Brazil (18 page)

‘But you know who Angel is.’

‘I make it my business to know all about the Comando Negro. I’d be the last person who’d deal with them, though. At this rate, they’re going to screw up everything.’

Luiz rubbed the back of his head again, a suspicious look on his face. ‘What do you mean?’

‘For years I’ve had a certain… vested interest in Santa Marta,’ Cruz said. ‘One that doesn’t fit in very well with scum like you running around pushing drugs and killing each other.’

‘What sort of interest?’

‘Over time I’ve managed to acquire some land in that particular
favela
for a very reasonable rate.’

Luiz thought back to his parents’ investigations into Cruz; their suspicions of dodgy land deals. Slowly things began to fall into place.

‘That’s why you hate the Comando Negro! You want the
favela
for yourself!’

‘Smart kid. Right now the land I own is worthless. But if the police take out the Comando Negro, maybe raze the
favela
to the ground while they’re at it, then I can start to transform Santa Marta. In a few years’ time, I’ll be selling luxury apartments boasting the best views of Rio. It’ll be like sitting on a goldmine.’

Luiz’s head spun as he tried to take it all in. ‘But then, if you’re not the Doctor – who is?’

The councillor chuckled, sitting back in his seat. ‘You really don’t get it, do you?’ He leaned forward. ‘Angel’s the Doctor.’

‘That’s impossible!’ Luiz protested. ‘I heard Angel talking to the Doctor on the phone!’

‘Really? You heard the Doctor’s voice?’

Luiz faltered. ‘No, but… he didn’t know I was there!’

Cruz chuckled thickly. ‘Or at least that’s what he wanted you to think. Mouthy kid like you, that would be perfect. I’ve got to hand it to Angel – he ain’t so dumb for a
favela
kid. He should forget all this gang bullshit and go into politics.’

Luiz sat stunned. He had been so sure that there was a Doctor – it couldn’t be Angel. Could it?

‘Why?’ he said finally.

‘All these gangs are looking for an edge over one another. What better than some kind of super-villain with money, power and knowledge? Not just another snot-nosed
favela
thug?’

‘I don’t care what you say,’ Luiz blustered. ‘Even if you’re not the Doctor, you’re still a crook. I’m going to make sure everyone finds out what you’re up to.’

Cruz laughed. ‘And what makes you think you’re going to live long enough to tell anyone anything?’

‘You can’t kill me!’

‘I’m a powerful and respected local figure. You’re a piece of shit from the
favelas
. You really think I’m going to let you get in the way?’ Cruz rose to his feet. ‘Carlos, could you take care of our little friend here please?’

Before Luiz could react, there was a movement from inside the villa. A glass door slid open and a woman stepped smoothly down on to the patio.

It was Valerie Singer.

22. Special Delivery

Jorge Cruz stared dumbly at the Israeli woman.

‘Who the hell are you? And how did you get into my house?’

‘I asked nicely,’ Valerie replied. ‘And my name isn’t important right now.’

‘Whoever you are, lady,’ Carlos said menacingly from behind Luiz, ‘you’re trespassing on private property. I’d suggest you leave now.’

‘Yeah, your friends inside said the same thing,’ Valerie said, unruffled. ‘I politely disagreed.’

‘Where are my men?’ asked Cruz, his eyes narrowing.

By way of reply, Valerie moved away from the patio door. Inside the house, Luiz caught a glimpse of a man’s leg stretched out across the floor.

‘Carlos!’ Cruz shouted.

The bodyguard didn’t have time to blink. In one lightning-quick motion, Valerie pulled out a pistol with a silencer fixed to the barrel and fired over Luiz’s head. There was a muted
pfft
as the gun went off and a horrible sound of metal impacting on bone. Luiz turned round to see Carlos topple to the floor, a bloodied hole in his forehead.

Valerie walked towards the table, her gun trained steadily on Cruz. There was the thinnest of smiles on her face. The councillor had turned pale, his eyes flicking left and right as he looked for an escape route.

‘Don’t bother calling for help,’ Valerie warned him. ‘There’s no one left to rescue you. Unless she’s going to do it.’

She nodded at the woman in the blue bikini sunbathing on the other side of the pool. To Luiz’s amazement, he saw that the woman hadn’t moved. Her eyes were still shut, the blaring music in her earphones keeping her blissfully unaware of the gunshot.

‘That’s my wife,’ Cruz said, between clenched teeth. ‘Keep her out of this.’

Valerie glanced scornfully over at the woman. ‘A little young for you, isn’t she, Jorge?’

