Page 59 of Terminal Voyage

Matteo swallowed hard again.

It all made sense. The nice vehicle, the pristine gear. Matteo was making a lot of money from cartel kickbacks. A share of every score. That was obvious in hindsight.

Matteo looked like he was about to shit his pants. He quivered with fear, and his frantic eyes darted around. "Just let me go. I will tell no one.”

"What's there to tell? We killed these men in self-defense."

"That does not matter. When the cartel finds out, they will go after you and kill you.”

"That means they’ll kill you, too. After all, this is your responsibility.”

"Please," Matteo begged. "I have a family. A wife. Four kids. They need me."

Matteo wasn't wearing a wedding ring.

"What do you want to do with this guy?" Silas asked Declan.

"Let's get out of here," he said.

Declan gestured to the group to gather their things and start heading back up the trail. We peeled out of our wetsuits.

Matteo breathed a sigh of relief, even though Silas kept his weapon aimed at him.

We started back up the trail.

"Today's your lucky day," Declan said to Matteo.

"Si. Thank you, sir. God bless you.”

Just as Matteo relaxed, Declan grabbed the rifle from Silas, took aim, and squeezed the trigger.

DAK!

The gunshot echoed off the walls of the cenote.

Matteo's eyes rounded as the bullet drilled into his chest. Crimson spewed, and he splashed into the water. His body floated, the gush of blood mixing to form a pink swirl. The 7.62mm full metal jacket had pulverized Matteo's heart.

I looked back at Declan, my eyes wide, my heart in my throat. He handed the weapon back to Silas and continued up the trail like nothing had happened.

Out here in the jungle, there were no witnesses. No one to say what had really happened. I'm sure, if the police ever stumbled across the site, it would look like a cartel shootout.

Silas shoved all the tanks, gear, and regulators into the cenote. It would wash away any trace evidence. Not like local authorities would DNA test everything. That didn’t happen in a place like this. Cartel violence was common. But why run the risk of leaving trace DNA behind?

We all walked back to the vehicles in silence.

Birds chirped, and the wind rustled leaves.

Felix and Antonio lay in the dirt, flies buzzing. The bodies were surrounded by pools of blood that had soaked into the red-orange ground.

"What are we going to do about them?" Hannah asked, in a state of shock. Her frazzled eyes took in the chaos. I'm sure she had never seen anything like this before.

Sebastian put a comforting arm around her shoulder and spoke in a hushed voice. "Just get in the van, honey."

The last remaining thug groaned in the grass on the other side of the truck.

Declan grabbed the rifle from Silas and marched in the thug’s direction. He rounded the tailgate and lorded over the dirtball. "You think you can steal from me?”

He cocked his foot back and kicked the guy in the rib cage.