Don Pendleton - Killing Trade

“It is true,” Caqueta said reluctantly, staring at his feet, “that my enemies conspire against me and use El Cráneo to do this terrible thing.”

“Meaning, they’re beating you,” Burnett interpreted.

Caqueta looked up at him sharply. “No, they are not,” he said. “They have, however, successfully convinced the supplier of the bullets to sell the lion’s share to them, those sons of pigs.”

“So you’re outgunned,” Burnett said.

Caqueta shrugged. Behind him, Ruiz continued to glare. It was obvious he did not approve of the meeting.

“What do you want, Caqueta?” Burnett asked bluntly. “You called and said you wanted to deal. Well, deal. What have you got that I want?” Bolan looked from the tall detective to Caqueta. The answer was obvious.

“I can tell you how and where I purchased my supply of the bullets,” Caqueta said. “Of course, this is all hypothetical. I would admit to nothing. I know of no bullets, none at all, when it comes to…to the record, you see?”

“I see,” Burnett said grimly. “We look the other way and you help us put the supplier away.”

“More or less.” Caqueta nodded. “I can lead you to a certain fellow who brokered the sales with me and with Taveras, and he will lead you to your precious bullets.”

“What assurances do we have that your information is legitimate?” Burnett asked.

“I have little choice,” Caqueta said frankly. “To compete with El Cráneo my people must have weaponry to rival their own. Our supply—the supply we do not have, of course—of the ammunition is dwindling. Taveras has increased his own stockpiles. El Cráneo is planning something, something very big. It is the way they think, the way they operate. They plan to show me, to teach me—me!—a lesson. They will also show you and your people that you are powerless to stop them.”

“Give me a name,” Burnett demanded.

Ruiz turned to his boss. “Jefe, no! Give them that, and—”

“Silence!” Caqueta roared.

He turned back to Burnett. “The man’s name is West.”

“Too late,” Burnett told him. “We’re ahead of you. West is dead.”

“Is he, now?” Caqueta said, unimpressed. “Not much of a surprise. A man like that, a man meddling in so many different affairs of life and death. Such a man must have many enemies, no?”

“You have nothing for me, then,” Burnett said.

“Do not be so quick to dismiss me,” Caqueta said, his voice hard again. “Either your people are not as thorough as mine, or NLI is not as forthcoming with the law as it might be.”

“What do you know about Norris Labs?” Bolan put in. Caqueta eyed the big soldier, his expression stern.

“I know that this West quit some time ago, some months before my people made the first purchases of his very useful, very powerful bullets for our weapons. And I know that he quit after another man, a much more significant man, was fired. This fellow was a researcher, a developer of arms. It would seem, my sources tell me, that this man was full of great and useful ideas. He was unappreciated by his employers, and when he complained of as much, they deemed him too troublesome and sent him away. West was his assistant at NLI. It would seem he was loyal to the man, not the company. Or perhaps he was loyal only to money, and was offered more than his former employers would give. That is often the way, is it not?”

“Why do you know all this?” Burnett asked.

“Would you not look into the men on whom you staked the fate of your family, your business, your honor?” Caqueta shrugged. “West contacted us after the first sales were made to El Cráneo. He arranged for a demonstration. He asked that I send one of my bulletproof limousines—and a driver of whom I was not terribly fond. He found some piece of street trash, gave him a magazine full of bullets for his pistol. When my driver arrived at the meet, he was killed immediately. The bullets passed through the armored car and through a fire hydrant nearby.”

“So you had no choice but to escalate the war,” Burnett said skeptically.

“None,” Caqueta said. “West told me in no uncertain terms just how much ammunition my enemies had purchased. It was only a matter of time. We—hypothetically, of course—armed ourselves accordingly. But a few months later, he stopped answering our messages. El Cráneo grew bolder, more vicious. I lost more men even as I took down theirs. We are running out of the special bullets. El Cráneo had obviously cut a deal with West, offered him more than I could.”

“They’re winning the war,” Burnett said.

Caqueta shrugged again. “They do not have to. You can stop this. Things can be…shall we say, much more calm. More like they used to be.”

“While you continue shipping your poison,” Burnett said.

“I do not force it up anyone’s nose or into anyone’s veins,” Caqueta said. “I am interested in business, not war.”

Burnett sighed. “Like you,” he said, “I don’t know what choice I have. Let’s get this straight, though. I’m not making any promises, Caqueta. If I could nail you to the wall, I would do it.”

Caqueta laughed. “But of course you would, Detective Burnett. That is what makes you safe. You are predictable. As long as I am not stupid enough to give you evidence you can use against me in court, you are no threat to me. And as long as you have no such evidence, I am no threat to you.”

“All right,” Burnett nodded. “We understand each other. Give me the name.”

“The man you seek,” Caqueta said, “is—”

Something caught Bolan’s attention. Reflexes honed over years of battle kicked in. Whether it was a simple shift in the wind, or some other subconscious cue, something was wrong.

“Down!” Bolan yelled. He tackled Burnett, just as Luis Caqueta’s head exploded.

They heard the gunshot as Caqueta’s nearly headless body fell forward onto the ground before the bench. There was a single, still moment in which Razor Ruiz, splattered with his boss’s blood, looked up with wide eyes. He glanced down at Caqueta’s body and to the ground behind the bench, where a tiny blade smoldered.

“Treachery!” he shouted. From within his trench coat he brought up a pistol-gripped Mossberg 590 12-gauge shotgun.

“Go!” Bolan told Burnett, drawing his Beretta.

All hell broke loose.

The unseen sniper cut loose with a rapid string of shots. Bolan spotted the gunman firing a scoped, match-barreled AR-15. He was on the roof of a nearby building. The Executioner pushed Burnett as the two men scrambled to the cover of a nearby tree. They threw themselves aside when several shots punched through the bark of the tree and into the asphalt path beyond. Burnett shouted a warning as they ran, the tree behind them catching fire from the inside out. Nearby civilians screamed and either dropped flat or ran. With no real way to counter the DU projectiles, Bolan and the detective could do only one thing. They fled.

Razor Ruiz ran after them, firing his shotgun blindly in the direction of the shooter. It was enough to foul the sniper’s aim until the Caqueta Cartel man and his quarry were out of the sniper’s line of sight.

Burnett was on his phone as they moved, calling in backup. It was unlikely they’d arrive in time to take down the sniper. The shooter would undoubtedly be extracting by now. Still, Burnett had to try. When he was sure they were safely out of the gunner’s killzone, Bolan put a hand on Burnett’s shoulder and gestured to a recently tilled-over flower garden near the asphalt path. It had two-foot brick walls surrounding it. Bolan and Burnett crouched behind the bricks and waited.

“We need him alive, if we can get him,” Bolan told the detective.