Chapter 208: Training to Become a Sicario
Alex checked out of his hotel room the next morning and waited at the location where La Madre told him to. An hour passed before it quickly became two hours, and later three. For a moment, Alex believed he might have been fucked with, but in the next moment a van pulled up and several gunmen appeared before him.
They were wearing tactical gear and skull balaclavas as they shouted their commands at Alex in Spanish. Given just barely enough time to raise his hands in an act of surrender, Alex was quickly hogtied and blindfolded before being shoved into the van where it took him to God knows where.
It felt like hours had passed before the van finally came to a stop, and when it did, the blindfold was pulled off of Alex’s face, and his bindings were released where he was led into a desert gulch where several other young men were located.
Most of these men were roughly the same age as Alex, and some were even younger. Without even realizing it, Alex had been sent to the boot camp where Sicarios were trained into ruthless murderers for the Cartel.
Luckily for him, Alex understood and spoke Spanish due to the skill he obtained [Universal Translator] or else he would have no idea what was going on. The leader of the camp came out dressed in solid black fatigues as the armed gunmen who surrounded him stared menacingly at the new recruits. He spoke in an almost irritated tone as he yelled at the new recruits.
“From today forward, you are all dead. Your past identities are meaningless, and your status as a human being has expired. You are now a ghost, a walking nobody whose sole occupation is to fight and kill for the Zetas. From this day forward, you will each be given a new identity. Anyone who does not respond to their new identity when called out will be severely punished. Am I understood?”
The other recruits yelled out their acknowledgement, and Alex followed suit. It was best not to debate with the Drill Instructor, especially a Drill Instructor who worked for the Cartel. Thus, Alex shouted the same response as everyone else back to the man in charge.
“Sir, yes sir!”
Naturally Alex stuck out like a sore thumb. He was the only gringo among the group, and because of this the Drill Instructor eyed him closely, as he stepped forward and issued Alex his new identity.
“So you’re the Gringo that La Madre has personally recruited? Well, that is entirely meaningless, because here you are nothing more than a maggot, just like the rest of your comrades! Hmm what to call you? I think I will name you El Cerdo. That shall be your identity until you prove your worth to the Zetas. Is that understood Cerdo?”
Cerdo was Spanish for swine or pig, which was a name that Alex did not particularly enjoy, but rather than fight back against a group of armed gunmen he simply stared stoically at the instructor and responded in the affirmative to his new nickname.
Alex nodded his head silently, and pulled out a Sig 552, where he followed a similar set of procedures before once more nailing every target with nothing but iron sights. He would spend the rest of his day pinging steel with perfect precision before being cleared from basic training.
While the rest of the new recruits toiled with the basic elements of combat, Alex was sent into CQB training, wilderness survival training, breaching training, ambush training, et cetera.
Perhaps it was because of his skill [Retention] but Alex learned each and every step of combat far more efficiently than his peers. What was supposed to be a yearlong training program turned out to be only two weeks for Alex, who passed the Sicario training that the Zetas put their new recruits through with flying colors.
After two weeks had passed, the Drill Instructor who greeted Alex to camp handed him a skull balaclava, which was his sign of completing training, and issued a new and more terrifying identity to Alex for him to assume while fighting for the cartel.
“Never before in all the years that I have been training sicarios have I met a man so naturally suited to combat. In two weeks, you mastered all the techniques that were supposed to take you a year to learn. You must be some kind of prodigy... I look forward to your exploits, and how you will serve the Zetas on the battlefield.
I’m starting to think that El Cerdo is unfitting for a man of your talents. I think instead I’m going to call you El Cucuy... Now go forth and make us proud!”
Alex silently nodded his head before taking the van back to the city. Where he was immediately greeted with a phone call upon stepping foot back into civilization. As expected, it was La Madre, whose voice was once more seductive and flirtatious.
“Oh my, look who completed their training, and so quickly nonetheless. I must admit, when the leader of the camp said you had passed all the tests required to become a sicario and in two weeks, no less, I have to admit I did not believe him. But they recorded you training sessions, and it is abundantly clear to me now that you really are a godsend.
Well, El Cucuy was it? Now that you’re a full-fledged Sicario for the Zetas, I have a job for you... Consider this your initiation as a hitman for the cartel. The CJNG has become more active in their attacks against our operations. In retaliation, I have plotted a raid on one of their production facilities. I want you to be the spearhead of this operation. Are you ready to cement your legacy as Mexico’s greatest Sicario?”
Alex pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one of such devices while taking a long drag from its filter. After releasing a large puff of smoke from his lungs, he finally responded to the beautiful Drug Queen with a sadistic smirk on his face.
“Consider it done...”