Even though the federales had help upholding their end of the bargain and had let Esteban (and Luisa, begrudgingly) walk free, Esteban still couldn’t help but feel uneasy the moment he left their institution in Culiacan. He didn’t trust them, obviously he trusted no one but himself, so he wouldn’t have been surprised if they suddenly showed up at his door, wanting his arrest.
They hadn’t though, not so far. Esteban wasn’t really sure if they knew where Javier’s compound was. They hadn’t asked for any of that information the whole time he’d been in contact with them. He was sure they did know, but all they seemed to focus on was the capture and arrest (or, maybe the body, depending on how much “justice” they felt needed to be served) of Javier Bernal. He was all they ever wanted, all they ever needed.
In fact, it annoyed Esteban a little that they weren’t at all concerned about what he did. They should be following me, watching me, Esteban said to himself as he stood in new office, staring out the window and unconsciously imitating his old boss. They should fear me.
But they gave him something akin to a slap on the wrist and he and Luisa were let go. Of course, Esteban was already annoyed that the raid didn’t exactly go as planned. They were supposed to show up in the early hours of the morning instead of at night. He had planned for them to get Javier when he was sleeping and vulnerable. Instead it all happened when Javier was on his A-game, ensuring he had a chance to try and escape.
What Esteban had really hoped for was for them to kill Javier, accidental or not, and really take him out of the picture. Instead they botched it. He knew he should have been somewhat grateful that they interrupted Javier when they did, otherwise he would be less one appendage, his weapon of choice and the symbol of everything he was, but at the moment he couldn’t quite muster any gratefulness up.
There was one plus to having Javier alive and in prison though. Instead of doing away with Luisa like he had originally planned, he had reason now to keep her alive. Not just alive, but alive and ruined and ravaged. She’d become his new punching bag instead of Juanito and he made sure that every brutal thing he was doing to her would eventually get back to Javier and Sinaloa people. He wanted them all to know that he was the one with the power now, he had the control, and Javier had nothing. Javier couldn’t even protect his own wife.
He hoped the message was getting across. His team was still small, though they were fiercely loyal. He had been building them up in secret for a year now, which was easier said than done. Most narcos wanted to serve Javier, not him, so he had to prey on ones just like Juanito – the weak-minded, the hopeless, the poor and desperate. Perhaps they weren’t the most intelligent or quick soldiers, but at least they didn’t possess any morals whatsoever and they would do whatever Esteban asked of them.
Esteban had made sure of that last part. Taking a page from the initiation tactics of the Zetas or the Juarez cartel, when he rounded up his troops, one by one, he’d made them do a slew of horrid things, from slaughtering live animals and working their way up to slaughtering live people. The last initiation that you had to pass through to make it into Esteban’s good graces was to pick up an elderly couple off the street and decapitate one of them in front of the other, before burning the other alive in a barrel. Very few were able to do it – those who chickened out were decapitated by the others who did make it through the last test.
Those who passed though, they became part of Esteban’s team. The moment that Javier was captured, they quickly infiltrated his compound and killed everyone loyal to Javier, even those who said they weren’t, that they would be willing to switch.
Esteban had taken no chances. By the time he and Luisa arrived back, it all belonged to him. And so did she.
Now, Luisa was locked in her room and given no freedom. She was tended to by Juanito because Esteban couldn’t stand to look at her beautiful face half the time, bothered by her strength and still apparent devotion to Javier. Juanito was a good choice anyway. He was starting to come into his own and he seemed to enjoy exacting the same pain on Luisa that Esteban had acted on him. Funny how the cycle always worked. So damn predictable.
And Luisa herself would cycle into a new life of horror and depravity. There would be no Javier now to rescue her, and even if there was, Esteban knew he wouldn’t want her cheating, double-crossing ass anyway.
The circle will go on.
Esteban smiled at that thought and then looked around Javier’s office. He sat down at Javier’s chair, took a deep slug from his bottle of tequila and put his dirty bare feet up on the desk.
Now, he was home.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Javier