by David Nees
“But what about those who may try to stop me? Do I have to worry about them?”
“They exist, but they are afraid of you. You have been given a gift. From Tlayolotl. It will protect you.”
Dan shook his head. “I don’t know of any gift from Tlayolotl except that he saved my life and I must do this for him.”
“You have it. You must learn how to find it so it can protect you.”
“How?”
“Turn off the noise in your mind.” She reached out to him. “Give me your hand,” she commanded.
Dan held out his right hand. She grabbed it. Her hard, calloused fingers closed pressing her palm to his and her other hand covered the back. Her grip was vise-like. She closed her eyes.
After a minute she spoke. “You have much strength within you. You will have to draw on all of it. You will have to be smart. The darkness will not yield easily, but you are stronger.”
She paused, and then opened her eyes. “You are injured. Your leg is damaged.” She released his hand. “Show me your wounds.”
Dan hesitated but finally unbuckled his belt and lowered his pants. He turned sideways as the old woman came around the table. She looked at the bullet wound. She made him twist around in the chair so she could see the larger exit hole.
“It is angry. Infection is ready to break out and flow through your body. We must stop it now.”
She got up and disappeared down the hallway at the back of the room. Dan sat there with his pants part way down, feeling both foolish and apprehensive. Two minutes later the woman returned with clean bandage cloth and a bowl of some green paste.
“This will kill the infection so it cannot attack you. I will unwrap your bandage and put this paste on the wounds. Then I will sew them closed. The leg will be sore, but it will not get bad with infection.”
She began to work without waiting for Dan to reply. He started to resist and then relaxed. If the salve was anything like what Tlayolotl had applied, it would be effective. When she was done applying the paste she took out a needle and thread that had been wrapped in the cloth.
“You are ready?” she asked.
Dan nodded.
He gritted his teeth and grunted as the woman began to sew the flesh together. She offered no sympathy or any relief. She just attended to her sewing. He was sweating profusely by the time she was finished. She wrapped the clean cloth around the leg and bound it tightly. Picking up the bowl, she disappeared down the back hallway. In less than a minute she returned with a cup of liquid.
“Drink this. It gives you strength and relief from the pain.”
“No drugs,” Dan said.
“Not drugs. Strength herbs.”
Dan swallowed the bitter liquid and sat back. Within a minute he felt energy flowing through his body. The pain was still intense in his leg, but it didn’t feel debilitating. Still needing some specific help for his task, he looked at the old woman.
“How will I know when Hector Ortega is at the mansion?”
She had sat back down on the other side of the table. “He is there now. From his actions he will be there for many days. When I am strong enough I can see into the dark. And when I look I can see he will do his work from this place. He wants to make the woman his own but you can change that.”
“Is there a way into the mansion?”
“Go through the trees.”
“Is the mansion guarded?”
“Always, but use your skills. Observe and choose wisely.”
“So I will be successful?” Dan asked again.
The woman shrugged and looked at him, now with softer eyes, eyes that showed her concern, as if he were someone embarking on a dangerous, perhaps fatal mission.
“It is not for me to say.” She turned from him, indicating he should go.
Back on the streets Dan marveled at the odd world he had entered. He could never in a million years have dreamed of these encounters now happening to him yet they had saved his life. Life truly was more complex than he had ever thought it to be. There were Watchers, all over the world. They would help him. He had a gift from Tlayolotl, but he didn’t know what it was and had to discover it…somehow. It was all so strange. Could he ever explain this to Jane? She was a part of this drama. And when he asked about his chances, the old woman had looked at him with sad eyes, like he was a doomed participant in what was going to be played out. Tlayolotl said she could see the future. What did she see? She had given him some good information but left him with a sense of foreboding. He found a cab and sank back in the seat as they headed back to his hotel.
Chapter 44
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T he next day Dan drove back to the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood. He had the street address for Mendoza’s mansion and quickly located it. The front entrance was impregnable with a ten foot high wall and a stout, sculpted steel gate complete with a guard just as Rodrigo had described. He kept going past it and turned left at the next corner. At the next intersection, he made another left turn and was now on a street paralleling the back of the mansion’s lot. The lot seemed to be about four acres in size and backed up to a natural drainage area that was preserved in its semi-wooded state. It was a good hundred yards wide and ran beside the road he was on. The drainage preserve ran for a mile with the cross roads going over it on bridges.
I can park blocks away and hike to the back of the lot. That will make it easier to leave the area unseen…if I can get out. He tried to keep his thoughts professional and focused on planning the mission but dark thoughts kept intruding. The old woman had spooked him.
When he thought he was across from the back of the property, Dan parked along the road and, after a careful look around, climbed over the fence and disappeared into the wooded area. It was easy terrain to navigate with enough cover to protect him from being seen from the road. Hopefully the cover would hold right up to the property line. He limped, favoring his wounded leg. It was painful but worked. The drainage preserve was a natural swale. Dan went down and across it. On the other side the ground gently rose. The cover held right up to the fence at the back of the mansion. It was a ten foot high chain link topped with razor wire. The ground inside was mowed and continued to slope upward before it flattened out into an expansive lawn with strategically planted trees and shrubbery. The effect was not quite a garden. It was more English than French. It looked natural but was enhanced somehow. It mimicked nature but accentuated some of the views.
