Page 121 of Liar
All eyes fall on me.
“She stays with me.”
37
We circle three times around the block where the warehouse is located. Searching for any sign of Ignacio or for signs that things aren’t quite right.
Hayden parks the car on a side street corner facing the small facility. We’re in a quiet, sleepy residential neighborhood with large houses and low-limbed Tipuana trees lining the street. Instead of a church at the foot of the road, there’s the warehouse.
Do the residents even realize the cartel is about to ruin their lives?
“Just as I thought,” Diego comments. “The pendejo took the bait.”
I cringe at the eagerness in his tone.
“Let’s hope so.” Hayden rubs fingers across the stubble of hair on his jawline, his attention focused on our surroundings like he’s memorizing every yard, every building. Once more, I’m confused by his less-than-perfectly groomed appearance. He reminds me so much of the man I first met, who’d been equally confused by my appearance.
“I can’t believe they built a tunnel this far away from the border,” I comment. The border must be at least one-thousand meters away. “And inside a small, warehouse that should be located elsewhere.”
“It’s inside, all right. See the new electrical lines feeding into the building?” Hayden points to the powerlines crossing the road and linking a huge, shiny transformer box fixed on a utility pole to the shabby warehouse. “Money is invested in this place. I’ll bet the tunnel is state-of-the-art, like something El Chapo might have built.”
“There’s probably an air ventilation system,” Diego remarks. “Thank fuck. Those oxygen masks are a pain in the ass.”
“Oxygen masks.” I look from Diego to Hayden. “You’re prepared.”
“He’s thought of everything,” my brother boasts. I don’t know whether to be happy or worried with how much he respects my husband.Trust,I think.We trust Hayden, even with our lives.“Except for you. He didn’t anticipate you.”
I glance at Hayden, only to catch the slightest of smiles.Say it. Tell me you love me.
Javier speaks up. “I’ll wait in the car with Luciana, Boss.”
“No. You’ll be busy.”
We swing our attention forward and in the direction he’s pointing. Three cameras hang just below the warehouse roofline. One to the left, one directly in the center to monitor the entrance, and one to the far right. They move in unison, surveilling the grounds.
“CCTV cameras,” Diego says.
“Correct. More will be inside and in the tunnel. My source tells me there’s only one man on the premises assigned to watching the monitors. Javier will take care of him.”
“And if Ignacio is watching?” I ask.
“He’ll see the shady figure of a man wearing a purple bandana.” Hayden gestures at the power lines just ahead. “Notice how the cable running on top is thicker than the others. It’s for the security system. Problem is when you run a CCTV cable too close to a power line, and especially when you run it over that line—”
“It causes video ground loop interference,” Diego finishes. “Fucking amateurs.”
Hayden catches my frown. “Horizontal lines form on the video monitor and blur whatever is being shown. We’re going to disrupt the power going into the warehouse for ten seconds. A small blip. Power off, power back on. Nothing to cause suspicion but enough to get the desired effect. If Ignacio is watching, his feed will be blurred until the man monitoring it fixes it.”
“He’ll be dead by the time he even realizes there’s a problem. Isn’t that right, Javier?”
Javier grins.
Am I the only one not looking forward to this?
Hayden glances at his watch. “Thirty minutes should be enough time for the three of you to handle the ten Sureños inside. Quietly and without detection.” He narrows eyes on my brother. “Javier will overtake the remaining man and Miguel will clear the tunnel ahead of Diego. Get deep inside, do like you’ve practiced, then get the hell out. We’ll be headed back to the airfield when the tunnel blows up.”
They shake their heads, excitement written in their expressions. Fearless and committed to doing what my husband asks.
“Are you certain there are eleven men inside?” I feel the need to ask, to bring a degree of level-headedness to the testosterone-fest taking over the car.
