La Mexicana

by Navi' Robins

  Donald was in a trance until static filled his head from his communications device. Tapping his ear a few times, the voice of Agent Shore eventually filled his ear with news that slightly made the most recent debacle worth it.

  “Sir, we have them.”

  “Have who?”

  “Agent Turner and Rose Ayala.”

  “What? Where?” Donald asked, gaining a second wind and leaping to his feet. “We are at the top of the hill on the west side of the valley, sir.”

  “Are they secured?”

  “Yes sir, neither of them is going anywhere.”

  “Great! I’ll be there in five. Keep them alive and secure until I get there.”

  “Copy that, sir.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Deadly Debriefing

  When Donald arrived where his agents were holding Brian and Rose captive, Rose was hysterical, wailing on her hands and knees as she looked at the aftermath of the devastation in Chalco. Her screams of pain were so sharp and engulfing, Donald felt the emotions vibrate his chest and he immediately wanted her to shut up.

  “Why is she still making all that noise? Anyone looking for them could locate her within seconds.”

  “Sir?” Agent Shore inquired. He was puzzled by Donald’s complaint after he told him to keep the two of them alive.

  “I said alive, I didn’t mean kicking and screaming alive. Shit, Agent, can’t you think outside of a direct order?”

  “I can, sir, but doing that usually leads to a bullet in the back of my head.”

  Donald shook his head and chuckled. Although his statement was annoying, it was also very true. Looking around, he noticed another woman lying face down in the dirt, her lifeless body lying in a pool of blood that was diluted by the downpour.

  “Who’s that?” Donald asked, pointing at the corpse on the ground.

  “Don’t know, sir, but she came out of nowhere and attacked us with a knife when we found these two. Agent Linden lost an ear before we could put her down.”

  “Hmph, I guess the concept of never bringing a knife to a gunfight escapes you people,” Donald said, while looking Rose in her eyes. Rose ignored him as she continued to be tormented by the valley of the damned.

  “I see you’re admiring your brother’s handiwork.”

  Rose immediately looked up at Donald, searching his eyes for the truth.

  “Oh, you didn’t know? Yes, your brother ordered an artillery strike on the two hills there and the fucking idiot didn’t consider how weather affects terrain, especially six-hundred-foot elevations covered in tons of loose topsoil. His ignorance caused the worst disaster in Chalco’s history. I estimate around five to six thousand people dead, and double that injured and homeless. If he ever had alliances, they are long gone, because now he’s officially labeled a terrorist. Congratulations, you’re the sister of Hector Bin Laden.”

  Gritting her teeth and covering her ears, Rose shook her head wildly, trying to get Donald’s voice out of her head. Looking on the other side of her, Donald turned his attention to Brian, who was also in shock at the disaster in the valley.

  “And you…how could you turn your back on your country over a piece of pussy? After everything that Uncle Sam did for you, making you the man you are today. After all of that, you turn around and ejaculate all your patriotism in this whore’s cesspool.”

  Brian looked him directly in the eyes and said nothing, but from the raging fire that burned in his eyes, Brian communicated everything he was thinking. His stare instantly chilled Donald’s blood and he broke eye contact and pointed at the valley, attempting to bring attention to something else.

  “Your allegiance to these animals have proven unfruitful. Look at that shit! Who does shit like that?”

  “Men like you,” Brian responded, while slowly rising to his feet. The other agents moved in closer with their weapons aimed at Brian. Brian ignored their guns as he slowly walked towards Donald. Donald tried his best to avoid eye contact with a man he secretly feared more than anyone or anything in his life.

  “All of this is on you. Yeah, Hector pulled the trigger, but had you not been down here trying to pull off a bank robbery, maybe all those people would still be alive. Those children could have seen another day, tucked away in their beds for a good night’s sleep. But no…your greed brought this on. You pushed a desperate man to do the unthinkable and now you want to pretend your presence here had no effect on the current events. I’m wondering how you escaped and how many people you could’ve saved, had you brought them along with you. No, Donald Hamlin…you are as much to blame as Hector is and I promise you, I will make sure you won’t see your beloved ‘country ‘tis of thee’ ever again. You will die here in Mexico; among the people you casually call animals.”

