Chapter Ten
“The question I have for you is, are you going or not?” Will asks.
I feel lucky he’s here considering his newborn back home, but he insisted that since I went in with him to free Nyssa’s best friend, he feels he owes it to me to do the same with someone who may be my sister.
I haven’t been able to go back to Rosarita to visit Allee, however, and that’s what’s been bothering me. I was set to go back and visit her Friday, but as I was grabbing my things to head down, I got a text from one of my team members in regards to the photos we’d recovered.
He let me know that they’d come up with a location for the woman I thought may be my sister. It was unexpected and fast – and the best news I’d heard in a long time. So, I’d made the difficult decision so many people in the service have to make – I have to put my personal feelings aside for a moment and focus on the latest development with the mission.
I called Will to get his opinion on the matter, and he not only agreed I was doing the right thing by exploring this development but also insisted he come to Mexico for the pre-op briefing. I’m not sure if he’s thinking of going in with me, and I almost don’t even want to put him in that position. But I also want to have the most solid team possible.
“I’m going in,” I tell him with a resolute nod. “But are you?”
He’s looking at the map in front of us, but the look on his face tells me he’s thinking of home – his new wife and baby waiting for him there – and my mind drifts back to Allee.
A pang of guilt runs through me when I think about staying here for another week to complete this mission, and I find little comfort in Will’s nod.
“Yeah man, SEALs for life, right?” he says. “We don’t turn a blind eye to someone in need.”
I give him a smile, feeling the comradery of the moment. Then, I turn my attention back to the map.
“From what we’re being told, the woman in question is working for an incredibly wealthy family. Domestic servitude. From the looks of things, shes apparently a housekeeper, nanny, cook, or all of the above. I’m relieved on that front considering the much worse alternative she could have been forced into, though I’m still dead set on getting her out of there as quickly as possible.
“How many do we have in the house?” Will asks.
“Honestly, that’s where it gets a bit uncertain,” I reply with a sigh. “We only have confirmation of this young woman, and you and I both know that doesn’t mean shit. There could be a lot more.”
“An incredibly wealthy family that only has one slave seems a bit strange, I’ll admit,” Will agrees with a solemn nod. “But I guess we’re going to have to work with what we’ve got. If that’s all they have, that’s all they have, and she needs to be extracted even if she’s the only one.”
“That’s how I’m viewing this,” I tell him. “But considering the fact there are children involved, we’re not able to go in as hot as we would if it were just men in the house.”
“How many?” Will asks again.
“Two kids, both younger. Both look to be in the eight to ten range.”
“Fuck.”
“It does complicate things,” I agree. “But doesn’t make this impossible by any means.”
“True.”
“I say the best thing to do is go in there FBI style,” I tell him. “The entire area is Cartel, but what better way to get her out of there than to walk up, knock on the door, and take care of things from the inside out?”
“Undercover so to speak?”
“Precisely. We already have personas for two men. Business personas. Show up on the doorstep while we have eyes surrounding. It’s going to require quite a bit of surveillance to ensure we have cover should something go wrong, but considering the location of this house, I do not think storming the place is going to be in the best interest of anyone… including the surrounding neighborhood.”
“Right,” Will says.
He knows what I’m talking about. It was one thing when we went to Cruz’s house and were able to come in with guns drawn and at the ready. But his estate was huge and a good distance from anything, really.
The house in question now is one that isn’t far from other homes, and the last thing any of us want is to have collateral damage of innocent civilians. I still have that meeting with Commander Beckett in the back of my mind, and I know if there are any casualties of the sort, I might as well kiss this entire operation goodbye.
Assuming the mission goes according to plan, our men would take custody of those who were in the house and take them in for questioning. For them to have this woman as their slave meant that they had very real cartel connections, and taking them in for questioning could prove very valuable and lead us to liberate a lot more people.
But if we have any fuckups, I’m not sure even Commander Buckley would be able to get me out of that, even if he is on my side. Though I do manage to get a lot of shit done, there are drawbacks to going rogue as much as I do, and I don’t want to jeopardize JTFL by being too reckless or aggressive with our efforts.
“Once our guys are on the inside, they’ll basically let those in charge of the house know they’re military and there for the rescue. With the element of surprise in their corner, they can hopefully pull off getting the woman out of there without having it turn into any sort of shit show.”
“But if it does go south, we’ll have our backup team on the other side of those walls to intervene and get control of the situation,” Will says.
From drone surveillance, the woman we’re looking at is a match to the woman whose photos I have. But there’s no way for us to know how long she’s been with this particular family or how long she will be there. Even with all the insider information we’re able to get from Cruz, the internal workings of the cartel are still a mystery to many of us.
And it doesn’t help that sometimes it’s a guessing game, even for Cruz. “Every Cartel is different and there’s no set pattern or profile for how each one operates. I can’t tell you why they do the things they do.”
“If we agree that this is how we want to go about it, how long until we can be on the ground?” Will asks.
