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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Port Tampa Bay wasn’t the largest container port in Florida, but it was the largest in terms of area.

It was also a major cruise port. Thankfully, the cruise terminals were located on the north side, while the container terminal was situated to the south.

In between were various businesses, ranging from home renovations to construction, which meant parked vans and trucks everywhere, with people coming and going at all hours.

Setting up a base of operations in the middle of the night in one of the container yards would have been impossible, what with the guarded security gates, if it weren’t for their resident hacker and cybersecurity expert.

Jack initiated a distraction by setting off a false but well-timed radiological detection alarm at the port authority, which prompted the night guards to take action.

They probably weren’t too concerned with anyone getting in because there would be no one there to lower the retractable traffic barriers.

As soon as the guards stepped away, Jack lowered the barriers and initiated the looped surveillance footage, taking care of any cameras that might have caught sight of the enormous black surveillance van concealing a cyber command center and nine men dressed in black from head to toe.

They parked near a construction company, among several large vehicles and containers, blending in seamlessly.

“I don’t like this,” King muttered, his beefy arms crossed over his chest. “Tell me again why you’re not at the hotel?”

Jay wasn’t about to back down. “Because Ryden and I made a deal. I could come along if I promised to stay in the van.”

Ace, Lucky, Jack, Joker, King, and Finch glared at Ryden, as if it was his fault Jay was along for the ride. Ryden flipped them off.

“Oh, screw all y’all. Don’t act like any of y’all woulda been able to do better.”

None of them could argue with that, so they turned back to King.

Finch snorted. “I’m more surprised he didn’t show up in an outfit you could see from space.”

“No one asked for your opinion,” Jay spat, ignoring his brother’s amused chuckle. Just like the rest of the guys, Jay had dressed in a black Henley, tactical pants, and boots. Did his brother really believe Jay would show up for an op dressed in a fuchsia paisley suit? Ass.

“Moving on,” King grumbled.

After some recon and digital tracking, Jack confirmed the ex-Marines were going to make their move tonight.

As a precaution, everyone’s significant others agreed to stay with Colton until all this was over.

Mason, Red, and Chip provided indoor protection while several more security agents were posted on the property.

As much as King would have liked to notify the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security about what was going down tonight, he was familiar with their procedures and how long it would take to navigate the bureaucratic red tape necessary to set up an operation once they had sufficient evidence to warrant it.

The surveillance van was equipped with everything they might need, including monitors connected to drones, which Jack planned to use to locate their targets. On one side of the van wall was a large touchscreen displaying a map of the port.

“There are several cargo ships docked around the port, but I’m looking at this one here near the cement terminal.

” King drew a circle around one of the ships with his finger, highlighting it on the screen.

He tapped the small PDF icon in the corner, and it opened up to a cargo manifest. “This ship is carrying thirty thousand tons of cement. Each pallet carries sixty-four bags of cement weighing ninety-four pounds and is securely wrapped in both stretch-hood packaging and waterproof hoods. This ship is cleared to leave at 0500 hours.”

“Where’s it headed?” Ryden asked.

“Cartagena, Columbia.”

Joker sighed. “That’s our ship.”

“How do you know?” Jay asked.

King pointed at the map. “That’s a refrigerated ship taking food to Canada.” He moved his finger to another ship on the map. “That one is taking crude oil to India, and that one is taking lime to Japan. Also, the cement cargo ship is the only one scheduled to leave within their time frame.”

Jack held up a finger. “I also found some last-minute staff changes for that particular ship.”

“If they planned it right,” Ace pitched in, “and moved quickly, they could have replaced cement bags with weapons crates and rewrapped the pallets. All they had to do was maintain the same weight as the original manifest. They’ve probably paid off some of the staff and have guys waiting on the other side. ”

Which reminded Jay. “I still don’t get why they didn’t just use this port to begin with.”

“Whatever the reason,” King said, “their hand has been forced and they’re desperate, which makes them dangerous. Comms in.” Everyone secured their earpieces in place. “Radio check.”

“Loud and clear,” everyone replied.

King grabbed his tactical vest. “Gear up. Remember, disarm and detain. No casualties. Keep an eye out for civilians and port security, not to mention anyone these guys could have paid to help them.”

Lucky turned to Ace, his gaze narrowed. “Try not to fall off the ship and almost die this time, bro.”

