Her Adoring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 3) Read online

  “Fine, we’ll work the Pacific coast,” Lydia said.

  “I can get you on flights in two hours,” Mason said.

  Jack turned to Aiden. “You good with this?”

  “I’ve got you covered, Jack.”

  He wished he could breathe easier, knowing he was getting support from every angle. But the knot in his gut got bigger with every minute Beth was out of his sight. What was she going through? What was happening to her at that very second?

  Chapter Sixteen

  She’d woken up hours ago? Minutes ago? She just didn’t know. At least she was used to the smell now, and it wasn’t making her gag—much. To try to minimize the pain in her head she’d bent her knees, and rested her good cheek against her folded arms.

  She gave a slight wiggle, she had to pee, but she’d be damned if she’d check out whatever smelly bucket there was looming about in the darkness. The truck hit another bump in the road, and Beth gritted her teeth. One more of those, and she might end up having an accident. As the truck finally slowed, she sighed in relief, but then she got scared. Really scared. What was going to happen?

  Wait a damn minute. She was not going to be led like a lamb to slaughter. For almost a year she regretted taking off her clothes at the shack in the jungle. This time she was going to go down fighting, no matter the consequences. The truck came to a stop. She pushed herself up and leaned against the wall, waiting to hear which way the container would open.

  It was to her right. She heard something clank, and stumbled towards the sound. The door opened and she squinted. Thank God it was night, so she wasn’t blinded by the sun. She jumped down and fell flat, but she got maybe three feet when somebody grabbed her around the waist, and held her up high. They squeezed her so tight her ribs hurt.

  Beth screamed for help, the pain made the sounds shrill.

  “Scream louder bitch, I love that sound, makes me hard.” The scary phrase made her scream louder, and the man squeezed her even tighter.

  “Stop it! This one’s special to the boss.”

  Her elbow hit gravel as she was dropped to the ground.

  “She stinks anyway.” She looked up and saw two figures silhouetted against the moonlight. They looked huge.

  “We’re supposed to make sure she gets to the boss in good shape, so back the fuck off.”

  Good shape? That sounded promising.

  “I need a bathroom.”

  “You need a bath.”

  “Fine, let me have a bath.”

  “Does this look like a hotel?” The man waved his hand. Beth looked around and saw train tracks and shipping containers. Then she saw something that looked like an oasis in a desert. It was a blue port-a-potty.

  “Please, can I use the bathroom?”

  “You mean the honey pot?” The man who had thrown her on the grown asked.

  “Yes.”

  “What will you do for me?”

  “Shut up, Bruce. Yeah, go on over there. We’ll be watching you. Don’t try anything stupid.”

  Beth ran to the blue structure. She was desperate for relief. It stank too, but she was past caring. When she was done, she peeked outside and both men were looking her way. She went back to them. She’d try to escape when she had better odds.

  “Now stay here,” one of them said, pointing beside them. “We have more product coming, and then you’re going to take a little trip.”

  Beth eyed the containers on the train, and realized what was coming next. What she couldn’t figure out was why they were waiting here. Shouldn’t they be near the coast?

  The wind started to blow and her damp clothes clung to her skin. Beth started to shiver.

  “Give her your coat,” the man in charge said.

  “What?”

  “I said give her your coat, Bruce.”

  “No.”

  “Bruce, give her your fucking coat. We can’t afford for her to catch a fucking cold.”

  “I’m not giving her my coat.” He buttoned it up and then patted his chest.

  Beth watched in horror as the first man pulled out his knife and casually stabbed the second man in his hand. He screamed in pain.

  “Shut up, Bruce, it didn’t even go all the way through. Now give her your coat.” Bruce stared at this bleeding hand.

  “Don’t make me kill you and pull it off your dead body. Give her the fucking coat.” The first man didn’t even raise his voice. Bruce fumbled with the buttons, shrugged it off, and threw it at her. Beth held the bloody coat away from her.

  “Put it on.” She looked at the man as he stared at her, and put on the coat.

