Page 16 (2/2)

I soften my own tone "What happened?"

He looks hard atversion or the short one?"

I wave a hand "I've got nowhere else to be Do you?"

He pours another shot Downs it "Get co to be here awhile"

Chapter 2

CULEBRA TAKES A DEEP BREATH "I WAS BORN TO A family of shape-shifters But I was a throwback The first of eneration to ht the curse had finally been lifted" He drops his eyes "The curse"

He straightens his shoulders "My father could never find steady work so our family always lived in poverty What's more, he had no trade or skills that he could pass on to me, not that he would have He hated o to school for fear someone would find out what I was My own parents set le and isolation I was sixteen"

He reaches for the bottle I pass it over, let hilass and my own "You're articulate for an uneducated man"

"We had a Bible," he answers "The only book ned My ht me to read with that Bible Before she decided I was possessed by the devil"

He drinks, continues "I moved to Chihuahua, an unemployed drifter Found a few odd jobs that paid poorly and required long hours of hard labor I shared the fields and factories with petty crie of weaker men I knew I had to defend myself to survive and I quickly learned to usea knife It wasn't long before I won respect aot around and I attracted the attention of local gang'badasses' to recruit There was a constant need for new blood since gang wars continually decih, uneducated vatos like me ere dissatisfied with their lot made a perfect pool in which to fish"

I arossed in Culebra's tale that when Max pokes me in the arm I jump "What?"

"Pass the bottle, will you?"

Grudgingly, I do "Are you done interrupting now?"

Max flutters a hand in a go-ahead gesture and I turn back to Culebra and mimic the action

"One day as I alking hoainst a wall and de I was enraged that anyone would steal frogressor back and told hier pulled a knife and carabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back and took the knife away I spun the banger around and kneed hiood measure As I walked away I waved the knife and thanked hi again confronted me But this time, I was invited to have a drink with the boss He told me that he needed men 'with balls' in his operation and that I handled myself well the other day I realized that the confrontation had been a test He offeredpayment and offeredas a cofor a cri an outcast as far as I was concerned So I accepted the offer as my only opportunity for a better life"

"Like all new hires, I was assigned a mentor to teach me the business His nickname was Julio the Pick because his preferred method of execution was to shove an ice pick into the back of a man's head No loud noise, little blood he liked it that way Julio was unusual because he was in his forties in a business where evity was testaood at his chosen profession and was an asset to the boss

"Julio had trained'badass,' but I struck hience and was driven to'badasses' liked fancy clothes and pockets full of money to attract the ladies I was no exception But Julio and I both knew that I wouldn't be satisfied to just strut around like a peacock No, I was soh the ranks and beco and taught me the 'tricks of the trade' how to disable an opponent in a fight and how to shoot Shooting straight was especially important since it raised the odds that you would survive the inevitable gun battles that you would face Julio taught me how to carry my weapon so I could draw it quickly from the holster and where to aim to quickly disable or kill an opponent But he couldn't teach me, or anyone else, how to think fast onyou had to be born with Julio must have felt that I had that quality

"I was a quick study and practiced long hours to learnbefore I began calling hi payenerously if it were not?) and that Julio wouldn't be there when I got nment Julio was too valuable to the boss to be sacrificed on a drug run Besides, this was a way to see who had the right stuff Those who survived could anization Those who didn't were the cost of doing business

"Finally, the day came when another recruit and I were ordered to deliver a ship and return with payment We met the rival boss's son and two hench business with rival gangs would never be easy So it was no surprise when the son started threatening us 'Tell your boss that his last batch of drugs was shit And if he sells onna be paid shit I know you ive me the shipment and tell your boss that he'll be paid after we test it Not before' I saw the henchmen slide their hands inside their jackets I sensed that the son was going to take advantage of us newbies and try to is and the money There would never be any pay so loudly that he was obviously shaking with fear and on the verge of shitting his pants

"What do I do now? I knew that if we returned without the drugs and the money both my life and ht to me by Tio Julio 'To make it in this business you have to command respect And to co to kill when necessary'

"My partner and I looked at each other and I shrugged The son, with a ss from our vehicle As they started to walk toward us I noticed one drop an empty hand froun and shot the his gun and then the second one as he reached for his gun As their bodies fell, I trained my pistol on the son, whose smirk had been replaced by a look of shock and fear 'We came here to do business and that is e'll do,' I told his in the son's car and take the cash While he shuffled back to our car with the , I frisked and disarmed the boss's son 'Tell Papa that it's always a pleasure to do business with hi alone with two corpses"

I findthieves?"

