“YOU EXPECTING A PROBLEM?”
I dragged my gaze from the window and glanced at Luna in the driver seat as the sun set. “No.” The day had come and gone, and we were still not in Mexico.
“Then why are you nervous?” He pulled into a parking spot at Emily’s apartment complex.
I was not nervous, I was enraged. It had been twenty hours since she had been taken, fifteen since the ship with her on it had left the port, and we were still in Miami. “We should have left by now.”
“You needed a passport, I needed intel, we needed time to put together an exit strategy, and an emergency backup plan. I’m not gonna be left hanging if shit goes FUBAR in Mexico.” Luna cut the engine.
I fought for patience. “What is FUBAR?”
“Fucked up beyond all repair. Let’s go get her passport then get in the air.” Luna got out of the SUV.
I led us to her apartment where the sister was supposed to be waiting, but before we got close enough to knock, the front door flew open.
Theodore glared at me. “What the hell is going on? Where is she?” He glanced at Luna. “Who the hell is this?”
Luna scanned the neighboring apartments then gave Theodore a warning look. “Take it inside.”
I walked straight at Theodore, and he stepped back to let us in. The sister stood by the kitchen counter, twisting her hands.
“Where is it?” I demanded.
She pulled Angel’s passport out of her back pocket. “I also did what you asked.” She grabbed a bag off the counter and handed both items over.
“Son,” Theodore warned, “you better start talking.”
“I am not your son. You stopped being a father when you let a woman walk away with your children.”
He scowled. “You don’t know the circumstances, and now isn’t the time to get into a pissing match. Where’s Emily, damn it?”
I had hated River Stephens. I hated everything he had represented. But one thing I could say about him, he never gave up any of his children willingly. Not without a fight. “You seem to have a pattern of losing the ones closest to you.”
Taking two steps, he got in my face. “You tell us what the hell is going on, or I’m going to the police.”
“The police won’t do anything for forty-eight hours,” Luna interjected.
Theodore whipped around to face him. “Bullshit. Not if foul play is involved.”
Luna’s hand settled on his 9mm in a holster at the side of his waist. “Step back, Mr. Anders.” His eyes on Theodore, he waited.
Theodore glared at him, but then took a step back.
Luna’s ice-cold gaze on Theodore, he tipped his chin toward me. “We tracked Emily from her last known location at Club Frenzy. Viewing the security camera footage from last night, we believe your stepdaughter was drugged and abducted from the club. We were able to track her as far as Tampa where she was put on a container ship heading for Altamira, Mexico. We’re on our way to intercept the ship and extract her. I can’t give you any more details at this time. Feel free to call the authorities. Her abductor is Javier Estevez. The FBI is well aware of his criminal activity. Any other questions before we leave?”
“Jesus.” Theodore sank down into a chair. “Drugged? Abducted?” He looked up at us with tear-welled eyes. “Mexico?”
Luna nodded. “We need to go. Callan will be in touch.”
“I don’t even have a way to get in touch with him,” Theodore complained to Luna.
I glanced at the sister. “She has my number.”
Theodore wouldn’t let it go. “When will you have news?”
“Eighteen to twenty-four hours.” Luna gave me a look that said we were done here.
I followed him out the door.
“Callan?” the sister called.
I looked over my shoulder.
Clinging to the door, her eyes wet, she looked at me with desperation. “Please, bring my sister back.”
I did not make promises. Life was nothing except uncertainty. “I will call when I have news.”
Luna and I walked back to his SUV. He was silent as he drove through the city, and I had nothing to say. We would not be able to form a concrete plan until we saw exactly where the ship would dock at the port and how many men would be waiting for it. The satellite images Luna had shown me earlier meant next to nothing to me. I needed to feel the ground under my feet. Hear the movements of the port. See the sightlines from a rifle’s scope. Hunting was about becoming one with your environment. I could not do that from a computer image.
Luna’s cell phone rang, and he answered through the speaker system. “Luna.”
“I hear we’re goin’ to Mexico with Cult Boy to shoot some shit up so he can get his stepsister bride-wife back,” the accented man, Talerco, that had been with Luna and Decima at River Ranch drawled.
“You’re on speaker.” Luna rubbed a hand over his chin. “Talon Talerco, Callan Anders. Now you’ve officially met.” Luna glanced at me. “Don’t let his immature bullshit fool you. He’s got good aim, great instincts, and he’s a medic if any of the girls need help.”
“Hey,” Talon interrupted. “You callin’ my aim shit? For the record, I can shoot with the best of ’em. I saved your ass a time or two.”
“The body count’s still not in your favor,” Luna deadpanned. “You get with Neil on the plan? We solid?”
“Yeah, Vikin’ told me all about the trafficker fuck and potential hot extraction. He said you called in the cavalry, and Cult Boy footed the bill for a jet big enough to bring us all home in one piece.”
“This isn’t without risk,” Luna warned Talon.
Talon scoffed. “Who the hell do you think you’re talkin’ to, Patrol?”
