Page 28 of Isla by Any Other Name

“Will do, Neil. Expect a call in the next hour,” Mitch said.

Neil set his phone down and shook his head. God help them all.

Chapter sixteen

Mitch stormed through the kitchen, his mind working to figure out their next move. Isla was there, preparing Thanksgiving dinner. He didn’t want to ruin this holiday for her, or even this moment. She looked up and smiled. “Everything okay?”

Mitch worked to remain calm. “Just got a call,” he said. “Could you do me a favor and go wake up Max and Dirk? Tell them to meet me down in the control center.”

Isla looked worried but didn’t say anything. She just went to assemble the team.

Mitch took out his cell. He called Baxter, who was patrolling the perimeter of the property. He said to be on alert. He would fill him in as soon as he could.

Down in the control room, Mitch paced. Reiner was on surveillance, watching the monitors.

Sal looked over at Mitch. “What’s up, Mitch?”

“Let’s wait till the rest of the team is here. Keep your eyes on those monitors. We may have been located. Mary Carlson just confessed to being Hernandez’s lackey.” Mitch took out his burner phone and called Jax. “Can you get your team together and get here ASAP? We’re going to need you. They’re getting too close for comfort.”

“We’ll be there as soon as I connect with the guys,” Jax said, excitement in his voice. “We’ll keep her safe, man. Don’t worry. We live for this kind of action, and besides, we’ve all grown real fond of Molly. We wouldn’t want anything to happen to her.”

“Thanks, Jax,” said Mitch. “We owe you.”

To the team, he said, “Jax and his team will be here as soon as possible. Get the perimeter cameras up on the wall, Sal.”

Sal punched in some numbers and the ten monitors on the wall flashed to life. Max and Dirk flew down the stairs, pulling on their shirts.

“What’s going on?”

“Mary Carlson just admitted to Neil that she’s the one that’s been leaking information to Hernandez,” Mitch said. He sucked in a breath and then delivered the bad news. “She gave them the address to my family’s hunting cabin. If we’re lucky, we have twenty-four hours to come up with a plan and execute it, or we pull out and take Molly to one of the other safe houses. Neil’s leaving it up to us. I say we end this now. But this is a group decision. I’ll respect all of you if you want to pull out. It doesn’t need to be my way.”

Max and Dirk looked at each other, then with their eyes on the monitor, they nodded their agreement. Sal said, “It ends now.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. I’ll give Neil a call. Our decision is final?”

“It’s final,” said Max. “We’re tired of this lowlife and his goons. He needs to be stopped and we’re the team to do it.”

Mitch placed the call and informed Neil of their decision.

Neil already had reinforcements on the way. Hopefully, they’d get there before Hernandez’s henchmen made an appearance.

Max and Dirk sat at the conference table facing the monitors. Mitch stood at the head of the table.

“Neil’s sending us two teams of four. But we can’t let our guard down. At the first sign of trouble, I want Molly in the safe room. Once the two teams get here, we’ll have two members of the team working the perimeter and the other two patrolling the house. There are two parapets on two corners of the house, one in front and one in back. We’ll have two guys up there on watch. The other two will be on the ground around the house. No one gets into this house if we can help it.”

“Got it,” said Dirk.

Mitch thought for another moment. He had to be smart about this. “I want to put a team up at my family’s cabin. Maybe we could finish it there—keep them from even stepping foot on this property. We don’t know how many goons are on the way. It could be one—it could be a dozen. We need to be prepared. Max will stay here with Molly. Dirk and I are going up to the cabin with two of the agents coming in. That’ll give us four men there. If things start to happen at the cabin, I want Sal and Todd as backup. When Jax gets here, I’m going to have his team patrol the town. If anyone even looks ‘off,’ he and his team will handle it. Two of his men will be stationed halfway between here and town, dressed like hunters out for a day of hunting. It’s not unusual during hunting season to see a truck parked alongside the road with hunters in it. There are two ways in, from the south and the north.

“I’m not going to assume that they’re going to drive in. That’s why we’ll have extra agents scouting the perimeter. If they have time to survey the area, they’ll see that the area between the cabin and here has a fire road. They could come in that way and come through the woods. The team on perimeter patrol will be vital if that’s the case. If they break through, we need to be prepared and keep the house safe. Curt has an A-one security system here, but nothing is foolproof. We’re not taking any chances.”

As soon as the plan was settled, Mitch nodded at his team. They were the best of the best, and it was an honor to take on this mission with them. He said a prayer that they’d all make it out of this alive.

Two SUVs pulled up to the gate. Jax announced his team’s presence and Sal opened the gate.

Mitch said to Max and Dirk, “Jax’s team is here. Go stay with Molly. We’ll tell her what’s happening on a need-to-know basis. I don’t want to worry her until we have to. As soon as we update Jax and his team, I want you outside patrolling around the house. If you see anything off, you let me know.”

Sal buzzed Jax and his men into the house and they came down the stairs.