“Gents, this is what we’re going to have to do. We know the general location of his ranch in Baja, just outside the town of San Benito, about ten miles from Cabo. It’s in the hills, not in town proper, but other than that, we’re kind of shooting from the hip and extremely blind.”
He waited for this to sink in.
“Now for some good news. I checked my bank balance this morning, and I’ve got more money in there, so we’re nearly halfway. She didn’t say she was going to do that, but I think she knows we may need some extra expense monies. I have no idea why, but I’m glad they’re playing ball with us.”
“So you’re saying someone from her organization, whomever they are, is monitoring us?” Riley said after he spat. “I don’t understand why they don’t nab him themselves if they have all that intel. Or are we bait, Brady? Are we the sacrificial lambs headed for the slaughterhouse?”
“I don’t think you have anything like that to worry about, Riley.” He didn’t want them to see it, but Brady had wondered that same thing himself.
“Riley has a point,” said Carter.
John had a sour expression on his face, and Enemario was checking out the patterns in the stars overhead.
Riley’s impatience was growing. “Fuck, Brady. Did your lady mention Stanley? Because this feels like it’s got Lt. Stanley’s hands all over it. They hooked you with the promise of revenge, and now they’re going to take you out for good. Ever think about that?”
“No, Riley. I haven’t thought about it that way at all,” Brady retorted. It was a partial lie, and he was getting angry. “I hope you know me well enough to realize I would never put you in harm’s way and that I’m a better judge of character than that.”
“And you could be just flat wrong, too,” Riley continued.
“No problem, man. If you want out, you got it. I told you all, if at any time you were uncomfortable with things, I’d make it so you could drop out. I meant that. I hope you know that.”
He studied each man, one by one. “If you’re not one hundred percent on board, you’ll be a liability to the team, mainly to yourself. You’ll start doubting things. We haven’t really begun this op yet, and already a couple of you are complaining—”
“Fuck it, Brady. I’m not fuckin’ complaining. Remember what I told you last week? You’re asking an awful lot,” barked Riley.
“I agree. It is a lot. But so is one million fucking dollars,” Brady answered. “Even split five ways.”
John spoke up. “There’s that, and the fact that Brady can get some closure—we all could. We don’t do it for ourselves. We’re doing it for Maggie. In her memory.”
Brady was grateful John had the cool head tonight. Normally, he could control his reactions. When one of his guys questioned his judgment, he’d let it slide off his back, even thank them for bringing it up. But standing here in this parking lot tonight, Brady didn’t feel in charge of anything.
Now he was losing control of his guys.
Riley finally made eye contact with him. “You call the play, Bones.”
Although Brady was relieved, he wasn’t going to stop the discussion.
“I say it’s all-or-nothing. We all go or none of us do. I’ll split what we’ve got in the bank right now, a little over $400,000, and we can all go our own ways. But if you want to hang in there with me for the whole event, then we’ll be going into Mexico. After tonight, whatever we decide, that’s it. I want your feedback and suggestions—all of them. But no more questioning the decisions we’re making. Let me emphasize that. We’re all making the decision as one unit, one team. If one of you is out, we’re all out.”
Brady knew they were thinking about his words because no one would look at him.
“What’s the lady going to do if we quit and take the money she’s invested?” asked Enemario.
“That’s not the right question. It doesn’t matter what she thinks. She could ask for it back. But that shouldn’t be the way you decide. You understand?”
Several heads bounced in agreement. Riley was stoic, and then he also began nodding his head.
Brady added one last point. “What makes us unstoppable is when we all contribute to the outcome. We decide together, we gear up and get ready, and we follow the plan. That’s the best thing about this team. We come up with a strategy. Up until tonight, we were just getting started with the surveillance, just beginning to formulate a plan, and we hoped to get him quick and be done with it. But you know how it is. The plan goes to hell with the first engagement of the enemy, right? The enemy gets a vote, and in this case, we have to go with Plan B. Got it?”
They nodded, becoming more animated. He could see they were tired, too. A good night’s rest would be a wise move. But Brady needed confirmation they were solid.
“I need to hear it, gents,” he prodded.
Riley suddenly came to life, standing tall, as if he was going to salute, which he never would. “Hooyah, Master Chief Rogers. I’m in. I can’t wait to ride in that dump truck down all those bumpy roads. I can’t wait to rid this world of one bad motherfucker. If I quit now, I’d not be able to look myself in the eye, let alone speak to my kids. Time to go save the day.”
Several others mumbled something similar. Brady made sure to examine their facial expressions, every one of them. He was delighted to find they were all men of steel, true warriors, and they might have concerns or worry, but there would be no more talk of quitting.
“All right then. That’s a green light, as in go.”
Brady launched into some logistics he needed them to consider and help figure out.
“I asked earlier if all of you guys had your passports with you so nobody should have a problem getting into the country. It’s getting out of Mexico with Rojas in tow that will be the problem. We should rest for the night and then start first thing in the morning. From now on, we maintain our cover. We’ll all ride in the van, and we will be fishing buddies on a pleasure fishing trip, okay?”
Everyone nodded.
Carter grinned and parroted Riley’s comment. “Going bumpety bump in and around all those potholes all over Baja.”
The laughter was soothing.
“Be thinking about staying away from the federales,” Brady reminded them. “I don’t want any legal entanglements. That means we hang together, we watch our backs, we don’t involve too many locals, and we just stick to ourselves. When we get there, I’ll try to find us some kind of accommodations, and of course, we’ll have to charter a boat. We want to look like real fishermen.”
“So we’re going tomorrow then? Leaving from here?” asked Riley.
“That’s the way it appears, Riley. Does anybody have any questions or an objection to that?”
“Brady, no offense but I don’t want to leave my car here,” added Carter. “I’m cool with going with y’all in the van. But how about I drive down near the base in Coronado and leave the car there. It’ll be a hell of a lot safer than here. San Diego is a decent place to fly home from, so if you guys don’t want to hang with me or ride in the van all the way back to Sonoma County or San Francisco, it would work out. I’d like to make sure my car remains in a location where I’ll find it when I get back.”