Chapter 6 #2
Theo tapped the map again. “No, sir. It’s possible that Chiquimula was their final destination, but it’s just as likely that it could have been a rest stop on the way to where they are going.
They could have been switching vehicles or drivers, getting food.
There’s a whole host of reasons they could have stopped there.
But we know where she was when she called, and…
” He tailed off when Rowan cut across him.
“That’s enough to give us a place to start tracking her.” His decision was made; hell, he wasn’t afraid to admit to himself that his decision had been made the second they’d determined that the Moore family was part of their horse family.
Camden’s sharp inhale was audible through the phone, and his voice filled with hope. “You’re… you’re going after her?”
“Yes,” If there was shit hitting the fan because of it, then he’d figure out how to clean it off later. “Stronghold is taking the mission.”
A muffled sound, half sob and half prayer, came through the line. “Thank you. Please, please bring her home.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to promise that he’d bring Enya home, but he gritted his teeth and forced the words, “I’ll do my best,” to be his promise to her parents instead.
“We appreciate it more than you know.”
The second the Moores hung up, Theo turned the laptop around and flipped the screens to a media player. “I managed to find some footage of the barns at the fairground when Enya went missing.”
“There’s a reason I keep your shifty ass around,” Rowan drawled, “your skills on that,” he pointed to the laptop, “is right at the top of the list.”
“You’ll want to give me a pay rise when you see this.” Theo hit play, and the grainy footage began to roll.
Rowan leaned forward to peer at the screen. “This is shit quality, can you clean it up?” He could barely make out shapes, never mind what was happening on screen.
“That is it cleaned up.” Theo leaned over and hit some button on the keypad that enlarged the screen. “But if you put it on full screen, even your old man eyes might be able to see what I see.”
“Asshole.” But now that the video was bigger, he could make out the figure of a woman walking out of the barn. She stopped to shut the door behind her and walked toward the camera. He could make out her face enough to recognize Enya Moore. “Where did you get this?”
“I may have snuck a look at some of the dash camera footage from a trailer that was parked closest to the barn. That’s why it’s so bad.”
“Do I want to know how you got your hands on it?” He squinted at the screen as a man approached Enya from behind and silently willed her to run. He winced when she turned around.
“Nope, it will only hurt your brain, boss.” Theo smirked. “We don’t want that happening this week, seeing as you’re going out and all.”
Rowan cheered for Enya when she fought her captor. “She didn’t make it easy for him.”
“Nope. She fought him like a hellcat.” Theo moved to stand next to him, and when the video finished, he hit replay.
“There a reason you restarted it?”
“Oh yeah. The reason I called you to come on up here.” Theo jabbed his finger on the stop button and pointed at the screen. “I took that image of his face and ran it through a couple of our facial recon programs. Wanna know who that is?”
“Nope.” He had to work damn hard to keep his face straight.
Theo reared back and narrowed his eyes at him.
He rolled his eyes hard. “What am I saying? Of course you want to know. Sorry, boss.” He pulled the computer close to him and flipped the screen to bring up a dossier.
“That’s Mateo ‘El Rastro’ Cortés, a thirty-four-year-old Colombian national. Want to know who he’s related to?”
“What I want to know is why the fuck you are asking me stupid questions?” Rowan growled. Theo was starting to piss him off with his damn questions. “Give me the rundown on Cortés and don’t leave anything out.”
“You got it.” Theo flipped to another screen. “You remember our old friend, El Pastor, right?” He waited for Rowan’s nod, then continued. “Cortés’ brother is his top enforcer.”
“Fuck, that’s both not good”—Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Colombia was based deep in jungle territory in the Caquetá Department, Colombia.
Not a place any sane person wanted to go—“and also good”—because they knew where she had been taken.
“I wonder if El Pastor has forgiven me for blowing up his house yet?”
“Doubt it, boss, considering you punched him in the face and gave Joel time to rescue Gael before you did it. He’ll probably shoot your ass the second he claps eyes on you.”
If I hadn’t planned on getting involved, the chance to make fucking El Pastor pay once again for trying to ransom Gael back to us would have done it.
There would never be a time when he didn’t want that asshole to suffer for all the horrors he’d done to his twin. “Jalisco New Generation Cartel being involved means Gael will be TOC on this op, so I’m going to need you in the field.”
“I knew that before I called you up here.” Theo was no fool. “How do you want to play this?”
“Call Dreamland, tell whoever answers that Stronghold is taking the field and we’re going to need a favor.”
“Already done.” This was another reason why he kept Theo around. “Rock said to let him know where we’re staging out of and he’ll make sure it’s stocked, but bring him some Oreos from the store.”
“I can do that.” Garrett ‘Rock’ Rockwell and his team of Ghost Protection Operators had safe houses and hidey-holes across the globe. It wouldn’t be the first time he and his guys had borrowed one to state out of.
He got to his feet. “Muster the troops. I’m going to go talk to Gael.”
“Roger that, boss.”
He paused at the door to the kitchen and took a breath before stepping into the room.
“Did he have something useful?” Gael kept his attention on the kitten as he wiped its butt with a wet wipe.
“Yeah, but you’re not going to like it.”
“I can feel your stomach roiling from all the way over here.” Damn, that twin connection was a pain in the ass at times. “Spit it out so we can move on.”
“We know where she’s most likely being taken.”
Gael cradled the kitten to his chest. “You gonna tell me where?”
“Caquetá.”
Rowan wouldn’t have needed to see his brother’s face go white to know exactly how that one word affected him. Being tortured for five hellish days in that place would always have an effect on him. “You’ll run TOC. Theo—”
“Fuck no.” Gael snarled. “I’m not letting El Fucking Pastor win. I owe that bastard for what he did to me.”
Welllll shit. Joel is gonna murder me in my sleep. Hell, he might not even wait for me to sleep. He’ll just straight-up strangle me the second he lays eyes on me.
He could already tell there was going to be no talking him out of it. “Theo is calling the guys up here. We’ve got planning to do, and you’ve gotta figure out what to do with that cat, because it ain’t coming with us.”
“We’re staging out of Dreamland, right?”
“Nope. Probably a safe house somewhere in Colombia.”
“Then Poppy is coming that far at least.” Gael decided. “Maybe Rock and Grif’s wife—why are you shaking your head? Rock needs a kitten for his kids.”
Poppy?
He fucked named the cat Poppy.
“Not one that can’t feed itself or wipe its own butt, he doesn’t.
” Rock would lose his dang mind. “We need to grab a crate of Oreos from the store for Rock. Bring the kitten to the vet’s office if you think Hal can’t manage her at the bunkhouse.
Least that way you know she’ll be in the best place if something goes wrong. ”
“You’re willing to pay a vet to babysit this kitten?” Gael shot him a look of disbelief. “Who are you and tell your mothership to send me back my twin.”
Rowan rolled his eyes. There was nothing wrong with trying to keep bills to a minimum when you had a ranch to run.
“I need to clear some shit before we get to mission planning. You call Joel to tell him where the fuck we’re going, and take that cat to town with you.
” Gael lifted one shoulder but didn’t answer.
Fucking fabulous.
I’m going to end up in shit.
I just know it.