Tijuana International Airport.
The immigration inspector who had spoken with Allen looked around before heading toward a secluded area where no one was present.
He had to report to Rodrigo’s people.
About the current situation,
about whether they should comply with their demands,
and whether they could send them through the CBX.
After taking another look around, he pulled out his phone.
But before the inspector could make a call, his phone began ringing first.
It was the director of immigration.
The man was usually so difficult to see even once,
yet he had called personally.
Taken aback, the inspector answered.
The moment he picked up, an angry shout came through.
- What the hell do you think you’re doing, you bastard?
- What kind of bastard holds people hostage?
- Do you know we just received a letter of protest from the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs?
- They say we’re detaining innocent Filipino citizens, and that they’re going to respond diplomatically.
- Are you planning to do your job like this?
- Huh? I’m asking if you’re going to keep doing your job like that.
The inspector could do nothing but listen to the director’s voice, unable even to open his mouth.
When the director finally fell silent,
the inspector spoke in an extremely cautious voice.
“...Rodrigo’s people made a request, so...”
“You bastard, there’s a limit to everything. A limit. If Rodrigo tells you to shut down the airport, are you going to shut it down? Don’t you know you have to do everything in moderation?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Resume the inspection immediately and approve them.”
“I don’t think that would be possible.”
“What?”
It almost sounded as though the director’s lid had blown clean off.
The inspector felt so anxious and terrified
that he thought he might burst into tears.
As the director had said, stamping their passports was easy.
But the moment they entered Tijuana after receiving those entry stamps—
Rodrigo would not remain still.
The inspector and his family could be killed.
They might even be hanging from Tijuana Airport the next morning.
It was not as easy as the director made it sound.
“I’ll speak with Rodrigo’s people and take care of it.”
“What? Are Rodrigo’s orders more important to you than mine?”
The director was furious.
His lid really had blown off.
His voice grew rough.
“...”
“I’m giving you ten minutes. Resume the inspection and process them quickly. If you can’t, you’re out immediately.”
Click.
The call ended.
The director’s anger was understandable.
But when the inspection counter was opened, the responsibility would fall on the inspector, not the director.
The inspector was the one who had received the order,
and the one who had carried it out.
If the director had been the one to receive the order, the instructions might have been different.
But that was not what mattered.
What mattered was that the inspector had received orders from Rodrigo’s side.
If the entry inspection was completed, it would not be the director who became a corpse. It would be the inspector.
The inspector took one deep breath before calling Rodrigo’s people.
“What is it?”
A sharp voice came through the receiver.
Rodrigo’s secretary had answered the call.
“...The people you mentioned are being held, but I don’t think we can keep them here any longer.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We received a letter of protest from the Philippine government.”
“A letter of protest?”
“Yes. They say we’re detaining Filipino citizens, and that they’ll respond diplomatically if we don’t release them immediately...”
“So?”
“Pardon?”
“So what the hell do you want me to do? Keep them there somehow. Whether you receive a letter of protest from the Philippines or a love letter, that’s for you to deal with. The moment those bastards set even one foot into Tijuana, you’re dead. You and your family. Your family’s families, too—they’ll all be buried alive.”
“...”
“Think carefully.”
“That’s why I’m calling. What if we stamp their passports, then send them straight to the United States through the CBX?”
The inspector finally managed to speak, trembling all over.
“Through the CBX?”
“Yes. That way, we can resolve our problem, and send those bastards away to the United States, can’t we?”
The inspector presented Allen’s idea as though it had been his own.
“Shall I proceed immediately, then?”
“Now, hold on... What if they enter Mexico again right after going to the United States?”
“What?”
“I’m asking what you’ll do if they merely set foot in the United States and then come right back.”
Since it had not been his idea to begin with,
he had made no preparations for such a possibility.
“Uh...”
While the inspector hesitated, an unexpected answer came back.
“No... Actually, that might be fine. The way out is narrow. We can deal with them the moment they cross over. They won’t be able to bring weapons back out when crossing the border, will they? We’ll have to station a few of our men there. Tell them to shoot the moment they cross. All right, release them. Send them straight to the United States. And put people on them to keep watch.”
“Understood.”
.
.
.
The inspector went to Allen.
“It will proceed as you requested.”
“Tell me exactly how.”
“We’ll stamp your passports with entry stamps. In return, you must go straight to the CBX.”
“Fine. We’ll do that.”
Allen readily agreed.
“You must not enter Mexico immediately after going to the United States.”
