Chapter 14

It was a sunny, hot afternoon in the hills above Los Angeles. There wasn't a cloud in the California sky that day. The estate of one of the Molina brothers glimmered in all that sunlight. Arturo Torrez Molina sat poolside watching his wife Carmen and their daughter Luisa swim. His wife and daughter held his attention for a while but soon his eyes wandered to Carmen's friend, Carlotta. She wore her pink bikini like a second skin. Carlotta sunbathed on the other side of the pool completely oblivious to his glances or so he thought. Arturo loved his wife and daughter but Carlotta intrigued him and he would have her eventually. Carmen enjoyed being his wife and all the perks that went with it. She didn't mind an occasional woman. They were never any long term relationships and once he paid them off they never bothered him again. He let his eyes linger a few moments longer on Carlotta and smiled to himself.

The phone by his side rang and his aide picked it up. "Senor, it is for you."

Arturo took the phone from his man. "Si."

A voice came from the phone. "You have a problem Mr. Molina. There's a rat in your midst."

Molina took his eyes from Carlotta. The voice had his attention. "How do you know this? Who would this rat be?" Arturo sweeten his voice. "I'm afraid I didn't catch your name Sir."

A sound of a snicker came through the phone. "My name isn't important but my information is. I want to meet and give you the information. I don't want to do this over the phone. Phones are so… open to eavesdropping. This information is very important to you and your operation."

Molina got the impression that the voice knew what he was talking about. He felt this so strongly that concern for his cartel became first and foremost. He didn't want the voice to know this. "Call back in a half hour. We'll make plans then." The phone went dead.

Molina rose from his chaise lounge and strode to the house. He showered and changed into street clothes. In less than a half hour he'd find out how he was compromised and how bad. How dare someone use his cartel?

In a few minutes he was ready and began pacing back and forth waiting for the call. When the phone finally rang he literally jumped for the it. "Molina here."

The voice had grown deeper. "Good, meet me at Pasadena Avenue and Center Street. I'll be in a blue Mercedes. Thirty minutes, tick tock."

Arturo didn't care for the tone of voice being used on him. He was the one to do the ordering. If this didn't pan out "the voice" would learn some respect and then die. As he emerged from his room, his assistant met him and told him the car waited out front.

Once they left the estate it took twenty minutes to reach Pasadena Avenue and just a few more minutes to reach the corner of Center Street. They parked the limo on one corner and waited for the Mercedes.

Just as planned the Mercedes pulled up kitty corner from the limo. A big man sat in the driver's seat. He was bald with a black watch cap and a black hoodie. He stepped out of his vehicle and walked to the neutral corner. To Arturo he was a typical LA thug.

Arturo and his bodyguard got out of the limo and walked to the same corner as the man from the other car. "What do you have for me, Mr…?

The big man looked around the busy street. "Name is not important nor needed, except for the name of the rat. He used you to further his revenge on a federal agent. I'm betting that you had no idea he left a letter at the Staples Center telling the cops about all the bomb sites. Didn't a lot of your people get arrested that day? It must have hurt."

Molina checked the area as did his bodyguard. "It cost me a lot of money to bail my men out of jail. Which one did it? I want to punish him."

The big man smirked. "So does the government. Those boys are after him for the bombs, kidnapping to two female federal agents and the brutal attack on one of them." The big man looked at Molina and grinned. "It was a cowardly act."

Molina chuckled and met the big man's eye. "That's what federal agents are for. We attack them and abuse them, right?"

The big man smiled, laughed a bit and watched Molina laugh. He wanted to punch him in the face. "Yeah..right. The name you're looking for is Jamal Mohammed Haswari."

He watched the light go out of Molina's eyes and then full blown rage filled them. Molina was so angry he had a hard time speaking. "That.. lying.. Islamic pig. He did this for what, revenge you say? I will pay him back tenfold for this. He'll get no virgins when I'm done with him. Thank you for the information. Really sir, what can I do for you?"

The big man walked away towards his car. "Nothing. Just doing a solid for you. Glad to help." He wore a big smile. While he'd spoken with Molina, G had place a bug under the bumper of his limo, just in case.