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“She’s a pretty amazing person.”
“All the more reason to come home in one piece.” She leaned in for a hug.
“That and my mom’s cooking.” I pulled back and flashed her one of my smiles. “I’ll promise you this. I’ll be as careful as possible.”
“See, now, that’s one promise I know you can keep.”
“Dan, the chopper’s here.” Frank popped his head in and waved politely at Mom.
“You boys be each other’s eyes out there.”
“We will,” he assured her. “I still think Eagle Eye makes more sense for a name,” he grumbled from behind me, and I smirked.
I hurried outside with my bag over my shoulder to where the helicopter waited. As we lifted off the ground, I took one last good look down on our new home and marveled once again at what we’d accomplished. Then I slipped into Army mode and began to review the plan in my head.
Daniel
It was a long trip, but we made it to Mexico without incident and left the chopper then transferred to a Bronco. The moment we crossed the border, everyone suddenly went quiet. The hum of the big motor seemed to calm our heads and helped prepare us for what we needed to do. We were going back into battle. I would have preferred to have gone in by chopper, but since we weren’t sure exactly what we would be dealing with, we figured it was best to travel by vehicle. Getting the lay of the land was critical since this was our new war zone.
I caught Zack’s expression, and I knew he was fighting the past. I leaned over, took his hand, and got him to run his fingers over the single black stone that was tucked in the mesh pocket of our vests. We would never give the Cartels any information on who we were, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t bring a symbol. We’d become a bit superstitious in Nam, and now it carried over to Mexico.
Zack nodded and clapped his hand against my shoulder, and I knew he was back with us again. Frank muttered something, and I knew he’d be doing some mental math to soothe his head. I checked on Ray, and he seemed to be holding up just fine.
“Blackstone One, we are good to go.” I used the radio to check in with my father.
“Copy that. ETA ten minutes out.”
“Masks down,” I ordered my team. We had blackened out our faces to seal our identity from whoever we encountered. We swayed in our seats as we turned down the street and bounced around on the uneven pavement. We were here. It was where the last known sighting of our subject had been reported. Our hired driver parked where we’d instructed him, just a few houses away. As a unit, we slipped into the shadows and moved quietly through the alleyways, clearing them as we went. The night was young, and a heavy stench of garbage and rotten food filled the air. Rats raced across the powerlines and over the tops of our boots as we moved.
We relied heavily on our hand signals in fear someone would hear us. Part of being unseen was being unheard.
We stopped at the building we’d been told to look for. It had bars on the lower windows, but the one higher up had a piece of cardboard in place of glass, with tiny lookout holes poked through it. I signaled to Ray that this was the place.
Zack bent down, and I used his knee for a step, then his shoulder as I held on to the wall for balance. He stood and lifted me higher so I could gain access to the window. I used the tip of my gun to push the cardboard back in one corner to see inside. Frank and Ray scanned the buildings nearby, as their windows and rooftops would have made perfect perches for a sniper.
I pulled a marble from my pocket and tossed it inside, I heard it hit the floor, but it didn’t bounce or roll. I strained to hear voices, but all was quiet.
I removed my flashlight and scanned inside. There didn’t seem to be any Cartel in there, at least I hoped to hell there wasn’t. There seemed to be a lot of dust particles in the beam from my flashlight, and it made it difficult to see clearly.
The wind changed directions, and I gagged on the smell that shot up my nose and down my throat. As my eyes watered, I focused in on what looked like a pile of dead bodies against the far wall. Arms and legs seemed to be oddly out of place with the torsos like they’d been thrown about. Between that vision and the sound of the flies, I was shot right back to my first night in Nam.
Focus.
Then I spotted the chains, I moved the light farther down and saw the tops of handcuffs, but because of the angle I couldn’t see anything else.
Shit.
I signaled to Zack I was about to climb down. He lowered, and I hopped off.
“Well?” he asked.
I fought the urge to gag again and leaned against the wall and swallowed hard a couple times. I knew what we needed to do.
“I didn’t see any Cartel in there. I couldn’t see anyone alive either. I didn’t get eyes on our subject, but he could be directly below where I was. We’ll need to get a better look to know for sure.”
“Copy that.” Frank eyed me, and without me saying it, knew we were about to face something bad.
Slowly, we made it around the building to the door. I quickly checked in with Team Tracker, who stood the ready to move in if need be.