I stared across the breakfast table at my older brother. He was meticulously cleaning out the pits from his plums, the neat bastard. I was growing impatient.
“So when are when are we going to make the hit?” I asked.
“Relax Chuck, once Tito gets here, we’ll get underway. You being tense will do us no good.” He of course was calm as could be. I just wanted to make this hit, get the loot and get home.
He popped a plum in his mouth then dabbed his lips with a napkin, what a pompous prick. God, how I hated him, hated being his second fiddle. This time would be different though; I’d make the hit with him, get my share, and get away from him for good. I hated being the younger brother.
Donny was always the leader, from the time we were kids playing cowboys and Indians, up to our adult lives when he employed me in various ways. He was a take it or leave it guy. He knew what I needed and that I would usually take it. Being dependent on him was a monkey on my back. And that monkey was starting to make me sweat.
Only 6 a.m. and it was already 84 degrees. God, how could anyone live here like this? No a-c , no breezes, yet Donny was dry as dirt; now sipping his espresso. What a she-male. I’m surprised he never went to the two earring look. Guess his arrogance stopped him.
He was one to take high stock in appearance, said it conveyed a sense of class. I don’t know what ‘sense of class’ he was referring to, we were just two street trash kids from south Philly; and now were here in the Canary Islands, and damn it was hot.
“We’re going to review the plan again once Tito gets here. Remember I’m Larry and you’re Lou, and we’re from Tallahassee.”
I hated when he belittled me, and told me things repeatedly. We both had public school educations, yet he always felt the need as the older brother to act superior.
“Okay Larry!” I quipped, my attempt to mock him.
He didn’t flinch, just continued, “Tito doesn’t need to know anything else. He’ll drop us off afterwards at the designated spot, and we’ll go to the boat from there. Got your key?”
I did, no way was I losing that baby. Donny thought it best that we both have a key for the boat in case one of us didn’t make it. We were to boat to Isle de Gran Canaria, then board a puddle jumper to Morocco.
I nodded and said, “I don’t trust Tito.”
Donny looked at me like I needed a spanking. Man I hate that freaking jerk.
“He won’t mess with you or me. His share is equal to ten years salary here, he won’t cross us. If he does , he dies.”
Donny never killed anyone, nor had I, and I don’t think he could do it. I think I could. Money is a powerful motivator, don’t I know it.
We huddled with Tito and went step by step over the plan. He likes to nod and say, “Oh, yes sir” a lot. Sounds too rehearsed for me. Donny repeats several things to him, kind of like what he does with me. Tito nods several times, “Oh yes sir, no problem sir.” I don’t buy his act, he could be setting us up for a kidnapping or a killing. I’m assuming we could command a large ransom, from who I don’t know. He seems eager, though he’s not sweating, makes me more suspicious.
Tito is talking while he’s driving us through the bumpy jungle roads, “… and the speckled canary can only be found here…”
I cut him off, “Shut up Tito. You’re not our tour guide, just drive, and turn up that damn a-c up!” I was hot and nervous and not in the mood for useless crap about birds. I was trying to concentrate damn it. I wanted to know my way out of here if the crap hit the fan.
Tito turned and looked at my brother opposite him on the front seat. Donny did a slow nod then looked ahead.
Tito slammed on the brakes as a huge wild hog ran out from the brush onto the road in front of us.
“Whoa, look at that pig, it’s huge!” Donny cried out.
It was but I was just glad we didn’t hit it. I recollected my thoughts on what lay ahead. Tito assured us the cartel kings slept passed noon everyday. He pinpointed where their satchel of cash was in the meth lab. Stating it was Sunday they would not be manufacturing. In some deference to God, I suppose. The warehouse supposedly had only two armed guards, one inside and one at the only entrance.
Tito suddenly jerked the car off the road into the dense brush. There was a gutted shed among the trees where he stopped the car. “I’ll wait here for you men.” He said as Donny exited the car.
I opened my door to get out while saying, “Get out of the car Tito.” He looked perplexed and I shoved his head. He stood outside his door looking at me , Donny was too.
“Mr. Lou is something wrong?”
“No.” I said and spun him up against the car and I patted him down. I found a cell phone in his pocket. “Going to call someone Tito?”
He did start to sweat now, more than I was. He was searching for something to say, he was taking too long. “I need in case emergency happen, car no work.”
Donny came over and took the phone and started checking its contents. He looked over to me and said, “No names, all two digit codes.”
