Allen threw himself flat on the floor at the moment of the explosion.
With a deafening roar, the long passageway tilted in an instant.
The glass windows shattered, and metal twisted with a shriek.
The pillar on the opposite side collapsed.
The passageway dropped straight down.
To Allen, it had become a long slide.
For a moment, he deliberated.
What should he do?
With CBX collapsed, they could no longer cross into the United States.
The route to America had been cut off.
Then should they go back into Tijuana Airport?
That was impossible as well.
They had come here to protect the Boss.
That was the reason the Obsidian Unit had been created,
and Allen’s purpose in life.
If they stayed here, they could not protect the Boss.
Then they would escape and enter Mexico.
They could not get to the United States anyway,
and the route back to Mexico after entering the United States was far too long.
His deliberation was brief.
“We’re escaping.”
Allen gave the order.
Allen moved first.
He slid down the passageway as if riding a slide.
At Allen’s command, the other members of the Obsidian Unit began coming down after him.
The inspector who witnessed the scene was at a loss.
He had to stop them.
He had held them there until now to prevent them from entering Mexico,
but his plans had gone awry in an instant.
Yet he had no grounds to stop them.
They were people who had legitimately received entry stamps.
In fact, the inspector himself had stamped their passports.
For what reason could he stop people who had completed immigration inspection?
On paper, there would be no problem even if they left for Mexico.
They were merely passing through the CBX they had said they intended to use.
The guards looked toward the inspector.
But the inspector could not make any decision.
He was only an inspector, not a member of the cartel.
He was merely an airport employee.
He did not want to get caught up in this any further.
All he could do was watch the members of the Obsidian Unit escape.
He hesitated until the very end, doing nothing but postpone his decision.
.
.
.
Allen emerged from the passageway.
He lowered his stance and surveyed the surroundings.
“Are you all right?”
Looking toward the voice, Allen saw Toto standing there.
“It was you?”
Allen asked in surprise.
“Yes. There was no way to get you out, so I just blew it up.”
“Good work. Let’s get out of here first.”
The Obsidian Unit and Shin Junggi Toto began moving all at once.
But there were too many of them, making them highly conspicuous.
On top of that, they had no weapons.
Not even a single dagger, let alone a gun.
They had just passed through the airport security checkpoint.
There had been no time to prepare any weapons.
So they had to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, the area was already in chaos.
Passengers and tourists in the airport had begun running around and screaming,
and the sound of sirens began to echo from far away.
They moved toward the city center as quickly as they could.
They entered the crowds.
They thought that was better than trying to escape through the outskirts.
Allen looked at Shin Junggi.
“Do you have anything?”
“Anything? Weapons?”
“Yes.”
“No. I made the bomb from whatever I had on me and set it off.”
Men who looked like Rodrigo’s subordinates had already begun following them.
They were drawing closer.
They were running away, but there was no way to shake them off.
Nor was there any way to subdue Rodrigo’s men.
If those bastards began shooting, they had no way to respond.
The only saving grace was that they were in the city, surrounded by people, so the men could not shoot like lunatics.
They could only continue pursuing them.
The members of the Obsidian Unit scattered through the alleys.
But Rodrigo’s men continued following.
They followed behind Allen.
Allen, Toto, and Shin Junggi kept slipping into alleyways.
They went deeper and deeper through one alley after another.
But they could not shake Rodrigo’s men.
The men knew the area far better than they did.
They had blocked off every corner.
As they evaded them, they suddenly found their way blocked.
‘We’ve been had.’
They had pretended to pursue them while driving them toward a corner.
When they reached a dead end, Rodrigo’s men drew their guns.
They said nothing else.
They simply pulled out their guns.
Allen, Toto, and Shin Junggi all closed their eyes.
That was when it happened.
A van came to a sudden stop.
It stopped between Allen and Rodrigo’s men.
The van’s window rolled down, and gunshots rang out.
Rodrigo’s men collapsed.
The three opened their eyes at the sound of gunfire.
Rattle.
The door opened,
and a face they had wanted to see appeared.
“Sorry. I’m late, aren’t I?”
It was the Boss.
