With one command I will sentence this man to die. Everything he stands for will end and I will remain victorious.
The whole world blurs around me as I set my eyes on the slowly approaching sleek black limousine. A smiling male figure pokes through the sunroof waving at the parade, completely oblivious to what is happening just several yards away.
"Now."
I adjusted my arms around Heidi's waist. There were a lot of people counting on us today and I sure as hell didn't want to ruin our mission before it even started by falling off the motorcycle. Obeying my command, Heidi pulled her helmet visor down before speeding down the small hill, heading directly toward the unassuming figure.
"I might have a clear shot," I heard a soft voice say through my earpiece.
Heidi slowed down upon hearing Serena's voice and merged behind a large blue van.
"Take it," I ordered.
My heart pounded wildly in my chest as I held my breath for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for Serena to confirm her kill. I placed my hands into each pocket and tightly gripped my own two guns. The feeling of the cool, hard metal against my sweaty palms felt like a reassuring hug from God herself. Of course, I would never know what that would ever feel like.
I am definitely not seeing heaven.
Not considering the fact that the only reason why my team and I are in Brazil is to take out the leader of the Brazilian cartel to help an ally take over as the top jefe de jefes.
No, especially not then.
"Shit. It's not a clean shot. I can't take it," Serena called out in defeat.
"It's fine," I reassured her, "We're moving in. Remember, once you see us start walking away. Understood?"
"Understood." All three voices belonging to my team on the ground repeated.
"Heidi, you know what to do."
"I thought you'd never ask."
Heidi pulled out from behind the van and began speeding down the intersection, speeding past cars and people walking down the busy road.
I haven't always been a religious person, but at this moment I closed my eyes and said a silent prayer.
Por favor amparanos gran senora.
Feeling Heidi slow down to a full stop I opened my eyes to see we were stopped at a red light.
Just our luck.
Sensing a car pull up to the intersection in the lane left to us, I glanced over and noticed it was the same blue van from just a few intersections ago. I could not make out the driver because the person in the passenger's seat was blocking them from view and staring right at Heidi.
I glanced at Heidi and it took me a hot minute before realizing what was happening. Once it clicked, I inwardly groaned.
Heidi was flirting with the passenger.
He wasn't ugly, in fact he was quite handsome. Just not my type and not the right place or time. I pulled my right hand out from my pocket and nudged Heidi.
"Your light is green," I told her half annoyed.
"Oh, right. Sorry," she said, blowing one last kiss to the passenger while giggling. Despite the high stakes, I couldn't help but laugh. Even in the most serious moment you can count on Heidi to be as unserious as possible.
"Valentina Santos."
Upon hearing my full government name my smile dropped and my blood turned ice cold. I whipped my head to look in the direction of the voice. The back seat window was rolled down and a man with dark onyx eyes stared directly at me. We stared at each other for what seemed like a lifetime. Him watching my reaction and I wondering how in the world this man knew my name.
I snapped out of whatever trance I was in as I felt myself whip backward as Heidi sped off and weaved in and out of traffic. I felt my heart in my throat as my thoughts raced a mile a minute.
How in the world did he know my name? I'm wearing a long red wig and my sleeve tattoo is completely fake. How could he possibly know my name? Does he know what we're doing in Brazil? No, he couldn't possibly know. The only other people who knew what we were up to were safe and sound over 4,000 miles away in Mexico.
Glancing behind my left shoulder I couldn't find the blue van in the sea of cars behind us. It's like they just disappeared.
This is not good.
"He knew my name," I yelled to Heidi, who was closing in on the male figure whose car was about to rear the corner.
Everything was going to plan.
Everything except for this.
"What?" Heidi yelled while keeping her eyes on the road ahead.
"The guy at the red light. He knew my name."
"Crap. What do we do?"
What do we do?
"We must have lost them," I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Just stick to the plan."
She nodded her head in agreement.
Within seconds we were positioned directly behind the black limousine and I reached into my pockets and pulled out my guns, keeping them pressed against my thighs.
Upon seeing us in position, Marcos grabbed his ice cream cart and began walking away from us. Damian followed closely behind him, walking as fast as appropriately possible for someone dressed as a limping old man. Without even glancing, I knew Serena was making her way through the parade and towards the entrance.
"Speed up," I ordered.
Just as we were just about to overtake the limousine, I raised both guns and aimed directly at the waving man. Before anyone could realize what was happening, I had already emptied both clips into him. One second he was alive and smiling and the next his body was lying limp across the sunroof. Screams erupted all around us, but we had already disappeared into traffic before anyone could think of chasing after us.
After driving for an hour straight, we finally arrived at our destination.
Heidi turned into a small dirt path leading into the lush forest. It was like stepping into a fantasy world the way the forest came to life with the chirping insects and otherworldy flora. I would have loved to stay and listen to the insects chirping and birds singing, but I had just killed a man. Priorities, you know.
We eventually reached a field with tall trees snaked in thick vines and climbed off the bike. Walking to the tree directly in front of us we grabbed our backpacks and began changing out of our black clothes. I now donned a pair of jean shorts, a blue tank top, and sneakers whereas Heidi wore dark blue jeans and a black tank top.
"Did the man say anything to you?" I asked as I removed the itchy wig revealing two rows of braids.
"What man," she asked confusedly as she put on her sneakers.
"The man you were flirting with, Heidi," I reminded her. "You know, the one at the red light?"
"Ohhh, that one," she exclaimed as she recalled their interaction.
"No. We communicated with each other using just our faces," she said wittily while motioning to her face with her right hand.
Taking one look at the displeased look on my face she quickly finished tying her shoelaces and stood to face me. Her big light brown eyes were full of worry as she looked up at me and cupped her hands over mine.
"Look I know you are worried, but maybe it was one of Claudio's men. He probably told his men to keep an eye on us in case things went south," she said reassuringly.
I thought back to our interaction.The two men in the front didn't seem to want to cause us harm. Especially not the passenger. Now that I think about it, the man who spoke to me didn't look like he wanted to hurt me. She was probably right. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off with that man. The way he looked at me after he said my name, waiting for a reaction.
"You're probably right," I finally said.
"Duh I'm right. Now let's get out of here before a scorpion crawls up my pants and stings my butt."
"Ha. I'm telling Damian you made fun of him," I playfully threatened.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Buy me a cold soda and you just might buy my silence."
"Deal."
Wearing our new clothes and backpacks we walked back to the motorcycle, making sure to switch the license plate before heading into town.
Letting out a shaky breath I mentally prepared myself for phase two of our plan: safely and unassumingly leaving Brazil.