Livewire

Chapter 34

It was a strange feeling having his feet back on solid ground. The yacht had been solid of course, but it had a propensity to sway and rock with the swell of the waves. Dry land did not move. It would take a little time to re-acustom himself to the unwavering stability of the ground again.

Baldo and Connor were close on their heels when they walked up the steps from the jetty. Black sedans were waiting outside the yacht marina. Not for Kyle and Trudie, they would have to find their own way home. They turned to walk away, down the street, but Connor grabbed her arm.

"You have one day Trudie. You better be at the airport tomorrow morning or so help me." His dark eyebrows furrowed. She nodded and yanked her arm from his grasp.

"Ok Daddy. I'll be there."

Connor climbed into one of Baldo's cars and was driven away. Trudie glared through squinted eyes while she watched them drive away.

"You better have something good."

He smirked, "oh, don't worry."

They left the sea front and walked back to Elvira's house, where he'd left his bike. They did not stop in to see her though, but headed straight to the boat shed. The washed out shell of Emilio's truck was still next to the slipway, from where the police had hauled it out. The police tape was also still hanging across the doorway. He left it there and ducked underneath.

The crime scene cleanup crew had been in. The blood stain on the floor was now gone, with no trace it had ever been there. The memory of Emilio hanging there had not been erased though.

He did not linger there long, it wasn't why he'd come. They walked up the street to Andrés's house and Kyle rapped on the door. The door was pulled open ajar and the shady figure of Andrés appeared.

"Kyle. I thought you were out of town."

"We just got back. I need to see César and the crew. Today. It's very urgent."

Andrés pulled open the door wider and looked him up and down. "I will need to make a call. Wait here." The door shut. Andrés was inside for several moments before he returned to the door.

"It's done. Get up to the warehouse tonight." The door swung shut again. There was no chance for any further questions or requests. He had none anyway. The next job was to retrieve his cash from the flat. As a wanted man, the police would doubtless be watching his flat, so he sent Trudie up instead, while he waited in the alley at the side of the building.

Her silhouette appeared at the end of the alley, carrying a bag over her shoulder.

"You got it all?"

"Yeah, in the vent just like you said. There's police tape on your door too. I think they've been looking round your flat."

"Well they didn't find the money. That's all that matters."

She climbed on behind him and they drove off. He didn't want to bring any trouble to Elvira and with his flat a no go, the only place he could stay was the boat shed. They could spend one night at Trudie's but her father expected her to be gone as of tomorrow.

They spent the rest of the day packing what little she had, ready for the flight out in the morning. With Emilio's truck wrecked from being submerged in the lake, they had to take his bike up to the warehouse. It wasn't as easy going to ride there as they truck had been.

Kyle was the first to arrive, as he wanted to catch César alone before the others arrived.

"I have a favour I need to ask you, César."

"What is it amigo? I will try to accommodate your needs."

"We intend to disappear after the job. Go completely off grid. I don't want the cartel or Trudie's father looking for us after. The only way I can guarantee that is if they think we're dead. I have a plan but I need a few things. Can you help us?"

"If you tell me what you need, I can acquire most things."

"I will get you a list. Also we'll need to get out of the country unnoticed too."

"I can help with that too."

The door of the warehouse opened, catching their attention. Jorge and Felipe stepped in. Minutes later the others arrived too, one by one.

"So," said Jorge, "what was the big rush about?"

"We don't have a lot of time on this one. I've got a new job, but it's tricky. Trudie's father expects her to fly home tomorrow morning. That's not gonna happen, but when he realises she's not gone, we're on the clock."

"Ok so what's the job?"

"Firstly, we're hitting cartel assets. So if that's too much risk for you then leave now." He waited but nobody flinched. "Baldo will be helping Connor Jacks launder his drug money. It will arrive in the port by container and fund Baldo's gold extraction operations. That gold is then smelted in a refinery outside of town and delivered to Connor by container, where it travels back to the US."

Jorge scoffed. "That's a very convoluted money laundering system."

"Yeah, well the US has some pretty complex systems to catch money laundering, so it has to be."

"So where do we come into this?"

"The first shipment of cash arrives in a few days and the gold will go out the same day. If we can intercept the gold at the refinery, we could sell it to an independent buyer. César I'm hoping you can help find someone for me?"

César rubbed his hands together in front of him. "I can connect you with someone, but I am afraid that is as much as I can do. I do not have direct dealings with the Aguilas Rojas, but it would be very bad for my business to aggravate Baldo."

"I understand. Your help until now has been invaluable." He turned back to the group. "We need to spend time surveilling the refinery. Leon, how much do you know about the banking system?"

"Enough to know we'll want to route the money somewhere offshore, like the Cayman Islands. I can set up a shell corporation to make the transactions look legit."

"Perfect. We'll meet up tomorrow evening in Veracruz. I'll have César send you all the address. There isn't much time to plan this one, so we'll need to be extra careful."

There were nods all round the table. Everyone dispersed leaving just Kyle and Trudie behind with César.

"Now I understand why you want to disappear amigo. Get me the list of things you need. When you are ready, I can get you aboard a cargo flight to Los Estados Unidos." He held out his hand. Kyle shook it and thanked him. Deep down he knew he could trust César to help them. Even still he would make sure to cover his tracks once they left.