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“Good by me.”
We said our goodbyes to Doc, Merrigan, and Z.
“Do you need to let anyone else know you’re leaving?” Wren asked.
“I do not.”
She sighed. “Okay, my friend, if that’s how you want to handle it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I folded my arms and walked toward the door. “I’ll be in the corridor when you’re ready.”
20
ARES
Razor, Gunner, and Kodiak were already wrapping up when I joined their meeting. They quickly reviewed what they’d discussed, saying Kodiak had been tasked with figuring out the logistics of raiding the containers and was due to brief the other two men tomorrow morning.
“I can help,” I offered.
“Thanks,” he said when Razor and Gunner left the table.
“I’m gonna see what’s happening over there,” said Gunner, motioning to the other suite.
“Do you want to join them?” Kodiak asked.
“It’s quieter here. We can get more done.”
“If the intel we received is correct, there are ten shipping containers full of trafficking victims. We have to figure out how to raid them while not jeopardizing their lives,” he began.
“Understood. What are our options?”
An hour later, we had two different plans of attack. Plan A was to make it seem as though all ten containers were being moved to a single location, to ready them for transit. Instead, we’d be isolating them. Kodiak created a schematic of the containers’ placement on the ship based on what we could see from the overheads. Then he added the order in which the containers would be off-loaded. The downside was it could take several hours.
The second option was to wait until the containers were picked up for transport to their next destinations. According to the manifests obtained from Altamira, each of them was slated to go to a different place. Raids would take place en route. The downside of this plan was it would be close to impossible for those raids to take place simultaneously, thus allowing the guards in the first container to alert the others.
Neither was a perfect solution, but I couldn’t think of a better one, given the magnitude of the raid and the way the containers would be arriving.
“I think we’re done, at least as much as we can be. Should we let them know?” Kodiak asked.
I supposed we could. I was over my humiliation of confessing my feelings to Nem for the second time, only to have her reject me.
I looked for her when I crossed the threshold between the two suites, but I didn’t see her. I didn’t see Wren or Wilder either. “Hey, did Wren leave?” I asked Z.
“Quite some time ago. They were headed to Shere.”
“Nemesis went with them?”
“That’s right.”
“Thanks,” I muttered. I’d planned to eat a couple more sandwiches. Instead, I poured myself two fingers of bourbon.
“Go easy on that stuff,” said Doc right after I shot what was in my glass.
“Right. Might get the call to head to Felixstowe. My bad.”
He put his hand on my shoulder like he had earlier. “I’m just givin’ you shit. I had a couple of shots myself right before you and Kodiak joined us. Nasty stuff, human trafficking. All crime is, but…”
“I hear ya.”
