Chapter 31 #2
“Isn’t this a small fucking world. Apparently, Dean didn’t run because he is trying to take down his father and Keene at the same time. Yasmine wasn’t sure if the meet was still on, but knew that Keene was flying in tomorrow night.”
Trev looked at the four soldiers with him. “Understood, we will wait until tomorrow to attack. Do you have a callback number?”
“Yeah, she is with the Alvarez family.”
“Let her know we got the message and we will do what we can to get Dean and Maeve out safely.”
“Gates are opening,” Arek warned.
“I’ve got to go,” Trev said and quickly hung up the phone. “Can you see who it is?”
“No, but I’m assuming it is Carlos by the procession. There are four SUVs and a limo.”
Dust billowed into the air behind the vehicles like a trackable tail. “We don’t know how long he’ll be gone, but the guards will probably be even laxer now. Let’s move to a better spot and hunker down for the day. Looks like we’re holding off our attack until tomorrow.”
“I don’t like waiting. What if Maeve was in one of those cars?” Wolf asked.
“Attacking now won’t allow us a chance to track down those vehicles any faster if that were the case.
If Dean has a plan in place, then we should take his lead and attack with him, not blow up what he’s got planned.
Besides, killing Keene so that our brothers are not working for a gun-for-hire takes precedence over anything else.
You know that,” Trev argued, and Wolf’s eyes darted to the compound.
“If you try it, I will tie you up and leave you here in the desert until the job is done.”
With a nod, the matter was sealed.
They slid back from the ridge, then cut down into the arroyo. The dry bed hugged them, walls rising just enough to hide their shapes. Sand muffled their feet.
Halfway down, Kes signaled to halt. He tilted his head, and Trev heard it too, a bit of Spanish drifting across the dark, the voice lazy and slurred. The man’s voice laughed and was joined by others.
Arek signaled that he was going to investigate and slinked off into the dark. He returned a few minutes later and reported that there were four men. They looked like off-duty guards or locals daring to hang out near the compound. They were telling jokes and stories, but nothing useful.
“You want to kill them?” Kes asked.
“No, we don’t know if they are a threat. If they are locals, then it's needless blood on our hands. Can we get around them?”
Arek nodded. “Stay low, follow me.”
The men had a small fire burning and played a guitar as they passed by, undetected.
They reached the south fence as the wind shifted.
A slight cool breeze, and the dogs at the gate pricked their ears.
The team froze. The wind carried their scent away, keeping them hidden.
The dogs shivered, then rested their heads back on their paws, as if life was a long yawn.
Arek slid to the corner where two fence panels met. He ran gloved fingers over the wire and raised a brow. “Gentlemen, and Morry. Someone has already used this spot as a rabbit hole.”
The panel rattled at the slightest touch. Two metal ties had been cut and bent back to appear intact. Whoever was on the inside needed a hole more than they needed a job.
Kes produced a tool from somewhere a priest would never think to look.
He twisted the fence and pulled the lips of it open wider.
Morry slipped through first, followed by Wolf and Arek.
Trev signaled for Kes to go, and then he took up the rear.
One hand on the links, he slipped through the opening into the sparse bush that covered the hole.
The place smelled like oil and dust, but beneath it lingered the stench of oppression.
The place had a presence of its own, pressing on his heart like a heavy hand.
Inside the walls, they kept to the shadows and dashed around a field, heading straight for the newest-looking building. Voices came and went near the gate, men joking about a fight, about a woman, about a football match, Trev didn’t care about.
Morry signaled that it was all clear, and they darted around the side of the building toward the large door.
As soon as Trev got close to the door, a connection request blinked on the tiny screen of his watch.
A red dot and letters asking if he wanted to pair.
He tapped on the signal with his thumb and read the device ID, a short string of numbers and a name that someone hadn’t changed because why would they? HUMR-02.
Trev smiled as they reached the door.
Arek squatted to jimmy the low-tech lock.
Trev angled his wrist toward the large bay and shook his head.
Some idiot left the default protocols unsecured.
His device slipped through and linked like a thin blade through old tape.
Telemetry crawled across the screen. Ignition status, door locks, GPS ping, and a lazy heartbeat were fed to him as his watch paired with the Hummer.
“Talk to me,” Kes breathed, seeing the look on his face.
“You’ll see in a second,” Trev said, just as Arek twisted the door handle and they all stepped into the building.
Morry whistled under her breath as she looked around.
“Daddy, look at all the Christmas gifts. Can I have the grenade launcher?” Arek chimed as he headed for the tall shelves filled with equipment.
“There is enough stuff in here to start a war,” Wolf grumbled.
Trev let them take off like a bunch of kids in a candy store, but his eyes were solely on the line of Hummers.
It was the third one in the line that hadn’t been properly logged off or locked.
He opened the door, slipped inside, and quickly finished the pairing before working his magic to lock anyone else from being able to start it.
An hour later, they were hunkered down in a corner of the building, the rest getting a little sleep as he kept his eyes on the door.
Nothing pissed Trev off more than soldiers being taken advantage of. What Keene was doing violated everything they stood for. He wasn’t sure if the soldiers working for Keene knew, or if only a few did. It didn’t matter. When the dust settled, Trev would have justice.
“Game on,” Trev whispered.