Chapter 29
Silas was under a lot of pressure. As far as security went, he had proven himself ineffective.
At least in this situation. There was no doubt in my mind he feared for his job.
Why wouldn't Declan fire him? Sure, he might last the rest of the trip, but at the first opportunity, the billionaire would let him go for someone more capable.
Still, what could he and Kyle have done without weapons?
I think Silas wanted to prove his worth.
"Start talking!" he demanded of the guide.
Matteo trembled, and his nervous eyes darted around to the others, looking for a lifeline—looking for someone to tell Silas to put the gun down.
Nobody did.
"I didn't have a choice," Matteo finally cried. "They forced me to do it."
It didn't pass the sniff test, and Silas knew it. "Bullshit! As soon as you figured out who had booked the cavern tour, you called your buddies in the cartel.”
"If I want to stay in business, I have to stay on their good side. I throw them something every now and then. Typically, they just mug tourists for cash and jewelry.”
Silas shook his head. "Why would guys who make millions of dollars running drugs mess with nickel-and-dime tourists? No. You throw them high-value targets when they come along. People they can extort for millions."
Matteo swallowed hard again.
It all made sense. The nice vehicle, the pristine gear. Matteo was making a lot of money from cartel kickbacks. A share of every score. That was obvious in hindsight.
Matteo looked like he was about to shit his pants. He quivered with fear, and his frantic eyes darted around. "Just let me go. I will tell no one.”
"What's there to tell? We killed these men in self-defense."
"That does not matter. When the cartel finds out, they will go after you and kill you.”
"That means they’ll kill you, too. After all, this is your responsibility.”
"Please," Matteo begged. "I have a family. A wife. Four kids. They need me."
Matteo wasn't wearing a wedding ring.
"What do you want to do with this guy?" Silas asked Declan.
"Let's get out of here," he said.
Declan gestured to the group to gather their things and start heading back up the trail. We peeled out of our wetsuits.
Matteo breathed a sigh of relief, even though Silas kept his weapon aimed at him.
We started back up the trail.
"Today's your lucky day," Declan said to Matteo.
"Si. Thank you, sir. God bless you.”
Just as Matteo relaxed, Declan grabbed the rifle from Silas, took aim, and squeezed the trigger.
DAK!
The gunshot echoed off the walls of the cenote.
Matteo's eyes rounded as the bullet drilled into his chest. Crimson spewed, and he splashed into the water. His body floated, the gush of blood mixing to form a pink swirl. The 7.62mm full metal jacket had pulverized Matteo's heart.
I looked back at Declan, my eyes wide, my heart in my throat. He handed the weapon back to Silas and continued up the trail like nothing had happened.
Out here in the jungle, there were no witnesses. No one to say what had really happened. I'm sure, if the police ever stumbled across the site, it would look like a cartel shootout.
Silas shoved all the tanks, gear, and regulators into the cenote. It would wash away any trace evidence. Not like local authorities would DNA test everything. That didn’t happen in a place like this. Cartel violence was common. But why run the risk of leaving trace DNA behind?
We all walked back to the vehicles in silence.
Birds chirped, and the wind rustled leaves.
Felix and Antonio lay in the dirt, flies buzzing. The bodies were surrounded by pools of blood that had soaked into the red-orange ground.
"What are we going to do about them?" Hannah asked, in a state of shock. Her frazzled eyes took in the chaos. I'm sure she had never seen anything like this before.
Sebastian put a comforting arm around her shoulder and spoke in a hushed voice. "Just get in the van, honey."
The last remaining thug groaned in the grass on the other side of the truck.
Declan grabbed the rifle from Silas and marched in the thug’s direction. He rounded the tailgate and lorded over the dirtball. "You think you can steal from me?”
He cocked his foot back and kicked the guy in the rib cage.
The scumbag grunted.
"Nobody steals from me!”
Declan was pissed. He kept kicking the guy.
"Declan! Stop!” I shouted. "Let's go.”
He wasn't going to listen to me. He kept kicking the guy.
When he tired himself out, Declan took aim and fired a bullet into the man's back.
Once again, the report echoed through the jungle.
Declan marched back toward the van, handed the rifle to Silas, then said to me, "They would have killed us all.”
He wasn't lying.
I climbed into the van, and Silas took the wheel.
Kyle drove the other van.
We pulled away, turned onto the dirt road, and left the carnage behind.
Nobody said a word for a long time.
Adrenaline still rushed through me, and that sick sensation twisted in my stomach. This would haunt us all for a long time.
Silas drove down the dirt road for a few miles, then pulled over. He craned his neck to me and said, "Give me your rifle."
With my shirt, I wiped my fingerprints from the weapon, then handed it to him. I wasn't stupid. He wiped it down again, as well as his, then tossed them both into the jungle.
Silas hopped back into the van, and we continued on our journey back to Puerto Maya.
Kyle and his crew were ahead of us now, leading the way.
We finally made it to a blacktop, but the road wasn't much better than the dirt. We’d only been traveling a few miles when we passed a police car parked on a side street.
My heart leapt into my throat again. I looked through the rear window, hoping the squad car wouldn't turn onto the highway.
But it did.
Soon, it was on our bumper with lights flashing.