Page 63 (1/2)

THE BLAZE HAD BEEN extinguished and the firefighters wereZavala bluffed his way past the yellow police tape with officious flashes of his NUMA identification card He waved the laator’s nose, then quickly tucked it back into his billfold He didn’t want to explain why soo disaster scene

The investigator, whose na helicopter and described a strange flash of light before the explosion, but he hadn’t eliminated the possibility that the detonation was internal Zavala couldn’t blame him It’s not every day an aro

“How is the injured woman?” Zavala asked

“Okay last I heard,” Connors said “A couple of guys dragged her out of her office before the fire got going”

Zavala then thanked Connors and walked to the next block to catch a taxi As he raised his hand to hail a cab, a plain black Ford sedan pulled up to the curb Agent Miguel Gomez was behind the wheel The FBI ot in

Gootten busy since you and your partner arrived in town,” the agent said “A few hours after you walk into o up in smoke Why don’t you stick around a few more days? The whole Mexican mafia and their pals will self-destruct, and I’ll be out of a job, which will suit me fine”

Zavala chuckled “Thanks again for watching our backs in Tijuana”

“In return for risking an international incident by bringing a sniper team across the border,on”

“I wish I knew,” Zavala said with a shrug “What’s the story on Pedralez?”

“He was in his arhborhood west of Tijuana He’s got bodyguards in SUVs in front and behind The lead vehicle gets hit first A second later Pedralez’s car explodes Itwas built like a tank The driver of the third vehicle does a quick U-turn and gets the hell out”

“An antitank missile would have done the job”

Go eyes “The Mexican police found the loader for a Swedish Gustav antitank missile in an alley”

“The Swedes are attacking Mexican drug lords?”

“I wish The hardware is available on the world ar them away on the ba

cks of cereal boxes You can fire the thing froet off six rounds awith Hanley?”