[ PI ] : The One Constant- Part 2 : La Muerte Divina- Chapter 8 : A Betrayal and A Bargain

Jacobo ’ s phone rang and he pressed the answer button. 
 
 “ Jacobo? It ’ s Araya. Can you do me a favor? ” He heard his cartel contact speaking over the phone, talking like they were just two friends, in case the call was being monitored. 
 
 “ Sure, what do you need, man? ” Jacobo replied in kind, pretending like this was nothing more than just talk and not a business deal being set up. 
 
 “ I left my laundry at Maritza ’ s house again. Can you grab it for me tomorrow before she leaves for work at 7:30 tomorrow? ” Araya continued to talk. 
 
 Jacobo made a mental note of all of this. So a money pickup at the safe-house in Palenque, Vera Cruz at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. He already knew he would get his instructions on what to do with it when he got there. 
 
 “ Oh, and don ’ t let Aunt Conchita know I left them there again. She really got on my case last time I forgot. ” Jacobo ’ s contact added. 
 
 So this was a sensitive delivery; need-to-know only. Not a word to any other Los Zetas member that wasn ’ t directly involved. 
 
 “ Got it. I ’ ll have it over at your place tomorrow. ” Jacobo replied. 
 
 “ Thanks, man. Bye. ” His contact said, then hung up. 
 
 A cash pick-up that was a need-to-know only assignment. Given everything that had been happening lately- the deaths of numerous members of Los Zetas and the Sinaloas and even those of several other cartels, Jacobo could already tell that whatever this delivery was for something big. His own workload had actually diminished significantly after the last few days, with members of both cartels afraid of being targeted by whoever or whatever was killing their men without leaving behind a clue to their identity, although Jacobo knew all to well already who was behind it all. 
 
 Jacobo reached up to his shirt pocket, feeling the small device through the fabric, the one that La Muerte Divina had given him, the tracking device, disguised to look like an e-cigarette. The Angel had told him to activate it once he had found the location of the current head of the Los Zetas, Z-54. 
 
 He felt something slightly akin to terror as he realized that he would probably be using it very soon. 
 
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 “ Alright, so explain to me why we ’ re going here? ” Urbina said to his partner as he rode in the passenger seat of the police cruiser as they drove through the night. He had a twisted feeling in his gut, telling him that something was horribly wrong about this whole situation. 
 
 “ I got a phone call from a blocked number about two hours ago. Whoever it was mentioned your name- said it had something to do with that human trafficking raid several days ago. They told me to grab you and meet them at this address. ” Noguerra replied. 
 
 “ What did they sound like? ” Urbina asked. 
 
 “ They must have been talking through a synthesizer. The voice was all warped and electronic. Still, I think it was a man. But that ’ s all I can say for sure. ” was Noguerra ’ s response. 
 
 Shit. Urbina thought. So it was definitely the same guy that had called him. But why had they called Noguerra and asked for both of them to come? That part didn ’ t make sense. If this person was trying to keep themselves hidden, why bring themselves to the attention of more people? What were they planning now? 
 
 Urbina was old enough, and experienced enough to know when he was walking into a trap. But what choice did he have? There had been a sudden spike in the number of deaths of cartel members over the past few days alone, and if Urbina ’ s pet theory was wrong and whoever was behind these killings wasn ’ t who he suspected, then at the very least they were connected to whatever group was responsible. At this point it was the best and only lead to finding the identity of the culprit or culprits. 
 
 “ Alright, we ’ re here. ” Noguerra said as they pulled up to a small house at the end of a dirt path. 
 
 The windows were blinded but Urbina could see a faint light coming from the front room. Looks like they were expected. 
 
 Urbina and Noguerra carefully climbed out of the car. That twisted feeling in Urbina ’ s gut- the one he was intimately familiar with. There was something horribly wrong about all of this. This had to be a trap of some sort. But to what end? From what they ’ d seen, their cartel-killer could take out an entire hit-squad out in the open in broad daylight, without leaving behind a single trace of evidence and apparently without being seen by anyone, due to a total lack of witnesses to any of the slayings. Some people had seen the men die, but so far no one had come forward saying they ’ d so much as caught a glimpse of whoever did it. 
 
 So if this mysterious informant was the same person, or in league with them, why bother leading them on like this? If they wanted him and Noguerra dead when they could supposedly strike anywhere, anytime, and go completely unseen, why go to all the trouble of setting up a meeting like this? 
 
 Or what if this whole thing really was genuine, and this vigilante had finally deciding a meeting with someone from local law enforcement was necessary for some reason? But why hadn ’ t they contacted Urbina directly? Had they also been speaking with Noguerra this whole time as well but had asked him to keep it a secret until now? 
 
 What if this was some sort of test by them to see how much they already knew? 
 
 Urbina undid the clasp over his service pistol, but not removing it from the holster on his hip. “ Alright. Lights are on. Let ’ s see who ’ s home. ” 
 
 Urbina lifted his hand on to knock on the door and announce his presence. But with a single tap of his fist on the wood, the door opened inward. 
 
 “ Door ’ s open. ” He whispered as he slowly cautiously, began to pull out his pistol. That twisted feeling in his gut was even tighter now. Everything was wrong about this entire picture. Everything pointed to them being set-up in some way by whoever had called. 
 
 Urbina aimed his gun and took out his flashlight, balancing his pistol over it, illuminating what he was aiming at. 
 
 “ Policia! We ’ re coming in! If anyone ’ s in here, answer now! ” Urbina called out into the dimly-lit front room of the house. He did a quick scan. Most of the room was dimly-illuminated with dingy, dirty-bulbs from floor lamps set against a far wall. The only furniture to speak of was a pair of easy chairs and a couch all centered around a small coffee table, all of which looked old and dingy, though not so much so that Urbina could say that they were completely unused. 
 
 “ Noguerra, watch my back, I ’ m going in. ” Urbina said in a hushed tone. 
 
 “ You got it. ” He heard Noguerra answer back. 
 
 He took several cautious, quiet steps in, quickly moving his aim around, the cone of his flashlight illuminating the darkened corners of the room to make sure no one was lying in wait for him in the shadows. 
 
 “ Looks clear. ” Urbina finally said after several tense seconds. “ Looks like whoever called you isn ’ t here yet. ” He said as he slowly slipped his service pistol back into the holster. 
 
 “ Good. ” He heard Noguerra reply behind him, followed by the sound of a revolver ’ s hammer cocking back- not Noguerra ’ s standard service pistol. The big knot in Urbina ’ s gut- the one that had been telling him this whole time that there something terribly off about this whole situation- suddenly tightened so much that it was painful, and now he knew why. 
 
 This whole thing had been a set-up, just not by the person he expected.
