Page 6 of High

I patted Rafael on the arm. “Make sure the men are ready and know the plan. I want this to happen without a hitch, do you understand?”

He inclined his head. “Yes, Jefe.” He left me standing in the hallway, staring out toward the foyer and front door. By this time next week, Manny would be in this house with me, and the thought made me smile. I could only hope he understood why I’d waited so long.

* * *

The week dragged on,a never-ending cycle of waking up, working, giving orders, eating, and handling problems that arose, before the evening finally came when Axel handed me an M-16 assault rifle with a grim stare.

The men surrounding me were dressed in black, ski masks covering their faces except for their eyes. Most of them worked for me, though others were contractors Rafael trusted.

We met on the dry outskirts of Chula Vista, closer to the wall than my home was. I lived in Del Mar, which was north of San Diego. Tumbleweeds blew across the section of ground my car headlights lit up, the wind a lazy breeze in the cool night. It was nearing winter, but it was never really cold in SoCal, much like in Mexico.

I didn’t know if the men were all Spanish speakers, so I stuck with English. “This assignment is important,” I said, keeping my authoritative voice low but loud enough for them to hear. “This man we’re after is important to me. He’s family, and I want him home safely. Am I clear?”

A round of affirmative words sounded throughout the group.

“You’ve all heard the plan. Stick to it. We’ll get through a hole in the wall a mile that way.” I pointed at the steel wall that swept the length of the border. If we hadn’t paid off border patrol, I would have been worried, but we gave them a hefty amount of cash to be uninterrupted tonight. “We go through there, meet the vehicles that will take us to Pedregal, take out Antonio’s men quietly, get Manny, and come back through the tunnel near Tecate. Afterward, we go our separate ways. You have any questions, talk to Rafael or Axel. We leave in five minutes.”

The men nodded, and I turned to Rafael. “They’re all armed?”

“As best as they can be. All have assault rifles, two handguns, and knives.” He crossed his arms over his chest. His ski mask was scrunched up on his forehead, ready to be yanked down before we left. On the off chance that anything went wrong, we didn’t want to be easily identified. “They’re well-trained, Jefe.”

“Good. That’s good.”

Five minutes later I had a ski mask of my own, and had it pulled down over my face. It’d been years since I’d needed to worry about being recognized, before Papá decided to teach me how to lead rather than be a soldier. It felt good to be among the men again, with the heaviness of a rifle in my hands and the press of rough wool on my face.

The hole in the wall wasn’t hard to find, with the metal slat held loosely in its spot. All we had to do was wiggle it a little and it came free, giving us just enough room to squeeze through to the other side of the border.

We were a few miles out of town, a short enough distance to move undetected in the darkness of the rising moon. We easily found the cars waiting for us, and there was a bumpy trail that led to a nearby road that took us onto the highway south. The drive to Pedregal was uneventful and the men were good about not visibly stressing on the way there, even though we had to stop once to refuel.

When we finally reached the rich neighborhood in Pedregal where Manny’s father’s mansion was, close to the beach, my adrenaline redlined, and it seemed like I might be able to lift a car by myself as I trembled in place. We hid the cars two streets away from the mansion and walked in. When we reached the fence, I was surprised it wasn’t higher. We could actually see over it. The home reminded me a lot of the one I grew up in. The complex spread across nearly an entire acre and had a massive green lawn, but it wasn’t anything we couldn’t get across, especially when we had a highly equipped team that included some ex-SEALS who were now mercenaries for hire.

As soon as we reached the outskirts of Antonio’s property, they got to work. Axel took the lead, directing men to go left and right, and I let him because this was his operation. He did this best, although I didn’t miss the way he glanced at me, just to make sure I agreed with all his choices. I nodded shortly.

The men split ways, and I followed Axel to the right, around the edge of the property in the direction of the beach. The trained mercenaries went in first, taking out the guards with a deadly, silent precision that made me consider hiring on full-time the ones who I hadn’t already. I didn’t know Manny’s relationship with the soldiers guarding his home, so when the planning had been in the process, I made a rule to attempt to knock them out first. If that didn’t work, lethal methods were allowed. They were lucky they got that leeway. Papá had always made a point that if you weren’t with the Reyes Cartel, you were against us, and I’d upheld that standard. In the months I’d been in charge, I’d killed a lot of men with my bare hands, men who’d given me a reason. The only thing saving Antonio’s soldiers was Manny.

Antonio’s property was a fortress, but the mercenaries moved with ease, sliding over the wall that surrounded the green grass. I followed, easily hoisting myself over the wall, and when I got to the other side, our men had already taken out three soldiers.

“Good work, carnal.”

They blinked at me through their ski masks and nodded, turning to head closer to the house. We moved in the shadows, hiding behind roof pillars when we needed to get out of sight of the windows. Our feet barely made noise on the wet grass, freshly showered by a bout of autumn rain. Last week I’d finally been able to pay off a man to hack into the security system, so I knew the surveillance cameras would be showing a nice peaceful night to anyone monitoring the property from inside.

By the time we got to the house itself, the men with me had knocked out over half a dozen guards. One of the men—the shortest of the mercenaries—kneeled in front of the hardwired alarm system outside the front door. He unscrewed the protective case and untangled wires. I didn’t know what he was doing, but he was quick and efficient, and soon a beep signaled that he’d disarmed the security.

We moved inside in a line, and I took position near the front, right behind Axel and a much bigger man. We slinked up the stairs and down hallways until we found the bedroom we’d been looking for. I knew the way by heart.

Manny’s room.

“Jefe? Your orders?” Axel asked, twisting slightly toward me. His brown eyes narrowed in the holes of his mask.

“I go in first,” I said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Jefe,” Rafael said. I hadn’t even realized the other men had come in from behind us, making our group as big as it was to begin with. He’d shifted up the line of men until he stood near me. “If there are guards in there—”

“I’m no bitch. I’m the boss. I can handle it.” I lifted my mask. The last thing I wanted to do was scare Manny. I handed off my rifle to Rafael and stepped forward, my boots quiet on the floor. I touched the doorknob and twisted it, the sound squeaking in the otherwise quiet hallway. When I pushed the door fully open, nothing happened, so I stepped inside.

A man came at me from the left, and a scream echoed through the room. I twisted away from the attacker, who had a knife in his hand, and tugged out my own knife from my belt, shoving it into the soldier’s neck. Blood spurted from his artery and he gurgled, eyes widening before he collapsed on the floor in front of me. The warm liquid coated my hands and black long-sleeved shirt, and I grimaced.

Someone else came for me from behind and I spun, but before I stabbed them, the flashlights from my men lit up a familiar face. Manny’s handsome features stared at me in shock, eyes wide and mouth parted.