Fighting With Light (The Coldwell Brothers #2)

42. Liam

42

Liam

The next day we, hole up in me and Aelia’s room and set up our plan. Emerson brought a few maps of the area and the topographic map of the mountains. Aelia and I explain the patterns we’ve found and the terrain around the surrounding area. There are roads up into the mountains, but in some areas they are dirt or no road at all.

“We’re going to have to go in on foot from the east about three miles out. It’s going to take us at least three hours to get to the point, and we don’t know what we’re going to run into. We’ll leave before sunset. That way we can approach under the cover of night,” Emerson says.

Kai agrees and texts on his phone. “We should bring everything with us. I have a feeling we’ll need to go in and get out fast. The plane is on standby, ready for us when we pull up.”

I glance at Aelia, and she’s been quiet this whole time. “Aelia, do you have anything to add?” I ask her.

She blinks a few times and looks at me before peering at Kai and Emerson. “Uh, no, I don’t. All I know is these guys are brutal. I’ve heard conversations, but that’s it. I’ve never seen anything with my own eyes.”

“And you’re sure this is the place?” Kai asks.

“The last thing we need is to get caught up in some drug war with cartel leaders thinking we’re trying to encroach on their territory,” Emerson grumbles.

“No, we don’t, brother, that’s the point,” I say.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense. Liam and I talked about this. My father gets all of his cocaine from here. The Marín cartel has a monopoly on this entire city. Others have tried to get into the area, and he eliminates them without mercy. And he’s friends with the cartel over in Bogatá ninety percent of the cocaine coming out of this country is coming from them,” Aelia says.

“And how do you know this?” Emerson asks.

“Just because I’m a woman with a mobster father and brothers, doesn’t mean that I don’t hear things. I’m aware of much more than they think. I may not know every detail about my family’s business, but I do know who we source things from.”

Emerson dips his head once, accepting her answer.

“Look, we are aware it could be some random cook site, and we’ll strike out. But she’s been right every other time. We found the guns, so I think it’s worth the risk for the evidence,” I remind them.

“Have you considered that this could be all for nothing? Is any of this actually admissible? You know our father, Liam. He uses others as human shields and always has an out. He shot our mother and got away with it. Who is to say he won’t get away with it, anyway? I don’t know if you’ve been paying much attention to the polls, but they are all in his favor,” Kai says.

I wince. About eight months ago, we found out that he was looking for hackers to change votes on the electronic voting machines. The Costa’s did the leg work on the dark web and I was one of the hackers. There are multiple machines, and they compartmentalized the job enough that I couldn’t set up back doors to make the switch in vote fail for all of them. So, it will theoretically work. He will win the governorship through legitimate ways or theft. The only way to stop him from gaining more power is to put him away.

“Look, this is how I see it. If it isn’t admissible, then we leave quietly in the night. But if it is, it will take everything from him, and everyone can finally be safe . This case has to be plausible enough to open an official investigation to give them something to work with . This is that something,” I say, looking at Kai.

He’s worried about Cordi and Theo. They are staying with Mom while he’s down here. He has another race coming up in a few days. We all have lives we’ve been living half of, knowing that our father and his partnership with the Costas would always make it difficult. We’re tired of fighting a war we never chose.

“I’m sorry,” Aelia whispers .

She meets my eyes and then each of my brothers. “I’m sorry my father has been so…cruel. I’m sorry for what he’s done to all of you.”

I chuckle and shake my head. “Your father only added to it, baby. Ours has been evil since the day we were born.”

She huffs. “That makes four of us.”

“I agree. It’s worth the risk. But we need to move quickly,” Emerson says.

We all agree.

Kai stands. “I’m going to go call my wife.”

“I’ll go get us something to eat,” Emerson says.

We watch them leave, and I roll up the other maps. We have about six hours to kill before we need to go.

The tension between us is building and it’s not the fun kind. It’s the tension that when it breaks, it could be catastrophic. It’s the telltale calm before the storm. You know it’s coming, and you can do nothing but take it as it comes because it’s out of your control.

After we eat, Aelia and I lie down to nap before we go. I have a feeling we won’t be sleeping for the next twenty-four hours, and I still have a world championship surfing title to win.