Culebra raises his shoulders "Have you heard enough?"

"No I want to hear it all" I just need another drink I take the bottle back frolass, and top mine off "Go on"

"News of the drug transaction quickly spread through the organization The boss realized that he had a talented recruit and co him he trained his new student well He doubled my salary and made me a captain 'Captain Badass' I called myself"

Max chuckles I shake my head Culebra continues

"Over time, I proved my worth I came to command the respect that Julio told ood money I was able to afford a nice house and car and had found success beyond my father's dreams I could now afford to support a fa woreat beauty I prized loyalty and childbearing ability above a pretty face In tiirl and, to my surprise, I became a devoted father My wife never knew aboutability and I hoped that I didn't pass this trait to ood schools and be socially accepted, not be outcasts as I had been

"But I wanted more I wanted to move up the ladder To become a man of importance, one to be reckoned with, one ould be accepted in social circles I never could have entered before I read avidly to gain e about the world Thiser plans than the next score I also knew book learning wasn't enough It tookrunning, what could I do to earn more and become more?

"I asked Julio what prospects I had Julio gave me a stern look: 'If you want to make more money, you will have to do what few are capable of and what few can live with you will have to becoets on command from the boss, but you will have to learn to live with the knowledge that you kill others for a living These targets are not scu deal You sos because they threaten to kill you You justify it as an act of self-defense But an assassin kills victims that the boss wants eliminated because they interfere with business You don't know the in self-defense This is deliberate stalking andmoney Don't overestile with your conscience This is not a profession that you can walk away froh You know tooAs far as a boss is concerned, dead is dead and dead men don't talk'

"Julio went on, 'I have seen you work You have the skills and temperament to be a professional killer But you now have a family and you are a devoted father Do you really think you could do this? Take my advice Be satisfied with your present position You are a captain YouBe content hat you have Don't be like Icarus and reach for the sun' I respected Julio and I considered his advice, but the success I'd achievedMoney would buy me respect and the social position I craved So what if I killed a few people? They probably deserved it anyway If they interfered with the business of a gang boss, they were likely guilty of cried with anything Hell, I was doing society a favor by eli them"

"Nice rationalization"

Culebra releases a breath "You wanted to know"

I nod "So you started your life as an assassin How does one do that, exactly?"

"The boss sent me to a school in the Dominican Republic"

I choke on a mouthful of whiskey "There's a school for assassins?"

Culebra s the Trujillo regi' Bullshit It was a school for assassins Dictators and gang bosses need such services They don't negotiate with the opposition, they eliminate the opposition Service rendered, probleether as if brushing away dirt

"I learned to use explosives and poison and kill silently at close range I learned how to stalk e the best tio hoets were corrupt, politically connected types who tried to extort more money from the boss One worked for the treasury and ran a money laundry on the side His fee for service was always rising If the boss suggested taking his business elsewhere, the finance guy would hint that he had friends in high places and that they would be interested to knohat the boss was up to The fool never realized that his threats et I remember him because I used Julio's favorite technique to do the job He lived on a crowded street, so the kill had to be silent I entered his home when I kneas alone and snuck up behind hirabbed him by the forehead and shoved an ice pick into the back of his skull He fell to his knees while I rocked it back and forth to mince the brain tissue" Culebra claps his hands and holds theht no muss, no fuss"

Culebra is watchingmy reaction When I don't react, he continues

"Jobs were not so frequent as they are now so I hadot to knoife arden The er house for my fahborhood a a better class of people My children attended a private school and ood Little did I realize what a charade this was Devoted faht It couldn't last And it didn't

"The end ca woman from a notable fao The son becae proposal frory that his son 'wasn't good enough for this bitch' So he decided to shohat happens when people disrespect hi wo day She had to die on her way to the church When I got the order I felt as if I had been punched in the sto wo day I would spend the rest of hter's eyes The boss wanted me to plant a bomb under the car her family would use to drive to the ceremony and detonate it by reo through with it and didn't The e ceremony went off without a hitch I knew the boss would co to carry out an order, but I would deal with that Strangely, I never thought that my family would be involved After all, this was a businessI was"

Chapter 3

CULEBRA'S EXPRESSION GROWS DARK, AS IF HE'S now speaking of things that fill hiuilt Remorse is there, too

My own emotions are conflicted His story is not a new one It's the story of every gangster who thinks himself above the law But this is Culebra My friend Reconciling the

I feel his eyes on me

"Do you want me to stop?"

