Lahat ng Kabanata ng Shadow of Yesterday: Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

A gentle knock on the door woke the newly wed bride up. Camila opened her eyes and realized that she was enveloped in Hugo's warm embrace while he was still asleep. It was way past dawn and the sun shone brightly. She couldn't have asked for more. It was so surreal for her. It had all started with her showing up at the cartel boss's doorstep to confront him for hurting her father. She smiled and hugged his arms that were on her chest. Another knock reminded her why she was awake in the first place. This time around, even Hugo was pulled out of his dreams. He grunted and got off the bed. “Who is it!?” He yelled.“It’s Gabriel and the witches,” Gabriel said from the other side.“Hey! It's fairies!” Ell's angry voice emerged from the other side followed by Gabriel's chuckle. Hugo couldn't help but smile at it. He opened the door and found Gabriel and the girls ready for a trip. Sofia was dragging along a bag that was even bigger than her. Gabriel sent Sofia on her way.“I’m sending Jos

It had started to drizzle and silence dominated the neighborhood. The abundance of houses with turned off interior lights indicated that most of the neighborhood preferred to sleep in early. It had something to do with the next day being a working day as well. There were no cars on the road. It was almost midnight. A lone car entered the neighborhood and slowly approached the other end of the street. The car abruptly stopped at the corner of the street and Hugo Ortiz stepped out of the vehicle. He wanted this to go as smoothly as possible. The car drove away as instructed. Hugo walked towards the house where he had received the bullet. It almost made him smile. So much had happened in the past few days. He walked through the neighborhood without sparing a glance to the surrounding houses. He didn't like this kind of neighborhood. They seemed too artificial to him. Too square. There was no room for creativity or culture. Just queues of identical cubes of concrete that looked devoid of

The black car sped through the deserted road, back into the city. It had been an eventful night for Hugo Ortiz. Wade had just become the first person in Hugo’s life who managed to walk away after threatening him. Gabriel sat beside him with a brace on his arm. His face was riddled with stitches and bandages. They all were silent. “I was at the house fire when you called. The gringo architect is in the hospital. He took a bullet to his shoulder. He’ll live if he wasn't on blood thinners. They found another man in the house burnt to a crisp. But there was no sign of any woman,” Juan said.“Volkov took my Camila!” Hugo said without taking his eyes off the window. Juan was in a deep thought.“That explains the dead mercenary,” Gabriel said. “How the hell did he get my number?” Hugo asked. The question had been pricking at him for a while. “The same way he found out about Camila. We’ve got a rat,” said Gabriel. “Vladimir?” “Not possible. We’ve been watching him. He didn't even call hi

The convoy of mercenaries drove swiftly through the streets of Bassett. The roads were completely deserted and wet due to the rain that had stopped just an hour ago. The vehicles splashed through the puddles and the sound of the engines and splashes were the only sound strong enough to be heard. Juan had preferred to take the lead for this mission but he knew better than to argue with his boss who had a reputation for having a volatile temper. Juan had been operating in the area since forever so he knew all the obscured paths and dead ends of the city. Hugo had never been in the city before. Hell, he couldn't even tell the FBI from the cops. Juan just hoped that he wasn't walking into his own doom. He checked on Bethany and gave a thumbs up. “Stop right here,” Hugo ordered and the convoy stopped. Juan looked at him, awaiting an explanation. “We go on foot from here. We move as soon as the snipers find a high vantage point,” Hugo said. Juan nodded and conveyed the order to the rest o

A week later…The police in the city had been on high alert. There had been no more incidents of violence since the fire and the motel shootout. The federal government had gotten involved since the past two weeks had been the most bloody in the history of the city. It made the people skeptical of each other. There were more checks at the airports and border control was more strict. The government got wind of who the seafood businessman Marko Juarez was in reality. Linda Schmidt was under inquiry for Professional Misconduct. Her client had jumped bail under a false alias and there was suspicion that she knew more than she shared. Ivan Volkov was found in the chewed up motel along with a dozen armed dead bodies. Ivan had no outstanding warrants on him in the US and there was nothing that connected him to the cartel big shot who had wreaked havoc in the city. Hugo Ortiz had vanished like the silver dollar. Every department and agency tried their hand but got nothing. People wondered if t