Mira Dentro

The exchange: John Striker
The exchange was set to happen this morning. We met up with Don Pablo's men in the cathedral, handed them the briefcase filled with bills that we coated with tracer dye, and then met them at the SUV outside. And from the SUV, they pulled out the banker's daughter. Her mouth was duct taped shut. She was wearing a long dress, with long sleeves, in the same outfit she was last seen in before she was taken. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, and a dog collar was fastened around her neck. Don Pablo's men led her towards us using a leash attached to her collar. She hobbled towards us gingerly. It was clear she was in pain, and that her brief time with the Mexican Cartel had been rough. I didn't understand the reasoning behind why she was bound, or why she was gagged, or why we had to walk five miles on foot from the cathedral to the drop off zone near the airport. But that's what they wanted us to do. It was Mr. Karlovic's daughter, and we were getting paid a shit ton of money to get her back home to him, so we could not fuck up. We did as we were told. Word was, was that the Cartel had caught wind of Mr. Karlovic cooperating with the DEA. Feeding them information. So they retaliated by capturing his daughter. Took her to Mexico. She was gone for days. But then we heard back from them. That she was alive. And they were ready to give her back.

It was a long five mile walk up a dusty and poorly maintained path from the cathedral to the private airport runway. A hour into our walk and we had gone for barely half a mile. We were moving at a snail's pace. It wasn't any of us. Everyone had shoes on. It was her. They made her walk barefoot. But it wasn't just that. Something else was going on, and she was clearly in a great deal of pain. If she slowed her pace, Don Pablo's men would tug at her collar and shock her butt with a cattle prod. I was unarmed, but if I had a gun, I might have shot those assholes dead right there. Sorry bastards should have know better than to hurt a little girl. She hobbled gingerly on her feet, and wobbled unsteadily from side to side, the entire way there. It pained and disturbed me to think about what may have happened to her, but I tried not to think about it. We just needed to get her on the damn plane, and headed towards the States. Man. This was going to take all day…