Xposed

by Lynda Filler

  The wind howled. Rain whipped up the furious ocean. She hugged the palm trees and raced along the shore towards the pier.

  5

  JORGE GUNNED THE motor on the black GMC truck. At two in the morning, winds screamed, and rain pounded the windshield. The guys had been on Luci’s trail for three days.

  The roads in South America were terrible at best, maybe a little better in Mexico. But this was hurricane season. Roads washed out over the mountains. Rivers overflowed. The boys were tired, done. They wanted this job to be over. And they were worried. Moises was pissed. This broad killed his son. The boss wanted her to have a slow painful death. Right now, Jorge just wanted to make it a quick and messy death and get the hell out of here.

  “Where is that bitch? We must be getting close.” Jorge pulled into the Pemex station. He adjusted his mud-spattered jeans and tried to tuck in a black Polo t-shirt too tight to cover his distended belly. “I need to take a piss.”

  “I’ll call Moises’ guy and make sure we’re still heading in the right direction. This is the only highway going north from the border. It’s black like hell out there.”

  “I think that Hurricane will hit this friggin’ beach town tonight. I want to be gone, you hear me? Terminado!”

  “Yeah, yeah, I hear you, Jorge. Me too. Let’s find that bitch and get her and her kid back to Colombia. If they don’t go easy, we kill them both.”

  Joachim pulled out the map, trying to read from the overhead light. His stocky body was sweating from too much chili. Jorge slapped him across his bald head.

  “Idiota! Turn off the light!” He limped toward the bano, his leg sore where Luci almost severed an artery four months ago. They thought she was gone for good. Then a pimp in Uruguay reported a sighting of her and the kid hiding out in Montevideo. He got the information on her vehicle and reported it to the cartel. Now they were using some kind of satellite to follow her car. They could also see when she was parked. They had a location. The hunt was on again. Jorge was tired. He wanted to sleep a couple of hours in the parking lot and then get her before sunrise.

  “Get me black coffee and a torta in the OXXO. Meet me back at the truck. Leave the guns in the box under the floorboards. We passed those Federales on the highway. I’m not going to no Mexican prison. We gotta be careful.”

  6

  “WHAT? WHAT DO you mean she’s moving? It’s the middle of the night. Hurricane weather! She can’t be moving. Nothing’s moving out here.”

  A voice at the other end said they’d zoomed in on the motel on the beach and as of this moment, they could see a figure rushing along the shore.

  “How far is she?” Joachim screamed. Three days in the truck all for nothing? “The boss said failure is not an option. We’re not going back without her and that kid.”

  “We follow this road to the beach, the surfer motel is on the right, past the Bancomer in town.”

  They tore through the pueblo, hitting potholes big as ditches, and clipped the edge of an abandoned Tacos Pastor stand.

  “There, see the light, right there. That’s the place!” A rickety metal surfboard sign swayed dangerously in the raging storm.

  “Hold on.” Joachim listened on his cell phone. “Moises’ guy says they’re gone! Disappeared! That’s impossible! This fuckin’ weather!!”

  They grabbed their AK47’s, checked the clips and ran down the back lane towards the beach. Jorge tripped over an uprooted palm tree, smacked his head on busted coconuts and planted his face in rotting mangos.

  “Chingada!!!” He grabbed his fallen weapon and turned it to full automatic.

  “Number 14. There!”

  They rushed to the door, their noise masked by the persistent screaming of the tropical storm and bashed in the door.

  “Gone!”

  “The bed’s still warm. Can’t be gone long.”

  They ran from the room, their frustrated screams mixed with thunder and lightning.

  “Mira! Look!” Jorge pointed to a speedboat bouncing from pitch to pitch way offshore.

  “No one’s fishing in this storm. Shoot!”

  They both fired at the same time.

  No use. Out of range.

  They shook with frustration and anger.

  Drenched and pissed.

  “I don’t know about you Jorge, but I ain’t going out on that water for nobody. You?”

  “Nah. Maybe it’s not the woman and child. We just tell the boss they’re gone.”

