Page 110 of Storm Warning

“We keep finding more surprises as we dig deeper into this mission, and these aren’t pleasant surprises.”

“How can I help?”

“Get a message to Veronica Miles Walker. I need to talk to her again. I didn’t want to call without warning when she’s deployed.”

“I’ll send her a message, but she’s in a hot zone with her team.”

“I’m aware. I talked to her a few hours ago, but I’m hoping you can reach her quicker than I can.”

“I’ll pass the message on. She’ll call you when it’s safe, and that might not be today. Is there something I can do to help while you wait for Vonnie to contact you?”

“Obsidian Storm is still alive, Z.”

Silence, then, “We keep track of rumors about them in our databases, but we don’t have proof.”

“We believe they’re the ones after me and Andre and our teams.”

A soft whistle. “You’re sure?”

“Unfortunately. I’m afraid all this is connected to my time in the CIA.”

“Then let me help, Riley.”

“See what you can find out about Matias Aldana, Javier Garcia, and Diego Mendoza. They’re members of Obsidian Storm. We have the basics about them. Now, we need deep details. Garcia is the new leader of Obsidian Storm, and Diego is his second in command.”

“Who is Matias Aldana?”

Death on the hoof. She shivered. “He groomed Javier and Diego to take over the leadership of Obsidian Storm. He also taught the terrorist group to hate America.”

“Why?”

“He lost his mother when she came to America to visit her sister and was the victim of a robbery gone wrong in Nashville.”

“So he passed his hatred on to the new leaders of Obsidian Storm?”

“Oh, Javier and Diego already had reason to hate us.” She sighed. “I took out Eduardo Garcia.”

Silence, then, “That was you?”

She blinked. “Yes, sir.”

“Nice work, Riley. The man was evil to his core.”

“Javier and Diego also know an American Special Forces unit infiltrated the compound and killed most of the senior people. Andre took out Rico Mendoza when his team breached the compound.”

“Huh. So why do you want to talk to Vonnie if you know all this?”

“We think Javier and Diego are trying to weaponize a virus to fulfill their fathers’ plan. I hoped Vonnie might confirm that information with her contacts in Mexico, and if she can, maybe give us a hint of where to look for the lab in the Chihuahua Province.”

Another whistle from the communications guru. “Even though I’ll tag the phone call as priority, there’s no guarantee Vonnie will be in a safe space where she can contact you.”

“I understand. If she can’t, we really might have to depend on you, Zane. We need to find that lab so we can destroy it along with the virus.”

“With something that hot, Obsidian Storm will have the numbers on their side.”

That’s exactly what she was afraid of. “I suspected as much. We’ll need help. I hope Fortress has a few teams available when we go after the lab.”

“All the teams are deployed except for Durango in Otter Creek. You need to update Brent as soon as possible so he can make plans and juggle assignments.”