"Puta! Estas muerto!"

Raphael Munoz was enraged… barely keeping it together. He had sat back 15 minutes earlier to check on the delivery, only to watch it blown up in less than two minutes by a pair of putanas that appeared out of nowhere. They ambushed and took down eleven of his best, but Mito…. Tears blurred Munoz's vision as he processed that bitch's murdering his little brother.

The Hummer had been parked at the perfect angle for the camera to capture all the action. What should have been a normal drop and dispose had turned into his worst nightmare just seconds after las vacas had been herded from the truck. The scene suddenly transformed from normal to disastrous as without warning his soldiers began to drop to the ground grabbing at their knees in pain.

Mito was at the rear of the procession but in the left front of the screen as Munoz watched. He turned and acquired a target out of view. However, before he could finish raising his weapon to return fire, blood geysered from the left side of his head. As the gun went flying and Mito fell to the ground, a figure in black appeared from some brush less than 50 feet away. She walked rapidly to Mito, looked down and emptied her gun into his head.

Munoz screamed at the screen as his little brother, and only friend was butchered by this, this perra. Then, another one appeared over his brother's body, wrapped her arm around the murdering bitch and kissed her! His rage boiled over and he jumped from the office chair screaming.

"Brujas! I will slit your throats and drink your blood!"

As rage threatened to engulf him, Munoz regained enough of his equilibrium to grab the console next to the computer. Pressing a button, he remotely opened the hatch on the Hummer, activated the drone in the rear compartment and grabbed the joystick. Maneuvering it out of the back of the SUV, he piloted it up to about one hundred feet and reconned the area. Behind the front-end loader, he spotted a silver SUV.

Maneuvering the drone for a better look took seconds and he snapped a couple shots of the license plates, then zeored in on the dash until the VIN # came into focus. After taking several more images of the vehicle he maneuvered the drone until he got several clear pics of Root and Shaw as they zip-tied his men, spoke to several of the occupants of the truck and began to pack up.

Less than a minute before they returned to the Escalade, Munoz had an idea. He directed the drone to the roof of the vehicle, dropped it down until it rested on the roof just behind the moonroof and activated tracking mode. The drone release a tiny magnetic disc, black in color and smaller than a quarter.

While tracking range was less than a mile, Munoz knew he could have one of his informants in the area get close enough to find out more about the cows that had just entered a fight they wouldn't live to regret… at least not for very long.

Grabbing his cell phone, he made three calls, then sat back to await the information he sought. An hour later his phone rang.

"Bueno."

"La Posada, Winslow."

"Siguelos. Sigilo."

"Si."

Munoz was several hundred miles from Winslow, but had a soldier there who had done some excellent work in the past. He reached again for the cell phone, found his contact and called.

"Bueno, oh hello Padrino. What can I do?"

"I need an Escalade's OnStar hacked- fast."

"Where?"

"La Posada, Winslow."

"No GM dealerships, but I know a guy who works for the Ford store. If we could get them to bring the Escalade there, I think we could do something."

"50K if you can get it done."

"Dios! This must be big."

"You have no idea."

"I will see to it."

"You're a loyal friend, Carlos, I won't forget."

As the call disconnected, Carlos Alvarez trembled slightly. Implicit in the statement was not only Munoz's gratitude, but with it a threat. However this went down, Padrino would remember.

….

Shaw pulled into La Posada's parking lot and sighed. Looking at Root, she felt some of the tension- and leftover adrenaline leaving her body.

"What I'd like is a shower, a nap and a nice bout in our room. What I think is we should do is get the hell out of Dodge."

Root looked over with raised eyebrows. Her trademark smirk was noticeably absent.

"Agreed. Let's get Gen and Bear and head on out. Do you think finishing the trip is a good idea?"

"I think we'll be fine as long as we can get out of Winslow before tomorrow. Any authorities that develop an interest in us won't be interested in searching for us immediately. They'll take at least a day to sort out what happened out there."

"OK, let's go." Root headed in while Shaw checked the rear compartment and made sure it was locked.

Fifteen minutes later, the four were headed out into La Posada's parking lot. Five minutes after that they were on their way to the freeway. As they turned onto the entrance ramp to I40 West, Shaw felt the car shift and simultaneously heard two muffled bangs.

