Bobby glanced to Gregg and Mauk then groaned as he came up from the chair. “They’ll have time to reinforce their numbers.”
Laughlin nodded. “That’s assuming they haven’t already.” He sat down and rolled the glass in his hands. “But you’ll be better prepared.” He raised a brow at him. “And we could get some of the best minds SOCOM has to offer to go over your plan of attack before you try to implement it.”
“I thought you said that you were on leave?” Gregg asked as he came out of his seat. “How you gonna set all of this up without authorization?”
Laughlin shrugged slightly. “Let’s just say that there are a lot of people who owe me favors.” He glanced to the men and his face hardened. “I’m prepared to call in those markers if it means getting the people responsible for killing Mario and Rob.”
Bridger nodded slightly then took his seat again. “Then let’s do it.”
Laughlin leaned across his seat and yelled to the pilot. “Set us a course for Florida. We’re going to MacDill Air Force Base.”
Southeastern Oklahoma
Miguel Herrera picked up a shell casing and held it close to his nose. “Something very bad happened here.”
“If you are saying that it’s bad that they escaped, then yes.” Ricardo Diaz huffed as he overturned the meager furnishings in the cabin. “They left without their car? How? Did they walk out of these woods?”
Eduardo Nunez appeared in the doorway. “Raul is asking for an update for el jefe. What do I tell him?” He held the phone against his jacket as he spoke, muffling the sound.
Miguel came to his feet and squinted as he stared deeply into the woods. “Tell him the truth. We have only just found their cabin and they are not here.” He tossed the casing to the ground and peered back towards the disabled vehicle. “Apparently there was a shootout and none of the team, nor the targets, are still onsite.”
Ricardo kicked at the broken glass across the floor. “I think it’s safe to assume that the gringos still live.”
Eduardo nodded slowly and backed away, speaking softly into the phone. Miguel appeared by Ricardo’s side. “I need you to make some calls.”
“To who?” he asked as he straightened his overcoat.
“The people you have with the American government.” Miguel looked away, his face unreadable. “Apparently el jefe’s contacts aren’t as reliable as he had hoped.” He turned and stared solemnly at the slight built man. “I want these people, Ricardo. I want them badly.”
“As do I.” He nodded slowly as he stepped away, pulling his phone from his breast pocket. “If they are to be found, I’ll find them.”
Miguel stepped outside the cabin and breathed deeply of the pine scented woods. He glanced to the grey overhead sky and yearned for home. “The sooner we are done with this task, the sooner we can go back.”
Langley Virginia
Phil Sammons snatched the phone from its cradle, switched off the speaker and pressed the receiver to his ear. “I don’t think I heard you correctly, Laughlin. Do you care to repeat yourself?”
Matt sighed heavily into the phone and hung his head. “I need to use our resources. Just for a few days. I tried to call in a marker at MacDill and…”
“Let me guess, they told you to pound sand?”
“My guy isn’t there any longer. I guess he retired.”
Phil sat back in his chair and tried to stretch the knot from his neck. “You’re supposed to be on leave, Matt. Not gallivanting across the country and stirring up shit.”
“I know, sir…I just…” He trailed off, his eyes settling on Bridger trying to sleep in the overstuffed, yet undersized chair of the plane. “Can I owe you one?”
“For the love of…” Phil pulled the phone from his ear and slowly counted to five. When he came back on, his voice was deadpanned. “You need the CQB trainer set up to emulate this villa, correct? For how long?”
“Just until we can get the insertion complete.”
“What about exfil?”
Matt glanced at the worn and weary faces scattered across the plane’s interior. “I’m not too worried about that, sir.” His voice betrayed his meaning.
Phil sat forward, his face painted with concern. “You don’t think you’re coming back from this, do you?”
Matt tried to choose his words wisely. “I’m not at liberty to…” He sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. “If we have time to train for it, we will. Sir.”
Phil pressed the phone tighter to his ear and lowered his voice. “You know I can’t authorize such a—”
“I’m not asking you to, sir.” Matt tried to maintain calm in his voice. “I just need access to their trainer. And if any of the spec op boys are willing to work with the team, that would be great, too.”
Phil nodded slowly. “Fine. I’ll make a few calls. There will be somebody to meet you at the tarmac.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t thank me, Laughlin. Just make sure you and your team survive this.” He paused for a moment then quickly added, “So I can chew your ass properly when you get back.”
“Roger that, sir.” Laughlin hung up the phone and stared at his old team trying to rest in flight. He knew that if anybody could pull this off, it was the people in this plane.
He turned and glanced out the window. He just wished that there was a way they could survive the mission.
Near Chapala Mexico
“They are nowhere to be found?” El Fantasma paced slowly, his mind racing. “And how are we doing with recruiting the militias?”
Raul shifted nervously. “We have two of them onboard. They will arrive tonight.”
“And the third?”
Raul shook his head. “They say that they won’t be coerced into working with…their enemies.”
El jefe smirked as he pulled his chair out and slowly sat in it. “And they are aware of the consequences for denying me?”
Raul gave an animated shrug. “I would think so. They know who