He was stepping out of the van with a smile.
.
.
.
They had weathered the crisis.
After receiving Toto’s call, I had set out in a hurry.
Thanks to that, I was able to arrive before it was too late.
We had dealt with Rodrigo’s men who had been targeting Allen.
But getting out of here was another problem.
The area was crawling with police and Rodrigo’s men.
They were completely surrounded.
To get out of here,
they would have to expect at least some casualties.
“Boss, escape. We’ll hold them here.”
Allen spoke solemnly.
I looked at him and gave a short laugh.
“If I were going to run away, I wouldn’t have needed to come here.”
“……”
“Don’t worry. No one among us will get hurt. We’ll all return home safely.”
I said that, but it was true that I was worried.
The police and Rodrigo’s men had surrounded the area.
I had no idea how we could get out.
I could not see a way forward at all.
There were simply too many enemies.
“No matter how I think about it, the best option is for us to hold them here.”
Allen spoke once more.
But that was no solution.
There had to be another way.
I had an inventory.
And there were weapons inside it.
We would endure with those and look for a way out.
For now, I pretended to take weapons out of the van and pulled them out of my inventory.
I handed the guns to the members.
We could not simply let ourselves be slaughtered.
Even if I died, I could not die alone.
I had to take at least one of them with me.
I could not die weaponless on Mexican soil.
Watching me take guns out of the van,
Toto quietly asked,
“Boss, you have bombs, right? No, you have a lot of them, don’t you?”
I was briefly flustered by Toto’s sudden question.
Bombs? Out of nowhere?
But I nodded.
I had a lot of bombs in my inventory.
“Huh? Uh… yes, I do.”
“Take them all out.”
“The bombs?”
“Yes. We’ll set off every bomb you have here. The airport, the buildings—everything. If we do that, I don’t think they’ll be able to focus on us while they’re trying to stop it all.”
After Toto spoke, Shin Junggi nodded.
“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
The youngest of them all, Toto, had come up with the boldest plan.
I also thought it was a decent idea.
It looked difficult for this many people to escape in perfect formation.
They would set off bombs here and there, escape while everyone was distracted,
and then gather at the rendezvous point.
That was Toto’s plan.
“What do you think, Allen?”
“I think it’s a good idea as well.”
“All right.”
I went back toward the van and pretended to take bombs out of my inventory.
Toto tapped me lightly on the back.
“You can just take them out normally. We don’t have time. There’s no need to hide it.”
“Huh? Hide what?”
“The fact that you have a strange ability, Boss.”
“Huh?”
“We’re in a hurry, so take them out quickly.”
“All right.”
With time running short, I simply took bombs out of my inventory and began piling them up in front of me.
But no one who saw me do it was surprised.
No, they were amazed, but their reaction was not as great as I had expected.
Their eyes looked as though they had known all along.
Had they known?
I had worked so hard to hide this ability.
Had all my efforts been pointless?
The gathered members of the Obsidian Unit picked up the bombs.
Allen gave the order.
“Plant and detonate bombs at every route.”
“Do not touch the border under any circumstances. If you damage the border, this incident will become much bigger.”
“Blow up the roads to block them, and block off the airport.”
“Scatter and attack so they can’t pursue us.”
“Yes.”
The Obsidian Unit answered Allen’s orders.
“See you at the rendezvous point.”
“Yes.”
The replies were brief, but they carried strength.
Their resolve was clear.
No one handled explosives better than the Obsidian Unit.
I was not worried.
The members of the Obsidian Unit took the bombs and scattered in every direction.
They vanished in an instant.
I took out bombs as well.
There was no need to worry about what others thought.
No, I did not even have the time to care about that.
Things were that urgent and pressing.
I even took out the container bomb.
I used the containers to block off the routes the police could take entirely.
Once we reached a distance safe from the explosions, the sound of blasts began erupting from all around us.
The ground shook, and windows shattered.
It felt as though my ears were going to be blown off.
But I added my own explosions to the chaos.
I pressed the button.
The container bomb detonated.
The largest explosion so far erupted.
The area around Tijuana Airport was reduced to a wasteland by the tremendous blast.
