Delta
Yvette rolled over towards her nightstand upon being woken by the chime on her phone indicating there was a new text message.
Her hand groped over her gun and landed on her cell phone.
Pulling it into view, she viewed the display.
It was just past zero six thirty, and the text had come from Shepherd.
*We’ll be there
Arms circled her from behind, and she was pulled backwards and into Mac’s solid chest. The heat radiated from him. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” she replied. She turned in his arms to face him, and he pressed a kiss to her lips.
The night before, they’d met back at her house as planned.
The pizza Mac brought was his favorite, Chicago deep dish with pepperoni.
She’d told him about her meeting with Michaela and the subsequent meeting with Shepherd.
Even though Yvette was concerned about Shepherd and the team’s involvement, some of her did feel better knowing Mac would have competent backup.
They’d gone to bed and made love after eating their dinner and enjoying a couple of drinks. And then drifting off to sleep in his arms brought her the peace she needed, knowing that Shepherd was about to potentially commit career suicide.
***
Mac motioned for Yvette to enter Shepherd’s office in front of him. He allowed his gaze to take in her rear end, remembering how much he liked seeing it bare this morning.
Shepherd stood as they entered. He’d been seated behind his desk. He stepped to meet them halfway as they entered. “Yvette,” he acknowledged and then extended his right hand to Mac as he greeted him, “Mac.”
“Shep,” Mac replied. “Thank you for this meeting.”
“I would have granted it had you come to me first,” Shepherd said.
“I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t want to put you in a bad position with any official agency without feeling it out through Yvette,” he confessed.
“You’ve been operating in the gray zone for too long,” Shepherd said, motioning to his conference table. “I will always entertain a request for assistance from you. I owe you for the favor you did for me last year in Mykonos.”
“That’s the problem. I don’t want you to think you owe me anything. You don’t. If anything, helping last year was a repayment for multiple favors you’ve done for me over the years.”
Yvette walked ahead of them both with a grunt and an eye roll. She sat at the table as Cooper came into the room, closing the door behind himself.
“Mac,” he greeted with an outstretched hand.
“Cooper,” Mac acknowledged. “Nice to see you.”
They all sat around the conference table. Shepherd’s gaze was on Mac.
“I’m sure Yvette told you that Interpol has declined my pursuit of Eduardo Ruiz.
I’ve found him. He’s on the Red List. My request for backup to apprehend him should have instantly been green-lit.
Not only wasn’t it, but I was also ordered to stand-down.
Someone is protecting him. I need to find out who and why.
And regardless, I plan to take him off the street. ”
“And you need to know if they are protecting anyone else on the Red List,” Shepherd added.
“Yes, that’s my fear,” Mac said. “Shep, I’ve never seen anything like it. From the reaction I got, you’d think I was suggesting taking the Pope into custody.”
“Where is Ruiz now?” Shepherd asked.
“At a luxury resort just north of Cancun.”
“Is he affiliated with any of the cartels?” Cooper asked.
“From what I’ve seen, affiliated yes, a member of any specific cartel, no.
However, the cartels all seem to give him a tremendous amount of leeway.
I’d almost say he’s untouchable. So, that tells me he’s working with them and providing them with a great deal of income.
That’s the only thing that explains how he moves throughout all of Latin America and Mexico. ”
“He’s bound to have valuable information on multiple groups,” Shepherd said. “Obtaining that intel from him would be useful to multiple agencies.”
Mac nodded his agreement. “He’s booked at the resort for six more days. If he stays the entire time, we have our window that we’ll know where he is, so we can scoop him up.”
“Six days seems like a long time for him to be hanging out at the resort,” Cooper said. “Is he also conducting business there? If we surveil him, we may identify others who need to be off the street as well.”
“I had also considered that,” Mac said. “My request for that portion was also declined by my superiors at Interpol.”
“Which is why you came to ask for our help rather than intercepting him alone,” Shepherd said. “We both know you could have secured him alone.”
“Doable, but not optimal,” Mac said. “And if he’s meeting with any cartel heavy hitters, there may be additional security in place that would royally fuck up my ability to carry out my mission.”
Yvette saw the expression on Shepherd’s face that signaled he agreed with Mac’s assertion. She could also see the gears turning in Shepherd’s head. He was already mentally staffing the mission.
