"I hope so too Erica, if we see each other again you can call me Doug."
*****
I put any thoughts of Erica out of my mind, I had other things to concentrate on. I had an assignment to complete and a strict timetable that needed to be followed, I couldn't spend time worrying about someone who didn't want to take good advice from me. I had been all over the world and I knew just what dangers were present everywhere I went. Nothing I told Erica wasn't true, and in some instances I probably under emphasized the true nature of what she might face. Oh well, time to get back to work.
I'm a troubleshooter or if you prefer a problem solver. That's not very specific and that's intentional. Truth be told, I don't exist. My fingerprints are not on file anywhere and there is no photograph of me in any official document anywhere. The Canadian passport I was using for this assignment was considerably different from the German passport I had been using last month. In truth I had grown up on a ranch in North Dakota so the Canadian persona was not a difficult one to master. I had crossed the border into Canada many times and felt right at home, but now for this assignment anything but American was preferable. As I had said to Erica, people around here don't like strangers and are suspicious of anyone they come across, particularly Americans. I had been doing the legwork under the guise of purchasing property for an employer who wanted the anonymity this region provided. I had everything necessary to cover a background check of any type should someone want to do so. I wasn't worried too much, I fit in among the locals a heck of a lot better than Erica did. I was medium height and medium weight, brown hair and brown eyes and I could pass for just about any nationality short of Asian or African. I could easily walk through a crowded room and not one person would remember me.
I went back to my task, I needed to head out of town to meet someone. Actually it wasn't a person, well not a person I could see face-to-face. I would be having supplies airdropped to me once I transmitted my location to a plane that was circling high overhead, stealth technology preventing anyone from seeing it on their radar. Once I transmitted my location, I would receive the airdrop within minutes and then I could make my way back to town and my room. Once I had everything I needed I would be able to put my plan into action tomorrow, as I said, everything according to a very strict timetable. The time I had spent talking to Erica had put me several minutes behind, and I was trying to make up time but I also did not want to look as though I had more on my mind than a simple walk through town. Shortly I started leaving the more built-up areas and before long I had gotten beyond the town limits. I hadn't seen anyone for the past 20 minutes so made my way off the road and into the wooded area that surrounded this city. I wanted to get to the drop location before dark, finding something dropped from the sky with no light would not be easy. I knew it would be marked with a locator Beacon but I preferred not to use that if I didn't have to. I wasn't sure what technology might be in the hands of the local cartels.
I got the delivery without problem, the drop was right on target and I had no trouble finding it because it dropped within 50 feet of where I was standing. I don't know who the crew of the plane was or what service they belonged to, but they certainly knew their job and I thanked them silently for that. The dropped items consisted of things I would need for my assignment. The first, and most important, was a Russian made SVD Dragunov sniper rifle. It was broken down and I would put it together back in my room, for now I would be carrying it in a woven cloth bag much as if returning from the market. There was also a new passport for me once my assignment had completed, my previous Canadian identity would no longer exist. There were also several other items I would use to point the finger of blame somewhere else.
My assignment was to take out Carlos Espinosa, brother-in-law of the recently elected Prime Minister. There could be no connection between this and the United States, in fact I didn't even know if it had been officially sanctioned. I don't know who my superiors are or who their superiors are, all I know is that I get my assignments electronically as well as anything I need. Carlos was a leader of a local drug cartel, one of the more violent here in this part of the world. Not only that, he was a staunch socialist although many said his politics ranged closer to communist than socialist. The fear was he might be able to sway his brother-in-law's political decisions at a time when the US was hoping to develop closer relations. We didn't want that to happen and having Carlos out of the way might help in future relations. If everything went according to my plan, one of the rival cartels would be blamed for the assassination and few would think otherwise.
After returning to my room I set about getting things set up. I reassembled all of the parts of the rifle, I had spent close to a week getting familiar with it and having it sighted in so it would be perfectly accurate at the distance I planned to use it. Getting close to Espinosa wasn't easy so this would be the best way. The gun was heavy and bulky and felt odd in my hands, it was a relic of the Cold War but it would be left behind once I had finished. There would be nothing to trace back to the US, further distancing this act from politics. I took the new passport from its case, once I decided to use it I would be South African. It looked well-worn and I had no doubt it was completely authentic, it would pass any inspection anywhere. I slid it into the secret compartment in my battered old suitcase, it would be safe from a casual search of my room. Should someone decide to look a little harder, finding that secret compartment would result in a very high-tech incendiary device burning the entire contents. After I had checked and triple checked everything, there wasn't much more I could do until tomorrow. I wasn't nervous or restless, this was a normal part of my life. Some may find it strange, but to me it just was what it was. There was still some bread and cheese I had bought earlier in the room, so that would be my dinner. I finished and lay down to sleep, I wanted to be well rested.
*****
I woke before dawn and left my room, I needed to be out of sight before anyone saw me carrying a rifle. Guns around here were not totally out of place, many carried them but I did not want to take any chances. Espinosa had a large villa about 6 miles out of town and I would be on foot, trying to stay off the roads in order to get close without arousing any suspicion. I had been in the woods several times previously, the past week had been spent exploring and developing my plan. The first 4 ½ miles were not difficult, but I intentionally slowed my pace and moved very cautiously the final half mile before getting myself into position. I hadn't seen anyone in these woods my previous visits nor did I see any sign that people came through regularly so I was pretty certain I could get there undetected. Once in place I looked from my vantage point down toward the large Spanish-style house, it probably would go for more than $20 million in an affluent American suburb. The drug business was very profitable and Espinosa was the head of one of the most profitable cartels.