Finch looked from Lucky to Ace and back. “You fellas end up on cargo ships a lot?”

“It’s a long story,” Ace grumbled.

King, Ace, Lucky, Joker, Jack, Saint, Ryden, and Finch strapped into their tactical vests and geared up, including helmets with night vision. They looked like they were going to war. Then again, they were going up against a tight-knit team of ex-Marines, so maybe they were.

“Saint, you’re with me,” King said. “Lucky with Ace; Jack, you’re with Joker; Marines, you get to be battle buddies. Let’s get moving.” King opened the van’s back doors and jumped out, the rest lining up to do the same.

Ryden turned to Jay, his smile gorgeous, and a lump formed in Jay’s throat. Not caring who saw, Jay cupped Ryden’s face, stood on his toes, and kissed him. When he pulled back, he met Ryden’s gaze.

“If you get hurt, so help me, I will read every one of my romance novels out loud to you.”

Ryden chuckled. “Darlin’, I’ve already read them.”

Jay blinked at him. “What?”

“All the books you threw at me that I kept? I read them.”

“You did?” Jay’s heart did a little happy dance. “Why?”

Ryden shrugged. “It was something you enjoyed. Guess it was my way of feelin’ close to you, even if I never woulda admitted it to myself.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Finch grumbled. “Can’t you two be all disgustingly romantic some other time?”

Jay glared at his brother. “Don’t make me throat punch you again.”

Finch threw his gloved hands up in surrender and turned away.

“Gotta go,” Ryden said, kissing Jay’s cheek. “Stay in the van like you promised. You’re on intel. If anything looks suspicious, report it just as we discussed during recon, and if you’re about to be compromised in any way, drive like a bat outta hell. We’ll catch up when it’s safe. Be back soon.”

Jay nodded, then remembered something. “Oh wait!” He reached into one of the large pockets of his tactical pants and pulled out his fuzzy little green friend.

Ryden’s smile was huge. “I named him Pascal. He’s going to look after you.

” Jay tucked the pipe cleaner chameleon into one of Ryden’s pockets on his tactical vest.

“Thank you. I’ll be sure to bring him back to you.” Ryden jumped down to join the others, rolling his eyes when Ace, Lucky, Joker, Jack, and Saint quietly teased him.

Jay grabbed his brother’s sleeve. Finch turned, his gaze questioning. “Please keep him safe.”

Finch’s expression softened. “Sure thing, Jaybird.”

“And, um, you stay safe too, okay?”

“Careful there.” Finch winked at him. “Someone might get the impression you care about me.” He didn’t give Jay time to reply, just jumped down and closed the van doors.

“I do care about you,” Jay murmured. He and his brother might have a lot of unsettled issues to work through, but that didn’t mean Jay didn’t care what happened to him. With a heavy sigh, he dropped down into one of the chairs at the security console.

Well, this sucked.

Jay hated that the guys were all out there, risking their lives to catch these bastards, and all Jay could do was watch.

Supposedly, he was there to provide intel and offer support from the van, but Jack’s cybersecurity vans weren’t like any other surveillance vans.

The damned things were so high tech that they had minds of their own.

It was cool yet creepy. It also meant Jay didn’t have much to do because the van did it for him.

Several screens were laid out in front of him. One of the screens was divided into eight feeds, four on the top and four on the bottom. Each feed belonged to a camera that the guys wore on their vests, similar to those worn by police officers.

Another screen showed an aerial view with infrared imaging of the guys, thanks to one of Jack’s drones, which was controlled by the van.

It had also hijacked several of the port security feeds so that only they could see what was going on, giving Jay a good visual of the area surrounding the cargo ship and container yard.

The second drone was in stealth mode and scanning the cargo ship.

All of it connected to the small tablet Jack had in his hands.

“I swear, if you start talking, I’m outta here,” he muttered at the console, side-eyeing it. “I’ve watched enough movies to know it’s all going to lead to an uprising, and I’m too pretty for post-apocalyptic fashion.”

And he was talking to a computer. Thankfully, it didn’t respond.

The guys moved in pairs, rifles at the ready, using hand signals as they went. Jay had observed them during various training exercises over the years, so seeing them move like a unit wasn’t new. The Kings and Wild Cards were always perfectly in sync because they had been a unit.