El jefe nodded. “Still, reach out. If nothing else, it will let them know that we are aware.” He gave the man a knowing look. “If they give any indication that they knew this was happening, then we know that new alliances have been forged.”
“As you wish, señor.”
21
MacDill AFB, Florida
“Hold up.” Lisa stuffed her cell phone into her pocket and trotted to catch up to Bridger. “So I just got off the phone with Diego.”
“And?”
She fought the urge to smile. “He says that he can provide transportation.”
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re holding back?”
She grinned as she pulled him aside. “So, Diego was really concerned that this was a tenth hour setup to get revenge.”
“He isn’t worth the effort,” Bridger grunted.
“I know that and you know that…” she trailed off. “Anyway, he says that there’s been a shit ton of federale activity in the region lately.”
Bridger’s brows knit. “I imagine Murillo has quite a few on his payroll. He’s probably shoring up his defenses.”
“My thoughts as well. But Diego says that the only cars not being stopped and checked on the regular are military vehicles. I guess the federales don’t want to waste their time checking on their own.”
He waved her on. “The point?”
“Diego wants to up the ante. In return for a full pardon from us and a chance to prove himself ‘worthy’…you know, earn his way back into our good graces, he’ll have two repurposed military deuce-and-a-halfs waiting for us.”
Bridger took a deep breath and let it out as a slow growl. “If by ‘good graces’ you mean we won’t kill him, then I’m okay with that.” He raised a brow at her. “I take it by ‘repurposed’ he means stolen.”
“Assume what you will, I didn’t ask.” She smiled broader. “The ante that he’s upped is this: a makeshift FOB just outside the monitored perimeter near Murillo’s compound.”
Bridger gave her a confused look. “He can do that?”
She gave him a slight shrug. “He says he can have it set up before we touch down. He can’t promise the Hyatt, but we’ll have a few tents to use, and he even has Wi-Fi available for Gregg.”
Bridger grunted again. “Slippy will appreciate that.” He rubbed at his chin. “But I’m smelling something fishy here.”
“I poked and prodded to see if there was some catch or maybe that he was playing us.” She sighed as she leaned against the wall. “My gut says that he’s on the up and up. Of course, my brain says not to trust him.”
“You’re thinking he’s gonna sell us out to Murillo.” It wasn’t a question.
She shook her head slightly as she looked away. “I…it’s a possibility.”
“Fuck,” Bridger swore under his breath. He ground his teeth as his mind considered the possibilities. “All I wanted was a damned Jeep to carry us away and now he’s…” He took a deep breath then nodded. “Fine. Tell him we accept his offer and will welcome him back with open arms if he follows through.”
She raised a brow at him. “But?”
“But if he tries to crawdad on us…if I even think he’s selling us out to Murillo, then the last thing he’ll see is my ugly mug as I’m choking the life out of him.”
“I’m sure that will set his mind at ease.” She pulled her phone and hit redial as she walked away.
Bridger turned for the hangar just as DJ came through the door. “Problem.”
“Just what I wanted to hear.”
He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “So I got a look at where they’re storing these swarm…things.”
“And?”
“And they’re all locked up. Like, individual Pelican cases with combination locks.”
Bridger groaned and looked away. “How many are we talking?”
DJ counted on his fingers quickly. “If all of the cases hold a drone then about three or four dozen.” He shrugged. “They weren’t exactly stacked neatly.”
“Can you cut the locks?”
“He can’t,” Blake said a little too loudly as he approached from Bridger’s rear. “You should be a bit more coy in your thieving.”
Both men turned and gave him a knowing look but Bridger broke the silence first. “I appreciate your giving me the heads up on these things but…”
Blake nodded. “I’m aware.” He slipped between the two men and lowered his voice. “The general thought it wise to secure all classified equipment since there were so many civilians in the immediate area. We aren’t scheduled for the next round of testing for a few days so he had the swarm locked down.” He peered past the two as soldiers filed out of an office down the hall then waited until they were alone again. “You haven’t even made a move on the controllers yet. Those will be the hardest to get. They’re locked up in—”
“We don’t need those,” Bridger cut him off. “Slippy found a work-around. He can control them from his laptop.”
Blake gave him a confused look. “All of them? At once?”
Bridger nodded. “We just need them able to take flight.”
Blake gave him another confused look. “Flight?”
“There are too many to carry,” DJ replied. “Slippy’s plan was to fly them all to the plane just as we fired up to leave.”
Blake raised a brow at the men and began to chuckle. “That might work, but your takeoff would be denied as soon as they saw them leaving the hangar. And this IS an Air Force base, gentlemen. They have fighters and aren’t afraid to use them.”
Bridger groaned again and glanced to DJ. “I’m open to suggestions.”
“Beats me, Top. I was Navy, not Chair Force.” DJ replied.
Blake motioned the men towards the door leading to the hangar. “There’s a handcart by that exit.”
“They’d definitely see us loading those cases,” DJ quipped.
Blake motioned back toward the offices. “Not if there is a diversion.”
Bridger’s eyes narrowed on the man. “Like?”
“Well, in the event of fire, everybody is supposed to muster in the front parking lot.” He gave the pair a knowing look. “You’ll have to time it perfectly with your take off.”
“And cut the locks in
