The Imperial Hunter

The soldiers, whose hearts had stopped, stared blankly at the acrid sky obscured by the moon and stars. Those who easily exterminated the cartel armed forces came out as if they were swept away by a disaster and died at the hands of their subordinates.

Is this where it ends?

The deaths of those who had no reason to die chilled my head, which had been heated with the fervor of battle. The fatigue I had forgotten returned, making my whole body feel heavy. It was a sensation like liquid gravity spreading along my veins.

At that moment, Kyung-tae made the same judgment.

“Hyungnim, shouldn’t we start withdrawing soon? The enemy has become too numerous, and if we continue to set the city on fire, our remaining deal will be in jeopardy. It’s better to throw a decoy here and finish it…”

“That’s right. Everyone, remove your armor.”

There were many corpses scattered around with armor to spare. Double A’s sicarios, even those who couldn’t be considered sicarios, were merely alley rats. However, there was no fake corpse among them to stage the death of the Knight Commander. The whereabouts of the infamous “El Maestre” would remain a mystery to everyone. All that would remain here would be the corpses of Knight Commander and his bodyguards.

The first thing I did after arranging the corpses was to forge the cause of death.

“Fire.”

One of my subordinates fired an RPG-7, stolen from a sicario. At the far end of the trajectory, there was an Indian military truck loaded with a large quantity of explosives, including recoilless rifle shells, at the combat scene.

The truck erupted in a fierce chain explosion. Shockwaves spread twice, knocking over nearby buildings. Parked cars rolled around like they were flipped by a typhoon, and a motorcycle hit by the blast wave spewed flames onto the asphalt, skidding for half a block.

So, what would happen to the bodies in the blast zone? They would be torn apart and scattered. The conclusion to be drawn from analyzing the aftermath would be clear: the fake Holy Knights had slaughtered the Indian army but met an unfortunate end due to a rocket attack from the cartel.

Amidst the faint screams coming from some of the remaining houses, a muffled and squelching noise filled the air. 

Part of a horse, tied to the truck, was missing. The horse’s lower half had been peeled away, and its skin lay half-discarded on the asphalt. It felt like looking at a Picasso painting brought to life. The wounds and burns created an aberrant coloration.

Looking at one side of this bloody artwork, Kyung-tae expressed his somber regret.

“Poor thing. It was a gentle creature.”

Impressive evidence and eyewitness accounts were left all over the city. The suffering of death had been a brief moment, or so I thought. At least it must have been quicker than a typical slaughter.

Leaving this gruesome scene behind, I retreated to the Pitillal River. From the moment I decided to withdraw until I joined the guys stationed by the riverbank, we didn’t need to engage in any additional combat, and we didn’t need to take a detour. The streets I had been sweeping through until now were left as literal no-man’s land.

However…

“There’s one more prey left?”

Through communication connected to the command post, Suyeon informed me of the presence of another prey. We didn’t necessarily need to capture it, but it was a valuable beast worth hunting down.

[Based on intercepting communication from the Sinaloa Cartel, it appears that El Juego’s plaza has ignored Double A’s request for support and is now acting independently. Judging from the concentration of their movements toward the dock, it seems they might be planning to evacuate their personal and plaza’s core assets to a safe location.]

“The dock? Which dock?”

[Marina Vallarta.]

Cross-referencing the map and the name, I felt a slight sense of confusion.

“…In this situation, are they really planning to smuggle money and drugs right in front of a naval base?”

The bay that Puerto Vallarta served as a harbor for was remarkably small. It was so insignificant as a port that it would have been embarrassing to call it one if it weren’t for the tourist attractions. It had a dock where cruise ships docked right in front and a naval base, and further inland, there were small piers for fishing boats and yachts to moor.

Marina Vallarta was the most deeply established among these small piers.

So, if El Juego wanted to move his personal and plaza’s core assets out by sea, they would undoubtedly have to pass through the narrow waterway right in front of the naval base. Its width was no more than about 100 meters.

“Is that even possible?” 

The Navy must be on high alert right now. This was not the time to easily sneak something past. This could turn into a diplomatic incident, no matter how many bribes they’d been giving.

In response to my question, Suyeon promptly replied.

[The frightened citizens are escaping to the sea. Therefore, the navy can’t muster the courage to deploy patrol boats. The narrow bay is completely packed with ships and people.]

Ah, so that’s what’s going on.

[Even if they were to send patrol boats, they can’t control all those escape vessels. Moreover, it’s likely that many wealthy individuals and local dignitaries are among the targets. Mexican traits make it impossible for them to exert strong control over these people.]

“So, El Juego might succeed as long as he doesn’t mess up?”

