“Or we’re fucked,” Trent finished.
“Or we’ll lose our opportunity to discover the location, participants, and purpose of a meeting so important that the ISI is killing American citizens on American soil before it occurs.”
Renee said, “Why is the cartel headquarters in the mountains? Why don’t they live here? It’s beautiful.”
Trent said, “It’s safer for them in the villages of the Sierra Madres. The cartels live in fear of each other. If they operated here on the coast, there would be a higher chance that one of the competing cartels might try and assassinate the head family, and then steal their share of the market. There’s enough going on in beach towns like this that the other cartels might be able to send in a few cars full of their sicarios without getting noticed. But not in Durango. That’s flyover country, and everyone knows each other. A single stranger shows up, and they get questioned by the local hired guns.”
Max said, “Doesn’t sound much like a cartel. Cartels are supposed to work together, colluding on price and distribution. Not kill each other off at the first sign of weakness.”
Trent said, “The drug cartels are not real cartels in the literal sense of the word. The Colombians tried to operate that way for a while, but war erupted between them. It’s more like the mafia. Competing factions of organized crime families, each following a common code. They have an understanding, and each cartel’s territory has been carved out through violent battles over the years. But it’s a tumultuous climate. I wouldn’t call it a peaceful partnership. They kill each other as much as they kill anyone else, if not more. It would be great if they really operated as a cartel. I suspect there would be much less violence. Much less chaos.”
Wilkes said, “Let’s talk the schedule of events. My agent will try to slip an incapacitating chemical into his drink. I’ve trained her on technique and risk assessment. If she can do it safely, Rojas should be passed out pretty hard by midnight. You’ll just have his two security guards to handle. Will that be a problem?”
Trent shook his head. “That should be no problem.”
“Are we sure it’s just two men?” Max said.
Wilkes said, “He’s had the same two bodyguards with him every trip he’s taken for the past three months.”
Trent and Max exchanged glances. Both of them knew how often mission expectations differed from the actual circumstances operators faced.
“We’ve been scouting the city,” Max said. “I’ll be parked down the street. When your agent gives her signal that tells us Rojas is passed out, Trent will take out the guards and I’ll move my vehicle to the curb. Both your agent and Trent will carry Rojas down to my vehicle and we’ll head towards the airport. Caleb, like we discussed, I can’t use my father’s jet for the extraction, so I’ll be relying on one of your air assets. I need you to guarantee me that you’ll have someone at the airport at the appropriate time.”
Wilkes nodded. “I’ll have someone there ready to fly you all back to the States.”
“Where in the States? Fort Bliss?”
“No. This is completely off the books. I can’t have you guys fly in to a military base. I’ll give the pilot a private field to fly into, and the interrogation team will meet you there. You don’t need to know the location yet. What’s your backup?”
Trent said, “If things get hairy, there’s a connection to the townhome next door. Max and I have set up a secondary extraction route through there.”
Max said, “When are you going back to El Paso?”
“My jet’s waiting at the field,” said Wilkes. “I’ll be watching the op from EPIC, and I’ll send you updates if I spot any problems.”
“Won’t the people at EPIC wonder why you’re having them concentrate their aerial surveillance on Mazatlán? You can’t keep this thing from the DEA if they’re—”
Wilkes held up a hand to stop him. “Relax. The DEA is doing recon on Rojas, and they know I have an agent involved. My presence at the EPIC tactical operations center won’t be unusual, although I imagine they’ll begin wetting themselves when they see Trent take out Rojas’s bodyguards and your car roll up. But even if the EPIC folks track you to the airport via satellite, they won’t see where it lands. I’ve made sure all of our airborne tracking tools will lose the evac aircraft.”
Max said, “That sounds complex.”
“It will be. But really, I think hiding this operation from the DEA should be much easier than hiding it from the cartels tomorrow night.”
Max winced.
Renee looked pale.
Trent shrugged. “Easy day.”
Caleb and Trent left, and Max and Renee were alone in their room. He could tell that she was nervous, but also a little excited. He knew this because soon after they were alone, she finished her glass of wine in one gulp, turned out the lights, opened the balcony doors to allow the sea breeze and moonlight in, removed her dress to reveal a sexy black lace number, and began nibbling on his ear.
Latin America was known for being a land of passion. When in Rome…
Afterwards, the two lovers collapsed on top of the sheets, exhausted and covered in sweat.
“Thanks. I think I needed that,” said Renee, kissing him lightly on the shoulder and nuzzling into his chest. Skin on skin, he could feel her heartbeat and heavy breathing as she recovered from exertion. Outside, the waves crashed on the beach, and a pale moon rose over the horizon.
She said, “Do you think tomorrow will go okay?”
“We’ve done our homework and taken precautions. We’ll be alright.”
“Then what’s bothering you?”
Max looked at her.
“Nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
“What, then?”
“I can’t put my finger on it.” He sighed. “It’s probably just nerves. We’ll be fine.”
They fell asleep to the sound of the waves.
The next night, Renee sat at the suite’s only desk. A “do not disturb” sign hung on the outer doorknob. Max had placed it there when he’d left hours earlier. Her laptop was in front of her, connected only through its satellite antenna. A headset hung over her ears.
She spoke into the headset’s boom microphone. “Check in, please.”
“In position.” Trent’s voice.
“Present.” Max sounded like a kindergartener speaking to his teacher.
Renee, Max, and Trent were the only people who would be speaking on the encrypted frequency. If Wilkes needed to contact them, Renee would see his message on her computer. She would then notify the team over their earpieces or via a burner phone that each of them carried.
Renee had contacted one of her trusted former CSE partners — a hacker, like her. Approved by Max, this person would help her to monitor the throngs of data she was being fed and ping her with only the most crucial elements. That would free her up to communicate with Max and Trent, giving them the vital real-time information that could make or break the mission. She was also getting the same overhead satellite and drone feed that EPIC was seeing, courtesy of Caleb Wilkes and his connections at the National Reconnaissance Office.
Trent said, “All parties have arrived. With a few extras.”
“Extras?”
“Yup.”
Renee saw what Trent and Max were talking about. There were four guards outside the townhome, not the expected two. And instead of one woman and one man in the home — Rojas and Wilkes’s agent — the rooftop patio was populated by two men and three women.
Max was right. Things hadn’t even started yet, and they were already off script.
Chapter 9
Hugo stood on the top floor of the seven-story parking garage at Reston Town Center in Northern Virginia. He watched as the BMW sedan crept to a halt just in front of him.