Chapter 18 August 22, 2024
Daleyza
True to Demon’s word, they were off the small, personal plane and onto a corporate-style jet within fifteen minutes. Medusa had jumped into the pilot’s seat, relieving God of his flight duties and allowing him to meet with the team in the cabin.
As soon as they’d taken off, everyone gathered around a large table toward the back of the plane, where the seats could be turned. She’d never seen anything like it. Not even in the movies.
Their boss was an imposing man. While his voice had warm tones to it, there was also a raspy edge. Combined with cold green eyes and a brusque personality, he did not give off friendly vibes.
To be honest, she felt as if he actively disliked her. Then again, she was part of the reason that one of his team had walked into cartel territory without a weapon and surrendered himself to their whims. If she were in his shoes, she wouldn’t be very accepting either.
One thing did strike her as odd about him.
He had a sucker clamped between his teeth and his cheek.
She only recognized it because at Halloween last year, Easton had brought some of his candy with him to day care, and one of the pieces had been a green sucker coated haphazardly in caramel-flavored candy.
The things were vile and plastic-tasting, but all the other children’s eyes had lit up like he had gold in his pumpkin.
Luckily, he had enough to share with them, or there might have been a war.
When God pulled the wrapper off, she recognized it as coming from one of those same suckers.
On the far wall of the plane, a telescreen was divided into three spaces. A map of South America consumed the bulk of it, but in the bottom left corner was Midas. In the bottom right corner was a woman with flaming red hair pulled into a tight twist. Esmerelda.
“That’s the woman who came to the house to get my signature for Livia’s care,” she whispered to Steel. “She’s a US Marshal.”
“No, she’s our handler.”
“But she had identification.”
He nodded. “All of us have a variety of legends and aliases for various situations.”
“So it was you who arranged for Livia’s care.”
“Yes. After the last time I saw her, I asked Cherry to keep an eye on her medical records. It was clear to me that she was deteriorating quickly. You were exhausted. Losing weight. It was becoming too much for you to care for her, but I knew you wouldn’t ever give up caring for her without prodding.
” He kissed her cheek. “Thank you for looking after her all these years. It shouldn’t have been your job to do. ”
“She’s family. I would never abandon her.”
She caught the wince, which he quickly hid behind his usual mask. It was a poor choice of words on her part. “That was insensitive of me. I’m sorry.”
Grabbing her chin between his thumb and forefinger, he turned her face so he could look her in the eye.
“No. Do not apologize. Your faithfulness to her is beyond admirable, and I will forever be grateful that you looked past your disappointment in me. It doesn’t matter that I thought I was doing the right thing at the time.
You are right to call me out for abandoning the two of you. ”
She didn’t get a chance to agree or disagree with him because Nemo’s voice cut through the space.
“What’s going on, bro?” Nemo asked.
“We turned on Waters’ primary tracker. According to the signal, he’s located in Córdoba.” A red, blinking dot lit up on the map.
“Makes sense,” Steel offered. “My family’s main compound is there.
Keeping him at the property in Buenos Aires would be too risky.
Córdoba’s still a big city, but on the outskirts, you’re in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas.
With safe houses and soldiers in the mountains, it’s the perfect place if they needed to move him somewhere fast.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get too excited just yet.
After the fiasco with Nemo in South Africa last year, I wanted to make sure primary and secondary trackers were in working order, so I tested them before Waters decided to go on his little field trip.
I had both turned on, paranoid I wouldn’t be able to get the signal again if I turned them off.
Around oh-one-hundred, Nova lost the signal for a few hours in the early hours of the morning. Both are now transmitting again.”
TB added his own question. “Why is that a problem?”
A second light, this one white, lit up on the map.
“Because his secondary tracker is broadcasting from Mendoza.”
Everyone sat and stared at the two blinking lights.
“Well,” Demon said, “that is definitely a problem.”
“Ya think?” TB replied sarcastically. “They’re around three hundred miles apart.”
“We have several possibilities for this anomaly,” God interjected. “One, Waters is in Córdoba, and they found his secondary tracker, dug it out, and took it to Mendoza as a distraction.”
