When he arrived at The Flaming Hut, all his spy senses went on alert. He walked along the corridor headed for their room and found a chunk of hair a few doors away. He immediately recognised it. His heart sank.
He hid behind a wall and took his gun out, he checked for ammo, it was loaded, unlocked then he put the silencer on.
He sneaked out of his hiding and walked slowly approaching their bedroom with both hands holding his gun, the door was ajar. There was no one around in the corridor, but he suspected that someone was still inside.
They’ve tricked him. It was the first thought that came to his mind. They lured him out of the motel and left her there to be picked up. His contact was a rat. He should’ve blew up his head when he had the chance.
If they left someone in the room to kill him, it would confirm his suspicion that Armand was the one who had taken her. But if the room was empty, it must be another soar bidder who had lost the bid of buying her out of the deal. It was the moment of truth, once he entered the room, it might be over for him.
He kicked the door as hard as he could to have a shocking effect for anyone inside, he rolled over on the floor to avoid any bullets. He was highly experienced, it was something that Arturo had underestimated.
Arturo was hiding behind the door, thinking he was going to shoot him at first glance. The door slammed right on his face, he fell on the floor and started shooting blindly.
Diego got the upper hand, he jumped on Arturo and broke his arm. He took the gun away from him and shot him on the foot. In less than five minutes, he was apprehended with a broken arm, a broken nose, a bleeding foot and no gun. Diego pinned him face down on the floor and closed the door.
“Where is she?”
Arturo grunted, Diego’s knee was pushing his chest against the floor. He wasn’t answering him.
Diego cocked his gun, “Tell me where she is and I’ll let you go.”
“You’ll never get away with this … they’ll never leave you alone,” Arturo replied.
He got off of his back and picked him up, he threw him against the wall and put a choke around his neck, he shoved his gun into Arturo’s mouth, “We’ll see about that … now, call your boss, tell him you’ve got the job done, I’m keeping you with me until you tell me where she is … you will tell me one way or another …” he patted Arturo’s cheek with a mocking smile.
The call Arturo made to Pasquale was done with a gun held to his forehead. By telling Pasquale he had done his job, it will give Diego time to figure out his next step. The moment Arturo hung up the phone, Diego blew his head off. His brain splattered all over the motel wall, he made a gurgling sound from his mouth before he was completely silent with a pool of blood on the floor. He was never going to talk, he will only try to kill him. It was either Arturo or him, it has always been like that.
He threw himself on the bed, he couldn’t believe how stupid he was to have fallen into that trap. He was faced with two options, leave while he still can and save himself, or try to find Ariana … that is if she wanted to be rescued. He wasn’t sure of it, she seemed like she was still very much in love with her crazy husband. All the money and power they possess, it all had to be taken into consideration.
He looked at Arturo’s body slumped on the floor. He has to hide it, if they know Arturo is dead, they will be hunting him forever. He rummaged the room, all her stuff was still in there, they left in a hurry. He found a duffel bag that wasn’t there before. He peeked inside. It was Arturo’s torture tool, they were going to torture him. He found a saw, all sorts of knives, a rope, a body bag, Arturo was sent to kill him and chopped him into pieces.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
It was the worst kind of cover up he always avoided in his job. Cutting someone’s head off of their bodies was not an easy task, then he had to cut off his hands and feet so they couldn’t get his prints. He scratched his head, he really didn’t want to do it. He could just drop the body off in the river somewhere but then they will know that he’s still alive. It had to be done, at least it would buy him time to disappear.
He let out a long frustrating breath, “Fuck!”
He dragged Arturo’s body to the bathroom and lifted him into the bathtub. The body was still warm. He took off his clothes and put them in a plastic bag. He dressed Arturo with his own clothes and left his ID inside the pocket. He was faking his own death.
All his human emotions were turned off, like a switch, he had done it for years, and this was no different. He took out the tools from Arturo’s bag, put on the rubber gloves that were conveniently tucked inside the bag. All those tools were meant for him, it was supposed to be him inside that bathtub. He turned on the water to keep the blood running through the drain and then he started working.
He wrapped Arturo’s head and limbs in the body bag he found among Arturo’s stuff. He had to clean himself up with Arturo’s remains still in the bathtub. The day had tuned into night. He has to wrap it up and leave before the cleaning service comes in the morning to clean the room. He made sure he didn’t leave any of Ari’s stuff behind, but he had to leave all of his things as it was, except for his guns.
His hands were sore from all the cutting, he will be having nightmares about it for days, maybe longer. He put Arturo’s head in the trunk, he will figure out where to dump it later. The first thing he wanted to do was to look for the guy who ratted him out, he drove back to the alley where he picked up Ari’s new identity and waited for him to show up. He ate his burger from the drive thru, all that physical work made him hungry. The soonest he saw the guy, he dropped his burger, got his sniper rifle ready and shot him on the head.