In the Grey (41 page)

“
What are you doing?” the
guard yelled.

Surprised, White Boy
pointed to himself.

“
The paperwork says you’re
coming, too,” the guard said.

White Boy ran to catch
up.

“
I don’t know how you got
so lucky as to escort this jerk to Colorado,” the federal guard
said.

“
Bad karma,” White Boy
said.

White Boy got in the
helicopter first and helped the guards drag Trece inside. The
guards bounced Trece into a seat and sat across from him. The
helicopter took off.

“
This is your Captain
checking in. We’re going to have a balmy flight with low
turbulence.”

Trece looked up at the
intercom speaker.

“
We have some lovely
snacks of low-fat turkey jerky, or what we call shoe leather. Our
beverage today is low-fat water, since we’ve noticed you’ve gotten
a little chubby in prison.”

“
Zack?” Trece
asked.

“
That’s the Jakker to you,
asshole,” Zack said.

“
But I thought you only
flew Alex,” Trece said.

“
They went another way,”
Zack said. “You still have to go to Florence. Sorry, man. We wanted
you to hear a friendly voice and know we cared. Can’t you hear the
compassion in my voice?”

“
No.”

“
Suck it, Ramirez,” Zack
laughed.

Laughing, Trece looked at
White Boy and the guards.

“
You wear F’s?” Trece
asked.

“
Nah, we’re friends of
Freddy’s,” the guard across from him said.

“
And big fans of turkey
jerky,” the other guard laughed.

“
Well, thanks for coming,”
Trece said.

“
We won’t put you in a
cell, but you’ll have to stay restrained,” the guard across from
Trece said. “That’s the best we can do.”

“
It’s
really . . . ,” Trece nodded to keep from
crying.

The men smiled.

“
Get some rest,” White Boy
said. “We never know what’s going to happen next.”

“
Ain’t that the truth,”
Trece said.

FFFFFF

Saturday, early
morning

November 20 – 5:05 a.m.
AST (1:05 a.m. PST)

Rincón municipality,
Puerto Rico

“
You know, there is one
thing we could do with the gold bars,” Jesse said.

Looking out the window at
Rincón municipality flying by, Alex raised her eyebrows. She was
sitting next to Raz in the back of an armored SUV cruising along
Puerto Rico Highway 115. Matthew, Vince, and Leena sat in the
middle seat. The rest of the team followed in two armored
SUVs.

“
We could buy one of the
big houses on the water,” Jesse said. “How many bars could that
be?”

Alex counted. With her
hand against her thigh, she gestured four.

“
What are you doing?” Raz
whispered.

“
Trying to figure out how
many bars it would take to buy one of these gorgeous homes,” Alex
whispered back.

“
Five,” Raz said. “Maybe
six.”

“
I figured four,” Alex
said.

Raz tapped Matthew’s
shoulder. He turned around to look at Raz.

“
Ask our Coast Guard
friend how much the big houses on the water cost,” Raz
said.

Matthew leaned forward to
the front seat where their two US Coast Guard MP guards
sat.

“
Couple million,” the
driver said. “Why?”

“
Trying to figure out how
to spend some gold,” Raz said.

Alex laughed.

“
When we finish here, I’ll
show you my favorite spot, Uncle Agent Rasmussen,” the driver said.
“You can buy me a house while you’re spending your gold
bars.”

Alex chuckled and looked
back at the window. She saw Jesse in the reflection.

“
Who would miss it?” Jesse
asked. “We could come here for holidays. The kids would play on the
beach . . . It would be fabulous.”

Matthew turned around to
Alex.

“
Why is Jesse giving a
Puerto Rico travelogue?” Matthew asked in a low tone.

“
Bored, I think,” Alex
smiled.

“
You guys are bored?” the
US Coast Guard MP from the passenger seat said. “This is the
biggest action this island has seen in . . .
years.”

“
We’ve been on the road a
while,” Alex said.

The team laughed. The MP
stopped at the police barricade and began a quick conversation in
Spanish with the Policia de Puerto Rico. The neighborhood was
secure. The residents would remain in their homes. The residences
on either side were clear, and the beach was secure. The house was
isolated and secure. The Puerto Rico police were ready to provide
back up and move in when necessary. The Coast Guard SUV moved
toward a Spanish-style mansion on the water. The MP pulled to a
stop behind a house a block away from their target. The cars behind
pulled in next to them.

Alex and the team got out
of the SUVs and went around to the back. They picked up US Coast
Guard–issued handguns and M240 machine guns. Even though they each
wore their dragon skin body armor, Alex agreed to wear an
additional Coast Guard-issue body armor vest for this mission. She
wished everyone good luck when she gave them their earbud
communicators.

When they were armed and
ready, they split into teams. Vince led Leena and MJ to the west
entrance of the building. Joseph took Colin and Royce to the east
entrance. Matthew, Margaret, and Cliff ran ahead to come at the
building from the beach side.

Alex and Raz ran to the
garage. Alex glanced up to check on the Policia de Puerto Rico
snipers. She pointed to a police team and waved them to follow
her.

The neighborhood was dark
and silent. A warm saltwater breeze blew off the Bahia de
Aguadilla. The teams reached the house at the same time.

Alex looked up at the
Policia de Puerto Rico sergeant in charge of the scene. He
nodded.

“
Go,” she said.

Vince dropped down to pick
the lock on the side door. Joseph cut the power. Their intel told
them that Angel Ramirez, Trece’s cousin was asleep in the bedroom
above the garage.

“
We have two guards on the
patio,” Matthew said. “Smoking.”

“
Go,” Joseph
said.

Pop
.
Pop
. The
guards were down.

“
Stay down,” Margaret
said. “We only want him.”

