“You think?” Xander raised his voice.
“No, I know. There were six!”
Xander turned back to Sam.
“Get Marv to see if he can tap into a traffic camera somewhere along the road to see where the van is headed. There are six girls in the back of it.”
“Five,” Gabriela spoke up.
Xander was getting frustrated.
“You just told me there were six, which is it?”
“There were six, but he took one of the girls with him on the plane. I saw them putting her inside while Antonio—or Francisco, whatever the hell his name is—was berating me.”
Xander turned back to Sam. “One in the plane, five in the van.” Then he said to Gabriela, “Where is the plane going?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“Think, Gabriela. Something he said, some clue?”
“He didn’t say anything about it, I swear!”
Xander believed her. There are certain things in life that you would have to be a complete sociopath to fake. And he didn’t get sociopath when he looked at her. He could see genuine fear for the girls in Gabriela’s eyes. Until they knew where the plane was going, he knew they had to focus on the van. It wasn’t going to be easy getting it stopped without harming any of the girls. They were headed for a delicate situation. Xander was more known for crash and burn when it came to taking out the bad guy. He was going to have to finesse this one. And he knew that meant putting himself and his team in even more of a dangerous spot.
A flashback to Moscow ran through his mind. He and Sam were on a motorcycle heading for the airport when three SUVs intervened, trying to block their path. They should have never made it out of that one alive. He hoped for everyone’s sake that this would be nothing like that.
“Got the SUV,” Kyle said, snapping Xander out of his trance. “Jack is bringing in a bag of weapons. I’ll pull up out front. José is staying with Bob to make sure the plane is safe.”
Xander nodded to him, then looked back at Gabriela. “Stay here. You can fly back to San Diego with us.”
Gabriela didn’t say a word; she just threw her arms around Xander’s neck again. She needed comfort, something Xander was normally very good at when it came to beautiful women, but his mind was on the task at hand. He gently removed her arms from around his neck.
“I’ll have my pilot, Bob, come and take you back to the plane. You can wait there. Hopefully we won’t be long.”
He instructed Sam to give Gabriela her cell phone number in case they got separated. Sam didn’t seem too happy about it, but she obliged. Jack came in from the tarmac with a big black bag over his shoulder. He met up with Xander and Sam, and the three of them walked out front and jumped inside the black Chevy Suburban with Kyle and Zhanna.
“Head north. I saw the van turn that way when we were walking into the airport,” Xander told Kyle.
Kyle hurried the SUV down the road to the airport’s exit, but when he came to the main road, he slowed to a stop.
“Uh, which way?”
“North,” Xander answered.
Kyle looked back at him in the rearview mirror, confusion on his face. The four others all chimed in together, “LEFT!” Kyle mashed the gas pedal to the floor and headed north. Xander couldn’t help but laugh, because even though he wasn’t looking at her, he knew Sam was rolling her eyes.
The Suburban full of Reign, the CIA’s newest clandestine unit, sped into the shining sun on Highway 15—the driver not even understanding which way was north. Xander thought to himself that either the CIA had severely lowered its standards or they had put far too much faith in him and Sam. He knew they would get the job done, but he was also glad they were allowed to call all the shots and didn’t have someone with them who would let the higher-ups know just how little one of their teammates knew about this business. That said, Xander also knew that it didn’t matter. Kyle had learned over the years where he could be of help and where he would just get himself killed. All that mattered to Xander was that he knew his friend would die for any one of his team members. That was enough for him.
“Any word on the plane?” Xander asked Sam.
“Marv said three planes with all the same sort of makeup left Mazatlán one right after another. They all have checked in so far with their corresponding air traffic towers. So far they are all complying. Marv is reaching out personally to each plane to find out where they are going and to ask for a passenger manifest. That doesn’t mean they will comply, but for now, we at least will be able to watch them all until we find out what is what.”
“Okay, good, I guess,” Xander contemplated. “If we can get through this fairly quickly, our jet will all but catch up with any of those three smaller planes.”
