“You gotta be fucking kidding me.”
This was the second man with the darkness of death hovering above them that had fingered the Cardenas Cartel. It was funny that I was on my way to their location for a meeting Corvel was tightlipped on disclosing the subject of. He knew that I was on the way and would have known to send these men to ambush me. What the hell was going on?
“Who really sent you motherfucker!”
I sent the butt of the weapon into his cheek, so hard, it sank into the side of his face.
“Who sent you!”
I didn’t want to believe that the cartel wanted me dead. If so, they were worse than the old-timers from the syndicate, not giving me a chance to prove my worth.
“Sons of a fucking bitches!”
Unwilling to believe what I had heard, I sent the gun into his face again and again, not stopping until his face was a bloody hole of seeping blood and broken bones. I flipped the gun in my hand, aimed and let off two rounds in his smashed-in face.
Without so much as a backward glance, I trekked back across the street. Thankfully, in the minutes that we were shooting and killing each other, no other vehicles had driven up. The incident, while happening, had appeared to last a lifetime, but was actually less than ten minutes.
It was a blessing and a curse that some roadways were so isolated, that a shoot-out had gone full throttle without so much as a peep from a passerby.
First, I tossed the body in the back of the guard’s vehicle before I hopped in and pulled it off to the side of the road. Then, I dragged my heels from under my vehicle, hopped back in, and picked up my ringing phone.
“Husband,” I said, my voice still filled with the anger raging through me.
“I’m about ten minutes away. Are you okay?” he asked. His words were rushed, and his tone heavy with concern.
“I’m okay, but my guard, and the two that were sent to kill me are dead.”
“I’m on my way. Please wait there if you’re not in immediate danger.”
“You know I can’t do that, Arjen. I have to figure out who the hell wants me dead, and I’m going to get an answer from somebody today.”
I wasn’t upset. I was full-on raging, so strong that Arjen’s words went in but I wasn’t transmitting or applying common sense.
“Please, Mecca. I will go with you to wherever you think you need to go. We are going to find out who’s targeting you, I promise.”
Since I was driving, the signal had his voice waving like he was talking while running.
“I’ll see you tonight. I love you, Arjen.”
I clicked off, realizing I had just told him that I loved him for the first time. I reached under the seat and felt around until I found the tracker, tossed it out the window and stomped on the gas.
It killed me to see that guard die because he was protecting me. Did the cartel, the very ones I’ve been involved with for over a decade, want me dead?