31. Dax #2
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I let my head thump against the outside of the plane.
“No, there’s a chance that Mariana is already dead.
It’s her tracker showing they’re bringing her back home.
Corbin said the tracker tells the person’s body heat to prove if they are alive or not.
It doesn’t look good, but I refuse to believe it until I have confirmation. ”
“Fair, I wouldn’t be either,” Brian agreed. “Alright then, we’ll get a move on it and speed this up. Everything else the same… wait for your signal?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna call Dante next so he can keep an eye out for any of them and let him know about Martin. God, I can’t fucking believe he did that to us. He’s so blinded by his anger over losing his friend and fellow agents that he’s taking risks that aren’t needed,” I complained.
Brian let out a sigh. “Then it’s a good thing you plan to lose the dead weight.”
“Hey, did you manage to talk Dani into going with Dante or is she still with you?” I asked, knowing she’d complained about not being put in the team that would need her the most.
“Ah…” Brian started, which told me everything I needed to know. “She’s here with me.”
“Good, if Mariana or Alvaro are there, at least there’s someone I trust to help them,” I said, relieved. “Brian, you better fucking make it through this, you hear me?”
“Yeah, boss, I hear you,” he answered, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “Don’t worry, you and the others have a solid plan, and each team has roughly eight hundred fighters. These assholes aren’t going to know what hit them.”
“Alright, get to work,” I ordered. “The next time you hear from me, it will be ‘go’ time.”
“See you on the flip side, boss,” Brian shot back before hanging up.
Next, I called Dante and filled him in on the situation, asking the same questions I asked Brian.
“Honey child, when are you gonna learn I always have six backup plans in play? The one thing a con artist is always good at is adapting to their environment. The only thing I want to know is… if we do find Martin, what am I doing with him? Are we still handing him over, or will he have a tragic accident?” Dante questioned.
I chewed on my thumbnail as I thought about that question.
“I trust your gut, Dante. When you meet him, if he’s the bastard who killed his mother and brother, I say bury the fucker.
If you think he’ll actually be useful alive, then ship his ass back to the States where he can spend his life in a windowless cell being interrogated. ”
“Oh, you let me have all the fun, don’t you, sugar,” Dante cooed. “Alright then, I’ll await your signal and be ready to act in a flash.”
Dante had the smallest team of only two hundred, but the chances of him running into trouble he couldn’t handle with that amount of people were slim.
The ones who needed the big numbers were Mutt and Gator.
They were also the ones who would be joining us when they were done with their hit at the drug farm.
Shooting off a text to them to call me the second they got my message, I joined the others on the plane.
Catching Cam’s eye, I nodded, letting him know that things had been moved up and we needed to do the same.
“Corbin, our plan is kind of shot to hell now, isn’t it?” Sprocket challenged. “What the fuck are we supposed to do if we can’t find Martin?”
“As I said, we need to go to La Garita. He has to be there, it’s the only thing that makes sense,” Corbin challenged.
“Fine,” I cut in. “If that’s the call you want to make, then how exactly are we going to make that happen?”
“I’ve already planned ahead for that,” Corbin answered. “We just need to sit tight until nightfall, then join your team that’s going to attack tonight anyway.”
“So did you plan on hanging out in the back of the cargo plane, or did you have someplace sorted for us to stay as well?” Cam asked, crossing his arms, looking unimpressed.
“Look, I get you guys are pissed that I went behind your back, but you have to understand this mission can’t fail. As for where we’re going to stay, there’s a hostel nearby I reserved for us,” Corbin explained.
Grabbing my pack full of supplies, I shouldered it and gestured for Corbin to go ahead. “Lead the way.”
Really, Corbin was making this so much easier for us, but I wasn’t going to let on.
As the rest of his team followed after him, I spotted Magnus talking to Billy and knew he’d settle things.
The hostel wasn’t all that far from the airport, and I suppose he planned that since he wanted to have quick access to move fast tonight.
Too bad so sad he was never going to get the chance.
Our plan had been to nap, eat, and recharge in any way we could, knowing it would be a long and bloody night.
Gator had called, and Eagle filled him in on the changes, and like the others, they were more than capable of making shit happen tonight.
In fact, he went as far as to say he was glad they didn’t have the downtime to get people nervous.
I had to agree with him on that—one reason I was so impulsive, I suppose.
You don’t get as nervous if you don’t second-guess and just do.
When dinner time rolled around, we all gathered in the dining area where our hostess was serving large platters of amazing-smelling Mexican food.
I dug in and stuffed my face knowing we didn’t have much time.
Jaxson walked out of the kitchen with a huge pitcher of agua fresca and filled everyone’s glasses.
The fruit-flavored drink was the perfect mask for the sleeping drug that Jaxson had spiked it with.
We’d planned to do it with some sort of toast, but damn, Corbin was making this too fucking easy.
One thing you should always keep in mind is that when you’re working with criminals, we do criminal acts.
Just as Jaxson promised, these assholes were passed out cold in the enchiladas not five minutes later.
Magnus had paid the hostess off and told her she didn’t have to do anything but make sure she didn’t take in anyone else for the night.
She didn’t even have to move the guys. They could stay right there at the table for all we cared.
Gathering our things, we headed out, knowing that Billy would be ready for us when we got there.
As we planned our own Marco takedown, we’d found an airstrip that was probably used by other criminals to smuggle drugs in or out of the state or country, for that matter.
The trouble was finding one big enough a cargo plane could land on.
That was no longer a concern since we were moving to plan B of Destroy Marco Tesoro.
With this plan, Billy didn’t even have to land, and I’d secretly been hoping we’d have to do this plan.
It was one that I’d come up with, but at this point in the game, I don’t think it mattered who called the plays.
“Alright, let’s arm up,” Sprocket called out once we were in the air. The flight would be roughly forty-five minutes, and we had a lot to fucking do.
Yanking the tarps off all the crates we’d kept secret from Corbin, we cracked open the lids to reveal all the weapons we’d requested.
There were also other things like bulletproof vests, black face paint, and stocking caps to cover our hair.
Part of the plan was for Marco not to know who exactly was attacking them.
Before getting lost in the battle preparation, I pulled out my phone and sent the signal to all three team leaders.
Dax:
Light his ass up!
As we geared up, Marco was getting hit in three valuable places, which I hoped had him peeing himself. Even just a little would make me happy.
Already wearing tight black pants and a skin-tight long-sleeve black shirt, I slipped the bulletproof vest over my head.
These were new on the market, were super thin, and left you fully mobile while still being able to stop a bullet and keep you alive.
Then I strapped on my thigh holster that held one of my 9mm semi-automatics and two of my knives specially made just for that purpose.
Then I put on a utility belt with a pouch and added extra ammo.
I added the extra knife on my hip then added a smoke bomb, two grenades, and a stun grenade on the other side.
The last piece I slipped on was my shoulder holster, where I fit the other two 9mm guns.
Not taking any chances that my hair would give me away, I made sure to black out any skin that could be seen in the gaps of the ski mask. Everyone else was just doing the black face paint and the beanies. Tugging on a leather jacket to cover all my weapons, I was finally ready.
Void and Picasso were over at the tank loading up the ammunition from the crates.
This tank didn’t have an autoloader, so Void would have to do that part himself.
But he also got to be in charge of the machine gun, so he was as happy as a motherfucking clam.
Looking at the thing, my heart pounded in my chest, hoping to God that what we did a whole week ago was going to be enough to make this work.
Harper came to stand next to me, looking at it the same way I was. “You know, if you told me three months ago that I’d be going into battle with you operating a tank, I would have checked you into a mental hospital.”