Inca Kings

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

In the end she knew they had no choice. The drug smugglers’ ranch would need to be cleansed.

Karin tried to pull Dino away from his father but a stiff arm batted her away. She took the blow across the top of the eye, but didn’t flinch. Dino’s mother was on her knees in the dirt, head pressed to her husband’s chest. Dino’s brother was approaching slowly from the house, bewilderment written across his features.

“What happened? What did you do?”

Karin held it all back. Dino himself cradled his father’s head in his lap, blood soaking through his trousers and coating the back of his hands. The pale face that looked up at Dino possessed no semblance of life anymore.

“Dad…”

Karin recalled hearing when her family died, when Komodo died. An overwhelming grief would have gripped Dino, taking him far away from the present. Karin glanced over at Wu and clicked her fingers hard to get the soldier’s attention.

“Look alive, Wu. We ain’t done here.”

“Shut up, Blake.” He shook his head. “What a fuck up.”

She concurred. Nevertheless, she could see what had to be done. Clear thinking was one of her fortés. Maybe it was her intellect, or a side-effect of the fortress she’d built up around her past. Maybe it was the training kicking in under fire. But she saw what was needed in the next few hours as clearly as the river bed of a crystal-water stream.

“Keep it together,” she said, then turned her attention back to Dino.

“Think, Dino. You know what we have to do.”

The old man’s face stared up at her from over Dino’s shoulders, the accusation written visibly. They weren’t going to avenge him; they’d already done that. But…

“We need to save the rest of your family.”

Dino shuddered. “I can’t… just leave. Not now.”

“You can.” She reached down and hauled him up, leaving the widow and her son staring at their father. “You have to leave now and never come back.”

The pain wrung his heart out. The understanding aged him as she watched. “The cops won’t buy this story.”

“They will.” Karin saw it all in her mind, thoughts striking as fast as lightning. “Leader already said they use M16s. We leave one near your father. He shot the attackers, they shot him. Cops won’t know there’s a ranch.”

“But…”

“Your mother had no idea he’d gotten the rifle. They already reported this hassle to the cops. Look at the bruising. Unless we get friggin’ Bosch down here they’re not gonna look too closely — it’s just another strung-out gang off the streets.”

“And when they look for a motive?” Wu asked.

“Dead end,” Karin said. “They’ll drop it.”

“We went AWOL.” Wu came closer. “They’re gonna put it together.”

“Unlikely,” Karin told him. “The investigations won’t link. They’ll be entered into different databases. And nobody can prove we were here, especially when we’re deliberately seen in a different state tomorrow…” She stared from Dino to Wu. “It’s gonna work.”

“How the hell did you come up with all that in just a few minutes?” Wu asked.

“In another life I was a writer.” She fixed her attention on Dino. “Can you do it?”

The young man rubbed at his forehead, eyes tightly closed. A brisk gust of wind kicked up dirt around them. Dino’s brother crouched by his father, head down. Dino’s mother sat back on her hunches, a hand reaching out and touching her husband, watching the soldiers.

“My dad just died,” Dino said in a broken voice. “How can I do anything?”

“Because your mother and brother’s futures depend on it. Because you want to rid the earth of the rest of these assholes. Because you’re a bloody good soldier, that’s why.”

“In the end,” Wu said, “it all comes down to family.”

Karin stared at him. Once, she’d had a family. Then another, until she realized all they were doing was leading her from one heartbreak to another. She snapped. She planned. And now she was here.

“Which I always thought you couldn’t choose,” she said reflectively. “But here, now, I guess we can.”

The deeds they’d done together would either destroy or fortify their relationship. Wu looked over at the ticking Range Rover. “Let’s finish it.”

Karin dropped her M16 into the dust. “You too, Dino.”

“Are you sure, Blake? I just can’t think straight.”

“This is the only way. But get your head on right, Dino, ’cause we’re heading right into crack central.”

The ‘ranch’ turned out to be a small, brick-built house with a large garden, stables at the rear, a huge shed, and a double wooden garage. Karin saw that it backed onto the tallest hill in the area, and immediately began running possibilities through her mind. This was more interesting than she’d first thought. The possibilities fed her imagination, widening her outlook, making the cogs turn even faster.

The trio surveyed and waited; took an hour to creep into the grounds and stop with their backs up against the garage wall. The house’s doors were all open, the windows too. Rap music blared out, turned up to full volume. Occasionally a shadow passed an open window, stripped at least to the waist. Once, a man came out, slipped out back and returned two minutes later.

“No way of telling how many,” Wu said.

“Room by room,” Karin said. “None survive.”

“You okay with that peashooter?” Dino asked, still trying to get his head straight.

“I’ll use it until I find something better. One thing I do know from experience is that a dead enemy never needs his weapons. Besides, the caliber’s pretty good.”

She peered around the corner, struck by a sudden thought. The discipline, the fieldwork, the routine — it all felt normal to her now. In just a few months she’d managed to change her mindset, her vocabulary and her outlook. Still a long way to go.

Maybe. But eventually she’d see them all in their finest hours.

No movement at the farmhouse. No change in the music. She heard a man’s forced laughter. Somewhere, on the second floor, a television competed with the music, canned game-show laughter booming out at regular intervals.

Dino tapped her shoulder. Karin ran low and fast, clothes jangling, until she reached the front door. She pulled up, took a breather, checked the interior and saw all was clear. Another tap told her Dino had checked the rear and all was well. In she went, stopping at the first room and glancing inside. Incredibly, it was empty — a large living room with plush sofa, widescreen TV and decorations. Pictures on the wall showed an older couple — probably the family of one of these crackheads who’d recently passed away.