"I want you to tell me what happened to your faht for a moment that your family would be spared and only you would have suffered the consequences of disobeying your boss? Your job was getting rid of those who did just that How could you not have known better?"

"I was arrogant," he snaps back, not defensively, but with anger obviously turned back on hioddamned important that the boss would see how valuable an asset I was I'd hide out Buy tiht and o near the house After a few days, I snuck into the house after ather up my wife and kids and take theht with the boss Hoould explain all of this to et us to safety But when I passed through the front door, the smell of blood filled my nostrils There was blood on the carpet in the children's room and on the walls of my bedroom There were no bodies But I knehat had happened The scene in that house has never left my mind"

Culebra's breath catches again He coe that I had never felt before I didn't care what happened toone order after all the years I was faithful to hieance on hiot in el of death My first order of business was to drive out to a hideaway in a reuns, explosives and equipment I would be armed to the teeth when I paid the boss a visit

"I drove out to ry and careless I didn't notice the black Escalade in nized the boss'sfor o inside and see what they had done To realize what my disobedience had cost Noas as to speed away, but just then the gunfire started It ripped through my rearand knocked out razed oes to his forehead and he rubs at his temples reflexively "There was so much blood I lost control of my car and it tumbled into a ravine I was thrown froully while the car continued to tumble on over a patch of rocks The rocks punctured the fuel tank and created sparks and the vehicle exploded into a fireball I heard the Escalade stop on the road above The ot out to watch the fireworks My body ully because they didn't co for me They assumed that I died in the explosion and after a few minutes, they returned to the Escalade, turned around and drove off

"When I felt it was clear, I crawled out of the gully and onto the roadbed I stood up and staggered, light-headed from the loss of blood Besides the head wound, I had been shot in each ar thrown around in the car I was probably about twenty miles from Ciudad Juarez, in theI could do was start walking north toward the border I took off es I wrapped one strip aroundand others to fashion tourniquets forAfter so I kneas lying in a bed in an El Paso hospital surrounded by DEA agents"

He looks up at Max

Max had just raised his glass to his lips Whatever he sees in Culebra's eyes lass He takes up the story

"We were on a routine border patrol e found Culebra We thought he was an illegal who had been attacked by coyotes He'd almost made it to the border It was a unshot wasn't serious, but he was dehydrated and exhausted He'd lost a lot of blood"

Max watches Culebra as he tells the story Culebra, for his part, keeps his head down, his eyes on the glass clasped between his hands

"He was near death for three weeks We found papers on him Mexican and Anized The na hih, we " A cold sh nut to crack Wouldn't tell us what happened Wouldn't name his shooter"

"So how did you convince him to talk?"

"We found the bodies of his farave not far frootten a tip about the location of a cartel body du the dead ere able to identify Ballistics matched the bullet that we took fro their bodies, knowing they were killed by his own people ree

"Culebra has been of great help to us We captured Gallardo with infors off the street and closed some major supply routes He's more than made up for what he was"

"But the drugs keep flowing and the gangs get stronger" I don't realize how angry and disappointed I'd becoer turns my blood to fire I round on Culebra "Do you really think you can everdealer Do you kno many deaths you are responsible for? Thousands On both sides of the border Your faut "I don't understand how you could have allowed yourself to be involved in such a thing You risked your life not long ago to save a young girl- a stranger -from Belinda Burke That's the Culebra I know The one you are describing now is sonize"

Culebra er overcomes disappointhts the fuse and trips an explosion of invective

"Of all the people I've coht you were the purest of heart You cae to worldly and otherworldly creatures seeking safe haven You are a protector Never would I have suspected you capable of being a cold-blooded killer"

Max breaks in "This place was Culebra's idea You know the good he does He still helps us when he can, but basically he is left alone to help whoever- or whatever -he chooses"

The last is said with an inflection as sharp as a pointed stake He's not looking at ht we had gotten past that Especially since he caue I took care of Maybe the booze is stirring up feelings of betrayal in his of betrayal in me Irrational maybe, but real just the same

In a hts Culebra's intrusion into my head is as soft as a whisper I can't undo what I hat I did

The weight of his sadness and regret is heavy I know the toll past mistakes can exact I've also seen firsthand the misery narcos inflict Max and I have both been victims

I push the chair away It's better I go before I say or think soht irreparably har when I stand up

As I leave, I see the shadow of shame in Culebra's eyes

It's not enough