  “I got a better idea. Let’s stay in Mexico. They got gangs, cartels, smuggling here. We go back to Columbia without the bitch and the kid, we’re dead.”

  “Nah man, we gotta go back!”

  Jorge was done. Before Joachim could react, Jorge sprayed him with his AK.

  “Sorry hermano. I’ve had enough of Columbia.”

  No one heard him over the rage of the storm. He took the cell phone, destroyed the chip, and threw it in the ocean. Then he dragged the body to where the swollen river drained into the sea. The crocodiles would eat it before morning.

  Jorge walked back to his car. He finished off the last of the torta and lit a Cuban cigar. Then he turned his car north towards Michoacán. He’d steal another car in the morning.

  An enforcer from Columbia is welcome anywhere. It was time to disappear.

  7

  LUCI STARED TOWARDS the shore. She could barely make out two bodies running along the beach. Must be Moises’ men. Damn! How had they found her?

  Their AK47’s would be useless at this distance. Still, she held Alice close and whispered loving words in her ear. She had no idea where she was going in the raging seas. Blind faith. She hoped Zach knew what he was doing.

  The go-fast boat powered through each wave with a ferocity that frightened her. The Mexican screamed to the gods of the sea! Using his radar, he pushed his boat into the black abyss.

  Samaar was an Israeli. Put her on the land, leaping over barricades, traversing buildings, jumping off cliffs, crossing deserts, and she was at home. But right now, she felt sick. This was Zach’s world, the sea. From under the ocean to the tallest mountains in Afghanistan, Zach loved it all. Not Samaar. One thing she did know for sure, she loved Zach. She trusted him with her life and that of her baby, Alice.

  Her crazy boatman broke into her thoughts. He was screaming words she couldn’t hear and pointing towards a thirty to forty-foot gunmetal grey tube floating between six-foot waves on the horizon. She’d never seen anything like it.

  Then she laughed out loud.

  Those Navy SEAL boys and their toys!

  This was getting very interesting.

  8

  LORENA PACED THE sunbaked terracotta tiles in the beach house. Waiting was always the hardest part. She tucked her shimmering black hair behind her ears braiding it while anxiously awaiting news. She caught her reflection in the window and acknowledged that at thirty-six she was in great shape. She worked out swimming in the lagoons and the ocean and hiking the trails on the mountains to the south around Vallarta.

  Her tired black eyes held sadness for past memories, and yet in some small way she’d found contentment in this seaside town on a remote beach not too far from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. She lit a candle on a simple altar she had created on a sill above her rustic dining table. She honored a photo of her husband Tony, her Mexican Mama and a letter to the child she had lost. And then she prayed for a woman named Samaar and a child she had yet to meet.

  The storm slammed her windows, and she thought about shuttering them. But it was comforting to watch the lightening plunging into the agitated sea. Mexico was now home to her. She’d grown to love her life on the hillside of the jungles of Yelapa. Her cat nuzzled her ankles, purring, lost in the comfort of her touch. She opened a can of cat food for Gato and put on a pot of coffee for herself. Should she call Zach for coffee? It was the middle of the night. Maybe he managed to fall asleep. He’d been so stressed earlier.

  Lorena turned towards her photographs while waiting for her cof
fee to brew. Some days she wished she could forget her past and start over. Let her memories go. Especially at moments like this when Zach was around. But her mind inevitably went back to her life before Yelapa. She missed Tony so much. They’d grown up together in Guaymas, Mexico. Then both their parents moved to Texas, and she and Tony both enrolled in Texas A & M. Their families had always known their children were meant for each other. And both she and Tony knew one day they would marry and live in New York City. Tony dreamt of being firefighter since he was a little boy. He was so proud the day he began his career. Lorena thought she’d found her passion when she followed in her father’s footsteps and was recruited by the FBI, NY station. They married and began their lives together. They were living the American dream. Until the World Trade Center bombings. And Tony’s funeral. And her miscarriage.

  And tonight, she prayed for another woman and her child, that they would not die but arrive safely.

