Ambush

Chapter 58

Alex Martinez spoke to Oscar, her contact from the Mexican cartel, on her throwaway phone to confirm that the contracts on the Canadians were complete. She threw in Alicia Toussant’s bodyguard for free. Now she was just tying up loose ends — like Detective Michael Bennett.

Oscar said, “This is all good. We don’t need to make statements with these Canadians in New York. They know someone is tracking them. If we need to, we’ll send you to Quebec in a few months. Then we’ll make a statement, like killing one of these pricks in front of his family or cutting off a few dicks. That will show them how far we’re willing to go.”

Alex said, “That’s another conversation. I was just calling to say things are almost wrapped up here in New York.”

The conversation was brief. All he said was, “Very good. That’s why we pay you so much.”

When she told him she was tying up loose ends, she didn’t go into details. The Dominican gang that had tried to kill her was the biggest loose end she’d ever had on a contract. She had an address for one of the men, and it would make a statement to kill him in his own apartment.

This was as close to a personal reason for killing as she’d ever had. She was angry. The young man she’d killed in the crappy old hotel in East Harlem had been vile. His attitude and comments made her shudder.

The fact that they thought they could eliminate her made her livid.

Finally she found the apartment, on 129th Street in East Harlem. It looked like most of the other run-down apartment buildings in this part of New York. The city had planted a few trees in the grassy swath around the sidewalks, and about every other apartment had an air conditioner hanging out of its window.

She stood on the corner for a few moments and took in the whole block. There was nothing out of place. Some children played in the green space in front of the building. Alex didn’t want to be seen entering through the front door.

She walked another block to look at the rear of the apartment complex and checked for video cameras. The surge in video surveillance and security had made her job more difficult. One of the reasons she was paid so well was that she knew how to adapt. In a neighborhood like this there wasn’t nearly as much video surveillance as there was in more affluent and commercial areas.

The rear door locked automatically as soon as it closed. She watched as a couple of people came and went, each using a key to get back inside.

An elderly woman carrying two heavy bags of groceries slowly moved alongside her.

Without thinking, Alex said in Spanish, “Let me help you with that.” She took one of the bags from the woman’s skinny arms.

The older woman smiled and said, “You have very nice manners. I don’t see that much around here anymore.”

“I’m not from around here.”

The woman reached up and touched Alex’s cheek. “Good for you, sweetheart.”

After they walked for a minute, Alex realized she was headed toward the back door of the apartment building. Perfect. Sometimes luck did favor those who were prepared.

It was natural to follow the woman in the door with a bag of groceries in her arms, and she even helped take it inside her first-floor apartment.

The woman tried to hand Alex a dollar bill as a tip.

Alex smiled and refused as she backed out of the apartment. She turned as if she was headed back out the door, then took the stairs to the second floor.

She found the apartment right next to the stairs and listened carefully for several minutes. There was no sound or movement from inside.

She quietly tried the handle. The door was locked but loose in its frame. The old story: a cheap landlord who never wanted to repair anything.

Alex retrieved her stiletto and popped it open. It only took one push in the right place by the lock to slip the door past the frame. She let it swing open silently.

She stepped inside the empty apartment.