20. Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Good or bad, what you put out there comes back to you.
Chance watched the screen of Tiago’s drone swooping high above the cypress trees. They’d set up in place a couple of hours ago, with the airboat tucked away near a makeshift beach hidden by mangrove trees and underbrush. They’d tied a rope to one of the trees after setting up a special surprise for any potential drug runners.
At this point he wasn’t sure any of this would matter, but he was still hopeful that it would help find Enzo. He’d already lost his sister. He couldn’t lose his brother too.
He heard the buzz of the engine even before the dark screen lit up with the incoming boats.
A couple hours after midnight, it was quiet out in the spiderweb of surrounding rivers and lakes. It was too late and they were too far out for this to be random boaters. No one with any sense would be out here unless they were up to something.
Chance watched as Tiago maneuvered the drone, impressed with his skills. His friend Hot Shot had a remote drone certification and had been putting his skills to use behind enemy lines for the last five years. Chance wondered if Tiago had done the same at one time.
“You’re really good with that.”
“Thanks,” Tiago said as he flew a little lower. “Takes a lot of practice. And this one is really sensitive, but I love her anyway.”
Chance snorted softly, then stilled as another boat came into view. They hadn’t been planning on a big entourage. Normally drug runners kept their runs light, so if they had to escape it was a lot easier to lose pursuers. He knew that Miami and South American drug runners tended to use Donzis but it appeared that these guys were using airboats. Which made sense for the shallow waterways here.
Chance pulled up the simple handheld radio Rowan had given him earlier before he and Adalyn had been dropped off up river about half a mile. “Two airboats en route, about two miles from your spot.”
Rowan responded. “How many tangos?”
“Seven…eight.” A man stepped out from behind another one, revealing a separate heat signature. With the night vision, they were working with heat signatures. “Looks like harpoons stacked up on the first boat.”
“Yeah,” Tiago murmured, getting a little lower as he kept pace with the boat. “Could be gator hunters, given all the harpoons.” Tiago couldn’t get too low with the drone because they might be seen, but also because of the airflow from the airboat. It would disrupt the drone too much, potentially causing a crash.
“Doubt it,” Chance said. “It’s too late—or early—to be out. And two of the guys in the back are armed.”
“How can you tell?” Tiago frowned at the screen even as he maneuvered the controls with an ease that spoke of a lot of practice.
“Look at the angles of their arms.” Their arms mostly looked like blobs, but they could differentiate them enough to separate them from their bodies. Especially the two guys in the back of the boat. “They’re holding something long and awkward. My money’s on something semiautomatic.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. Considering the harpoons, I’m guessing they’re posing as gator hunters in case they get caught.”
“The others will be armed too.” Going on past experience, Chance figured the whole gang would be carrying similar weapons or MAC-10s. They were lighter and easier to aim and had been a favorite of traffickers for decades. Though in his experience they tended to miss more than they hit. “Everyone in place?”
“We’re good,” Rowan said. “You just watch Tiago’s back.”
Chance bristled slightly but knew it wasn’t personal. They didn’t know him enough to be sure of his skills.
“We’re going to let the first boat past the checkpoint,” Adalyn said as the buzz of the engines grew louder. “Then as soon as the second boat is lined up, it’s on.”
That was code for “we’re blowing shit up.”
Chance released the rope on the boat and had his weapon out. And just like the others, he was covered in various shades of dark greens and brown body paint. They’d all geared up on the ride over and were wearing similar shades of clothing, their faces and necks camouflaged.
Adalyn and Rowan were nearest to Chance and Tiago, with Bradford a mile up the river providing backup from the rear. Chance had wanted to take point with him, but Adalyn was in charge and had made it clear that he’d be on the boat with Tiago.
And since they were all out here in the middle of the bayou helping him at two something in the morning against a bunch of drug runners, he was going to listen. Even if it went against all his instincts to be right in the middle of the fray.
Tiago was pulling the drone back in now. “Get ready,” he murmured to Chance, who was already at the wheel, ready to turn the boat back on.
In the distance, an explosion blasted through the relative quiet, drowning out the sound of the engines as orange flames licked into the sky.
He flipped on the ignition, kicked the boat into drive and tore out of the hidden bay. As he rounded out into the river branch, a picture of chaos opened up in front of them.
