Bestiarii by James Tarr

Author:James Tarr [Tarr, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theogony Books
Published: 2022-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

The light was fading as they drove into General Bravo in a borrowed Raven pickup. Technically it was unmarked, but it was painted flat Army green, and they got a lot of looks as they drove along Route 40, Autopista Monterrey-Reynosa. Everyone knew who the truck belonged to.

Beni was driving, and Manuel had an old folding map open on his lap. “Slow down, we’re almost there. Two more blocks.”

The GPS put the missing Raven truck right on Route 40 at the corner of Calle Lerdo de Tejada. Route 40 was concrete, cracked and faded in the bright sun. The side streets were all uneven asphalt. They rolled by listing cinderblock walls and low buildings made of plain concrete, sometimes gray but often painted bright colors.

“I see it,” Beni said. The green truck was parked in a small lot on the right on the next block. It appeared empty.

Beni pulled to the curb a hundred meters from the other truck, and they walked the rest of the way. He assumed Travers was long gone, and had abandoned the truck here, but on the very small chance he hadn’t they didn’t want to spook him by parking another Raven truck right next to his.

Manny drew his pistol but kept it down along his leg as he approached the truck, on the off-chance Travers was inside, sleeping. “Empty,” he said, standing next to the truck while trying to appear uninterested in it, just in case Travers was nearby, watching. Beni turned and looked around. Route 40 here had businesses on either side of the street. Travers had parked in the lot of a small furniture store that was out of business. There was a bar on the next block with a winking sign, and a hardware store across the street, but every other store or shop seemed to be out of business. The war had not been good for business anywhere in Mexico, even in small towns removed from the fighting.

“The keys are in it,” Manny said in surprise, staring into the truck.

Beni looked through the window. “He probably hoped it would be stolen.” Any other vehicle probably would have been, but a truck obviously belonging to Raven, a company made of combat-hardened mercenarios? A battered truck wasn’t worth that much trouble.

“The bar first? Maybe he’s in there, drunk.”

Beni looked at the winking light. “Yes, together, and then when he’s not there and no one there has seen him, we can split up.” He frowned. “We will not find anything here.”

“You never know,” Manny said optimistically, taking the keys out of the ignition and pocketing them.

They were back to Travers’ truck in twenty minutes. Nobody at the bar or any of the other nearby open businesses remembered seeing any gringo that day, and did not recognize Travers from the picture on Beni’s palmpad. None of the businesses had exterior security cameras, at least that were functional. Beni searched the truck Travers had abandoned without finding anything.

“So now what?” Manny asked as Beni sat behind the wheel.

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