by Joey W. Hill
“He’s totally fucked, is what,” Jimmy said, then winced as Dana sent him a searing look. “Sorry, Reverend D.”
“He asked me to find out something for him,” Terence blurted out. “A few months ago. I almost forgot about it, and I wish I had. But I gave him the info this morning, and he left. But it wasn’t…”
He burst into tears then. It shattered the street toughness, made it clear he was barely in his teens. Even so, Janet had to restrain herself from shaking the rest out of him. Dana caught that vibration, because now she had one hand on Terence, one on Janet’s forearm. “Some guy gave me money to tell Max something,” the boy continued, “but that’s just like Judas, isn’t it? I needed it for my mom, but when I told her how I got it, she said I had to come tell you, and I know it was wrong, but I can’t take it back…”
“Never mind that now. Tell me what happened.”
“Max wanted to know if this particular dude came back to the neighborhood. A Mexican guy called Dino. A long time ago, he used to be hooked up with the 9th Streeters, ferrying their shit to them. He hasn’t been around in a really long time, but he showed back up. I don’t know how he knew I was on the lookout for him, but one of Dino’s guys came to me, told me if I’d tell Max he’d be at this one place, he’d give me a grand in cash. But Max couldn’t know that we’d talked. It had to be like Max would think he was surprising Dino, but that means they were gonna be the ones doing the surprising.”
The kid was sobbing. “I knew it was wrong, so I went asking around, but it was too late. He went straight there. I talked to some homeless dudes and they said Dino’s guys carried something out in a sack. Something the size of a guy like Max.”
Janet’s heart faltered, her vision getting skewed, but she dug her fingers into the top of a pew, holding fast as Terence kept talking.
“They’re supposed to hold him somewhere until Dino gets in tonight, to deal with him himself, settle some score he has with Max. Nobody ’round there knew where he’d been taken though. He’s gonna be dead, Reverend Dana. And it’ll be all my fault.”
“Where did you tell Max to meet Dino?” Dana asked firmly, giving him a shake to keep him on track.
As Terence relayed the location of a derelict building in the warehouse district, Janet already had her cell phone out. When the man answered on the other end, she took a breath. “Dale, we need your help. Max may be in trouble.”
* * * * *
Dale came to the church. Marcie arrived about the same time, with a zippered black duffle bag almost bigger and heavier than herself, but the lissome, athletic blonde carried it easily. Dana had called her right after Janet spoke to Dale. Janet had also called Alice, managing to tell her in a calm voice she’d decided to take the rest of the day off to get some errands done. She’d given her direction on FedExing out several contracts and disconnected. She didn’t want Alice involved in this.
“So explain to me why we’re not calling the cops?” Marcie asked, putting down the bag. They’d moved to an activity room at the back of the church where it was quiet. Dana had sent Terence and his friend to talk to the minister, so it was just the adults now.
“Beyond the fact we don’t have a location at this point, when we do, if the bad guys hear sirens, they’ll just kill him and cut out. There are also too many questions that’ll be raised about why they took Max in the first place. There’s a reason Dino has laid low as long as he has. He knows Max took out two of his buddies and has been on the lookout for him for a while.”
Dale spoke bluntly, but Janet had told him everyone in the room could be trusted. The fact he took her at her word meant he’d gauged her character at their one meet and found her to be someone he could trust. Any other time she’d been flattered by it, but all she felt was a pounding urgency to get moving, to do something. But she had to trust him as well.
“That’s kept him scared enough to stay in the shadows, but time blunts fear. There’ve also been some power shifts happening in his cartel, so that’s probably why Dino popped back on the grid. He’s ready to move back into the limelight with the 9th Streeters, capitalizing on his old contacts with them. Max is a loose end in the way of that.” Dale propped a hip on a table. “I’ve already gone by the warehouse where the kid sent Max. Saw evidence of the scuffle, but no one’s there. If they put him on a boat, we’d likely be screwed, but my guess is they’re not going to take him far. It sounds like Dino has a vested interest in making the kill here, so he can reestablish his power base.”
