by Mike Ryan
“Did you see what floor he was on?” Nicole asked, looking into the hallway and seeing multiple doors.
“Looked like the fourth.”
They continued their current path to the fourth floor, with one providing cover as the other one made it to the next floor. Once they got to the fourth floor, they stood there for a few moments, analyzing the situation. Every door on the floor looked closed. There were four doors on each side of the floor.
“We just start knocking on doors?” Nicole asked.
“If we do, make sure you stand next to it. I have a feeling whoever answers won’t do it by opening the door. They’ll answer by putting bullets through it.”
They were just about to move when more shots rang out. They were coming from above. Andujar had made it to the fifth floor. One of the shots hit the staircase railing that Bridge was standing next to. If the bullet hadn’t hit the wood railing, it probably would have hit Bridge in the leg. Bridge and Nicole scattered to the floor, immediately looking up to see if they had a shot. They didn’t.
“Well, we messed this one up,” Nicole said.
“At least now we know where he is.”
“To a point.”
Bridge leaned over to get a better glimpse of the next floor, making sure he didn’t do it too quickly and get his head blown off. As he saw the next floor fully, Andujar wasn’t there. He motioned to Nicole to follow him. He rushed up the steps, not wanting to wait and take the risk of Andujar returning and pinning them down for a prolonged period of time. As Bridge went up, he kept his gun pointed in front in case Andujar popped into his view again.
Once they got to the top floor, they looked down the hallway, finding the same setup as the last floor. Four closed doors on each side. They stood there for a few seconds, determining how they wanted to work this, as well as waiting to see if one of the doors opened with Andujar’s face on the other side of it. Suddenly, the first door to their right opened. Both Bridge and Nicole swung their guns around, ready to fire at the person opening it. They didn’t pull the trigger, though, as an elderly woman opened it. As soon as she saw the two guns pointed at her, she quickly shut the door. A second later, the same door opened a crack again. Bridge looked at it, seeing the woman’s eye looking out. Bridge motioned for her to get back inside. The woman opened the door a little further and motioned for Bridge to come to her. He wasn’t sure if this was some kind of trick and Andujar was actually inside, but he cautiously walked over to her, anyway. As he started talking to the woman, Nicole kept a sharp lookout in case one of the other doors opened.
“Are you looking for Diego?” she whispered in broken English.
“Yes. Do you know him?”
“Everyone here knows Diego. He’s bad news for everyone.”
“Why’s that?”
“He causes trouble. Brings bad people here. People here are afraid to leave their homes sometimes.”
“Why not call the police?”
“Here, sometimes the police are worse than the criminals.”
Bridge nodded. He knew that all too well. “Do you know where he is?”
The woman stepped out and pointed to the last door on the left. “That one.”
“You’re sure?”
“Oh yes. That’s his apartment.”
“OK. Thank you. You get inside and get down somewhere in case he starts shooting.”
“Don’t worry, everyone here does that anyway as soon as we hear the shots.”
“Except for coming out now.”
“Well, someone has to tell you where he is.”
Bridge smiled. “Thank you. Do you know the rest of the people on this floor?”
“Yes.”
“Call them all real quick and tell them to get down or hide behind something in case bullets start flying.”
“I will, but they’re all probably doing that already.”
“Good. You get in there now.”
“Good luck.”
The woman closed the door. Bridge turned back around to face Nicole. He put four fingers in the air, then pointed to the last door on their left. Nicole made a shaking motion with her hand, wanting to know if he was sure the information was good. He put a thumb up and nodded to indicate he thought it was. They quietly and slowly made their way down to the end of the hallway. They each set up on opposite sides of the door, Bridge to the right of it, Nicole to the left. Bridge then nodded at Nicole to make sure she was ready. She was. Bridge made a fist and then pounded the door three times and quickly got it out of the way.
“Diego! We know you’re in there!”
A few seconds passed. They were both somewhat surprised that no bullets came flying through the door. Bridge raised an eyebrow, then pounded on the door again, still making sure to stay to the side of it.
“Diego! Give yourself up now! Come out and you won’t get hurt!”
They waited a few more seconds. They both looked at each other, each a little surprised that they weren’t getting any kind of response. They assumed they’d get something. Bullets were the first thing they’d thought they’d get, but at the very least they thought they’d get a no. There was nothing but silence. Nicole looked at some of the other doors, wondering if the woman gave them bad intel. She looked at Bridge and motioned toward the other doors, wondering if they should check them. Bridge shook his head. He didn’t see the point of the woman intentionally giving them bad information. It wouldn’t serve any purpose.
Bridge took a few steps away from the wall. Nicole wasn’t sure what he was up to. He pointed to his leg, then the door, letting her know he was about to kick it in. He then pointed to his eyes and the other doors, letting her know he wanted her to watch the other rooms, just in case. He’d take care of what was in front of him. It was her job to watch his back.
