by Matt Rogers
The Mover’s phone.
There was no caller ID on the screen. Just a random number. King hesitated, considering letting the call go to voicemail. He hovered a finger over one of the buttons.
‘Answer it,’ Raul said. ‘Just don’t say anything. See who it is.’
King nodded silently, and took the call. He switched the phone to loudspeaker and stayed quiet. Wondering if it might be the man’s employer checking in on him.
A voice crackled to life, blaring through the quiet of the hotel room. ‘Well, if it isn’t just the man I wanted to talk to. And Raul, I see you’re tagging along with him. That’s awfully rebellious of you. Why didn’t you do your time like you were supposed to, huh?’
Rico.
King glanced across to Raul, whose face had turned pale. He saw Raul’s hands beginning to shake. Utter fear. Not many people could evoke such a reaction.
There was no use staying silent. Rico was onto them.
‘How did you know?’ King said.
‘I run a tightly oiled ship,’ Rico said. ‘That’s how I got to where I am today. By clawing my way up through the disgusting ranks of society and sticking to the game plan. And that game plan involves regular check-ins from every dealer I have out on the streets. This guy missed his. Which must mean he’s dead, because I do not tolerate ineptitude.’
‘He’s not dead. I knocked him out.’
‘Oh. Well, when he crawls back here I’ll be sure to finish him off.’
‘What do you want?’
‘You shot me. You broke my arm. You don’t do that to someone like me.’
‘You put me in prison for something I didn’t do.’
‘You’re fucking right I did. And you should have shut your mouth and done everything I told you to. Yes sir, no sir, of course sir, right away sir. You clearly have no idea who I am.’
‘I don’t care who you are. Or how powerful you think you are. You know the thing about people like you?’
‘What’s that?’
‘Everything in you breaks just as easily.’
‘See, the way you’re talking shows how much of an amateur you are. You’re out of your depth here.’
‘I seem to have gotten away with it.’
‘Not really.’
‘Oh?’
‘Ask Raul how his family’s doing.’
An icy atmosphere descended over the hotel room. King felt his heart rate increase as his worst fears were confirmed. Raul’s mother and sister hadn’t fled. They weren’t hiding away somewhere, waiting until all was safe to return to their ordinary lives.
They’d been taken.
Raul began to hyperventilate. It seemed that he’d been suppressing his emotions. Now the sheer panic ripped through him, brought on by the knowledge that his mother and sister were in the hands of a psychopath. He gripped the bedsheets with white knuckles and gnashed his teeth, attempting to disperse some of the rage flowing through his veins.
King stayed level-headed.
‘You have them?’ he said.
‘Of course I do.’
‘When did you take them?’
‘I got my men to move in as soon as you two left El Infierno. I knew exactly where they were.’
Raul burst to his feet, veins popping in his neck. ‘How long have you known about them?’
‘There he is!’ Rico said, and laughed cruelly. ‘Wondered how long it would take you to rear your head.’
‘How long?’
‘Since you stepped foot in my office and asked for a job. You must think I’m stupid. Leverage is an important tool in my business. I know where the families of all my employees live. I have a hundred men willing to take anyone out on my command. I was going to do the same to you. Really brutalise their bodies, leave them in place for you to find. Maybe paint the walls with their blood. But — as much as I hate to admit it — your friend is rather talented. If I killed them, it would carry the risk of you escaping. So I’ve taken them alive, because I want you on a silver platter, Raul. And your friend. I’ll show you what happens when you fuck with us.’
‘What’s stopping me from leaving?’ King said. ‘This isn’t my concern.’
‘Because you seem like the type of idiot to try and help. If you wanted to leave, you would have done so already. I’m very interested to see how this plays out.’
‘What do you want?’
‘You two will meet me at La Guardia Enterprises in exactly three hours. It’s a big abandoned warehouse. Just closed down. You’ll come unarmed and you’ll both surrender yourself. Then I’ll let Raul’s mother and sister live.’
‘You’re insane if you think we’ll do that,’ King said.
‘Your choice. If you don’t show, I’ll torture his family for a month. And I’ll make sure to find where he’s holing up and mail him little pieces of them for the rest of his short life. How’s that sound?’
‘Fuck you,’ Raul said.
‘I knew you’d come round. Three hours. Or you’ll never hear from us again, and I’ll make Ana despise you for never showing up.’
A sharp click came from the other end of the line, signifying that Rico had hung up. Raul surged forward, snatched the phone off the bed and hurled it at the wall. It gouged out a sizeable chunk and came to a halt lodged halfway into the plasterboard.
‘What do we do?’ he said once the initial anger had subsided.
King stared into space, chewing a fingernail, contemplating. The choices were grim. Rico had them both exactly where he wanted them. He sighed and got off the bed.
‘I don’t know, Raul,’ he said. ‘I honestly don’t know. We have no idea where he’s keeping them. We have no firepower. We honestly don’t stand a chance.’
‘What about all the shit you’ve got away with?’ Raul said. ‘Why can’t you help me?’
‘Punching people has its limits. We’re up against an entire gang here. I’m not sure what can be done with what little information we have.’
