“And thanks to both of you, I get the chance to keep a promise I made a long time ago.”
Alexa had never known Kinkaid had a wife and child until their recent hostage-rescue mission in Cuba. Hearing about them had shocked her, mostly because he’d been so willing to entrust her with his life on any mission, but he hadn’t trusted her enough to share his family. With something so important, Kinkaid didn’t have faith in anyone, except Garrett, when he had no choice. And considering how that had turned out, she could understand how withdrawn he’d become.
The whole point to keeping his personal life secret was to keep his family safe. And when that didn’t happen, he had lashed out at Garrett and anyone he thought had been responsible—but no one had taken the heat more than what he’d heaped on himself.
Finally, his vendetta would be over, one way or another. His act of revenge wouldn’t bring back his wife and child, and she had no doubt that he knew that. He could kill Pérez a thousand times over and even the score, but that wouldn’t fill the void in his life where his beloved wife and child used to be. And living with that cruel reality had to leave him feeling damned empty inside, no matter what happened in the next few minutes.
Her gut instinct told her Kinkaid might think that dying there would be easier than living with the aftermath of what had happened, when he had no one else left to blame.
She prayed she was wrong.
Chapter 17
Guadalajara, Mexico
Afternoon
Garrett had tried to assign Kinkaid the back of the house since he was wounded and not in the best of shape, but Jackson refused. He wanted to be first one through the door and nearest Pérez.
With Dr. Hernandez inside, Garrett had monitored his thermal imager to check his movements within the walls of his residence. The person in the back of the house had moved but was still there. Whoever was there was either hiding or had been confined to a room. Either way, no one could be ignored. And after the doctor entered the house, he went straight for the front room. The movements on the imager gave them more intel to plan their strategy.
“You cover the back. When you’re in place, we’ll make our move,” Garrett told her. “With the doctor working on Pérez, Guerrero will be distracted. Since we don’t know the layout, picking the lock might buy us time to get in tight and take them by surprise.”
“When you get inside, let me know,” Alexa said as she put on her com unit. “I’ll secure the rear of the house after I hear from you.”
“Kinkaid and I will focus on the three in the front. Guerrero is the one to watch. He’ll be armed and nervous. If we hit them hard, this could be over fast.”
“Guerrero doesn’t strike me as someone who’d risk his life for Pérez,” Kinkaid said. “If it comes down to him or his boss, I’d bet money he’d give Pérez up once he knows they’re not getting out of this. We just have to convince him that he’s not important to us. We’re not cops. We won’t arrest him or turn him over.”
“Yeah, good point. Talking him down will be your job,” Garrett said. “Anything else?”
Kinkaid and Garrett looked ready to go, but Alexa had something on her mind and she had to bring it up now, for Kinkaid’s sake.
“Once we get Pérez, what then?” she asked. She shifted her gaze between the two men, but when neither of them said anything, she pressed. “I mean, if he doesn’t put up a fight, is this an execution . . . or do we have another plan?”
Given what she did for a living, Alexa found it more than a little ironic that she’d suddenly become the voice of reason when it came to morality. The Sentinels were a covert vigilante organization. Their operations were about doling out justice without the red tape of the court system and jurisdictions. When they went after a target, they had proof of the crime to justify their actions, and they usually confronted criminal organizations who were clearly in the wrong, but working for the Sentinels required her to have an adaptable moral code.
She believed in what they did, or she never would have joined the group and sacrificed having a normal life for one mired in secrecy. But this operation had been Kinkaid’s vendetta. And even though she completely understood Jackson’s motivation, if he murdered Pérez in cold blood, would that trigger an even deeper slide into desolation for Kinkaid?
She didn’t care about a man like Pérez. The man was a total waste of skin. He was a known drug dealer and head of a brutal cartel. Assaulting his hacienda outside Guadalajara had been easier because they knew the man had Kinkaid as a hostage, and they had proof of that. And Pérez’s men had fought back, but here, that might not be the case. If the cartel boss gave himself up, would they still execute him?
When Kinkaid was the first to speak, she thought she knew what he would say, but she would’ve been wrong. Jackson surprised her.
“I have to see this through, but I can take it from here if you can’t stomach what’ll happen in there.” Kinkaid gave them a way out if they wanted it.
“And as far as I’m concerned, Garrett, the slate is clean,” Jackson said. “You don’t owe me anything anymore . . . if you ever did. What happened wasn’t your fault. It’s taken me years to see that. And killing Pérez won’t bring my wife and little girl back, but I have to see this through. I destroyed Pérez’s cartel before, and he only rebuilt it. He’ll do it again, and I can’t let that happen. I can’t stomach the thought of that man thriving from all this, but I won’t blame either of you if you decide this isn’t for you.”
“If Pérez gives himself up, what do you see happening?” This time Garrett asked the question. And only Kinkaid could answer it.
It took Jackson a long moment to think about what he would say, but eventually he did. And he did it as he looked Garrett square in the eye.
“I trust you. Both of you. I just want Pérez brought to justice. Whatever happens, you make the call, Garrett. I can live with that.”
Kinkaid sounded as if he wanted to play nice. And Alexa hoped he meant it. If he did, there was hope for him yet. He might have a future if he lived through this. But a part of her remembered the ruthlessness in his beautiful fierce eyes that she’d seen in Cuba and how haunted he’d been when he finally told her about his wife and baby girl. Pain like that didn’t just fade away. It lasted a lifetime.
People change. And she wanted to believe Jackson had, too, but the paranoid part of her wasn’t so sure.
She could also see why Kinkaid would trust Garrett to finish this. Leaving the decision up to him didn’t mean Pérez would walk. Garrett was the head of the Sentinels for a reason. He knew how to make the tough calls, and he’d killed plenty in the name of justice, but maybe Kinkaid would say anything to stay on the team and face Pérez one last time to play judge, jury, and executioner.
Without knowing what was in Kinkaid’s head, Alexa had to make one last-ditch effort to reach him.
“I hear what you’re saying,” she told Jackson, looking him in the eye. “And I want to believe you can put this behind you when this is all over, Jackson. But revenge never lives up to its hype. Obsessing over it like you’ve been doing can make you an addict who never knows when to quit.”
When he had a hard time meeting her gaze, she reached for his arm. “Will you know when it’s time to let go?”
Jackson never answered her. He stared back with his battered face, a reminder how much he’d already been through, but he never said another word. She tried reading something into his silence but came up empty. It was time to go. And whatever would happen between Kinkaid and Pérez lay ahead of them.