My team—Gamma—is breaching the house. While Zavala’s men are defending the front gate, we’re going to slip in from the rear and I’m going to use a special toy I built to give us the advantage. Once that’s done, we’re going to slip in through the back door and either abduct or kill Emiliano Zavala. It’s simple, but in a way, I think it’s an elegant plan. As long as it goes off without a hitch.
Adam, Spyder, and I make up Gamma Team. I wanted us to be small since fewer people are going to attract unwanted attention. We hunker down behind a dune on the western edge of the property. Laying on my belly, I push a fiber-optic camera to the top of the dune. I look at the screen on the handheld and pan the camera around.
“We’re clear,” I say. “No guards patrolling out this way.”
“Good. Now we wait until it gets dark,” Spyder says.
It’s going to be about an hour before night officially claims the land so we settle in as best as we can to wait. Nobody speaks for the first half hour. I think we’re all too gassed up and ready to rock. We all want this over with so we can move on with our lives. In my case, that’s getting back to Fallon.
“You gonna marry that girl yet?” Adam asks.
“What the hell kind of question is that?”
“The kind of question you ask when you’ve been sittin’ on your ass in silence for half an hour and get bored,” he replies.
I shoot him a grin. “Maybe you should sit there in silence for another half hour and think up a different stupid question.”
“Maybe. But I kind of like this one,” he says. “So? When?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a laugh. “I don’t think we’re at that point yet.”
The better way to say that is I don’t think she’s at that point yet. I know exactly how I feel about her, but I can see she still has moments of doubt about us. I don’t think she’s quite ready to move things to the next level.
“You should ask her,” Spyder says. “You’re never gonna know what point she’s at if you don’t communicate with her.”
“You and Bellamy great communicators?” I ask.
“You know it.”
“She know you’re smoking again yet?”
“Go fuck yourself,” he says.
We all share a quiet laugh. “But seriously, are you going to ask her?” Adam asks.
“When are you going to get a girlfriend so you can stop obsessing about other people’s relationships?” I fire back.
“That’s something I’m going to agree with Volt on,” Spyder says. “No offense, kid. But you need to get laid in the worst way possible.”
“The worst way possible would be your mom,” he snaps. “I mean, she’s awful. I nailed a one-legged nun who was better in the sack.”
Adam and I both quietly laugh, but Spyder just gives him the finger. The sound of the waves crashing fills the air around us and the scent of salt in the air is thick. Maybe it’s all psychological, but I swear it smells different down here.
“All teams, get ready.” Doc’s voice comes through our earpieces.
And just like that, the switch is flipped and we all begin to prepare ourselves. I slam a magazine into my AR and make sure the safety is off. Spyder and Adam do the same. I take one more look through the fiber-optic camera on the handheld screen and nod when I see it’s clear. The lights are all on in Zavala’s place, and I can see shadows moving behind the curtains over the windows.
“How many men he have in there?” Spyder asks.
“At least twenty,” I reply. “While I was watching, they just kept coming and coming.”
“Great,” Adam says.
“Hey, with any luck, most of them will be defending the front gate.”
“You ever see the way my luck runs?” Spyder quips.
“Yeah, well, hopefully Adam and I here will cancel you out.”
