The next room has three people in it. All of them are in stupors. I pop them all quickly. One. Two. Three. Simple. Quick. That's all it takes.
My stomach churns at how easy it is. I don't know who these people are, but I have to pretend they're bad guys.
The next room is clear.
I go up the stairs as silently as possible, pausing any time the floor under me creaks. But no one comes upstairs. There are two bedrooms and a bathroom.
The first room is empty except for a stained mattress on the floor. There’s no one in there.
The second room has a large bed, and in the middle of it sleeps a woman. I lean over, press the cushion to her face, and blow her away before she even wakes up.
And that's when I hear it…a rustling from the next room. I thought it was a bathroom, but I go in and find a crib with a baby in it.
I stare down at the sleeping infant, bile rising.
I turn around and I leave because there's no fucking way that I'm killing a baby for these motherfuckers, not even to save my tongue.
I leave the way I came, get in the truck, and make my way back to the airstrip without any problems.
When I get there, the same guy puts the same gun to my head, and I'm led back in.
I stand in the same spot while the matriarch of the cartel looks me up and down.
She sneers. 'You have failed.’
She pulls the silver top of her cane and a long, thin knife appears from inside it that she hands to one of her men.
He approaches me, malice in his eyes and a little smile playing on his lips. I close my eyes, saying a silent farewell to my tongue
'You did not kill the baby.'
'No, ma'am,' I say.
'Why not? I told you to clear the house.'
'I don't kill kids.'
It's all I say and then I stare straight ahead.
She watches me, but I don't look at her again. For a few seconds, everything is still, and then she waves her hand and the guy with the knife backs away from me, returning to her side.
'The next time I tell you to clear a house, you clear it,' she says, standing up and giving me a look of disdain as she slides the knife back into her cane.
She leans on it heavily as she walks slowly toward the plane. 'Vamanos.’
The guys with guns all step forward. They pick up the table and chairs. The carpet is rolled up and everything is stowed in the plane within a minute.
The guy who gave me the note pushes me toward the hanger door. 'You'll get a call next time your services are needed. Don't fuck up if you know what's good for you. She rarely gives second chances.'
I go to the truck and watch as the plane rolls out of the hanger and turns toward the runway. It’s in the air within two minutes and the cartel queen along with her minions are gone, like they were never even here.
I go back to the cemetery and through the tunnels back to the hotel, feeling numb.
When I get up to our penthouse apartment, it's 4 a.m. Isit down heavily in the living room and put my head in my hands. But then I stand up, unable to sit still. I pace around the room before going into the bathroom.
I turn on the shower, hoping that no one wakes up because I don't want to talk to anyone right now.
Afterward, I pad back into the living room and I find Daisy sitting on the couch waiting for me.
