King of Swords

Chapter 11

Cruz welcomed his associates from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency into his office and closed the door. He’d worked closely with John Rode and Bill Stephens for years. While not exactly friends, the men had mutual respect for each other. John and Bill had been doing a thankless job for over a decade — trying to plug a cork into a fire hose of a product that gushed daily into the United States. They were world-weary, had seen a lifetime of disappointment, and knew they were fighting an unwinnable battle. The U.S. had been the largest consumer of illegal drugs for generations, and regardless of what steps were taken, it continued to be. Trying to stop that by terminating the supply was akin to the efforts to prevent alcohol consumption during Prohibition. That experiment had not gone well, and neither had the drug war.

John and Bill were in town for a panel discussion on law enforcement in the 21st Century at the Camino Real, and Cruz had convinced them to come by and check out his operation. They’d agreed, arriving at eleven on Monday morning to be given the nickel tour. After making appropriately complimentary noises, they’d retired to his office and settled comfortably in. Both Americans spoke fluent Spanish; they talked shop for a while, comparing notes and sharing war stories, and then Cruz got to the point of the meeting.

“What kind of contacts do you have with the Secret Service or the NSA?” Cruz tossed out.

“Why, you thinking about switching sides?” John quipped.

When the laughter subsided, Cruz said, “No, I just was wondering how to proceed with some potentially troubling news about an assassination attempt on your president.”

The atmosphere in the room dropped several degrees.

“What are you talking about?” Bill leaned towards Cruz, who now had both men’s full attention.

“It all started with a contract killer, a hit man, famous in Mexico for pulling off the impossible. He’s called El Rey in the tabloids…” Cruz went on to describe his investigation to date, including the theory about the G-20 being the likely assassination spot.

Aside from the frustrated buzz of a fly at the window, there was complete silence in the room. John was the first to break it. “I see your problem. Your security service won’t go to bat on the basis of an investigation, even if the circumstantial evidence is compelling,” he observed.

“That’s probably the same in your country. Nobody wants to stick their neck out and then be wrong, so it’s easier to do the safe thing than do the right thing…” Cruz said.

“Some things don’t change no matter which side of the border you’re on,” Bill agreed.

“My thinking is that maybe I can go in through the back door and lean on our relationship. Which is why I need to determine whether you know anyone with either agency who could help me out here.”

“My sister-in-law actually works at the NSA, so maybe that would be a decent place to start,” Bill said.

“You don’t have strong enough relationships with those agencies to get some face time?” Cruz inquired.

“It seems your relationship with your intelligence service is about like ours with the NSA. And we have zero contact with Secret Service. So…no help there. Although, I’d be happy to write this up as a formal report and pass it on. I just wouldn’t expect much, for the same reasons you encountered with your team,” Bill advised.

Cruz rose, went to the window and opened it to let the bluebottle escape into the heat of the day. He sighed and said, “This is so frustrating. I know I’m right, and yet I can’t get the attention of the agencies chartered with keeping our heads of state safe. It’s really unbelievable.”

“Welcome to government work,” Jim said.

Once the Americans were gone, Briones approached Cruz’s office, standing politely at the door until Cruz looked up from his paperwork and noticed him.

“Yes, Lieutenant. What is it?”

“We got a hit back from our office in Culiacan. They have someone in custody who claims he has information on El Rey. He’s willing to talk, but he wants to know what he can expect in return for cooperation,” Briones told him.

Cruz put down his pen. “What kind of information?”

“About his background. He said he could tell us a lot about where he came from, and that it’s verifiable.”

“What’s he charged with?” Cruz asked, thinking this was too good to be true.

“Burglary.”

“What? A lowlife thief knows all about El Rey? How likely does that sound to you?” Cruz scoffed.

“Not very. But then again, you wanted to hear about any and all leads, so I thought I’d run it by you,” Briones said, preparing to leave.

“Not so fast. What kind of burglary, do you know?” Cruz inquired.

“The usual. Breaking into houses, stealing valuables. Nothing violent.”

“I suppose it’s worth at least talking to him. Can we get him flown here?” Cruz asked.

“I already asked. They said if we’d pay for the tickets they’d send one of their men with the prisoner. They didn’t sound too interested in driving him here…”

“No, I wouldn’t think so.” Cruz thought about it. “Fine. Make it happen. Just don’t book them into first class.”

“There’s a flight out tomorrow morning,” Briones said. “Gets here at noon, and then a return flight at three. So they’ll only be on the ground for a few hours. Do you want me to line up a meeting room at the airport? Might be more practical than hauling them around town and having to deal with traffic issues. Last thing we need is for them to miss the plane back.”

