Chapter 19 - CheckmateValeria crouched behind the bronze statue, her breathing shallow. Mateo clung to her leg, completely silent.
She checked the magazine on her Glock. Six bullets left.
"Did you really think a few new dresses and a shiny ring made you untouchable?" Fantasma taunted, slowly walking up the stairs. Two heavily armed guards flanked him. "Alejandro is three hours away. Your guards are dead. The house is mine."
Valeria looked down the hall. The door to the study was open. She could make a run for it, but she wouldn't make it before his men shot her in the back.
She needed to buy time.
Valeria stood up from behind her cover. She didn't raise her weapon. She kept it hidden behind her thigh.
She stepped into the moonlight at the top of the stairs, looking down at the man who had ordered the death of Sofia Ríos.
"You talk too much for a ghost," Valeria said coldly.
Fantasma stopped. He looked up at her, amused. "You have spirit. I’ll give you that. But spirit doesn't stop bullets."
"Neither does a white suit," Valeria shot back. "You think you’ve won? You think you tricked Alejandro?"
"I know I did."
"You didn't trick anyone," Valeria lied smoothly, her voice ringing with absolute, terrifying confidence. She channeled every ounce of Alejandro’s arrogance. "Do you really think the greatest cartel boss in Mexico left his home completely unguarded? Do you really think I didn't know Silva was a mole?"
Fantasma’s smile faltered for a fraction of a second.
"I left Laredo empty," Valeria continued, stepping dangerously close to the edge of the landing. "I let Silva blow the generators. I let you walk through the front door. Because Alejandro didn't go north, Fantasma."
The cartel boss narrowed his eyes. "You're bluffing."
"Am I?" Valeria tilted her head. "Look out the window."
Fantasma didn't move, but one of his guards glanced back toward the massive foyer windows.
Outside, the darkness was suddenly pierced by the blinding beams of four heavily armored SUVs smashing through the iron gates.
The heavy, rhythmic thumping of a combat helicopter shook the glass.
Alejandro hadn't gone to Laredo. He had turned the convoy around the moment the radios went dead. He had driven at lethal speeds to protect his home.
"Kill her!" Fantasma screamed, realizing he had walked into a slaughterhouse.
But Valeria was faster.
She whipped the Glock from behind her leg and fired two shots directly into the face of the guard on Fantasma’s left.
At the exact same moment, the front doors of the mansion were blown completely off their hinges.
Alejandro Ríos walked through the smoke like an absolute demon. His assault rifle roared, cutting down Fantasma’s remaining men before they could even aim at the stairs.
Fantasma drew his weapon, aiming wildly at Alejandro.
But before he could pull the trigger, Valeria raised her gun and shot him directly in his right shoulder.
The ghost screamed, dropping his gun. He fell to his knees on the marble stairs.
Silence descended on the house once more, broken only by the sound of Alejandro’s heavy boots climbing the steps.
He didn't look at Fantasma. He looked right past him, his eyes locking onto Valeria and Mateo, who was now peeking out from behind the statue.
Seeing them safe, the murderous rage in Alejandro’s eyes shifted into absolute relief.
He stopped directly in front of the kneeling Fantasma.
"You forgot one rule of chess, Fantasma," Alejandro whispered, pulling his heavy .45 caliber pistol from his hip.
Fantasma looked up, blood pouring from his shoulder, his eyes filled with pure terror.
"What?" the ghost gasped.
Alejandro pressed the barrel to Fantasma’s forehead.
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"The Queen is the most dangerous piece on the board."
BANG.