Raul paused and crossed the room. He took a long hard look out the only window in the room, facing out over the Caribbean Sea. He glanced down at the buildings lining the shore. Then he turned back to King.
‘We have some information,’ he said. ‘Because I know where Rico’s keeping them.’
CHAPTER 34
He led King to the window and showed him a stretch of land alongside the ocean. Most of Maiquetía’s coastline was home to beautiful beaches, yet there was a small portion on the outskirts of the city that was nothing more than a vast patch of concrete, littered with tiny specks. From this distance, King couldn’t quite make out what they were.
‘What is it?’ he said.
‘It’s an abandoned shipyard,’ Raul explained. ‘Those are boats. Some are cruise ships.’
‘Big place.’
‘Very. It’s where the Movers operate out of.’
‘Surely the authorities would catch wind of something so large being run by a gang of drug dealers.’
‘Trust me, they know.’
‘They pay them off?’
‘They pay everybody off. No-one even glances at it.’
‘You’ve been there?’
‘A few times. Not often. I was low-level. Wasn’t granted access to those kinds of places. Most of my instructions were delivered over the phone or at a random location.’
‘I’d hazard a guess that they smuggle most of their supply in through the port?’
Raul nodded. ‘Mostly cocaine. They import it from Colombia.’
‘Smooth operation.’
‘For the most part. Rico mentioned something about you ruining their operation?’
‘I beat up a few of them who were supposed to attend a very important meeting. It seems there’s been a breakdown in communication between the parties. I inadvertently caused that.’
‘That’s a shame.’
King smiled, then realised the magnitude of the task at hand and lapsed back into concentration. ‘So you think your mother and sister are in there
somewhere?’
‘I’m certain.’
‘You can’t be sure.’
‘It’s the only place they have that’s heavily fortified. Every other property they own is small-scale production labs and packaging facilities. Rico wouldn’t risk keeping prisoners anywhere near his pipeline. They have a small army stationed in the shipyard at all times. Mercenaries, gangsters, you name it.’
King sighed and thought back to Australia. ‘Nothing I love more than mercenaries.’
‘I don’t know why I’m showing you this,’ Raul said. ‘It’s just false hope.’
‘Why’s that?’
Raul stared at him like he was an idiot. ‘I’m just saying, I know where Rico’s keeping them. Nothing more than that. There’s nothing we can actually do about it. You said it yourself.’
King gazed out at the shipyard far in the distance. From here, the task seemed surmountable. The graveyard looked like any of the other hundreds of strongholds he’d stormed in the past. But that had been in his prime. He was older. Slower. And he’d spent the months since his retirement determined to avoid death.
Charging headlong into a drug gang’s headquarters would counter-act that goal.
‘Like I said, you can’t be sure that they’re there,’ King said. ‘What if the Movers don’t even use the shipyard anymore? What if Rico’s decided to keep your family somewhere secluded, where we’ll never find them?’
‘Okay, fine,’ Raul said. ‘You’re right. I can’t be sure. But it’s my best guess. And I’d rather die trying to get them out than surrender to Rico.’
‘He’ll kill them either way, won’t he?’
Raul nodded. ‘So you know what he’s like, too.’
‘I’ve seen enough of him. I can’t imagine he’d let them go. Even if we turned ourselves in.’
‘So that’s it,’ Raul said, slamming a hand against the window pane hard enough to rattle the sill. ‘I’m fucked either way.’
‘We both are.’
Raul turned. ‘No, we’re not. You don’t have anything to do with this. Rico wants you to join me in a suicide mission because he wants to make you pay for everything that’s happened. He said it himself. You’re too stupid to leave when you have the chance.’
‘I’m not leaving.’
‘You should. I won’t let you do this with me. You’ll die.’
Images of Rico flashed through King’s mind. ‘You need me. And there’s nothing I’d enjoy more than seeing that piece of shit get what he deserves. I can make that a possibility.’
‘King, I’m running into the shipyard to die,’ Raul said. ‘Dress it up any way you want, but that’s it. I’m going to get killed. I don’t have any other choice. I couldn’t live with myself if I backed out and the rest of my family died too. I will die with them. It would be foolish for you to condemn yourself too.’
‘If I leave, then that’s exactly what will happen,’ King said. ‘You’ll die. Without a doubt. But with me, there’s a possibility. Very slight, but it’s there.’
‘Why are you willing to do this?’
King paused before responding. Truth was, he had no idea. It’s just what he’d done for the last ten years. Help people who needed helping. Kill people who needed killing. Sure, that was an oversimplification for a multi-faceted state of mind, but in the end he felt at home in combat. Despite not wanting to admit it, the time he’d spent in El Infierno had rejuvenated him in a way which was difficult to describe. He felt fresh. He felt peaceful.
‘I guess I’m not quite sane,’ he said, admitting the truth. ‘But this is what I enjoy. I’d rather help you and demolish Rico in the process than flee Venezuela and spend the rest of my life thinking about what I could have done. Who I could have helped.’
‘So this is personal too?’
‘Of course. I despise Rico. I wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t something in it for me. Nothing would bring me more satisfaction than seeing him dead. So I’ll make sure that happens. If they stop me, bad luck to me. But I’ll try.’