The first boat was tipped on its side with Adalyn and Rowan taking care of the men on it—shouting orders and holding weapons on them. The other boat had turned around, but gunfire erupted from what was now the front of them where Bradford was.
The men returned fire in a staccato that was all too familiar to Chance. Tiago was at the front, holding his own weapon up and firing on the back cage of the retreating airboat as Chance sped up on them from behind.
“Brace,” he called out as the airboat started to turn, clearly realizing they were being fired upon from behind.
He didn’t pause, but rammed into them at an angle as Tiago held tight. The blow shoved them up into a cluster of mangrove tree roots. As the engine suddenly cut off, Chance motioned to Tiago what he was doing and slid off the side of the boat into the cold waters.
Tiago did the same, moving quietly and quickly through the dark river alongside Chance.
“What the hell is going on?” someone snarled.
“I can’t get a hold of Javier.” This from someone else.
Gunfire erupted, bullets slamming into the airboat they’d left behind. Chance slid under the water when a flashlight swung in their direction, then surfaced quietly as the light skittered away. He absolutely hated being in dark waters like this, but it was the only way to get to these guys unseen.
Two men were standing on the port side of the boat, flashlights and weapons up as they scanned beyond the mangrove trees, trying to figure out where the gunfire had come from and where Chance and Tiago were. Chance swam up to the opposite side of the boat with Tiago and plastered himself below the hull, waiting for the men to move back to this side.
He’d seen one fallen body and had heard someone else splash into the water earlier but there was nothing to do about them now. He just hoped Bradford had a handle on the missing guy and took him out.
He pulled his kukri out, the black, epoxy-coated blade not glinting under any of the ambient light as they waited for the tangos to move back to searching the waters for them.
Their bootsteps thudded on the metal deck, their flashlights swinging back over the water in the direction Chance and Tiago had swum in from. Chance leaned back slightly, looked up and made his move.
He stabbed through the guy’s left boot with his switchblade and reached around with his kukri, slicing his Achilles in a long-practiced move. The man screamed in agony, his weapon clattering to the deck as he stumbled forward.
Chance used his momentum and yanked the guy into the water, while next to him Tiago had shoved the other guy backward and was climbing onto the boat. A blade glinted under the moonlight, the only warning Chance got before the guy attempted to stab him.
But he was too slow, likely in too much pain, and Chance’s adrenaline had spiked. He grabbed his wrist, twisted until he felt the snap and had the guy in a headlock before the man knew what was happening.
His body had likely gone into shock because of the amount of pain and stress and it didn’t take long for Chance to knock him unconscious. By the time he hauled the guy’s dead weight to shore, Bradford was pushing another guy down the gravelly shoreline to them. This one was at least walking of his own accord, but his arms were bound behind his back and he looked ready to kill.
Chance laid his guy down, then bound his wrists and feet as Bradford ordered the other man to lie down next to his friend.
Tiago jumped off the boat, his boots splashing as he made his way to them. “One’s restrained and the other’s shot, but he’ll be all right if he gets medical attention.”
Chance and Bradford both nodded but were otherwise silent as Chance motioned that he was going to swim back to their boat and radio the others. He didn’t say anything aloud, simply used hand gestures they understood.
Once he was on the boat, he radioed Adalyn. “SITREP?”
“All tangoes down, boat unusable, and a whole lot of drugs in the hull. They’ve got a fake bottom.”
“I’ll check this one and head to you guys. Same situation here, all tangos are incapacitated, with one of them shot. Four says he should make it if he gets medical.” They were using numbers as their call signs so as to not give anything away about themselves.
After she said “copy”, he turned the boat back on and headed over to the other one, tied off and jumped on it. He was surprised it was still working after the gunfire it had taken but they must not have done any damage to the engine. Once he was on the other airboat, he found a small drill they’d tucked into one of the coolers and put it to good use. And sure enough, there were a whole lot of hidden drugs and cash in this hull as well.
Given the amount of drugs and the use of two boats, this felt like more than a normal run, so these guys were going to be screwed once they didn’t check in.
“Load them up,” he called out and Tiago and Bradford dumped the men onto their own boat.
Tiago got behind the wheel of their airboat and Chance jumped back onto their rental. To his surprise, the lone man who was still conscious wasn’t cursing or shouting threats at them. No, he was being very quiet, which was interesting.
Chance just wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing yet.