Talon seemed to nickname everyone, including me.
“Just making sure,” Luna countered. “You close?”
“Five minutes out. See you at the airport. And hey, Cult Boy?”
My jaw ticked. “I have a given name.”
“Yeah, but mine’s much more fun.” Talon chuckled. “So, for real, you bangin’ your stepsister?”
I reached over to the steering wheel and pressed the button I had seen Luna use to disconnect calls.
Luna shook his head, but smiled. “He’s an acquired taste.”
“I will take your word for it.” I had no intention of finding out. All I cared about was his skill with a weapon. He was a better shot than all of the other hunters on the compound had been.
Luna stopped at a light. “You know, you look like him.”
“Who?” I knew who.
“Ted Anders.”
The casualness in his tone irritated me. “That does not make him a father.”
“How old are you?” he asked abruptly.
“Twenty-seven.” I had taken my twenty-seventh turn around the sun much like I had taken all the others—in the woods with my rifle. But unlike every other turn, I had come back after hunting to an empty, bulldozed compound. Without the mess hall I had left standing, one would never know there used to be hundreds of men, women and children living there at one time.
“Ted Anders is forty-seven.” Luna continued in his casual tone.
“I am aware.” You could find a lot of information with a cell phone and a data plan. I had purchased both five months ago when the lawyer for River’s estate had said he needed a way to get in touch with me without having to drive out to the compound.
Luna looked pointedly at me. “Would you have taken River Stephens on by yourself as a twenty-year-old?”
The light turned green, and Luna stepped on the gas. I knew what he was implying. I had considered the same thought. But no matter how I looked at it, I would not have made the same choices.
“You got an answer to that question?” Luna turned into a small, noncommercial airport.
“I would not have left my kin. I would not have let a man like River Stephens influence my wife, and I would not have stopped until I had my family back. At any age.”
For the second time that day, Luna drove into an airport. But this time he pulled up in front of a large private jet.
“For the record, I wouldn’t have left mi familia either.” Luna cut the engine and got out.
Neil Christensen and the pilot, Roark McAllen, who I had met earlier, were standing in front of the plane.
Roark held his hand out. “Thanks for the bird. Can’t wait to fly her.”
I shook his hand. “Thank you for being here.”
Roark nodded once, and Neil spoke up.
“Did you get your passport?”
Neil had called in a favor to help expedite my passport. I had shown up at the passport office and was ushered through the line. I was not sure how a man not born in this country had such connections, and I did not ask. Neil Christensen was not a man you questioned. “Yes, thank you.”
A black SUV identical to the one Luna and I were in pulled up. Three men got out, two of whom I had seen at the compound with Luna.
I glanced at Luna. “You said you, me, Christensen and Talerco.”
“They knew who we were going after. They volunteered.” Luna gave me a warning look that said not to question it. “We need the extra firepower and Tank has connections in Mexico.”
I said nothing. After seeing the satellite images of the size of the port, I knew he was right.
Luna made the introductions. “Tyler, Collins, you know Callan Anders.” He glanced at the third man who was standing back, scanning the tarmac. “And that’s Tank.” He tipped his chin at the man who was nearly as tall as me but with thirty more pounds of muscle. “You get what we needed?” Luna asked Tank.
Tank scanned our surroundings one last time before acknowledging Luna with eye contact. “Yeah. Vehicles, firepower, ammo, tactical gear and medical supplies. Where’s Talerco?”
As if on cue, a low, black sports car pulled up too fast and slammed on the brakes two feet from where Neil was standing. Neil did not even flinch as Talon got out of the vehicle.
“What’s up, ladies?” Talon smiled wide. “Y’all miss me?”
Tank addressed him. “I didn’t get everything you asked for.”
Talon instantly turned serious. “What’s missin’?”
“The Xstats and antibiotics. And I can’t vouch for the age or condition of anything else,” Tank warned.
“Christ,” Talon swore.
“What is an Xstat?” I asked Luna.
Talon answered. “Stops the bleedin’ from a gunshot wound.” He glanced at Luna. “I need to take supplies, Patrol. I can’t go in blind. Not if you expect me to treat whatever comes up.”
Luna had said we could not take anything on the plane. Mexican customs had strict rules on weapons. He had said the Mexican authorities would detain first and ask questions later, but I had concealed a 9mm anyway, and was going to take my chances.
When Luna didn’t answer Talon right away, Neil spoke up. “We are wasting time. Bring what you need. Disperse it throughout the cabin.”
“If customs searches the plane and sees a shit ton of medical supplies, we’re going to get detained,” Luna warned.
Talon was already at the back of his vehicle. “Have a little faith, Patrol.” He rummaged in the trunk. “Rower, Ivy, Tank, come help me with this shit.”
Tyler, Collins and Tank walked to Talon’s vehicle. Talon started handing them items wrapped in plastic that they shoved in their pockets.
A minute later, Talon slammed his trunk shut. “All good,” he drawled before a sinister smile spread across his face. “Let’s go shoot some shit up.”