Chapter 53
Eight days, seven hours and fifty-two minutes since Rocco had last seen Jemma. Her limp body being carried away by Nomar Ortiz’s thugs as he’d screamed her name over and over.
That wasn’t how he liked to think of her.
He preferred the feisty Jemma who loved debating with him, arguing her points and trying to get him to come to her way of thinking, knowing he never would. The energized, passionate woman with the captivating smile. He’d give anything to see her smile again.
Rocco swiveled his chair to face the scribbled notes written across the whiteboard on the wall of the command center at the Stingray Security compound. All leads had led to nowhere but maybe they’d missed an angle that could be explored. He would never stop searching for Jemma and he wasn’t alone.
The men of Stingray Security had been right by his side, spending endless hours researching the dark web, reaching out to contacts and chasing down leads. They worked around the clock in shifts, with at least two men focused on the search with Rocco at all times.
The room was unusually quiet. Sebastian, Bobby, Lachlan and Everett were each working on their own angle to find Nomar. Kane and Adonis hadn’t been around since yesterday.
Most nights, Rocco barely slept, spending his time in the command center. He’d had his choice of the bedrooms in the compound, all of them decorated like a five-star hotel. Every time he laid down, sleep eluded him. He gave up and spent his time hunting down the next lead. His last check-in with Proteus revealed that they were no closer than Stingray in locating Jemma or Nomar. They had men watching Eddie but he was keeping a low profile.
Rocco dragged a hand down his face as his stomach growled.
A brown bag was thrust against his chest.
Rocco looked up to see Everett.
“Sounds like you need this,” Everett said, sitting in the chair next to him. “Goat burger with fries. I’m amazed you haven’t passed out by now from lack of sleep.”
“You and me both,” Rocco said, taking a bite of the burger.
Everett sat next to him, opening his brown bag. “Sorry I doubted you.” Everett tossed two onion rings in his mouth. “It never made sense to me that you’d lose your way and work for the cartel. But you played your role well and I came down on you hard.”
“Don’t be sorry. I hated lying to you but it’s what I had to do. I’m glad the truth is out and I can be myself again,” Rocco said.
“Not quite.”
“What does that mean?”
“Bobby’s working to make sure El Sombro and his organization never learn the truth about you. Don’t think for one second that if El Sombro realized you were a mole in his cartel that he wouldn’t send his enforcers to take you out,” Everett said. “Anything else would be seen as a sign of weakness. No drug lord can afford that.”
“That’s the least of my worries right now. Nothing matters to me except finding Jemma and …” Rocco stopped himself. He knew what he would do to Nomar. But if Everett heard his plans, his friend would try to stop him.
“Telling her you love her,” Everett said.
Rocco liked that line of thinking better. “That’s the first thing I plan to do.”
“You think she loves you back?” Everett asked, giving him a sideways glance.
Rocco paused, not sure how to answer that question. Had he broken down the walls Jemma had erected around her heart? He was confident he had. But he wasn’t sure she was ready to be in love with anyone. He was sure she wanted more time with him. For her, love might come later. He was definitely ready and willing to wait as long as it took.
He responded, “Doesn’t matter.”
“Good answer,” Everett said, resting a hand on Rocco’s shoulder.
“Look who’s back,” Lachlan called from behind them. “With a friend. Hey, Tati.”
Rocco turned around. Kane grinned as he stood next to a woman Rocco had only seen in pictures. Kane’s partner in crime and Adonis’s cousin, Tatiana Williams.
Bobby stood up from his laptop and stretched, his gaze trailing up and down Tatiana’s curvy figure. Everett’s hands clenched into fists but he didn’t say a word.
“What have the two of you been up to?” Sebastian asked.
“Doing what we do best,” Tati said.
With an expression that was half-sheepish and half-sly, Kane said, “Getting into places undetected is our specialty. Thought we needed a new approach.” Kane wiggled a cell phone toward Rocco.
Standing, Rocco walked around the oversized table dominating the room and grabbed the device. “This is Jemma’s. How did you get this?”
Tati rolled her eyes. “We liberated it from the Proteus safe house last night.”
“You did?” Rocco’s mouth gaped open.
“And on our way back, the tracking app activated for the first time since before Jemma went missing. Eddie is on the move.”
“Do you know where he is?” Everett asked, joining them.
Kane nodded. “He left one of the Outer Islands this morning. Based on the movements, we think he’s traveling by boat from the Palmchat Islands back to Puerto Rico.”
Rocco had limited information about the Palmchat Islands. The island nation was a juggernaut in the Caribbean with well-trained military, special forces and an investigative bureau. They had a history of shunning engagement with law enforcement agencies from other countries. Their primary foe was a cartel within their own borders: the PC-5.
