CHAPTER 15
DAMIáN
Damn it… what do I take?…
I am stunned, because for the first time since we opened Harknett, I have absolutely no idea what I need to take with me on the mission… and that’s because, for the first time in Harknett history, we are heading into a raid completely blind.
“What the hell do I take?” Leif asks, voicing my exact thoughts out loud.
“I was wondering the same thing,” I admit, turning around to check on the rest of the team.
Tae is packing a trauma kit that could supply an entire hospital, Knox decided on a rifle and two sidearms, and Bjorn… Bjorn has two machetes crisscrossed on his back, a handgun on his hip, an assault rifle slung across his chest, and is inspecting a bazooka.
He catches my shocked expression and flashes a cocky grin. “You know I am never unprepared, Dami.”
Alexios walks in, his wavy brown hair tied in a ponytail. He hands each of us an earpiece with a built-in mic and a biometric bracelet that, if our vitals spike or drop, automatically sends him a distress signal along with our exact GPS location.
“Here, Dami.”
“Thanks,” I say, snapping the bracelet onto my wrist.
“Has Oliver contacted you?” Logan asks, walking into the room, and starts to gear up for the raid. “Does he know anything about this?”
“He hasn’t. Yesterday was the Stevens’ extraction, and he didn’t get home until six in the morning, so I assume he’s still asleep.” I check the time… It is 2:00 p.m.
He texted me around six saying he was home and exhausted. That is eight hours of sleep, but after what he went through… yeah, I give him at least two more hours before he wakes up.
“I’m not liking this, boss,” Law says, packing ammo for his sniper rifle.
“Neither do I,” Logan admits. “But I don’t know when we’ll get another opportunity like this, and I trust all Harknetts to know exactly what to do, even if we’re going in blind.”
“That’s a lot of trust in a team, mate,” Law teases.
“I’m not trusting a team. I’m trusting my brothers.”
“Besides, it’s not like we are going for different cartels,” says Knox, and throws two boxes of ammo into his bag. “It’s three corporate assholes. What could go wrong?”
“Ahhh! He jinxed it!” Bjorn groans loudly. “He just jinxed it.”
Knox stops sharpening his knife, using the blade to point directly at Bjorn. “I didn’t jinx a thing.”
“You probably did,” Tae agrees, tossing a few extra medical supplies into his bag just in case.
And as they continue bickering on how to cleanse the jinx, I decide to add an extra pack of ammo for my pistol, a combat knife, and a rope in case it is needed.
Once I’m geared up, I grab my bag and head down to the underground garage. I help the team pack our equipment into three separate vans: one for the sniper and tech, one for defense, and one for offense.
“I’m almost set back here,” I call out, arranging my bag in the trunk.
BZZT! BZZT!
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and check the caller ID; it’s Oliver.
I answer the call, pinning the phone between my ear and my shoulder so I can finish securing my rifle. “Hey, nene. What’s up?”
“It’s not Oliver,” a woman’s voice replies. It’s Zara, and she sounds completely panicked. “I can’t find him…”
My hands stop moving. “What do you mean you can’t find him? Where are you?”
Nearby, Logan and Bjorn give me worried looks, while the rest of the team is busy loading up the other two vans.
“We’re at a party,” Zara says, and I can barely hear her over the music in the background. “Ollie took drugs.”
What the…?
Wasn’t he asleep?
Didn’t they just party on the yacht yesterday?
What the fuck is he doing at another party, rolling on drugs at three in the afternoon?
Suddenly, I’m hit with an intense mix of emotions. I am worried about him because Zara can’t find him, but I’m also annoyed he’s being this fucking irresponsible… especially without giving me a heads-up, and today of all days.
“Sorry, Zara,” I toss the last bag into the trunk. “I don’t have the time to check on Oliver on one of his drug trips today. Text me when you find him, and I’ll check on him tonight.”
I pull the phone away from my ear, and my thumb hovers over the end button when Zara screams.
“Damián, listen to me! Oliver has never done drugs!”
I am just about to slide into the driver’s seat, but I stop completely with one foot still on the pavement. Logan immediately notices the panic on my face and realizes something is wrong.
I press the phone back to my ear. “What do you mean he’s never done drugs? I’ve seen the coke tray in his room, and the E pills in his bathroom.”
“He uses it as a cover for whenever he needs to lock himself away to work on intel for the agencies. He asks Silvio for the drugs so his family thinks he’s just getting high. In the end, he just flushes it all down the toilet.”
Fuck…
My heart and mind start racing at the same time.