"Damn! We have a flat." She pulled into the distress lane, parked and exited the Escalade. Looking toward the front end, she noticed the driver's side front tire had a large piece of what appeared to be scrap steel sticking out of the sidewall. Shaking her head, she looked back in at Root and Gen and shrugged.

"It'll be a little while, I will need to change this tire."

Root climbed out of the passenger seat, slammed the door and started around the front. Looking down she frowned then leaned against the fender.

"Sameen, this side is flat too. We're going to need a tow truck."

Shaw came around the front, huffed and took out her cell. Less than half a mile to the nearest car repair place. Calling she explained her problem, only to be told,

"Sorry we're closed but I know the Ford Dealer has late service hours."

Shaw disconnected then called the Ford store. At the repair shop she called first, the owner looked at Alvarez who handed him two crisp $100 bills.

"Nicely done- now forget this happened."

Alvarez left immediately and once in his car made another call. He listened for fifteen seconds, smiled and disconnected.

At the entrance ramp where the Escalade sat disabled, Shaw frowned into the phone.

"I need this fixed today, I don't particularly care how much it costs. Hell, tires for this thing are $250 each- I'll pay you guys a grand if you can get us on the road tonight. Ok, thanks.

"They're sending a tow truck, they'll have it done by 9:00 tonight. It's 6:30, we can go over to the steakhouse and eat dinner, then get a ride. Or we could go back into La Posada and get room service. Up to you guys."

"Steakhouse." Root and Gen said it simultaneously. Shaw smiled and nodded.

"Let's go."

Two hours later, the three and Bear left the steakhouse and hopped in the minivan provided by a Winslow shuttle service. Gen was still giggling and couldn't resist hugging Bear.

"So do you think they believed us that Bear's a service dog? Or was it the money Root slipped the hostess?"

Shaw looked over at Root then back at Gen and Bear. "He is a service dog Gen. In the past his presence provided a calming influence on me when I wanted to strangle our friend over here." She smiled and winked at Root.

"I could make a comment here Sameen, but I will refrain." Root leered at Shaw who pretended not to notice. The only sign that she was tracking was the slight flush creeping up her neck.

"Shut it."

The shuttle arrived at the Ford dealership within fifteen minutes and Shaw went in to see the service manager. Since the rest of the store had closed a little after eight, the manager was obviously waiting just for them. Shaw smiled as she approached the middle-aged Hispanic man and shook his hand.

"Thanks so much for doing this. We're really on a tight schedule and wanted to get on the road tonight."

"You're quite welcome, your bill as we agreed on is $1000."

Shaw held out 10 $100 bills. "I hope you don't mind cash." She winked at the manager.

"Not at all ma'am. Thank you."

As the Escalade pulled out of the dealership and headed for the freeway, Root looked over at Shaw.

"Sam, how much of that cash will he put in his pocket?"

"He can pocket all of it for all I care, he got us back on the road."

Back at the dealership, Alvarez came out of the back office and approached the manager.

"El Padrino will be very happy with your efforts, Jorge. Now explain how this works so I can relay the information to him."

"I installed a device on the side of the OnStar module at the point where the power cable comes in. It is less than 2 inches square and is automatically powered by the vehicles electrical system. The net effect is the same as the cloning apps that are used to bluejack someone's cell phone.

"Every time a signal is sent to OnStar the cloning device automatically sends it to any bluetooth device of the user's choosing. In addition, any conversation in the cabin can be listened in on whenever the user wants. It's almost 100% undetectable since the signals leaving the unit are simultaneous. You could use this to track a vehicle theoretically forever unless the module needs replacement."

Alvarez removed a wad of cash from his pocket and pressed it into Jorge's hand. "There's $5000 here, whatever you didn't use to purchase the device is yours."

"Your too generous, Senor Alvarez. This is way too much money."

"It's more than just for services, El Padrino appreciates your loyalty and your discretion. Please tell no one about this."

"As you wish Senor."

As Alvarez left the dealership he called Munoz.

"You're all set. I texted you instructions on how to hack into their OnStar system. You can track their every move and even listen in on their conversations without being detected. I also sent you a link to the app to track with FAQ's and more detailed instructions."

"Excellent, Carlos, I appreciate what you've done and I'll remember your going above and beyond."

"My pleasure Padrino."

Munoz sat back in his office chair and began to plan avenging Mito's murder.