  Donald cowered away as Brian read him like an open book and made a promise that Donald was almost certain he would die to keep. Brian rarely made guarantees or promises and for over a decade, he’d never failed to fulfill a single one. Knowing just how brutal Brian was, made Donald pull out his sidearm and aim it at Brian, warning him to stop moving. Brian ignored him and continued to walk towards him. Rose looked on in confused terror as Donald continued to yell for Brian to stop moving and Brian refused to stop walking. The closer Brian got to him, the more Donald’s nerves came unhinged. Without warning, Brian bolted towards Donald and Donald fired two shots into Brian’s chest. The force of the bullets sent Brian reeling backwards, causing him to lose his balance on the wet edge of the cliff. Brian’s body freefell into the dense jungle below and disappeared. Rose screamed in horror as she tried to reach out for him before watching him fall to his death.

  “Shit! What a fucking waste!” Donald yelled, while he holstered his sidearm. “He was the best we had. Oh well, fuck it! Grab her and let’s go.”

  “Where to, sir?” Agent Shore asked.

  “Hector’s compound, he lost most of his men in this ‘fuckfest’ so with the remaining men we have, backed up by the Escorpiones, we can easily take that compound.”

  “How do you know he survived, sir?”

  “Oh, that bastard survived. He’s a slippery fucker and tough as nails.” “He’ll kill Ahmed before he lets us have him.”

  “That’s a possibility, but I have a contingency plan for that scenario. So, let’s move out now. Agent Shore?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Let the Escorpiones know what we are planning and get those unorganized idiots ready for a final assault on Hector’s compound. With Brian out of the way, we have no ‘wild cards’ to worry about. Let’s finish this and get paid.”

  “Yes sir!”

  Donald swallowed hard and licked his lips, staring at Rose as their armored vehicle rumbled along the unpaved road towards Hector’s compound. Looking down, Donald’s eyes looked over her shapely thighs encased in a pair of jeans so tight it appeared they were painted on her. His eyes slowly moved between her legs, hoping for a glimpse of her center’s imprint. As his vision moved closer to its objective, he became entrenched in his desire to see her without the clothes. They prevented him from seeing what drove his most skilled and dedicated agent off the reservation. Rose began to side eye Donald as she noticed his laser gaze between her legs and quickly crossed them while sucking her teeth.

  Cerdo asqueroso (Nasty pig)

  Noticing he’d been discovered, Donald sat up straight while clearing his throat. The next forty minutes was a quiet, yet bumpy ride that seemed to scream the song of uncertainty and fear. No one knew what to expect as they embarked on the next phase, and after the devastation they’d just escaped, no one felt confident they would live beyond this wet and humid night.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The Fall of Troy

  “Hector! Hector! Hector! I have something you want and you have something I need!” Donald yelled through the loudspeaker on top of the armored vehicle. Donald’s condescending tone caused Hector to cringe as he observed through the monitors in his office, the numerous armored vehicles and
soldiers at his gate. Wiping the sweat and dirt from his face, Hector turned to Ramiro standing beside him. “We don’t have enough men to fight them off, do we?” Hector asked a solemn looking Ramiro.

  “No Rey, we do not. But the men we have left are loyal and will fight to the death, which will give you enough time to escape.”

  Shaking his head, Hector walked over to the black leather couch in his office and flopped down on it, while exhaling forcefully.

  “There is no escape for me now. After what happened in Chalco, there’s no way I’m ever going to leave this place alive.”

