The Beasts of Juarez, R.B. Schow [books to read for self improvement .txt] 📗

armed personnel, heavy resistance, and some sort of lookout along the way, especially if this prick is dug into the side of the mountain.”

“If there is a lookout,” Atlas said from the front passenger seat, “we should send in a sniper scout to take out any possible resistance first. If we can do this quiet, clean, and with no casualties on our end, we’ll be good.”

“We should see if we can get eyes on the family first,” Leopold said.

“That’ll come later,” Atlas said.

“No,” Leopold said, challenging him.

“You can run the mission the way you want, Leo,” Atlas said trying not to bow up on the man, “but we’re a wet crew who puts motherfuckers like this down. Me personally? I could give a rat’s ass about this being the right or the wrong cartel. These monsters traffic in children, so if we have the opportunity to put every last one of them in the dirt, then by God, we’re going to do it. You can sit back here with your thumb up your ass strategizing all you want or you can grab your nuts and man-up with the rest of us.”

“Jesus, Atlas,” Leopold said. “Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?”

“What’s the terrain like?” Atlas asked, his blood now pumping. “Because behind the church is just dirt and hills from what I can see.”

“That’s the landscape,” Leopold said. “Dirt and hills. This is why we need to be vigilant, and like you said, see if we can spot a lookout.”

“I’ll be the sniper scout, if you need one,” Yergha said. “I spent a little time in Afghanistan in my former life.”

Leopold nodded his head in agreement. “Alright then, let’s go get Cira and Esty, and then let’s see if we can start a war with these animals.”

Back at the hotel, they planned the route to Santiago’s compound while following Codrin’s instructions to the letter. Leopold traced the new route on Google Maps then zoomed in as close as he could on the large house they found tucked into the hillside.

“That’s not as long of a dirt road as I thought,” Leopold said. “It is secluded though.”

They relied upon satellite imagery to spot the potential lookout points and then game-planned their way into the compound.

“Why is there no gate to the house?” Cira asked. She was one of the two drivers so she was all about making sure they got in and out safely.

“There may be one now,” Atlas said. “If there is, if we can’t get in quietly, we’ll go in loud. Lord knows we picked up enough weapons in exchange for Leo’s pot, and since these particular weapons look far better than that low-rent hardware Kofi picked up back in Ukraine, I like our odds.”

“We don’t even know the odds,” Leopold said.

“The odds don’t know us,” Atlas countered. “It doesn’t matter what they come up with in terms of men and guns, the four of us are motivated and lethal, and you and Cira are top-notch eye candy.”

“I’m not just eye candy,” Leopold said. “And neither is Cira.”

“Atlas,” Cira said with a frown.

Atlas smiled at Cira then he winked at Leopold and said, “If we find ourselves in the shit, we’ll see what you’re about. Are you ready to get wet, Leo?”

“You mean like wet works?” he asked. “Like killing someone?”

“I wasn’t referring to your vagina.”

Shaking his head, he said, “Obviously they don’t teach you manners in the pen.”

“That goes without saying,” Atlas laughed. “Let’s go already.”

Leopold and Cira drove through Juárez, past Capilla San Martín Caballero, and up into the bare hills beyond. The road was bumpy, dry, and dusty, but neither the Audi nor the Easter egg on wheels would be deterred.

“If anyone sees us coming,” Atlas said to Leopold, “they aren’t going to grab their weapons, they’re going to fall over laughing. An Audi and a Chevy Spark climbing up the hill to lay waste to everyone. Yeah, right.”

“We would have needed to smuggle an eighteen-wheeler’s worth of pot to get ourselves a Humvee, or a Suburban, or something tactical,” Yergha said from the back seat. “Maybe having a couple of everyday cars will make them more curious than alarmed.”

“Leopold,” Atlas said in response, “no matter the stupid things I can sometimes say, I’m glad you’re in the field with us.”

“Really?” he asked.

“Really.”

When they approached the last ridge, Leopold brought the Audi to a stop. Cira and Estella stopped behind them. “We need to do a quick check of the two-ways,” Leopold said. “After that, Yergha can set out on foot.”

When they did a successful comms check, Yergha got out, went to the Audi’s trunk, then geared up and headed out into the desert landscape on foot. He had his scoped Heckler & Koch MP5SD strapped to his back.

“I hope this guy can shoot,” Atlas said.

“He can,” Leopold assured him.

In the back seat, Kiera said nothing. To the layperson, she looked like she was in a waking coma. Atlas knew better, though. She could go from comatose to a ferocious fucking nightmare in about two seconds flat.

Esty got out of the shot-to-shit Chevy Spark then climbed into the back seat of the Audi next to Kiera.

“Yergha’s MP5…what kind of range does that have?” Leopold asked Atlas. As a former SWAT commander, Leopold assumed that Atlas knew the weapon.

“Depends on a lot of factors,” Atlas explained. “So long as there’s no carbon build-up inside the suppressor housing, the weapon should fire as intended. The gun has a shorter barrel, so it’s no sniper rifle. On the upside, that particular model has a built-in sound suppressor that also hides muzzle flash. And when it’s fired, the sound of the report is not much louder than someone talking.”

“Which means if Yergha can get in close enough,” Esty said, “then he