“You shitheads are in for a rude awakening.”
“How do you figure?”
Diego yanks Amber from the car and with a firm grip on her arm, pulls her along. As they cross behind the large SUV she can’t help but snicker at the license plate. She still isn’t sure if these guys are acting tough, or actually are, either way, a vanity plate like that feels a bit on the nose. As she’s dragged around the car, her attention switches to the compound now in front of her. Amber wasn’t sure what she expected from her captures, but this beauty certainly wasn’t it. Does everyone in Costa Rica live in such magnificent homes? Three floors of marble with large arching windows, set in front of a jungle backdrop…she could think of a few worse places to be held hostage.
“He’s coming for me,” she says, unsure if she’s trying to convince them, or herself.
“We’re counting on it,” Vargas replies.
“And when he does, there’ll be no stopping him.”
***
“They’ll stop me.”
“What?”
“Your exit plan doesn’t make any sense,” Banks says, hovering over the map on the dining room table. “They’ll be waiting for me at the exits, I won’t have a chance.”
Alfonso, Ricardo, and the others stare at the map. They started on the plan, while Banks gathered what weaponry and resources he could find. They may not have much experience in recovering kidnap victims, but they thought it was pretty good.
“What’s the problem? Get in, get the girl, get out,” Ricardo reiterates.
“A great concept, but perhaps some more details are needed.”
“Like what?”
“How about the building? How will I get in and out?”
“Through the doors…” Ricardo says, pointing again to the front door of the building on the map, not understanding what Banks isn’t getting here.
***
“That’s your plan? That’s a joke.” Amber laughs.
“Why is she here?” Diego asks, the anger rising with every passing second.
“What do you want me to do with her?” Vargas responds.
“Lock her up somewhere.”
“Where? This is a house, not a prison.”
“Then knock her out or something.”
“You heard El Bandido, she’s not to be harmed until we have Banks.”
“He’s going to see right through that shitty plan,” Amber interjects.
Diego turns on Amber, pulling a butterfly knife and flipping it through his fingers.
“If you don’t shut up and let us work, my knife might just slip and accidentally find itself lodged in your hand.”
He slams the knife down on the table, the blade burying itself into the wood only inches from her resting hand. She stares at it as it wobbles left and right. Diego’s pleased with himself. Her mouth has finally stopped. He turns back to Vargas and the two return to their plan.
“I wonder which of you he’ll kill first,” Amber says, enjoying the anguish as the two men’s annoyance and anger only grow.
***
“I can’t kill them.”
“You what?”
“I mean, I could,” Banks says, “obviously, but I won’t.”
“You’re an assassin. Why on earth would you not be willing to kill the men who kidnapped Amber?” Alfonso can’t grasp what he’s being told.
“Because I love her.”
“Exactly!” he blurts out. “Kill the bastards, save the girl, and let’s get out of here.”
“I can’t. Killing is what made her leave. It upset her. I can’t kill anymore. I won’t.”
“So what do you suggest then?” Ricardo asks, stupefied by his boss.
***
“I suggest you don’t bring so many men,” Amber says, interrupting their plans once again. “The more you bring, the more will die.”
Vargas sighs, “She may be right,” he says to Diego.
“You’re listening to the girl now?” Diego snaps. “She’s just trying to save her boyfriend’s skin.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. Well, not officially. Not yet anyway. Although I’m still not sure if I even want him to be my boyfriend. I thought I had found a really nice guy, someone I could—”
“Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!” Diego yells.
“Why don’t you go scare her with your knife again? That worked so well last time.”
Diego glares at the man standing between him and his rightful place as El Bandido’s number two. Vargas is enjoying seeing the boss’s nephew on the verge of a total breakdown. If he does anything, if he hurts the girl, Vargas will be justified in putting a bullet between the man’s eyes. Until then, they still need to finish this plan on how to capture and kill the man hunting down their cartel.
“What I meant,” Vargas finally says. “Was that maybe more boots on the ground isn’t the way to stop this guy. Maybe we should be thinking more in terms of his language.”
“Which is?”
“Money. He’s a hired gun. So we hire him. We give him the girl, give him a contract, and he kills whoever hired him to kill us.”
Diego’s eye twitches at the comment. Only a momentary hesitation. Hardly a second, and yet Amber saw it. She saw what Vargas clearly didn’t. It’s the opportunity she was waiting for.
“I know I’m not supposed to speak, but as I’ve clearly shown I don’t care, can I just say that that’s a great idea. Banks would no longer be hunting you. Whoever wants you dead, would be dead themselves. And you would no longer have to figure out how to capture a man who is clearly much better at this than you.”
Vargas smiles, not only does she further his resolve that his idea is good, but it gives the added bonus of pissing Diego off even more.
“It’s a win-win,” she adds.
***
“It’s a lose-lose.”
“How do you figure?” Banks asks.
“If you walk away from your contract, you won’t get paid, you’ll lose your reputation as a top assassin, and whoever it is that hired you, will likely come after you for breaking the contract.”
“Not to mention, the Reyes Cartel knows you killed a bunch of their men, so if you don’t finish the job, they’ll be coming after you as well. Plus thanks to us, they already know the two cars you’ll be leaving in from the soiree tomorrow, they’ll be waiting for you,” Ricardo says, grimacing as he backs up Alfonso’s comment. “That’s like a lose, lose, lose, lose, lose” he adds, counting it out on his fingers. “That’s five losses!”
“But one win, and it’s the only one that matters. Amber would be safe.”
“Would she?” Alfonso asks. “For how long? You’ve survived this long because you’re a professional. You always get the job done, leaving one party happy and one party dead. That means there’s no one coming after you. Walking away, would leave both parties alive and both angry with you.”
“You may be able to survive that kind of heat, but would she? Can you not only keep yourself alive, but also protect her?” Ricardo asks.
Banks sits, the fear building in his chest again. It’s a feeling he’s not used to. A feeling he hasn’t experienced since he was a child, since being bullied and pushed around by the other kids. A feeling he thought he was done with. With his eyes locked on the picture of Amber tacked to the wall, he knows he’ll never be able to get rid of the fear, but at least he can power through it.
“Then we change the dynamic, we shuffle the cards and get ourselves a new hand.”
“How?” Alfonso asks.
“We bring both parties together.”
“You mean the ones who hired you, and the ones they hired you to kill?”
“Precisely.”
“What does that solve?”
“Two things. The Reyes Cartel will not only see who hired me, but will also see me reject the job. Then they’ll have no reason to fear me, and no reason to hold onto Amber.”
“What makes you think they won’t just kill you both afterward?”
“One problem at a time. At least it’s a plan.”
“Oh yeah, sounds like a great plan,” Ricardo blurts out, throwing his hands up in disbelief. “What could possibly go wrong?”
***
“A million things. Namely, he could claim to take our contract, just to get close to us, then kill us all to honor his original contract.”
Diego still is not on board and Vargas is getting tired of his nay-say attitude.
“I think it’ll work,” Vargas says.
***
“I think it’ll work,” Banks says.
***
“I’m making the call,” Vargas adds.
***
“I’m making the call,” Banks adds.