“Sure. We can be back here in an hour or two.”

“He’ll want to know what we’re prepared to do for him — you have to address that. So what can we actually do?” Briones asked.

“Depends. I suppose we could always trade some favors and get the charges dropped, but it would have to be one hell of a story to get that card played. More likely, we can get a reduced sentence if he doesn’t have a ton of priors. Also depends on where he is in the system. If the prosecutor hasn’t gotten hold of him yet, it’s all internal to us and we can do whatever we want.”

“Let me get on the line and talk to Culiacan, and find all this out before we sit down with him.” Briones stopped, looking a little sheepish. “Sir, I just want you to know I’m sorry I let El Rey slip by me. I had this weird feeling there was something wrong, but I didn’t trust my gut…”

“Learn from that, Lieutenant. Next time your instinct tells you something’s off, follow it; don’t shut it down. It could save your life. Now get out of here, and let’s get this robber a plane ride,” Cruz said, reluctantly returning his attention to the pile of documents.

“I’m on it. Oh, and maybe we should take the sketches — perhaps slip some placebo ones in as a control? He may be able to identify which is the real El Rey…” Briones suggested.

“Excellent idea. If he can, that would be the first real break we’ve had. I would say we’re about due for one.”

The following day, Cruz and Briones were waiting at the gate as the jet pulled up to the walkway. The first passengers off were their men — one of the perks of being a Federal was that you could command priority, and get it, from the airlines. The escort was a heavily muscled thirty-something-year old veteran of the force in one of the most dangerous and violent epicenters of the drug wars. He looked menacing and tough, which was probably an understatement. You didn’t survive years as a Federal in a battle zone by pretending to be a hard-case. Apart from Ciudad Juarez by the Texas border, there was no Mexican city more dangerous than Culiacan, home of the original Godfather, and the capital of not only Sinaloa, but of the Sinaloa cartel — the largest, most violent and influential of the narcotics trafficking gangs.

The prisoner was a skinny weasel of a man, and old — at least fifty-five — and looking like every day of it had been spent in poverty and hardship. He had the hunched shoulders and defeated gait of a man who’d been bludgeoned by life, and was running out the clock, trying to avoid any further suffering. His skin had the leathery look of an existence spent outdoors — the complexion of a day laborer, or a beggar. As he was escorted towards Briones and Cruz, his pronounced limp slowed him, as did the cuffs on his wrists.

The officer extended his hand in greeting, his face unsmiling and impassive.

“I’m Lieutenant Marquez. Nice to meet you both. Where are we headed?” he asked, after shaking their hands.

“We’ve got a conference room booked over in the old Mexicana club suite. Follow me,” Cruz instructed, moving swiftly to the main terminal area. The others followed, Briones lagging behind with the prisoner and Marquez.

They arrived at their destination, where an airport security man opened the suite and asked if they’d require anything else. Cruz inspected the room, which had a cooler with water and sodas and some sandwiches wrapped in cellophane. He shook his head. The group settled in around the conference table, and the captive put his gnarled, cuffed hands on the table — his cracked nails and hardened calluses further confirmation of a sustenance-level existence.

Marquez cleared his throat. “This is Rodrigo Moreno. He’s charged with burgling several homes in Culiacan, and was arrested four days ago. He was caught climbing out of a ground floor window with a stereo and a few items of jewelry. We put the question about El Rey to him, as we have to all detainees, and he indicated he had information he was willing to share.” Marquez sat back, his role finished until he had to walk the man back to the plane.

“Trade. I have information I want to trade,” Moreno said, his yellowed eyes darting from Briones to Cruz, lending him the appearance of a fox, or some other wild animal that lived by its wits in a harsh habitat.

“I’m Captain Cruz. I head up the cartel task force for Mexico City. I’m interested in hearing your information, and if it’s of value, I’m prepared to consider some sort of equitable exchange,” Cruz said. “But I won’t discuss any terms until you tell us what you know. I won’t cheat you, but I also don’t have a lot of time to negotiate. Either you talk and then I reward you, assuming your information isn’t complete bullshit, or you go rot in the Culiacan jail — one of the most lethal places in the country, if I’m not mistaken,” he added.

“That’s nothing compared to the streets,” Moreno commented.

“Maybe. But the question is do you want to spend the next few years there, or do you want to deal?”

“Obviously, I want to deal. But how do I know you won’t screw me?” Moreno asked.

“You’ll have to trust that I flew you here, at considerable expense, and am sitting in front of you instead of directing Mexico’s anti-cartel task force’s operations, to hear your account and act honorably if it vets out,” Cruz stated.