Janet parsed the words, boxing up “kill” so it had nothing to do with Max. She concentrated on Dale’s information, on what needed to be done. Dana had made a good call with Marcie. Though the young woman blinked at the information, pressing her lips together, she held firm.
“I have feelers out to figure out where they took him,” Dale said. “Shouldn’t take long. Wherever they hold him, it will be a defensible position, with lookouts outside, anticipating any trouble, and more watching him inside. Some crews like the impressive show of numbers, but I’m hoping we’ll luck out and it will be more low key than that.”
He tapped the cellphone on his hip. “I have reinforcements coming. Four operators are near enough to be called into action. They’re on their way. Once they get here, we’ll figure out a way to get eyes on the inside, create a distraction, and then make our move from there.”
“What evidence?” Janet asked. When Dale’s gaze turned to her, she firmed her chin. “You said there was evidence of a scuffle? Blood?”
“Yeah, blood. Broken crates, what looks like a fist plowed into the wall of the warehouse.”
Blood. Why had she asked? Max’s face, his torso, all those perfect lines of muscle, flashed through her mind. An empty corpse, lying in a pool of blood.
“But no body, Janet.” Dale gave her a hard look. “Keep that in mind.”
“I’m fine,” she said shortly. And she was. Ice was flowing through her veins, a simmering rage. At Max, at Dino, at Dale, at the whole situation. She needed to get a grip on it. She could tell Dale registered her tension, and she couldn’t be less than invincible right now.
“I’ve got surveillance equipment to help with the eyes inside stuff,” Marcie spoke. “And I stopped at your house to get the things you wanted.” She directed that to Dana. “It was tough to leave the assault rifle behind. That was sweet.”
“Yes, but it’s hard to conceal,” Dana said dryly. “As long as you have the handguns and the Tasers, we’re good.”
“My guys will come geared,” Dale said.
“It’s not for you,” Dana responded. “You need eyes inside and a distraction, right? If you’re right, there’s only one thing that’s going to get you through the outer perimeter and inside, and it’s not a bunch of strapping guys who are obvious military. If you pose as a homeless derelict stumbling into their lair, they’ll shoot first and dump the body.”
“So what are you proposing?” Dale raised his brow. “If you think I’m taking civilians into an op like this…”
“I believe we called you, so technically it’s our op.” Dana’s expression hardened. If Janet hadn’t known of Dana’s military background before, she’d have been forcibly reminded of it now, because her expression mirrored Dale’s. “I’m a combat veteran, Marcie is MMA trained and has used it—more than capably—for her job in corporate investigations. She also knows her firearms.”
Marcie nodded. Her brown eyes were cool, her hip cocked and arms crossed.
“As for Janet,” Dana tilted her head toward her, “some of her nicknames at K&A include Ice Bitch and Scybo. It’s an acronym for She’ll Cut Your Balls Off. Sorry if you didn’t know that, Janet.”
“No problem. You left out Dragon Lady. HR likes that one.”
“Sorry to be rude, but you’re blind, soldier.” Dale reached out, tapped Dana’s forehead with one finger.
“Thanks for the newsflash. The blind have over-developed proximity senses. Consider it like the Force. I could have caugh
t hold of your wrist just now and broken some shit, but didn’t want to mess up your trigger finger.”
Dale set his jaw, but before he could say anything else, Janet stepped forward. “I get it,” she said. “You don’t feel comfortable with this. But they’re right about the eyes inside and distraction, aren’t they? It would be ideal if all three of us had your training, but perhaps that’s not what this moment requires. It simply requires the ability to stay cool under pressure, to play a role no matter what stressors occur. The firepower, the strength, the accuracy, the response—that will be your area, yours and your guys. Dana isn’t overestimating our abilities. There are women who work as cultural support teams to SEALs, women with military training, aren’t there? This is like that.”
This was how she accomplished things for Matt. Lay out the facts, the logic. Though she’d never compared meeting arrangements, legal documentation and handling the schedules of five busy men to planning a military op, she expected some of the same advance planning skills and anticipation of contingencies were needed. As well as a cool, level head. She could do that. Because if she looked beyond that, there was terror, trembling…the smell of blood permanently embedded in her nose.
