by Sara Schoen
Chapter 22
Rum and I watched the sun dip out of sight hours ago. Darkness enveloped us from all sides, even with the campfires from the campers on the beach. We eavesdropped on a few conversations to see if anything had risen any red flags to endanger our mission or the civilians if the cartel was under suspicion. A few campers had discussed a stolen Jet Ski and one group had found my discarded camping supplies, causing me to laugh freely for the first time in what felt like years. The soft chuckle reverberated through me and lifted my spirits after the depressing conversation with Rum. It didn’t last long because, as promised, Sandstorm rejoined us and instantly sucked the fun out of everything.
“What’s so funny? I don’t find anything humorous about our situation.” He slowly stepped out of the shadows created by the trees, letting the moonlight and dim gleam from the campfires light his stoic features. Does he have any other emotions besides anger and indifference?
He used to, I thought, answering my own mental question. Something must have happened in the Middle East to make him go from carefree to furious at the drop of a hat. I just wish I knew what happened. Usually agents were angry when first recruited, mostly about leaving family and friends behind, but he had bloomed late. Anger can be a dangerous thing to carry around for prolonged periods of time; I should know. It wasn’t healthy, but it kept me going.
“It’s nothing that would interest you until you’ve had time to unwind and learn how to do things the new CIRA way,” I answered, smiling as I leaned back on my elbows into the sand. “I had to come up with some way to follow you guys across the lake. It just wasn’t on the up and up as you would like it to be,” I answered, explaining our laughter.
Rum laughed openly and uninhibited, attracting the attention of the closest campers, to which she received Sandstorm’s death glare as Siren joined us. She lightly knocked his shoulder as she walked by, taking a seat next to Rum on the log. Sandstorm rolled his eyes and groaned in defeat. Something about him when he did that seemed familiar, not because I knew him before, but just something was too familiar. I hadn’t noticed it before, and before I could let the thought develop, he spoke again.
“We know why we’re here, so let’s get this over with before Rum alerts anyone else to our presence.”
“Relax,” Siren whined as she swiped the loose strands of hair away from her face. “They probably just think we’re on vacation. I need time to unwind anyway. Being in that cartel makes me anxious and not in a good way.” She laid back in the sand, lacing her fingers together behind her head to provide separation between her hair and the loose grains.
“Fine, sit back and relax while I explain it again.” Sandstorm groaned, clearly annoyed at having to work with us, but if he wanted his plan to work then he needed us. He wanted us to follow his lead, but we each ran teams or trained other agents and refused to be treated like rookies again. He wasn’t in charge, and we wouldn’t let him control us. He could call the shots, but not take over our team. “Tomorrow, at around seven in the morning, the helicopter will arrive and the trainees for the upper level positions will go out about five minutes later, maybe less. So you have to be ready to move because Harley will want the transfer to happen as quickly as possible. You will have three minutes, at most, to get yourselves in position.”
“By that time, I’ll be in the helicopter mowing them down with the gun.”
“Right.” His voice was tight as he replied to me, filled with anger he was trying to hold back due to me interrupting him. “Rum will be your back up when the other cartel members are ordered out. At that time the failsafe will activate. I still haven’t figured out what it is. Harley keeps it close to his chest and gives very little away to outsiders no matter whether we are trading partners or not. So all I know is no one wants to be the one down there when it’s time to use it so I assume it’s not pretty. So be prepared for anything you two.”
I nodded, having no desire to reply and have his anger unleash on me again.
“Siren, are you ready for a little up close action?” He turned his gaze to her, but she didn’t meet it.
“No. I’m not doing it.” Unlike Sandstorm, her voice was level and calm. She must have been thinking about this for a while now. Maybe the anger she felt for the cartel at the meeting when they wanted to go after the CIRA building, and everyone inside, hadn’t been her desire to save as many people as possible. I had hoped she could push past it, but I wasn’t surprised and Rum didn’t seem to be either. We remained stoic as Siren continued, “I’d rather take out all the other members and make sure they don’t have enough people to come back after us when we are done here. Take Spit Fire with you instead. After all, she came here to eliminate Harley. If he’s gone and the upper level members are gone, Rum and I get rid of the cronies. You two take over and finish what you came here to do.”
“I thought you were going to try to save some of them again,” I state, the shock ringing clear in my voice. “I never expected you to stand aside for me to take a life.”
She sighed, seeming torn once again between her want to save those who could be and saving CIRA. “They can’t be saved. If they’re here already and we attack them it could give them a reason just to come after us later, and I don’t want that. I don’t want to lose anymore friends or watch anymore of them die in front of me because of this cartel. They’ve taken too much from me already. I’ll fight the recruits and lower level members with Rum, that way you can get Harley and end this for good. You won’t have the chance to kill him if you’re on the front lines, because we know he won’t be there and I’d prefer to have someone who knows him going after him. I don’t want him escaping and starting all over again.”
My gaze turned to Sandstorm, who seemed to be waiting for me to respond. “Thank you, Siren. I’ll be happy to take your spot. If Sandstorm can deal with the upper level guys, then I can go in and deal with Harley.”