Moreno regarded him distrustfully. “Talk’s cheap. If I had a peso for every time someone told me they weren’t going to fuck me, and then did, I’d-”

Cruz pushed back from the table and stood. “Officer Marquez? It was a pleasure meeting you. Sorry to inconvenience you dragging this worthless shit halfway across the country. This meeting’s now over. Make sure your prisoner gets the full incarceration experience back in Culiacan,” Cruz instructed.

Moreno’s face crumbled, and he visibly deflated. He’d played his best hand and lost.

“Wait. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I accept your proposal. Please…”

Cruz fixed Moreno with a glare. “Let’s be very clear. You don’t dictate terms, or complain, or express anything but gratitude that someone as important as me is sitting here, prepared to entertain what is probably an easily debunked pack of lies — in which case, your jail time will make being gang raped in Calcutta seem like a trip to Rio for the Carnival. So here’s the deal. You talk. I listen. Then I decide what your story’s worth. There’s no other deal. You have five seconds to accept or reject it. Now you have four,” Cruz dictated.

“All right. Fine. I’ll take the deal. Sit down. Please. I promise it’ll be worth your time,” Moreno said.

“Fair enough. Start talking. And it better be good,” Cruz warned.

“Can I have some water?” Moreno asked, chastened from his brush with dismissal.

Marquez handed him a plastic bottle, after twisting the cap open. Moreno lifted it with his shackled hands and drank greedily before setting it, half empty, on the table between them.

“It all started in Tijuana about ten years ago.”

Nine Years Ago, Tijuana, Mexico

A large walled compound perched on a cliff face near the outskirts of the city, looking over the town below, which bustled with activity in the late morning sunlight. It resembled a small prison, with a dozen heavily-armed men clad in civilian clothes patrolling the perimeter. One of the largest homes in the notorious border city of over a million people, it was an imposing presence at the top of the access road.

A Cadillac Escalade pulled to the gates, and after a glance from the guards through the driver window, the reinforced iron grids rolled open. They had been designed to withstand anything other than a tank running through them. The Escalade eased to a stop in front of the main home’s entrance, where three men exited the vehicle. The SUV was heavily armored, a special order from a company in Dallas, Texas that built conveyances for heads of state and corporate bigwigs. It could survive a grenade blast, and gunfire would literally bounce off it. The window glass was a special polymer that could take armor piercing rounds without breaking, and the tires could go twenty miles after having been shot to pieces. All that protection didn’t come cheap — the vehicles cost a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a pop.

The compound had three.

The men approached the front door and the youngest, tallest one, who stood between his two older companions, held his hands above his head while one of several armed men frisked him professionally and then scanned his body with an electronic surveillance wand designed to reveal any listening devices or recording apparatus. They were granted access to the house, and the man who’d frisked the new arrival motioned for them to follow him.

Domestic staff busily cleaned floors and windows as the procession made its way to the great room terrace, where the owner of the property, and one of the most infamous cartel chieftains in Mexico, sat in a white terrycloth bathrobe sipping espresso with a young woman a third his age, also in a bathrobe, though filling it out with considerably more style.

Felix Montanegro eyed the arrivals, then leaned over and murmured something into his young companion’s tousled hair. She smiled, then obligingly rose and moved inside, her bare feet padding silently across the oversized Italian marble flooring. Montanegro gestured with his hand for the young man to sit, and snapped his fingers to the service staff, who waited at a discreet distance, out of earshot. One of the maids hurried off, rematerializing thirty seconds later with a cup of coffee for the guest. A gardener studiously trimmed ivy at one end of the terrace, taking care to stay well away from the small onyx table where the two men sat. The pair of tough-looking escorts moved inside the house, twenty feet from the terrace, where they could reach Montanegro in seconds if he needed them.

Montanegro regarded the young man and leaned back in his chair, withdrawing a cigarette from a gold case on the table. The maid scurried to his side and lit it for him. He appeared not to register her, continuing to study his guest’s face, which betrayed nothing.

“So you’re the miracle man who’s been achieving what everyone said couldn’t be done,” Montanegro started cordially.

The young man nodded, the corners of his mouth almost imperceptibly turning up in a veiled smile.

“It’s impressive. Really impressive. I’ve never seen anything like it. I would have guessed it was impossible to fulfill the last three contracts without being killed yourself, but here you are…and without a scratch on you.” Montanegro flicked ash from his cigarette into a rectangular metal container adorned with highly-stylized skulls, commemorating the Mexican Day of the Dead, Dia De Los Muertos. He took a drag and continued, exhaling the smoke skyward.

“I wanted to meet you. I wanted to see the phantom who’s causing such a stir among the illustrious members of my group, as well as in the population of Tijuana. I understand the restaurants and cantinas are abuzz with talk of your exploits — of the man they call, ‘El Rey’.”