“What’s the plan once we get close to van?” Zhanna asked.
Xander smirked when he turned and looked to Jack, his resident sniper extraordinaire. “You ever shot from a moving vehicle before?”
Jack returned the smirk with one of his own that grew out from under his white mustache. “Does a fish shit in the ocean?”
Xander smiled as he glanced over at Sam.
“Does a what?” Sam asked, disgusted confusion on her face.
Kyle and Xander laughed. Zhanna, being Russian, didn’t get the expression either. Xander put his hand on Sam’s knee.
“It means he has, Sam.”
“You country boys have your own language entirely.”
Jack smiled as he pulled his sniper rifle from the bag.
“Daggum right we do.”
Sam, unimpressed, could do nothing more than shake her head.
22
Smoke and Mirrors
“This is a mistake, David,” Lisa told her brother as the two of them stood outside the garage of one of David’s beach houses in Pacific Beach. Though it was a touristy area, it was quiet that afternoon. Most of the commotion came from the beach side of the house on the boardwalk. Vacationers were heading out to brunch along with the young locals just waking up after a night of partying. Lisa longed for her surfboard and some waves, but at the moment that was the furthest thing from her reality.
“It’s not a mistake. It’s two million dollars. For two days’ work, tops. And now for only one girl this time.”
“This time?”
“Yeah, they aren’t going to pay us two million dollars for one job. When we do this right, they give us the money, then we are on the hook for a couple more. That’s it.”
“Oh, is that it? Just a couple more times of selling girls into slavery. No biggie. How the hell are you okay with selling a girl into God knows what?”
David stared at her for a long moment. His brow furrowed, his eyes angry. “Are you saying you’re out? You knew what we were doing on this one, and it wasn’t a problem two days ago.”
“Yeah, that was before you beat the hell out of a cop and left him for dead. Before you turned on your own brother—”
“Turned on my brother?” David shouted. “Tommy almost ruined this thing last night because he is a moron. If you want out, fine. I don’t have time for this shit anymore. It’s your debt that I am trying to erase here. Did you forget about that?” A pause. “Did you?”
She hadn’t forgotten, but him reminding her brought her back to the middle of her dilemma. She absolutely wanted out. She couldn’t imagine the guilt that would come after indenturing a sixteen-year-old girl to a creepy old rich man. But she was afraid she didn’t have a choice. If she didn’t repay her debt, everyone would know what she did. Including her fancy job she started not long ago. The one that David would kill her for if he knew about it. The one good thing about a brother who never really cared about you, is that you can easily keep things from him. Even a whole other life.
“Well?”
“Well what, David? This is just hard for me. Have you forgotten what your father used to do to me? Huh? The same thing that these strange men are going to do to this poor girl. And once again, you are just going to let it happen!”
Lisa wasn’t planning on bringing up the abuse she had suffered at the hands of Jim Tarter. But this operation was beginning to hit too close to home. She needed to keep her cool, though, for just a little while longer; then she could be finished with it all.
She could see that her words had cut through David’s rough exterior. He turned his back to her for a moment. He didn’t even acknowledge what she said. When he finally did speak, it was yet another slap in her face.
“I’m hearing a lot about the past, Lisa, and it tells me that your head isn’t here in the present, on the task at hand. So one last time. This is your debt we are clearing here. Are you in, or are you out? I’m not asking again.”
Lisa wanted to scream. She wanted to claw his eyes out. She wanted him to feel what it felt like to be raped, to be beaten. But most of all, she just wanted never to see him again. And getting through this last job was the only way to do it. And now he was already talking about other jobs.
“You know I can’t be out, David. You know I have to have that money.”
“Okay then, not another word about it. Let’s get down to business. Tommy found another car, I assume?”
“Yes, he got rid of the Corvette. But Greg is out. After what you did to that cop, he couldn’t be involved.”
