Chapter 65 Nico
NICO
My parents came over right before we all left for the airport. Dad told me he wanted them to be there to support Maddy while we were gone. I appreciated that my mother was also there. She and Maddy had made up, but action meant more than words. It looked like they really were in a good place.
“Nico, honey. My boy, you be safe. Understand?” Mom said as I picked up my bags.
“I will, Mom. I need to get out of here. The van will be here in a minute,” I said.
Maddy came out of the living room and hugged me tightly.
She’d barely said a word all morning, and I was certain she was thinking about the worst possible outcomes.
I wrapped my arms around her, inhaling her glorious scent.
For weeks, I’d felt like all this was happening because of me.
Maddy was racked with guilt, but she was in this by accident.
Her parents and Abi being taken was my burden to bear.
The only reason they’d been taken was because the guys I’d hired to watch over them hadn’t been prepared.
I should have warned them to be ready for something like this happening, then perhaps they’d have managed to keep them out of harm's way.
All I could do to make up for it was to ensure I was the one who saved them.
“I’ll be back soon,” I whispered into Maddy’s ear.
Her head bobbed up and down in a nod against my chest. “I know. Just make sure it’s on two feet.”
“I’ll even be tap dancing if you want,” I joked.
Maddy couldn’t help but laugh. “In a tight little leotard or something?”
I nodded. “If my lady wishes.”
Without another word, she kissed me. Her lips stayed on mine for a long time.
No matter what I said or how much Maddy told me she believed me, the kiss had the distinct feeling of goodbye.
When we finally pulled apart, Dad looked at me over her shoulder and tilted his head in the direction of the door. It was time to go.
Mom came over and gently pulled Maddy away from me. “Come on now, sweetie. Nico needs to go. Can you help me in the kitchen? I was thinking of baking some loaves of bread for tonight. Are you much of a baker?”
Maddy obliged and went along with Mom. She glanced over her shoulder as I stepped out the door, tears shining in her eyes.
When I closed the door behind me, I took a couple of deep breaths before making my way down to the cul-de-sac where the fifteen-passenger van sat.
Diego and Mateo had picked it up early this morning.
The side door slid open, and Sebastian leaned out. “Get in, loser! We’re going to go save the day.”
Once we got to the airport, we split into our teams. Sebastian hadn’t budged on wanting to rescue Abi.
He, Luis, and Mateo would head to Abi’s safe house.
Javi had surprised me by volunteering to go on one of the teams. I’d called him the night before to let him know what was going on, and he’d been hell-bent on going with us.
He was with Gabriel and Rafael and would go after Maddy’s dad in Oklahoma.
Felipe, Diego, and I would go after Maddy’s mother in Chicago.
The nine of us huddled together and sorted out the tickets.
Once everyone had what they needed, the three teams split up and walked to our respective gates.
There was no big goodbye speech, no last hugs, no final declarations of brotherly love.
It all seemed so tenuous that even attempting any of those things felt like it might tip the scales against us.
We’d all been on edge since we arrived at the airport.
The walk to the plane did nothing to push away those feelings.
Each and every one of us knew that failure wasn’t an option.
I’d done everything in my power to make sure this would go off smoothly.
I’d even rented two vans identical to the one we’d used and had other members of the pack drive them.
On the highway, we’d played three-card monte, swapping places, taking different exits from each other, coming back together, and then finally going in three different directions.
If there’d been a tail, there was a much lower chance that we’d been followed.
Hopefully, they thought we were either driving to Atlanta or Louisiana like the other two vans.
Felipe and Diego sat with me in the same row, but for the most part, we didn’t talk on the two-and-a-half-hour flight.
I tried to kill time by watching a movie but gave up after an hour.
I couldn’t keep track of what was happening.
Instead, I pulled out the folder with all the information Maddy’s birth mother had given us.
I’d already committed the blueprints and security codes to memory, but it was comforting to know I had my hands on the information.
I was trying to memorize the security teams’ lunch schedules, but that was more to keep my mind occupied.