  “But Rey, we can—”

  Holding up his hand, Hector interrupted his friend and said, “It’s okay, brother. I deserve whatever is coming to me and now my sister is also paying for my sins. I have accepted my fate willingly, but I won’t accept my sister paying for what I did. Although what I did was a mistake, it was an unforgivable mistake, and I know God will want my life in exchange for all those…all those…”

  Hector leaned forward and placed his head in his hands, and yelled in them. He began to shake uncontrollably as the images of children buried alive filled his mind, their little bodies covered in mud, grey and lifeless. Ramiro looked on as he tried to relate to Hector’s regret, but as much as he tried, he couldn’t. The only thing that concerned him was the small army at the gate.

  “Rey, you know if we stay what I’ll be forced to do. But if you are sure you want to stay and fight, then I will fight by your side ‘til my last breath. Carnales hasta la muerte.” (Brothers in arms until death.)

  Hector looked up at Ramiro with crimson eyes filled with remorse and nodded his head in agreement. If they were going to fight to the death, he would make sure he took as many of the invaders with him.

  “Shall we prepare, Rey?” Ramiro asked, staring at Hector with eyes burning with renewed aggression.

  “Si carnal. Vamos a darles una cálida bienvenida a estos cabrones.” (Yes brother. Let’s give our guests a very warm welcome.)

  Outside the gates of the compound, Donald rocked back and forth in his seat in the back of the armored vehicle. Hector’s silence infuriated Donald to madness, so he decided to get his attention by pulling Rose out of the vehicle. Dragging her by her hair, he threw her down in the dirt on her knees and aimed his sidearm at the back of her head. Looking up at one of the cameras mounted on the fifteen-foot wall, Donald cocked his handgun and pressed it forcefully on the back of Rose’s head.

  “Give me what I want or I’ll splatter her beautiful head all over this dusty fuck of a road! Do you hear me, Hector? Give me Ahmed! You have ten seconds!

  One… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six… Seven…

  Eight… Nine…

  “Let her go now!” Hector’s voice exploded through the loudspeaker system, momentarily startling Donald and his men.

  “You’re outnumbered, you arrogant son of a bitch! Most of your men died back there in that godforsaken valley,” Donald defiantly yelled back. “So, you are in no position to demand anything.”

  “Oh, I’m in the best position to demand everything, cabron (asshole). You see, I have what you came here for—Ahmed. Without Ahmed, everything that you’ve done here, all the people you’ve killed will be in vain, and you’ll be going back empty-handed to some very powerful people. You have a lot of checks to write and if I kill Ahmed right now, you’ll have nothing and I can guarantee you won’t live much longer, after you inform everyone there’s no money. Although you have my sister, I have access to the money…all the money. So how about you remove that gun from my sister’s head and let’s talk business. Otherwise, the next gun that goes off will be aimed at Ahmed’s head.”

  Donald gritted his teeth while he leaned down and pushed the nozzle of his gun harder against the back of Rose’s head. Every killer instinct in him urged him to pull the trigger, but he knew that if Rose died, so would Ahmed and himself soon after. He’d spent hundreds of millions of dollars of other people’s money on this mission, with the promise of a sixty-four-billion-dollar payoff, and he couldn’t go back empty-handed. Some of the people awaiting their cut of this digital heist were some of the most powerful people in the world, and they didn’t take financial losses very well. It took Donald less than a minute to figure out he had no other option but to play Hector’s game, and he removed the gun from Rose’s head.

  “Okay, now what?” Donald yelled, angered beyond comprehension to be at Hector’s bidding. “Agent Hamlin, you and your agents can come in, no Escorpiones and…unarmed.”

  “Over my dead body! You think I’m that stupid to walk in your compound unarmed?”

  “Sixty-four billion dollars, Mr. Hamlin, awaits you on the other side of that steel gate. But you have to come get it. If you rather hold onto Rose there and see how much you can get for her, then that’s your call. My sister is very beautiful, but I doubt she’s sixty-four billion dollars beautiful. So, if you want Ahmed, you and your agents are gonna have to come in here unarmed. You have ten seconds to comply before I make other arrangements for Mr. Basara.”