David nodded. “Good. More money for you. Now, the rest of the men will be ready to meet us at the Burbank Airport. They’ll have a van, and they have an identical one for us.”
“Then what do we need all these stolen cars for?” Lisa asked.
“Smoke and mirrors.”
“That’s it? We’re risking our lives for your plan and all the detail you’re going to give us is smoke and mirrors?”
“All of you are on a need-to-know basis,” said David. “When you need to know, I’ll tell you. Just be ready.”
David’s cell phone rang. He looked at Lisa and confirmed the details one last time before answering. “We leave here at one o’clock. That will put us in LA around four or so with traffic. Make sure Tommy is still good to go without his butt-buddy, Greg, tagging along. No mistakes.”
Lisa gave him a nod.
“Hello,” David answered his phone. “Hey, Jon, is everything all set with the rest of the men?” A pause. “Good . . . Yes. The plane left Mazatlán a few minutes ago. Everything is a go. See you at one.”
23
Mr. Unflappable Is Actually Human
Highway 15 stretched out in front of Reign’s SUV about as far as their eyes could see. The afternoon sun had risen to its peak, and the asphalt hummed beneath their tires as they sped north toward the kidnapper’s van.
“Is that . . . ,” Kyle started, but he trailed off as he squinted his eyes in an attempt to make something out in the distance. He even leaned forward in the driver’s seat to try to bring it into view.
Zhanna squinted and leaned forward as well from the front passenger seat. “I see it too. Is like black dot?”
“Yeah, is like black dot. I think that might be them, X. Was it a black van you saw?”
“Yes,” Xander answered as he performed a press check on his Glock. When he looked up, Sam was looking him over. “What?”
“So, is it everything you’ve been missing?” she asked.
“Missing? What do you mean?”
“You got your first taste of it at Romero’s mansion. Now, here we are again, getting ready to run down the bad guys. Is this what you were hoping for when you called to tell me you wanted back in?”
Xander was quiet for a moment. He glanced toward the front seat and noticed Kyle glancing back at him in the rearview mirror. Zhanna had turned to face him, and he could feel Jack breathing down his neck from the third row behind him. It was a good question. One he hadn’t really contemplated. Getting back into the action felt natural to him. It felt like home, like things were back to normal. A completely screwed-up normal, but normal. Judging by how interested everyone seemed in hearing his answer, he could sense this was a topic the four of them had previously discussed without him.
“Not really sure what you’re driving at here, but yeah, this is exactly what I expected getting back into bed with the four of you, if that’s what you mean.”
Sam gave him another long look.
“What? If you’ve got something to say, Sam, just say it. You all are acting like this is some sort of intervention or something. I gotta say, your timing is a little off.”
“You joke, Xander, but you went through some serious things five months ago. And you haven’t really talked to any of us about it. Not even Kyle.”
“Oh, is this what I can expect now that the two of you are together, Kyle? She’s going to start speaking for you?”
Xander was trying to remain calm, but this subject was quickly making him uncomfortable. Though he didn’t let on, he knew exactly what Sam was getting at. His father. And she was right: he hadn’t spoken to any of them about it, because he had purposefully done his best to forget about it completely.
“Don’t be like that, X. You know it isn’t like that. Sam, this is hardly the time to—”
“No, you know what?” Xander felt his blood pressure rise. He didn’t really understand why, but this was making him angry. He turned and scowled at Sam. “You want to talk about this now? Let’s talk about it.”
“Xander—”
“No, Sam, you brought it up, so here we go. I was forced to slit my father’s throat because he had my mother killed and was coming after me, his own son.”
They were rapidly gaining on the van in front of them, only about a mile separating them now. But to Xander, it may as well have been a hundred.
“And before his blood was dry, someone killed my Derby-winning horse and kidnapped the woman I love.”
The hum of the tires rolling over the blacktop was the only sound made for several seconds. Everyone in the van was stunned into silence. They had never seen Xander lose his cool, not like this. Sam had hit a nerve that Xander himself didn’t know was so sensitive. Now they all understood that Mr. Unflappable was actually human.
