It was go time. After a few years, you’d think that takedown day would be easier. That there would be less anxiety. But that’s not the case. And now, with my feelings toward Portia becoming increasingly stronger with each passing moment, I had another level of concern to contend with. Sure, it had only been a day. I knew that sounded crazy, but when you know someone came into your life with purpose, for a reason, you listen. I was a firm believer in taking note of the world’s messages, and she’d been sent into my life for a reason.

I knew she could handle herself, and that she was a good agent. But the unknown was always there, and our jobs were dangerous. I kept hoping that the DEA would put a team together, but it wasn’t looking good. My boss said that he had a favor at the US Marshals’ office, and since technically there was an official warrant issued for Robbie’s arrest, as well as the arrest of a handful of other people I knew would be present, he might be able to use the serving of federal warrants as a way to make it happen, but it would be a last-minute thing, if at all. If we’d had more time, we could have engaged the Department of Homeland Security, but with the small amount of intel I had, and how quickly the plans had changed, that wasn’t an option. We would have needed at least a week to brief and pull people together, between the different departments. Our best hope would be that the “powers that be” at the Department of Justice would get their shit together and send backup.

The plan had moved along as expected; almost too smoothly, if there is such a thing. All we had to do was pick up the drugs and deliver them in the desert to another vehicle, and that was it. Portia was to show up at the drop off, with our assumption of two to four guys we’d need to arrest. Simple plan, or so we thought. Robbie and I took a truck down to the tracks, and the train stopped exactly where we expected it to. Within moments, the bed of the truck was being stuffed to the gills with kilos while he and I stood watch, guns in hand. Now, I wasn’t about to let him shoot anyone, but we had our parts to play, and I hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

The first part of the operation went off without a hitch. The truck was loaded and Robbie and I took off.

“That was easy,” I said.

“I told you, bro. All we gotta do now is drop off the load, and we’re good to go. We’ll be having beers in like an hour!” He was full of glee.

The desert at night is lit only by the stars, and as we made our way down the highway, we turned onto a side road with no lights at all, seemingly a road to nowhere. I was able to see Portia’s lights behind us on the highway until we made the turnoff. I knew she was smart enough not to follow us down the small road without knowing exactly what was going on, which she could hear.

Suddenly, a loud bang reverberated through the desert, and Robbie started to lose control of the vehicle, swerving all over the road. Within moments, I heard another loud pop, and realized we were being shot at. I pulled my gun and tried to adjust my vision to see into the darkness, completely unable to see where the gunfire was coming from.

“What the fuck?!” I yelled to Robbie, before realizing that he was hunched over the steering wheel, and we were careening into the desert. He’d been shot, and no one was driving. Fuck.

I shoved him toward the door, grabbing the wheel and trying to get my foot on the brake. Unfortunately, we hit something, and it flipped us over completely, throwing me around the cab of the truck as we crashed upside down. Once we came to a halt, I groped the area around me, looking for my gun, which I’d dropped in the crash. Whoever had been shooting at us couldn’t have been too far away. I knew what they wanted, and I was the only thing standing in their way.

“Portia, get help. Now,” I whispered. “Shots fired. Robbie is dead. I’m fine, but go! Now! Call it in.” My tone was urgent, not wanting her to be ambushed as well. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I said to myself, forgetting that she could hear me.

I finally found my gun wedged under a visor, which was now on the floor. I started to crawl out the window of the passenger side, when I caught headlights approaching, from the corner of my eye. With so much darkness, it was almost blinding, and I tried to take off into some brush in the hopes I could find cover. There appeared to be two vehicles approaching at a high speed, and I found some shrubbery about twenty yards away I tried to hide in. Daylight would have given my position away immediately, but under the veil of darkness, I thought I might be able to lay low and figure out my next move, hoping Portia was able to get backup.

Time stood still briefly, while I watched two vehicles with Texas license plates screech to a halt behind the crashed truck. Two men jumped out of their truck, and walked around to the driver’s side, and confirmed Robbie was dead.

“He’s gone. There were two of them, though. Find the other one,” he said to his henchman. God dammit, how did they know?

I watched as the other man waved at the second vehicle, where two additional men got out. One of them I recognized. Holy fucking shit, it was Carpio himself. Dressed in a suit, he had a devilish smirk on his face and he waved for his driver to get busy. The man rushed over to our crashed truck and pried open the bed, revealing the drugs that we were smuggling, and he started to laugh like a child. We’d been set up. Carpio knew what Diego was up to, and that he was going to steal his drugs.

I’d lost sight of the man who’d been looking for me, when I felt cold steel against my temple. “Found him!” an unfamiliar voice shouted behind me.

Drug lords aren’t known for their compassion, so I was pretty fucking sure these were my final moments on earth. I thought about my sisters, grateful they had men in their lives to look after them, and then my reflection turned to Portia. Thankful she was safe, far away and hopefully getting reinforcements, I stood and walked where I was led. Face to face with the notorious drug lord himself. The ever elusive Carpio.

“You work for Diego?” he said to me.

I nodded without reply.

“He tried to cross me. Tried to take over my territory. No one crosses me,” he said. I examined his face, as he scrutinized me in return. I could see the driver loading the drugs from our truck into the other truck, with the fourth man, as quickly as they could. “Do you have anything to say?” he asked me thoughtfully, calmly.

“No. I’m just a driver, man. I don’t know anything,” I said, playing my part.

“Just a driver,” he repeated. “Kill him.” There was no emotion in his voice. As I heard the gunshot, I thought that was my final moment, but it turns out, Portia wasn’t very good at taking directions.

“FBI! Freeze!” she yelled, as she appeared from the darkness, having just shot and killed the man holding me at gunpoint right between the eyes. I scrambled into action, grabbing his gun, and my own, which I’d been forced to drop a few feet away, pointing them both at Carpio while his men reached for theirs.

“Don’t do it! I’ll kill him,” I said, walking slowly around the scene, closer to Carpio, who hadn’t moved an inch. Not even a flinch. He was a stone.

The guys loading the drugs had stopped briefly, but had grabbed their weapons upon hearng the commotion. Now, we appeared to be in a bit of a standoff, and they didn’t look like they were going to surrender. Before I had another second to formulate a plan, I glanced in Portia’s direction to see that she too had her gun turned on Carpio, but her eyes on the men at the back of the truck. At that moment, I saw headlights coming from behind her.

If it was more of Carpio’s guys, we were in big fucking trouble.