  One… Two… Three… Four…

  “You motherfucker!” Donald yelled, while kicking the dirt and spinning around like a mad man. Five…

  Six… Seven…

  “Fuck you! Fuck you, Hector, with the sick dick of a donkey, you piece of Mexican shit!” Unbothered by Donald’s insults, Hector continued to count.

  Eight… Nine…

  “Okay…okay…you win. We’ll come in unarmed,” Donald yelled, while spitting and raising his arms in the air.

  “Good choice, Agent Hamlin. Are you hungry? I have some piping hot pito de burro enfermo (diseased donkey dick) fajitas waiting for you.”

  Asshole, Donald thought, as he reluctantly began to disarm himself. Five minutes later, Donald, Rose, and the remaining five agents he brought with him walked through the gates, leading into Hector’s massive compound. What was once the vibrant production hub of Hector’s drug operation was now a ghost town, with only a few armed guards watching as they strolled towards the large mansion, situated in the middle of the compound. Two armed guards escorted the group inside the mansion and within a few minutes, they were standing inside Hector’s office, staring each other down with deep-seated hatred.

  Having had enough of the silence, Donald decided it was time to get the show on the road. “Okay, we’re here, unarmed and willing to negotiate. So, where’s Ahmed?”

  “He’s around,” Hector responded sarcastically.

  “He’s around? Hector, I don’t have time for games. I can still snap this bitch’s neck in a second. So, don’t let my lack of guns give you a false sense of power. I’m done playing games here. Give me Ahmed and maybe I’ll let you two die together. If not, I’ll make sure both of you suffer for as long as possible.”

  “I’m ready to die, but are you, Agent Hamlin?”

  “Not necessarily. I’m not a ride or die kind of guy. Now, give me Ahmed; now or else!” “Or else what?”

  “Or else this!” Donald replied, while nodding in Ramiro’s direction. Suddenly Hector was kicked behind his knees, lifting his body almost vertically in the air. While his body was airborne, Ramiro lifted his left leg in the air in an almost standing split and brought his foot down on Hector’s chest. The force of Ramiro’s scissor kick sent Hector crashing down to the floor. Hector’s eyes bulged, and his mouth flung open as the intense pain of Ramiro’s strike and his body colliding to the floor exploded throughout his body. The loud thud of his body hitting the floor was a “go” sign, and immediately afterward, Donald and the other five agents sprang into action, disarming the other two guards and breaking their necks within seconds. Hector tried to roll on his side, but Ramiro placed his foot on his chest, holding him down while he pulled out his sidearm and pointed it at his head. Hector looked up at Ramiro as the shock of betrayal erupted on his face, much to the amusement of Agent Hamlin.

  Seeing Hector on the ground caused Donald to jump up and down with childlike exc
itement.

  “Ha, haaaaa motherfucker! I bet your tortilla-eating ass didn’t see that coming, did you? Ramiro, the brother you never had, turns out to be my brother, motherfucker! One of my best deep-cover agents planted right under your nose, and you didn’t have a clue.”

  Suddenly, Donald ran over and kicked Hector across the head with the force of a striker soccer player. Hector’s face immediately erupted in blood as Rose screamed in horror.

  “Please stop!” Rose cried.

  Donald pointed at Rose while looking down at Hector bleeding from his nose and mouth.

  “Don’t you worry sweetie, your turn is forthcoming,” Donald warned right before he began to stomp and kick Hector all over his body while Ramiro watched in amusement. Rose became hysterical as she watched Donald kick her brother to death, but Donald seemed to drown out her pleas and screams and continued to punish Hector’s body. A raging revenge for all the hardships he’d caused him. Breathing heavily while trying to adjust his hair, Donald stopped his violent outburst and took a few steps back to admire his handiwork. Hector’s face was beaten and bloodied to almost irreversible disfigurement.

  Leaning down, he looked Hector in his face and said, “Now, I’m not gonna waste my time trying to question you of Ahmed’s whereabouts in this huge mansion. I’m gonna use your beautiful sister over there to loosen your tongue. So take as long as you want to tell me what I want to know. Your loss and my gain. Ramiro?”