“
Secured,” Matthew
said.

Alex waited while Vince,
Leena, and MJ moved from the west door and Joseph, Colin, and Royce
moved from the east. Over her earbud communicator, the grunting and
punching of their fighting sounded almost erotic. She glanced at
Raz, and he winked.

She bit her lip. As a
team, they’d never completed this type of action without Trece and
White Boy. Tonight, the team was on fire. They were finally going
to bring justice to the cousin who had destroyed Trece’s childhood,
haunted his adult life, and now sent him to prison.

Personally and
professionally, there was a lot at stake for them.

Alex closed her eyes and
listened.

They performed like
professionals. They gave each bodyguard the option to walk away;
most did. Step by silent step, they secured the building. Every bit
of training, worrying, haranguing, and harassing came through in
the team’s professional demeanor.

They kicked
ass.

“
Fey, you are a go,”
Joseph said when he was standing outside Angel’s door.

The garage door opened a
foot, and Raz rolled under it. Alex followed him. They slipped past
the expensive cars to where Cliff waited.

“
He’s not alone,” Cliff
said.

Alex gave him a curt nod.
Raz held his machine gun. Alex slung the machine gun over her
shoulder and pulled her Glock 9 mm from her sacrum holster.
With Raz in the lead, they crept through the house. She was halfway
up the stairwell when she said, “Go.”

Vince kicked down Angel’s
bedroom door. Three scantily clad women slipped down the stairwell
from the bedroom. At the top of the stairs, they turned right, and
Alex followed Raz into Angel’s bedroom. Colin and Joseph had
handcuffed Trece’s cousin’s hands and feet to the bedposts. Naked,
he lay spread eagle on the bed.

“
Angel!” Alex exclaimed.
“Long time no see. How’ve you been, man?”

Snarling, Angel strained
against the handcuffs.

“
You look a little tied
up,” Alex holstered her weapon and sat down on the bed.

“
You look like the same
stupid GI,” Angel said. “How come you never grew any
tits?”

Colin moved to punch
Angel, but Alex shook her head.

“
You know, you were right
to worry that cousin Andy might take over your business,” Alex
said. “He has a sharp mind.”

Angel spat in her
direction. The spittle landed on his naked chest.

“
You’re dehydrated,
Angel,” Alex nodded to Vince. “Anybody have some water for
Angel?”

Angel screamed when Vince
poured his cold water bottle over Angel’s chest.

“
You know, Trece was in
the SHU for less than four days before he figured out your entire
bioweapons operation,” Alex said. “It took us . . .
uh . . .”

She looked at Joseph. He
said, “Three days.”

“
Three days to track down
every guard, buyer, and your entire transport chain,” Alex said.
“We even got the bank accounts. They’re ready to roll on every
member of that supply chain in . . .”

Alex looked at her watch,
and then back at Angel.

“
Thirty-four minutes,”
Alex said. “You must be proud. At least that’s what we plan to tell
people.”

“
What are you saying,
bitch?” Angel jeered.

“
We’re going to let it
slip that you planned your escape by trading in your cousin,” Alex
said. “Somehow, you forgot he was a black ops intelligence officer.
He was able to figure out and take down your entire chain while you
were lying on the beach. You’re proud of his ingenuity.”

“
You can’t do that.” His
voice was arrogant, but his eyes flicked back and forth with
fear.

“
Sure I can. If I don’t
call in . . . ,” Alex looked at Matthew and
then back at Angel, “I was at a wedding last night, so I’m not
clear on the tiny details.”

“
Two minutes after they
roll,” Matthew said.

“
Thank you,” Alex nodded
to Matthew. “We have people in place in the SHU. The moment DHS
rolls, they’ll tell everyone that you swapped places with Andy so
that your friends would get caught.”

“
You can’t do that,” Angel
said. “They’ll kill me.”

“
We’re taking you to
Florence,” Alex said. “They’ll do worse to you than
that.”

She looked at
Raz.

“
What did they do to the
last guy?” Alex squinted as if she didn’t remember.

“
Cut out his intestines
and strung them around the cell,” Raz said. “He died about a half
hour later.”

Alex nodded. Angel gave
her a long calculating look. He glanced from one team member to the
next.

“
There’s a way out,” Alex
said.

“
I’m listening,” Angel
said.

“
You confess to killing
the cop,” Alex said. “The whole thing, including framing Andy. Go
to trial. Take the punishment, which honestly won’t be any
different than what you have now.”

“
Why would I do that?”
Angel asked.

“
So we don’t tell everyone
how you screwed them,” Alex said. “This way, you get to say you
escaped Pelican Bay and return to the Supermax a hero. Or a
selfish, untrustworthy loser who won’t last a day.”

“
What do you get?” Angel
asked.

“
I get to clear my
friend’s name,” Alex said. “I allow his mother to breathe a sigh of
relief after living in fear all these years. And I don’t have to
look that moronic teardrop on my friend’s face. It’s worth it to
me.”

Angel closed his eyes and
didn’t respond. Alex shrugged.

“
Tick-tock,” Colin
said.

The rest of the team took
up the call, but Angel didn’t respond. Alex held up her hand and
they fell silent.

“
This is your last ride,”
Alex said.

Angel shook his
head.

“
Fine with me,” Alex
pointed to Matthew. “Make the call.”

“
He won’t deal,” Matthew
said in to his cell phone. “Yes, that’s correct.”

“
Get him dressed,” Alex
said.

“
Hey,” Angel said. “You
can’t do that. I know my rights.”

“
Do we look like we care?”
Vince asked.

Once dressed, they
escorted the prisoner out of the house. They turned him over to the
Policia de Puerto Rico police. The team made their way back to
their Coast Guard escorts.