“That what you wanted to talk about? I’m fine now, it’s all in the past.”
“Clearly,” Sam said without thinking. She regretted it immediately, because the fury in Xander’s eyes vanished, and pain forced its way in. “I’m sorry, Xander. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
Xander was quiet. He was doing his best to bring his breathing back to normal, but his chest was heaving. Sweat ran down the small of his back and his skin was crawling due to the feeling of weakness that was overwhelming him. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable; it wasn’t something he was used to.
“Really, it was terribly insensitive of me. Can you forgive me?”
Xander took another deep breath.
“It’s fine, Sam. It’s obviously more of an issue than I thought it was.”
Kyle spoke up from the front. “You don’t owe us anything, X. Just know you can talk to us whenever you need to.”
Zhanna and Sam nodded in agreement.
Xander wanted nothing more than to open the door and jump right out of that SUV. So he decided right then and there that that was exactly what he was going to do.
“Get me close to the van.”
The subject change caught everyone off guard. They weren’t sure how to respond. Kyle just looked at Xander in the rearview, a question in his eyes.
Xander explained, “It’s too risky for Jack to try to shoot out a tire.”
“I can hit the tire, Xander. I won’t let a bullet go stray and hit one of them girls through the back.”
“I know you won’t, Jack. What I mean is, the van is going too fast. If you pop the tire, it may send the van out of control. If it crashes, we may hurt more than one of the girls.”
“Damn, you’re right,” Jack agreed.
“What is getting you close to van going to do?” Zhanna asked.
Xander leaned forward and hit the button that opened the sunroof. A whoosh of warm air swept through the van, and his plan beca
me clear to everyone.
“You dead isn’t going to save anyone,” Sam said, raising her voice over the wind blowing above them.
“Yeah? You have a better plan?”
She didn’t. He could see it in her eyes. They all knew the van wouldn’t stop unless they stopped it. Those men would be willing to die for it, because if they didn’t make it where they were going, they’d be dead anyway. Their SUV closed in on the van, only a few car lengths ahead of them now. Xander tucked his Glock into the back of his waistline and squinted ahead at the van.
He shouted over the wind once again. “There’s a cargo rack. That will make it easy to grab onto. Kyle, just keep her steady and when you see him jerk the van into you, steer into them. That will give me the smoothest transition. Just don’t swerve too hard into them. The last thing we want is to drive them off the road.”
From the driver’s seat, Kyle’s face showed all kinds of concern. “How in the hell am I supposed to know how hard to . . .”
He stopped talking when he noticed Xander had already poked his head through the sunroof.
The wind whipped past Xander’s head, instantly drying out his eyes. It felt like going down a ski slope at full speed with no goggles on. He removed his sport coat, took the sunglasses from the inside pocket, then tossed the sport coat to the ground. The sunglasses instantly helped his eyes see that they were now upon the van. Kyle steered the SUV into the oncoming lane as it pulled up beside the van. Whoever was driving the van didn’t waste any time, immediately swerving into their SUV. Kyle wasn’t ready for it. When the two vehicles clashed, Xander’s rib cage knocked against the opening of the sunroof and the Suburban swerved left. Kyle corrected the swerve, and Xander knew he couldn’t hesitate. He pulled himself up through the opening and squatted down, hand on the side rail of the luggage rack. The wind was blowing him back, but he managed to hold on. The van was getting closer now, and as he adjusted his stance to ready himself, he slipped and went down on his side.
His dress shoes from the night before had zero traction, adding greatly to the difficulty of making the jump. He pulled himself back up to a squatting position, and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the driver of the van jerk his hand to the left. Simultaneously, he felt Kyle pull to the right; he too must have seen the man’s hand. Just before the two vehicles came together again, the thrum of adrenaline palpated through Xander’s entire body.
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