“Can you repeat that a little louder, the guys at the back didn’t hear?” asked Sean.
El Jefe ignored him. He didn’t repeat orders, he didn’t need to.
“Take the boy!” he shouted to one of his soldiers.
The soldier stepped forward and carefully extracted James from Sean’s leg and took him back into the outbuilding.
El Jefe ripped off his vest to expose his bare chest and received a huge cheer from his men. A circle formed creating a ring for the fight.
Sean took up a stance and as El Jefe came to him, easily dodged his first attack. The second was not as easy to dodge and he received a punch to the side of the head. Fortunately, it was a glancing blow and had little effect. A backward swipe almost caught Sean after the initial attack but he again just managed to avoid any contact. There was no doubt El Jefe was good, quick and intelligent. His moves were designed to expose a weakness if the first attack didn’t land, allowing a second strike in quick succession to land. Sean soaked up a few of these moves and El Jefe landed a few half punches much to the delight of his men. After a third punch landed, Sean was left shaking his head to clear it.
El Jefe danced on the spot. His men cheered and hollered with delight while Sean regained his composure. El Jefe could not have been happier with himself. He grinned from ear to ear. Sean was moving like a pro and as well as anyone El Jefe had ever encountered before. Not an ounce of fat showed on his torso and not a drop of sweat had formed on his body. El Jefe could keep the pace for hours. Tiring him out wasn’t going to be an option. Sean looked at the men that formed the ring. He really did not believe they would let him go if he beat El Jefe.
“Your men will really let me go if I kill you?” asked Sean spitting some blood from his mouth.
El Jefe laughed as he bounced. “My men will let you and the boy walk out of here over my dead body!” he shouted and waited for his men to acknowledge.
“Fair enough,” replied Sean, pulling himself up to his full height and preparing for El Jefe’s next move.
El Jefe came at him as before. Only this time, Sean knew exactly what he had planned. Sean ducked, twisted and delivered a stunning blow to El Jefe’s kidneys. The shock alone could have killed him, such was the difference in Sean’s demeanor and movement.
Sean smiled to the quiet crowd as El Jefe screamed in pain.
Sean stepped back and egged El Jefe towards him. El Jefe went for the move that had caught Sean twice already, glancing blows but this time, threw everything behind it. Sean moved with a speed that belied his size and far faster than he had earlier.
As El Jefe was left mid swing and totally exposed, Sean delivered a powerful punch to El Jefe’s jaw. The crack was not just two bones connecting but El Jefe’s jawbone snapping. El Jefe stumbled back unable to scream as his jawbone failed to function. He looked at Sean with some bemusement.
“What can I say, your decidedly average!” offered Sean, resulting in El Jefe charging at him in a total rage.
Sean moved and delivered another crushing blow. A short kick with his leg as he sidestepped El Jefe was timed to perfection and snapped El Jefe’s kneecap from the leg, his leg twisted at an impossible angle as he fell to the ground.
“I was merely sizing you up. You know, like the Princess Bride when the swordsman confesses he’s actually left handed!”
El Jefe looked at Sean like he was crazy as he struggled to hobble onto his good leg.
The one good point and so far encouraging was that, despite obviously beating the shit out of their boss, his men had honored his instruction. He may just manage to survive after all.
Sean was thinking best to end it quickly despite the fact El Jefe deserved to suffer a lot more. As El Jefe came at Sean again, he side stepped easily and with a little mischief sent a short sharp punch into El Jefe’s throat. It was a killer blow but not instant. He would suffocate over the next couple of minutes. Time to feel a little more pain, thought Sean. He could have gone for many more humane methods but quite frankly the guy didn’t deserve it.
As El Jefe crumpled to the ground, his men stepped back and allowed Sean to walk to the outbuilding.
Sean strode confidently into the small building, scooped up James and walked towards the main gate. He couldn’t believe it. As he neared the gate, they really were going to let him leave. Right up until the cell rang in the crowd, that was.
Sean could almost hear the scream from the caller from forty yards away. It certainly had the fifty or so soldiers rushing towards their weapons. Sean ditched the confident walk and ran towards the gate. If only he could get over it, he had a chance, but it was too far. There was no way he’d beat the bullets.
The rocket thruster took the jet from zero to take off speed almost instantaneously; it really was a most remarkable piece of equipment thought Juan, as he guided the jet into the sky. He would drop the East coast bosses off at the nearest commercial airfield and then head back by car. The Americans would probably be dissecting how they had failed so miserably. They thought they had been smarter than Los Zetas. They had learned a very important lesson that day. Do not underestimate Juan Torres who, with the irritating Luis out of the way, could resume his position with El Jefe unabated.
El Jefe would be disappointed Luis was dead but Juan would use it to his advantage, turning El Jefe’s anger on whoever seemed a reasonable target. He’d also engineer a new patsy to replace Fat Jake. He probably should have done it sooner but Juan enjoyed El Jefe’s displeasure at Luis’ failure to secure the contacts. He realized a lot of his issues were jealousy when it came to El Jefe and Luis but whatever it was, the issue was resolved once and for all. He hit the speed dial button. He had to tell El Jefe his plan had worked but he had some dreadful news. He practiced his voice ensuring all happiness was excluded.
The words hit him like a freight train.
“El Jefe is dead. The American killed him!” answered the soldier at the ranch.
“Did you kill the American?” he screamed.
“No!”
“Kill him!!!” His eyes almost popped from his skull, such was his fury.
“El Jefe said we have to let him go!” replied the soldier meekly.
“I am El Jefe now, kill him!” he demanded.
As Katie moved for the first time, the Team Leader breathed a huge sigh of relief. He had at least succeeded in one part of his mission.
“Team Two?” he called. “Los Zetas has escaped, I repeat Los Zetas has escaped.”
“Team One, we have a situation here, will update shortly, out.”
“Team Two, what is your issue?”
The line was dead.
A few seconds later. “Fire!!!” came through clearly on the Team Leader’s headset.
With James in his arms, Sean sprinted for the gate.
'Kill him!!!” came the scream from behind him as Sean leapt for the gate.
Bullets began to fire but none came near, heavy gunfire, M60, if he wasn’t mistaken. Sean knew his weapons.
As he reached the gate and threw James unceremoniously over it, he looked around as he vaulted over himself. The Mexicans were falling and squirming on the ground.
As he reached the other side, a soldier almost invisible in camouflage fatigues held James safely in his arms, while another trained his machine gun on any threats from the other side of the gate. A burst of fire ensured another threat was eliminated for good.
“Afternoon, Sean,” offered the soldier holding James, a man Sean had known for many years.
“How long have you guys been here?” he asked, irritably.
“Long enough, obviously,” replied the agent, not really answering Sean’s question. “Katie’s OK also,” he added, ending Sean’s interest in how long they had been there, or for that matter, how many were in Team One. And more importantly, who had authorized Team One. He had specifically told Mike not to endanger the boy’s life by sending a second team to the ranch. But then if the ten-man Team Two hadn’t surrounded the ranch, Sean and James would have been dead. Sean decided to let Mike off, at least on that occasion.