Chapter 7 - The Mastermind
The doors of the black SUVs swung open in perfect unison.
A dozen heavily armed cartel soldiers stepped out, leveling automatic rifles at us through the clearing smoke.
From the center vehicle, a tall, elegant man in a white suit stepped out onto the street.
He walked slowly toward us, his expensive shoes crunching over the broken pieces of ceramic piggy banks scattered across my yard.
"My name is Victor," the man announced, his voice smooth and terrifying.
"I believe you have a silver USB drive that belongs to my organization."
Adele raised her shotgun, but three cartel laser sights immediately locked onto her chest.
"Put the gun down, Adele, you have nowhere left to run," Victor mocked her gently.
I frantically scanned the grass around my feet, remembering where I had dropped the drive earlier that morning.
My eyes caught a glint of silver hiding beneath a broken piece of pink ceramic near the storm drain.
I dove to the ground, grabbed the silver USB drive, and held it directly over the dark, open grate of the sewer.
"Let us walk away right now, or I drop this into the water, and you lose your billions forever!" I screamed at him.
Victor stopped walking, a cruel, amused smile spreading across his face.
He snapped his fingers, and two soldiers dragged a hooded hostage out of the back of the SUV.
They forced the hostage to his knees in the middle of the street and pulled the black cloth hood off his head.
I dropped to my knees in absolute shock, unable to breathe.
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It was David, my husband.
He was battered, bruised, and chained, but he was very much alive.
