Chapter Text
Guero drove fast with the intention of getting back to the house before anyone could figure out he had left alone. He decided that it made sense to come up with a story where he had been in case he was asked. But with heavy traffic he couldn’t concentrate and got even more irate with himself for not having thought about this detail earlier.
Then as he made a right turn, a cruiser blocked him, and a cop jumped out of it and waved at him. His first reaction was to swerve and try to flee, but he realized there was another cruiser in his rear-view mirror. He cursed and hoped that after more than a year had passed since the Dallas police had been looking for him, that these Phoenix cops would not have checked open bolos.
The man who waved at him, waved again, circled and got in the car. He was an Indian of about 50+ years and looked very seasoned for the job.
“Officer! What can I do for you?” Guero knew random traffic stops didn’t involve the cop sitting in the passenger seat of the stopped vehicle. Something was off!
“This is one of Ms. Mendoza’s vehicles!” The man was a sheriff, his badge was quite well displayed on his uniform.
“Yes, it is.” Guero said slowly.
“I’m the top cop here, son! And I know very well what goes in my Town. Sheriff Mayo!” and the man extended his hand.
Guero shook it awkwardly and repeated the question how he could be of assistance.
“You met with my friend Pecas and his associates just half an hour ago.” Mayo looked at him measuring everything. “I want to know why!”
“If Pecas is your friend, you should ask him.” Guero treaded lightly.
“Are you the new man who Mendoza sends around to do her dirty work?” The cop’s voice was full of malice.
“No, I’m her …old man…”, Guero wasn’t sure who the cop was referring to, but it most likely was James.
“Did she send you to meet la Comision?” The fact that Mayo knew the name of the organization meant he knew the game.
“No. Actually she doesn’t know I have left the compound and I need to get back fast!” Guero decided that he was in a hurry and the cop had to be pushed to say what he wanted.
“So, you’re the competition for her boy, James, the dark handsome one… who obviously is very skilled with the long-distance shots…because he put me in the hospital for a whole month!” Mayo smiled a nasty smile.
“He did?” Guero was seeing the light in the tunnel. “He is a member of the team, but not one of my buddies…”
“So, you and Pecas…what did you discuss?” Mayo circled back.
“We discussed getting rich…by expansion!” Guero said lightly. “That won’t involve Teresa’s business!”
“Where?” Mayo seemed intrigued.
“Dallas”, Guero said.
“I have friends in the force there…you’ll need protection…just like la Comision needs my protection here!” Mayo noted. “Who are you?”
“Guero Davila, I’m very experienced as I worked for Epifanio Vargas for years!” Guero said. Mayo didn’t sound friendly regarding Teresa and her boy James! It seemed that not everyone she had dealt with had become an ally.
“Glad to meet you. I know who Vargas was and I know his widow is after Teresa…You got a complicated scheme running there!” Mayo nodded pensively. Then added: “So how does the James shooter fit in? I have beef with him…although I know he did it to protect her…because I was ready to be done with her!”
Guero didn’t like the sound of neither statement, nor that Mayo had been ready to kill Teresa, nor that James again had saved her.
“He and the gordo Pote are her men and security. That’s all!” Guero said firmly.
“She can part with some of that security…Do you think she’s gonna suffer a lot?” Mayo squinted in anticipation.
“She may, but I don’t care. It’s just about business!” James’s words that it was all about business, that he had said to Guero mocking his jealous outburst when they had been stuck in El Santo’s compound, still burned him inside.
“Then, my new friend, give me your number…you’ll hear from me about the changes to Teresa’s security…and I intend to see what my other friend Pecas has to say about Dallas!” Guero gave him the number of the burner cell Charger had given him and drove off wondering if he just got lucky or screwed. One thing was certain – nobody was who they pretented to be, including him. Everyone hid behind a mask of some sort. What a pinche carnival!
===
Four days passed and neither Mayo nor Boaz made any contact, while Pecas refused Guero’s offer because he was ‘not ready to cross La Gobernadora Vargas’.
Guero felt the walls closing in on him as none of the seeds he had sown seemed to have planted. He raked his brain as to how he could get the upper hand: he needed to win over this pendejo James; he needed to get equal participation in the operation; he needed to get his woman back in his bed, and he needed to get revenge on Camila Vargas. Then he realized he had many goals and no real freedoms to move around: he didn’t have a car, or a gun…and the DEA might still have him flagged.