“Which one calls the cartel!” I barked at him. He was drenched in sweat now.
“I don’t know what you mean sir.” He stammered.
“What happens when Larry calls one of those numbers then hangs up? Will they call back, or is the call a signal itself?” I asked.
Tito looked back and forth between me and Donny like he was watching tennis.
“I…I sir tell you. I don’t know cartel numbers.”
“Numbers? So there’s more than one on here?” I say. He doesn’t reply. “Why are they coded?”
He blurts out “It make simple for me!”
“I think it makes simple for the cartel who gave you this phone.” Donny says.
“You must believe me!”
I grab Tito’s shoulder and put my gun with silencer to his head, “Larry is going to test you.”
Donny picks up my cue, “Which number calls your wife Tito?”
“My, my wife no have cell phone.”
“Then which one calls your house!” Donny shouts.
“Please sir, I have family.”
“Then surely you have your home number programmed in.” I say and jab his head with the muzzle.
“Sir, I don’t know….” were his final words. My finger got itchy.
Donny searched the rest of his pockets, and found nothing. I noticed on his left palm the number 3, which was code 3-A on the phone. Donny tossed me the phone and the keys to the car.
I asked Donny, “So, was he to warn them or was it for an emergency?”
“We’ll never know now that you killed him.” Always the arrogant one. “I think it was to warn them when we were on our way. Open the trunk lets toss him in.”
We did and proceeded then to go through the dense vegetation. As Donny was leading the way I kept checking behind us. Whether we’d be ambushed or charged by a pig I was staying alert. It took us a good 30 minutes to get through the nasty jungle overgrowth.
Our plan was suppose to be simple. I would hide near the rear and Donny would throw coconuts at the door until the guard came out. I would then subdue him. The plan didn’t work.
We didn’t count on two guards coming out. One immediately opened fire on Donny, splaying a long round from his machine gun into the woods. The one guard then ran after him. I still had my plan for the other guard but as I approached from behind the barrels, that damn cell phone shrieked.
The other guard didn’t hesitate, his hand was on the trigger, he was shooting as he turned my way. I had a split second to react. I pushed a barrel in his direction, dove left, rolled, and plugged him twice in his gut.
I jumped up then grabbed his gun. I had to think fast. Would the other guards, if there were any have heard the ruckus. I ducked into the warehouse door, nothing. No noise, no one else. I proceeded to the makeshift office above the lab. It took too long to find their safe in the floor. I blasted the lock to pieces and found the stash; it coulda been a million or two. As I zipped it in my bag, I heard a voice call out.
“Mr. Lou, look what I got choo!” Tito had tipped them off before our arrival.
I slowly crawled over to the office window. Hiding my face behind a file cabinet I peered out. The other guard had Donny. He had a gun to Donny’s head. It looked like Donny’s arm was about to fall off, he’d been hit in the shoulder, more than once. Blood was running out and not just there, his face was mangled. Like it lost a fight with the butt of a machine gun. He looked dead already.
“Come out or your brother dies now!”
I had the stash but only one way out. The guard was not looking my way. He wasn’t sure where I was, he kept scanning the interior. As he started talking I planned my escape.
“You have no time Mr. Lou. I am not patient. I will give you…” He was looking at Donny as he said that, and jabbed the gun further into my brother’s neck when I threw a staple out the office door.
As he turned and looked I stepped to the door opening and fired at him. I shot Donny in the jugular. The guard, after the initial shock, began to laugh, then I plugged him right below his nose.
I stopped briefly to look at Donny. I tried to convince myself I did him a favor. Only one of us could have survived. (I could just picture him yelling at me, “You numbskull, you got us both killed! Why didn’t you save your own hide?”
I grabbed the weapons off the guard and made a quick dash for the jungle. I hid beneath some dense shrubs. Waiting and watching. Catching my breath, sweating, telling myself it was over, I came out alive, with the money, the car and boat keys. Twenty minutes later the coast was clear.
I headed back in the direction of the car, but didn’t recognize the pathway. I thought I was lost. I could have gone around in a circle for all I knew. I thought I was getting closer when I heard the noises nearby.
Someone was out there, close enough, coming through the jungle. I crouched into a hiding position. They were getting closer. I had the machine pointed in the direction of the approaching noises. Sweat was affecting my vision, my heart was racing. The sounds were closer , like they were charging. In had my finger on the trigger, it was getting itchy again. I wiped the sweat from my face and took aim; when through he brush that huge pig ran across in front of me.
