“Yes. She is an informant. She is who told me about Damien. She hates him. She is expecting me to call. She thinks the police will arrest him tonight.”
“I hate him also,” said Carlos. “But you phone her and maybe Damien hear her speak.”
“I do this often. We talk most nights at this time. Damien thinks it is her father who calls. You can listen as I talk.”
Carlos thought about it for a moment and then said, “Okay. I listen. You make mistake and you squirm like a kitten on fire a long time.”
Jack was thankful that Laura answered.
“Listen closely,” said Jack. “I am outside your villa right now with the top boss. We are going to wait here until after his men raid the villa and catch him.”
Laura felt sick when she heard the words. “You mean he’s not coming in here to —”
“That’s correct,” Jack interjected. “Listen carefully to what I say and please do exactly what I ask.”
“I understand,” replied Laura, wondering if Carlos was listening in to Jack’s conversation like Ramirez was hers.
“From your tone, I know that you are being listened to ... correct?”
“Yes,” replied Laura, shrugging her shoulders and smiling at Ramirez.
“I want a description of the inside of the villa. It is important to know which room the men need to run to. I know you can’t talk right now, but as soon as you can, I want you to get a pad of paper and a pencil and draw a picture of the inside of the house. I am worried about the booby trap near the back door. I presume it has been set?”
Laura paused and then said, “Yes,” hoping it was what Jack wanted to hear.
“When he is getting ready for bed, make an excuse to go outside. Say you’re emptying the garbage. Take the paper and pencil and leave it on the bridge under a little rock. Then get out of there. I will draw a sketch to show the boss the booby trap and then the men will rush the house. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
When Laura hung up, Ramirez looked at her and said, “I don’t understand. Why does Carlos not go to the villa? He has lots of men.”
“That’s the problem,” replied Laura. “He has so many men he doesn’t need to risk his own life. He isn’t going into the villa until after.”
“As long as he crosses the bridge. That is most important. Otherwise my men will have to ram his car with the truck. That might not be so good for Jack.”
“No, that wouldn’t be good,” agreed Laura.
“And his car is strong. He might still escape.”
“I need a pencil and some paper,” said Laura. “Then I’ll cross the creek farther down the road and come up past the villa and leave it on the bridge like Jack asked.”
“I don’t understand,” said Ramirez. “Why did Jack say there was a booby trap?”
“We do not know what is being said between Carlos and Jack. It is best we do this.”
Ramirez shrugged and said, “If you wish. I have a pen and paper in the glove box.”
“Pencil and paper,” replied Laura.
“There is a difference?”
“Yes.”
Damien peeked out from under the bridge and saw an SUV slowly driving toward him. It stopped and two men got out and quickly ran toward the bridge as the SUV sped off.
Damien gripped the pistol tighter and ducked as the men slid down the embankment near the bridge. He watched as they scrambled to hide in some bushes.
Moments later, someone was walking on the bridge above him. He heard the sound of a stone grate on the plank above his head and caught a quick glimpse of Laura’s face in the moonlight as she bent over. She then continued walking across the bridge and out onto the street. Now what the fuck is going on?
Immediately the two men left their hiding spot and went to the top of the bridge. Damien heard them whisper and then heard one place a call on his cell. Seconds later, they both headed down the street. Damien peeked out again and saw one of the men staying in the shadows as he followed Laura down the street. The other man was carrying a pad of paper and stopped to wait a short distance down the street.
Damien saw Laura nervously looking back as the SUV arrived again. The man with the pad of paper quickly climbed in and the SUV drove away. She stepped back and hid in the doorway of a building, oblivious to the other man who was creeping closer.
chapter thirty-nine
Carlos accepted the pencil and pad of paper and quickly scanned the crude drawings. One showed the first level of the villa, with a bathroom, kitchen, and a pantry room at the rear and a dining room and television room at the front. Near the pantry was marked a set of stairs leading to the upper level.
The second drawing showed three bedrooms on the upper floor with one marked with a large X and the drawing of a stick man lying on a bed.
“Your puta, she do good,” said Carlos. “Now, tell me about bobby trap,” he said, shoving the paper and pencil onto Jack’s lap.
Jack quickly sketched two trees that were the closest to the rear door of the villa. He then drew what he said was a fish line tied to one tree leading to a glass hanging in the crook of a branch on the other tree.
“The glass is held in place with a clothes pin,” said Jack. “He puts a grenade with the pin removed inside the glass. Below the glass is a rock. If someone walks into the line...”
“Then the glass falls and the grenade ... it go bang,” said Carlos.
“You’ve got it,” replied Jack. “A simple idea, but effective.”
Carlos rolled down the window and handed the sketches to one of his men. He then gave him some brief instructions before rolling up the window.
The minutes passed and the tension reduced everyone to silence. Carlos finally got the call he had been expecting. When he was finished, he barked some orders at the driver, who flicked a switch. Jack heard the doors lock. Entering the car without permission was virtually impossible. Now, leaving the car would be up to the discretion of the driver.
“My men in place at back,” said Carlos. “No bobby trap.”
Normally Jack might have found Carlos’s grasp of the English language amusing, but this was not the time — and he hated Carlos too much to find anything amusing about him.
From her hiding spot in the doorway, Laura watched as two vans, followed by two SUVs, roared past her down the street toward the small bridge. The Mercedes followed from behind, but the darkness, coupled with the tinted windows on the Mercedes, stopped her from catching a glimpse of Jack’s face as it went by.
The first three vehicles bounced across the small bridge, causing the wooden planks to echo loudly in the night. The fourth vehicle stopped crossways at the entrance to the bridge. Four men leapt out and stood with machine guns at the ready as the Mercedes skidded to a stop in the dirt behind it.
Jack watched as Carlos, sitting beside him, screamed instructions into his phone from the safety of the back seat. The two men in the front of the Mercedes remained in their seat, but the man in front of Jack had turned to face him and made no pretext of hiding the pistol he was pointing at Jack.
Jack tried to control his breathing and relax his muscles as he watched Carlos, waiting for the inevitable. Waiting for when Carlos knew and turned to face him...
Jack looked across the creek and caught a glimpse of a