The moment he thought about the DEA, his mind brought Detective Loya’s name back. The man had wanted to succeed in his job and Guero had screwed him. Was he worth the try this time?
Guero didn’t remember telephone numbers by heart, but finding Loya’s office contact information was not that difficult. He almost regretted having called when he heard Loya’s voice on the other side, but something stopped him from hanging up.
“Who’s this?” Loya seemed in a hurry.
“Guero Davila”, he said and waited though the long pause.
“You must be desperate to be calling me!” Loya said after a brief pause.
“I’m in a bit of a bind…and I think I can offer you information for the two largest points of entry in Arizona…and you can help me clear my name and get out of this cartel mess…”, Guero was surprised at his own words because he knew if he betrayed Teresa, there would be no chance of anything ever being sorted out between them. But he realized that his sub-consciousness must have known they were done, and the motto ‘every man for himself’ had simply kicked in.
“Are you suggesting you can provide viable intel on Mendoza and Vargas? Because they are the greatest operations in the south. Jimenez is also mudding the water, but there’s a separate task force working him.” Loya sounded suspicious and Guero wasn’t unaware why.
“I know I wasn’t very useful last time…but I had hopes then…now things are different”. He said testing the waters.
“Look Guero, I have had Camila Vargas in my reach many times…I know the woman…I don’t believe she’s the major culprit here…There’s a crazy ass General who works for her on paper, but who actually runs his own show …and he is in cahoots with Jimenez…I’m focused on getting these two down”, Loya seemed hesitant regarding Camila, and it troubled Guero. Another mask!
The only catch would be to sell Teresa as the bigger fish than all of them! Was he ready to do that? He was going to betray her when he still loved her…but she was with someone else and he was alone and hurting!
His mind flashed him an image of him questioning James in the jungle if Teresa would not come back from a mission under Camila’s orders. He had been so disgusted with the idea that James could betray her ‘just like that’, and now he himself was contemplating doing the same.
If she sustained some losses, there was a chance she would get off her high horse and decide it’s not worth it. Then he stood a chance of convincing her to leave with him, like he had done in Chicago.
If he didn’t try this move, he would never know, right!?It wasn’t betrayal, it was saving her from getting a ‘foothold in this business’… that even this cabron James knew how it could end!
“I see!” Was all Guero could come up with.
“I suggest you just provide me small pieces of intel for a few weeks…to see how things check out…and then we decide what op to put in place!” Loya hadn’t jumped to the ceiling out of joy but had taken the bait.
“Okay”, Guero said: “Let me start with the entry point for the coke…It’s on the Rez…”
===
One of his assistants waked in his office with a brisk gait and put a tablet in front of Finch: “You need to see this!”
Finch moved his eyes from the numbers he was observing on his monitor and said: “What is it?”
“This morning’s brief of the DEA. An agent by the name of Alonzo Loya has reactivated the confidential informant Guero Davila. He is informing on Tereasa Mendoza and Camila Vargas with the goal of apprehending the first and exposing the second as a cartel leader in the process!”
“Has the Op been sanctioned?” Finch said with a cold voice.
“It’s still in processing! But this Loya lost his partner…an agent Finnerman… by the hand of one of Teresa’s men last year… and he’s determined to see this through! I checked with our liaison at the DEA”, the associate advised.
“This will upset my plan for Miss Mendoza!” Finch took a sip of water. “Have the informant removed! Very soon! We have worked this from several angles already… and Mendoza growing to be a substantial player is our best move. We cannot have her unsettled and losing focus because of some lame CI! She’s destined for bigger things than dealing with the DEA!”
“Yes, sir!” the man responded and left the office.
===
The wedding party at the Winery had lasted well into the wee hours and James had kept the men with him until all the guests had left. Guero was alone in the compound and was sure Teresa had come back because he had seen her car pull up.
The last few days he had been helping as a member of the team since his leg had almost healed.
He was notably staying as far away from James as possible, keeping his mouth shut and simply taking orders. Maybe the others would find his behavior suspicious, but no one had said anything so far, so he had decided that snitching for Loya was all he could do for now.
Teresa had not asked him to leave but he had gotten the message that she was not his ‘woman’. It had hurt like a bitch, but he had even entertained the idea that this development was okay because he couldn’t accept his woman running things.
His cell buzzed with a cryptic text that his agent needed to meet him urgently. He had given Loya the location on the Rez where the product had crossed the border and was hoping that the DEA team was vetting the intel.
