Dangerous Pursuit (OSI Dark Ops #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY

Lucas kept one foot on the rickety dock, the other on the edge of the rigid-hulled Zodiac, holding it in place so his teammates could load up. Teammates. Yeah … these people were a team, and he was proud to be a part of it. Finally, he could let go of the notion that he was in this alone, that it was only his burden to carry.

The old wooden dock had seen better days, and several rotted planks disintegrated beneath their boots as the rest of them boarded. As soon as his ass hit the seat on the boat, the dock creaked, cracked, teetered to one side, then collapsed into the water.

“Good thing we won’t need that when we’re done,” Eddie quipped.

Hawk, Eddie, and Lucas were in the center of the boat, Calliope and Viking were at the bow, and Jonathan was at the stern to pilot the craft.

Lucas’s phone vibrated in one of the pockets on the front of his tactical vest. He tugged it free, saw Felix’s name, and swiped his finger across the screen .

“Hey.” He looked back at Jonathan as he listened.

“Triano and Marroquin just boarded the boat.” Sound carried over water, so Felix kept his voice barely above a whisper. “A young woman and a fellow carrying a black leather satchel are with them. No one else has arrived yet. Marroquin is carrying a semiauto pistol, Triano has a nickel-plated revolver, and both of them have them holstered on their right hip. I can’t tell if the other two are armed or not.”

His friend was hidden on a boat on a dock across the marina, watching Triano’s yacht through a pair of high-powered binoculars. He’d been given photos of Rafael Triano and Lorenzo Marroquin. The other two were a mystery.

“If possible, send me a pic of the unknowns, will ya?” Lucas wanted to know who else they were dealing with.

“Will do,” he said. “I’ll give them about ten minutes, then I’ll head your way.”

“Thanks, Felix.”

“My pleasure, mate. This is much more exciting than doing inventory of my supply closet. I’ll check in when the other parties arrive.” He ended the call.

Lucas conveyed the update to the team, and a text arrived from Felix with photos of their mystery guests. He tapped the screen and was surprised to see Paloma Triano walking down the dock with a tray in her hands. He sent the man’s photo off to Sammy and secured his phone back in his vest.

“You recognize her?” Jonathan looked over Lucas’s shoulder at the photo.

“Yeah, she’s Triano’s daughter.” She’d never shown anything but disdain for her father and his business.

“If she’s a part of this, she’s going down, too,” Jonathan said.

Lucas nodded his agreement.

“Comms check.” Cole tapped his ear to verify their mics and earpieces were working.

They all nodded.

“Let’s head out.” Jonathan fired up the powerful, two-stroke outboard. The propeller spun and churned up muck in the murky, dark green water as they pulled away from the riverbank.

Flashes of early morning sunlight twinkled through the tops of the high trees. But as they ventured deeper into the jungle, the canopy of trees thickened and it became darker. The boat cut through the fog creeping across the surface of the water, and like a warm, wet blanket, humidity was heavy in the air.

Lucas glanced up at Calliope, who was scanning the area. Her face was striped with green, brown, and black greasepaint. She turned and said something to Viking, but Lucas couldn’t hear their conversation over the growl of the motor. Her profile was so delicate, and he loved the way her nose turned up a tiny bit at the end. Damn, but she looked small compared with everyone else.

Lucas hated the idea of her trudging through that jungle by herself after she and Viking split up. What if there were more sentries than anticipated? He knew she was far from helpless, but he couldn’t seem to shake his concern for her.

He absolutely could not lose Calliope and would do anything to ensure that didn’t happen.

Other than thanking him when he handed her rifle to her on the Zodiac, she hadn’t said anything to him since they left the house. Hell, she’d barely looked at him. Perhaps she was in mission mode, but it felt like there was more to it than that.

Viking laughed at something she said, and Lucas felt a twinge of jealousy that he wasn’t the one she was laughing with.

Fuck. He needed to get his head in the game. Those poor girls were depending on him—this team was depending on him. He closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and slowly released it. When he opened his eyes again, Calliope was looking at him with concern.

She mouthed the words, “You okay?”

He gave a slight nod and winked.

For a long moment, she watched him, as if making sure he was being truthful, then turned back to the river. She might be pissed at him, but she still cared enough to worry. He would take that as a good sign .

“Five minutes to the first drop zone.” Jonathan’s voice was subdued, all business. He slowed the craft and maneuvered it toward the edge of the river with a skill learned through years of training and combat operations.

Calliope and Viking secured their sniper rifles across their backs. Everyone else raised their rifles up and covered them as they stepped out of the boat onto the soggy grass.

A few feet from the shore, they reached a wall of thick undergrowth. Calliope drew her big Ka-Bar knife from a sheath on her thigh, and Viking wielded a machete. They gave everyone a thumbs-up and began hacking a path through the dense undergrowth.

Lucas’s stomach clenched as they disappeared from sight, and the thwack thwack of their blades faded to silence the deeper they ventured into the jungle.

Hawk and Eddie shifted to the front positions. Cole reached out, flattened his hand on the grass, and shoved the boat away from the riverbank. About fifteen minutes later, the dock came into sight one hundred yards ahead of them.

Jonathan slowed down, and they floated toward a large tree hanging over the water. Lucas reached out, grabbed a branch, and held the boat in place until Eddie and Hawk were ashore.

Hawk turned, shoved them off the bank, and gave them a thumbs-up before they both headed to their designated location .

Lucas gave his cousin a stern look and said, “Triano’s mine.”

“Understood.” Jonathan pushed the throttle forward, the front of the boat lifted slightly, and they skimmed across the water.