“When methamphetamine was invented, the ingredients to make it were readily available over the counter. It took governments and law enforcement years to catch up with regulating the ingredients. Rather than wait for the next designer drug to hit the streets and then try to regulate the chemicals to make it, we’re taking a proactive approach this time. I work with commonly available substances in a laboratory and see if I can concoct compounds with hallucinatory or addictive qualities.”
“And have you succeeded?”
“As a matter of fact, I have. The compound still isn’t perfected, but I’ve hit upon the basic process for making what may very well turn out to be the next widely popular illegal drug of the twenty-first century.”
Whoa. No wonder her family had been snatched. “How long has your discovery been public knowledge? Surely the Mexican authorities knew to provide your family with round-the-clock security. How much force was required to overpower their guards and kidnap them?”
His mind raced with the complications this posed. He could be up against a veritable army up here in the mountains! This twist made it more imperative than ever that he get some backup before he and Melina reached the kidnappers’ hideout.
Melina frowned. “My work isn’t public knowledge.”
He snorted. “Somebody knows, honey, or we wouldn’t be sitting out here having this conversation.”
“It’s not possible. I’m the only person allowed in or out of my lab. Most of the executives at the company have no idea what I do, other than the fact that the government pays all my expenses.”
“Most of the executives?”
“I found the compound before Christmas. And no one kidnapped my family before now. Surely if there were going to be a leak, it-and any reaction to it-would have happened before this.”
Christmas. Over five months ago. That was a long time for a reaction to a discovery of this magnitude, had word of it gotten out. “Does anyone else know?”
“Just my parents. But they’d never tell. They understand how dangerous it would be for me if anyone else were to know about my discovery.”
“Your brother?” he asked.
She shook her head. “He can be…immature. I haven’t mentioned it to him.”
“What’s his name?”
“Michael.”
He pulled out his cell phone and speed dialed H.O.T. Watch Ops. While he waited for it to connect, he noticed Melina staring at him like he’d grown horns. “What?” he muttered.
“There are no cell phone towers out here!”
He shrugged. “You’re right. That’s why I’m using a satellite phone.”
A female voice said in his ear, “Go ahead, Cowboy.”
“Hiya, Raven.” Raven was the call sign of Jennifer Blackfoot, the commander of the civilian side of the house within H.O.T. Watch. She was an extremely sharp cookie.
“Is White Horse around?” That was his boss’s, Brady Hathaway’s, field handle.
“Nope. He’ll be out for at least the next two weeks. A search-and-rescue in a remote location.”
John swore under his breath. Search-and-rescue missions often turned into frustrating and fruitless searches for needles in haystacks. They could take weeks to complete or finally be called off. His boss was well and truly out of the picture for a good long time. John scowled. It wasn’t that he objected in any way to working with Agent Blackfoot. But right now, he needed a Spec Ops team in the worst way. They’d spent the past year cross-training the military and civilian sides of the H.O.T. Watch house for just this sort of occasion. Apparently, he was the lucky bastard who got to put the training to the test.
He said, “Pirate Pete’s delivered a package for a guy named Michael Montez a while back. I need to know what we’ve got on him and that delivery.”
“We’ll get right on it. Anything else?” Jennifer replied.
“Yeah. I’ve got a hostage situation on my hands. Three civilians. This Montez kid and my client’s parents are being held by probable drug dealers operating out of this area. Standby for the coordinates we’ve been given for our next rendezvous.”
Cool as a cucumber after she’d copied down the numbers, Jennifer asked, “Do you want us to run a profile on your client?”
A stab of regret pierced him. But there was no help for it. This was life and death stuff they were dealing with out here. There was no time for emotion or personal feelings. “Oh, yeah,” he replied. He dared not take a chance that she was holding out on him any further. This op had gone from milk toast to high explosives in the blink of an eye.
“We’re on it. What else do you need, Cowboy?”
“I need a team down here, ASAP. Covert insertion, area surveillance, regional intel, threat analysis. The works.”
A pause. “Peru isn’t a country I can randomly insert a full-blown team into without involving the powers that be. It’s going to take a little time to arrange.”
“The Tangos are threatening to torture and kill three American hostages, and I believe this bunch will do it. I can slowball our trek, but we’ve got three, maybe four days to pull this thing together.”
“Understood. I’ll do my best.”
Her best was usually formidable. “Thanks, Raven.”
“I’ll call when we have a briefing package for you.”
He disconnected the call. And looked up into a pair of snapping black eyes that would have struck him dead if they could. “What?” he asked Melina a bit irritably.
“You made my brother sound like a criminal!”
“No, I asked for more information on a possible connection to this mission.”
“He’s not connected to this! He’s a prisoner, at risk of dying, for goodness’ sake.”
John shrugged. “He’s a possible leak. My people are going to have a look at him.”
“Who were you talking to, anyway?”
“Some friends. Back at Pirate Pete’s.”
“And you think a bunch of mail haulers and bush pilots can find out about some drug lord who’s running around down here kidnapping folks?”
He shrugged. “You’d be surprised. It’s all about who you know, and we have a few connections here and there. If someone owes us a favor, we can ask a question or two.”
“If you drag your buddies into this, let the record show their lives are on your head, not mine.”
Her words were a dagger straight to his gut. He gasped in physical pain and struggled to draw his next breath. She might as well have given him a sharp blow to his solar plexus.
Finally, he gathered himself enough to say, “We’ve got to get well away from this car before daylight. Let’s go.”
“So you’ll go with me?” she cried out joyfully.
“Are there any more bombshells you haven’t dropped on me yet?” he retorted.
“No. That’s everything.”
He shook his head. “Then I guess I’m going with you. I can’t let a lamb like you walk into a den of lions all by yourself.”
She reached over and squeezed his hand. Her touch shot through him like a hot shower on a cold day. That woman sure had gotten under his skin.
To her credit, Melina held up fairly well through the initial trek away from the Land Rover. She must work out in her spare time. That, and having lived in Mexico City at five-thousand-foot altitude, their current altitude of around nine thousand feet hadn’t done her in completely.
But even he was feeling the thin air, complete with a distinctive altitude headache and lightheadedness, by the time dawn began to tint the sky in front of them. He paused, and Mel pulled up beside him and sank to the ground gratefully, panting.
“What do you say we find a nice hidey-hole and get some rest?” he said.
