NO EASY WAY OUT a gripping action-packed thriller (Johnny Silver Thriller Book 4)

by PAUL BENNETT

‘What happened when you took the map to the pilot?’ I asked.

  ‘He is a good man. I like him very much. I went to see him in the break so I could go quickly and not miss any school. You see, I can be good with school. The pilot, he showed me the helicopter while he looked at the map. I would love to be a pilot like him. To fly through the air as free as a bird.’

  ‘Did you tell anyone else about the map?’

  ‘No, senor.’

  ‘Nobody?’

  ‘Only Senora Sanchez. I had got back late because of looking at the helicopter. She told me off. I said that I was on a very important mission for you.’

  ‘And she asked you what that was?’

  ‘So I showed her the map and told her what the pilot had said about how short a time it would take him to get to Baha Kino in the helicopter.’

  So now we had our answer.

  Sanchez, with her list of prospective donors to the school, had seen an advantage and gone to one of them, with a dubious background, with the information. They had informed whoever was smuggling the drugs and they had prepared themselves for the defence of the merchandise. We’d been lucky to get out alive, but then we knew that before speaking to Chico.

  Time for Plan B.

  ‘Tell me about the fiesta?’ I said. ‘Tell me everything you know. I am a poor ignorant stranger when it comes to religion and fiestas.’

  ‘It will be a great day,’ Chico said. ‘The evening before the fiesta Padre Patrick will bring the statue of Santa Rio to the village. We are a poor village so we share the statue with another village like ours far away. The statue is taken to the edge of the village and guarded overnight by some of our men. The next morning there is a procession with the statue to the church. All the villagers walk behind.’ He looked up at me. ‘Is this information what you want to know senor?’

  ‘Yes Chico.’

  ‘Is it worth dollars?’

  ‘Yes Chico, I will give you ten dollars.’

  ‘Wow. It must be very important to you.’

  ‘Carry on Chico. What happens after the procession?’

  ‘There is the ceremonial dance. Two men play the part of bull and matador — the bull wears a mask and horns. The matador kills the bull and the village rejoices. Music plays. Fireworks are set off. There is a band. Everyone dances. Then we have the feast. A pig is roasted on a spit. There is wine for those who are old enough — I have to wait till I’m sixteen for that. It’s not fair.’

  ‘So does everyone join in the fiesta?’

  ‘Si, senor. All the villagers. Senor Estevez and his family come too. He brings chocolate for everyone. That I am old enough for.’

  ‘Do you think Senor Rojo and his men will come?’

  ‘I do not know, senor. His men like to drink, so maybe they will come for the wine.’ He looked at me winsomely. ‘Can I have my ten dollars now senor?’

  ‘Yes Chico. If there is anything else you have forgotten about the fiesta then please tell me.’

  ‘Si senor.’

  I paid him as promised and he scampered away, happy from the innocence of youth and ignorant of the consequences of his actions. Still, we’d survived, and his heart was in the right place. Who can you trust if you can’t trust your teacher?

  I made for the central square where the festivities would take place on Sunday and purposely scanned it and the surrounding buildings. If we failed in the plan I was hatching, it could well be that this square would be a battleground and the villagers innocent victims. We could not afford to fail: the reverberations could be fatal.

  As I stood there reflecting, who should come along but the lady herself. ‘Carry your books, miss?’ I said.

  ‘It’s senora, not senorita,’ Sanchez said, ‘but thanks for the offer. I’m only going as far as my car and I can manage.’

  She walked up to a beat-up Chevrolet that looked like it had served in two world wars and would surrender any day now.

  ‘I hope I didn’t get Chico in trouble with my little errand.’

  ‘Chico is always in trouble,’ she replied. ‘trouble is his first, last and middle name.’

  ‘But he’s a good kid at heart,’ I said.

  She nodded. ‘It’s impossible to dislike Chico. He tries to do his best — his best for his family as well as himself. Sometimes one clashes with the other. Then he should act with his head rather than his heart.’

  ‘I’ve been accused of the same fault. Maybe we would all be better people if we listened to our hearts more. I would think you would fit in the same category. You can’t be teaching here for the money. You must see something worthwhile in your work here.’

