Page 93 of The Doctor's Twins

“It’s cool man. They’re all clean. No one will trace them back to me.”

“Thank you, Santiago,” I said and shook his hand.

“Any friend of Sam’s is a friend of mine,” he smiled.

* * *

It was close to 2 am and the street on which Mateo lived was quiet.

“You think this guy knows we’re coming?” Sam commented sarcastically while we watched two armed guards chatting at the entrance gate to the property.

“Wouldn’t surprise me.”

“Pete,” Sam whispered to one of his men, “send up the drone.”

We had to make certain that there weren’t any surprises waiting for us on the other side of the wall.

Pete did as he was asked, and about ten minutes later, we were sure that there weren’t more guards beyond the gate.

“Okay, boys. It’s showtime,” he whispered. “Remember, this scumbag has the Federales resident deep inside his asshole, so no screw-ups.”

Everyone nodded. Sam and Pete moved stealthily toward the armed guards. The men didn’t realize they were being stalked until it was too late. Two clean shots, delivered through silencer nozzles, took care of the immediate problem. The coast was clear.

Next, we had to work on the security system hurdle. I had no doubt that Mateo would have installed the best that money could buy. He wasn’t exactly short of cash. What a shame it was that a man who had so much going for him would turn out to be such an evil bastard. Mateo could have been anything he wanted to be. But, instead, he chose to kill and destroy.

“Andrew, you’re up,” Sam waved.

Andrew scaled the wall like a cat, somehow avoided the electrified fencing, and made his way to a box near the gate. It took him roughly four minutes to bypass the security system once he’d unscrewed the cover plate. We were good to go.

The gates opened slowly.

“Let’s go.”

We knew there weren’t any guards on the outside of the home, but we had no way of knowing if there were any bodyguards inside the house, so we had to move with caution.

Mateo’s house was an homage to glass window makers everywhere. I imagined it must have been akin to living in a glass case. I guessed that he could keep an eye on his woman no matter where in the house she happened to be. No hiding from the master’s beady eyes.

His vanity would prove to be his downfall, though, as it gave us the opportunity to see if he and Peyton were alone in there. We waited on the lawn for a few minutes to see if we could spot movement. It was quiet.

Sam and I made our way to a sliding door and checked it. Locked. That wasn’t going to slow me down. I fiddled with the lock.

Sam handed me a gadget we’d learned to use in the military to bypass locks. I worked quickly and quietly until the handle moved freely under my hand. I opened the door and entered the house. Sam followed behind.

We split up and moved quietly in opposite directions. Where was Peyton? I could hear snoring coming from down the hall so I got down low and followed the sound.

“Hello!”

I spun around so fast I nearly tripped.

“Hello, handsome!”

What the fuck! A parrot! Peyton had never said anything about a parrot.

“Shut up,” I whispered and moved to the fucking bird to throw a sheet over the cage.

“Give us a kiss!” the infernal bird shouted.

I reached out, grabbed a sheet, and threw it over the cage, to which the bird squawked unhappily. I wanted to wring its bloody neck. Had Mateo heard the racket? I didn’t have to wait too long to find out. A noise behind me alerted me to the fact that someone was moving, clumsily, but quickly.

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