[Yes.]

There probably weren’t many properties owned by rental companies catering to tourists among the boats heading out to sea right now. Unless escaping citizens looted their offices and obtained keys.

Ultimately, most of the escape convoy would be wealthy individuals who owned private yachts. Those who resided to the west, separated by the coastal road. Those who separated themselves from the wealthy tourists and enjoyed the freshness of the southwestern winds in advance. Mexico’s law enforcement existed for the sake of these people.

Since the Guadalajara incident, many of the wealthy residents of Mexico’s second-largest city had also come to this place for refuge. The lavish hotels were teeming with money, and it was also why Perucho’s daughter, Mari, could earn 50 pesos a day.

El Juego must have taken all of this into consideration when planning their actions. At the point when the FPDA+1 coalition and Double A clashed, he probably decided that this was his only way out.

That judgment wasn’t wrong. He was a cunning and selfish guy. I sighed and made up my mind.

“I guess we have to catch that guy too.”

I had thought that all that was left was to disappear after everything was over, and this new job was nothing but a nuisance. However, no matter how tired I was, I couldn’t let a guaranteed lottery ticket slip through my fingers. The cartel plaza that had provided drugs and prostitution to tourists while operating the largest casino in the port, and the assets controlled by the Hepe dominating that plaza, would be worth several million dollars at least, just in terms of cash. This was an estimate that even considered the recession in the port.

It was a bonus worth hundreds of millions with a little extra work. Not catching it would be foolish.

And El Juego, along with El Tiro, had to become the spoils of the FPDA+1. That’s the only way to neatly conclude this situation. The fate of the spoils didn’t matter.

‘The cartel regional lord cornered and chose to commit suicide… Or maybe they fought amongst themselves and died. That kind of ending should be fine.’

That should be enough for this detestable island nation to save face. After hearing my sigh, Suyeon spoke in a slightly lower tone.

[I’m sorry. We didn’t want to attack with just our forces since they had armored vehicles and armed awakened individuals. There was a possibility of casualties.]

“No, you did the right thing.”

I was the one who said that we wouldn’t lose a single person.

“Do you have a plan?”

[When they load their assets onto the yacht, we’ll wait for that moment and then eliminate them. Afterward, we’ll hide the yacht in the shadow of a nearby archipelago. Then, when our cargo ship arrives in two days, we can transfer what we need.]

“An archipelago? Is it a safe place?”

[These are islands where public access is prohibited due to natural damage. We’ve confirmed that they have numerous blind spots from external observation. Since they lack infrastructure, there’s no reason for escape ships to dock there.]

“That should be enough. We’ll join you soon.”

[Yes.]

After ending the communication, we continued on the path Suyeon had prepared. It took about four minutes to traverse the thoroughly prepared 5 kilometers. From this point on, the coastal road near the navy base was adjacent to a natural reserve swamp, so all we had to do was drive along the road at maximum speed.

Therefore, it wasn’t very surprising that we reached the pier before the cartel convoy transporting the cargo.

The distinct rough engine sound of an armored vehicle approached. Leading the cartel vehicle convoy was an 8-wheeled armored personnel carrier that had been produced for military use. I knew it was not part of the regular Mexican military as soon as I saw the armored vehicle as a weapons merchant.

‘Scott?’

Scott (OT-64 SKOT). A relic of the Cold War era, which had been run by Czechoslovakia and Poland in the past. It used to be a military armored vehicle, but now it was considered an antique, often appearing in the second-hand car market. While the weapons were removed and sold separately, these privately sold armored vehicles occasionally became the cause of marital disputes.

If this was such a common item, even weapons merchants like me wouldn’t be interested. There was no reason to search for something in the black market when you could easily get it in the regular market as long as you had a license. Unless it was a special order from customers who couldn’t access the regular market due to safety concerns.

Even so, this was a weapon system that would be appreciated here in Mexico. Despite being a relic of the Cold War, it was still in active use in the Third World, where everything remained in the 20th century.

In the past, there were many guys who used to drive around in narco tanks (combat vehicles modified from commercial vehicles by drug cartels). They’d certainly come a long way. It couldn’t had been easy to transport.

An armored vehicle with a battering ram for obstacle destruction was pushing aside the cars blocking the road. It was a civilian car that had been involved in a collision at an intersection during the emergency evacuation. The column of vehicles with their headlights on squeezed through the gap created by that collision and entered the pier one by one.

In the middle of the incoming column, there were two turret trucks. One was loaded only with drugs, but the smaller one was packed to the brim with banknotes and precious metals.

The latter exceeded my expectations by quite a bit.