Page 30 of Evening Shadows

Ken turned to her and narrowed his eyes, as if she’d been part of whatever Bev had done now. “Go on.”

“Her seat on the flight went unclaimed. When Devon researched further, he found that she boarded an earlier flight—right before it went airborne—under her maiden name and old passport. She landed in Mexico about the same time we did and wasn’t waiting at the airport. She’s Oscar Mike again, Boss, and I’m guessing here.”

As if to validate the intel, a car approached and Beverly Shodun sat in the driver seat.

12

Damn Bev. Why did she have to interfere? She’d called on Sam, and she had this. Of course, Sam brought HIS, which Bev didn’t like or trust, but no one was better at rescuing children and hostages. They hadn’t failed a rescue op—ever. Between them, they’d taken a few bullets, whether grazes or surgery required. But they’d brought everyone home safe and sound.

Did the woman really think she could talk Alejandro out of keeping Cody? Or did she want to reunite with the man? At one time she thought she could answer what Bev would do, but now….

That niggling feeling she’d had about the validity of the evidence Bev had presented her of Lance’s death hit her full force. Could her friend be that devious or did Sam just want to believe it wasn’t true?

“Sam…,” Ken said.

She shook her head. “I have no idea.”

“Shit.”

No one said a word while Ken evaluated this monkey wrench in their plan. They’d always been flexible, but Bev had them all the more wanting to rescue Cody to get him away from the madness.

“Do you think she’ll tell him about us?” Ken asked.

Thoroughly perplexed with Bev’s behavior, she shook her head. However, the thought frightened her because she’d pulled them into this. “I honestly don’t know what she’ll do. If he really wants Cody away from her, she won’t succeed. I think then if she was losing and wanted some leverage—” She bit down on her lower lip. “—I think she might.”

Only a moment after Ken scrunched his brows, he pulled out the sat phone and called Devon to reschedule their ride, then told Old Man and Franks to move up the timeline.

“Stone, double-time it and fall in with Franks,” Ken ordered after disconnecting the call.

Stone chuckled. “This is where I’d say some hooah bullshit if I’d been military.”

Ken grunted his agreement and Cowboy voiced, “You bet your sweet ass.”

“If you want to do it right, it’s hooyah, not that army bullshit,” Doc added.

Chuckles sound but only briefly. A stoic silence met the air over their comms.

Ignoring the silence, knowing Franks needed the chance to organize the team, he set out the ground plan. Later, he’d find out why the team hadn’t been in position when he and Sam had arrived from their longer trek. “Franks, we’ll take care of the towers. I want you over the north wall. The extraction point is to the west. You might get stuck with a rover inside the compound. We’re not elevated enough to help you there.” He took a breath into a slight pause. “Damn, I wish we had floor plans.”

“I can blow the entry gate,” Cowboy offered.

After thinking about it for a moment, Ken declined. “No, we need to go in quiet. Beverly may have already announced our presence, so I don’t want that big entrance. Use it if you can’t get in the house or if you run into a problem with the gates.”

Jesse suggested, “We’ve got our silencers on. If Sugar uses hers, we’ll have a small advantage until someone notices dead bodies around.”

She didn’t tell them that Ken had already told her to use her silencer, not that he would’ve had to do so.

“What is that woman about?” Cowboy asked.

Her mouth dropped open. Bev hadn’t been in the compound long before she sped away like she had the devil on her heels. “Does she have Cody?” she asked, putting the car in her crosshairs for a better view. Alejandro must’ve refused to see her or allow her to see Cody. Good for the man, but they would have Cody before the day ended. They were no longer waiting until nightfall when they’d have a better chance to slip in undetected.

“Not that we can see. She should pass near you shortly,” Franks said.

With the road being in and out on their side of the jungle, a visual on Bev should’ve been good. But she’d have had to adjust too much and even then, had too much blockage. They could only go with what the team had seen.

“If it’s possible, I’m having that woman thrown into a jail cell. She’s a menace to society,” Ken said.

“I don’t know about society but definitely to her son,” Sam added.

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