Dale blew out a breath. “Max said you’d been watching way too many SEAL training videos. Okay, soldier,” he directed that to Dana, “tell me the plan. But let me make one thing clear.”
He swept a hard gaze over all of them. “I am in charge of this op, which means you follow my orders from beginning to end. If you don’t convince me that what you’re thinking is a sound plan and our best chance, then you’ll obey my order to stand down and let me and my men handle this. The objective is to get Max out of this alive. You have to trust me to know the best way to do that. All right?”
Dana and Marcie didn’t speak. Instead, they looked toward Janet, and she saw Dale did the same. By stepping forward, she’d taken the leadership role, and Dana and Marcie had deferred to her. Though Janet knew she had formidable organization skills, she didn’t think that topped their tactical skills. They were deferring to her because they somehow realized she had the most to lose. That terrified place inside her trembled hard, and she clamped down on it like a pit bull. Reminding herself she was the Ice Bitch, she gave a short nod. “Fair enough. Dana, tell us what you’re thinking.”
When Dana was done, Dale had grilled her twenty different ways on it, tweaking and refining. Janet and Marcie jumped in here and there to add additional details, which seemed to increase Dale’s confidence in all of them. By the time he seemed satisfied, the others had arrived. Four strapping men was a good description, though it wasn’t because of their size. Lawrence was no taller than five-seven yet stocky with muscle, and Neil had a rangy Jimmy Stewart build. Billy was closer to the size of Dale, and sounded like he’d come straight out of the West Virginia hills. But they all had the same stamp she’d noticed on Max. They were men trained to undertake dangerous jobs and not let anything stop them from succeeding.
The fourth man was Aaron, but rather than having him come to the church, Dale explained he’d sent him to collect intel in the field.
The ticking clock in her head was going to drive her mad. Terence had been clear. They were to take Max, hold him for Dino, and the street intel said Dino wasn’t coming in until after dark. It was closing in on five o’clock now. Max had to still be alive, unless something had gone wrong on the snatch, and if that had been the case, Dale would have found his body. She swallowed over a jagged ball in her throat.
“Master Chief?” Neil extended his cell phone to Dale. “Might want to show them our target.”
Nodding, Dale turned the picture on the screen to them. “This is Dino—”
“Delgado,” Janet finished, staring at the picture. “I know him.”
The world had tilted. Dale reached out to steady her, Marcie slipping a hand around her waist. Janet’s mind fought through the swimming hysteria. No. It’s been over fifteen fucking years. I am not letting this control me.
“I was involved with a man in Mexico, years ago,” she said. “This was one of his associates. He was very low on the totem pole then, but obviously he’s moved up.” Probably due to the gap she provided by taking out Jorge.
“So does that help us or harm us?” Neil asked.
“Helps,” she said, firming her chin. “It will make our cover more believable. We can adjust the plan like this…”
The initial objections were fierce, because the adjustment put her at the front of the approach, but they couldn’t argue with the logic to it, not when she laid it out as coolly as she did, pointing out flaws in any argument against it. After the strategy was mapped out thoroughly with all players, there was a moment of significant silence. Dale shook his head. “Max won’t forgive me if you get hurt, Janet.”
“I’m not concerned about his forgiveness. He’s mine. I’m getting him back. You said if the plan wasn’t the best way to go about it, you’d say so. You’re not saying so.”
The SEAL met her gaze, nodded. “Yeah. It’s a sound plan.”
He drew his men away, going over tactical issues relevant to their placement outside the potential location. Janet and Marcie looked at one another, Marcie reaching out to cover Dana’s hand. “One of us needs to call Savannah,” Janet said. “Tell her what we’re doing, so if something goes wrong…she’ll know what happened and can notify Matt, do damage control as needed. Know how to find us.”
Anticipate contingencies, make sure the flow of information was adequate to keep all necessary parties informed. Who knew being a secretary would prove to be so useful on a special op?