Bridge didn’t want to stand in front of the door too long in case Andujar started firing through it. He quickly got himself set, then pounded the door with a big kick, the door flying open. As soon as it opened, Bridge dropped to the ground, not wanting to make himself a target in case Andujar was waiting for him. At least if he was on the ground, Andujar would be expecting a taller target, allowing Bridge enough time to take him out. There were still no bullets flying, though. Bridge quickly got to one knee as he surveyed the room from his position. It was quiet. Not a noise or a voice or a cough or anything that sounded like someone was moving in there.
Bridge got to both feet and went inside to check around. Nicole moved over to the door, standing within the frame to keep an eye on the hallway, trusting that her partner had her back as well. Bridge went into the kitchen, since that was the closest to him. From there, he checked the bedroom and bathroom. He came back out into the living room a minute later.
“He’s not here.”
Nicole kept her focus on the hallway. “He had to duck into one of these other doors then.”
“Maybe. Why didn’t he jump out and try to surprise us when we were standing outside of this one, though?”
“Maybe he’s hoping we think he somehow got away and that we’d leave.”
“I kind of doubt he’s that stupid. Or that he thinks we’re that stupid.”
“Never know.”
“Stay here.”
“Where are you going?”
“Another talk.”
Nicole stayed put, periodically looking at every door in case it opened. Bridge went back to the elderly woman’s apartment and softly knocked on the door. There was no answer at first. Then he knocked a little harder. After a few seconds, the door finally opened.
“Did you get him?”
“He’s not there,” Bridge replied.
“Oh.” The woman looked as confused as Bridge. “Hmm. Where could he have gone?”
“Is he friends with anyone else on this floor?”
“On this floor? Oh no. Everyone here hates him.”
“Would someone have opened the door for him?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Wher
e else could he have gone if not in one of these apartments?”
The woman rubbed her face for a second, then looked up at the ceiling at the far end of the hallway. Bridge noticed her looking there and put his gaze at the same location.
“What’s that?” Bridge asked.
“There are pull-down steps to go to the roof of the building. It’s just used for maintenance workers.”
“Or people who don’t want to be found. OK, you get back inside.” After the woman closed the door again, Bridge walked back down the hallway to Nicole and pointed up at the ceiling. “Roof access.”
“How’d he get to it?”
“Probably the same way I’m about to.” Bridge jumped up and put his hand on a piece of rope, pulling the steps down as he got back to the ground. As the steps came down, Bridge started walking up.
“Can he get down from there?”
“Don’t know,” Bridge replied. “But I guarantee he’s been looking to see if we left yet.”
“So he knows we’re still here.”
“Most likely. Let’s hope that nothing up here is so loud that it gives us away before we get there.”
They both ascended the steps, guns still out, knowing their target was likely not very far away. They eventually came across another door. This one was square and wooden. Probably the hatch to the roof. Bridge looked down at his girlfriend.
“This is it. Ready?”
“Go.”
Bridge slowly opened the hatch, hoping to get an eye on Andujar before he showed himself fully. He wasn’t so lucky. Andujar was nowhere in sight. Bridge opened the hatch a little more, hoping that the man he was looking for wasn’t somewhere behind the door. That would’ve put him at an extreme disadvantage. Especially if Andujar was watching him come up. Bridge opened the door all the way and stepped out onto the roof.
“Stop right there!” Andujar yelled.
Bridge’s shoulders slumped, and he tilted his head up. The voice was coming from behind. “I knew it.”
“Slowly turn around. One wrong move and I’ll kill you.”
Bridge slowly turned, keeping his arms out. “Aren’t you gonna do that, anyway?”
Andujar laughed. “Yeah. Call your girlfriend up here first, though.”
“Why?”
“That way I can kill you together. If I kill you first, then she’ll hear the shots and know I’m here. I’d rather do it the easy way.”
“Makes sense.”
“So do it. Or I will blow your head off.”
Bridge put his hands out. “Before you do that, one question.”
“What?”
“Whose idea was all of this?”
“What difference does it make?”
“Well, if I’m gonna die, I’d at least like knowing what I died for. I’d at least like to get some answers. Going with unanswered questions is like, bad or something, isn’t it?”
Andujar shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Was it all Ava’s idea?”
Andujar shrugged again. “I don’t know whose idea it was. Either Ava’s or Anson’s.”
“They were in it together?”
“Yeah. Said she was cut off from her father’s money and wanted it back.”
“So they cooked up the kidnapping scheme.”
“Yeah.”
“Where’d you fit in?”
“They hired me to do stuff.”
“Stuff like killing her father?”
Andujar smiled. “He’d outlived his usefulness.”
“But you could’ve gotten more money out of him. Why kill him now?”
“Because we were done with the scheme. Extorting more money out of him was only going to create more issues. Eventually he was going to wise up and call the cops.”
“Why didn’t Ava just go home?”
“I dunno. I think she was planning to. After his death, all the money would go to her, right?”
“In theory. You getting a bigger payday out of this?”
Andujar smiled widely. “You know it.”