Sandstorm nodded before he produced a folded piece of paper from his back pocket and handed it to me. “I brought these to show you in case you finished off the members outside and wanted to join us, but if you’re coming with me then you need to know these building plans so you don’t get lost. The back offices turn into a maze. I guess that’s because they based this off the ‘better’ parts of each base. The maze came from Sandtown, the sizing came from Georgia, and the construction is based off of one in Colorado, but you get the gist. The good news is there’s only one building that I’ve noticed the upper levels, including Harley, stay in. Even though Harley moves his office within that building we can end this here.”
“If he moves his office, then how are we going to find him?” I ask as I unfold the building plans to take a look at what I’m up against. I sigh with relief when it’s open and see it’s not another one of Sandstorm’s poorly illustrated maps.
There’s one building circled out of the four on the plans, and I’m assuming that’s where we will be going. He kneels down and points to the circled building on the second floor as he speaks. “I know from a source, who I’m not going to out, where he will be. We will find him here.” Sandstorm placed his finger on the map, pointing to a room in the far right of the building, away from the other upper level guys. “It’s near an escape so if we aren’t careful then he can slip out and we might lose him. I’m glad you’re willing to go after him when it’s time. He shouldn’t be tipped off to us coming, I made sure of that, but he’ll still try to run when he does find out.”
I’m tempted to ask how Sandstorm is so sure Harley won’t be tipped off, but I knew how interrogating cartel members worked. There was only one option after getting the information, kill them. No wonder they got here so late, he probably finished off the cartel member before coming here.
“We’ll go in through this building during the movement of the upper level trainees going to the chopper so they won’t notice.” He points to the building just to the left of the one we want to be in. “Then once they start gunning we move and head to our target.
” He looks to me to make sure I heard him. When I nod in understanding, he turns to face Siren. “You will go to the chopper and disable it when you finish with the gun. Remember, we can’t let any upper level people or prospects survive this. I don’t want them coming back.”
“Got it.”
“Good. The helicopter that’s coming is a Huey with two machine guns pintle mounted in the doorway. I hope you can handle that fire power because that’s what you’ll use to take out the first and maybe half of the second wave of cartel members. Use the one closest to the compound first, and then go to the one that will be in the back so you can give yourself some room to escape if needed. Once it runs out of ammo make sure you disable both the chopper and the guns just to be safe. If you’re smart, you’ll find a way to disable the helicopter before the shooting starts. Either way you do it, this will be brutal. Can you handle that?”
Siren rolled her eyes as if the question insulted her. “Yes, I can handle that.”
“Good, we start tomorrow before the helicopter lands. I want you all in position around the same set of trees you’ve been sitting in, then before it happens everyone get into position. Spit Fire, I want you in the first building before that helicopter lands so I can be with you when it starts. Siren and Rum, work it out between yourselves how you want it set up. Siren can run and gun everyone down before you come out, it’s up to you, just make it work. For now, get some sleep and then go over the plan again before the helicopter lands so you’re all on the same page.” He paused, waiting for us to reply. We nodded in response before he ended our meeting. “Spit Fire, I’ll meet you inside. You’re my battle buddy. You two, I’ll see you if we all somehow survive this.”
He got up and gestured for Siren to follow. Rum and I didn’t move as they disappeared into the shadows nor once they had vanished. For now, we would wait for sunrise and then we’d head back to our usual set of trees to wait for the everything to fall into place. A gnawing feeling in my gut made me wonder if we would all live or die, and who would be dead by this time tomorrow.
Hopefully only the ones who deserved it—namely Harley.
Chapter 23
Rum and I made it back to our usual spot a few hours before Siren was supposed to meet us. The sun hadn’t risen above the horizon when we returned, so we agreed to catch a few more hours of sleep before we had to fight for our lives. Once again we situated ourselves on a tree branch out of view and let sleep take over. It felt as if I had only slept for a few minutes before Rum shook me awake to start the day, or at least I thought it was Rum, but when I opened my eyes I got more than I bargained for. Someone I wasn’t expecting was way to close to me. I had to force myself not to react violently as the sleepy daze slowly drained away from my eyes, and I took in her familiar face.
Her blue gaze stared back at me through umber bangs with an accompanying mischievous smile. “Wakey, wakey! I didn’t come all this way to watch you sleep. I came to get shit done!”
“Night Stripe, are you asking for me to punch you in the face? I thought you were a cartel member or something,” I cried as I moved away slightly to put some distance between us and get my personal space back. Why did she have to be so close to me when she woke me up? It’s like she was begging for me to hit her. I stretched as her words and my location caught up to me. For a moment I’d thought I was back at CIRA because she shouldn’t be here. “What are you doing here? How did you get here and know where to find us? You should be back at CIRA!”
“Why are you upset with just me for coming?”
“What do you mean just you? Someone else was dumb enough to follow you here?”
“Of course. You think they’d let me come alone?” She gestured below us, revealing that Renegade and Camo had come as well. Camo waved, bouncing on her toes in excitement, when she noticed me watching them, while Renegade nodded in my direction and continued to carry on with his conversation with Rum.