“What people gossip about is of no consequence. What matters are results,” the young man reasoned, speaking softly for the first time since he’d gotten into the Escalade.

“Ah. So you do have a tongue. Good. Yes, you are correct, it’s the results that count. Everything else is noise for fools and dullards.” Montanegro sipped his espresso. “But I understand that you’ve increased your price for the next contract, yes? May I ask why? This is a competitive field, so you may be pricing yourself out of the market, at least from my perspective.”

The young man ran a hand over his face, which sported a two day dusting of growth. He adjusted his black long-sleeved shirt. “I’ve shown what I can do. When you hire me you get guaranteed results. That’s worth more than someone who will try, and perhaps fail,” the young man said reasonably.

“Ha! Well, you’re right about that. You have delivered impressively, my young friend. So much so, I’d like to offer you a position with my group. You can name your price,” Montanegro said.

The young man appeared to consider the proposition, and then reached over and carefully turned the coffee cup, seeming captivated by the pattern in the china. He didn’t speak, and a few seconds turned into an uncomfortable half minute of silence.

“I’m flattered by the proposal, but I’m afraid I can’t accept. I do my best work alone, on a contract basis, and it wouldn’t work for either of us to have me acting exclusively for you. I mean no offense, and if I was considering ending my career as an independent contractor, you would be the first person I’d approach. But no, it would never work, and we’d both be unhappy with the results. So I must respectfully decline.”

Montanegro glared at the young man as he spoke, and when he was finished, slammed his hand down on the table in a gesture of fury.

“You little shit. Do you have any idea who you’re talking to? It wasn’t a suggestion. If I tell you you’re working for me, you’ll work for me, and the correct response will be, ‘Thank you, Don Felix, I’m honored you’d want me.’ I’ve rarely had anyone turn me down, and all those who did are dead. So this is a one time, one-way-trip offer. You either accept, or my men will put a bullet in your brain and feed you to the street dogs. Are you reading me?” Montanegro hissed.

The young man’s expression didn’t change. If anything, he seemed almost angelically serene, untroubled by the turn the discussion had taken. He appeared to consider Montanegro’s words, and then leaned forward, ensuring that only the cartel boss could hear.

“I don’t drink coffee. I don’t like it.”

Montanegro was confused by the statement.

“What the fuck do I care whether you like coffee or not? Did you not hear me?” Montanegro growled.

“No, I heard you. I just wanted you to know I don’t like coffee, mainly because it alters my body chemistry in a way I don’t find useful.” Montanegro looked like his head was going to explode. “But there’s another reason. Last night I slipped into your house, bypassing your laughable security, and treated your coffee grounds with a nerve toxin that will kill you within seven hours of ingesting it, unless I give you the antidote, some of which I’ve already taken in case you force me to drink coffee, too. It will take any laboratory in Tijuana days to figure out what the poison is, or what the antidote is, by which time you’ll be long dead. Even in the U.S., it would take more than seven hours. And my guess is that isn’t your first cup this morning, so you have less time. Maybe six?” the young man estimated, his voice so low that Montanegro had to strain to hear.

Montanegro’s pupils contracted to pinpoints, and his hands started shaking with fury.

“You’re a dead man, you little fuck. Dead.”

“Don Felix. I took this step because I understood that you might be less than understanding if I refused your offer, which I had heard through the grapevine would be forthcoming. I mean no disrespect. I simply had to ensure I had something to negotiate with.” El Rey leaned in even closer. “I was approached three days ago by one of your enemies, who offered me a half million dollars to kill you. I told him I’d consider it. I haven’t responded yet. My point is that if we reach an accommodation, and I continue to work on your behalf, I’ll decline these sorts of requests. Truthfully, I could have cut your throat last night and pocketed the half million after the fact, but I didn’t. Instead, I came here, listened with respect to your proposal, politely declined, and then things started down an unfortunate road.”

Montanegro said nothing. Merely glared at him. But the young man could see that he was now calculating instead of reacting. That was good.

“I like my work,” El Rey continued. “I enjoy it. I also enjoy clients who pay on time, and who do as they promise. You’re an honorable man and have always paid as agreed, so I enjoy working for you. I don’t want to see anything happen to you.” The young man sighed. “Here’s my counter-proposal. We agree I won’t kill you. I give your men the antidote when they’ve dropped me in a location of my choosing once we’re under way. It will be enough antidote for you, your companion, and whoever else drank your coffee this morning. There will be no ill effects, provided you take it within the next…” the young man checked his watch, “…hour or so. And as a further incentive for you to take a more positive approach, I’ll also terminate your enemy, one of the cartel bosses you’ve been at war with for the last six months, within forty-eight hours, for a contract price of one million dollars; satisfaction guaranteed. The reason the price is a million is because I will be foregoing the half million for your contract, so I’ll expect you to subsidize that.” The young man sat back, eying Montanegro impassively.