I didn't know how long it would take, but I would wait. Last time I was here it'd been more than three hours before Espinosa came out of the house so I prepared for a long wait. I had used a laser rangefinder and knew the shot would be just over 1700 meters which is more than a mile. I was easily capable of extreme accuracy on the range but this was different. I had no worries, I had made similar shots in the past and some even at greater distances. As I watched and waited, I saw several people come and go just as I had the other day. I'm sure they were part of his drug empire but none of them had any meaning to me. Carlos Espinosa was my target in my assignment and he would be my only focus. I knew his security was tight and I kept a careful watch just in case someone might be checking the surrounding area either visually or with some type of electronic surveillance.
I was pretty certain Espinosa was in the house, but after eight hours he had not shown himself. I am a patient man and I knew that if I did not get him today I would have to come back tomorrow. It was hot, humid and the insects were hungry but I couldn't allow my concentration to drift from my assigned task. It was shortly after 4 o'clock in the afternoon when I saw him come out of the door, he was accompanied by two other well-dressed men, all laughing and joking with each other. This is what I had been waiting for and soon I was looking at him through the rifle scope. I had been keeping track of wind velocity, temperature and humidity and I knew how each of these elements would affect the bullet's trajectory and I allowed for that. The rifle barked and the crack of the shot echoed, Espinosa's security men springing into action and looking for the source. Their intention might be to protect their leader, but right now he was lying on the front porch of his house with a bullet hole in his forehead. I left the rifle where I had been lying, along with several other items purchased in town. There was nothing to suggest the shooter had been anyone but a hired local assassin.
I knew it would take at least a few minutes before they determined where the shot had come from. I made my way back toward town carefully for the first 10 minutes but once I had gotten far enough away I picked up my pace and was less concerned about being detected. As I got closer to the populated area, I slowed so as not to stand out. It was easy to blend in, a slow and unhurried walk would allow me to appear just as any other local.
I was closer to my room now, my plan was to get inside, change my appearance slightly and get my new passport and then go to my rendezvous. I would be picked up at a very specific time in a very specific location and if I wasn't there, my ride would leave. I would be picked up by an extremely fast and totally unarmed two-man helicopter, the pilot had orders to wait for no more than 90 seconds if I wasn't at the rendezvous before turning around and heading back across the border. If I wasn't there today, there was another scheduled pickup time and place tomorrow, but if I missed two I would be on my own.
I knew where the pickup point was and what time I needed to be there, I didn't have to rush but I didn't have a lot of time to spare either.
"Leave me alone! Get off me!" There was no mistaking the voice, it was Erica. 100 feet ahead and just inside a small alleyway, I saw three men wrestling with her, she was kicking and flailing at them as they grabbed and groped at her.
"Get off of me I said, get the hell out of here!" She again shouted at them, either they didn't understand or more likely they just didn't care.
It was stupid and I knew better, my assignment came first and I should have simply walked past without a sideways glance but I couldn't. The three men were all preoccupied, one of them was holding her from behind as he groped at her breasts while the other two were trying to hold her arms and kicking legs. It didn't take much thought to realize their plan was to drag her into the alley where they would overpower her and have their way with her. I walked quickly the last few feet to reach them, taking out my switchblade at the same time. The one closest to me was facing away and didn't even see the blade as it severed his carotid and jugular arteries, he fell to the ground as his blood drained and his life ended. The second realized that something had happened but wasn't sure exactly what as his attention moved from Erika to me, and as he glanced down and saw his comrade he reached for his own knife but it was too late. My first strike was to his lower abdomen, the knife penetrating and slicing through the lower lobes of each of his lungs before I pulled it from his body and he too was lying on the ground with his throat slit. The third man hadn't really paid much attention to the other two, he was now trying to get his hand up under her shirt as she continued to struggle. He realized I was there when I grabbed his wrist and pulled it from under Erica's shirt, she then pulled out of his grasp as his attention moved from her to me. His eyes went wide as he saw me and looked down at the two bodies that had been assisting him only 30 seconds before, their blood running into the gutter. That was the last thing he saw before he too joined them, the only sound I could hear now was Erica's heavy breathing.
She hadn't completely realized what had happened, her concern had been to free herself from their grasp and she was trying to compose herself as she breathed heavily.
"Come on, we have to get out of here. The streets have eyes and ears." I said, taking her arm and trying to pull her away.
"I said let go of me!" She shouted, she still hadn't realized I wasn't one of her attackers.
"Erica, I said let's go!"
Hearing me use her name, she seemed to understand that something had changed. She looked at me closely before recognition dawned. She started to say something but then her eyes were drawn to the three men lying in the street.
"What... What happened to them?" She asked dumbly.
"They were attacking you and I took care of them. Now, we need to get out of here." I didn't want to explain things right now, we just needed to get off the street and out of sight.
I was pulling Erica along behind me, I had her by the arm and she was following without offering any resistance. This is stupid I thought why am I here trying to save this woman from herself when I should be 5 miles away and waiting to be picked up. I knew better than this and I was mentally kicking myself in the ass for losing focus. Too late now I thought, I'd never make the rendezvous and tonight's pickup so would have to put off until tomorrow if at all. Erica hadn't said anything since her initial outburst and just followed meekly, something I thought totally out of character for her.
We reached my room and I got her inside and off the street, she stuck out like a sore thumb and if anyone had seen her struggling with those three men, it would not be difficult to determine what had happened. Violence in the streets was not unknown and likely the three deaths would be attributed to one of the other cartels. I was pretty certain those three would have some sort of drug connection so the scenario was entirely plausible. The police would investigate maybe, depending on which cartel they belonged to and how much juice that cartel had with the police. It was entirely possible that nothing would happen but at the same time with Espinosa's assassination happening shortly before, perhaps more intense scrutiny would follow. Whatever the case, she was now involved and since I had assumed some responsibility for safety, I felt I had to assist her.