More importantly, Dan took note of concealment opportunities on the approach to the house. In the middle of the grounds was a fully cleared circle with close cropped grass and ground lights surrounding it; a helipad. Dan took out his binoculars and studied the grounds and mansion. He examined the fence and found no electrical wire triggers present. He would use a bolt cutter on the links. Getting through it would not be a problem. At the back of the mansion was a courtyard, created by two wings sticking out to the rear from the main house. There were double doors leading out to the stone patio.
The doors will be alarmed. I may need to cut out a windowpane. He couldn’t see any perches for rooftop lookouts, at least in the back. If there were any facing the front they would not be a problem. It seemed as he examined the property that Mendoza worried more about an assault from the front than from a stealthy intrusion from the rear. That made getting in easier. However, getting out would be an added challenge.
Rodrigo, Miranda and Solana had left their aunt’s house right after breakfast. As soon as they were gone, Milagros called her son and informed him she was going away for two weeks and couldn’t tell him where. Next she called her daughter who still lived in Saltillo. Milagros told her that she must also leave town for a week. When asked why, Milagros said gang members might be coming to town and they were after her uncle, Rodrigo. Milagros added that they would be brutal and would take their revenge on her as well as Rodrigo.
Milagros was packing her bag when there was a knock on her door. Her heart leapt in her
chest. Who would that be? Could the cartel have found me so soon? She looked around in a panic but there was no place to go. Another knock came, this time harder, more insistent. Milagros ran to the kitchen and grabbed a large knife. Just then the door burst open.
A thin, dark man stepped in with his gun drawn. His dark eyes scanned the room and focused on Milagros, off in the kitchen, back against the wall with the knife held in front of her. He smiled. It was an evil smile with no warmth in it.
“You were expecting me?” he asked.
Milagros just stood there, unable to speak, her breath coming in gasps.
The man noticed her bag on the floor. “You were going somewhere?” He stepped into the kitchen. “Where were you going?
“Who are you?”
“They call me ‘El Serpentino’ but the name is not important. I think you know what I am. Do you have something to tell me?”
Milagros just shook her head.
“Ah, I think you do. And I think you will. The question for you is how quickly you will tell me.”
“I don’t know what you want. Please don’t hurt me,” she whimpered.
“You do know what I want. And I will hurt you if you don’t tell me. I can hurt you so much you will beg to tell me everything.”
“No, no, please—”
The man stepped closer.
“I’ll stab you. Don’t come any closer,” Milagros said, now in a more forceful voice.
Again the man smiled. He fired a shot that hit the counter just next to Milagros. She flinched and in that instant he was on her, grabbing her wrist and wrenching the knife from her grasp.
“Sit down,” he commanded, pointing to the kitchen table.
She sat down.
“You are Rodrigo’s aunt. Don’t deny it. I know he was here. Now you tell me where he went and it will go well for you.”
“How do you know he was here?”
“The men in Chihuahua City spoke of you. He’s run away after selling out his brothers. He would come here for help.”
“He wasn’t here,” she protested.
The man leaned forward, putting his face close to hers. “I will cut you to pieces, slowly, if you don’t tell me. Do you want to die like that?”
Milagros couldn’t answer. She just shook her head.
“Then tell me,” he shouted.
She shook her head again.
“You have a daughter.”
Milagros looked up at him with her eyes wide with fear.
“Yes, I know about her, and her brother. If you don’t tell me you will not only die painfully, but so will your son and daughter. I will leave no one alive in your family.” Again he leaned close to her. “Do you understand me?”
“Are you going to kill us all?”
“If you tell me, your children will live…and it will be better for you.”
Milagros slumped in her chair. “You won’t touch my children if I tell you?”
“You have my word.”
“Can I trust you,” she asked looking up at him. “Will you keep your word?”
“You can trust me. If you don’t tell me it will only be worse.”
Milagros sighed, “He has gone to Monterrey.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.” She looked at the assassin with pleading eyes. “I truly don’t know. I don’t think he knew. But he felt it safer to hide in a bigger city.”
The man smiled and stepped back.
“So you will not kill my family? Not kill me?”
“I will spare your son and daughter. And it will be better for you now that you have told me.” He brought his gun up and pointed it at her face. “You will not feel pain like I have made others feel.” With that he shot her in the head. She was dead before any pain could register.
The man turned and went out through the broken front door. He felt he had made it better for her.
In two hours Rodrigo, his sister and niece were in Monterrey and had found a small hotel on a side street. It was anonymous. If the gang managed to follow him this far, it would still be a challenge to find them. After checking in, Rodrigo bought a burner cell phone and called the number Dan had given him.
“Who’s this,” a woman said on answering the phone.
“Rodrigo. I’m a friend of Steve’s. He told me to call you.”