“Plus, there is the exfil and the interrogation to consider as well as transmitting the intel to the appropriate agencies, which are all your team’s specialty,” Mac added.
There was silence in the room for several beats before Shepherd spoke.
“I think nine of my team on the ground in Cancun, including our onsite Ops Team,” Shepherd said.
His gaze shifted to Yvette. “With zero lead-time on this, we’re going to limit the Ops Team to two.
I’m going to assign Garcia to be your Ops partner so if anything goes south, we can pull him into the action. ”
She nodded. She knew she could tap on the Digital Team as well as the HQ Ops Team for assistance if needed.
Then Shepherd’s eyes shifted to Cooper. “You and Miller will be booked guests, as will Lambchop and Saxton, to surveil our target and any of his associates we may identify.”
“Roth and Woods would be the last logical team members,” Cooper said. “She’s ready for a mission such as this.”
“We do need a team medic, and I do think staffing our mission with couples who are checked into the resort as guests will provide us the best cover,” Shepherd said.
“Agreed,” Cooper said. “Two men would be more suspicious for the cartel security.”
“Mother will round out the team,” Shepherd said. “Including you,” Shepherd added, his gaze shifting to Mac, “that makes ten on the ground.”
“Can Ruiz identify you, Mac?” Cooper asked.
“If I’ve done my job right, he doesn’t even know he’s been found or has been under surveillance,” he answered. “He’s never seen me.”
“What will be your cover during this Op?” Shepherd asked.
“I’ve already checked into the resort. I plan to make contact with him as a customer.
He may be on the Red List and arrestable, but I’d still like to have irrefutable proof at the moment of arrest to back me up and to shove the resistance I received right down the General Secretariat’s throat.
I also want to learn how he’s conducting business and find out with whom.
It’s not enough to take him down. I want to dismantle the entire organization.
If this is the end of my career, I plan to go out with a bang. ”
Yvette noticed, as did Shepherd and Cooper, that Mac’s voice was strong and unapologetic. There was no bitterness or anger in his tone, just his righteous desire to take one of the world’s worst criminals into custody.
“Mother will be your protection,” Shepherd said as he nodded at Mac, approving his plan.
“Do you believe the General Secretariat of Interpol is personally protecting this guy?” Cooper asked.
“No, but someone he has deferred decision-making power to, is.” Mac paused, and his eyes swept from Shepherd to Cooper. “How fast can you put this together?”
Shepherd checked his watch. “It’ll take a few hours. Angel will make the reservations for our three couples at the resort.” Shepherd said.
“Ruiz is booked in building one, which is also where my room is. There are no appropriate structures for the onsite Ops Center close enough to the resort. If we can sneak our people and equipment onto the resort property, my room can function as the Ops Center,” Mac said.
“Mac, get all the particulars to Garcia ASAP. His Digital Team will pull together the info on the resort so we can fully formulate the plan.”
Mac nodded.
“I’ll arrange a covert flight to a DEA landing strip in the area for the team so we can bring in the equipment and weapons.
We’ll drop the three couples at the airport for transport to the resort to further secure their cover.
We should be able to have full deployment of the team achieved by nineteen hundred tomorrow. ”
“I’ll fly back this afternoon to resume my surveillance of Ruiz,” Mac said.
His statement disappointed Yvette. She was hoping for another night alone with him.
“Yvette, you’ll fly back with him and communicate with Garcia regarding the tech needs for our onsite Ops Center,” Shepherd said.
Yvette fought the smile that wanted to form on her face. “Yes, sir,” she answered.
“We’ll bring your weapon when we come tomorrow,” Cooper said.
“I have several available in Cancun,” Mac said. He winked at Yvette.
“We meet again at thirteen hundred,” Shepherd ordered. “Make your flight to Cancun after that. Angel can arrange your travel.”
Mac nodded. “If this blows up in our faces, Shep, you can have plausible deniability by stating that I never informed you of the stand-down order. I’ll take full responsibility.”
“I’m counting on it not coming to that. Let’s get this bastard and every cartel contact he has. Taking all of them out will negate any repercussions.”
Cooper was the first to come to his feet. “I’ll notify the team and arrange to get those on missions back to HQ.”
“Thank you,” Shepherd said.