Chapter 219: Stuck in a Foxhole with an African Beauty
It was about a week after going out with Maria that Alex received a message from his current employer. It was a brief message consisting of only a single line of text along with coordinates. The text simply told Alex to get strapped and head to the location given to him.
With a heavy sigh, Alex nodded his head, admitting defeat as he embraced this new job of his. The man grabbed a large black trunk which he kept in his hotel room, whereupon the opening revealed a small cache of arms, ammunition and body armor. Alex quickly dressed himself in a set of black camouflage combat attire before putting on a pair of black combat boots.
After which, he headed out of his hotel with the rest of the trunk in his hand. Which Alex put into the bed of a pickup truck that he had rented earlier in the week. After ensuring that he had everything he needed, Alex drove to the coordinates that were given to him by his employer.
Knowing that he was likely to face combat, Alex did not drive up directly to the coordinates. Instead, he sat a few kilometers back, and hid his truck, where he then pulled out the arms cache and his plate carrier. He then put on an all black balaclava, before adorning a ballistic face mask that had a skull painted on it.
The only part of his white skin that was on display were two of his fingers that protruded beyond the cutouts of his gloves that were designed to enhance his trigger finger and its dexterity. Beneath the balaclava were a pair of earpieces that not only reduced the signature of gunfire and other combat ambience to hearing safe levels, but also connected into his radio, which was a top tier military grade device that sat in a pouch that was attached to his plate carrier.
If it was at all possible to look the part of a cartel hitman, then Alex most certainly displayed this status, especially after he pulled his AK-105 out of the bag, and slung it around his torso, before placing his 2011 handgun in the holster which sat mid ride on his gun belt.
Once Alex was properly kitted up, he locked the doors of his truck before venturing through the desert terrain. Every so often, he could hear an exchange of gunfire and shouts in Spanish. What were the men saying? Various things to coordinate with their fellow sicarios.
“I’m hit!”
“Fucking bitch!”
Et cetera. Alex clearly knew that these were most likely the enemy, where were not the slightest bit aware that he was hunting them. And thus when he got closer and closer to the gunfire. Alex reached into a pouch on his plate carrier’s placard and pulled out a small dime bag worth of cocaine. Which he snorted, immediately being filled with enough energy to wrestle an elephant.
Every single noise that reverberated throughout the wilderness entered Alex’s brain, and stimulated his brain, giving him a better understanding of where his prey was pinned down. Thus, like a panther in the night, Alex stalked through the desert until finally seeing a group of hitmen from a rival cartel who were pinned down and bleeding out after being shot by what appeared to be a sniper.
These men did not seem to notice Alex’s presence, as they were too busy trying to locate the sniper who kept shooting at them. And thus Alex simply raised the muzzle of his rifle and sprayed down the small fireteam of enemy hitmen, killing them on the spot.
Once Alex had done this, he heard a familiar, and outright hostile tone on the other end of the radio, which was attuned to the frequency which the Zetas used to conduct operations. The voice was clearly not happy with this newcomer stealing her kills. And did not bother hiding these thoughts.
“Not one step closer, or I’ll make you pay for stealing my kills with your life…”
Alex lowered his rifle when he realized he was in the African beauty’s sights, and simply smirked, not that it could be seen behind his two masks. His voice however was a dead giveaway of his identity, especially the conceited tone that he normally spoke in.
“It’s good to see you too, Amahle… How have you been?”
The freelance assassin’s sighs could be heard over the line as she immediately asked Alex if he was really the person sent to extract her.
“Don’t tell me that bitch sent you and you alone to get me the fuck out of here?”
Alex however did not seem the slightest bit dismayed by this fact as he admitted the truth then and there.
“It would appear so, not that she gave me much information to begin with.”
This remark elicited a scoff from Amahle’s lips as she quickly guessed exactly how Alex had been notified to save her from her ongoing encirclement.
“Let me guess.. She sent you coordinates followed by a single statement, something along the lines of “kit up”
Alex chuckled when he heard this before responding to Amahle’s damn near precise estimation of exactly how he had been notified of his current assignment.
“She said get strapped, but essentially yes…”
This was not reassuring to Amahle as she removed her finger from the trigger, and rested it on her rifle’s receiver, before telling Alex he was fine to continue forward.
“If it’s just the two of us… We’re going to need to carefully plan our next step. Those weren’t the only assholes following me. This entire area is encircled by Jalisco’s sicarios, and they aren’t letting us escape without a fight. I suggest you follow my exact directions in order to get to my foxhole, unless you want to accidentally step on a landmine that is…”
Upon realizing that he had already stepped into a minefield, Alex looked around into the vicinity, spotting several of such devices, whose detonated were protruding from the ground. He said a brief prayer to the Lord God Almighty for sparing him, before following Amahle’s exact instructions on how to safely approach her foxhole.
The African beauty was as she had said, lying prone in a foxhole, with her back against a hillside, and surrounded by landmines. How she had gotten herself into such a precarious situation, Alex didn’t know, but he lied down in the foxhole with the girl, where she immediately stared at him while questioning his sense of fashion.
“It would appear you really have embraced the lifestyle, huh? And so soon at that? Next thing you know you will be praying to Saint Death…”
Alex mocked the woman and her statement with a comment that made the both of them laugh.
“I am an instrument of our Lady of Holy Death and her will. Why else do you think I am dressed like this?”
There was a deadpan expression in Alex’s tone, and on his face as he said these words, but that could not be seen behind his two masks. But Amahle knew him well enough to know this was his sense of humor, and thus she broke out into laughter alongside the man.
The two of them were trapped in the desert, surrounded by hostile hitmen and landmines. If they wanted to escape from their encirclement alive, they would have to fight their way out. Something that Amahle seemed to be content with.
However, the woman’s stomach growled, before she looked at Alex with a pleading gaze.
“Please tell me you brought some fucking food in that pack of yours? I haven’t eaten in 42 fucking hours…”
Alex allowed Amahle to rummage through the pack that was attached to the back of his plate carrier, where she found some energy bars and other snack items. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing, and thus she tore through them, and devoured the snacks almost as if she were a rabid wolf that had been starved to the point of death.
Once she had devoured these food items, Amahle grabbed hold of the hose that connected to a hydration bladder that was embedded inside his backpack, and drank from it. It was only after she had drank half of the three liters of water that Amahle finally ceased her action.
Once she had finished this, the African beauty laid back down on her stomach and aimed through the scope of her SVD sniper rifle. Realizing that the enemy was about to make another attack,
“Buckle in kid, the enemy is about to make another assault…”
Alex flipped the 3x magnifier to his holographic sight into position, and gazed down through the tree line to see that at least two squads worth of sicarios were charging over a defensive position, rushing towards the foxhole where Amahle and Alex now hid within. It was only now that Alex lamented the idea of grabbing a carbine instead of a machine gun, which was a sentiment he was quick to express.
“Had I been aware of your situation I would have grabbed a PKM…”
Amahle then looked over at the AK-105 that Alex was wielding and was quick to comment on his poor choice of equipment for this mission.
“That would have been a much better option… If we make it out of this alive, I’m going to make that bitch pay for this!”
And thus, Alex and Amahle kept their heads down within the foxhole, while the enemy began to rain fire upon their position.