C456 The Chase

Cipher looked at the four men. Then she took out a photograph of one of the dead South Americans. She held it in front of them and pointed at the tattoo. “Tell me exactly who this man is and which organization he belongs to.” The men looked at the photograph. Cipher continued. “If you give me the information, I'll set you free.” The men didn't waste any time. One of them immediately spoke. “They are Gonzalez's men.” Bighead stepped forward. “Gonzalez?” The man nodded. “They work for Alvaro Gonzalez.” “Are they from this city?” The man shook his head. “No. Those men are not from here.” Bighead looked at Cipher. Then he looked back at the criminals. “Take us to them.” The men exchanged nervous looks. Finally, one nodded. “We can show you where they are.” We returned to the motel first. We couldn't leave our equipment and belongings behind, so we quickly collected everything. Once we had gathered our things, we loaded everything into the vehicles and began the journey.

It took almost two hours to reach the other city. By the time we arrived, the sun was already beginning to move lower in the sky. The men pointed toward a heavily guarded compound. “That is Gonzalez's cartel.” Cipher looked at the compound carefully. The men were immediately released. They didn't wait around. As soon as we stopped, they disappeared. Chipmunk looked at Cipher. “Cipher, do we have a plan?” Cipher thought for a moment. Then she looked toward the heavily guarded entrance. “If these men were willing to send reinforcements to Willy, it means they cared about their partnership.” She took a breath. "Let's go.” She looked at the rest of us. “I'll do the talking.” We approached the gate. Several armed guards immediately stepped forward. “Who are you?” Cipher remained calm. “Tell your boss we're his friends from Scotland.” The guard looked suspiciously at us. He picked up his radio and made a call. For several minutes, we waited. Then the large metal gate slowly opened. We drove inside. But the moment we entered, we realized we were surrounded.

More than thirty armed men were waiting for us. Every one of them had a gun. We froze. For a few seconds, nobody moved. We had walked straight into the middle of a heavily armed cartel. Then a voice came from behind the men. “Why are you pretending to be my Scottish friends?” The armed men moved aside slightly. Alvaro Gonzalez appeared. “I don't know any of you.” Cipher swallowed but remained calm. “Sir, we didn't come here to cause any harm.” She slowly raised the small suitcase she was carrying. “We only came because we need some help.” Alvaro looked at the suitcase. He nodded toward one of his men. The guard walked over, took it from Cipher, and placed it on a nearby table. He opened it. Inside was $10,000 in cash. Alvaro stared at the money. Then he looked back at Cipher. For a moment, he said nothing. Finally, he asked, “What do you want?” Cipher stepped forward. “We're looking for Willy Harris's niece.” Alvaro's expression changed slightly. “She took my baby with her.” Cipher continued. “We were hoping you might know where she went.” Alvaro studied her. “And who are you to her?”

Cipher smiled. “I am her director.” She paused. “I asked her to look after my baby, but there were conflicts inside Willy's cartel. She became frightened and left with my child.” Alvaro remained silent. Cipher continued. “I tried calling her. She told me she was running from the police and that she was coming here.” Alvaro stared at Cipher. The money and her confident manner had already made him more willing to listen. He believed the woman standing in front of him was telling the truth. Finally, he spoke. “They left earlier.” Bighead immediately stepped forward. “What?” He looked at Alvaro. “Where did they go?” Alvaro looked at him. But he didn't answer. Cipher immediately intervened. She smiled politely. “Did she have a baby with her?” Alvaro nodded. “Yes.” Cipher waited. “She did.” He paused. “But we sorted things out.” Cipher's heart raced. “What do you mean?” “She returned to Scotland.” Cipher bowed her head slightly. “Thank you, sir.” She turned toward the others. “We'll go back now.” Alvaro waved his hand. “Let them go.” The guards stepped aside. We quickly turned around and left the compound.

As soon as we were outside the gates, I looked at Cipher and smiled. “Wife, you're incredible.” She looked at me. “How did you think of the money?” Bighead was still confused. He looked back toward the compound. “But why didn't he answer me when I asked where they went?” Cipher laughed. “Because important people usually speak to only one person.” She looked at Bighead. “That is why they have a spokesperson.” Bighead frowned. “A spokesperson?” Cipher nodded. “If Alvaro had answered you, Silver would have asked another question.” She pointed toward Survivor. “Then Survivor would have asked another one.” Bighead finally understood. “Well, that's strange.” Cipher looked at me. “The money helped.” She smiled. “I took it from the government card to cover our expenses here.” She paused. “But at least we got something valuable from this.” I looked at her. “We know Charlie went back to Scotland.” Cipher nodded. “And she has our child.” Everyone became serious again. At least we finally had a direction. We turned the vehicle toward the road leading back toward the city.

Inside the compound, Alvaro immediately contacted Hanna. The moment she answered, he spoke angrily. “Why are you bringing trouble to my cartel?” Hanna froze. “What happened?” Alvaro grinned. “Just after you left, a group of eight people came here.” Hanna's expression changed. “They said they were from Scotland.” She remained silent. “They wanted to know where you were.” Hanna's eyes narrowed. “Alicia?” Alvaro shrugged. “How would I know?” He paused. “But there were six women and two men.” Hanna suddenly laughed. “You're a fool.” Alvaro frowned. “Me?” Hanna continued laughing. “Let me guess.” She paused. “They said they were looking for their child?” Alvaro nodded. “Yes. They told me that you and your friend were supposed to safeguard the child, but something happened and you all ran away?” Hanna laughed. “Yes, that was their child.” Alvaro looked confused. Hanna continued. “But they forgot to tell you one thing.” “What?” Hanna's voice became colder. “They killed Willy.” Alvaro's smile disappeared. “What?” “They are the ones who shot him.” She paused. “And they killed your men too.” Alvaro froze. For several seconds, he didn't say anything. Then his expression changed completely. “Those people…” He looked toward the guards. “Go!”

The guards immediately turned toward him. “Find them.” He pointed toward the gate. “And kill them.” The men immediately rushed toward the vehicles. Alvaro ended the call. We were still relatively close to the cartel compound when I noticed several vehicles approaching from behind. At first, I didn't think much of it. Then I looked again. There were too many. I turned toward Cipher. “Wife.” She looked at me. “What's wrong?” I pointed behind us. “Are they coming to tell us something they forgot to mention?” Cipher looked through the rear window. The vehicles were getting closer. Then the vehicle at the front suddenly accelerated. I watched it approach. “Something isn't right.” Suddenly, Gunfire erupted. Bullets struck the road around us. The windshield shook as several rounds narrowly missed the vehicle. Bighead grinned nervously. “Well…” He looked toward me. “This doesn't look like they're coming to talk.” Cipher immediately accelerated. “Everyone, get ready!” She gripped the steering wheel tightly. “We have to lose them!”

More bullets flew through the air. The Lions immediately returned fire. The road erupted into chaos as the chase began. Cipher swerved around traffic while the vehicles behind us continued firing. I fired through the window toward the pursuing vehicles. Another burst of gunfire came toward us. We ducked. “Keep firing!” Cipher shouted. The vehicles were closing the distance. We had gone to Alvaro's compound looking for answers. Instead, we had just made ourselves a new enemy. And now the entire cartel was coming after us.