Forged in Steele

CHAPTER 17

STEELE stared piercingly at the man standing in front of him and his team, waiting for him to cough up an explanation as to why he hadn’t figured out Maren was missing until well after her disappearance. For that matter he hadn’t known jack until Sam had contacted him for information. Steele had no patience for half-assing a job, and it was clear Sam had employed someone to watch out for Maren who’d done a piss-poor job of it.

The man looked nervous, but then he was being scrutinized by an entire team of pissed-off people. Donovan had his arms crossed over his chest, staring expectantly. P.J. and Cole were on the other side of Donovan, not looking any happier, and Baker and Renshaw were circled around so they almost encompassed the guy.

Yeah, he knew he’d fucked up.

“I’ve been talking to the locals and the most likely suspect is Javier Mendoza. Apparently he’s been sniffing around Dr. Scofield for quite some time. Mendoza’s hired heavy was seen outside her clinic the night before her clinic didn’t reopen as usual. She hasn’t been seen since.”

Steele’s nostrils flared and his lips curled in displeasure. “I see. So maybe you can explain to me why you had to find out this guy was sniffing around Maren from the locals. Your job was to keep an eye on her. You should have known the moment some asshole started expressing interest, and you should have immediately reported that to Sam Kelly, the man who pays you to know these things.”

Rico went pale and he shuffled his feet nervously. “There’s never been a problem. Things are always quiet around here. She gets up, goes to her clinic, treats her patients and then she returns to her cottage. Every few weeks she’ll drive to get supplies, but other than that, she’s predictable.”

“So you got lazy and complacent,” Donovan growled. “You didn’t think anything would go down, so you stopped keeping a close eye on her.”

Rico didn’t respond, but it was evident that was exactly what had happened.

Steele shook his head in disgust. “If anything has happened to her. If one hair on her head has been touched in any way, I’m coming after you. There isn’t a hole you can hide in big enough that I can’t find you.”

Rico looked like he was about to piss his pants. He stuttered and stammered, trying to come up with an explanation, but Steele was done with this idiot. He was pissed that Sam hadn’t kept better tabs on the moron. He was pissed that he’d been called away from Maren and she’d been left vulnerable and alone. If he’d been here, there was no fucking way Mendoza’s man would have gotten close to her.

It ate at him that while he was away on a mission, Maren had been in trouble and he’d never known a thing. He hadn’t left her any way to get in touch with him. It hadn’t even occurred to him to leave her a way to reach him on his phone because he’d planned to be back as soon as possible. He’d fucked up. Every bit as much as the idiot Sam had hired.

No way in fuck that was ever going to happen again. As soon as he had Maren back, things were going to change.

“You’re fired,” Donovan snarled at Rico. “Get the fuck out of here. I don’t want you anywhere near Maren or her clinic.”

Rico looked relieved and spun around on his heel, hurrying to his SUV. He couldn’t get out of there fast enough, and he likely realized the very real danger of getting his ass kicked the longer he stayed in their presence.

“Rico,” Steele called out.

Rico halted and slowly turned around to look at Steele.

“Don’t even think about fucking us over by giving Mendoza a heads-up. You’re a dead man if I even suspect you talked.”

He went pale again and nodded. Then he hurried to his vehicle, got in and tore off down the road.

“Son of a bitch,” Donovan swore. “What a dumbass.”

“Yeah,” Steele agreed. Then he turned to his team. “Okay, we need to do some recon stat. I want everything there is to know about Javier Mendoza and I want it yesterday. P.J. and Cole, I want you two to take position outside his compound. Figure out the lay of the land. Tell me what goes on, what we’re up against. Baker, I want you and Renshaw working on an entrance-and-exit strategy. I want visual confirmation of Maren’s presence inside his compound. We have twenty-four hours to get this together. I don’t want Maren in this asshole’s hands any longer than absolutely necessary, and I want to make damn sure she isn’t hurt when we go in.”

“Where does that leave me and Dolphin?” Donovan asked in amusement.

“We need all the information we can get on Mendoza, his dealings, what goes in and out of his compound. From what little that dumbass Rico could tell us, he has tight security and he monitors every vehicle in and out of his gates. If he has deliveries, I want to know when and what day. That would be the easiest point of access for us if we could hop on one of the deliveries.”

“Provided the locals will even talk to us,” Donovan said grimly. “From what Rico said, he wasn’t able to get much out of them. They’re all scared shitless of Mendoza.”

“Rico is an incompetent idiot,” Steele shot back. “Do what you have to do. I need as much info as we can get.”

Donovan nodded and then turned to Dolphin. “You’re with me, I guess. Let’s go ask some questions.”

Dolphin grimaced. “How’s your Spanish? Mine’s a little rusty.”

“I can get by,” Donovan said.

“I want everyone to report back in six hours,” Steele said. “Stay low and don’t be seen. I don’t want Mendoza to have a clue that we’re here. If he keeps his finger on the pulse of everything local like I suspect, he’ll know we’re here, if he doesn’t already. We need to go in, get Maren and get the hell out before he knows what hit him.”