The only times we really needed to worry about were five o’clock in the afternoon and midnight.
That was when the two shifts switched off.
And at midnight, we’d make our move. God help us all.
Once we landed in Chicago, I sent Maddy a quick text, letting her know we’d arrived:
We made it. I love you. See you soon.
Maddy replied within seconds.
I love you too. Be careful!
Felipe, Diego, and I disembarked and headed straight for the rental car kiosk. The plan was for Diego to rent a car and go ahead of us. He’d scope out the area and see if everything looked like it was supposed to. The other teams would be following the same plan.
Felipe and I rented our own car and sent Diego on his way. We killed time by having lunch in an airport restaurant. As we were finishing our meal, Diego called me.
“Hey, big brother. I got good news.”
“Let’s hear it,” I said.
“Everything is exactly like it should be. Looks good. No extra men, nothing out of the ordinary. I think if we can see the shift change happen as the schedule says at five, we’re golden.”
“Okay. We’ll grab our car and meet you at the hotel. You still have the address?”
“Yeah. See you there.”
On the ride over, I sent the other teams a text message letting them know we were a go. The others responded not long after. They’d found the same thing we had. The safe houses looked ripe for the picking. Things really seemed to be looking up.
We met up with Diego and all got into the same car before heading back for another recon drive-by of the house.
The whole neighborhood was in various stages of construction.
It looked like none of the homes were even occupied.
We parked three blocks away, and I used the binoculars I’d brought to zoom in on the house.
At five p.m. on the dot, a black SUV pulled up in front of the house.
Six men piled out of the car as six others exited the building.
They all wore the standard clothing of construction workers.
They were hiding the fact that all these men were coming and going from a residential house by playing it off as construction.
Cute. No one would call the cops if it seemed like all these guys were doing was working and trading out shifts, even if it was in the middle of the night.
Once the day-shift security left, the SUV pulled away from the curb. I glanced at the others. “Looks like we go at midnight.”
“How ominous,” Diego said. There was no humor in his voice.
“Let’s head back to the hotel room. Try to take a nap. I’ve barely slept the last couple of days,” I said as I turned the car in the direction of the hotel.
A few hours later, we were back in the car.
To my surprise, I actually had been able to sleep for a couple of hours.
Diego and Felipe both seemed well rested.
Nevertheless, the trip to the house was stressful.
The drive had the distinct feeling of a trip on the River Styx.
Instead of Diego at the wheel, it was Charon the boatman, steering us toward death.
I shook that thought away, not wanting to fill my head with dark nonsense.
I had enough to worry about without fantasies and nightmares taking over.
My hands were clenched into fists on top of my knees.
I was doing my best to keep them from shaking.
I knew I was brave, but bravery wasn’t a lack of fear, it was being able to push through the fear.
We pulled up a few hundred yards from the house, and Diego decided to park in the driveway of a house with a For Sale sign out front. I pulled out my phone and called Luis first.
“Luis, it’s Nico. Are you guys in position?”
“Yeah,” Luis whispered. “Good to go.”
I checked my watch. “Seven minutes until midnight. As soon as the night shift pulls away, we make the move. We’ve got to keep it coordinated. Good?”
“On it, brother.”
“Cool.” I called Javi next. His team was ready and on the same page. All that was left was the countdown.
I was thankful all the locations were in the same time zone. Was that an oversight by the royals? Or was it blind luck? Either way, I was happy with it. Otherwise, there was no way this would have been a success, even with all the information Maddy’s mother had given us.
“Car pulling up,” Diego whispered.
Through the windshield, I saw the black SUV creeping up the road to the house. I sent one last text to the rest of the teams:
Good to go! Be careful.
I gave a curt nod, and Diego, Felipe, and I got out of the car, closing the doors as quietly as we could.
The moon was masked by clouds, so the only light was the few street lights in the neighborhood.
As Diego, Felipe, and I slunk through the shadows between houses, I kept an eye on the switching teams. There were some exchanged words, handshakes here and there, then the departing team piled into the car and pulled away.