The intel said he was a murderer, but that was a lie… he saves them, not kills them. The intel said he was an addict, but that’s also a lie… he just uses the drugs to fake a bender so he can be left alone to work.
And if the deaths and the drugs are a lie, then…
Dios mío…
“Zara… How much of Oliver’s public persona is a lie?” I ask, already dreading the answer.
“…Everything about him is a lie.”
Everything… even his hookups were a lie.
And just like that, it all makes perfect sense. From his physical reactions, to the way he moves, to the way he clings to my body and sighs at the smallest touch.
Oh crap…
I’ve been pushing him to walls, and grinding against him.
Madre Santa… I need to apologize to this man.
But first, I need to find him.
I look up at Logan, unable to hide the fear in my eyes. Oliver is lost and in danger, but I can’t just abandon the mission.
“Go,” Logan says as he loads his duffel bag into the van.
“I can send Harry or someone else to find Oliver.”
“Go,” he repeats. “I need every man’s concentration to be one hundred percent on the mission; yours isn’t. Go find him.”
I put the phone back to my mouth. “What party, Zara?”
“Private party at the Os.”
“Keep looking for him. I’ll be there in ten.” I hang up and take a small revolver from the glove compartment, just in case.
I’m barely securing the gun in my holster when Bjorn snatches the van keys from my hand and slides into the driver’s seat. “Yeah, yeah, go. It’s not like you bring anything to the table anyway.”
I let out a laugh. “Ass…”
Bjorn closes the door and waves through the open window. “Love you too. Now shoo-shoo, go save your man.”
“Keep me updated and call if you need backup,” I say, and Logan nods.
Without wasting more time, I run toward my car, turn on the engine, and leave the garage, heading in the exact opposite direction from the Harknett vans.
Carajo…
This is the first time I’ve left my team for a raid this size, but Logan is right… I can’t be of any help to them if my mind is somewhere else, or in this case, on someone else.
I arrive at the club, park my car at the back, and knock four times on the back door. Five seconds later, a tall Japanese man with long hair opens the door and hands me an earpiece connected to a radio.
“I’ve let the waiters and security know to be on the lookout. The radio will let you know if they find anything.”
I put on the earpiece and clip the radio to my pants. “Thank you, Hiroshi. I owe you,” I say, and pat him on the back as I walk inside.
Inside, the music is loud, and the place is beyond packed.
What the hell, people!
It’s freaking three PM on a Tuesday… does nobody work?
I move across the crowd on the dance floor, using my shoulders and arms to shove everyone aside. A woman with bright lipstick grabs my bicep, pressing herself against me, and slurs something I really don’t care to understand.
“Sorry, I’m taken,” I say, realizing how much I like how that sounds.
A few feet later, a guy steps into my path, trailing a hand down my chest, but I just glare at him and keep moving.
Finally, near the edge of the VIP section, I spot Zara on top of a chair, looking around and crying.
“Zara!”
“I can’t find him.” She jumps from the chair and sobs against my chest.
“Hey! It’s okay. I am here, and I promise you I’ll find him.
” I hold her by the shoulders and look straight into her green eyes.
“But Zara, I need you to calm down and stay focused. Can you do that?” I ask, and she nods, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“Good. Explain as fast as you can what happened.”
“I went to get lunch with Ollie, like I always do after our ethical smuggling, but Rafael was waiting for us and brought us here instead. It’s not the first time he’s dragged us to a club and dumped us with his guards, but it’s definitely the first time it’s been this early.”
“Where are the guards now?”
“That’s also strange because they left as soon as another group showed up with the drugs.
We’ve partied with this crowd before, so we figured we’d just let Rafael do his controlling dramas while we sat down to talk…
we weren’t even drinking alcohol. But then Ollie said he felt weird and went to the bathroom.
Right after he left, I heard one of the guys bragging about slipping something into Oliver’s Coke, and… ”
“And what?”
“…And that after years of being rejected, he was finally going to hook up with him tonight.”
“Zara… is that fucking man still here right now?”
“No…”
“Describe him.”
“Not much taller than me, short blond hair, green eyes, and has an obviously fake black Dior shirt.”
“When was the last time you saw Oliver or the man?”
“The man, ten minutes ago, and Oliver, a bit more than that. We were at the main bar, and that’s when he said he needed to go to the bathroom.”
I click on the radio. “Damián here. I want eyes in both bathrooms, and we are looking for a man, five six, short blond hair, green eyes, and has a black Dior shirt.”
“On it,” says a voice over the comms.
“Anything else?” I ask Zara.