“Is it really necessary for us to leave today, Hector? We’re supposed to have dinner with the—”
“Dinner?!” He looked at her dismay. “There are no more dinners, Victoria. We’re fugitives. Our protection is gone.”
“Well…” She stood with her hands on her hips, refusing to accept that the high-society life to which she had grown accustomed over the past thirteen months was finished. “There’s still plenty of money. Just pay someone else.”
He shut the briefcase and stared at her. “Pay who?”
“I don’t know… somebody!”
“I have to cultivate contacts, arrange for negotiations. Those things take time, and right now there is no time. Once I’m in custody, that’s it.”
“You worked it out last time. They even dug you a tunnel.”
He came from around the desk, taking her by the arms. “Serrano was one of the most powerful men in Mexico. Do you think anyone can arrange for a tunnel?” He shook his head and grabbed a computer from another table. “You should pack a couple of bags. We’re leaving soon.”
She started at him. “I’m not going. I’m staying here.”
“You can’t stay here.”
“Why not? I haven’t broken any laws.”
“That doesn’t matter. Castañeda’s people will hurt you to get to me.”
She shrugged. “So leave some men here to protect me. Leave Adrian and his team.”
He’d suspected that she and Adrian, the head of household security, had been messing around behind his back, but he’d overlooked it because of his own frequent indiscretions.
“Like anyone else, Victoria, Adrian can be bought.”
She crossed her arms. “I’m not living on the run. My friends are here in the city.”
“How long do you think they will remain your friends after my face is back in the papers?”
She knew already which of their friends secretly despised her husband. “I’m staying.”
“Fine,” he said at length. “I won’t force you — but you’re putting yourself in great danger.”
“I knew I was putting myself in danger when I married you, but this is the life I wanted, and I won’t give it up.”
Ruvalcaba took the briefcase from his desk and kissed her on the cheek on his way out of the study. “I’ll call when I can.”
He got into the backseat of his black Escalade and called Hancock on the phone. When the American answered, Ruvalcaba asked if he’d heard the news about Serrano.
“I just got word,” Hancock said. “We don’t need Serrano.”
“How are you progressing?” Hector wanted to know.
“We got a slow start this morning, but we killed four cops in an ambush half an hour ago, and that caused them to pull back closer to the center of town. We hold most of the outlying areas now. They’re doing what I expected them to do. By nightfall, we’ll have all the police in one place, more or less, and after that, it’s just a battle of attrition.”
“I need this victory,” Ruvalcaba said. “I have to bolster my reputation.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Ruvalcaba. You’ll own the city of Toluca by sunrise tomorrow. Then you can order the town council to appoint whoever you want as chief.”
“If you deliver the town as you say, I will deposit a bonus of one million dollars directly into your account.”
“That’s very generous.”
“And there will be another two million waiting for you after you have removed Antonio Castañeda.”
“Castañeda will be difficult,” Hancock said. “He’s had Special Forces training, and his security is very—”
“Five million,” Ruvalcaba said, knowing that he needed to spend whatever it took to remove Castañeda.
“I’m not bargaining, Mr. Ruvalcaba. I’m telling you that he’ll be very difficult to remove.”
“Difficult,” Ruvalcaba said. “Not impossible.”
“No, sir. Not impossible.”
“Very good. Finish your work in Toluca, then meet me down in Chiapas. We have much work to do, you and I.”
Ruvalcaba finished the call and looked at his driver. “Take me to the airfield.”
76
Within ten minutes of meeting Gil Shannon, Antonio Castañeda knew he was speaking with a man of action. Obviously an accomplished professional, there was no bravado about him, no sense of ego, nothing cocky or challenging in his manner. It was plain to see that Gil’s deeds spoke for themselves and that he had nothing to prove to anyone.
Castañeda was sad and angry to have lost Lorena and Tanya. They’d been the most reliable and loyal of his people — not to mention the finest of his lovers. But he knew that if he hadn’t sent them to Tijuana, Fields’s man Villalobos would have killed Mariana, thus destroying his chances of consolidating the narcotics trade under his power. Later he would weep for the girls in private, but for now, there was business to take care of.
“I thank you for avenging their deaths,” he said to Gil in English. “That is a valuable personal service to me. How may I repay you?”
Gil thought for a second. “You can build a school down in…” He looked at Mariana. “What state did you say was the poorest?”
“Chiapas.”
“Chiapas,” he said. “You can build a school down in Chiapas.”
Castañeda chortled. “Chiapas is not part of my territory at the moment.”
“But it soon will be. That is the plan, correct?”
Castañeda smiled pleasantly at Mariana, not in his normally flirtatious way, and then looked back to Gil. “That is the plan, yes.”
“Then if you’re serious,” Gil said, “build a school, and we’ll call it even.”
“Consider it done. Now, what assistance can I provide you in removing Ruvalcaba — provided you’re serious about wanting to do the job yourself?”
Mariana had already explained to Gil that Hector Ruvalcaba had been reported dead twice in the past eight years, and that only last year he had successfully escaped a maximum security prison to resume control of the southern cartels. Gil wasn’t interested in taking anyone else’s word for it that Ruvalcaba was dead. “I want the job done correctly. I don’t speak the lingo, and I stick out like a sore thumb down here, so I don’t wanna have to come back and correct anyone else’s mistakes.”
Castañeda nodded, appreciating being in the presence of a professional. “You’re sure I cannot interest you in something to drink, my friend?”
“Thanks. I never drink when I’m working. It’s nothing personal, I promise.”
This left Castañeda feeling a little disappointed, but it was that kind of a day. “He died badly, this dog Fields who murdered my girls?”
“Very,” Gil said.
“What assistance will you need?”
“I need a quality weapon and a guide who speaks good English — a tough son of a bitch… but not somebody who’s gonna get carried away.”
Castañeda gestured at Mariana. “Look no further, señor.”
Gil shook his head. “No more fieldwork for her. She’ll be taking over Mexico station pretty soon, and I don’t want in her harm’s way.”
This was the first Castañeda had heard that, and it gave him a burst of adrenaline. “Is this true?” he asked her. “Pope is appointing you chief of station?”
She glanced at Gil. “It’s not official, but… Mr. Cochran is convinced it will happen if we’re successful in removing Ruvalcaba.”
Castañeda understood that Cochran was not Gil’s actual name. “Then you are a man of genuine influence.”
“I happen to be in a very unique position,” Gil replied. “And I intend to make the most of it, to the mutual benefit of all parties — excluding Hector Ruvalcaba.”