‘What do you want?’ Cruz asked sharply.

‘The boy.’

‘
Him?
What do you want with him?’

‘That’s my business.’

As Valerie gestured at Luiz to move over to her, he slowly got to his feet, retrieving his Sig Sauer from the table as he went past. The councillor glared at him balefully.

‘We’re leaving now,’ said Valerie. ‘I wouldn’t advise you to try to follow us.’

Cruz’s face had turned mottled with rage.

‘This is my city – you can’t hide from me!’ he shouted. ‘Wherever you go, I’ll find you!’

Valerie laughed icily. ‘I very much doubt it. But look how easily I found you. Be grateful that you’re still breathing. Your lovely wife too.’

As they backed away into the villa, the councillor stood up in his seat, shaking with rage.

‘This isn’t over, you hear me!’ he bellowed. ‘You and all your little buddies are finished! CORE’s heading out to Santa Marta as we speak. By the time they’ve finished with the Comando Negro, you won’t be able to tell which corpse is which!’

Numbed by Cruz’s words, Luiz allowed Valerie to lead him through the villa, past the corpse of another of the councillor’s bodyguards. Glancing down the hallway, Luiz saw the bodies of two more men slumped lifelessly against the wall.

‘You killed all these men?’ he gasped.

‘Don’t be impressed,’ Valerie replied, stepping disdainfully over the bodies. ‘They were amateurs.’

Leaving the villa through the open front door, they hurried along the gravel driveway. Beyond the ornate front gates, a car was waiting for them – the white Mercedes with the tinted windows that had first taken Luiz to Trojan’s warehouse.

‘You came alone?’ Luiz asked Valerie, surprised.

‘Me and the driver.’ She gave him a sideways glance. ‘Was I not enough?’

‘It’s not that. It’s just… I’m surprised you were the one who came, that’s all.’

‘I was the agent on call,’ Valerie said coldly, as she opened the back-seat door. ‘Don’t think that I’m getting sentimental.’

‘Fat chance of that,’ Luiz muttered, climbing inside the car.

They had barely closed the door before the unseen driver gunned the engine. The car sped away down the coastal road, leaving Councillor Cruz’s villa shrouded in silence, the front door swinging forlornly in the breeze.

As the Mercedes hurtled back towards the centre of Rio, Valerie lit up another one of her foul-smelling cigarettes.

‘So,’ she began briskly, ‘do you want to tell me how you ended up being held at gunpoint by one of Rio’s most prominent assholes?’

Luiz looked down at his feet. ‘Juan Oliveira and I saw Cruz at the Casa Bahia when Angel went there. I thought he was the Doctor, but I couldn’t prove it.’

‘So you were just going to go up to him and ask him?’

‘I did ask him.’

Valerie laughed with surprise. ‘I’ll give you one thing, Luiz – you’ve got bottle. And what did our good councillor say?’

‘He’s not the Doctor. He’s trying to shut down the Comando Negro because he’s bought land in Santa Marta. He wants to develop on it.’

Valerie shook her head, exhaling another thick cloud of smoke. ‘This city.’

‘That wasn’t all he said.’ Luiz paused. ‘Cruz reckons that Angel is the Doctor.’

‘Really?’ The Israeli woman raised an eyebrow. ‘And what do you think?’

‘I don’t know. It doesn’t really make sense to me, but if it’s not Cruz…’

‘It won’t matter any more. The mission’s bound to be called off now.’

‘What?’

‘After what just happened with Cruz, there’s no way we can keep sniffing around the Comando Negro. Didn’t you see what happened back there, Luiz? I killed four of his bodyguards! He’ll have men trawling the city for the pair of us as we speak.’

‘But if the mission’s over, what about Ana?’

‘Who knows?’ Valerie shrugged. ‘Maybe Jordan will get her out anyway. He can be soft about this sort of thing. But if you ask me we won’t have the time. Trojan will have to leave Rio as soon as possible.’

‘And what about the Comando Negro? You heard what Cruz said. I’ve got to warn them about CORE!’

‘You don’t need to warn them about anything. You were sent in to Santa Marta to bring them down, remember?’

‘I told you I’d find the Doctor,’ Luiz said fiercely. ‘Livio isn’t the Doctor. He needs to know that CORE are coming for him now.’

Valerie sighed. ‘Madison warned me you were getting attached to this gang. I didn’t think you’d be so stupid.’

