Chapter 1 #2
“You think not?” Jimenez responded with a cackle that devolved into a phlegmy smoker's cough. “Well, I beg to differ. You see, when the late Vito Rossi reached out to me after Ortega’s incarceration, I didn’t believe his story at first. But then, since you were the last person to see Manuel before the bust, I thought I should keep tabs on you.
Imagine my surprise when I was told you turned up at the Buckingham Estate during his lordship’s troubles.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Saul bluffed, his mind racing. How the hell did this man know about that? “The Duke of Buckingham is a good friend, we move in the same circles. I see him often.”
Eduardo reached into his pocket, and Saul tried to keep his expression neutral when he pulled out a remote and pressed a button to start a recording. He didn’t say any more, just let the grainy video speak for itself.
Fuck! How had this been missed?
In poor quality black and white, Marcus Mountbatten, the Duke of Buckingham, together with Saul ran into what he recognized as the abandoned cottage where Gabi, Marcus’ girlfriend, had been held, guns blazing as they took down the Viper’s thugs.
A moment later, the video jumped to the two of them escorting the disheveled woman out of the building.
Vito Rossi must have had a remotely controlled surveillance camera. It was the only explanation. How he managed to pass the recording to Jimenez was another matter entirely, but for Saul, the game was well and truly up, that was for sure.
Time for Plan B.
If Saul was going down, he was damn well taking Jimenez with him.
“Well done,” he said, dropping all pretenses. “I have to give it to you. I didn’t see this one coming. I suppose you’ve told the entire criminal enclave about me.”
“Pfft! Do not think I am so stupid, Mr. Stephens. Nobody knows right now, except me and these two.” He waved vaguely at his thugs.
“But that will soon change, and I’ll be all the richer for it.
You see, I’m auctioning this evidence on the dark web.
Of course, you’ll be dead by then, so it won’t matter…
but the buyers won’t know that. Not until it’s too late. ”
He pressed another button on the remote, and a ten-day countdown appeared.
Saul turned to face the screen, so his camera could record all the vital info. “I’ve got news for you, Jimenez. You kill me today, the news will be out within hours.”
“Be that as it may,” he said, the smug expression never leaving his face. “But nobody will link the death of a renowned playboy billionaire with the sale of valuable information about an undercover operative, so I’ll still get my payday, and the auction is set up, so nobody knows it’s me.”
Saul shrugged. “Then why would they bother paying out the big money?”
“Oh, I’ve left enough crumbs to lure them in, don’t you worry about that. You see, I’ve been planning your demise for a long time, my friend.”
Which meant this whole thing was a setup. Saul had already had doubts, but when the chips were down, he did his job the way he was told to.
“And now, Mr. Stephens, it’s time to say goodbye.”
“Well, you’re right about that,” Saul agreed.
He’d spent his time cataloguing everything he could about this room and all the areas around it while he came up with a plan.
Jimenez may have discovered his secret identity, but Saul doubted he knew much about his skill set. He’d use that to his advantage.
Judging the timing to the second Jimenez was distracted with pocketing the numbered notes he’d just lifted, Saul launched himself across the room, diving into a perfect roll and taking cover behind a heavy mahogany desk, while the trio were caught off guard.
The sharp crack of gunshots echoed through the room, shattering the tense silence like a glass pane. The explosive bursts reverberated off the walls, creating a cacophony that made the air vibrate with urgency and fear. But the three men were all overweight and slow, giving Saul a much-needed edge.
Grabbing a shallow, round catchall off the desk, he threw it like a frisbee, aiming for the light.
His aim was perfect, and the room was plunged into complete darkness.
There was a moment of confusion and Saul used it to swipe a paperweight off the desk, whose location he’d previously memorized.
As gunfire continued to ring out blindly, it gave him enough illumination to hurl it at the head of one of the thugs, in turn causing enough confusion to change his location…
as well as a direct hit if the groan and thud were any indication.
Dashing towards the other side of the room, Saul managed to barricade himself next to a filing cabinet, hoping they wouldn’t see his new location.
“Bad move, Stephens. You’ve backed yourself into a corner. You’ll never get out of here alive.” Jimenez’s voice was shrill in the currently quiet room, but Saul wasn’t born yesterday. He knew the man was just trying to get him to respond and give away his position.
All he needed was a few minutes' grace, though. From his breast pocket, Saul took out three dummy pens, and repurposed one into the gun it really was. Then, he retrieved a tin of mints which concealed the bullets for the tiny firearm. He’d only get off one shot, maybe two, if he was lucky, but hopefully that would be enough.
The second he uncapped to reveal a knife.
Before he left the relative safety of the area he was concealed in, Saul paged his handler, so he could retrieve the recording he’d made from its automatic cloud back-up, and alert him to Saul’s location and plight.
Now there was nothing left to do but pray.