Chapter 17: This Means War
"Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane
Choose your last words
This is the last time
Cause you and I, we were born to die"
Born to Die – Lana Del Ray
Leon stood in the wan light of the pre-dawn morning, staring at the charred remains of the clinic. The blackened skeleton of the structure was damp from the water the fire crews had loosened to kill the flames, but they still ushered tendrils of grey smoke and while steam into the air.
Syd had stood beside him, at first speechless at the sight of everything they'd worked for burnt to ashes. Then she'd simply cried, going back to sit in the car while he waited for the report from the police. The man approached, his face damp with sweat and grimy with soot. He motioned for Leon to follow him towards the remains of the clinic.
"This was arson, plain and simple," the man explained, indicating the charred carpeting that still remained in places. "There are traces of accelerants in the carpeting and on the wood, and the few pieces of furniture that remained. We identified two victims caught in the fire, but signs show they were already dead before. Shot in the head execution style. The ME is taking them so he'll have more information tomorrow, but my guess is that the victims were the night staff. The Receptionist Mrs. Alves and the night nurse, Miss Mendes."
Leon could only nod silently. He'd known both of the women fairly well. They'd been so happy to work at the clinic, seen the need for better medical treatment in their community, for something more accessible. He'd met Mrs. Alves husband and her two sons. He and Syd had eaten dinner at their house more than once. And now she would never be able to go home to her family. Syd would feel responsible. It was her poking around in the missing trucks that had gotten the attention of this Braga and his crew. But it wasn't her fault. He needed to assure her of that.
And he needed to take care of Braga.
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"Clearly this Braga has no problem killing people just to make a point," Leon said later when he sat out on the back porch with Vince, Dom and Brian. "Those poor ladies had nothing to do with any of this and he shot them in cold blood. He burned down my wife's clinic to make a point. He wants us to be scared."
"What does he think that will accomplish?" Vince asked. "It's not like he's gonna back off and let us be anyway. He scares us it won't change that we know stuff about his operation. He's gonna come after us and try to kill us either way."
"He's trying to scare us to prove that this is his game," Brian said, leaning back to take a drink from his beer. "That there's nothing we can do. And if we try he kills what we love."
"Well he's going to be in for a surprise," Dom says. "Because he just pissed us off. We're going to shut him down. I don't think just setting him up for the feds is enough anymore. I think we need to tear apart his whole operation."
"That's a tall order," Vince said.
"How do we wage war on a drug lord with his own hired army?" Leon asked, leaning forward curiously.
"We just have to get the right hardware," Dom replied with a smile.
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Mia had spent the flight wedged between a talkative woman with a weak grasp of English and a large man who kept resting his head on her shoulder while he slept.
In short, she had never been so happy to set her feet on solid land. Even if it was in an entirely foreign country where no one was expecting her arrival. She took the single carry-on she had packed and puzzled her way through the airport towards the car rental desk.
A niggling doubt was creeping into the back of her mind. Maybe she should have called first. They would still be happy to see her, wouldn't they?
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At Leon's garage he closed down for the day, apologizing to people who had appointments and rescheduling them for the following week. Cars crammed the lot out front and the lights were on, but the sign reading CLOSED was turned outwards in the doorway.
Brian, Vince and Dom worked around the cars, refitting them with larger, stronger bumpers, replacing the glass and bulletproofing the chasis. Out back Leon was coating one of the refitted cars in paint. Nothing fancy, but it would look like nearly any other car once it was on the road.
They were intense in their concentration and silent as they worked, only speaking when they needed assistance or a part passed their way. There was, after all, not a lot of time before they had to make their move. Braga would not give them the luxury of time. It would not be much longer before he would strike at them in a more personal manner. The destruction of Syd's clinic had just been the first step. They all knew this.
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Back at the house Letty and Sydney laid out a large piece of chart paper across the kitchen table. Pencils in hand they sketched out what they could remember from their time spent as "guests" on the drug lord's Villa. A large walled perimeter, flanked on three sides by the lush jungles of Brazil. The front wall where the gate and manned guard post were led out to the dirt road. They marked out the position of the main house, the garage and the supply sheds.
Murmuring they placed X's along patrol routes they had seen. It wasn't the best map, nor was it going to be the most accurate, but it was something to help them formulate a plan. And they sorely needed a plan. Syd was feeling nervous and on-edge. She was still angry about what Braga had done to her clinic, and that anger led to the desire for revenge.
Sighing, she blew a lock of hair out of her face and glanced at Letty.
"I wanted to thank you…"
Letty raised a brow, sitting down in one of the chairs as she eyed her warily. "Thank me for what?"
"For helping me with this. I mean… I guess I could wait for the Police to figure this out… and maybe Braga and his goons would get caught. But he… he killed my friends. I don't even want to grant him the luxury of rotting in jail. I want revenge. Does that make me… a bad person?"
"Shit.." Letty muttered, dragging a hand through her hair. "You're asking the wrong person, Syd. I'm not exactly poster girl for being good."
Syd couldn't help but laugh at that, but shook her head. "Not true. I mean… you and Dom and even Leon… you've all done things that are illegal. Criminal. But, it's not like you killed people," she said that softly. "It's just stuff… you know. Just things."
"Lots of people don't think of it that way. I mean… yeah we didn't kill nobody. But we knew what we were doing. It's not like we were… Robin Hooding it up or something. I feel like… well we all had different reasons for why we did it, but underneath it all I think we were just addicted to the adrenaline rush. Like racing wasn't enough for us anymore. We wanted to see if we could do it."
"I guess there are worse ways to get your kicks," Syd said with a smile.
There was the sound of a car approaching slowly, wheels turning over the gravel of the driveway and she stood up, heading for the window. Letty moved to get the pistol Leon kept in the kitchen drawer.
"Is it Braga or one of his guys..?" she asked after a moment of silence.
"No… I don't think so." Frowning, Sydney went to open the front door.