Flashing a look at Demon, Nemo asked, “Aren’t our secondary trackers buried deep? You actually had to put us under sedation to implant them, and mine still hurt like a sonofabitch when you injected it. I remember that.”
The medic nodded. “They’re attached to the spinal column around the L4. It would be statistically ridiculous to pull that tracker if all you wanted to do was distract someone following him.”
“So it’s more likely that they dug out his primary tracker, and he’s in Mendoza,” TB surmised.
Pursing his lips, Demon looked at God. “Or…” His voice trailed off.
God crunched down on the sucker in his mouth and pulled the stick clear of his teeth. Tossing it in the garbage, he proceeded to unwrap another one immediately, even as he pulverized the one that remained in his mouth. “Just say it,” he growled.
“They could have pulled both trackers and sent them in different directions.”
“Or…” the redhead drawled, a knowing look in his direction over the screen.
“Or, as my lovely better half darkly suggests, he could be in pieces in both of those directions.”
There was silence as they pondered that gruesome thought.
“Has anyone talked to Kubrick?” Ildefanso asked.
“I’m not going to tell her anything until I bring him home.”
Her gaze flicked to Ildefanso’s face. His eyes bored into the map on the telescreen, his jaw clenched tight, and she noticed that all his muscles were locked in place. He was upset. Instinctively, her hand reached out for the fist clenched on his thigh.
His skin was ice cold, and even though it didn’t appear to be shaking, she swore she felt him vibrating beneath her touch.
Ildefanso had a natural violent streak. She’d always known that. Part of it was out of necessity. He’d been a Navy SEAL and had spent portions of his life under his cartel-leading father’s thumb. Both were very familiar with violence as a means of obtaining what was needed.
But this type of rage he controlled was something he only felt when something he loved was under threat.
Right now, she knew he was upset because his family was holding his friend, but his words suggested he was more concerned about his friend’s partner.
Did she mean something to Ildefanso? Did he have feelings for her?
Then again, when the woman’s name came up in conversation regarding Waters’ mission, all the men practically growled. What was so special about the woman?
A third light, this one blue, pinged up on the board.
“As if those aren’t cheerful enough thoughts and big enough problems,” Midas continued, “a third tracker has been activated.”
Ildefanso exhaled the man’s name. “Ka-Bar.”
“Give that man a prize,” Midas confirmed. “Bonus question—where is he located?”
“The Darién Gap. Again. But we were there, and there was no sign of him.”
“You are a winner. And get this. Nova puts him within ten clicks of where we had our base camp last month.”
“They’re trying to divide you.”
All heads turned in her direction.
Ildefanso’s eyes dropped from hers to look at where their hands touched. She let go and drew back, but he quickly secured it, this time with his hand engulfing hers. A zing of warmth flashed through her at his touch.
“What did you say?” God barked.
A soft squeeze of pressure to her hand—his signal for her to go ahead.
Refusing to show God that he intimidated her, she steeled her spine and turned her gaze on him.
“It’s meant to weaken you. They put what you want in several places, forcing you to either put all your attention in one place—easier to see you coming and fewer places they need to defend—or they force you to split up your forces, spreading you thinly, so you’re not at full strength.
Plus, they have the ‘high ground’ because they know where they need their defenses most.”
The look on God’s face was contemplative now instead of cold. The man would never win any prizes for congeniality, but perhaps he was less hostile toward her.
“What would you do in this situation, Senora Ortiz?” There was a slight emphasis on her last name, the one she’d been given as part of her witness protection cover.
“If I were them? He wouldn’t be in any of those places.”
“And if you were me?”
She considered him carefully. Another squeeze was applied to her hand.
“I’d have two more ways to track him. One would be surface level. Obvious. Something they’d know to look for, like a watch or a piece of jewelry. Something in his shoes or buttons on his clothing. Probably all of those things.”
“And the second?”
“Something that he would be able to activate once he knows he’s not going anywhere for a while. Something you would have been able to watch until it lands somewhere steady, then it runs down, like a battery.”