“That’s crossing the line, isn’t it?”
Allen answered with a mocking laugh.
“What?”
“If I go to the United States and then travel to Africa or Hawaii, what business is that of yours?”
The inspector’s expression hardened.
“I’m only saying this out of concern. If you come back in, you probably won’t receive a warm welcome.”
“Concern? You’re awfully meddlesome. Whether I get a warm welcome or a dirty one is for me to handle. It’ll still be far better than looking at your face while you obey the orders of a drug cartel.”
The inspector’s face twisted violently.
“If you speak to me like that, there may be problems with your entry. You could even be banned from entering.”
The inspector spoke through clenched teeth.
Allen stepped closer to him.
He leaned toward the inspector’s ear and whispered quietly.
“The problem has already happened. If you wanted to threaten me, you should have done it earlier. You live like this because you’re incapable of reading a situation. Stop saying useless things and stamp the passports.”
Allen thrust out his passport.
The inspector glared at him.
Allen did not avoid his gaze.
The inspector sighed once, then began stamping the passports.
.
.
.
The stamping was over quickly.
“Come this way. Do not go anywhere else.”
The inspector repeatedly stressed the instruction.
“I keep my promises. So don’t overdo it.”
“...This way, please.”
The inspector walked at the very front.
Airport security guards were stationed intermittently along the route.
They escorted the Obsidian Unit.
No—the word “escort” was merely a euphemism for preventing the Obsidian Unit from leaving.
They were being watched.
They left the airport and entered the CBX.
The border connecting the United States and Mexico.
It was nothing particularly impressive.
It was a structure resembling a pedestrian bridge built over the border running between the United States and Mexico.
A pedestrian bridge enclosed on all sides.
That was the border, and that was the CBX.
The distance from the airport to the United States was only a little over a hundred meters.
Once they crossed this short path, they would be in the United States.
“This is where we part ways. Once you exit on the other side, you’ll be in the United States.”
“Right.”
Allen nodded.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Right. You’ve worked hard. Let’s not see each other again.”
Allen gave him a cynical farewell and was just about to cross into the United States when—
The Obsidian Unit began moving through the narrow passage toward the United States, but the passage shook.
It was only a small tremor,
yet it made them reluctant to take another step.
As they hesitated for a moment—
Boom.
With a tremendous roar, the glass in the passage shattered and the walls warped.
Then, in the next instant, the entire structure began to collapse.
Allen’s eyes flashed.
“Get down!!”
*******
CBX.
The passage connecting the United States and Mexico.
A bridge barely more than a hundred meters long linked the two countries.
Below the CBX stood the massive border separating the United States and Mexico,
while armed soldiers patrolled in front of it.
But the atmosphere was not particularly bleak.
A large number of tourists were already gathered near the border.
They laughed and chatted as they took commemorative photographs.
Shin Jung-gi and Toto were also standing beneath the CBX like tourists.
“This is it?”
“Yes.”
“These people have a strange border.”
Shin Jung-gi quietly murmured as he gazed at the border erected from steel.
There was no question that it felt extremely out of place.
The city was right beside it.
There was an airport, there were roads, and then there was the border.
There were cafés, restaurants, and markets selling goods, with the border directly in front of them.
It was not like the borders back home,
located far away in places where no one was around.
“I know.”
Toto nodded as well, apparently finding the sensation strange.
The two of them took pictures like tourists
and wandered beneath the CBX for quite some time.
Of course, they were searching for a place from which to attack it.
They walked around looking for a weak point,
but finding one was difficult.
There was only one answer.
The single passageway overhead.
Other than attacking the CBX directly, there was no way.
No other option was visible.
No matter how thoroughly they searched, this was the only place.
“Are you sure it’s the CBX?”
“Yes. Mr. Chen Zihao said the Obsidian Unit would be going to the United States through the CBX.”
“If they make it to the United States, things will get complicated...”
Shin Jung-gi was troubled.
Although it was right before their eyes,
and although it was connected by the CBX,
what happened in Mexico and what happened in the United States were entirely different matters.
Anything that happened within Mexican territory was Mexico’s affair.
Mexico would deal with it on its own.
But if the explosion spread to the United States, the story would be completely different.
The incident would become much larger.
The investigation and inquiry would both become far more difficult.
They had to bring the Obsidian Unit back before it crossed into the United States.
“We have to steal them away before they cross into the United States.”
“Right. They can’t make it as far as the United States.”
Shin Jung-gi considered what to do.