===
Guero drove the spare old black sedan in the direction of the meet, wondering if he’d find the place without a GPS or internet. His burner phone had no internet service. The barren area around this side of Phoenix was not difficult to navigate and he was sure he was on the right way.
He didn’t see the huge truck that came from the side road at high speed and no lights. He only saw its ugly front grill hit his window, heard the screech of metal on metal, felt losing control of the car, then felt it turning again and again while the pain in his chest took over his brain and all became black.
===
Teresa was shocked when a police cruiser arrived at the gate to inform them that a sedan registered to this address had been in an accident. The only victim, a male in his early 30s, had no documents on him and they needed someone to go to the police station for the paperwork as well as to the morgue for identification.
James was the registered owner of the vehicle and as such he had to talk to the police and come up with a story about a visiting friend who had taken the car without permission. He had left Teresa, dumb founded and silent, in the SUV in Pote’s company, hoping that the visit to the morgue would be quick and painless, and knowing that it wouldn’t be.
Teresa wanted to go in alone, but Pote shook his head ‘no’ and followed her, which left James no alternative but to do the same.
After the morgue official noted her identification of Guero Davila’s body, he left. James watched her stare at Guero’s face for a long time, then touch it gently, and leave just as silently as she had walked in. Her eyes had been wet but were calm now.
When the morgue clerk gave her Guero’s effects in a box, she took out a medallion and put it on her neck. Both Pote and James felt the pressure in the air and said nothing.
Sometime during the drive to the house, Teresa told Pote that she had put his name in the paperwork as the person who’d be making the cremation arrangements.
===
Later that night Teresa silently walked into James’s room and as he lifted himself up on the bed, she whispered: “Can I stay here?”
He lifted the sheet and scooted over. She lay for a while silent as he caressed her hair. Then she whispered: “I can’t help but think this was meant for me…he just happened to be in the vehicle!”
“Shhh…we don’t know that…don’t bring guilt in the mix…you don’t need it!” James whispered and hugged her tighter, hoping that eventually she’d be able to doze off.
===
James woke up next to Teresa and jerked at the thought that it all had been a long winding dream. One of the nastiest he had ever had! He had been on time in Imala, and Guero had died on the way back!
Then his mind was flooded by the events of the previous night. Phoenix was theirs! Mayo was in jail, all the Comision members were dead with the exception of Taza, who was working for them.
They had celebrated very adequately, he could say. As the recollections of the fiery night, came back, he smiled realizing that they made love twice while in his dream, it was several more times. He chuckled as he knew they had some catching up to do!
His stomach felt empty, and his mind drifted to the pastries he had seen in the fridge. He had tried them yesterday and obviously his palette had been impressed for him to dream about them!
He had dreamt of his beloved Teresa suffering and hesitantly reaching the realization that she had to let the pilot go. He slightly touched her hair wondering if she would have really done that, had things come down differently.
His stomach gurgled, so he lifted himself on his elbow and opened the night drawer in search of food. There had been candy there in his dream, so maybe she did keep food there! To his surprise he found a snack bar and as he tore the wrapper open, it made some noise and Teresa turned on her back.
She slowly cracked an eye open and looked at him as he kept chewing. Her hand extended and he broke a piece of the snack bar and gave it to her without words.
She smiled and whispered: “What a sharing man!”
Before he could say anything, she added: “I had this dream…quite a pleasant one!”
James’s mouth was still full, so he only hummed. He wondered if her dream had been as intense as his! Especially the part with Finch...which gave him the distinct feeling Finch was not who he presented himself to be!
Teresa went on: “A dream about us!”
This time he smirked: “Were we naked?” and the back of his hand touched her bare shoulder.
She chuckled: “We were…most of the time…James! We were naked somewhere in there!”, then she laughed outright.
“Ok, then what?” he said flirtingly.
“We were on a beach…”, her eyes drifted past him to the window: “There was a blue lagoon…palm trees in the back…”
He smiled” “Sounds amazing!”
She looked him in the eyes: “But it wasn’t just you and I…”
“Oh?” he cocked his head to the side.
She smiled again, this time very tenderly: “There was a little boy kicking a beach ball with you…and another…younger child… I held it in my arms…but it’s kind of fuzzy I can’t see its face now…”
Teresa stopped talking upon seeing James’s stupefied face with his mouth gaping open. She lifted herself, pushed his lower jaw up with a finger so his mouth closed, then brushed her lips over his and got up to use the bathroom.