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Chapter 291 c
🕑 Added 2025-06-18 15:00:15 +0000 UTCChapter 291 c
2-in-1 chapter
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“Wait, what’s going on?”
As the vehicle approached the outskirts of Tijuana International Airport, Leo, who had a sharp eye, suddenly noticed something was off.
Just over an hour ago, they had exited this same airport.
And at that time, everything was operating normally—so how was it that after just an hour, things had changed so drastically?
Jackie pointed at several uniformed Tijuana officers who were setting up a police cordon. “What are they doing?”
Everyone in the car shook their heads.
“Stay inside, don’t move. I’ll go ask what’s happening.”
Just as Leo was about to step out of the car, two hands grabbed him.
He turned to look.
Both Lucy and V were watching him nervously.
“Don’t worry. It’s probably nothing,” Leo reassured them, then turned to Jackie. “Jackie, keep them safe.”
Jackie patted his chest. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of them.”
Leo grimaced slightly. Somehow, Jackie’s words didn’t feel entirely reassuring.
But this wasn’t the time to argue.
He opened the car door and stepped out.
Suddenly, Jackie called from behind: “Leo.”
Leo turned around and saw Jackie holding out a pistol to him. “Take this—just in case.”
“No need,” Leo waved it off, refusing.
He wasn’t sure how the police operated in Mexico—maybe they had a habit of shooting first and asking questions later if they saw someone with a gun.
Either way, it was better not to be armed.
Besides, even without a gun, Leo had more than enough ways to protect himself.
He shut the door and walked toward the police cordon.
Before he could get close, several officers behind the line noticed him.
They placed their hands on their holsters, ready to draw at a moment’s notice.
“Sir! Stop right there! Do not come any closer! This is your only warning!”
Leo stopped and raised both hands. “I’m unarmed! I’m unarmed!”
Seeing that he was cooperating, the officers slightly relaxed.
“Don’t come any closer! Leave now!”
“Officer, I mean no harm. I just want to know what’s going on. For God’s sake, I have a flight to catch to New York—if I miss it, my damn boss will fire me!”
“I can’t afford to lose this job—I’ve got a wife and three kids to support.”
Perhaps Leo’s story struck a chord. The officers looked a little moved, but they still refused to let him approach.
“Sorry, sir, but you can’t enter the airport. It’s been shut down—no one is allowed in.”
Leo feigned panic. “Shut down? Why? No one said anything about this when I booked my ticket online. Damn it, New York’s on the other side of the continent—I’ll never make it there now.”
The officers shook their heads.
“We don’t know the reason for the closure either. We can only tell you that no one is allowed inside.”
“Even if we let you in, it wouldn’t matter. The staff has already been evacuated, there are no pilots and no workers. Even if you got inside, you wouldn’t be able to fly the plane yourself.”
Leo looked past them toward the airport building.
He couldn’t see what was going on inside, but the doors to the terminal were clearly shut, and a huge screen on the wall was displaying a scrolling message: “This airport is currently closed. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Leo paused, then asked, “Will it reopen tomorrow?”
“We’re not sure. That’s all we can tell you.”
Seeing that there was no more information to be gained, Leo decided to return to the vehicle.
“Alright, thank you, officers. Looks like I’ll have to go find a new job.”
He waved goodbye to the Tijuana police and walked back to the SUV, opened the door, and climbed in.
“What did you find out?” Jackie asked immediately. Everyone else inside—José and María included—turned to him expectantly.
“They said the airport’s been shut down. All the staff and pilots have been evacuated.”
Everyone looked confused.
“Why? What happened?”
They had expected to fly back to Night City right away.
Now, told they’d be stuck in Tijuana longer, no one could feel at ease.
“They don’t know either.”
“Will the airport open tomorrow?”
“They’re not sure.”
Jackie’s face twisted with frustration.
Tension filled the car.
At that moment, Leo pointed toward a surveillance camera mounted outside the terminal. “Lucy, see that camera over there?”
Lucy blinked as her Kiroshi optics zoomed in on the distant structures. A moment later, she gave a slight nod. “I see it.”
“Infiltrate and tell us what’s inside.”
“Got it.”
