Miranda Segura - Present Day
Miranda fought the urge to pace in the shade of the trees in her aunt’s backyard.
Where the hell is he?
She’d contacted Mario Reyes three weeks ago to arrange this meeting.
If he doesn’t show, I will literally hunt him down and kill him.
Not that she’d ever hunted anything other than an excellent holiday sale, much less killed anything except spare time.
Miranda currently suffered through a tedious weekend with her Aunt Marciella, pretending to be a caring niece in the wake of the disappearance of Marciella’s husband, Manuel. Manuel’s father had been the brother of Miranda’s father, Abundio. Technically, Marciella was Miranda’s cousin-in-law or something, but with the age difference, she’d grown up calling Marciella and Manuel aunt and uncle.
What Marciella could never know was that Miranda had strong suspicions that Manuel was long since dead. That his foolishness got him and two of her father’s best men killed.
Miranda wouldn’t put it past her father to have people tail her while she was out and about, so the easiest solution to get herself close to the base of operations for her uncle’s cartel, without raising her father’s suspicions, was to use the excuse of wanting to spend time with poor Aunt Marciella.
Ugh.
In the wake of Manuel’s “absence,” before he left he’d appointed Mario Reyes to run the cartel operations, leaving him with a password that would be used by anyone legitimately relaying information or orders.
A password Miranda knew because of discussions between Manuel and her father.
Finally, she saw a man round the corner of the house. He approached her, nervously glancing around.
“It’s about time!” she hissed when he drew close. “Where is it?”
He glanced around again before passing her a thumb drive. “That’s everything you asked for.”
“Good. When I report back to Manuel, I’ll leave off the part about you being late. So don’t let it happen again.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I had to deal with some matters. Did he give you any instructions to pass to me?”
“No. Keep up the good work, and make sure Aunt Marciella is taken care of properly. Especially with security. That’s why he’s not returning yet. He has to secure his safety so he doesn’t put her or his daughters at risk. But he specifically said for you not to repeat any of that, understand? You are to act as if everything’s fine and Manuel is on an extended business trip.”
Reyes nodded. “I understand.”
“Good. I will pass further orders to you by phone.” She handed him a burner she’d purchased months ago with cash. “Use only this phone. I programmed a number into it. Only answer if it’s that number. And do not tell anyone. Understand?”
He nodded. “I do.”
“Good.” She looked at the thumb drive in her hand and slid it into the pocket of her slacks. “Now get out of here before people become suspicious.”
She turned and walked around the back of the house, slipping inside via the sliding glass doors that looked out on the enormous pool. She’d left Marciella napping and, as she’d hoped, the older woman hadn’t awakened in her absence.
At least being single was an advantage for Miranda. Had anyone noted her talking to Reyes, she would have used the excuse she was curious if he was single—he wasn’t—and simply being friendly.
After stashing the thumb drive in a safe place in her computer bag, she grabbed her cell phone to place a call to her father and check in.
She couldn’t help smiling, either.
He’ll never see any of this coming.
Abundio Segura
When Abundio’s burner phone rang he answered immediately. “Yes?”
“It’s done,” Reyes said. “She has the thumb drive.”
