Turbulent Past, Tempestuous Present

The second vehicle veered left toward Murdock's side of the firefight. The driver had braked though not nearly fast enough; the vehicle ended up in the trench with men scrambling out of the back, seeking cover, and beginning to fight back. Pinned down, one by one, they were no match for the seasoned veterans who picked them off as they tried to return the deadly aim of Murdock's newly tested Shadow team armed with an arsenal of the latest modern warfare weaponry.

As if choreographed for a motion picture production, Rivera's jeep veered to the right toward Carlton and Cattleya, impacting the lead vehicle's tail end. The driver hung impaled on the twisted rear bumper, but the cartel leader landed clear of the vehicle's path. Although dazed, he was alert and scrambled to his feet only yards from a solitary approaching adversary —Colombia's national orchid, armed with a SIG Sauer rifle, bore down upon him.

Defiantly unafraid, Cattleya stepped out into the open and cried, "Welcome to my father's old domain!" Her voice was steady and commanding.

Rivera's eyes narrowed in recognition as he spotted her. "You're Cattleya! I was expecting it to be the Widow Maker," he sneered. "You've got guts showing your face here!"

Cattleya's grip on her weapon tightened. "I'm here to take back what my father started, you bastard," she snarled. "Your reign of terror ends tonight."

The cartel leader chuckled darkly. "You think you can take me on? You're just a childish woman playing with matches. You're not ready for a full-on firefight."

With a swift motion, Cattleya raised her weapon, pointing it directly at the cartel leader.

"I may be a woman, but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. They call me the Widow Maker for a reason," she retorted, her voice dripping with determination.

Rivera's eyes flashed at that comment. The Widow Maker wasn't a myth. He realized that as she identified herself. The lands he had seized had been hers by all rights. The Widow Maker had killed his brother, left him hanging on a meat hook, and skinned him like a wild boar. His anger flared even more, learning that Razor's daughter did his brother's butchering.

The tension escalated, and time seemed to stand still for a moment amidst gunfire erupting into chaos around them as the smell of dense smoke covered the trail in the darkness of twilight.

Cattleya's eyes locked onto the cartel leader's, a fierce determination burning within her. "You took everything from me," she shouted over gunfire. "Now it's time to pay for your sins." The words echoed another conversation that seethed with rage some days before. Yet, now, they were uttered with more conviction.

The cartel leader's bravado faltered, replaced by a flicker of fear in his eyes.

"You can't stop us," he growled, attempting to regain his composure. That wavered, leaving him hesitant, unarmed, defenseless, and faced with one option.

Cattleya closed in on him, step by step, forcing him into a corner. "Your empire of blood and drugs ends now," she said, her voice unwavering.

"You're just a pawn in a much larger game," the cartel leader spat, taunting her, looking for a moment to catch her off-guard.

Cattleya's eyes blazed with fury. "I may have been a pawn once, but not anymore," she declared, her finger inching closer to the five pounds of trigger pressure she held at bay.

Bloodied and bruised, he sneered, "You think you can save this wretched country? It's always been rotten to the core!"

Cattleya's resolve only grew stronger. "Maybe, but I kill the snakes that get in my way," she boldly proclaimed.

With her team gaining the upper hand, the cartel leader knew that little time remained. He glared at Cattleya, a mix of hatred and fear in his eyes. "You'll never break the cycle," he hissed.

In a desperate attempt to escape, Rivera lunged at Cattleya. It sealed his fate—her commitment to Murdock to bring Rivera to justice ended in a three-round burst straight to his heart. Cattleya's grip loosened on the weapon as she gazed at the lifeless drug lord who had caused her so much pain and suffering.

"I will break the cycle, even if it's one piece at a time," she vowed to his dead body as he lay crumpled on the jungle floor, gone and soon to be forgotten.

As the standoff ended, Marshall Murdock's team swiftly moved in, apprehending the remaining cartel members who wisely surrendered as their numbers dwindled. The hacienda was now secure, and the cartel's forces had been defeated.

"Carlton?" The Shadow asked, looking around as he caught up with Cattleya standing over Rivera's motionless body with a pistol in his hand.

Cattleya looked up, measuring Murdock's composure. She choked up and motioned with a head jerk, indicating a location behind her.

"Rivera got off a shot as we started out of the jungle," she nervously responded to his question as he approached the jungle's edge.

