The Cartel

Prologue II

One Year Later

Agent Yampa watched Gerard Scation. Scation was a towhead, keeping his hair cut close to his skull, with blue-green eyes that had permanent bags under them. He was gangling-looking, but had a brilliant, quick mind. He was also quick when he needed to be-rarely choosing fight over flight. His speed surprised Yampa; Yampa had seen Scation run, usually from men much larger than Scation.

Scation worked for one of the greatest international arms dealers, DeBrusque. Yampa had been watching the ghostly Scation for a few weeks for that reason. Still, no sign of his boss.

But then it happened - and Agent Yampa hadn't even gotten any closer to that bastard DeBrusque. Scation's hollow eyes met his squinting gray-blue ones, even behind the agent's Maui Jim Pilot sunglasses. Agent Yampa tensed as he felt as if he could see Scation's mind whirl.

Next thing Yampa new, the race was on. The two men ran down the streets of Medellin, Colombia. People gave them curious, funny, irritated, or even angry expressions-and gestures-but all was ignored. The agent was set on catching the criminal, and the criminal was set on escaping the agent.

Scation dashed towards the open market. While passing the first tent, he yanked a container of fresh tomatoes. The owner and Yampa cursed, but each for different reasons. Yampa did his best to jump over the fallen fruit, but could not miss one. He felt the soft food squish under his pressure as he ran on.

Even after the attempted blockade of fruit, Yampa was quickly gaining on the criminal, and could not help smirking. Scation still had his brains, though, and quickly became fond of dashing the agent's hopes. Scation yanked a string of clothing down, making the larger man stumble as his foot caught and people shouted at him.

Scation continued yanking as much as he could into Yampa's path as they made their way through the market. The two determined men pushed and shoved others. More and more people screeched at them. More and more times Yampa tripped and stumbled. He was being slowed down, and desperately wanted to pull out his gun. But his mission was to catch Scation, to bring him back alive, not to kill the living skeleton. Yampa could not-would not lose Scation!

As his determination grew, Yampa focused on balancing his energy and controlling his breathing. He needed to catch Scation. He zigzagged through a crowd, but he was getting further from Scation. Worst of all, Yampa was tiring. He wanted to kick himself, but that action would only slow him down further.

Suddenly, Scation darted around a corner, where Yampa followed sharply. But, when Yampa made the turn, Scation had disappeared.

"Shit!" Yampa threw his arms against his sides in total exasperation. Furious, he kicked the ground. "Shit!"

Before Yampa could shout more curses, he felt the cold metal of a gun's barrel press against his neck. "Hello, Agent Andrew Yampa."

Slowly, with his hands up, Yampa turned to face the panting pale, scrawny human. Scation smirked down at Agent Yampa, who was not a small man.

"Scation," Yampa returned the greeting warily. He looked the genius criminal up and down. How in the fucking hell do you trick a mad genius? Yampa coudn't help smirking. You don't.

Scation was thrown off by Yampa's smugness. With his reflexes down, Yampa grabbed Scation's gun and flipped it so it pointed at Scation. Scation may have been a genius and a fast runner, but he was not one to use a weapon.

Flight over fight.

"You'll never get anything from me," Scation affirmed.

"Yeah, tell that to the CIA director, Scation," Yampa growled, cocking the gun. "Hands up, Buddy Boy."

Reluctantly and with a childish eye roll, Scation raised his hands. Yampa's smirk only grew.

* What do you think of Andrew so far??? I put up a picture of Andrew (American actor Paul Walker-RIP) *