Jane paused for a moment before she realized Rodrigo was using Dan’s alias.
“He said you would arrange a trip for me and my family.”
“Yes. I can and will. Where are you located?”
“Near San Luis Potosi.” Rodrigo used a city that was not too far from Monterrey.
“Okay, I’ll make arrangements and call you back. Give me the full names of you and your family.”
“Not on your phone. Dan said it might have been compromised. You should buy a burner and then call me back on this number. Call me tomorrow morning.”
With that he hung up.
Jane sat there thinking. Dan had counseled Rodrigo. He didn’t trust Jane’s phone. She was now unsure herself since they had found bugs in her office. She got up and put on her jacket. She would purchase a burner phone that afternoon.
After watching for two hours, Dan satisfied himself that, at least during the day, there were no patrols around the mansion. He hiked back across the preserve and, after checking the street, climbed the fence and got into the BMW.
As he drove back to the Doctores neighborhood, he got caught up in the city’s infamous traffic jams. Cars milled about switching lanes, blocking intersections while the police tried to keep order. Horns honked incessantly and the exhaust fumes filled the air. Dan was glad the air conditioning worked in the BMW but still he could smell the pollution.
When he reached the neighborhood he had to drive around for some time, still in heavy traffic, but he finally found a store that sold glasscutters and suction cup handles. With this final purchase, Dan headed back to his hotel, happy to be done with the intense traffic.
Back in his room, he lay on his bed and reviewed what he knew. If he could believe the old woman, Ortega was at the mansion. He could get on the grounds through the drainage area at the rear and, if he got lucky, there would be no night foot patrols. That was something he’d have to check on. He would take out any guards he found on the inside with his suppressed weapons. Once he had found Ortega and killed him, he would plant the explosives spread the gasoline.
He had the two extra bricks of C-4 and igniters that Rodrigo had procured in Chihuahua. He had anticipated needing the extra explosives for this part of the mission. The bricks would be planted in different parts of the mansion to weaken it. They would ignite the gasoline and a conflagration would erupt gutting the house before any fire equipment could arrive. He would escape out the back and travel through the drainage preserve to his car. After stashing his weapons and tactical clothes in the trunk he would drive back to his hotel in his good clothes. That night he would leave and put some miles between him and Mexico City. No one would be looking for a gringo; they would assume it was the work of a rival gang.
Sounds so easy thinking about it. Forget it, everything you do sounds easy but is hard and dangerous in reality. He got up and went to the bathroom to splash water on his face. It’s what you signed up for. After putting his gear away, he got up and went out to get something to eat. Reconnoiter tonight and then do the mission tomorrow night.
At midnight Dan set out for Mendoza’s neighborhood. He drove down the road bordering the preserve and went past the position of the mansion for another half mile where he found a corner grocery mart that was closed and had a small parking lot. He could park the car here for the scouting tonight and perhaps for the operation tomorrow.
There was a gap in the fence where it butted up against a bridge going over the swale. Dan was able to slip off his pack and squeeze through without cutting any fencing. After retrieving his pack, he faded into the middle of the wooded area. Once concealed from the street, he put on his night vision goggles a
nd walked down the middle of the swale. He favored his wounded leg as he navigated through the brush and trees in the green light of the goggles. He stopped three times to check on whether or not he had gone far enough to be at the rear of the mansion. The third check was successful and, with his knife, he slashed the bark off of a tree, leaving an easy-to-see blaze to mark where he needed to turn towards the fence. At the fence he settled down to wait, watching through the goggles.
He was not lucky. There was a foot patrol at night. Be too easy otherwise. He smiled. The circuit took twenty minutes give or take three minutes. From the day’s observations, Dan knew there were cameras. He had to assume they were not equipped for night vision as they were mounted with floodlights. If there were an alert, the lights would go on allowing anyone monitoring the cameras to see activity in the yard. He just needed to get in without triggering an alarm. They should not be able to see me if I move carefully. With the timing of the foot patrol, he gave himself only fifteen minutes of movement before he would have to settle down to wait for the guard to pass. He’d have to plan his approach and be in a hide position when the guard reappeared on his rounds. Cutting the glass and getting inside would be the final step that also had to be done in between the guard’s circuits.
After two hours of watching, Dan was satisfied he had as much information as he could gain and retraced his steps to the car. He waited to make sure no one was about and slipped through the fence and got into the BMW.
Chapter 45
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T he next day Dan woke late. He lay in bed going over the plan. It was the best he could do, but with so many possibilities where it could go wrong or nasty surprises could appear. You plan and then you improvise because plans never work the way you expect. That was the wisdom of his trade and he had seen it born out many times. Still he felt uncomfortable. This plan had so many loose ends. The old woman kept coming back to mind. What did she see for him? Success in killing Ortega but getting killed himself? She had not answered his question. He shook his head. No use thinking that way. Just execute the plan and be ready to adjust it. They don’t know who they’re up against. The old woman said, ‘Use your skills and choose wisely.’ She also said something about a woman. Was that María?