“So where’d Ava and Hatch go now? Why are they always leaving you to deal with things?”
“Where they are now isn’t your business. You won’t need to know that where you’re going.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“All right, that’s enough talk. Get your girlfriend up here.”
Bridge nodded. He looked at the hatch. “I’m not exactly sure where she is. You mind if I go down and check?”
“Stay right there. Just call her.”
“You sure?”
“Positive. Do it.”
“Well, if you insist. Nicole! Can you come up here?!” Bridge looked at Andujar and smiled, wanting to keep his eyes on him instead of the hatch. “Should only be a minute or two.”
Nicole was on the top step and leaned over onto the roof, immediately getting eyes on Andujar. She opened up and fired three times before Andujar even knew what was happening. All three bullets found their mark in Andujar’s chest. As he dropped to the ground, Bridge ran over to him to take his gun away, just in case he still had a few breaths of life left and wanted to try to wreak more havoc. It didn’t matter, though. Andujar was gone. Nicole hopped up on the roof fully and walked over to the dead body, and stood over him.
“Well, I guess I’ll be able to remove the tracker now.”
Bridge nodded. “Seems like.”
“What now?”
“One’s down. Now we go for the rest.”
“How?”
Bridge started going through Andujar’s pockets. He eventually got hands on his phone and removed it. He held it up in the air and smiled.
“It worked once. It can work again.”
“I don’t know about that,” Nicole said.
“If we play it right, it will.”
Bridge couldn’t get into the phone yet as it was protected by a passcode or a fingerprint. Instead of fooling around with it, he simply looked down at Andujar’s body. He knelt down and took Andujar’s finger and put it on the phone to unlock it. He looked at Nicole, proud of himself.
“Easy as pie.”
“Assuming there’s something interesting in there.”
Bridge got another big smile on his face as he scrolled through the contacts. There was Hatch’s name. He showed it to his girlfriend. “I’d say that qualifies as something big, wouldn’t you?”
Nicole rolled her eyes. “They won’t fall for this again.”
“Sure they will. They just need something convincing enough.”
“And what will that be?”
Bridge thought for a second, then another huge grin came across his face. “I got it.”
“What?”
“One of us is dead.”
“What?”
“He just killed one of us.”
“Which one?”
“Let’s make it you.”
“Why’s it gotta be me?”
“‘Cause I’m in charge and I have the phone.”
Nicole groaned. “Uh-huh.”
“So I’ll just text him that I killed you. And when I say I, I mean Diego.”
“I kind of figured.”
Bridge couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. “And let’s just see where this goes.”
“Can’t wait.”
“I’m feeling better already.”
21
Bridge and Nicole got back to the car, not wanting to stay around dead bodies for too long, especially in Mexico. Bridge was always fearful of getting roped into something there, even if he was the one responsible for it. Bridge and Nicole debated what he should text Hatch when Bridge’s phone rang.
“Hey, it’s the Happster.” Bridge answered the phone. “What’s up, Eric?”
“Just wanted to see how you were making out on that timeline to Laredo?”
“Uh, yeah, there’s been a small…”
“Issue?”
“No. No, not an issue. Just a small…”
“Issue?”
> “Delay.”
“I knew I didn’t have to get anyone rolling towards there yet. See, I told you there’s always something.”
“It’s under control.”
“Well, considering you’re talking, I assume things at that last place you were worked out fine.”
“Yeah, kind of, sort of.”
Happ thought for a moment, then started laughing. “You lost her, didn’t you?”
“What?”
“Ava. You don’t have her anymore, do you?”
“Well, that’s kind of a fluid situation at the moment. I wouldn’t say—”
“You lost her.”
“She just temporarily slipped from our grasp. But it’s only a temporary situation.”
“She gave you the slip.”
“No. Nobody slipped away.”
“Then what?”
“Well, she may have hit Nicole over the back of the head when she wasn’t looking. And there may have been a car that pulled up and started shooting at me.”
“So you lost her.”
“I mean, I guess maybe something sort of, kind of, like that.”
“Is Nicole OK?”
“Yeah, just a pretty big headache and a pretty big anger problem to go with it.”
“Well, thank god for that. You still gonna head out to Laredo?”
“Yeah, but I’m not exactly sure what the time frame of that’s gonna be yet. We’ve got a new lead to check out.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, you can tell your Mexican government friends they can stop looking for Diego Andujar.”
“Why?”
“He’s dead.”
“I’m not telling them that.”
“Why not?”
“‘Cause then they’ll start asking how I know that and then I’ll either have to lie to them or I’ll have to tell them about you being down there.”
“Well, definitely don’t do the second option.”
“I’m not doing any option.”
“Is not telling them also a form of lying?”
“No. It’s just not sharing all the information that I have at the present time due to security concerns.”
Bridge laughed. “Spoken like a true… anyway, I’ve got Andujar’s phone.”
“So?”
“So… I’m gonna send Hatch a message and set up a meet. Then I grab him, Ava, and whoever else is there and wrap this thing up.”