“On it,” Renshaw said.

The others echoed Renshaw’s affirmative and they quickly moved out.

Steele stared at the clinic and down the road to Maren’s small cottage.

“Hang tight, Maren,” he murmured. “We’re coming for you.”

SIX hours later, they gathered on the periphery of Mendoza’s compound in a dense section of trees and snarled bushes and foliage. Cole and P.J. were the last to arrive, slipping from the darkness. One minute they weren’t there, and the next they appeared, barely causing a ripple with their movements.

They were good, and if they didn’t want to be seen, you weren’t going to find them. Steele liked the absolute confidence his entire team inspired. There wasn’t a better team anywhere. Rio’s was good, but they weren’t Steele’s team. His money was on his operatives any day of the week.

“Give me the rundown,” Steele said in quiet tones. “P.J., Cole, I want your report first.”

“This is nothing like Garza’s operation,” Cole began. “Garza had a half-assed security net. He was lazy and convinced he was untouchable. Mendoza takes his security seriously. He has men on the ground in heavy patrols, but they’re irregular, so there’s no pattern. Looks like it’s designed that way so no one ever knows when or where the guards show up. This guy is smart.”

“Four guard towers, one on each corner,” P.J. added. “Three men in each plus an additional watch post in the middle of the complex that enables the occupants to see the entire encompassing area. He has six guys there. All armed with long-range assault rifles. I’d lay odds on them being crack snipers, but that’s just a guess based on what we observed of everything else. I doubt he’d go to such lengths with his security if they weren’t capable.”

“Fuck,” Steele muttered. “What else?”

“High concrete walls surround the main house. Iron gates on the north and south with four guards posted at each. No one comes in or out without being cleared. We saw one delivery truck come in and it was at least five minutes before they were allowed inside. Everyone inside the truck was searched and patted down. The entire truck was searched, top to bottom. I doubt we’d get in that way. They were very thorough,” Cole said.

“With only two snipers, the best we’re looking at is being able to take out front or back but not both at the same time. Cole and I would both have to team up and take out one side and by the time that happens, they’re going to know we’re here and all hell will break loose. This guy is armed to the teeth. I’d say he’s one paranoid son of a bitch,” P.J. said.

“What you’re saying is that we’re outmanned and outgunned,” Donovan said grimly. “We need to pull another team for this, even if it’s Nathan and Joe’s.”

Steele swore. They didn’t have the time for this shit. What were the fucking odds they’d run into a goddamn fortress tighter than Fort Knox in the middle of Bumfuck, Costa Rica?

“We don’t have time to pull in another team,” Steele ground out. “Any sign of Maren? Do we know if she’s even there?”

“We have a pretty good idea she is,” Dolphin interjected. “Ninety-nine percent certain.”

“Give me what intel you have,” Steele directed Dolphin and Donovan.

“Van and I poked around,” Dolphin began. “Mendoza had several deliveries. Women’s clothing. Several shipments of feminine shit. Lotions, bath stuff, perfume, hair crap. The whole nine yards. Not to mention a few local deliveries of floral arrangements. Looks to me like a man trying to court a woman. But no one has actually seen her. He’s tightened security in the last week, which falls in line with the timeline of Maren’s disappearance.”

Steele’s lips tightened and he swallowed back a snarl of rage. “Anything else that points to evidence that Maren is being held on his estate?”

“We have an eyewitness,” Donovan said grimly. “A child. Not the most reliable witness in the world, but he sounds believable to me and it was pretty clear what he saw.”

“Tell me,” Steele demanded.

“He saw a guy drive up to Maren’s clinic right before closing time. He was waiting when she came out. They spoke and the kid said Maren looked scared. But then he said the man picked Maren up, threw her over his shoulder and then stuffed her into his vehicle and drove away.”

“Fuck,” Cole murmured. “That’s pretty solid evidence. I vote we go in.”

Steele turned his attention to Baker and Renshaw. “What do you have for me?”

“It’s not good,” Baker said. “As Cole said, high concrete walls surround the main house. Two gates, both heavily guarded. We have a few options.”

“Give them to me,” Steele said tersely.

“Well, we can blow our way through the concrete walls. Going to take a fuckload of explosives and it still only gives us one way out unless you want to split up and go in one way and blow our way out the other. We can bust through the gates, but again, they’d know immediately we were there and it would still take time to go through the compound and secure it. Especially since we don’t know where the fuck he’s holding Maren.”

Steele and Donovan exchanged uneasy glances. Steele wasn’t liking either option.

“Or,” Renshaw said. “We can do a helo drop into the compound. Hit them hard and fast, load the chopper and get the hell out. P.J.? Cole? You guys detect any rocket launchers? Think they’re that armed?”

P.J. frowned. “Not that I saw. He has heavy firepower, but all I laid eyes on were the rifles, and he has plenty of those. We’d be dumbasses not to plan for the worst, though.”

