“A lot. This pirate ring is called The King’s Crew. They were originally based out of Jamaica and dealt mostly in drugs and smuggling. But recently, they shifted gears and are now suspected to be heavily involved with human trafficking. The FBI suspects the old King was dethroned, and a new guy has taken over. Thus, the shift. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of intel on the crew, but there is good news.”
“Apparently, the DEA recruited a former SEAL by the name of Gabriel Managus. I don’t know him, but Cash will probably remember him. Managus is the one who actually discovered the trafficking aspect. He has been deep undercover for six months. His DEA handler’s name is Pete. Pete’s going to pick you guys up at the airport.”
“I spoke to him before I called. He let Managus have a long leash. Pete doesn’t know where Managus stays. He was just interested in results, and apparently, Managus was moving up in the ranks fast. They were both hopeful Managus would get a meeting with The King soon. He told Pete he was leading the raid last night.”
“Tell us about the raid. How did it go down?”
“There were no casualties. Managus himself took out the captain, and he cold cocked him, and he was unconscious for hours. Everyone else was drugged. Get this, there were twenty-three girls onboard. It’s the largest haul yet. The FBI is working on getting permission to take over the case, but it’s official yet.”
“Copy that. What else did the captain say?”
“He shared that he held a gun on Managus but didn’t shoot because one of the girls was with him. He identified her as Marie Daniels.”
I look at Nina. “We need to know if Managus would recognize Marie.”
Then I ask Zane, “How were the police notified and when?”
She takes her earbud out and goes to ask Cash. He sits up in the seat and nods, then looks back at me. She puts her hand on his shoulder and pushes him back down, but he gives me a thumbs up.
When she puts her earbud back in, Zane has shared that when the captain woke, he used a flare to signal another vessel. “Standard procedure. The yacht was boarded by the Coast Guard five hours after the raid occurred at 8:16AM.”
“The radios were stabbed with a knife. Ingenious really. Quick, effective. SEAL tactics.”
I tell him, “Send us the GPS coordinates of the yacht at the time of the raid and send me Pete’s cell number. That’s all the questions I have right now. Foxtrot?”
Nina adds, “Cash verified that Managus met Marie when he was in BUD/S. He is 100% positive Managus would recognize her. But he doubted Marie would remember him. She was around sixteen or seventeen when they met.”
Zane says, “I’ll pass this along. Listen, if you need me, just say the word. It’s a four-hour flight from here.”
“Good copy. I’ll assess the situation when our boots are on the ground.”
“Copy that,” he says, then he disconnects the call.
Nina looks at me and says, “Cash feels much better knowing Managus is with her. But I’m not sure it’s a good thing. She could blow his cover and get them both killed.”
“Yeah, I know. I thought the same thing.”
“Come on. Let’s brief the others on what we’ve learned.”
When we return to the front, I sit next to Cash as Nina prepares her briefing. While Meghan cues up Dark Thirty, our white-hat hacker, and License to Own, our overwatch drone operator on a Zoom call. When Nina’s got the slide show ready, she looks to Meghan and gets the nod that everyone is present. Then she turns to address the team.
“Gentlemen, this is not a sanctioned FBI rescue mission. Currently, we are operating as Cock Blockers, so be mindful of the rules of engagement. We will be working directly with DEA Special Agent Pete Stanton. Our mission is to recover Marie Daniels. She is the little sister of our brother, Cash Cohen. He is here as a courtesy and not an operating team member.”
She looks at him with her famous single-cocked eyebrow, and he doesn’t refute her. Meghan pats his leg and whispers loud enough everyone can hear. “It’s okay, sugar, you can hang with me. I’m the eyes and ears of everything that goes down.”
He gives her a grateful look, so Nina continues the briefing.
That went down better than I could have hoped. I look over at Mike Franks, and he is grinning.
Nina shares the intel we have on our brother, Gabriel Managus, and Jocko raises his hand. When she pauses, he adds, “I know him. Lucifer and I were called over to work a mission with his team. He’s solid.”
She shares that twenty-three girls were taken in total but doesn’t elaborate.
Justin Davis asks, “Are we expected to leave them behind?”
Nina looks at me and waits for my decision. Cock Blockers is my company. Therefore, it’s my call. I stand to address them. “Freedom is never an option. Marie is our number one target for rescue. She’s our priority, but we aren’t going to leave a single girl behind. If we can’t extract them with Marie, then we will ensure they will be rescued as soon as possible.”
“Hooyah!”
Nina shows us on the map the location where the abduction took place and instructs Dark Thirty to pull the last 48 hours of satellite imaging of the area and comb it for the kidnapping to see where they took the girls.
She also shows us the beach bar where Managus and Pete’s clandestine meetings took place. “This will be where Cash and Meghan hang out. The rest of us will set up at Pete’s house. Any questions?” She looks around at everyone.
Brody asks, “What’s his undercover name?”
The look on her face makes everyone laugh. “I’ll get back to you on that.”
Meghan tells her, “Alejandro Barbados.”
Nina points to her and repeats his name.
Meghan bumps Cash’s arm and winks at him. “See what I mean, sugar?”
At the airport, Special Agent Pete Stanton greets us with handshakes all around. “I’ve heard good things about your group. Let’s hope the FBI sanctions this mission soon.”
While we walk through the terminal, Pete confirms we are setting up our base of operations at his beach house. Nina smiles but doesn’t say anything.
He shares much of the same information we already heard from Zane. Except that Managus has a check-in at the beach bar in the morning at 8:00 AM.
Nina tells us, “Keep that information on the down-low for the moment.” She glances at Meghan, and with eye contact only, shares she has news. Meghan gives her a head-nod. Then she continues. “We need access to the police security cameras.”
He says, “There isn’t a lot.”
She nods. “Guess we’ll be scanning vacation footage then.”
She looks at me. “Which means, good decision to bring me. Otherwise, your ass would have been in the doghouse forever!”
12
Marie
Sitting on the sofa inside the small one-room cottage, hugging a warm cup of tea with a shot of whiskey and a spoonful of honey in it, I can't believe what Alejandro, or rather Gabriel, has told me. But I know it's the truth. The story is too crazy to be a lie.
He started off saying he can't say much about it, but once he started, it was like a dam broke, and he wanted me to know everything about him. He talked about his SEAL training and Cash. He shared that he recognized me because he had seen me sitting at a table in Suds After BUD/S with my brother, and how he and a couple of his buddies came to the table to scope me out, but how protective Cash was of me and how he threatened their lives if they didn't leave me alone.