“As soon as Monday morning,” I reply. It’s Saturday afternoon, so all things considered, that’s moving pretty fast. It’s not impossible, but it does mean we’re going to have to really move things along in order to make it happen.
“That’s when I’d like to pull the trigger on this. Time is of the essence since we don’t know how much time we have before she moves again or simply vanishes. The sooner we can get in, the better.”
“Good,” Will says, but then he hesitates. I give him an inquisitive look.
“What’s going on?”
“What’s your role in this?” he asks, replying to my question with one of his own.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean where do you fit in? Are you going to be on the inside or watching the place?” he asks.
“The way you’re looking at me is telling me that you have an opinion,” I reply.
“I do, as a matter of fact. I don’t think you should be on the inside.”
“What?” I demand. “The fuck are you saying?”
“Think about it,” he says. “We don’t know for sure whether this woman is your sister, but if she is, how are you going to respond when you see her? Even with all your training, emotion is a powerful thing. I would hate for you to be the one in there and inadvertently blow your cover. You have a lot going on, bud.”
I can’t argue with his logic, though I’m rather pissed that he’s pointing it out to me. I never like hearing that I might not be the best fit for any given role, especially when it comes to something as personal as this, but he’s right. A single slip-up could result in people dying.
Including the woman in question.
“I would really like someone solid in there,” I say in response.
“You’re looking at him.”
“Will, you know you’re putting your own life on the line here.”
“Definitely wouldn’t be the first time,” he says with a laugh.
And he’s right. I feel a little guilty for it, but I also know it’s his decision. I’m not his boss, and he’s solid in my mind.
“I’ll have eyes on the whole place,” I tell him. “I got your six, man.”
“No doubt, dude,” he says. “I need you to trust me to get the job done. With any luck, we’ll get in and out without having to pull any triggers.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” I joke, and he laughs.
“Alright, let’s get our plan underway. If we’re able to move according to the timeframe you’ve laid out here, then we have less than forty-eight hours to be on the ground.”
“Sounds about right.”
He nods, and I try to keep my thoughts in check. I still can’t shake the feeling that something feels really familiar about the woman, though I can’t say why. My heart wants to tell me that it’s because we are family, but logically, I know this woman could be anyone.
She deserves to be saved regardless, and that’s what we’re about to do. I just hope that the operation goes well and that we can get in and out quickly and easily.
I really don’t want the operation to escalate to violence, but it seems every time we are in contact with the Cartels, that’s the direction it goes. They are ruthless and plentiful, but I still like to think that good trumps evil and I hope for the best.
“Ok, I’ll get to work on logistics,” Will tells me, “And shoot you a text when we can work out more of the details.”
“Roger that, man. Thanks again.”
He leaves my office and I sit back in my chair, my eyes drifting back toward Allee’s photos. I’ve looked at them a million times over the past few months, and every time I do, my heart swells with both the love I have for that woman, as well as the worry I feel about whether she’ll come out of this or not.
“As soon as I get this handled,” I tell the photo. “I’m coming back down to Rosarita to be with you. Don’t you worry.”
I kiss my fingers and put them to her photo, then I turn my attention back to my computer.
I have a lot of reason to believe that this woman we’re about to rescue is, in fact, my sister, so I finally feel safe telling my parents about the mission. I don’t want them to get their hopes up needlessly, but the fact of the matter is that they will need to come to Coronado as soon as possible to support Libby through this whole thing.
God knows how much she’s going to need the outpouring of love and support after we pull her out of slavery, especially considering the level of debriefing and medical evaluations she’s going to be subjected to for the first few weeks. It’s going to be quite a change for her, and though I know without a doubt she needs to be rescued, I can also sympathize with how hard it is for someone to be torn out of the life they have lived for years, even if it is a terrible situation.
I thought about calling my mother and telling her about the situation on the phone, but I decide to send her an email about it instead. I don’t tell her a lot about what we’re going to be doing with the mission, but I do tell her where she and my father are going to need to be when we return from the mission.
My mother has thankfully kept all of Libby’s medical and dental records, as well as a lot of her personal items, so if Libby struggles to remember life before she was kidnapped, it will help us be able to properly identify her.
Fuck, after all these years, I doubt she’d recognize me at all, and our parents have aged significantly as well. The shock of the entire event will only add another layer of struggle for her, so it’s going to be a lot for her to handle, I know.
But I also feel like I am closer than ever to bringing her home and finally being able to make peace with myself over what happened. I know I’ll never be able to forgive myself for her kidnapping happening on my watch that day so many years ago, but having her home is going to be the best thing I can do to start the healing process.
Once she’s home safe, I can turn most of my attention to Allee and how she’s doing. Of course, I’m going to still be working with the team and conducting other recon and rescue missions, but I’m not going to have so many of my emotions tied to the rescues, which will make them that much easier on my end.
As I send off the email, I sigh. This is the closest I’ve ever come to finding Libby in the almost twenty years she’s been missing, and I’m almost scared to let myself think about what might happen if we do bring her home. It’s a strange mix of excitement and anxiety, and I hope against hope it’s really her.
God, how I hope it’s her.