The Butcher of Caracas : A Vigilante Justice Thriller (Atlas Hargrove Book 5) Read online

  the butcher of caracas

  R.B. Schow

  copyright

  The book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  THE BUTCHER OF CARACAS

  Copyright © 2022 R.B. Schow. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, cloned, stored in or introduced into any information storage or retrieval system, in any form, or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this eBook via the Internet or any other means without the express written permission of the author or publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  Author’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents—and their usage for storytelling purposes—are crafted for the singular purpose of fictional entertainment and no absolute truths shall be derived from the information contained within. Locales, businesses, events, government institutions, and private institutions are used for atmospheric, entertainment, and fictional purposes only. Furthermore, any resemblance or reference to an actual living person is used solely for atmospheric, entertainment, and fictional purposes.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for the author or third-party websites or their content.

  Cover Design by Milo at Deranged Doctor Design

  www.AtlasHargrove.com

  Created with Vellum

  contents

  Preface

  Book 1:

  1. Mariana De La Vega

  2. Hugo Fairbanks

  3. Atlas Hargrove

  4. Cira Kingsley

  5. Brigitte Deyers

  6. Hugo Fairbanks

  7. Hugo Fairbanks

  8. Delmar Velasco

  9. Leopold Wentworth

  10. Hugo Fairbanks

  11. Hugo Fairbanks

  12. Atlas Hargrove

  13. Hugo Fairbanks

  Book 2:

  14. Atlas Hargrove

  15. Hugo Fairbanks

  16. Hugo Fairbanks

  17. Leopold Wentworth

  18. Hugo Fairbanks

  19. Alabama Hargrove

  20. Kiera

  21. Leopold Wentworth

  22. Atlas Hargrove

  23. Leopold Wentworth

  24. Maurice D’angelo

  25. Codrin Pichler

  26. Altas Hargrove

  27. Leopold Wentworth

  28. Esty Baccarin

  29. Yergha Mugheri

  30. Kiera

  31. Kiera

  32. Hugo Fairbanks

  33. Atlas Hargrove

  34. Hugo Fairbanks

  35. Leopold Wentworth

  36. Kiera

  37. Atlas Hargrove

  38. Leopold Wentworth

  39. Atlas Hargrove

  40. Atlas Hargrove

  41. Atlas Hargrove

  42. Leopold Wentworth

  43. Atlas Hargrove

  44. Esty Baccarin

  45. Manolo Turbay

  Book 3:

  46. Montenegro

  Your Voice Matters

  Also by R.B. Schow

  About the Author

  preface

  Due to the lapse in time between the release of the Atlas Hargrove books, and at the request of several devoted readers, I have provided a quick summary of the characters from The Devil in Cologne. These characters will either play a recurring role in The Butcher of Caracas or they will receive mention in the book as a factor of furthering the plot. I hope this helps!

  CHARACTERS FROM THE DEVIL IN COLOGNE:

  ATLAS HARGROVE: Atlas is a former SWAT commander for Vacaville PD in Northern California. He assassinated three delinquents who held up a liquor store, fled from the police, and killed scores of children as they left school. Atlas has since managed to get out of prison where he now lives with Leopold Wentworth at a compound in Colombia.

  JADE HARGROVE: Jade is Atlas’ wife. She left him after he was convicted of a triple homicide to resume a relationship with a younger man named Rocco Rosato, a man with whom she had been having an affair. When Atlas brought Alabama home, he made Rocco promise to treat Alabama and Jade with respect, care, and concern. Leopold snuck the family out of the States where they live at a private compound in Colombia.

  ALABAMA HARGROVE: Alabama is Atlas and Jade’s kidnapped daughter. Leopold Wentworth’s private detectives, Scotty Chase and Jackson Burke recovered Alabama and successfully returned her to Atlas at the end of The Betrayal of Prague.

  LEOPOLD WENTWORTH: Leopold’s entire world collapsed when Atlas went missing. With the FBI asking about him at the prison and his home, and the chances of him ending up jail now skyrocketing, he was forced to flee the country, taking those he loved and felt responsible for with him.

  CIRA KINGSLEY: Cira was shot in the chest in Cologne and nearly died. Isabelle took care of her at Monarch’s facility in Virginia. But then she suffered an emotional break after Atlas’ disappearance, so she left the team without telling anyone, disappearing to the Netherlands where Codrin quietly kept track of her whereabouts.

  KIERA: This vicious assassin played her role in Cologne to a T, but she could not save Atlas from being kidnapped by Devil, a.k.a., Hugo Fairbanks. Kiera, Esty, and Leopold found Atlas and pulled him out of his 2 year prison in Argentina at the end of The Devil in Cologne. Leopold continues to find a way to buy out her contract with Isabelle and Monarch. So far, he has been unsuccessful.

