Story code: ST-000307
Part 3: Mutually Assured Destruction
The call disconnected, leaving a dead silence in the stifling van. Mateo’s primary phone slipped from his sweaty fingers, clattering against the plastic center console. Three minutes. Hector was outside the fellowship hall, prowling the gravel like a caged dog.
Seth stood in the oven-like heat of the Ford Transit, infuriatingly calm. The older man was simply waiting for Mateo’s total submission, expecting him to blindly agree to the extortion and financial funneling.
But as Mateo’s gaze dropped to the rubber floor mat, his eyes locked on the cracked screen of his burner phone. The app was still open. The generic torso profile picture of the man who had tracked him down-the one who had been twenty feet, then ten feet away.
Mateo squinted at the glowing pixels. In his earlier panic, he’d only seen a faceless chest in a dark undershirt. Now, the details sharpened. Behind the chest, just at the edge of the cropped square, was a heavily varnished oak bookshelf filled with leather-bound commentaries-the exact custom carpentry from Seth’s private inner office. Peeking out from the undershirt’s collar was the faintest glint of a thin gold chain. The very same chain currently resting against Seth’s neck.
Clarity punched through Mateo’s terror. Seth hadn’t created a fake profile to hunt down straying flock members. The app showed an extensive history, a high match rate, and an active status that had been online for hours.
Seth was cruising.
Mateo’s breathing hitched. He reached down and snatched the burner phone from the hot floor mat. His trembling stopped. The paralyzing fear was suddenly replaced by a desperate, adrenaline-fueled defiance.
“You aren’t just monitoring me,” Mateo said, his voice dropping an octave, finding traction in his dry throat. He held the cracked screen up, pointing a bruised knuckle at the torso picture. “That’s your office. Those are your books. You didn’t log on to catch me. You matched with me because you were looking for it too.”
Seth’s placid expression didn’t shift, but his eyes narrowed fractionally. The silence stretched, thick and suffocating.
Mateo pushed off the hot window glass. He had the leverage now. “You’re a married pastor. If the congregation sees this, you lose the pulpit. You lose everything.” Frantic, triumphant energy flooded Mateo’s veins. “And if my brother finds out his pastor is a predator trying to extort his crew’s money? Hector won’t just ruin your reputation. He’ll put a bullet in your kneecaps before cutting your throat.”
Mateo waited for the shift. He expected the older man’s broad shoulders to sag. He expected the smug, clinical smile to shatter into a panicked mask of self-preservation. He expected Seth to beg for silence, to unlock the heavy sliding door, to offer a mutual pact of secrecy. Mutually assured destruction was the only currency the streets respected, and Mateo had just slammed his chips on the table.
“Unlock the door,” Mateo commanded, his voice trembling but loud. “Erase the screenshots right now. We walk out of here, we tell Hector we were praying over my purity, and you never, ever look my way again.”
Seth tilted his head, the faint light catching the silver rim of his phone as he slowly pulled it back out of his breast pocket. He looked at the cracked burner in Mateo’s hand, then at Mateo’s flushed, desperate face.
And then, Seth laughed.
It was a low, resonant chuckle that bounced off the vinyl walls of the van, utterly devoid of fear. It chilled Mateo to the bone.
“You think you understand power, Mateo,” Seth murmured, tapping his thumb against his sleek silver screen. “You think you understand how this world works because you watch your brother brutalize corner boys. But you are still just a frightened child hiding in a van.”
“I’ll show him!” Mateo yelled, his bravado fraying. “I swear to God, I’ll walk out there right now and show Hector the app!”
“You won’t have to,” Seth replied softly. “Let’s bring him into the conversation, shall we?”
Seth pressed a sequence of numbers on his keypad. Mateo froze, recognizing the digits. It was Hector’s private cell number.
“What are you doing?” Mateo breathed, the triumphant energy instantly evaporating.
Seth tapped the speakerphone icon. The line began to ring. “I am teaching you the difference between a secret and a sacrifice. You think I am afraid of losing this pulpit? I built this church from dirt. I command these people. I am willing to burn half my life down to the studs just to watch you burn entirely.”
“Stop!” Mateo lunged forward over the console, reaching for Seth’s silver phone.
Seth easily swatted Mateo’s arm away with a massive, heavy hand, shoving the teenager hard against the passenger window. The glass rattled violently in its frame. Seth held the phone high, out of reach, as the line rang a second time.
“You think your brother will care about my hypocrisy?” Seth hissed, leaning down until his face was inches from Mateo’s, his breath smelling faintly of mint and stale coffee. “Hector is a zealot. A purist. When I tell him what I caught you doing, his rage will completely blind him to my methods. I am a man of God trying to save his brother’s soul. You are the abomination bringing shame to his cartel. Who do you really think he’s going to kill first?”
The line clicked. The ringing stopped.
“Yeah, Pastor?” Hector’s harsh, impatient voice erupted from the tiny speaker, sounding impossibly loud in the cramped, baking van. Heavy traffic hissed in the background. “I’m looking for Mateo. You got him with you?”
Mateo clamped a hand over his own mouth, his eyes wide and leaking tears of sheer terror, begging Seth silently, violently shaking his head. He had nothing left. His leverage was a delusion. Seth held all the cards, and he was perfectly willing to blow them both to hell just to maintain control.
Seth’s smile widened into a terrifying, triumphant grin. He didn’t break eye contact with Mateo as he spoke clearly toward the microphone.
“Yes, Hector,” Seth said smoothly. “I have him right here. We’re in the white transit van on the south side of the lot. You need to come over here immediately. There is a very serious sin we need to discuss regarding your brother.”