  ‘I am fortunate that my husband has a good job and I can afford to indulge myself in trying to do good deeds. I emphasise trying — sometimes things don’t work out as you planned.’

  ‘Doesn’t mean you should stop trying,’ I said.

  ‘You are a strange mixture of a man, Senor Silver. You kill people, but you also try to help them. Does the latter absolve the former? Is that what you hope?’

  The words pot, kettle and black crossed my mind. I didn’t know the Spanish for hypocrite, so I moved on.

  ‘I’m getting a sense of déjà vu about this conversation,’ I said. ‘Haven’t we talked about the moralities of what I do once before?’

  ‘Or have you had the same conversation with others like me? Other people who think you could set a good example to boys like Chico, but who can’t risk accepting what comes with the package of good deeds?’

  ‘Very few of us are whiter than white. We’re mostly shades of grey where the black and white mix together to some degree or other. Don’t you agree?’

  ‘Interesting,’ she said. ‘Then, in your world of grey, can one do the wrong thing for the right reasons and be forgiven? I like to think that may be possible.’

  ‘So am I forgiven?’

  ‘Forgiveness isn’t in my remit.’ She crossed herself. ‘We are all accountable to a higher order.’

  ‘Then one last thought in our philosophical discussion. Right thing, wrong reasons: wrong thing, right reasons. Sometimes there are no right things.’

  ‘Bravo! You know, Senor Silver, it is a pleasure to duel with you. You are the Zorro of our modern age and I am an unworthy opponent. And now, I must be going. I have books to mark and dinner to make.’

  She climbed into the car and started the engine. As she pulled out of the parking space, she wound down the window and said, ‘Adios. Via con dios.’

  ‘And may your god go with you too.’

  Was there a winner in our game of verbal chess? Had she regretted her decision to inform on us? It was impossible to tell. Minds much better than mine had wrestled with the same moral tangle. All I knew was that, despite her actions, I still kind of liked her.

  I headed out of town and took myself off to Rojo’s ranch for another look. We had to stop him there and rescue the girl. I had at one time thought that the noise of the fiesta might drown our bullets, but we couldn’t let our attack go down to the final wire unless we could possibly help it. We would need a conference and the start of a planning session when I got back. Somehow we needed first to take out the watchtowers and then gain entry. After that, my thoughts were a little sketchy. Stan would help cement everything together. Too much depended on success in our mission — the girl’s life, Estevez’s empire and all he had worked for being sullied by smuggling drugs, Anna and our future together. I took out my phone and called Anna.

  It was the fillip I needed. I could hear the joy in her voice when she realised it was me. Apparently, I wasn’t missed in running the bar. All was going well and smooth as silk. She wasn’t overstretching herself. I had no need to worry. Then she asked when I would be coming home as she missed me deeply.

  ‘We’ll stay for the fiesta on Sunday and travel back to Red’s ranch on Monday. Whichever way this business turns out, it will be finished on Sunday.’

  ‘And will it turn out well, Johnny? Will you solve our problems?’r />
  ‘Let’s just say I’m looking forward to marrying you all over again. Whoever you are.’

  ‘I will always be your Anna. Nothing will change that.’

  We sent each other our love and broke off before tears formed in our eyes. That was the last piece of sentimentality I could afford before Sunday. From now on we must all focus on just one thing — the rescue of Maria Estevez.

  * * *

  Rosa had cooked us a chicken dish that contained chili and chocolate. Pieter ate his first mouthful gingerly, then nodded his approval. To go with the chicken were tortillas and a fresh tomato salsa. We washed it down with more of the Californian red wine and leaned back from the table replete.

  ‘You’re gonna spoil it now aren’t you?’ Bull asked of me. ‘You’re gonna talk business, which for us means bullets and death.’

  There was no point in denying it. He was spot on.

  ‘We hit them on Saturday night, Sunday morning. Catch them when they’re off guard. We go in at two o’clock on Sunday morning when even the insomniacs should be asleep.’

  ‘And if they’re not?’ asked Bull.

