The sky flaunted the exquisite golden glow of desert sunrise when Marcus drove up to an old middle-sized hangar that was surrounded by chain link fence. A helicopter was parked outside, ready to be exploited. Maneuvering the vehicle to line up with the other two SUVs, Marcus turned off the engine.

Bette got out of the car and peered at the group of people that stood not so far away from the helicopter, talking amongst themselves. There she could recognize Doctor Arnodelo, his private security and one unfamiliar man, who Bette supposed was the pilot. Shutting the car door, the brunette proceeded to approach her boss, followed by Marcus, Tasha, Mark and Tim.

Greetings were shared quickly, introductions made, hands shaken.

”Here’s how things are going to be played out,” Arnodelo began, speaking in a serious tone to the gang. ”My person will be waiting for you when you land in Tijuana. His name is Doyle Bogan, he will provide cars, covert listening devices and directions to Mr. Lebron’s residence. Once you’re done, Doyle will transport you across the border and then back here.”

Having received the collective nods of understanding, Arnodelo glanced at one of the guards and nodded his head pointedly. The guard handed a big duffel bag over to Marcus before Arnodelo spoke again, this time directly to Bette, ”There’re fifteen million dollars exactly. Your mission is to convince Mr. Lebron that we have nothing to do with the border seizure… By the way, have you got anything about the transportation?”

”Yes, my informants found out that the concealment was very careless, the goods were practically on display,” Bette offered.

Arnodelo squinted in suspicion. ”Which means that it was a setup, right?”

”If it was a setup, then I’m not sure how the cartel gained from it. Unless the cocaine was counterfeit, which my informants failed to learn about.”

”Well, it’s obvious,” the man rubbed his gray beard. ”They counterfeit the powder, make the concealment imperfect for guaranteed border seizure, then demand the money from us. Hmm… It seems our sleeky little Vicente Lebron wanted to go after the low-hanging fruit. I don’t understand why would he want to mess up our alliance like that.”

”It’s free money, Doctor,” Bette shrugged.

”This will be the last money he receives from us,” Arnodelo responded with determination. ”Initially I wanted you to negotiate our future collaboration with him, but now I’ve changed my mind. You will give him the money and play like nothing is going to change, but once you come back to the States, I’ll start establishing cooperation with Juarez Cartel.”