Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
“Excited?” I smirk at him, watching him for any reaction that would betray his true feelings on the matter.
“Ready to prove myself, don Xavier,” he replies, staring right back. My eyes look for a sign of weakness when the door of the car opens and Saul gets in, signaling the driver to take off.
“Have you familiarized yourself with the situation?” he grunts at Julio, who nods. “Why don’t you tell us what’s going to happen today?”
Julio keeps his eyes trained on my partner as he speaks.
“We are going after Daniel Caracas. He betrayed the cartel and acted as a spy. I am going to take his place as one of your sicarios.”
Saul nods with approval. “And where are we going?”
“Motel,” Julio continues. “He has been given false information about a hit that’s going to happen tomorrow. We’ll strike today, when he’s unprepared and alone. The motel staff works for don Xavier, and will collaborate with us to make this as painless as possible.”
“Good,” I mutter. “Seems like you’ve educated yourself about the situation. Today, Daniel Caracas will die by your hand. And once you kill him, you will officially take his place.”
Julio nods.
The rest of the drive passes in silence, with all of us preoccupied with our thoughts.
Soon enough, we pull up in front of the motel. Only the three of us are going in. There’s no point in taking more men with us. Saul and I are only here to make sure Julio doesn’t fuck up. If he does, we might end up with two dead bodies tonight.
We silently walk down the hallway of the building, coming to a stop in front of a dingy door with the room numbers scratched up and barely hanging on to the wood. Julio clears his throat and raps on the door.
At first, there’s no reaction, though we hear some commotion from inside.
“Who’s there?” someone calls out.
“Room service,” Julio grinds out. “Courtesy of don Xavier.”
His hand is resting on the gun behind his back. As the door unlocks, he pulls out his gun.
Daniel stands before us, his waist wrapped in a towel and his chest bare. His eyes widen when he sees the three of us, but it’s too late for him to make a run for it. Julio points the barrel of the gun against his forehead, making Daniel stumble back into the hotel room. We follow, shutting the door behind us.
“Fuck, pendejo,” Daniel breathes, raising both his arms in the air. “What the hell are you doing?”
“It’s time to pay the price for betraying the Scorpion cartel.” Julio flips the safety off on the gun, making Daniel panic. “Any last words?”
“D-Daniel?”
My eyes shoot up, drinking in the girl who’s just walked through the door. She’s slight and young, too young to be wearing the revealing dress that clings to her body. Her face is heavily made up to hide the innocence behind her eyes.
“What the fuck?” Saul hisses, pulling out his gun while the girl’s eyes widen in fear. “Who is she?”
“She’s just a whore,” Daniel rushes to get out. “I hired her for the night. Please!”
“Shut up, pendejo,” Julio hisses. I can tell this has thrown him for a loop, though. The unexpected guest means trouble. We can’t have witnesses to what we’re about to do.
Maybe there will be two dead bodies after all.
“Please,” Daniel sputters, his eyes fixating on me. “Don Xavier, don’t do this!”
“Don’t do this?” I mimic him with a snarl. “You’re telling me not to kill you when you’ve betrayed this cartel in the worst way? You’re fucking dead, hombre.”
I motion at Julio to get it over with, but he seems distracted by the young girl whimpering in the corner.
“What’s your name?” Julio asks the girl, making my hands form fists at my sides.
“Who the fuck cares what her name is?” I hiss at my employee. “She’s as good as dead anyway. You’d better put a bullet in her, too.”
The girl’s hand flies up to cover her face. She’s shaking. But this isn’t up for discussion. She was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and she’ll have to pay for that with her life.
There’s a moment of hesitation with Julio, but before I can start worrying about it, his jaw sets with a painful tick and he nods. Saul groans and steps to the side, not wanting to intervene, even though I’m sure he wants to. He has some personal drama with killing women, so he refuses to do it. But the girl’s blood won’t stain his hands, anyway. It’s all on Julio tonight.
As my newest sicario points his gun to the girl, she turns her pleading eyes to his. But Julio doesn’t budge.
“Which one should I do first, padron?” he hisses, switching from pointing the gun at Daniel.
“Please,” the lying prick pleads with us. “Whatever you think I did isn’t true.”