***

We pack up quickly and quietly. I check the room three times and we take our things out to the truck. Emerson took our suitcases and my surfboard to the jet earlier. All we have are backpacks and guns. When Emerson dropped off our stuff earlier, Aelia looked at my Bowie knife, and I offered it to her. She rolled her eyes and zipped up her hoodie, then snatched it from my hands and fastened it to her leg in the thigh holster next to her pistol.

Emerson and Kai are in the front, while Aelia and I sit in the back. I have the map helping us navigate out of the city and towards the mountain cook site. We’re on a long stretch of road, and everyone is silent and focused. I grab Aelia’s waistband and drag her across the seat to me and lean into her ear .

“I like seeing my knife on your thigh like that.”

She smiles and whispers, “I think you’d like what I can do with it more.”

I kiss her cheek and glance in the rearview mirror. Kai meets my eyes and I toss him a wink. “You’re right, princess. I’d love to see what you can do with that knife.” I wiggle my eyebrows, and her eyebrow ticks up.

“Don’t do anything stupid tonight, okay?” Aelia whispers.

I nod and grip her thigh. “I should be saying the same to you.”

Her eyebrow ticks up, and the look in her eyes is full of trouble. I growl and nip her bottom lip. “Behave, my brothers, are present.”

“Yes, we are. We’re approaching ten kilometers, Liam, right or left?” Emerson says.

I flip the flashlight on and look at the map again. “Right in three and then four up.”

He nods and pushes the truck harder. It’s getting darker, and the further we go, the less I see other vehicles, people, or homes.

We travel for another hour and pull to the spot where we’ll leave the truck and take the five kilometers or three miles to the location.

Emerson parks the truck, and we gather limbs and branches to help camouflage it.

“We’re going to need to move quickly and silently. Got it, Liam ?” Emerson says.

I roll my eyes and flash him a grin. “Don’t worry, Emmy, I’ve got it covered. I know how to go into ninja mode.” He rolls his eyes and levels his stare on Aelia.

“Can you keep up?” he asks her.

“This will be the last time you underestimate a woman,” she says.

The corner of his mouth tips up, and I almost fall over at the sight. The last time I saw him smile was at Kai and Cordi’s wedding—the first one.

“I’m not underestimating a woman, Aelia. Our mother is one of the strongest people I know and I’m well aware of what she’s capable of. This has nothing to do with you being a woman and everything to do with who you are.”

“It’s a little late to be asking these questions now, isn’t it, Emerson?” she asks him .

“Answer the question then,” he says.

“I can keep up. You don’t have to worry about me.” He takes a long look at her and dips his chin.

“Can we get on with this? I want to go home to my wife and son,” Kai grumbles.

“Yeah, I’ll be honest. I’d like to be here for as little time as possible,” I mutter.

Emerson grabs his compass and the map I have. From here, Emerson will lead us. He was always better at terrain navigation than the rest of us.

***

The air is thinner at this elevation, and our mission feels tenuous. The forest is dense, the terrain is rocky as we trudge through the mountains, and I swear every step we take feels like an elephant walking. We still have another mile to go and all has been quiet. We’ve gone totally dark, not using flashlights anymore since we’re getting closer. Aelia has kept up without issue, and I want to check on her, but something tells me I’d more likely get a fist to the face. Emerson pissed her off. His question was valid because he doesn’t know her. Regardless, I know she’s still steaming. Hopefully, she gets over it because her lack of focus could cost her life.

I’m pulling up the rear and checking behind me, letting the others walk a few steps. I stop, listen, and watch for threats.

Catching up with the rest of them, I come up behind Aelia, and she lifts her foot, not seeing the bear trap where she’ll step, and I grab the back of her pants, suspending her in the air for a second before yanking her back into my chest. “Hey, what—” I cover her mouth with my other hand, and she rests her head back on my shoulder.

“You were about to step in that bear trap,” I whisper into her ear and then point to the trap, still holding her body against me. She lifts her head, looking down. I glance up to find Emerson and Kai looking over their shoulders, waiting for us. “Follow my brothers step for step, okay? ”

She nods and we catch up to them.

As we inch closer to the encampment, the lights get brighter. Emerson holds up his fist, stopping us, and we gather next to him.

“According to your pictures, we need to move farther south to where we think the shipping containers are. Take pictures of everything and use the call to signal if we need to retreat and meet up at the rendezvous point.”

