Chapter 238: the Bunker

As we hustled back to the Villa, I saw the boom box, or whatever it was, hanging from a tree a few yards off the road. I used the .30 cal to shut it the fuck up. It took three shots which alerted Martin that I was on the way.

"Smith is in the back," Martin said as Eve and I approached.

"Okay I guess we need to go inside and look for the bunker. We can't spend too much time, but we have to find him. I have about 10 lbs of Semtex left. if we can't drag him out quickly, we will just seal the Bunker and move on."

That wasn't what I intended at all. It was my intent to leave Mexico with the narco terroist's head in a bag. We were about to head in, when Vlad showed up. "Where the hell is Anya?" I asked.

"She is back with the prisoners. She can handle them don't worry," he said. I didn't like the way he looked at me, but I had no time to be paranoid.

"You and Martin check out the inside of the villa. Pick up anything of interest, as long as you are in there. Eve and I will make a swing around the grounds." That's just what we did after we got through the gate. We split up and began our very cautious sweep of the Villa. We were all aware that there were probably four very well armed men inside somewhere.

I turned to Eve, when the other two were out of hearing, "If they went into a bunker to avoid the gas, then there has to be a mechanical ventilation system in the bunker. Listen carefully for the sound of a motor and fan." I suggested to her.

It took her about five minutes to find the sound. It was coming from a gardener's shed. Since there were four bodyguards unaccounted for I called everyone but Anya to the shed. "The vent tube is hidden under the slop sink over there. I'm sure they have either a microphone or a camera inside there."

"Let's just drop some Semtex down the tube." Smith suggested.

"It wouldn't get into the bunker. My guess is the tube has a P trap to keep that kind of thing from happening. We are pretty sure it has filters to guard against gas. It seems Estavante isn't all that macho after all."

"Cap off the vent and they will come out." Smith suggested next.

"It probably would work, but I'm sure there is more than one. We don't have the time to find and cap them all. We need to find the door. The floor of the shed is a slab of concrete. It is likely part of the roof system. Let's just look around and remember there are still four bodyguards and one animal down there. They are going to be vicious.

"Let's think," I said to Eve after we split up. The doorway has to around here somewhere. Whatever it uses as a door, will probably be blast proof." I took a quick look around. There was nothing standing upright which could be used as a door. "It has to be a cellar type door," I said. "It's the floor of the almost empty shed. That concrete slab is somehow the door."

Eve got down on her hands and knees and checked. "You are right the whole slab slides." I looked around the shed but couldn't find the camera or microphone. Even so, I was sure they were there.

"Okay let's rig the IED to blow the bunker." I said so that the microphone could pick it up.

Eve was quick thinking, I would have expected no less. "How do we do it?" she asked.

"First we blow the vent and look for smoke to emerge from the other vents in the jungle. That first explosion will clear the filters and open a straight line down. Once we can get some Symtex inside, it will pop open like a child's toy. Those bunkers are designed to protect from outside explosions not inside ones. I figure two small explosions and one big mother. Then we just walk in and count the bodies."

"Sounds right to me," Eve agreed.

I walked outside then called them all to me. "Martin when you searched the villa did you find any arms?"

"Sure they have a room full of guns and ammunition," he replied.

"Then go get me a handful of grenades. Vlad, while we are doing this, you do a quick search for a safe of some kind. Might as well make this time profitable."

While we waited for the men to return Eve and I looked around for other hidden vents. The fans could only draw the air in so far, so they had to be reasonably close. With her better than average hearing, lots better actually, Eve picked up on two more vents. She could set up filters to hear only the range of sounds made by operating fans. It actually made finding the vent easy.

"Here you go," Martin said as he handed me four American made concussion grenades. Martin you and Eve take the two vents out here and I'll spike the one inside. Let's all try to drop them at the same time." A couple of minutes later I had the grenade with the safety pin removed in hand. "Ready?" I asked. The both responded that they were. "Fire in the hole I shouted as I dropped the grenade into the vent tube."

We were all standing together several yards from the closest vent tube when the three grenades exploded. Not only were there spouts of smoke and debris from the three vent tubes but from a forth tube as well. It was one which we hadn't found. It was my guess that there was some pretty foul smelling air in the bunker about now. We surrounded the shed but nothing happened.

"Don't tell me they aren't in there," I said.

"Only one way to tell," Martin suggested.

"I feel a vibration," Eve said. She scanned the grounds then added, "Over there." She was pointing to a spot about twenty feet behind the shed.