Bobby tapped on the table and it illuminated into a topical map of the island chain. “Which island?”
Tati moved forward to stand next to Bobby, her hips brushing against his hand. She stretched forward and touched one island, swiping against it to zoom in. “This island was once owned by the Pourciau Family. They leased it and all the property on it a decade ago. It wasn’t until recently that they realized a coveted piece of artwork was left behind and they wanted it back.”
Kane said, “It was a self-portrait of Quark. He’s only down a handful of those.”
“Who is Quark?” Rocco asked.
”Only the most famous artist to hail from the Palmchat Islands and arguably the most famous in all of the Caribbean,” Lachlan said. “His work sells for millions around the world.”
Everett added, ”He’s reclusive and stingy on production, which drives the value of his work higher.” He tapped another part of the table, bringing up a satellite image labeled “Rocket Island.”
Sebastian asked, “If they wanted it back, does that mean you stole it for them?”
“Liberated!” Kane and Tati said in unison.
Sebastian raised his hands in mock surrender.
“Rocco, look here,” Everett said, pulling him back toward the table. “These are satellite images from earlier today.” He pointed at a woman in the distance walking along the perimeter of a garden followed by two armed guards.
Rocco leaned closer, heart pounding in his chest. “That’s her. That’s Jemma.”
Bobby raced back to his laptop. “I’m sending drones to fly over and give us a live feed of the island.”
Rocco turned to Tati. “When did you steal … I mean, liberate, the artwork from the island?”
“Around two years ago,” Tati responded.
“How did you get in and out avoiding the guards?” Rocco asked. Whatever Tatiana had done could be their best way onto the island. Jemma was there now, but she might not be for long.
“It was easy,” Tati said, flicking her hair over her shoulder. “An SPSS and a well-placed grotto.”
“Fucking brilliant,” Bobby said.
A self-propelled, semi-submersible was perfect for approaching the island. They were used frequently by cartels to smuggle drugs across the Caribbean to the U.S. No doubt El Sombro had a fleet of them crisscrossing the waters at this very moment.
The construction allowed them to move at high rates of speed with less than a foot of the vessel above water. They were undetectable on radar and got lost in the choppy waves of the ocean from any visual detection by law enforcement.
“Where in the hell did you get an SPSS?” Sebastian asked.
Tati’s eyes grew wide. “From Stingray Security.”
“We have an SPSS?” Everett looked stunned.
“You have four built with cutting edge cloaking technology and capability to move faster than the average fourteen miles per hour,” Tati said.
“So, you stole the SPSS from Stingray?” Lachlan asked.
“Borrowed!” Tati interjected, her eyes twinkling with defiance. “I brought it back to the underground dock. Go down there, you’ll see they are right where Ike left them.”
“This is good,” Rocco said, hope building within him. He could have Jemma safe in his arms in a matter of hours. “Tell me about the grotto. Where is it? How did you get past the guards?”
Tati slipped an arm around his waist, then stretched across the table, tapping an area not far from the garden where Jemma had been spotted on the satellite feed. “I navigated the SPSS to the grotto here. The guards are all concentrated on the part of the island near the mansion. I was able to take trails through the garden, cross the pool area and scale the house to enter on the second floor. There were no cameras on the island back then. Not sure if that’s changed.”
Bobby projected the live feed from the drones onto the three wide monitors across the front wall of the command center. The lush tropical landscape came into view, then focused in on a mansion that dominated half of the island. The garden where Jemma had been earlier was now empty.
“Guards stationed by the house,” Bobby said, zooming in on each one. “But garden and grotto area looks deserted. The scan for security equipment has only detected infrared and motion sensors. No cameras. If I was wanted by the DEA, I wouldn’t have any cameras on my private island either.”
“Bobby will stay behind and monitor our activities from the war room,” Sebastian said, doling out orders. “If we hit any law enforcement radar, we’ll need you to run interference. Bobby, do what you can online. If we need help on the ground, call Adonis to coordinate that.”
“Got it,” Bobby responded.
Sebastian continued, “We’ll take two of the SPSSs. Rocco, you’ll go with Tati and Everett. I’ll follow with Lachlan and Kane. Tati, after you deliver Rocco and Everett to the edge of the garden, come back to the grotto and wait. While they are heading into the house to get Jemma, Kane, Lachlan and I will do our best to take out as many guards as possible.”
“That’s a damn good plan,” Kane said.
“We’ll leave an hour after dusk,” Sebastian said.
Feeling a surge of excitement and a burst of adrenaline through his veins, Rocco said, “I’m ready. Where do you keep the weapons?”