  Bruce was whimpering. She heard the sound of a truck, and looked up.

  “The shipment has arrived. You’ll be taking a long trip, little lady. Hope you enjoyed your time in the honey pot.” The first man laughed at his joke.

  ****

  A damn skateboard park to get information should have been Jack’s first clue he was dealing with a kid.

  Aiden showed his cousin the picture of the gang tattoo on the dead man’s hand.

  “Can I see his face? It’s a long shot, but I might know him,” Alejandro said.

  Aiden and Jack looked at one another.

  “Look, I know the score. Just show me.” Jack hated this. Alejandro was only fifteen, but his father assured both men he could handle himself and he would be the best member of the family to provide information about the gangs in Veracruz.

  Jack scrolled through his phone and pulled up the video Rylie forwarded to them.

  Alejandro’s jaw tightened, but it was the only outward sign he was bothered by the sight of a man’s tongue being cut out.

  “I don’t know the victim or the man who’s doing the cutting. But look at the markings on the blade of the knife. Do you see how it’s engraved? Can you zoom in on that?”

  “It looks like teardrops,” Aiden said.

  “Those are drops of blood. It’s for the Hacha Sangrieta gang. ‘Bloody Axe’ gang. Let me guess, they beheaded the poor guy with an axe.”

  Jack nodded.

  “Well anyway, the number of blood drops on the blade tells you how high up in the organization you are. He’s high up. I’d say he would be one of the top four or five.”

  Which made sense if Berto was actually in the room with him.

  “We knew it was the Hacha gang because of the axe used for the beheading, but we didn’t know about the blood drop engravings on the knives,” Jack said.

  “Most people don’t. The Hacha’s didn’t have this kind of organization until last year. Until then, they were an unorganized street gang, but then they became more militarized.”

  “Do you know what happened?”

  “There’s a rumor one of the other gangs from Mexico City came in and took it over. They brought in the military too.”

  “Mercernaries,” Aiden corrected.

  “What?” Alejandro asked.

  “Sounds like some of the mercs we’ve run into who are available to the highest bidder, and they don’t care who they work for so long as the money is right,” Jack spat out.

  “They wear uniforms, and they say they have the backing of the government. Everybody is afraid of them. They’re afraid they’ll either be thrown in prison, or will end up butchered like the man in the video.”

  “Do you know where we can find these men?”

  Alejandro looked at his cousin. “Aiden, this is serious shit. I know you’re a SEAL, but there are just two of you. It’s not like you have a bunch of men to take these guys down.”

  “Alejandro, you have a good point. I know how dangerous these men and this situation is. I don’t enter it lightly, and your information will help us to stay safe.”

  “I could go with you. I have friends who could help too.”

  “I need you to stay here and continue to ask questions and provide us with intel. It’s critical we have as much current information as possible. It will help us stay safe. Can you and your friends do that for us?”

&
nbsp; Jack saw how important Alejandro felt with his assignment, and was impressed once again by his Senior Chief’s ability to mentor young recruits.

  “I can. My father told me you wouldn’t let me go,” Alejandro said ruefully. “He said you could handle this all by yourself, but with one other SEAL you’d be able to kill El Cuchilla himself.” ‘The Blade’, how fitting. Jack was sure it was what Berto was now calling himself.

  They sat a moment longer watching some of the kids do tricks on their skateboards, and then Alejandro picked up his skateboard to join them.

  ****

  They took a prop plane from the Peninsula over to Veracruz. If Jack could have found something humorous in anything, he would have found it funny Aiden was white knuckling it.

  “Senior Chief, I never knew you were afraid of flying.”

  “This pilot is doing a shitty job. It’s all I can do to keep from going up front and commandeering the stick from the asshole.”

  Jack thought about the take-off and admitted Aiden was right.

  “We’ll land in fifteen minutes.”

  “Most crashes happen on landings,” Aiden muttered.

  “I’ve never seen you like this before.”