  ‘They die. We show no mercy. These are people responsible for the deaths of many. We must not forget that.’

  ‘So the question is,’ said Pieter, ‘how do we get rid of them before they get rid of us?’

  ‘There’s no option but to take out at least two of the guards in the watchtowers. We have to do that silently so that we can get into the compound unopposed.’

  ‘Silencers still aren’t silent,’ Stan said. ‘They still make a noise. Someone might hear and wonder what was happening.’

  ‘I can do it,’ said Pieter. ‘I can take them out with my knives. Knives don’t make a sound.’

  ‘Are you good enough not to miss?’ Bull asked.

  ‘Let me show you,’ Pieter said, getting up from the table. He turned back to us. ‘Well, aren’t you coming?’

  He led us out of the house and through the narrow streets to the church; the church with the big wooden door. The church with the big wooden door with a notice pinned to it announcing plans for the fiesta.

  ‘Pick a spot,’ Pieter said. ‘Anywhere on the notice.’

  ‘How about the F in fiesta,’ Red said.

  Pieter walked back from the door counting paces. He stopped and turned around to face us and the target. ‘This is about the distance between me and the guards,’ he said. He bent down and pulled up the leg of his trousers and took out his vicious-looking knife.

  ‘Call it,’ he said.

  ‘The honour’s all yours, Red,’ I said. ‘Seeing as it really should be you with a bow and arrow.’

  ‘Go!’ he called.

  The knife wasn’t exactly silent. There was a high-pitched whizzing sound as it flew through the air and then a thud when it hit the notice.

  ‘Well,’ said Pieter, ‘isn’t anyone going to go and get it?’

  Red walked up to the door. Took a look at the notice and called out. ‘F for fiesta,’ he said. ‘Dead centre.’

  He pulled the knife out of the door and took it back to Pieter.

  ‘Good shooting, paleface,’ he said, when he handed back the knife. ‘You just got the job.’

  We walked back to the little house and resumed our seats.

  ‘Phase one complete,’ Stan said. ‘Now we have to get inside.’

  ‘I could do that,’ Pieter said.

  ‘What is this? said Bull. ‘A one-man show?’

  ‘I’m the lightest,’ said Pieter. ‘I’ll be the easiest to give a jack-up to and then I climb over the wall. I’ll need a towel, though.’

  ‘What the hell do you need a towel for?’ said Red. ‘You gonna take a shower or something? Get rid of all the sweat from knife throwing?’

  ‘Lay it on the barbed wire,’ Pieter said. ‘So I don’t get spiked when I climb over. Once over, I open the gates for you guys.’

  ‘How many knives do you have?’ asked Stan.

  ‘Just the one at the moment. I need to go shopping tomorrow.’

  ‘OK,’ I said. ‘We’ve got rid of the two guards in the front watchtowers and we’re inside. We make our way to the house. How do we gain entry without waking everyone up?’

  ‘Maybe we don’t need to worry about that. If they wake up, they’ll be groggy with sleep,’ said Bull.

  ‘We could try to get them drunk,’ I added. ‘Free drinks in the bar in honour of the saint of the fiesta.’

  ‘I’m willing to try anything,’ said Pieter.

  ‘So I’ve heard,’ said Red.

  ‘Ha, ha,’ replied Pieter.

  ‘We could try the shock-and-awe tactic again,’ said Stan. ‘Only this time make sure it works. If the door is locked, we shoot the lock off. Run inside guns blazing. Make as much noise as possible.’

  ‘Meanwhile,’ I said, ‘I head up the stairs and find the damsel in distress.’

  ‘I suggest two of us cover the bunkhouse where the guards sleep,’ Stan said. ‘The other two of us go with Johnny to the main house and force entry. We cover Johnny while he looks for the girl and persuade the guards that their best intentions would be to stay inside the bunkhouse.’

  ‘It will only buy us time,’ I said. ‘Sooner or later the guards will wise up to the fact that there’s only five of us and they should earn their salary. Speed is of the essence.’

  ‘At least we’ve whittled down the number of guards’ said Bull. ‘Can’t be more than half left of what there were at the desert shack.’

