Chapter 34 - The LedgerThe interior of the Impala smelled like stale tobacco and expensive leather.
Mateo sat in the driver's seat, a high-powered flashlight clenched in his teeth, his hands carefully prying the custom leather paneling away from the inside of the driver’s side door.
Hector Vargas stood ten feet away, watching with predatory patience.
Mateo found the wire almost immediately. It was a thin, red filament threaded perfectly along the window track, connected to a small magnesium charge taped to a false metal panel. It was a crude but highly effective dead-man's switch.
"He wired it to the locking mechanism," Mateo muttered, his voice muffled around the flashlight. "If you try to jimmy the lock, it sparks."
"Can you bypass it?" Hector asked, taking a step closer.
Mateo didn't answer. He carefully stripped the insulation from a secondary grounding wire he had brought from his toolbox. With agonizing precision, he spliced the ground directly into the red filament, routing the electrical current away from the magnesium charge and directly into the car's heavy steel frame.
He held his breath and popped the false metal panel.
No spark. No fire.
Mateo exhaled a sharp breath of relief and reached into the dark cavity.
His fingers brushed against something wrapped in thick, protective plastic. He pulled it out.
It wasn't money. It wasn't drugs.
It was a thick, black, leather-bound ledger.
Hector stepped forward instantly, his eyes gleaming with greedy anticipation. He snatched the plastic-wrapped book from Mateo’s hands.
"The ghost accounts," Hector whispered, a terrifying smile spreading across his face. "Arturo's insurance policy."
"You have what you came for," Mateo said, stepping out of the car, gripping the tire iron tightly. "Now get out of my garage and stay away from my family."
Hector looked up from the ledger, his smile fading into a cold, clinical sneer.
"You did excellent work, Mateo," Hector said softly. "But Arturo's accounts contain the routing numbers for over forty million dollars in cartel assets, as well as the names of our political allies in the federal government. You've touched the book. You know it exists."
May you like
Hector reached under his linen jacket.
"I can't leave witnesses," Hector said, drawing a suppressed pistol.
