Page 2 of Born of Vengeance

Rafael knelt and unzipped a black canvas bag. Slowly. Methodically. Inside: duct tape, gloves, pliers, a blade with a worn grip, a small metal file, and a single .45-caliber pistol. Nothing flashy. Everything purposeful.

He pulled out the tape first.

“I already told your guy everything,” the man pleaded. “It was just a shipment, man. I only move stuff. I’m nobody.”

“That’s the problem,” Rafael said.

He pulled a chair from the corner and placed it directly under the single hanging bulb. Sat across from him.

“You said ‘shipment.’ Where was it going?”

“I—Cartagena. Then north, I swear.”

Rafael didn’t respond. Just looked at him.

The silence was surgical. It made the man squirm more than any threat.

“I—I don’t know where it ends up, man. I just do runs. I don’t ask questions.”

“You ran tonight.”

“I saw you,” the man admitted, eyes wide. “You were at the bar. I thought—I thought you were one of them at first.”

“I’m not.”

“Then what the hell do you want?”

Rafael leaned forward. His voice lowered—not with menace, but with something colder.

“I want a name.”

The man blinked. “Whose?”

“You tell me.”

“I—I don’t—”

Rafael stood, walked behind him, and wrapped the tape around his wrists. The man flinched but didn’t fight. Fear was already leaking from his pores.

Then the blade came out.

Small. Clean. Dull enough to be painful. Rafael placed it gently on the man’s knee and rested his hand on the shoulder.

“I’m going to ask again. And then I’ll ask again after that. You get to choose when this ends.”

“I move bags,” the man said. “Sometimes girls. I don’t know their names. They come from the hills, or across the border. Sometimes Venezuela. Sometimes Panama. I don’t know who takes them.”

“But someone gives the order.”

“I don’t know his name—”

The blade pressed into skin.

“Okay! Okay!” The man’s voice cracked. “We call him El Juez. The Judge. Nobody meets him. Just hears things. Orders. Routes. Names.”

“El Juez,” Rafael repeated softly. “Is that his real name?”

“No. No. Just a name people whisper.”

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