Massive Attack (A Guy Niava Thriller Book 1) by Dana Arama (diy ebook reader TXT) 📕

to say something. I remembered she had mentioned she had an uncle in the CIA. Did she hide this one or did another uncle just pop up? After clearing her throat Laura said politely, “We suspected that he was the person we were looking for. The successor. But we have no idea who he is and how to get to him. We know that he is not from their close family because of the assassinations that happened a few years ago, and we know he is not one of the sons, because Joaquin makes sure to keep his sons far away from the borders of the country.”

Zorro burst out in a mocking laugh. “And you came here so I would tell you who he is? There is no way in hell that I would help the Anti-Drug Authority to catch who you call ‘The Successor’.”

“We are not trying to catch him, and I am not representing the Authority.”

“And you say this despite the fact that you arrived in a plane that belongs to the Anti-Drug Authority?” Her mocking eyes said, ‘There are no secrets here’.

“Because of my connections with my uncle, I could rent the plane without answering too many questions. We only need to speak with the ‘Successor’ to get information on the origin of the money in this deal, which most probably took place with the Albanian mafia. We are chasing someone else on this journey.”

I saw on Zorro’s face that she was working around this information rapidly. Maybe she was considering the pros and cons, or maybe other considerations lay before her eyes, but she eventually said: “The best thing, as far as I am concerned, as far as my business is concerned, is to send my men to warn the ‘Successor’. I will get advantage points and you will disappear as quickly as you arrived. If you hadn’t mentioned Gideoni in the beginning of the conversation, I would have suggested you go back to your room and that’s it. The rest would have been done by the trustees of the ‘Successor’. Because of Gideoni, I am warning you and suggest you go back to the United States. Today.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Laura sitting rigidly and looking my way. I made sure I was focused on Zorro. “Zorro, I have no intentions of leaving this place. Not Mexico and not my mission before me. Besides the national point of view and the threat to the Israeli embassies and a suspicion of ticking bombs on Israeli planes, I have a personal stake in the matter. This whole affair started because of the kidnapping of a young boy, my nephew. Every minute you waste considering your personal preferences, this boy, Jonathan Niava, is in grave danger. He is a good boy. He likes computers and basketball. He hasn’t even been with a girl yet. This information is our only chance of saving him and I can’t let your considerations influence that. We have no intentions of harming this ‘Successor’. We have no interest in the drug business. Our goal here is only to understand this complicated deal and to understand who is behind this, because we suspect that he has Jonathan. That’s it.”

Zorro was silent. She poured herself a bit more whisky without offering us any, and still remained silent. We could hear each other breathing, the voices of the staff behind the door, the sudden sound of a woman singing, a stream of commercials from the radio. Zorro’s facial expression changed as soon as she heard the voices of children and their rolling laughter.

She put her glass down and said, “In order to get to him and talk to him directly, you will have to go on a two-day journey into the forest. Once in the forest, you’ll be surrounded, not only by the natural enemies of the jungle and not only the small, local, armed mafia bands, but also the Jalisco snipers who stalk strangers, and the Sinaloa, who protect their successor. And today, with all due respect, one doesn’t know who’s with whom.”

“We are aware of all that,” I answered. From the corner of my eye, I could see Laura biting her lip.

“On this journey you cannot request the assistance of the police or the army. You’ll have to manage on your own. Are you willing to take that risk?”

I looked her in the eye and said without a hint of a doubt, “Yes!”

“There will be expenses. Who will fork out the money?”

“I have a budget, but I have to show the receipts.” Laura said.

“I have a budget too and I don’t need to give any receipts. We will spend whatever it costs.” Then I asked, “How long will it take us to get there?”

“About twelve hours or maybe more, and then a walk in the jungle… depends how deep into the woods you can drive in with the Jeep. There are a lot of mountain twists and turns, as well as heights which needs to be accounted for. So, it is reasonable to say a two-day drive, with a resting place like San Cristobal. Never park in the street, but in a well-protected, guarded parking lot, and never leave anything in the car.”

“And when can we make our way?”

Zorro thought for a moment before she answered, “If you arrived here with a private plane, you are under surveillance. In this case, I think it will be safer first to lose your stalkers and then leave the city in order to rent a car that won’t be reported. So you could pretend to get to another place and rent a car, to supposedly drive back to Cancun, but instead of driving back you will continue in the other direction.”

“That will take too long.” I cut her off. A moment before the frustration took over, I thought of another option and asked the women, “Do you know how to parachute?”

“I have had paragliding training,” Laura answered. “But it was a long time