Dangerous Pursuit (OSI Dark Ops #3)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Calliope had never been so relieved to see the team in her life. She’d begun to get a little too loose-lipped and gooey with Lucas. Never before had she spoken to anyone about her mom. Hell, she hadn’t even spoken to her own dad about the woman he’d married and had a child with.

Why the hell did Lucas have to be the one she decided to open up to?

She’d really liked the feeling of his hand wrapped around hers, though.

“How did y’all do?” Eddie looked up from where he sat on the couch, fiddling with his camera.

The guys were all soaking wet, but their black and green face paint was still in place.

“We located three docks. Only one was sturdy enough to hold people.” Cole removed two pistols from his vest, then lifted it over his head.

The sound of Velcro ripping circled the room as the rest of the guys did the same .

“The other two could barely be called docks.” Jonathan shook water from his hair. “How about you guys? Any luck?”

“We located the structure where they’re holding the girls,” Lucas said. “I have the coordinates and can get us back there without a problem.”

“Excellent.” Cole checked his watch. “Why don’t we shower up, then meet back here in thirty minutes for a debrief.”

“I’ll have the infrared images and photos up on the big screen in the theater room when you guys are done,” Lucas said.

“What does everyone want for dinner?” Calliope opened up the three-ring binder containing instructions for the Wi-Fi and menus from several local restaurants.

Shouts of “pizza!” came from several areas around the house.

“Pizza it is.” She flipped through the sheet-protected pages and stopped on an Italian restaurant.

“Here, use this.” Lucas handed her a platinum credit card.

“Wow, fancy.” She smiled, hoping to move past her little breakdown earlier.

“What can I say?” He lifted one big shoulder. “I’m a fancy guy.”

She rolled her eyes, relieved he didn’t press her further, then dialed the restaurant and ordered ten pizzas with various toppings. The owner told her that an order that size would take a little over an hour but assured her they would be worth the wait.

Thirty minutes later, they were all gathered on the oversize, upholstered recliners set up in rows at different levels in the impressive theater room.

A remote in his hand, Lucas stood at the front of the room, next to the giant screen. He pressed a button, and one of the images taken from the helicopter appeared.

“You can see there are multiple heat signatures. By my count, there are twenty-seven in this group here and this smaller one a few feet away.” He pointed at the lone figure.

“It appears as if one is missing.” Calliope sat forward on the edge of the chair for a closer look. “What happened to the other one?”

She looked around at her teammates, but no one answered.

“Shit,” she muttered and sat back.

“We only spotted two sentries, here and here.” Lucas circled the two outlying images.

“Triano seems to be running short on manpower these days.” Jonathan shared a strange look with his cousin.

“So it would seem.” Lucas clicked the remote again, and Eddie’s photo of the thatched roof appeared. “This is the structure where they are being held.” Another press of the remote and the infrared images were superimposed atop the photo. “And this is where they are located within the structure. At least, that’s where they were earlier.”

“After all the rain we got today, and with that piss-poor roof, anything inside that thing is going to be soaked.” Hawk propped his ankle on his knee.

Calliope’s worry for the girls increased at the thought of them not only being scared to death, but now they were wet, too.

Jonathan’s phone beeped. He pulled it from his pocket and tapped the screen.

“What’s up, Sammy?” His gaze traveled over the group as he listened. “You’re certain?” He nodded. “Okay, send all of that to the secured online storage, and I’ll share them with the team.” He nodded again. “Great job.”

Jonathan ended the call, pushed up from his chair, and moved to stand next to Lucas.

“Sammy’s got some information for us.” He tapped his phone screen a few times, and the images on the screen were replaced by a photo array of four men. “Meet Triano’s buyers.” He pointed at each photo as he called out their names. “Lorenzo Santiago from Paraguay, Giovanni Frantanelli from Italy, Karolyi Potapov from Russia, and Bautista Garavano from Argentina.”

“That’s quite the international bunch,” Eddie said.

“Bunch of human garbage, you mean,” Viking mumbled .

“They arrived on separate flights and were all taken to the same hotel in limousines provided by the same rental agency.” He slid one hand in his front pocket. “I think you can guess who rented those limos.”

“I’m familiar with these assholes,” Lucas said. “I’m not as good as Sammy, but according to my research, they’re all fairly small players in their particular territories. But I’m betting they’re hoping to use these girls to expand their operations.”

“Sammy also found rental documentation for this yacht.” Jonathan tapped his phone, and a photo of a large boat filled the screen. “She had to work through a maze of shell companies, but she finally tracked it back to Triano. We believe he intends to use it to pick up the girls.”

“Something that size will require a crew of at least two people.” Viking leaned forward.

“Triano won’t trust anyone outside his organization, so we have to assume he’ll be piloting it himself, perhaps with the help of Lorenzo Marroquin.”

“Does he even know how to pilot a boat that size?” Hawk beat Calliope to the question.