  She prepared the kitchen table for two; she could hear Zach coming down the hallway.

  9

  Coastal Mountain Range, Canada

  “THIS IS TOO EASY. You want to control the world Sying? You’re going to have to take it from me. And that’s never going to happen!” Luke Raven, the elusive billionaire, laughed out loud.

  Raven strode from a portable computer terminal to the five-foot-square LCD on the north wall. A satellite view of North Korea dominated the room.

  “I am the gatekeeper, and if we’re not careful, this powder keg will erupt.”

  To his right, he could watch downtown Shanghai, the Jin Mao Tower to be exact. He’d tracked an opponent to this edifice. He turned to Russia. Gregorki was up to something again. And in the Middle East, Sharif was scheming, he could feel it. Disgusted, he turned away from another screen and the silent ranting of an ISIS leader.

  Everything that went on in his war rooms was protected by the worlds tightest security. No one could breach them. He’d designed each room with elements that were literally out of this world, and he manipulated all of it. Raven called them his ‘playgrounds.’

  “Maybe the government should have thought twice when they brought me inside.” He mused out loud. “The technology I’ve let them have and what I’ve kept for myself makes me the most powerful man on this planet. How can I trust this group in office to put the country’s interests first? They’re money hungry warmongers, in for the fast buck from whatever special interest group will pay them the most.”

  Luke took control of his emotions. He was a man of honor. A true American patriot.

  He opened the bar fridge next to his laptop. I need to chill out, he thought. He placed a Tully’s black coffee ice cube in his mouth. Then returned to an ongoing Chess game with the world’s top Chess Master in Australia.

  “Come on Max, don’t give up yet. You might actually beat me if you keep trying.” He made his move and closed his personal laptop.

  Luke sat down on a Yoga mat on the floor. From this position, he could watch Sying Li Ma at work in her office in Shanghai. The cyber-attack on the Office of Personnel Management of the United States government was a brilliant play on her part. Luke warned them three years ago. They didn’t listen. Those in power believed it was a Chinese Government hack. But Luke knew Sying’s work. He’d taught her at Caltech. And after the fact, the Government had contacted him to fix the damage. This was the play that required his most immediate attention. The President’s Security Council was confident it was a Chinese military intelligence play. Luke knew better.

  And now he had to clean it up.

  All he needed was a few more days.

  “She has no idea who she is working against now. I can destroy her.”

  10

  ALICE WHIMPERED IN fear. Destructive waves smashed against the side of the speedboat. Luci detested not being in control, but she had to trust that Zach would send only the best men to rescue her.

  Commander Mike Andrews grimaced as the Mexican fisherman strained to control his boat against the black apparition floating between huge waves. This new toy was still in the testing stages. U.S. Spec. Ops Command and sub-maker General Dynamics Electric Boat had partnered to develop a submersible mini-submarine. It was designed to dry-deliver Navy SEALs into hostile, high-threat areas beneath the surface of the ocean. In this case, it was going to be a ‘wet’ event.

  Mike could barely make out the woman protecting her child. He wondered why Luci was so important. Zach seemed to have the clout to use the SDV for civilian purposes. If he could get the pilot project down to Mexico to perform a rescue mission, this had to be a high-value-asset, someone critical to the security of the United States of America. Unless this mission was personal.

  Luci gawked at what must be one of Zach’s toys. She had never seen anything like it before. The excitement turned her on. Crazy. But that was the way she was wired. Violence, weapons, and intrigue. A lethal combination and a life she had tried to leave behind.

  It was time to accept that normal was never going to be in her vocabulary.

  The fishing boat got so close Luci feared they would collide with the sub. A Navy SEAL emerged from a hatch, jumped into the swirling waters and swam to their boat. Once he had connected her craft by cable, the commander could reel the boat closer. The SEAL attached Alice to a simple harness and hauled her over the ten-foot distance to the mini Sub. Luci was ready and right behind her.

  They successfully tumbled into the submersible, and another Navy man closed the hatch. Luci thanked the smiling group. Alice giggled as the sailors picked her up and kissed her.