Red light glowed in Lucy’s eyes while the others waited patiently.
After a few minutes, the light faded.
“You were right. The airport is completely empty.”
“Did you see any signs of damage or explosions?”
Lucy shook her head. “No. I checked every area inside and out—there are no traces of destruction.”
“That’s strange,” Leo murmured.
He had thought maybe there was a terrorist attack or some cyberpsycho incident that led to the airport’s closure.
But if none of that was the case, then why was the airport shut down and sealed off by the police?
Every business does its best to remain open—only when open do customers come. And for an airport, closing down means massive financial losses. This incident would even become international news.
The airport executives and the Salamanca Cartel wouldn’t ignore something so obvious.
“Leo,” Jackie glanced at José and María sitting in the backseat, wedged silently between V and Lucy, too scared to speak. Then he spoke over the comms, “Could this be… related to them?”
Leo also glanced at the pair.
“It’s not impossible.”
If the Salamanca Cartel had already learned the hostages had escaped, then it would make sense for them to contact the Tijuana police to lock down the airport.
After all, flying out of Tijuana was the fastest way to flee.
And if that route was cut off, the only option left was to drive.
Although Tijuana wasn’t far from San Diego in California—just 19 kilometers—and San Diego had its own airport they could use to fly back to Night City, Tijuana was still part of Mexico, while San Diego belonged to the Western States.
Between them stood a long, fortified border.
To reach San Diego, they would have to cross the border—far more troublesome than simply flying out from Tijuana.
Jackie glanced toward the distant Tijuana officers standing behind the blockade. “So what do we do now? Force our way through?”
Leo immediately shook his head.
“No point in that. These officers wouldn’t be able to stop us, but don’t forget—there are planes at the airport, but no pilots. Even if we rush in, it’s useless.”
“At this point, we only have one option. We head out of town and find a roadside motel. Motels usually don’t ask for personal info, so even if we stay there, we don’t have to worry about the Salamanca Cartel tracking us.”
“After that, we’ll hold on.
I just thought of something. Why didn’t I just call the pilot and ask what’s going on?”
A sudden thought struck Leo.
After they disembarked earlier, the pilot Dante had assigned them had remained with the aircraft. They had even exchanged contact info, just in case.
Leo had forgotten all about that until now.
If the pilot had been evacuated with the airport staff, calling him would be the easiest way to find out what happened.
“I’ll make the call.”
Blue lights lit up in Jackie’s eyes.
“Well?”
“No signal. Can’t connect.”
In 2077, while phones still existed, most people relied on built-in communication implants.
They were more convenient, more discreet, and much more reliable.
Mercs, field agents, soldiers—all preferred comm implants.
The pilot had one too, not a regular phone.
And if Jackie couldn’t reach him, there was only one explanation: The pilot Dante assigned them had already been found and killed by the Salamanca Cartel.
“Let’s go. Right now.”
Leo didn’t hesitate. He immediately scrapped the plan to wait and observe.
“We’re leaving Tijuana.”
Even though he didn’t know how the Salamanca Cartel had learned of the escape—logically, even if they discovered the hostages missing right after Leo and the others left, there shouldn’t have been enough time to track their flight route so quickly.
If the Salamanca Cartel were that efficient, they’d have taken over all of Mexico by now, not just ruled Tijuana.
But regardless of how they found out, or how they got the police to shut down the airport so fast…
One thing was clear: it was no longer safe here.
They couldn’t afford to stay.
Jackie asked nervously, “Leave Tijuana? You mean…”
Leo didn’t hesitate.
“We drive across the border to San Diego. From there, we catch a flight back to Night City.”
“But crossing the border requires paperwork. None of us have valid documents—we’ll be arrested at the checkpoint. It’s impossible to get through.”
“Just find a smuggler,” Leo replied. Though he had never been to Tijuana, he knew that along the California-Mexico border, smugglers had long profited from smuggling people across.
Even without valid travel documents, as long as they found a smuggler and paid enough, they could cross just like any other illegal migrant.
Once they crossed the border, they’d be out of Mexican territory, and more importantly, out of the Salamanca Cartel’s reach.