Why was I not surprised? These three seemed inseparable, especially when it came to suicide missions regarding cartels. Why couldn’t they just stay home? They’d be safe there. They could live to see tomorrow, but instead they decided to join us. Could I really blame them though? I was doing the same thing. Seeker told me it was stupid, but that didn’t stop me. Vendettas against cartels ran deep in CIRA. I should be thankful it was just these three instead of the whole agency. That would ruin the surprise attack.
I sighed. “What were you thinking? You guys should all be back at CIRA.”
“You must be kidding yourself if you think I wouldn’t be here to finally end the Cardoza Cartel for good,” Renegade called up to us before motioning for us to come down. Night Stripe leapt to the ground to meet him, and I was right on her heels as I landed a few feet away from them. Renegade directed her toward Rum before turning his attention back to me. “You knew Night Stripe wouldn’t give up either. She found out about them and is the only reason you’re here. She kept your secret for you and prevented more people from coming with us to stop you sooner, but that doesn’t mean we were planning on sitting out the whole thing. We want to be here to help you stop them.”
“But how did you get here? There’s no way Sharp Shooter let you guys come without any backup.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Camo chimed in, smiling brightly. “He decided sending us out was for the best and got Maverick to give us a ride. Don’t worry, we didn’t blow your cover or anything, we got dropped off further south and met up with another agent who gave us a ride. He’s been in the area for a while working on smaller trafficking organizations so it wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary for him. You’re still in the clear.”
“Besides, Sharp Shooter knew I’d come on my own if I had to. He knew he had very little chance of keeping me in CIRA when the undercover agent called in his plan, and told him it would be over by tomorrow. I wasn’t going to sit out of this fight and hear about it later. It took him a few years, but Sharp Shooter has finally learned it’s just easier and less of a hassle to send me on my own accord instead of keeping me cooped up.” Night Stripe glanced toward Rum, who had called for her to come talk to her again, but this time further from the group. I guess if Sharp Shooter didn’t berate her, and since Whip Lash wasn’t around to do it, Rum took up the job. At least then Night Stripe could be knocked down a few pegs before we started a shit storm. Having an agent who wants to show off never ended well on these kinds of missions. Usually they got hurt or someone else ended up paying for their actions.
“We all have something against this cartel. Hell, the whole agency does, but we’re here to help and judging from your body language we came at a good time,” Renegade observed. I tried to take note of how my body language had given me away, but Renegade did it for me. “Your shoulders are tense, your eyes keep darting back and forth, and your jaw is clenched. You know you need help, yet you’re still mad at us for coming. Well, get over it because we’re here now and we aren’t going anywhere.”
“We just came to help, Spit Fire,” Camo added as she stepped up to stand next to Renegade. “You seem focused on something. I’m guessing that means you have a plan. Just fill us in and tell us what you want us to do. You know we’ll follow your orders, but you have to give us something to do or we’ll all just be sitting ducks waiting to get shot.”
Camo’s voice soothed some of the anger that had been building in me during Renegade’s assessment. He was right, I was annoyed and furious they had come when they knew I wanted to do this alone. At least Night Stripe had known, since she was the same way with Ash Crest, but at the same time I knew I needed them. I wouldn’t have made it this far without Siren and Rum. We needed the help for Sandstorm’s plan to work. Completing it with only two people on the outside would be nearly impossible, we were willing to risk it, but having five agents outside to draw attention away from Sandstorm and I had a better chance of working with less deaths on our side. I wasn’t about to turn them away, even if it would keep more of us alive.
I nodde
d, earning a smile from Camo, who wanted to end the cartel who took her family away from her. “Call Night Stripe back and I’ll go over the plan with you guys before the helicopter arrives. We aren’t exactly sure when it comes, so Rum and I were supposed to be up early to make sure we caught it. We have to be ready to move fast if this is going to work.”
Renegade nodded before walking off to retrieve Night Stripe. He didn’t make it halfway to her before she came to him, leaving Rum pacing behind her. I couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing, but knowing her it seemed likely that she was praying before the battle and had asked Night Stripe to give her some time alone. I hope she prayed for a miracle because we were going to need it.
When Night Stripe and Renegade joined Camo in front of me, I pulled out the blue prints of the buildings and quickly ran through the plan. “I’ll be inside taking care of the upper level cartel members, but I need all of you out here to provide a distraction as well as end whoever would want to take over when this is all over. Renegade, I’d like you with Siren manning the helicopter and its guns. You were undercover with this cartel for a while, so if something goes wrong you should be able to handle dealing with the chopper and whatever their failsafe is. We aren’t sure what it is, so just be ready for anything.”
“And you want me away from Night Stripe during the battle.” His tone wasn’t accusatory, just stating a fact. He knew it was for the best. We had to keep couples away from each other in a fight to keep them both safe. If one got in trouble, then the other could risk their life to save the other. It just put them both in more danger. “I can also fly most helicopters thanks to my special training in case we need a fast escape, but I’ll also be able to dismantle it if needed so I’m fine with the placement either way.”