The Holy Death

Chapter 39

"You will remember your training, all of it?"

"Yeah, I will. After all, I was trained by the best!"

"You will do well. You will not only survive, you will conquer."

"I know. But just in case it doesn't go my way..."

"No, do not say that. Never say that. You will triumph. You must triumph. There can be no other way."

"Okay. But I just wanted to say you've been an amazing friend, and I am so blessed..."

Scott had to stop at that point, as he rubbed his eyes.

"You need say no more. I am the one who has been blessed to have known you."

"Well, then this is..."

"Not good bye. This is not good bye, Scott Campbell."

"Until later."

"Godspeed, Scott Campbell."

Scott followed Canute away from Jeremiah's cell, then stopped and headed back.

"Oh, Jeremiah," Scott said, "I wanted to tell you one last thing."

"What is that, Scott?"

Scott leaned in close and whispered. "The Santa Muerte never turned on the electricity to the cells."

"I didn't think he did."

"Anyway, you might wanna keep that in mind."

Scott followed Canute once more as they headed up stairs to the main gathering room. Don Calderon, Luis Torres, Gibson, and several armed commandos were waiting for him.

"Scott Campbell!" Calderon said. "I hope you slept well?"

"No, you didn't, Calderon."

"Right, I actually did not give a shit. Anyway, good morning! Are you ready to face your certain doom at the hands of the Santa Muerte?"

"Gee, you're really full of sunshine and smiles today, aren't you?"

"I am! But, oh, before we take you to the place of your death, I have a little something to show you. Come!"

Scott did as Calderon asked and followed him through the villa, out into the courtyard, then beyond the gates, where Calderon's limousine and several black Suburbans were parked. Scott noticed that Calderon had a pair of binoculars in his hand. The sun had just started to rise, casting long shadows from the east.

"This is fun," Calderon said. "Now, if I can draw your attention to that low ridge to the west, approximately a kilometer away. It seems, that on that ridge, we found an old, abandoned van, and I wondered to myself, 'why is there such a van out there, in the middle of nowhere'? Surely, whoever brought this vehicle out here cannot be up to anything healthy. Plus, it has some interesting features, such as a cage in back for holding a large animal, and surveillance equipment."

Scott could see that the van Calderon was talking about was the van he, and his friends, had borrowed from Ministry. "Uh, surveillance equipment? It has a CB radio and an 8-track cassette player. Those are hardly 'surveillance equipment'."

"Be that as it may, it's ugly and I don't like it there. So, I am going to have it moved."

"Moved? Moved where?"