Raul held out a hand. King shook it.
‘Thank you,’ the man said. ‘Honestly, thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to me.’
‘I do,’ King said. ‘Trust me.’
Raul paused and surveyed the hotel room. He smiled wryly. ‘It took me this long to realise there are levels to this game.’
King cocked his head. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I used to think some of the Movers I met were the scariest people on the planet. I thought they could break me in half with one hand. When I got thrown into El Infierno, I thought some prisoners were even tougher. Luis and I had to battle to appear strong-willed — so that no-one would bully us. I’ve been scared to death the whole time. I thought it couldn’t possibly get much worse than the men around us.’
‘What do I have to do with this?’
‘I’ve never seen anything quite like the two days you spent in the cage with us.’
‘How so?’
‘You’re something else. These men are vicious gangsters and hardened criminals and seasoned killers. And you just strode in there and didn’t take shit from anyone. You beat the crap out of half the men in the pavilion. Anyone who antagonised you … it was like you were scolding toddlers. And these were men who weren’t used to resistance in any way, shape or form. They’d bullied their way through life because everyone gets out of their way. I did the same. And all it took was for you to fight back for a couple of days and all hell broke loose.’
‘I wouldn’t go that far.’
‘King, if you’d spent another week in that pavilion you would have been running the place.’
‘You think?’
‘I’ve never seen a newcomer react the way you did.’
‘I guess I have the nerve to stand up against anyone. Maybe that’s why I keep ending up in situations like these.’
‘It’s not just that. The way you move … I’ve honestly never seen anything like it. You’re so slow and controlled all the time. Then, when you need to act, you go off like a grenade. I haven’t seen a single man who’s managed to deal with it since I met you.’
‘Offence is the best defence,’ King said. ‘And yes, you’re right. The skills that I’ve learnt over my career are very useful. But it’s time to stop fawning over me. I’m just a guy who can punch people faster than they can punch me. We have three hours to do what we need to do.’
‘I’m just glad you’re on my side.’
‘I’m on no-one’s side. I happen to dislike Rico with a passion. And I happen to dislike people who mess with innocents. If I didn’t have personal motive for this, I’d be out of here. Remember that.’
‘Understood.’
‘Now,’ King said, fetching the scrap of paper off the bedside table and holding it high, ‘why don’t you give your old friend José a call?’
CHAPTER 35
Ten minutes later they were back in the stolen hatchback. The receptionist had eyed King off from across the marble lobby, noting his purposeful stride and the determined expression on his face. He probably figured that King’s troubles had yet to cease. But if business was conducted outside the grounds of his place of employment, it didn’t concern him in the slightest.
King started the car, shoved the gearbox into reverse and stamped on the accelerator. The tyres squealed on the asphalt as it peeled out of the parking space. He slammed it back into drive and took off towards the exit.
‘You don’t fuck around, do you?’ Raul said.
‘Time is of the essence. What did José say?’
‘Not much. I think he was surprised that I was out. He knew the situation around my arrest. Probably figured me and Luis would spend the rest of our lives in El Infierno. Not many people have got on Rico’s bad side and lived to tell of it.’
‘I’m still hazy on the details as to why Rico hates you so much.’
‘He hates incompetence. Luis and I were dumb enough to get arrested. It jeopardised his ope
ration, which is everything to him. He doesn’t do anything else. He just works, and pays politicians and policemen off, and kills people he doesn’t like. It’s his entire life.’
King nodded. ‘That explains why I provoked such an insane reaction.’
‘If you ruined some kind of business deal, he won’t stop until he kills you.’
‘So I’ll kill him first.’
King lapsed into silence and concentrated on the morning traffic. José had given Raul directions to an industrial zone far from the tourist district. Before long they had re-entered a sprawling maze of congested traffic, shouting locals and general commotion. King breathed in the smell of Maiquetía. The real smell. In that moment he convinced himself never to buy into the facade of luxury again. His time in Venezuela had been a trial run of sorts. He’d never strayed into the artificial commerciality of expensive hotels and designer malls before, even though he’d had the funds to for a long time. He’d always thought it wasn’t the true way to experience the world.
The brief period of time he’d spent in luxury had done nothing but prove himself right.
This was the real Venezuela. The slight edge of danger, the natural conversing of the locals, the dirtiness and the claustrophobia and the mixture of smells and sounds and sights. If he’d isolated himself solely to the tourist districts, he would never have seen the country for what it really was.
He vowed never to cocoon himself again.
Then his mind began to wander. He thought of Rico, and the mess that he’d become wrapped up in. He flashed back to an earlier time, only just after he’d stepped away from Black Force. To a small-town police officer who had been willing to help a psychopath all because of the lure of financial gain.
‘Raul,’ he said, breaking the quiet inside the car. ‘Did you know Rico well?’
The man shook his head. ‘Not at all. But I heard a lot of things. Rumours spread through the ranks, especially with someone so secretive.’
King nodded. ‘Why do you think he’s doing this?’
‘Doing what?’
‘He kills people and ruins lives. All for his operation. Does money motivate him that much?’