Chapter 18: Chapter 18

Lucio Affonso pulled over on the high way. “Shit.” He cursed, hitting the stirring of his vehicle vehemently with his hands and nodding his head frantically at the same time without looking at Rodrigo who is sitting next to him on the car passenger’s seat, still cursing in his local dialect.

“Calm down boss!” Rodrigo said seeing the anger that emanated from his boss, he looked out on the rear view mirror of the vehicle to see if anyone was following them.

“We are busted Rodrigo, fuck.” Lucio cursed again, as he opened the car door and came down, then began to pace up and down the high way where he had pulled over.

He brought out a cigarette from his jacket pocket and a lighter, then puffed the cigarette and started smoking.

“Boss…” Rodrigo called, climbing down from the vehicle too, his face looking so stale. “I still don’t understand, I personally surveyed the area, we were not supposed to encounter any obstacles.” Rodrigo added, feeling bad like Lucio but did not express himself like his boss.

“What don’t you understand? If Antonio’s body is found and is traced back to me, the other cartel leaders will come after me, after us, you and me.” Lucio said pointing a finger to his head and kicking the vehicle violently again. “Our plans of five years will be ruined, my business will be destroyed, same goes to my image, shit.” He added still cursing.

Lucio Affonso, Lora’s dad is a prominent billionaire who is loved, feared and respected by many in his city, he is one of the cartel leaders but only very few people knew it as he disguises his operations through the company’s and businesses he owns, even his daughter Lora, is not aware of his father's dealings.

He had wanted to steal some shipments from a fellow leader in other to gain overall control over the other cartel leaders but did not succeed and Antonio, one of his trusted men and friend is lying dead in the site close to where the shipments are.

“Calm down boss, I’m going to find a way to fix this.” Rodrigo said, he knew that what Lucio said is true, if the other cartel leaders were to find out what happened tonight, they would come after them as this is an act of betrayal.

“You have to fix this right away Rodrigo or we are dead meat, we and our families, you know how this works.” He said grabbing Rodrigo by the collar of his shirt.

“I’ll have to do this right away boss, I have to go back and retrieve Antonio’s body before anyone finds it.” Rodrigo said, as he pulled himself away from Lucio’s hands and entered the vehicle, he then made a quick turn back the way they came.

Lucio blew out smoke from his cigarette again, then reached for his cell phone in his pants pocket and made a quick phone call.

***

Emilio pulled over on the high way in front of Lucio who got in immediately and they drove off. “Boss, what happened?” Emilio asked looking at Lucio, his boss who is sitting at the back of the car from the car mirror in front of him.

Emilio is also one of Lucio’s trusted men, he has so many men who can do his biddings but he selected only a trusted few, these one’s go way back and Antonio who is now dead is one of them.

“Our mission went south.” Lucio answered looking out of the window and puffing his cigarette.

“How do you mean boss? Where are Rodrigo and Antonio?” Emilio asked still peaking at Lucio from the car mirror.

“Antonio is down, Rodrigo went to retrieve the body.” He said after a brief silence. “Shit, I didn’t see this coming.” Lucio cursed and ran his hand through his hair still smoking his cigarette.

“How can this happen? Rodrigo surveyed the area for months and he’s not the type to make mistakes.” Emilio said, his face becoming gloomy. Antonio is like family to him and this news of his sudden demise saddened him.

“Yes, it’s either they suddenly decided to set bombs in that area or someone tipped them off.” Lucio said, still looking out of the car window.

“If someone tipped them off, that means we have a spy amongst us.” Emilio replied, his gaze focused on the road.

“We will have to find that out latter, now I just need Rodrigo to move Antonio’s body from where we left it.” He told Emilio still looking out the window.

“A bomb went off close to where he was standing, we laid down immediately at the sound of the bomb and when we got up, we saw him bleeding all over, Rodrigo cheeked to see that he was already dead so we fled without reasoning.”Lucio said a little calmly. “Rodrigo should be careful.” He added, and then puffed his cigarette again, this time drawing in more smoke, then coughs.

“Don’t worry boss, Rodrigo would be careful.”Emilio said, peaking at him through the car mirror in front of him.

“Don’t go to the mansion, take me to the farm house and tighten our security.” Lucio said after a long pause.

“Okay boss.” Emilio answered. “Boss, how do we break the news to Marta, it’s their child’s naming ceremony tomorrow.” He added still glancing at Lucio through the car mirror in front of him.

“Oh no, I shouldn’t have taken Antonio with me tonight.” Lucio said as he cursed in his local dialect, and hitting the car seat with his hand now remembering Marta Antonio’s wife and their children.

Antonio was so happy when his wife got pregnant again and had looked forward to the child's naming ceremony long before it was born, Lucio remembered.

“Boss, your phone is ringing.” Emilio said to Lucio who seem not to hear his phone ring.

“Hello.” Lucio said as he picked the call. “Boss, the job is done, what should I do with the body?” Rodrigo asked.

“Make it look like an accident, you know what I mean.” Lucio said rather slowly after a brief silence.

“Yes boss, boss what about Marta? She’s been calling Antonio’s cell phone, what do I do? Rodrigo asked looking at Antonio’s ringing cell phone on the car seat.

“Let it ring and leave the phone in his pocket, don’t worry about Marta, I’ll take care of her myself.” Lucio answered and ended the call.

“Poor Marta.” Emilio said and reached out for his cell phone with his right hand, still holding the staring with his left hand, he then gave some men order about security over the phone and dropped his cell phone again.

“Are the boys ready?” Lucio asked. “Yes boss.” Emilio replied. And they drove on in silence.

“Boss, if you don’t mind me asking, how do you intend to take care of Marta? What about her children?” Emilio asked Lucio breaking the silence when he pulled over in front of the farm house.

“What do you mean by that?” Lucio asked Emilio angrily knowing what he meant. “Antonio is like a brother to me, he’s my family, so his family is my family, do you get that?” he added furrowing his brows at Emilo.

“Yes boss.” Emilio replied. “Sorry boss.” He added feeling a little embarrassed as he should not have asked such question.

Lucio got out of the car and slammed the car door in rage and walked into the farm house still puffing his cigarette while Emilio heaved a sigh of relief, then drove off to park the car and joined the security team.