Brodie stood and moved toward him, keeping his eye on the gun. He reached down to pull it out of Pío’s hand, but Pío saw him and moved the gun away, then tried to raise it.
Brodie said, “Here, let me help you.” He pulled the Beretta out of Pío’s hand, put the silencer to the side of his head, and fired a bullet into Pío’s brain.
Brodie picked the lamp up off the floor and put it back on the nightstand, then went back to the dead man and dragged him across the rug and rolled him under the bed, noticing that the nail file was embedded in his abdomen. Brodie pulled the bedsheets down to hide the body, then threw a few pillows and stuffed animals on the rug to cover the blood trail.
“Good job, Mr. Brodie,” he said to himself. “Now what?”
CHAPTER 30
Brodie shut off the lamp, moved to the door, and listened. The walls of the rooms were thick concrete block, but the wooden doors were thin, and he could hear Carlo’s voice in the corridor. A room door shut, then footsteps, then the sound of the heavy metal door shutting at the end of the corridor.
He considered his next move.
The mission comes first.Which meant he needed to find an English-speaking hooker who knew Señor Kyle. In fact, Señor Kyle could be in one of the rooms right now, riding the pony.
Leave no man behind.Which meant he needed to find Luis.
The safety and welfare of the troops under your command is of paramount importance.Meaning he needed to make sure Taylor was safe.
And finally, according to the Code of Conduct, it was his duty to avoid capture at all costs. Meaning he should get his ass out of there, pronto. Especially after wasting an MBR-200 guy.
Could he do all that? Worth a try.
Brodie kept the Beretta at his side as he opened the door and scanned the long, dimly lit corridor. No one there.
He slipped out of the room, closed the door behind him, and walked toward the rear of the building, past the closely spaced wooden doors, behind which were the working girls, and maybe Luis.
Brodie noticed that a few of the doors had hallway bolts—as his had—and he guessed that these were the rooms where the underage girls were locked away so they couldn’t wander around.
Brodie continued his recon, and at the end of the building the corridor turned right along the back wall, then right again to form a horseshoe shape. The second long corridor was a copy of the first with about six doors on either side, for a total of about twenty-four rooms. This was quite an operationif every room had a double-occupancy turnover every half hour or so. More to the point, that was a lot of doors to open if he was going to find Luis—assuming Luis was still alive and on the premises.Shit.
Also, he had to find a hooker who knew Mercer. Then he had to get out of there.
He saw a metal door at the end of the corridor that was a copy of the one in the first corridor near the baño. If his mental image of this place was correct, this door would also lead back to the lounge, concealed by the curtain he’d seen.
Brodie walked quickly toward the door, which had a push bar on it. He could hear music and some voices from the lounge.
This door would be about fifteen feet from the outside exit door that he had noticed—the door through which Captain Mercer had departed upon seeing his old buddy Al Simpson. Brodie had no doubt that he could open this inner door and be through the outside door in three seconds, then put some distance between himself and the Hen House, circling around to see if Taylor was still parked up the hill. This was called a tactical retreat—as opposed to running for your life. It was the smart thing to do, but not the right thing. He had to find Luis, and maybe find a talkative hooker. If she didn’t speak English, Luis could translate. If Luis was alive. Or Taylor could translate. If she was alive.
Brodie turned and retraced his steps along the corridor. He could open a door at random, or he could eavesdrop and try to determine which door might lead to Luis or to a room with a hooker on a break. The odds of finding either on the first try were about two dozen to one—not counting the room where he’d left a dead body. On that subject, it was only a matter of time before Carlo, Lupe, or maybe the other MBR guy checked out that room.
He continued slowly down the dark corridor, listening at each door. Some rooms were quiet, some not so quiet.
He heard a door open behind him and spun around. A fat, sweaty man, whom he recognized as one of the four regime guys, exited a room. He was holding his suit jacket in one hand, and he was wearing a shoulder holster. He looked at Brodie, who kept his own gun out of sight, then said something in Spanish; it seemed to Brodie that it was a question that needed aresponse, so he replied, “Sí,” ready to paint the guy red if that was the wrong answer.
The man laughed, then turned and walked unsteadily toward the metal door. He pushed the bar and the door opened, letting in the sound of thumping dance music. As the man parted the curtain, Brodie could see the pole dancer, who had a larger audience now. The place was filling up.
He also caught a glimpse of the table where the two MBR guys had sat. It was empty. One guy was confirmed dead, but where was the other guy? Probably with Luis. The regime guy disappeared into the smoky lounge as the automatic door swung shut by itself.
Sometimes the best solution to a problem is the most direct, and sometimes it’s the most unexpected. With that in mind, Brodie went to the end of the corridor and put his back to the rear wall of the building. He raised his silenced Beretta and yelled out, “Luis! Dónde estás?”
He listened, but there was no reply.
Brodie moved quickly along the rear wall to the corridor he’d first entered, and again called out, “Luis! Dónde estás?”
No reply.
But a door opened right in front of him, and the second MBR-200 guy stepped into the corridor, holding a gun. He and Brodie looked at each other for a half second before they both realized that the other guy needed to be dead. The MBR guy raised his pistol, but Brodie was already in firing position and he shot first, hitting the guy in the chest, which sent him back into the open doorway. Brodie followed up with a kick to the guy’s groin, causing him to drop his gun and slump to the floor.
