Page 53 of Protecting Olivia

“Happy for you, Panther,” Z said as he passed, the smile on his face not reaching his eyes. It was the same smile he gave when he looked at Jasmin and Linc. It was a look of longing.

***

Iceland was cold as fuck.

I hated the cold and snow. You’d think after all the time I spent over in the Sandbox I’d welcome the cold.

Negative.

I’d take the heat any day. The walk from where the helicopter landed was only a few hundred yards from where the prison Siles was being held, but I was still freezing my balls off.

“Comm check one,” came over my earpiece.

“Copy oversight one,” I responded.

I heard the other guys answer in turn.

We were fully kitted out, not wanting the prison guards to see our faces. They knew we were coming, they knew to get out of our way, but we still wouldn’t show our faces.

“Panther. You’re clear to enter. Switching you to comm two. Viper to follow at your six o’clock. Over.”

“Roger that,” I replied.

Zane gave me point on this op, and he took my back. He knew I wanted to be the one to end Siles. Unfortunately, there was no other option. This wasn’t about revenge; it was about preventing a cartel war in Bolivia that would, in the end, kill thousands of innocent people. The Bolivian government would ask for US aid, and service men and women would be sent in to protect drug territories. We were being proactive and stopping the bloodshed before it happened.

When we entered Siles’ cell, he jumped off his cot and put his hands in the air.

“This isn’t a stick-up motherfucker. Sit down.”

“Sorry, mister, habit. Sorry,” he stammered.

“Cut the shit, asshole,” Zane shut the door behind us. “Overwatch, we have tango one,” Z reported.

“We had a chat with your friend Gomez,” Z cut to the chase.

“Please don’t take me back, he’ll kill me. I gave everything to the Americans. Please, everything I know.”

This motherfucker.

“You’re caught. Cut the shit and be a man. You were double-crossed on your double-cross, dumbass,” Z told him. Siles continued to stare at Zane. “Let me break it down for you in the simplest of terms. Your plan was to have the Americans take out Gomez. You needed bait. A reason for the Americans to want to kill him. What better way than to take the child of a government official? Good plan by the way. I gotta tell you, we were a cunt hair from taking out Gomez for you. Where you got fucked was the second double-cross. That’s where a member of your team that was holding Olivia recorded your conversations.” Z stopped, and recognition hit Siles. “I see you’re understanding now. Those recordings were sent to Gomez. He helpfully provided us with a copy. The AG isn’t really happy he helped the man who kidnapped and tortured his daughter.”

“What do you want?” Siles asked, the bullshit innocent act dropped.

“Nothing. You have nothing we want. We’re here to simply take out the trash,” I told him.

“You have a traitor.”

Zane rolled his eyes. “Ya think, fucker? We gathered that all on our own. There is not a damn thing you can tell us that we don’t already know.”

“I can tell you who,” Siles said.

“No, you can’t. You don’t know his name because if you did, you’d already be dead,” Z explained.

“It’s not a man. It’s a woman. I can help you find her. I know her voice.” Siles was still trying to save his life.

Holy shit, a woman? There was normally only about twenty percent truth in what a person told you when they were begging for their life. It was completely natural to start making up more information than you really knew in an effort to save yourself.

“Gomez sends his regards. See you in hell.” I didn’t give him a chance to answer as my gloved finger followed the trigger guard down, and in one even pull, I squeezed the trigger.