  “That’s because we’ve always had competent pilots. Let’s go over our plan again.”

  “Another Canul is meeting us at the airport. Just how big is your family?”

  “The O’Malley’s were slackers compared to my mother’s side of the family.” Aiden grinned. “The Canuls are all over the place. This is a cousin once removed. He’s old school.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “You’ll see.”

  ****

  “Uncle, this is my compatriot, Jack.”

  Jack felt like he was re-enacting a scene out of The Godfather. Leonard Canul was dressed in a three piece white linen suit, and it accented his silver mustache and silver hair he’d brushed back from his face.

  “Aiden. Come, I have your rooms ready at the Emporio. We shall eat lunch there and be seen.”

  “We have other things we need to do first.” He felt naked without his gun and knife. Aiden’s uncle gave him a knowing smile.

  “It is the reason you have already been checked in. We will go to your room first. You will find in your room a wide variety of amenities from which you can choose.”

  “Uncle, you are still the man I remember.” Aiden chuckled.

  “You are not. I remember you having more sense, Nephew. This is a fool’s errand.”

  Jack turned on the man. “We are not planning on taking down the operation. We want some information and intend to extract one woman. That is all.”

  “I know my nephew. He will be a fool.”

  Jack looked at Aiden and saw his uncomfortable expression.

  “What am I missing?”

  “Aiden has never been able to leave things undone. If he sees an injustice, he will insist on addressing everything. Are you telling me you are different than he is?”

  Fuck!

  They headed for the terminal exit. The man had a limousine waiting for them. Aiden was silent for the rest of the trip to the hotel. Leonard took them straight to their rooms. He pulled out three suitcases.

  “What the hell? Are you selling weapons these days?”

  “Bite your tongue. Your aunt would kill me if I went back to my old ways. I just own restaurants. But it doesn’t mean I don’t have my old contacts.” The older man pulled out an AK47 from the largest suitcase. “I think this is too large for your needs, but having it when you are applying for a job as a mercenary will up your street credibility.”

  “Street cred,” Jack corrected. He put it down and opened up the second largest suitcase. He made a sound of approval when he found a MK 12 SPR. It was the same rifle Griff used in Las Flores. “I’ll take this. Where are the pistols?”

  Leonard opened the last suitcase, it contained guns and knives.

  “Do you see anything you like?”

  Jack picked up a Sig Sauer P239.

  “I thought you would like that. I brought plenty of ammunition for it.” Aiden picked up the other one.

  By the time they went down to the restaurant, Aiden and Jack were armed to the teeth. Jack felt like he was wearing his most comfortable pair of shoes.

  They were halfway through lunch when the first man approached them.

  “Leonard, who are your friends?”

  Jack didn’t like the guy. Not at all.

  “Pietro, this is my nephew, Aiden Canul. This is his friend, Jack.”

  “Just Jack?”

  “Yes.” Jack glared at the man.

  “I like last names.”

  “I only provide mine when I sign an employment contract.”

  Two more men walked up to the table, they heard Jack’s comment and laughed as the first man got angry.

  “Don’t get your panties in a twist, Pietro. You know everyone here in Veracruz has a history. Do you blame the man for being cautious?”

  Jack didn’t like these men either. Something told him he wasn’t going to like anyone until he got back to the states.

  “So ‘Just Jack’ what do you do for a living?” one of the new men asked.

  Jack threw his napkin down on the table and stood up to his full height, easily towering over all of the men.

  “What the fuck do you think I do?”

  “Sit down, Jack,” Leonard said while Aiden stifled a laughed.

  “I’m here to make some coin. Now if I wanted to put up with this kind of shit, I would have joined Match.com.” This time Aiden laughed out loud.

  “Good luck with your asshole friend, Leonard.” Pietro stalked away. The two other men stayed with smirks on their faces, assessing Jack.

  “What?” Jack asked belligerently.

  “Can you back up all this attitude?”

  “I was an Army Ranger, what do you think?”

