Page 338 of The Black Trilogy

“Agreed.”

We’d taken a look inside a few of the buildings while we were there. The one next to the airstrip contained a single-engine prop-plane, but more concerning were the two empty spaces next to it. I guessed there was another plane or two around, or maybe a helicopter. Possibly a boat too, since the river was nearby. Drug money bought a lot of toys.

We spent most of the night formulating our plan, and the resolve hardened on my team’s faces as we assigned tasks and hashed out the details. We would win this thing, no matter what.

CHAPTER 15

THE BIG MOMENT finally arrived.

For the past few days, Team Blackwood had run, jumped, shot, and fought with Seb’s men. With Eduardo’s blessing, we’d taken over his guesthouse and practised clearing it, room by room, until we could anticipate each other’s reactions. Finally, after one last drill, I felt we were ready.

The atmosphere hummed with tension as we checked our gear and loaded it onto the helicopters, but there were no raised voices, no short tempers. My guys were professionals.

The two boats were already stowed in pods underneath for transport to the drop-off point. We’d inflate them on-site and carry them into the water. I went over the schedule one more time with the pilots then made them repeat it back to me to check they were clear on what they needed to do.

Yesterday evening, we’d eaten our last meal as a team. No matter what happened, it would be our final night together at Eduardo’s, and as I watched the guys bonding over non-alcoholic drinks, I knew those ties would carry over to the battlefield. As the evening wore on, a nervous energy permeated the air. I’d known that same feeling a hundred times over, except this mission meant more to me than any other.

This time, I wanted revenge, plain and simple.

I woke an hour earlier than I needed to, but I didn’t stand a chance of getting back to sleep. Instead, I kept myself busy by checking my kit again, even though I’d already unpacked and re-packed it half a dozen times.

Camouflage-clad men showed up at the appointed time, lounging around on the dainty gilt furniture in Eduardo’s family room while we waited to depart. The man himself strode past every so often, tapping his cane, making sure his men were doing everything as instructed.

The launch site for the boats lay a hundred and thirty miles away, and from there, we’d have a ten-mile ride before the trek to the compound. While we wreaked havoc, the helicopters would wait at an abandoned airstrip five miles from our pick-up point. Evan and Nick had scouted it out with a couple of Eduardo’s men, and it was the safest place we could find.

Flying conservatively, the tanks on the helicopters gave us a range of three hundred miles—with the flight out, the shuttle to the airfield, and the flight back, there wouldn’t be any spare fuel for them to spend time circling. Our timing on this operation had to be perfect. Everything had to be perfect. Diego, Carlos, and Hector’s deaths depended on it.

“Ready to go?” Nate asked.

“In a minute.”

Before leaving, I stopped to speak to Eduardo. He’d come through in my darkest hour and done more than I could ever have asked. I took his hands in mine.

“I need to thank you for everything you’ve done for us.”

“Angel, I’ve known you for ten years now, and you brought a light I thought had been extinguished forever into the life of an old man. Anything that is in my power to give you is yours.”

I wasn’t going to cry. No way. I resisted the sniffle that threatened to escape. “Eduardo, I don’t know what to say, other than I’ll try to help you in any way I can as well.”

“You already are, angel, by removing Ramos from the scene. I cannot claim my motives are entirely selfless.”

I hugged him, and he leaned back to look at my neck. Fair enough—it wasn’t every day I accessorised for combat with diamonds.

“You’re wearing my gift?”

“I know it seems silly, but it makes me think of you, and of Black, and reminds me why I’m about to put myself through this nightmare instead of taking a nice holiday to Bora Bora.”

“It also symbolises that you will get through this, and you will come back. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With that, Eduardo turned and walked away, leaving me to board the helicopter.

The journey to the drop point went smoothly, and we motored down the murky but calm waters without any problems. The crocodiles sunning themselves on the bank paid us no heed, and nothing leaked. Good start. We tied the boats up at our landing point, transferred all our gear onto dry land, then camouflaged the hulls. Oddly, the lack of issues concerned me. According to Murphy’s Law, something would always go wrong, and I preferred to get the inevitable over with at the beginning of a job rather than later on.

Just as I’d had that thought, Felipe, one of Seb’s men, fell into the river. I breathed a sigh of relief, then felt bad about that, then relaxed when Seb fished him out before he got nibbled by any piranhas.

Our schlep through the jungle was a little easier than the previous week because Nate and I had already cut through some of the undergrowth. Easier but not faster, since we needed to travel quietly. Moving twenty-one people through dense foliage in silence wasn’t straightforward, especially when they were carrying enough equipment to stage a coup in a small country.

As we neared the compound, the time came to split up into five teams of four. Carmen would be on her own, doing what she did best.

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