sacrificed for the greater good. I’m hoping he doesn’t take the rest of us down with him.

  The tunnel is dark but we use the lights from our phones to guide the way. We are down to the last two minutes by the time we’re close enough to hear voices. There’s a small door in between us and the enemy. If they had guns, Lieu and I believe they would have used them by now. It would have been easy to shove one out the small window in the door and fire at will. Noel would have most likely still been captured but maybe he would have taken some of us down without much of a fight. So, possibly no guns—more than likely a bomb or two. Our objective is to get to Noel and take control of the detonation device.