We all split up, heading for our planned spots to watch and take pictures. We don’t want to be here for any longer than an hour, afraid it will draw attention to ourselves. In and out, quietly, is the goal. We’re here to gather information, that’s all.

Emerson and Kai go in their direction, and Aelia and I in ours. We head north towards the roads where trucks go in and out and where we saw pictures of tents set up. I pause every few steps to wait and listen. It was nearly impossible to see if there was a patrol around the outskirts of the camp. I’m leaning towards no because if this cartel has such a foothold in his city and surrounding area, my assumption is that most wouldn’t come anywhere close simply for fear of death.

Aelia comes up behind me. “I don’t think there are guards out here, just the close perimeter,” she whispers. I nod and keep going little by little, looking for anything that isn’t a tree or maybe even a cute woodland creature. We get to our designated spot and find a fallen tree to hide behind.

While we observe the area, men pass back and forth between buildings and tents. The operation seems to be pretty tight. It looks like they work off of generators. There are pit toilets and rainwater showers off to the side. Various sizes of trucks line the road, leaving the compound. A few armed men we see walk past us every few minutes, but other than that, there is no overt cocaine cooking that can be seen at the moment. In other words, none of this is useful to us. At best, it looks like some random Colombian men doing something in the jungle. So we wait.

Time ticks by slowly, the minutes feel like hours, and I’m starting to lose hope that this is related to our fathers at all. My mind spirals as I try to think of other potential connections, then Aelia grabs my forearm and squeezes. I look at her, and she tilts her head in a different direction .

There’s a man dragging a small woman, possibly a teenager, by her hair. She’s screaming and trying to fight him off, but he’s too strong for her. My heart leaps in my chest and my muscles burn with the need to go help her, but I would only expose us. There’s no way the four of us could take the whole camp. I expected women to be here to package things. It’s a common practice, and unfortunately, my assumption was right.

I glance at Aelia and there are tears in her eyes. Her nails dig into my skin, and I let her draw blood. It strikes something deep in both of us to see someone treated like they are trash. Aelia puffs out a breath when the girl disappears from sight and releases my arm. I glance down, and little half-moon impressions are dug into my arm, with blood welling in the indentations. She grabs the edge of her t-shirt and presses it on my arm. I don’t care that she drew blood. I care more that tears are streaming down her face.

A truck drives by, and I look up from my arm and freeze, watching it go by. It’s a large pickup truck with a flatbed on the back and a wooden shipping container strapped down to it with a US Embassy symbol painted on it. I grab my phone to video it and take pictures. Thank God. I believe we just found our smoking gun.

The truck steers towards the only road that leads to the small compound and disappears from sight.

“That’s what we needed, isn’t it?” Aelia says quietly.

I nod and hear the owl call the signal. Unless you are familiar with birds, no one would notice, but the long-eared owl is not this far south. Our hour isn’t up yet, so something is going on.

“We need to go.”

Aelia nods and leads the way back to our meet-up point. Kai and Emerson beat us to the spot. Emerson has his map out, and he’s pointing to something on it in the dim light. He nods and whispers something else in Kai’s ear.

“Why did you call us?” I ask.

Emerson looks at Kai, and I brace myself.

Something changed .

“We got what we needed. It looks like they are shipping cocaine in US Embassy containers, which are protected by US Border Patrol. That’s how they are getting it across,” I tell them.

“Yeah, there are a lot more containers on the other end. And it looks like a holding site for trafficking women and children. Those larger tents are holding them there,” Kai says.

“Liam, we have to—” Aelia cuts her words off and faces my brother. “We need to help them.”

“I know. We’re trying to figure out how to do that and not send them running into the mountains to die,” Emerson says.

“Do you know how many there are?” I ask them.

“We counted at least six women and three children,” Kai says.

“Make it seven, we saw a man dragging a woman on the other side of the camp, and she was fighting him,” Aelia mutters.

“Shit,” Emerson says, looking at the map and trying to figure out a game plan.

“I…I don’t know if my father has anything to do with this, but he is getting deeper into trafficking and…I know you don’t like me, but we have to save them. We have to try to—”

Kai raises his hand. “We’re going to help them however we can; we just need to figure out how the three of us can make that happen.”

I clear my throat, and Kai glances at me.

“Maybe you should stay back,” Kai suggests to Aelia.

Then a branch snaps.