Chapter 6 - THE MOLE
The escape tunnel dumped us a mile away, near a hidden garage where I kept an emergency vehicle. We were bruised, bleeding, and exhausted. Isabel patched my shoulder with a first-aid kit in the dim light of the garage.
"How did they find us?" Isabel asked, her hands shaking as she tied the bandage. "Only your top three lieutenants knew about this place."
I stared at the concrete wall, running the variables through my mind. "It wasn't a lieutenant. Arturo's men moved too fast. They bypassed the outer tripwires without triggering them. They had our exact security grid." I pulled out a burner phone and booted it up. "There's only one person who had access to the grid besides me."
I dialed a number. It rang twice before it was picked up.
"Boss?" Carmen's voice came through, sounding tense.
"Hello, Carmen," I said smoothly. "I just wanted to thank you for your years of service."
There was a long pause. "I don't know what you mean, Don Gabriel. I am hiding with my family, just as you ordered."
"Did Arturo pay you well? Or did he threaten your family?" I asked, my voice dangerously soft. "The security grid for the mountain house was updated on your console before we left. You gave him the codes."
She broke down sobbing. "He has my son, Gabriel! He told me he would torture him if I didn't give him the location. I'm so sorry. I didn't want to..."
"You signed the death warrant of a newborn baby to save your own," I said. "I understand the instinct, Carmen. But in this life, treason is only paid with blood. Tell Arturo I survived. Tell him to sleep with one eye open."
I crushed the phone under my boot. The betrayal stung, but it also clarified things. I couldn't trust anyone in the syndicate. This was no longer a cartel war; this was a personal vendetta. I was going to burn Arturo's world to ashes, and I was going to do it alone.
May you like
Sofia tugged on my uninjured arm. "Are we going to be okay, Uncle Gabriel?" she asked. It was the first time she had called me that.
I knelt down, looking into her brave, tired eyes. "Yes, little one. Because I am the monster that the monsters fear. And they just made me very angry."
