FALLEN | The Devil of Caracas

Chapter 28 | Shaking in the Knees

Hugo drums his fingers against the table in front of him. He glances around the room, studying the other patrons in the restaurant. His booth is positioned toward the back and against the window. Leaning forward, he picks away at his appetizer and glances outside. The rain beats against the ground and the wind shakes the glass.

As the storm howls, Hugo looks down at his satellite phone, sitting idly on the table. He sighs and returns his stare to mother nature's chaotic display.

Suddenly, the phone vibrates. Startled by the anticipated sound, he clammers for the device and answers the call. "Hey, what'd you find?"

"Hugo," replies Gomez on the other end. "You'd better buckle up. This shit's about to get even crazier than we thought."

Hugo listens to Gomez's discovery, with intensity. He props his elbows on the table and strokes the scruff along his face. Once Gomez is finished, Hugo takes a short moment to process the new information. "This is insane," he finally says.

"I know," says Gomez. "JSOC has been contacted, so we'll likely see Delta or DEVGRU being dispatched soon, to clean up."

"Mother of God..." says Hugo. DEVGRU (otherwise known as Seal Team Six) and Delta are arguably the two most deadly and well trained military groups in the entire world. Inviting them to the party means things have really gotten out of hand.

"Yeah," says Gomez. "And in the meantime, we need you to do a couple things: First, track down Erikson. We need eyes on him to confirm he's really who we think he is. Second, we want to find out who he hired. Current intel says there were at least three, possibly five, mercenaries."

"Why do we care who he hired?" asks Hugo.

"We want to cover all our bases, here," replies Gomez. "If Erikson used CIA resources, we've got a huge problem. We don't want any evidence linking us to this shit show."

"Got it," says Hugo.

After ending the call, he makes a sour face, attempting to come up with a plan. All he needs is Erikson's phone number - that should be enough for the NSA to locate his whereabouts. But, the only connection he has to Erikson is Rodríguez.

Hugo reaches into his pocket and pulls out his burner phone. Luckily he knows someone working close to the Venezuelan President.

---

Victoria plucks away at her keyboard. The screen before her displays the minutes from Rodríguez's last meeting, which she rushes to transcribe. She doesn't have time for this nonsense. Her mind fumes over his insistence that she transcribes the notes for him to review later. 'I'm not your damn secretary,' she thinks to herself. Although many of her tasks are parallel to that of a secretary, she's often agitated by the misconception.

Her phone buzzes. She glances down at her government-issued cell phone lying on the wood desk. It remains silent. The vibrations come from her burner phone. "Shit..." she whispers. She leans forward and plunges her hand into her purse on the floor. After a moment of rummaging, she fishes the device from the bag and then walks across her office to shut the door.

Finally, she answers the phone. "What?" she asks, impatiently.

"I need a favor," says Hugo, on the other end.

"Of course you do - I didn't expect this to be a friendly chat," Victoria replies.

"Please tell me this Erikson guy - the American - schedules his appointments with the president through you."

"Of course not."

"Dammit..." Hugo mutters.

"Their meetings are always pretty secretive," Victoria continues. "He calls the President directly and refers to himself as Señor Webber. They usually meet after hours. Why?"