The explanation made sense. She pushed into the room nevertheless to make sure they left no threat at their backs. Dino stayed by the door, Wu backed her up. All clear. They exited and pushed into the next room.

A topless man sat at a table, drinking milk and dry-feeding himself a handful of cereal. Surprise lit his eyes for all but two seconds. The gun on the table stayed untouched as a bullet took the left side of his face away. He collapsed into his cereal, the noise easily masked by the booming music. Karin again double-checked the room and the closet at the rear. She gave the all-clear. This time, Wu exited first and took point into the last room on the right — a kitchen. It took a moment for Karin to figure it all out, but in an instant she knew — just as the bullets started flying.

The kitchen was the largest room in the house and had been cleared out. The gang were cooking their merchandise here. The smells were sharp, the surfaces clean and reflective. The bodies were dirty, and wore only shorts and masks. Karin took great care — dropping the first and then another. A third got a shot off, the bullet thudding into the door frame. Wu aimed and took him out, sending him stumbling back into a counter. Glass paraphernalia and plastic tubes burst and shattered everywhere. Liquid ran out, mixing with spatters of blood. Karin pushed deeper into the room. A short youth with lank hair was brandishing an M16 in one hand, the barrel shaking at the ceiling. Wu dropped him without a word. Dino stood back at the door.

Crisp, precise and skillful so far. They tidied the bottom floor of the house out; exterminated the vermin with prejudice. The guns piled up. The plastic packets piled higher.

The furthest room on the right held the stereo system and was being played by five more youths. These saw the soldiers coming and ran at them; one with a machete in his hand and the other two with nothing.

Wu managed to get a shot off before the machete descended. He dived forward and rolled as the blade bludgeoned thin air. Karin was behind and suddenly face to face with machete man. She fired. The bullet knocked him back into one of his colleagues. The third then hit her hard, muscled shoulder striking her chest. She flailed away, unable to keep her balance. Wu went further into the room, facing two alone.

Dino kept his head, firing at and hitting the third man, then jumping over his still falling corpse. Karin rose instantly, checking the rear and covering for the front two. They hadn’t missed anyone, she was sure, but you never let your guard drop.

She saw legs descending the stairs at pace, and then a head appeared, glaring through the wooden spindles.

“The fuck you doin’ here?”

“Garbage disposal,” Karin returned, and ran straight at him. The legs twisted, the face vanished. She reached the bottom of the stairs, shouting her intentions back at Wu and Dino. Carefully, she looked up, saw flying feet, and then ran hard two at a time. By the time she reached the top all was clear.

Four doors stretched out along the wide landing — three bedrooms and a bathroom, she guessed.

Perfect.

You’re not even close to it yet. Plus — that’s not exactly future proof.

Shedding those unstoppable thoughts she waited patiently, heard the TV being turned off and a few snatches of whispered hissing. Through her periphery she saw Wu and Dino approach, both spattered with blood; the former carrying a wrist injury. She nodded at it.

“You okay?”

“Scratch. Go on.”

Without another word she rushed the first room, found it empty and double-checked. Closet, cupboard, under the bed. Outside the window. Then she was at the rear as Dino cleaned out the next room, one enemy incredibly fast asleep in the bed and overlooked by his pals. The moment Dino entered, Karin saw their enemy wake and reach for a nearby cache of weapons — bloodied cleaver, battered Glock and serrated knife were all available. Dino put the weapons forever out of his reach.

Without pause, Wu took point, knowing at least one of the remaining two rooms held prepared enemies. It was the next and, as soon, as his bulk appeared near the doorway the gunfire started. The soldiers hit the deck, rolled and fired blindly inside. A man screamed and thudded to the floor. Another continued to fire. Wooden walls and frames splintered above their heads. Karin inched closer until she could see three-quarters of the room. Nothing visible, but then a pair of legs stepped into view. She perforated them, saw the rest of the body fall and finished it with a head shot.

Dino scampered by, a little dangerously. A bullet shot by him. Still at least one active shooter in the room, then. Karin glared at Dino, then both soldiers slipped their guns around the doorframe and fired together. Screams erupted and then a final gurgle. Wu breached the gap, calling the all clear a few seconds later.

He turned around, satisfied. “Ranch cleansed.”

Karin nodded with grim determination. “They never stood a chance.”

Dino gasped. Karin turned to find him on his knees, head hanging low. At first she thought he’d been shot through the back and checked the hallway for enemies. Finding none she bent low and lifted his chin up.

“I am sorry, Dino. I guess now you can grieve.”

The sound of a large door being dragged open ground through the open window, clear now that all the sounds of entertainment had been stopped. Karin rushed over and stared down.

“The garage,” she said. “One. I guess he’s going for a car.”

“On my—” Wu began, but Karin put a hand out.

“No. This one is mine, you watch Dino and start the clear up.”

“Clear up?”

“Fuck, man, don’t you see? The three of us are already fugitives. We can stay here. Become subsistent. Form a base. Make plans…”

“Why would I see that? And what plans?”

“Just get on with it.”

Wu acquiesced without question, a good sign. Karin raced out of the room, checking her handgun and finding two bullets left in there. She scooped up a discarded M16, then turned, barreled down the stairs, and headed straight for the front door at breakneck speed. Once there, she came to an abrupt halt and checked the area.

An engine roared in the garage. Karin ran into the garden and then toward the garage, covering the ground in a matter of seconds. M16 raised, she followed the line of its barrel. The garage door juddered as a gust of wind struck it; kicking up a whirl of dust. Karin came boldly into the center of the opening just as the engine revved.

Smiled at the man behind the wheel, then sighted his skull along the top of her gun.

Pulled the trigger and saw the blood explode.

Ranch cleansed.

Time to talk to Dino and Wu and see what the future held.