  “I think they probably kicked you out. I think you had a problem with authority,” the thinner of the two men said.

  Jack looked over at Leonard. “Do I need to take this shit?”

  “You do if you want a job. These men represent El Cuchilla. As a matter of fact, even if you don’t want a job, I strongly suggest you show them some respect.” Leonard leaned back in his chair.

  “Fine, you’re respected.” Jack nodded his head. There was quiet, the thin man started to chuckle, and then he threw back his head and laughed. The other man took his lead and joined him.

  “Oh Leonard, this man is funny. If he is as capable as he is humorous, then we could use him in our organization. This other man, he looks like you.” He indicated Aiden. Jack looked at the two of them, and realized there was a bit of a family resemblance.

  “He’s my nephew once removed.”

  “He, of course, is hired.”

  “Of course.”

  “If I may be so bold,” Aiden spoke for the first time. “’Just Jack’ and I were in the same unit. He’s good. Not as good as me. But damn good.”

  “Sold. When can you both start? We have some work that needs to be done tomorrow.”

  “We got in today. Tomorrow would be a good day to start,” Jack said.

  “We’ll pick you up, JJ.”

  “JJ?”

  “Just Jack.”

  As they walked away, Jack sat down at the table. “You played it perfectly. Your friend is very arrogant, Aiden.”

  “He has his moments.”

  ****

  “Fourteen thousand. You owe us fourteen thousand. If you think to short us, imagine how hard it will be to support your family when your cantina is burned to the ground.”

  This was the fourth business they had come to today. This one wouldn’t end well, Jack could tell. He’d seen the pregnant woman peeking around the corner.

  “I don’t have the money. I will next week. Please, give me another seven days.”

  “No. You said the same thing last week.”

  “I am giving you six thousand more.”
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  “That covers the interest.” He’d been sent out to collect with a burly man who had a brain the size of a pea. The big man got out his knife and started to clean under his nails.

  “I just don’t know what to do.”

  “Give us some collateral, and we’ll go away.” Jack watched as the man gave a sigh of relief. He pulled off his watch and his wedding ring. Jack’s partner laughed.

  “I’m talking about something of value.”

  “If not this, then what.”

  “We want your wife.” The bar owner’s eyes widened in terror.

  “No. I’ve given you everything I have. She’s sick.”

  “I saw her walking around, she’s not sick.” No, Jack knew who was sick. Every stop they made just kept getting worse. Aiden hadn’t come on this collection stop, he’d been sidetracked to go meet with the thin man and his uncle. It left Jack alone on this goatfuck.

  “Her due date is next week.”

  “Perfect. You’ll get her back next week when you pay. Get her out here.” He pointed his knife at the bar owner’s throat. After a small cry from the back room a small woman who looked to be twelve months pregnant came waddling out to where they were standing.

  “Please don’t hurt my husband, I beg you.”

  “Come with us, bitch.”

  “No. I don’t want to have to play nursemaid,” Jack said. “She looks like she’s about to pop. She’s going to be too much of a problem.” Jack curled his lip as he looked her up and down.

  “She looks fine. Haven’t you ever had pregnant tail? It’s sweet,” his fat partner said. Jack’s lip curled further.

  “Great, you’re going to do something more to get her to pop sooner. No wonder they have you doing shake-downs in the shittiest part of town. You’ve got to be the stupidest motherfucker I’ve ever met.”

  The man lunged at Jack with his knife. Just the move Jack was hoping he’d make. Jack side-stepped him, and the burly man went off balance to his right. Jack kicked him in the side of his knee and he howled as he went to the floor. The last thing he needed was this fool mouthing off. Jack needed him to make a stupid move so he could kill him.

  “So who did you blow to get to work for the Hacha’s anyway? Or did your mother get you the job?”

  “You asshole.” He lunged upwards and pulled his gun out of his jacket. From the corner of his eye, Jack saw the couple duck behind the bar. He pulled out his gun, and shot the man right between the eyes. Silence reigned.