“I know that you will,” Navarro said, staring him down with those deadly eyes.
Howell shifted with unease.
“You and your men should go,” Navarro said. “This won’t be pretty.”
Howell nodded, then glanced at his boys. They all started for the door. Howell said to Navarro as he passed, “Make him suffer.”
“Oh, I will.”
After Howell and his associates had taken a few steps toward the door, Navarro gave a subtle nod to his compatriots. They sprang into action. The barrels of submachine guns found the officers. Muzzle flash lit up the dark warehouse.
Brass shell casings danced on the concrete.
The wet thump of bullets against flesh echoed.
The officers fell to the ground, writhing and moaning.
Navarro’s thugs finished them off with headshots.
I assumed the officers wore vests.
After the last shell casing pinged the concrete, the deafening cacophony went silent. My ears rang, and my heart punched my chest. Adrenaline surged.
Navarro stepped to me and said, “We finally meet face to face.”
He was a tall man with short, curly dark hair, down-turned brown eyes, and a rugged jaw, lined with stubble. His face wasboth kind and dangerous. Disarming at first, but underneath the facade was a pure psychopath.
“Howell stole from me. He’s been skimming for a long time. Then he got too brazen. Cost me a considerable amount of money. I don’t like to lose money.”
“Nobody does,” I said.
“I have found in this business, and life in general, that people will walk all over you if you let them. You have to set boundaries and enforce them. Even when it’s unpleasant.” He paused. “I don’t like killing. I take no joy in it. But at times I am left with no choice.”
“We do what we must.”
“Indeed.” He stared me down for a moment.
Something told me that he liked to kill.
“You have been a disruptive element. An element that can’t be bought. I have no choice but to eliminate the threat.”
“Do you really think it’s going to make your life easier if you kill me? It’s just going to bring a shitstorm down on you.”
Diego smiled. “There is no storm I can’t handle. But I worry my daughter doesn’t share the same iron will.” Navarro pulled a stainless steel pistol from his waistband. It glimmered in a shaft of moonlight. He handed it to Catalina, who stepped forward into the pale beam.
Diego continued. “I have come a long way, at great risk, to be here. It is time for my daughter to prove she has the mettle to run this business in my stead.”
With tears in her eyes, Catalina aimed the pistol at me.
I stared at the big silver barrel.
Her manicured finger wrapped around the trigger.
52
The barrel shook in her trembling hand. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She took a deep breath and mustered her resolve. Her eyes clenched tight. She couldn’t watch.
I braced for impact. “Catalina, there’s no coming back from this. It will change your life forever.”