  YERGHA MUGHERI: This Pakistani native is one of Leopold’s original assets. In At the end of The Devil in Cologne, we learn that he has gone home to be with his wife, who was pregnant with his son. He is a father now. And he still wants to kill politicians.

  ESTELLA BACCARIN (ESTY): This Salvadorian firecracker spent two years with Leopold trying to find Atlas. At the end of The Devil in Cologne, she helped rescue Atlas from his cage in Argentina.

  CODRIN PICHLER: This isolated Romanian is one of the best hackers in the world. Leopold uses him for advanced intel on their clients and their targets as well as access to government institutions, banks, social media, and email accounts. Codrin’s understanding of everything digital, as well as the dark underworld where Leopold and his team now operate, has proven to be critical for operational security and mission success.

  WARDEN KATHLEEN RICHARDSON: Richardson is the moral and virtuous woman who replaced Dicampli as the warden of NorCal State Prison. When Atlas went missing, Leopold took her from her life in the middle of the night. She left everything to stay out of prison for her role as warden at NorCal State Prison. She is not happy about it.

  ETHAN: Ethan is Leopold’s personal driver, a former SEAL with strong connections and a desire to play a more active role in Leopold’s organization. Leopold is, of course, open to the idea.

  HUGO FAIRBANKS, A.K.A. DEVIL: Devil is a psychopath who wanted to walk in his mother’s footsteps, but he also had ambitions greater than his mother, Nina, thought he could handle. Now that Atlas killed her, Devil is free to make his own choices.

  BRIGITTE DEYERS: Brigitte is Devil’s little sister, partner in crime, and his lover because he’s got some unresolvable issues. To say their relationship is twisted is an understatement of monumental proportion.

  book 1:

  THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND

  one

  mariana de la vega

  Caracas, Venezuela. Seventeen-year-old Mariana and her friend, Henry, walked down the street in the Capital District looking for their friend, Paula. Last week they found her passed out in front of a taco stand and they thought she was dead. When they roused her, she waved off their concerns and said the bench was more comfortable than her bed.

  A loud pack of motorcycles rode past them. There were four riders, all of them skinny-looking with black stocking caps pulled over their faces. All of them had guns at their sides. One of the riders pointed a pistol at Henry as he rode past. Henry lowered his head in submission while Mariana flipped him the bird. Neither spoke of the incident because incidents like that in Venezuela were common.

  They found Paula two blocks later standing next to a dirty building that once served as a laundromat. She was chatting up a rowdy group of street people; most of them appeared to be friendly, but some looked somewhat deranged. One guy was sitting on a box smoking a cigarette with his legs crossed tight and his back hunched. Another was kicking trash into the gutter as if he was playing football. Paula didn’t seem to mind the mess or the company. Instead, she was talking with a local girl who stood with the guys as if she were one of them.

  “Is that Carolina?” Mariana asked about the girl talking with Paula.

  “I think so,” Henry said, squinting to see.

  Much to Mariana’s dismay, it was Carolina. The older Venezuelan teen was not a pretty girl. She had backyard tattoos on her arms and neck and a fake gold t
ooth snugged over a broken incisor. The girl also bore scars on her wrists and arms from cutting, being abused, and once being thrown from a truck going 30-miles-an-hour, over accusations that she was skimming product.

  “I can’t stand that bitch,” she whispered to Henry as they drew near.

  “Yeah, but Paula can stand her just fine,” Henry said.

  “Paula’s changed.”

  “We all have,” he replied.

  Henry was in love with Paula, but Mariana was in love with Henry. Paula was prettier than Mariana, but Mariana had a better body than Paula, something Henry noticed but did not mention and about which he didn’t seem to care. He had kissed her once, but then she saw him kissing Paula, his hand on her breast, as she let him touch her. Mariana just got her breasts last year and she blamed the loss of Henry on a slow trek through puberty.

  “Why can’t we find a different dealer?” she asked.

  “Carolina is the only VK dealer Paula knows.”

  Vampire’s Kiss was a mixture of cocaine and human blood, which was all the rage these days. Some people who were not users said the blood was a gimmick, but Mariana could attest to the drug’s potency. The high she got on VK4 was like nothing she had ever felt. The product was only half the weight of the coke you could buy on the street, but the high was twice as good, so it all evened out for around half the cost. Paula called it a poor person’s solution to a rich man’s drug. Everyone else called it an epidemic. But it was her father who was most angry about it. He warned her about using the drugs that her rich and powerful uncle helped peddle. Her father would fall over dead if he knew she was using again. But life in Venezuela was miserable, and there were but a few escapes from reality, VK being one of them.

  Mariana and Henry approached Paula, who smiled brightly and showed them three small plastic baggies containing the drugs. Carolina was walking away from the crowd, moving on to other buyers, and refusing to look at them. She knew Mariana hated her.