  ‘I’m liking this more and more,’ I said. ‘We can do this. No doubt about it.’

  I slept soundly that night.

  Chapter Fourteen

  And then the cars arrived. And the replacement guards.

  Some weren’t even allowed to settle. Miguel arrived at the house surrounded by eight guards, still looking a bit jet lagged from their journey. He knocked on the door and stepped back so he was in the middle of the pack of guards.

  ‘Open the door,’ he shouted.

  I opened the door a crack and took a judgement.

  ‘Red, Pieter, go to the roof terrace and cover these guys from there. Bull, Stan, you stay here. Take the windows looking out the front.’

  I assessed the situation. Miguel didn’t look as cool as before. Yes, he was wearing the ice-blue jeans, but they weren’t as creaseless as before. His dark blue T-shirt had patches of sweat under both arms. Not Joe Cool now.

  After having waited a few seconds to allow everyone to get into place, I swung the door open fully and addressed Rojo.

  ‘Do you want to come inside or shall we shout out our business in the street for all to hear? Don’t worry, we won’t get you in a trap and shoot you.’

  ‘I believe you,’ he said, stepping inside. ‘That was a mean trick to play on Paco. Did you find out what you wanted to know?’

  ‘Not really, ‘I said, ‘but we were reassured about what we didn’t know.’

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t understand you,’ he said. ‘You have killed a dozen of my men and you stand here like nothing happened.’

  ‘Is that why you came here? Not to remonstrate about Paco, but to try to get a handle on what goes on in my head?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said.

  Here was one hell of a mixed-up kid. He was too young to know about the world, and his counsellor, the person he was supposed to rely on for advice, was somewhere sleeping off a grade A hangover. He was alone — the guards didn’t count — without being told what to do, for probably the first time in his life, and he couldn’t handle it.

  I motioned to the table and went into the kitchen to make some coffee: if he didn’t need it, then I and the guys would drink it. I poured some into two mugs, got some milk and sugar and took it through to the main room.

  ‘Do you want me to drink first to make sure the coffee isn’t laced?’

  ‘We’ll just swap mugs,’ he said.

  ‘How do you know I didn’t plan for that and that my coffee has the
drug, whatever that is?’

  He looked at me and shook his head.

  ‘Right this moment I’m not sure of anything,’ he said.

  If he carried on like this I might start to feel sorry for him.

  I took a small sip out of both mugs and pushed one across the table to him. He added milk and three spoons of sugar, which probably was a normal person’s entire quota for one day. Sweet tooth or what?

  ‘Why are you here?’ he asked.

  ‘Like I said before, we’re here while the heat cools down in the States. This place is as good as any. Heard that you have a fiesta on Sunday and thought we might stick around. Don’t get many opportunities for a celebration. Come Monday we’ll be out of your hair.’ One way or another, I felt like adding. Unless we were dead, of course, but that didn’t bear thinking about. Although I suppose that counted as out of your hair too.

  ‘I’ve seen the video,’ he said. ‘Never seen shooting like that before.’

  ‘And probably won’t in the future either. Unless it’s us again, of course.’ I drank some coffee. ‘What’s on your mind, kid?’

  ‘How much do you need to get out of town now?’

  ‘Getting out now is not part of our plans, but we’ll take half of what we would have demanded and go immediately after the fiesta. How’s that for you.’

  It seemed a bit mean to take a bribe for what we would have done in any case, but I was hatching a plan for some money.

  Miguel got up from the table and went to the door. He opened it and called something outside. One of the guards came forward and handed over a small package. Miguel took it and came back inside. He passed the package to me.

  ‘There’s twenty thousand dollars,’ he said. ‘Go directly after the fiesta, if you must, but please don’t kill any more of my guards before then. You’re getting me a bad reputation. I’m getting to be known as a Jonah, bad luck has stuck to me. These guys are here under protest. They only came because my father would kill them if they didn’t. I am losing any respect I had.’

  ‘There is another way,’ I said. ‘You could be the one to move on.’

  ‘Then I would have lost any remaining respect I had.’

  ‘Respect has to be earned, kid. Maybe you could earn it by doing something different. Something legal, even.’