“I didn’t know he had them.”
“What is this boyfriend’s name?”
Phillips swallowed hard. “Brent Maddox.”
Garcia’s jaw clenched. “Fortress Security’s CEO is her boyfriend?”
A quick nod.
“You are indeed a fool, Phillips.” He stood slowly. “And I do not conduct business with fools.” He grabbed his gun from the holster, aimed at Phillips, and pulled the trigger. Between one breath and the next, Phillips’ protests stopped and he dropped to the floor in a heap, a bullet hole dotting his forehead.
Fighting not to throw up and scare her niece even more than she already was, Rowan averted her gaze from the fallen kidnapper and made sure Alexa didn’t turn around to see what was going on. “I’ve got you, Lex,” she murmured into the girl’s ear as her niece started to cry softly. “I’ve got you.”
“Drag that garbage out of my office,” Garcia ordered Linebacker. “Then bring someone to clean up the mess.” His lips curled.
The big man hurried to follow his boss’ orders. Once Phillips’ body had been removed, Garcia turned his attention to Rowan. “Now, what am I to do with you and the child, Ms. Scott?”
“Let us go. You don’t want to keep us.”
Garcia tilted his head. “Why not?”
“Trouble will follow us.” Trouble named Brent Maddox. “You know Brent will come.”
A grin stretched the man’s lips. “That’s exactly what I’m hoping for. It’s time to dispose of my greatest enemy.”
Greatest enemy? Goosebumps raced over Rowan’s body. Garcia was setting a trap for Brent and his operatives, and she and Alexa were the bait.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Brent crouched at the edge of the tree line beside Josh Cahill, leader of the Durango unit, one hundred yards from Garcia’s darkened hacienda. So far, Zane hadn’t detected any online chatter about the arrival of Fortress in the Chihuahua province. Wouldn’t hold, Brent knew. No way to keep that secret indefinitely. Word traveled fast when three private jets landed on separate private airstrips. His goal was to be in place ahead of the chatter. Whether he’d been successful remained to be seen.
One thing he did know. Garcia would have learned by now Rowan was special to him. And that meant using his girlfriend and the child as leverage. Perfect setup to target Brent.
The cartel leader wasn’t stupid. Brent’s reputation for never leaving one of his own behind was common knowledge. Because Rowan was his, he was even more determined to free her from captivity. Garcia knew Brent was coming, just not when.
Zane dropped hints in strategic places about Fortress looking for a kidnapping victim in Costa Rica and Venezuela, a victim who was a high value target to Brent personally. With luck, Garcia would believe he had more time to prepare. Whether or not the cartel leader bought the story, Brent and his people were prepared for strong resistance.
Cahill handed Brent the infrared scanner, pointed at the left corner of the hacienda on the second floor. He studied the heat signatures in the room. Two figures. One adult. One child. What the scanner couldn’t tell him was whether or not the signatures belonged to Rowan and Alexa.
He remained motionless, watching the figures, hoping for some movement to tell him whether or not the adult in the room was Rowan. The figure sat beside the prone child, stroking his or her head. Comforting the child.
Brent scanned the surrounding trees for heat signatures. No one close by. The guards were walking on the far side of the house, according to one of his other unit leaders.
He activated his comm system. “Alex, any sign of a child on the premises other than the one in the east corner?” he murmured.
A moment of silence, then Durango’s sniper responded. “Negative.”
“Veronica Miles said a woman and child were brought here from Phillips’ plane. That has to be Rowan and her niece,” Cahill said.
“Agreed. Move your team into position.”
Cahill melted into the shadows to join his teammates. Alex Morgan had already taken a high vantage point to cover his unit’s entry and exit from the hacienda.
Adam and Eli flanked Brent, Jake behind them with his mike bag in case Rowan or Alexa were injured and needed immediate medical attention. “Jon’s in position.” This from Eli.
With a nod, Brent activated his comm system again. “Bravo and Gamma teams, report.” When the team leaders confirmed their teams were in position, Brent instructed them to hold. Once Durango was in place, all the teams would converge on the hacienda.
For the first time, Brent’s patience was strained to the breaking point. Never before had he been tempted to leap into action before his operatives were in position. This time, though, the mission was personal. Every minute he waited was another that Rowan and Alexa were alone and vulnerable. And that wasn’t acceptable to him on any level. Only years of discipline kept him in place.
“In position,” Cahill finally murmured in Brent’s ear piece.
“On my signal,” Brent said.
“Copy.”
Jake had timed the guards’ rounds. So far, they hadn’t deviated from their seven-minute intervals. Sloppy work. Frankly, he was surprised Garcia allowed this pattern to develop.
Brent forced thoughts of Rowan and Alexa to the back of his mind and focused on the execution of the mission. He couldn’t afford a distraction. His life, that of his operatives, and Rowan’s and Alexa’s lives all depended on his focus.
Right on schedule, the guards rounded the east corner and started across the front of the house. “Durango and Bravo, go.”
His body readied itself for the sprint across the open terrain to their designated entrance. Garcia’s hacienda had four entrances, one on each side of the place. Fortress didn’t have the option of using windows because the paranoid cartel leader had bars on every one. Talk about a fire hazard.
There were two underground escape routes with a PSI sniper trainee and spotter waiting at each tunnel exit in case Garcia slipped past the units closing in on the hacienda.
When the time was right, Brent signaled his team to move and whispered, “Gamma, go.” With that