Looking out of the window, Luiz saw that the Mercedes had crossed the Zona Sul and was now passing through his old neighbourhood of Botafogo.

‘Don’t worry about me,’ he said suddenly. ‘Just let me out here.’

‘I don’t think so,’ replied Valerie. ‘We’re going back to the warehouse now.’

‘I said, let me out here.’ Luiz was suddenly aware that the Sig Sauer 226 was in his hands and pointing straight at Valerie. It was almost as if he hadn’t moved, and someone else was controlling him.

Valerie’s eyes flicked to the gun. ‘Your hand’s trembling,’ she said matter-of-factly.

Luiz didn’t need to look down to know that she was telling the truth.

‘Maybe, but do you think I’m going to miss from here? Trojan taught me how to fire a gun, remember? Let me out. Now!’

Valerie banged on the driver’s partition.

‘Stop the car,’ she ordered curtly.

As the Mercedes drew up to the side of the road, Luiz opened the door behind him and backed out of the car, still shakily pointing his gun at Valerie. There wasn’t a trace of emotion on her face.

‘Once you walk away, that’s it,’ she said. ‘If you get into trouble, you’re on your own.’ Her voice softened slightly. ‘Are you really sure you want to do this?’

But Luiz was already running.

In truth, Luiz wasn’t sure what he was doing any more. It felt as though everyone needed his help at the same time, pulling him in different directions. By trying to warn Livio, Luiz knew he might be jeopardizing Ana’s freedom. On the other hand, with his mission over and the heat on, he found it hard to believe that Trojan would risk further exposure by trying to get his sister out of jail. The only thing Luiz
was
sure about was the fact that he owed Livio big time and now the MC’s life was in danger. If he didn’t even try to warn his friend, how could he look himself in the mirror again?

Stuffing his gun into his waistband, Luiz raced through Botafogo to the bottom of Santa Marta and up the hill. He jogged past the
boca
, no longer troubled by the guards at the checkpoint, and through the streets of the
favela
. Whereas before the pounding of samba drums had provided the soundtrack to joyful celebrations, now to Luiz they sounded like the clock on a time bomb, inexorably counting down the seconds to destruction.

He found the command of the Comando Negro in the square outside Angel’s shack. Two small pickup trucks packed with wooden crates were parked out in the dust and members of the gang were swarming over them, handing the crates down and carrying them away. Luiz saw Livio standing on the back of one of the trucks, puffing with exertion as he hoisted down a large crate. Seeing his friend, the MC stuck up his middle finger at him.

‘Now you show up!’ he shouted. ‘I was looking for you all morning, you bastard! I’ve had to lift most of these crates on my own!’

Given the number of gang members around him, it didn’t look as though that had been the case, but Luiz held up an apologetic hand anyway. On the steps of his house, he saw Angel was standing watch over the unloading, his arms folded. At the sight of Luiz, the
dono
beckoned him to one side. He glanced at Luiz’s flushed cheeks.

‘Been out for a run?’

‘I had to pick up some things downtown,’ Luiz lied. ‘I heard at the
boca
that you needed a hand, so I got here as quick as I could.’ He gestured towards the trucks. ‘I’ll go and give Livio a hand now.’

‘You’ll stand still and shut up.’

The ominous look in the
dono
’s eyes stopped Luiz in his tracks. Silently itching with impatience, Luiz waited as Angel subjected him to a searching gaze.

‘While you were out messing around, we’ve been handling another delivery day,’ the
dono
said eventually. ‘You’re no use to me outside the
favela
, Luiz. You know that shit we’re in right now.’

‘I’m really sorry, Angel, I didn’t –’

Luiz was interrupted by a loud crash. Angel whirled round to see Livio standing on the edge of the truck, a crate lying in the dust below his feet. There was a sheepish look on the MC’s face.

Angel stalked over to inspect the damaged crate. There was a jagged crack down one of the wooden sides, exposing the telltale white flash of cocaine packages.

‘Livio,’ the
dono
said, sighing, ‘I swear to God that you are the clumsiest shit I have ever seen in my life.’

‘If it had been a burger, he wouldn’t have dropped it,’ Joker called out.

‘Hey!’ said Livio, in an injured tone of voice. ‘You’re just jealous because the girls can see your ribs sticking out.’

‘I’m amazed you haven’t poured barbecue sauce on them and tried to eat them,’ Joker shot back.

‘Leave it, Rafael,’ barked Angel. ‘You can shoot your mouth off
after
we’ve put these crates away.’

Joker was about to reply, but Angel held up his hand sharply for silence.