Murdock's gazed apprehensively, searching for what he suspected he would find. With measured steps, he walked into the underbrush. There, five yards in, he found Carlton. As he stood looking down, Marshall's body went numb. Trembling, he dropped to his knees by his old battle-seasoned comrade. Reaching out, he closed Redbeard's eyes. For a long time, he knelt there studying his old friend. Eventually, a thought crossed his mind, hoping another unnamed star would hang in the entryway at Langley in his honor. It gave him a sense of satisfaction, enough that he rose and returned to give orders for further mop-up action.

Late into the night, the backhoe worked to fill in the trenches. It made fitting burial places for Rivera and his men. Carlton's body was carried back to the hacienda, wrapped as best as they could, and placed in a nearby plot for local hacienda workers' local burials.

Action plans don't always go as planned.

Murdock's plan was optimistic; he expected to capture and prosecute the drug lord. Though it didn't go that way didn't mean that justice hadn't been served from his viewpoint. The battle against the cartels was far from over. He knew that breaking the cycle would be a long and arduous journey. Looking at Cattleya, he saw a change in her attitude as well. She seemed more subdued, having taken a life — even if he had fired first. Although he felt she was ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead, allowing the plan to continue to unfold.

Deep inside her, Cattleya felt a sense of satisfaction beating in rhythm alongside her heart. A sense of solace, for a moment, soothed her like an ointment on the scar left by her father's death. However, she didn't let the feeling show — especially not to Murdock.

With the fields ablaze and Rivera dead, Murdock expected the news would spread, and the lower cartel echelon leaders would begin a rabid infighting for leadership positions. The implosion, he predicted, would then start. He expected the Medellín Security forces would readily sweep in and mop up the fragmented Colombian cartel in the aftermath.

Cattleya and Marshall Murdock exchanged a knowing look as the sun rose. Weary from battle and a long night of sorrow at the loss of a comrade, they had taken a significant step toward redemption and justice, but their fight was not over. The journey to dismantle the drug trade and bring those responsible to justice had just begun. The Shadow felt they were determined to make a difference, one step at a time.

Still, amidst it all, for Pati, Cattleya had identified and eliminated one more of Murdock's team that had also been responsible for her father's death four years ago at the hacienda. Privately Cattleya thought,the entombment of the one called Redbeard will at least assuage some of Pati's thirst for revenge — mine too.

As the Phenom jet soared homeward, its reduced team felt the weight of a mission accomplished, yet burdened with regret for Carlton's demise. During the long flight back to Los Angeles, Murdock's thoughts were consumed by Carlton's death, a bullet to the back of the head, and Cattleya's unsettling descriptions of the Agency's porous information handling. Murdock couldn't shake off the oddities — Carlton's uncharacteristic positioning as he lay dead on the jungle floor, Jordan's inaccurate intelligence on cartel hierarchies, and the shadowy, enigmatic figure, the Widow Maker. Her name resonated from his recent encounter, a puzzle piece that refused to fit. Neither Jordan nor Cattleya connected her to the drug wars, but she was undeniably woven into cartel lore he learned about at the hacienda. Could innocent Cattleya be more than a banker in this web of intrigue?

Back in his oceanside haven, Murdock reflected on these enigmas while pouring Blanton's Single Barrel Kentucky Bourbon into his cherished Glencairn glass. As he gazed out at the horizon, gulls gliding over the beach, his attention shifted to Cattleya, sleeping upon his bed. Her vulnerability mirrored the mysteries he sought to decipher. Sipping his bourbon, a faint smile curved his lips as his hand glided lightly over her naked curves. The scene felt oddly comforting, a new chapter unfurling before him, cultivating Colombia's national orchid; a Cattleya Orchid. Jordan has said to jump her bones and dump her into the ocean — the Shadow's thoughts ran in the other direction.

The ocean, a vast expanse of uncharted waters, mirrored their uncertain journey ahead. Just like the ocean's promise of transformation, there lingered a whisper of redemption in the wind. Murdock and Cattleya faced those perilous headwinds, each with their vision of justice and renewal. Would their paths entwine in a shared pursuit of redemption, or would the currents of old ties pull them in opposing directions?

Kenjisato significantly improved the content of this work. I am glad his grammatical review corrected my lack of knowledge, fixed my misspellings, and other faux pas corrections. He made this a much better read. Thanks, Kenji.

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