‘Cut her loose!’
Cash rolled his eyes. He hated working for a woman. ‘You don’t have to scream.’
She fired again. ‘Fuck you, Cash! Cut her loose.’
Daniela had been stashed in the backseat of the Beetle, where she had been freaking out for the last several minutes. Blindfolded and gagged, she could barely make a sound — at least none that could be heard over gunfire. Angered by Tiffany’s comment, Cash reached into the car and yanked Daniela through the narrow gap between the folded seat and the door. He banged her shoulder and arm on the doorframe while he pulled her out. With her hands and feet duct-taped together, she flopped like a rag doll when he threw her to the ground.
Cash stood over her. ‘The bitch is free.’
From his hiding spot underneath the SUV, Angel heard something fall a few feet behind him. Using his good arm, he struggled to turn himself around, only to find himself staring at Hector’s daughter. As far as he could tell, she was still in one piece, although maybe not for long. One of the kidnappers was hovering over her in a threatening manner.
Until that moment, Angel had planned to stay hidden, so as not to give his position away until the kidnappers had left the scene. All that changed when he saw Daniela. Thoughts of his wife and baby boy danced through his head. If the situation had been reversed, he would fully expect Hector to try to save them, so he decided to do the same.
Using his elbows and feet, Angel inched forward on his stomach, moving as silently as possible. Blood oozed as he crawled. The pain in his shoulder was excruciating, but he did his best to ignore it. He had to protect Daniela. He had to save the girl.
Unwilling to expose his torso, Angel did the next best thing.
He brought the battle to his level.
He aimed his gun at the kidnapper’s knee and fired a single shot.
One moment Cash was upright, the next he was on the ground — as was much of his knee, which had been blown into tiny pieces. Writhing in agony, Cash paid no attention to the man lying in front of him until he saw the gun. It was pointed directly at his face.
The last thing Cash saw was the smile on Angel’s lips.
Hector heard the gunshot and slowed to a halt. Somehow, someway, the shot had come from directly in front of him. Despite running non-stop since he had left the scene, he seemed to be back where he had started, like an athlete sprinting round a track.
In his state of delirium, he interpreted this as a sign. It was God’s way of giving him a second chance. Instead of running like a coward, he should have charged forward and rescued his kids from danger. They were somewhere in the smoke. All he had to do was find them.
Struggling to catch his breath, he spotted Church’s body on the ground. It was just lying there, missing a chunk of its head. Hector crouched down and pried the gun from the dead man’s grasp. It would come in handy for the fight ahead.
By this time, Ricardo had lost a lot of blood. Sitting on the ground, he leaned against the front tyre of the SUV. He tried to keep pressure on his stomach with his free hand, but the damn wound kept leaking. Blood oozed between his fingers. It felt warm and sticky.
He closed his eyes and prayed for help.
It wouldn’t be coming from Tiffany.
She saw him helpless and went in for the kill.
Using the smoke for cover, she crept around the front bumper of the SUV and raised her weapon. Then, in a fitting tribute to Church, who had died in a similar fashion, she put the gun against Ricardo’s head and calmly pulled the trigger.
Blood sprayed as he slumped over, dead.
His dreams of meeting Hector died with him.
Over the years, Hector had killed a lot of women. Most of them for business, but a few out of passion. In all that time, he had never wanted to kill one as badly as the bitch in front of him.
Hector didn’t know her name, but he knew she was one of them — one of the assholes who had stolen his kids. To him, that was all that mattered. He would make her pay for their sins.
She was 12 feet ahead and didn’t know he was coming.
He would enjoy this immensely.
Tiffany turned when she heard the sound. To her surprise, Hector was standing behind her with his gun raised. Another moment and she would have been dead for sure.
Thankfully, he never had a chance to pull the trigger.
Hector heard the roar of the engine and whirled round to see what it was. In his confusion, he swore a monster was lurking behind him. It was actually something worse.
A split-second before impact, he saw the headlights of the Volkswagen Beetle shining through the smoke and a smiling face behind the wheel. Bro sadistically stomped on the gas and ploughed into Hector at high speed. The curvature of the car’s frame swept his legs out from under him, which was unfortunate for Hector because it meant his face struck the front windshield like a bug on the highway. The glass cracked, and so did his head, sending a spray of red across the white roof of the car.
The force was so great, Hector died instantly.
But there wasn’t time to rejoice.
With the vehicle heading straight for her, Tiffany jumped onto the hood of the SUV, hoping to avoid the same bloody fate. Except her leap wasn’t necessary. Bro slammed on the brakes and expertly spun the wheel, skidding to a stop a few feet from the SUV.
Laughing to himself, he rolled down his window. ‘Now that’s how you catch a cab!’
Angel pulled Daniela underneath the SUV and urged her to stay quiet. For the first time in his life, he was looking forward to the police arriving.
The wail of approaching sirens was music to his ears.
Tiffany heard the sirens, too, and urged her crew to hurry. Bro’s car was no longer viable, so they split the remaining money between the other two taxis. Chase would drive Tiffany. Bro would pick up Boom. They would meet later that day to discuss what went right and what went wrong. Until then, their main goal was to evade capture.
Tiffany pulled off her gas mask and tossed it into the back of the SUV. Chase and Bro followed her lead. To get away clean, they needed to destroy as much of the evidence as possible. That included the bodies of their fallen friends, which they lifted into the SUV.
‘Hold up,’ she blurted. ‘Where are the kids?’
Chase shrugged. ‘Cash cut the girl loose. I don’t know where she ran to.’
‘And the boy?’
Bro answered. ‘I dumped him near the street before I killed his father. What can I say? I’m a softy when it comes to kids.’
Chase nodded his approval. ‘Good thinking, Bro.’
‘Thanks, bro.’
She spoke into her earpiece. ‘Boom, you still there?’
‘Sure am,’ he said from the balcony.
‘Give us thirty seconds, then light the firecracker.’
Boom smiled. ‘With pleasure.’
She surveyed the scene one last time before hopping into the bright-green Beetle. Chase floored it in reverse, yanked the steering wheel hard, then shifted into drive. Tyres smoked as he raced out of the plaza.
Angel saw Tiffany’s face and red hair. He also heard her side of the conversation. He wasn’t sure what ‘firecracker’ referred to, but he knew it probably wasn’t good.
His theory was confirmed when he saw the yellow light. It started blinking two feet in front of his face. Until that moment, he hadn’t noticed the tiny detonator mounted on the bottom of the SUV. Now it was the only thing he could see. Somewhere inside the vehicle, there were enough explosives to kill a small army, and he was hiding directly underneath them.
‘Joder!’ he cursed in Spanish as he crawled to the side of the SUV. Then he reached back and grabbed Daniela’s arm. He yanked her out, heaved her over his good shoulder, then sprinted as fast as he could towards the south side of the Zócalo.