Blood of the Assassin - By Russell Blake Page 0,44
Cruz paused, then cleared his throat. “One final thing. We’ll have a specialist working with us, courtesy of CISEN, and that may present some difficulty for a few of you. I’m going to ask that you put your personal feelings aside and focus on your duty, not your emotions. Trust me when I tell you that this was extremely unpopular with me, but it’s a done deal, and isn’t to be questioned. And it could turn out to be an advantage for us – at least that’s what the experts have decided.”
The men exchanged puzzled glances, and then a dark-complexioned man in his forties with a face like a losing prize fighter raised his hand. “Who, sir? Who is this mystery man we’re going to have problems dealing with?”
Cruz sighed. “You know him by his professional name. El Rey.”
Half the group was too shocked to speak, and the others uttered stunned exclamations.
Briones went pale, shaking his head. “Is this...is this some sort of a joke, sir? El Rey working with us? How? Didn’t he escape from prison?”
“It’s a long story, but the essence of it is that he now works for CISEN, and received a full pardon for his crimes.” Loud voices protested the announcement, and several of the men cursed, visibly outraged at the news.
“He works for CISEN? The man who tried to kill the president...how many times?” Guillermo barked.
Cruz allowed the men to vent for thirty seconds, and then spoke in his calmest voice. “Look. I don’t like this any more than you do. But it’s done. The authority comes from the president, who has the ability to do what he deems best for the country. And apparently having El Rey working for our intelligence agency is what he thinks is best,” he said, looking at Claudio, who squirmed as the other men turned their attention to him – the only CISEN representative in the room.
“I had nothing to do with any of this. It was decided over my head. It’s above my pay grade. But what Capitan Cruz says is true. This has everyone’s blessing, and the thinking is that it takes one to find one. Remember that in addition to all his sins, he’s also the best assassin anyone has ever seen. That can’t be discounted.”
“As much as I hate to say it, after having the night to think about it, CISEN’s right. We don’t have a lot to go on, so we need any edge we can get. So I’m going to ask all of you to park your objections and do your jobs. If you can’t, speak up and I’ll find a replacement for you – you can go back to headquarters and resume your duties, and I won’t hold it against you. But I’ll be disappointed, because I personally chose each of you. You’re the best we’ve got. Having said that, I’ll understand perfectly if you won’t do it,” Cruz said.
The men grumbled, but Cruz could sense that he’d won the round. Nobody quit, which was positive, even if not much of a victory.
As the meeting broke up, Briones approached Cruz, a look of confused concern on his face.
“Do you really believe this is best, sir?” he asked quietly, obviously struggling to keep his tone even.
“I have my orders, Lieutenant. I wasn’t given a lot of options.”
“You can always choose to decline the job, sir.”
Cruz studied him before speaking, choosing his words carefully. “Who better to lead this group, Briones? Who has more experience chasing assassins than we do? Nobody. If I walk away from this, it would not only be a slap directly in the president’s face, but it would decrease the odds of success in an already awful situation. How could I live with myself if the Chinese leader was slain on Mexican soil because I let my misgivings interfere with my duty?”
Briones sensed there was more to the story than his boss was letting on, but decided not to press. He trusted Cruz with his life, and if Cruz didn’t feel like sharing anything more, it was his prerogative. Briones would follow his lead.
“Then I can hardly refuse to work on this with you, can I, sir?” Briones conceded.
“I mean it when I say that if you don’t think you can bury your history with the man, you should back out. I won’t hold it against you.”
“I understand. That won’t be necessary. The past is the past. And it actually sounds like we’ll need all the help we can get.”