“Where are we going to get our hands on a chopper big enough to carry all of us and offer enough protection that we don’t get our asses shot off when we’re lifting off and getting the fuck out of there?” Baker asked.

Donovan grimaced. “Damn good question.”

“Fuck it all,” Steele swore. “This is not the way I wanted this to go down.”

“I know we all want to go in and get her out, but we have to be smart about this,” Donovan said. “We need to call in another team, have Rio get us a chopper. He has the connections and could get it done a hell of a lot faster than us trying to get a contact locally. He could be here in a few hours if we call him up now. For that matter, Nathan and Joe and their team could be here not long after that. If we wait twenty-four hours before we go in, we’ll have enough manpower and planning time to ensure this goes smoothly without getting us or Maren killed in the process.”

“And what is Maren enduring in the meantime?” Steele said in a deadly soft voice.

P.J. flinched and nodded her agreement.

Donovan ran a hand through his hair and exhaled in a deep rush. “We don’t have another option. I hate the idea of not knowing what that son of a bitch is subjecting Maren to, but the very last thing we need is to go in and get our asses handed to us, get ourselves and Maren killed. If I had to choose between her staying where she is another day and suffering that bastard’s attention or going in prematurely and getting her and us killed, I think you know what my choice is.”

Steele turned away and clenched his fingers into fists as helpless rage boiled through his veins. Fuck it all but they were in an impossible situation. It brought to mind too readily the time when P.J. had been in the hands of a goddamn monster and the entire team had been forced to listen to her being brutalized and were helpless to stop it. He never wanted to feel that again. Ever.

And now they faced a very similar situation. In a lot of ways it was worse because they didn’t know what kind of situation Maren was in. They were flying blind and could only hope like hell that she wasn’t being subjected to any kind of abuse.

It made him crazy to imagine what she could be going through. To imagine that bastard’s hands on her. Hurting her. Her being helpless and without hope. He’d seen the very worst people had to offer. He’d taken down a lot of assholes in his time. But he’d never felt this kind of blinding fury. It rattled him. Made him second-guess every decision he was making. And Steele was nothing if not decisive. He’d always been able to calculate each situation with complete cool and calm.

All he could see was Maren’s sweet, smiling face, and he knew he wouldn’t rest until he had her back. Safe. Where she belonged.

“What’s it going to be, Steele?” Donovan asked quietly. “It’s your call. But whatever we do, we need to move fast. There’s a hell of lot to do in two days’ time.”

Steele turned back around, his jaw still locked tight in frustration. He blew out a deep breath. No, he didn’t want to wait another fucking day to go in and get Maren the hell out of there. But he had to play this smart. They needed more firepower. They were up against a hell of a lot for one team—no matter how good they were—to handle. And as badly as he wanted to get Maren to safety, he wasn’t going to risk her life to achieve that objective.

“Call Sam. Get the other team on the way. Then we need to contact Rio and see what he can help us with.” He glanced up at Dolphin. “Get me a layout of the compound. We have zero room for errors. This has to be mapped out to the nth degree.”

“I’ll put in a call to Resnick,” Donovan said.

The entire group went silent. Steele swung his gaze to Donovan, his eyes narrowing.

“Why the hell would you call Resnick?” Steele demanded.

“A guy like Mendoza is in some deep shit. No way he’s clean. With the kind of manpower he’s fronting? Who the hell has a fucking army guarding his residence complete with watchtowers and manned gates? Only someone with enemies and a reason to fear attack has that kind of setup.”

“So where does Resnick come into the picture? I still don’t like it. Every time Resnick pokes his nose in, it gets too fucking complicated. The last thing I want is Uncle Sam breathing down our necks when we’re trying to get Maren away from some batshit-crazy kidnapper.”

“Hooyah,” Cole muttered.

“Hell yeah, hooyah,” Dolphin chimed in.

“That even gets a hooyah from me,” P.J. said.

Baker and Resnick both voiced their agreements.

Donovan held up his hands, much like Sam always did when things got out of hand and he wanted calm.

“Before this dissolves into outright mutiny, here’s the thing. It’s possible Resnick has intel on Mendoza that can help us. If he can lend us resources? Even better. It would certainly help us out if we had Uncle Sam in our pockets. Maren is too important for us not to pull out all the stops and avail ourselves of every advantage we can.”

The group went silent. Donovan had scored a huge point and he knew it. When he put it like that, they could hardly argue over whether to consult with Resnick. If it gave them the upper hand with Mendoza, they’d be fools not to utilize him.

“Okay, you call Resnick,” Steele conceded. “I’ll get on the horn with Rio first and get him headed this way and tell him we need a chopper. If he has any team members he can reach and get here in time, I’ll pull them along with the other team. Cole, while Donovan and I are making those calls, I need you to contact Sam. Brief him on the situation and tell him we need the other team as fast as they can haul ass down here.”

“You got it, boss man,” Cole said. “Let’s get this show on the road already.”