They had walked around beneath the border for a long time, but found no suitable location.
Even now, there seemed to be no other way besides attacking the CBX’s pillars.
Then Toto spoke lightly.
“Why don’t we just bring this whole thing down?”
“What?”
“It’s nothing special. If we just blow away this pillar with a bomb, the structure should tilt and create an exit leading down automatically, don’t you think?”
“You want to set off a bomb here?”
Shin Jung-gi was startled.
Toto was suggesting that they bring down a pillar supporting the border.
“I think that’s the only way right now.”
“But it’ll cause an uproar.”
“Still, I think it’s our only option. If we wait much longer, Allen will cross the CBX into the United States, and it’ll take far more time. Getting back out after entering the United States won’t be easy either. If we go to San Diego, then Mexicali, and cross back by car, it’ll take more than five hours at the very least.”
“Even so... This is getting too big.”
Shin Jung-gi hesitated.
It was not as though he had been the one who had tried to blow up an entire cathedral only recently.
With Toto beside him, Shin Jung-gi was cautious.
At the very least, he wanted Toto to make it out alive.
That was why he was being as careful as possible,
but the truly insane one was Toto.
Toto, however, added to his own idea.
“Wouldn’t Rodrigo actually be in more trouble the bigger we make this?”
“Rodrigo would be in trouble? Why? I think he’d be happy, thinking this was his chance. He might send even more of his men.”
“He’d be happier if this were an outlying area instead of an airport. But this is an airport. And it’s a border.”
“That’s true, isn’t it?”
“If a major accident happens here, do you think the Mexican government will just sit still?”
“...”
“The government leaves the Tijuana Cartel alone because things run within reasonable bounds even if they’re left to themselves. But if an incident this big occurs? Do you think Rodrigo will be happy about it? Or will he want to cover it up at all costs?”
“He’d want to cover it up, wouldn’t he? Especially if the United States were involved.”
“The bigger the incident becomes, the more the Mexican government and the United States will have no choice but to look into it. And the more they look, the more uncomfortable Rodrigo becomes. So we have to make this as big as possible. We need the police to come here instead of Rodrigo’s men. The police will protect us from Rodrigo’s men.”
Listening to him, Shin Jung-gi found the reasoning convincing.
And he could not think of any other way.
If they were going to do it anyway, they might as well make it big.
“So the bigger the incident, the more Rodrigo’s influence will actually shrink.”
“Yes. Exactly.”
They rented a hotel room nearby.
After entering the room and locking the door, they took out the items they had brought.
The materials were things that could easily be purchased at a supermarket.
Sugar, aluminum powder, gasoline, camping butane canisters, a digital clock and batteries, and copper wire.
They were all easy to obtain,
but for men who had made nothing but weapons, they were the finest materials.
Snip, snip.
After mixing the ingredients and connecting the wires, they had produced a fairly convincing bomb.
It had taken no time at all.
They had even placed it inside a pretty bag so that no one would suspect it was a bomb.
“Shall we go?”
.
.
.
Shin Jung-gi and Toto sat in a nearby café, checking the laptop.
Toto continued contacting Chen Zihao and checking Allen’s location.
They had already confirmed the positions of the guards protecting the border, their shift-change times, and their patrol areas.
Toto, who had been looking at the laptop, spoke quietly.
“The Obsidian Unit is moving. They’re probably heading to the CBX.”
“Then shall we get ready too?”
“Yes. Let’s do that. Fortunately, it’s exactly shift-change time. We have about ten minutes.”
“Good. I’ll go leave the bag.”
Shin Jung-gi picked up the bomb inside the pretty bag he had prepared in advance and left the café.
Toto remained seated, watching him through the window.
Shin Jung-gi casually made his way beneath one of the CBX’s pillars.
He set down the bomb.
Then he threw several more bombs toward the CBX.
The bombs, coated with adhesive, stuck tightly to the CBX.
Shin Jung-gi disappeared,
and Allen’s location, tracked by GPS, was confirmed to be in front of the CBX.
Now.
There was no reason to hesitate.
Toto immediately pressed the button.
Click.
At the same time, the pillar supporting the CBX collapsed,
and the passage split apart.
The passage tilted downward in its entirety.
With only one side of the pedestrian bridge’s supports collapsing, it became a descending slope.
And through the gap, a familiar figure appeared.
Allen.
The Obsidian Unit could be seen behind him as well.
Toto smiled.
He supposed he should go meet them.
Toto gathered his belongings and went outside.