  “Venture Mommy?” Big eyes looked to her mother for reassurance.

  “Yes baby, this is an adventure.”

  Within a few moments, Alice snuggled into her mother’s arms and fell fast asleep.

  Luci had no idea where they were going. But as the Sub descended slowly she too relaxed and allowed the hum of the quiet engine to lull her to sleep.

  11

  ZACH COULD SMELL the coffee, and he wanted to share the news.

  “Zach, Buenos Dias. I just made a fresh pot of coffee. Come, sit. Did you sleep well?”

  “Yeah, for a bit. I wanted to share the news. My buddies picked up Samaar and Alice around Huatulco and should be here in the next hour.”

  “Perfect. I have a room prepared for them. They’ll be tired. I was just going to make some chilaquiles so have a seat in the kitchen and bring me up to date on what’s been happening in your world.”

  Zach and Lorena talked about their lives, filling in the blanks of the last few years.

  “When we worked together on the task force in NYC, we never had time to really get to know each other. Zach, tell me about your childhood. You’re Israeli, right?”

  “Yeah, I never talk about it. My memories are short and bittersweet. My parents were Messianic Jews, born in Israel—as was I. They moved to Lebanon when I was a kid. My mom was a Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and my dad an Archeologist. They hated Sadaam Hussein and got caught up in the Civil War. I was too young to understand what was going on. They were recruited by the CIA and murdered in Beirut when I was six.” Zach stopped, momentarily choked up.

  Lorena was appalled and saddened.

  “I’m so sorry Zach. I didn’t know.”

  She listened to the winds, the smashing waves of the ocean and waited for Zach to continue. She really wanted to take him in her arms and console him. But Zach had never seemed to be open to that type of warmth from her.

  “Yeah. It was a terrible time. I was waiting for my parents to return and they never did. So, I went looking for them. I was scared. People on the streets were screaming. Fires everywhere. I don’t remember much, but later I was told that my parents’ CIA control was with them. He found me standing on a pile of rubble with the jawbone of an ass in my hand brandishing it like a weapon. I was traumatized and couldn’t speak. And didn’t speak for three months.’

  He stopped to take a drink of his coffee.

  “They tried to find
family in Israel to take me. I don’t know why they wouldn’t. The family must have been afraid of reprisals from Iraq or Lebanon. Or maybe they didn’t approve of my parents and their decision to speak out against what was going on at the time. In any case, the US wouldn’t leave me behind and brought me to San Diego. Eventually, a high-ranking Military Commander in Coronado adopted me.”

  Lorena waited. This was more than Zach had ever revealed before.

  “The rest is history or will be one day after I die. My author friend Lynda will get my journals and publish my story.”

  Zach smiled at Lorena. His hands rested on the table. She glanced at his long fingers. He could have been a musician, a scholar like his parents. Instead, he became an assassin for his country. She looked away, tears in her eyes. She couldn’t deal with the sadness in his gentle blue eyes.

  She’d always found Zach sexy but never acted on her feelings. He was a tall, lean, buff Navy SEAL; a bleached blond California surfer boy to an outsider, a Sabra to those in the know. Yeah, Zach was hot. But she sensed he was not available. And no one wants to be rejected.

  The moment was stolen by the sudden beeping of Zach’s iPhone.

  12

  SYING LI MA was the most dangerous woman in China, but no one knew it. She was also the wealthiest. And no one knew that either.

  At twenty-nine years of age, a graduate of Caltech, she ran CIG Shanghai. Her specialty was investments in internet start-ups and high-tech ventures. Her real wealth came from drugs, arms procurement, and nation-state global espionage. She was open to anything that could increase her immense wealth. She was never satisfied.

  Sying was a frustrated Empress.

  She was born in California of Chinese immigrants. She grew up despising the smell of Chinese food and denying her humble origins. She created a fantasy world where she was actually the daughter of an Emperor, stolen at birth by a group who wanted to usurp the Emperor and control all of China. Left by the side of the road to die, she was found by the humble people who immigrated to California and brought her up.