Chapter 46 - The Identification
"I hear you, Emily," Arthur’s calm, authoritative voice immediately crackled through her earpiece. "Do not break your established pattern. Keep moving toward the central plaza. I am three minutes out with the armored SUV. Sarah, do we have a visual on the hostiles?"
In the villa’s server room, Sarah had already tapped into the municipal security cameras surrounding the Coyoacán market.
"I'm tracking you on the municipal feed, Emily," Sarah reported, the rapid clacking of her keyboard echoing over the comms. "I have the target isolated. Running facial recognition through Interpol and federal databases now."
Emily pushed the stroller at a leisurely pace, stopping to admire a display of silver jewelry to afford Sarah more time. She could feel the watcher’s eyes burning a hole in her back. The tension was immense, but her specialized training kept her breathing measured and deep.
"Got a match," Sarah announced, her voice dropping into a serious register. "His name is Mateo Silva. Alias 'El Lobo'. He is a high-level enforcer and tracking specialist for the Sonora Cartel splinter faction. He isn't a foot soldier, Emily. He is an intelligence gatherer. He is trying to confirm your daily routines and security vulnerabilities before they launch a full-scale abduction."
"He wants the decryption keys," Emily muttered under her breath, turning the stroller toward the sunny expanse of the central plaza.
"Exactly," Arthur confirmed over the radio. "If he is just gathering intel, he won't strike in a crowded public square. Just keep walking toward the extraction point at the north fountain."
"No," Emily said, her eyes narrowing as a fierce, audacious plan formed in her mind. "If we just extract, he will know we made him. He will disappear and report back to his bosses that our security is too tight. They will just send a larger, more violent team later."
May you like
"Emily, what are you suggesting?" Arthur asked, a note of warning in his voice.
"I am suggesting we don't wait for them to dictate the terms of this war," Emily replied, her grip tightening on the stroller handle. "We take El Lobo off the board right now, and we find out exactly who sent him."