“Yes, he does.” Lucas scanned the group. “He used to have a boat slightly larger than this one. It was called The Julieta , named after his wife. He sold it when she died.”

“Why do you think he picked something that nice to pick up the girls?” Hawk looked from Jonathan to Lucas .

“Yeah, they’ve already been stuck in a shipping container for days, and now he’s got them stuffed in a ratty hut.” Calliope’s disgust at their treatment fueled her need for retribution.

“Sammy said each of the buyers showed up with an entourage. She managed to isolate the ones who were obvious security personnel. Which left these four.” Jonathan clicked the remote, and the photos shifted to a montage of four pictures, each of a different man walking from a private jet to one of the rented limos and each one wearing an expensive suit and carrying a briefcase.

“Those must be the money guys,” Lucas said.

“Agreed.” Jonathan turned away from the photos.

“How the hell did Sammy get those pictures?” Lucas asked.

“She tapped into the airport’s surveillance cameras.” One corner of Jonathan’s mouth lifted. “Good thing she works for us and not the bad guys, huh?”

“No doubt,” Lucas said.

Jonathan continued, “According to her research on that yacht, there is no way it’s big enough for Triano, his henchmen, all of the buyers, their money guys, security teams, and the twenty-eight girls.”

Calliope stood and walked over for a closer look at the men on the screen.

“What are you thinking?” Lucas stepped closer to her .

“We know that boat isn’t big enough for everyone, and from the looks of those buyers, I doubt they’re going to trudge through the jungle. So I think we can rule them out.” She tugged on her bottom lip and continued staring at the photos. “That said, they will definitely want someone to represent their interests during the transfer.” She turned to Lucas, then Jonathan. “I think they’ll remain in the relative safety of the hotel and send their security guys and those four other assholes in their place.”

“Okay, let’s assume you’re correct. That makes eight.” Lucas pointed his thumb at the photos over his shoulder. “Add Triano, Marroquin, and the twenty-eight girls, and that brings our total to thirty-eight.”

“That boat is plenty big enough for that many people.” Jonathan tapped his phone to bring up the photo of the hut’s roof with the superimposed infrared images. “We know where they’re holding the girls. We just don’t know when they’re picking them up.”

“We’ve also got those two other heat signatures roaming around out there,” Eddie said. “There could be more.”

“Doubtful.” Lucas rubbed his thumb along his jaw. “As Jonathan said, Triano’s running low on personnel these days.”

“Dare I ask why that is?” Calliope knew in her gut exactly why.

Lucas’s eyes connected with hers for one long beat, and she knew .

“Gotcha.” As suspected, he was the reason those men disappeared. “I hope it was unpleasant for them.”

He maintained eye contact with her as one corner of his mouth slid up slowly, then he proceeded to tell them why Lorenzo Marroquin couldn’t find replacements.

“Folks around here are a powerful combination of religious and superstitious. So I decided to use that to my advantage. I concocted a rumor that Felix helped spread that a fantasma enviado por el diablo , a phantom sent by the devil, was collecting up Triano’s people, snatching their souls, and condemning them to an eternity in the hottest part of hell because of their evil deeds.” Lucas reached for his glass of iced tea and took a long swallow before continuing. “Their fear of garnering the Devil’s unwanted attention was far more powerful than their desire to risk eternal damnation just to make money working for Triano.”

“The only thing we don’t know for sure is when they’re going to pick up the girls.” Jonathan tapped his phone, and the photos disappeared, then he set it on the console table below the screen.

“Hawk and Eddie, grab a couple of those fishing rods and tackle boxes the owner left in the garage and head down to the marina for a little night fishing.” Cole took over the briefing. “A boat that size is going to draw attention, so I want you to see if you can pick up any gossip from the locals.”

“You got it.” Eddie pushed up off the sofa.

“Will do.” Hawk nodded once and followed Eddie to the garage.

“The rest of us will hang here and go over the op plan for tomorrow.” Cole turned to Jonathan and Lucas. “I’m going to go check in with Dulce. Carter’s getting his first tooth and is miserable.”

“Ah, yes.” Jonathan chuckled. “We just went through that with Declan. There were tears and drool everywhere until that sucker broke through. Have her put his binky in the freezer for a few minutes. That’s what we did.”

Calliope was struck by the image of these two giant men going on about drool and binkies.

“She went out today and bought this teething ring thing that has freezable gel inside,” Cole said. “Hopefully, that’ll give them both some relief.”

She turned to look at Lucas and was taken aback by the pain and longing in his eyes as he, too, watched the exchange between Jonathan and Cole.

He caught her looking at him, and damn if he didn’t throw on the phoniest smile she’d ever seen.

“I think I’m gonna head out.” He clapped Jonathan on the back. “See you in the mornin’.” Without so much as a sideways glance, he blew past Calliope and headed out of the theater room.

“Shit,” Jonathan said under his breath, then hurried after Lucas.

What the heck was that about?