Caldera

Chapter 14: Tate

The Sol de Monterrey Mall lit up the early morning sky with two brilliant fireballs. The explosion ripped through its facade and most of the roof, sending shards of glass and concrete flying everywhere.

Tate watched the destruction from a good distance with a set of portable binoculars. She pursed her lips, wondering if this was a bit excessive. The bushes rustled. She whipped out her Walther P99, but stopped short of aiming it.

Carlie crawled beside her, breathless and giggling like a little girl. "God DAMN, that was a rush!"

And then just like that, disappeared back into the thicket before Tate even had a chance to respond. When she hesitated, Carlie whispered in a shrill voice, "Come on! The fun's just getting started."

Tate sighed and followed. It was going to be another long day.

Twelve hours before, at the Casa Oscuro, Tate hardly kept her jaw from dropping for only the second time that evening. "What did you just say?"

"That we should get their attention and make them come to us?" said Carlie, shifting her eyes as she nursed a bottle of Mexican Coca Cola.

"No, you freak. The part about lighting up a building in a major city in Mexico. You saying that we should blow up the Sol de Monterrey."

"Oh, that. What about it?"

"Are you out of your goddamned mind?" said Tate, with an incredulous glare. "Did you get one too many punches in the face? We're not terrorists."

"Wait, wait," said Carlie, putting the bottle aside and raising her hands. "Hear me out."

Ten years ago, a consortium of real estate developers from Mexico City had the bright idea of turning acres of Monterey's wilderness into small hubs of urban activity. It was a great idea. That was, until Los Diablos muscled in, buying them out. On occasion, they had even made the disagreeable members of the consortium, disappear if they so much as tried to utter a counteroffer.

Carlie knew about some of those backdoor deals, since she rode shotgun on two of them. She swore she was only in on those deals as a bodyguard for a Hades liaison, not as enforcer. Except for that second time, a meeting had degenerated into a free-for-all shootout. That one left a permanent burn mark on her favorite suit.

"What was Hades doing there in the first place?" asked Tate.

"Just another tour, courtesy of the Old Man. Showing off his business savvy to their prospective new partner," said Carlie. "Needless to say, it didn't end well. A rival cartel made its feelings known when they weren't invited."

"Ouch. Well, go on, then."

"Once the fireworks were dispensed with and the competition chased or bought off, the cartel proceeded full bore with construction. Took them just under a year to finish, and they were a few million under budget."

"Impressive. Most construction projects in LA take at least two years."

Since then, about seven other commercial buildings and strip malls were built, all under the auspices of Los Diablos and Stevens' watchful eye. The newer megamalls on the outskirts of Guadalupe were also Stevens' handiwork. But three of them never quite duplicated the success of the first of the chain. As a result, they'd been placed on the selling block, waiting for some half-interested Chinese venture capitalists.

"What better way," said Carlie, taking a sip of her Coke. "To grab those assholes by the balls, by sowing mayhem in one of the buildings for sale. Then threaten to blow up the others?"

Tate's head spun for all of a second, wondering if she had already lost it. It wasn't the first time in all of these years this crazy monkey had thought up something so mental. And if they lived through this escapade, it wouldn't be the last, either. But this particular one took the cake. It was utterly bombastic and crazy. And yet the wheels started turning. By God, it might just work.