Taking advantage of the confusion, we escaped the city center.
No one pursued us.
The police and firefighters were too busy rescuing people.
They did not seem to have the time to chase us.
They had mountains of things to deal with right before their eyes.
It seemed that Rodrigo’s men had lost track of us.
Thanks to that, we were able to meet again at the rendezvous point.
“Everyone accounted for.”
“No problems.”
Fortunately, no member had failed to arrive.
Everyone had made it safely.
Only then could we finally breathe.
We had survived.
.
.
.
Rodrigo’s mansion.
Rodrigo sat in the living room,
wearing a satisfied smile.
The cigar in his hand smelled especially fragrant today.
He had hit the jackpot.
He had sensed that someone from the Alex Group would come.
So he had prepared.
His prediction had been correct.
It was no small fry.
The representative had come in person.
A big fish had taken the bait.
A large force had entered soon afterward,
but he had trapped all of them at the airport.
They could not leave the airport.
Which meant he only had to deal with the representative.
He merely had to deal with the four people who had accompanied him.
Easy. Very easy.
Sweet. So sweet.
Four people without weapons on Rodrigo’s turf?
They were nothing.
He could kill them or spare them whenever he wished.
Their lives were in Rodrigo’s hands.
He had invited the representative.
He had told him to come alone.
Whether he came alone or not did not matter.
They were going to die anyway.
First, he would imprison the representative.
There was no need for a conversation.
He would take the representative hostage and obtain what he needed.
They were not kidnappers,
so they would not demand anything unreasonable.
They could simply ask to borrow a route for entering Asia.
They could even form a partnership.
They would begin with manners.
That was how everything began, after all.
Then they would slowly sink their teeth in, little by little.
They would take the route, then the city, then the country.
That was how they would grow.
It was obvious this would become a very lucrative source of income.
The big fish had been caught in the net he had cast just in case.
Rodrigo felt that he was incredible.
He was proud of himself for coming up with such a plan.
That was when it happened.
His secretary hurriedly opened the door and entered.
“Ch… Chairman.”
“What is it?”
Rodrigo asked as he took a deep draw from his cigar.
“It’s… it’s a major problem.”
“What?”
There was nothing that could go wrong according to Rodrigo’s design.
Everything was proceeding perfectly.
The worst that could happen was the representative refusing Rodrigo’s invitation,
but that did not matter.
He could simply drag him here.
But the words that came from the secretary’s mouth were entirely different.
“CBX has exploded.”
“What?”
Rodrigo was confused for a moment.
CBX?
Surely he did not mean the border.
No one would be crazy enough to blow up the border.
No, they could not be.
If it were destroyed, the problem would become serious.
Other forces would come to the place where Rodrigo lived like a king.
The government, the police, the military, and the Americans would swarm in like a pack of dogs.
Tijuana would no longer be Rodrigo’s territory.
“Not only that, but dozens of explosions are occurring around Tijuana Airport.”
After hearing that, Rodrigo hurried toward the situation room.
The CCTV showed Tijuana exploding like mad.
Smoke billowed, flames burst forth, and buildings collapsed.
The explosions were still continuing.
CBX had collapsed,
and the airport had become a scene of chaos.
“…Who caused those explosions?”
“…It seems to be the Alex Group.”
“What? How did they do that? They don’t even have any bombs.”
“I don’t know. They went to a market and came back with whatever they used to make them.”
Rodrigo clutched his forehead.
They made bombs at a market?
This had not been part of his expectations.
His calculations had gone wrong.
He had to deal with it quickly.
Only then could he keep this land as Rodrigo’s domain.
He could not allow another force to enter.
“Those lunatics.”
Rodrigo muttered under his breath.
But now was not the time to be angry.
Cleaning up the mess came first.
“Mobilize everyone to deal with the explosions.”
“Understood.”
“That isn’t terrorism or an attack… Call it an accident.”
“What? …Yes.”
“And bring those bastards to me. Alive.”
“Understood.”
The secretary bowed slightly and left the situation room.
Left alone, Rodrigo stared at Tijuana Airport, where explosions were still taking place.
His eyes were filled with nothing but furious rage.