“Agreed,” Dana said. “She’ll bring Rachel into the loop. We might need her before the night is over. She can pave our way into medical facilities with few questions. Unless we’re dead, of course.”
“Yeah.” Marcie gave them her serious smile, though her brown eyes glinted. “On the plus side, if this goes well, Ben is going to be so pissed at me. I can’t wait.”
“You twisted freak,” Dana said with fond exasperation, but then she closed her hand on Janet’s, linking the three of them. “Are you okay, honey?”
She’d never been the type of person anyone would call honey. In fact, no one had ever used an endearment on her. Except Max. He called her Mistress, meant it like that. “I can’t lose him,” she said tonelessly. She felt like an iron furnace, everything locked down yet containing hellfire. “I just found him.”
“We’re getting him back,” Dana said resolutely. “Count on it. You knowing the target is going to be a big plus, Janet.”
Marcie nodded, putting her hand on Janet’s other arm, squeezing hard. Despite her joke, the young woman’s eyes were sharp as a knife blade. She could handle herself in this environment. They all could. They’d all been there, in one way or another. Janet thought of the blood on her hands, running down a sink, and closed her fingers into fists. She’d killed Jorge when she was in her twenties. Now, in her forties, she could endure, handle anything. Except losing the man she’d finally given her heart.
Dale had insisted on a thorough understanding of how she knew Dino. She hadn’t told him she’d murdered Jorge, because no one in the world but Matt and Max knew that, but she told him she’d gotten away from Jorge and then heard he’d been murdered by a competitor. All technically true, so she didn’t feel it hampered their efforts to leave it like that. Going after a man who’d been kidnapped, who might be killed, was one thing, and bad enough. Making Dale and the rest of them accessories after the fact to her crime was a whole other scenario.
As a result, she understood why Max had wanted to go after Dino on his own, to avoid putting his fellow SEALs in the position of breaking the law to come to his aid. Yet the day Dale had given her his cell number, his direct look had been a silent, clear message. That was Max’s choice, but Dale had the right to make choices of his own. Just as Dana and Marcie had made the choice to be here with her now, the three of them risking their lives for Max.
“Got him.” Dale snapped his phone closed, turned around. He met Janet’s eyes. “Aaron says they moved him to another abandoned warehouse right off the waterfront. It’s a maze down there. Even better, it’s the typical rathole where, if the cops ask, nobody sees anything. Got three guys on the outside, four inside. They’re part of Dino’s crew from Mexico, not locals. That works in our favor as well.”
“How is that?” Janet asked.
Lawrence was checking his handgun. When he popped the slide, the stocky man glanced up at her with sharp green eyes.
“Nobody sees anything, that means they don’t see us either. Not that we’re easy to see anyhow. If they see us, we haven’t done our job.” He flashed a dangerous smile. “As far as them being from Mexico? Easier to get rid of out-of-town bodies, ma’am. They don’t belong here.”
At that, Marcie paled a little, and of course Dale latched right on to it. “Dana, I’m going to say it again. Goddamn non-combatants shouldn’t be a part of this.”
“We don’t have time to go over it again. We have a sound plan, remember?” Janet interjected it sharply. Dale shot her a cold look, one she was sure could intimidate a whole platoon of SEALs, but she gave him a stone-cold bitch look right back. “I know what could happen.”
“Yeah, maybe you do. You have that look. She doesn’t.” He jerked his head toward Marcie. “I’m going to lay it out clear, kid. Lives are going to be taken on this op. Max has been hunting Dino for a while, and the guys with him are connected to a cartel. The only way we protect everyone here, and our families, is by not a one of them going home telling the story. Do you get that? You can stay home and no shame to it. I’d feel a hell of a lot better if you did.”
This time, Dana and Janet waited for Marcie, since it was obvious her response was what Dale was gauging. The young woman firmed her chin and, though she didn’t have Janet’s icy look, she met his gaze squarely. “They’ll kill Max if we don’t go in,” she said quietly. “And you’re telling me if they aren’t taken out, our families are in danger. That’s all I need to know.”