Montanegro seemed to fight an internal battle, a struggle in his mind.

“You’re insane.”

The young man’s face took on a smile that chilled Montanegro’s blood — the blood of a man who had killed dozens himself and ordered the execution of hundreds.

“That may well be. But the question is, do you want me on your side, or working against you? If against, you have nothing to do but wait, and you’ll see the result of that choice by two o’clock today, maybe two-thirty. The effects are quite painful, and at that point, irreversible. The Iranian who sold it to me said prisoners they tested it on tore off their own skin in an attempt to reduce the…discomfort.” He fixed the Don with a penetrating stare. “I don’t care whether I see tomorrow or not. The real question is whether you do. From that understanding will flow the correct answer.”

Montanegro now saw him in a new light. The young man imagined that was the way he would regard a cobra poised to strike, coiled on the table. Gone were the anger and the hubris. He already knew what the answer would be — Don Felix was certainly a man who wanted to live.

Montanegro slammed the table with his palm again and threw back his head and laughed; a laugh hollow with nervous relief.

“Fuck you. You really are good, you know that? I’ve sat across from many, and you take the cake. All right then. It’s a deal. One million, he’s dead within forty eight hours. I get the antidote within the hour. Who am I paying to exterminate, as a matter of interest?”

“Antonio Palomino. The head of the Chiapas cartel. I know where he’s staying. Not in Tijuana, by the way, but that’s not your concern. I want half the money now, and half when I close out the contract.” He glanced at his watch again. “I’d be inclined not to waste too much time right now.”

Montanegro rose, and shook the young man’s hand.

“It will take a few minutes to count it.”

Thirty minutes later, the Escalade dropped the young man off in a seedy neighborhood near the infamous wall that divided Mexico from the U.S.. He instructed the driver to cruise around the block, and that he’d meet him on the corner, in front of the small market, in ten minutes. The heavy SUV roared off down the dirt street, and once it was out of sight the young man ducked into one of the squalid little cinderblock houses, emerging a few minutes later with an empty aspirin bottle half-filled with clear fluid. He hefted the shoulder strap of the duffle bag with the cash and ambled to the market, stopping to buy a bottle of water with the few loose pesos jingling in his pants. The Escalade pulled up two minutes later, and he approached it, motioning for the driver to roll down the window.

The blackened inch-thick glass slid down.

“Wait until you see me walk round that corner. When I know I’m safe, I’ll call this phone and tell you where the antidote is. Be careful with it. Don’t drop it. That’s all there is. Tell Don Felix to shake it well, until the white powder in the bottom is completely dissolved, and then to take one tablespoon orally, and to have anyone else who’s affected take one as well. As long as they do so in the next forty minutes they’ll be fine. There are only enough doses to treat eight people, so don’t waste it. Do you understand?” the young man asked.

The driver nodded and took the proffered cell phone from El Rey’s outstretched hand.

Satisfied the men weren’t going to shoot him, he strode across the street, and then down a block; glancing back over his shoulder before turning the corner and disappearing from view. The men sat restlessly. A few minutes later the phone chirped.

“Go into the market. I left the antidote with the woman at the counter. Oh, and you owe her five hundred pesos for holding it. Let Don Felix know I’ll be in contact within forty-seven hours to confirm my successful closure of our contract, and to arrange payment for the second half. Again, be careful with the bottle of antidote, and no more than one tablespoon per person. Any questions?”

“No. I understand.”

The young man terminated the call and pulled his truck down the dirt road, snaking his way to the highway that would take him south, down the coast. He wondered if the cartel boss would figure out that the antidote was water with a little Viagra dissolved in it. Probably not. In the end it wouldn’t matter. Montanegro would be pleased his rival was executed, El Rey would have established his new price as a cool million, and he would only have to do one hit a year to live like a king. He suspected he’d actually have to raise his price again in a few years just to keep up appearances.

One thing that was for sure was that Montanegro would use him for any other high-importance executions he needed carried out, regardless of price. Money was nothing to the man. But having the absolute best in his pocket, deferring to him, with the tacit agreement he wouldn’t turn on him and fulfill a sanction against him? That was priceless.

As had been the look on Montanegro’s face when El Rey had concocted the story on the spot, about the mythical toxin.

He hummed as he pulled onto the toll road, headed for Ensenada.