  “What do you have?” Henry asked, kissing Paula.

  “Fun for all,” she grinned.

  Mariana saw the familiar logo on each baggie. It was a red devil with a lopsided grin, and the powder inside looked like pink cocaine. Mariana took a closer look at the baggies. Then she stood up straight and looked at Paula. “Why do two of the baggies look different?”

  Paula handed Mariana the familiar-looking baggie. “VK4 for you,” she said with a curtsy. Then she handed Henry his plastic baggie. “VK5 for us.”

  “VK5 is out now?” Mariana asked, thrilled. Paula nodded and shook her baggie to help settle the powder. “When did this happen?”

  Paula shrugged her shoulders and said, “Last week, I think.”

  “What did that bitch say was the difference?” Mariana asked.

  Henry said, “VK5 is supposed to be a much stronger high, but that’s just what I heard. Don’t worry, though, VK4 is dependable. We’ll still all have fun. And maybe next time you can save up more for VK5.”

  “Carolina said this has better blood and coke,” Paula said, chiming in. “Maybe it’s just sales hype, but knowing VK’s reputation, it’s probably under-hyped if anything. Let’s get something to eat and then we’ll find out for ourselves.”

  The three of them strolled down the street to Panadería La Gran Parada and ordered two pieces of pizza that they cut into three equal servings; they also ordered a large drink that they could share. Up the street, gunfire broke out, and the National Police (PNB) drove by to intervene or get involved, but no one seemed overly alarmed. They all went about their day. Mariana thanked Paula for the pizza and drugs, but she was quietly upset that Paula and Henry got VK5 and she got the old product.

  She studied Paula from the corner of her eye. The 16-year-old was pretty but dressed poorly so she could afford other things. She was wearing the same clothes she had worn when they first met a couple of years ago, and though there were holes in the knees of her pants and wear spots in the belly of her shirt, her skin was mostly clean, and she smiled a lot and always acted happy to see everyone. The trio of friends ate outside the bakery on the curb facing the fast-moving street, Avenida Roosevelt.

  “Did you get what you wanted?” Paula asked as she took Henry's hand. He had been talking about getting pizza all week.

  Smiling, Henry nodded.

  “Where did you get the money to buy all this?” Mariana finally asked. No one had any money to buy anything these days, let alone drugs, pizza for three, and a large drink.

  “Church,” she said, chewing with her mouth open.

  Mariana didn’t understand. The younger girl turned and kissed Henry, who kissed her back. When they finished eating, Paula tossed her plate and napkin on the street with the other garbage, and then she stood and brushed off the seat of her pants.

  “I know where we can get high,” Paula said. “Follow me!”

  “Lead the way,” Henry said with bright eyes.

  They attempted to cross the moderately busy street, Avenida Roosevelt, but it was tricky. They dodged a few cars and some trucks, which caused more than a few drivers to yell at them, honk their horns, and in one case, skid to a sideways stop so as not to run over Henry. The three of them finally made it across the street, all of them bursting into nervous laughter.

  “That guy almost ran me over,” Henry said, his face still pale.

  “We all almost got run over,” Mariana added.

  The large church standing before them, Hacedores de Discipulos Las Acacias, was a street-side church that appeared to be closed. They stood in the shadow of the mammoth structure, but only for a moment. The Devil had sent them more than a pinch of salvation, his powdery elixir promising an escape from the world he created through greed and sin. What better place to get high than at a church?

  “I found this place the other day,” Paula said, walking hand in hand with Henry. “The three of us can be alone around back. Plus, there’s a picnic table, and someone left a mattress that wasn’t too dirty the last time I saw it. It’s the perfect afternoon crash pad.”

  They made their way around the side of the church, which was surrounded by packed dirt and a scattering of weeds, as well as wind-blown trash pressed against the structure’s stone walls. Directly behind the church, there was a wooden picnic table and a small bucket of sand that smokers used as an ashtray. Paula picked up a few empty cups and the foil-wrapped remains of a meal and walked them to a dumpster near the back door. She waved her hand furiously as she walked through a cloud of dumpster flies.

  “Let me see your baggie,” Mariana said to Henry.

  He showed her the baggie with the “Devil’s Elixir” logo and the VK5 label on it. Paula sat down next to Henry, the 16-year-old now jittery with need.

  Mariana watched Paula take the baggie from Henry and say, “This stuff won’t snort itself.”

  Henry broke out a straw and blew the dust off the table while Paula opened her baggie and carefully poured herself a line. She snatched the straw from Henry, her eyes glazed over and hyper-focused, her lips smacking with desire. She leaned forward, snorted a line of the blood-laced cocaine, then threw her head back and sucked in a startled breath.