Having made the decision, Leo wasted no time. He started the engine and drove away from the airport, heading out of the city.
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After driving a fair distance down the outbound road, Leo noticed something. Jackie, sitting beside him, kept glancing into the rearview mirror.
“Jackie?”
“Leo, do you see that white pickup behind us? Something’s off.”
Leo looked through the rearview mirror and saw a white pickup trailing them at a steady pace about ten meters behind.
Mounted on the bed of the pickup was a 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun—bold and exposed.
The back was also full of armed men.
If Leo hadn’t known they were still in Mexico, he might’ve thought this was Afghanistan.
Hearing the conversation, José nervously leaned against the rear window to get a look, and once he saw the pickup, his face went pale. “Did the Salamanca Cartel find us?”
His girlfriend María, seated next to him, was too scared to speak.
Leo’s expression darkened.
Up ahead was a side road. As they approached it, Leo suddenly twisted the steering wheel hard and veered the SUV onto the smaller path.
Seconds later, the white pickup followed them into the turn.
José and María looked worse.
Leo could now be sure—that truck was after them.
Jackie reached the same conclusion. “Damn it. The Salamanca Cartel moves fast.”
“Could it be the cops at the airport tipped them off?” V frowned. “But how would they know José and María were in this car?”
All the windows of the rental SUV were one-way glass. Those inside could see out, but no one outside could see in.
Even if the Tijuana cops outside the airport had noticed the SUV, they couldn’t possibly have seen José and María inside.
If it was just a guess, then it was dead accurate.
Leo’s expression hardened. “V, Lucy—get the weapons ready. Keep your eyes on that white pickup.”
“Keep your heads down.”
The two women pushed José and María down, drew their pistols, and aimed them through the rear window—ready to fire.
The white pickup behind them hadn’t attacked yet but continued following closely.
Just as they were about to leave the side road and merge back onto the main street, the pickup still held back.
José, trembling, couldn’t help but say, “Maybe… maybe it’s a mistake?”
Suddenly, a garbage truck burst out from the main road, charging straight at them.
The timing was perfect—just as their SUV emerged from the side road, the truck smashed forward.
“Leo?!” Jackie shouted instinctively upon seeing the truck barreling toward them.
Leo stomped on the brakes and jerked the wheel hard.
They narrowly avoided a full-body impact. The truck hit only the front of the SUV, spinning it around and throwing everyone inside around.
Before the vehicle could even come to a full stop, Leo kept his right hand on the wheel and reached out the window with his left.
His smart pistol fired a tight burst, instantly taking out the white pickup’s driver and the gunner on the mounted machine gun.
Clearly, the garbage truck had been in communication with the pickup, coordinating the ambush.
If Leo hadn’t dodged when he did, they would have been flipped and mowed down inside the vehicle.
But by dodging the strike and creating a brief opening in the Salamanca Cartel’s formation, Leo had seized the chance to take out the driver and gunner.
Strike first and gain the upper hand.
“Jackie, take the wheel. V, Lucy—pin that white pickup down. Don’t let anyone else get to the machine gun!”
Their SUV wasn’t one of those armored vehicles Leo had once stripped from Militech—it couldn’t take bullets.
Though Leo had made custom bulletproof combat suits for everyone, José and María had none.
With orders given, Leo opened the door, grabbed his Muramasa, and jumped out—charging straight toward the garbage truck.
The truck driver, expecting to have wrecked the SUV, had instead only clipped its front. The momentum carried the truck forward until it crashed into a wall of a roadside home.
The driver tried to reverse, but the truck was stuck, its tires spinning helplessly over rubble and debris from the collapsed wall.
As he broke out in sweat, Leo closed in with blade in hand.
He spotted a pistol barrel sticking out of the cabin—then gunfire erupted.
Leo didn’t slow down. He drew the Muramasa, spinning it in a blur.
The bullets sparked and scattered as they struck the vortex of steel.
Leo leapt forward like an arrow. In a flash, he was at the truck’s cabin.
With a single slash, a red arc cut through the metal—cleaving both the cabin and the driver inside in two.
From the passenger side, another man fired three shots at Leo.
Leo casually flicked his blade—deflecting all three.
