17. River

17

River

“No,” I said for the tenth time.

“You can’t just say no. You have to give me a reason.”

“I gave you a reason. We need you here running the office. I’m going to shut this fucking child sex ring down.”

“Okay, I’ll take care of everything here. But if you need me, call. I like having you around. Don’t worry, though. I won’t start getting clingy. I hate clingy people. I had this friend once—so clingy with her boyfriend that she never let him go anywhere without her. Even when she came over to see me, he was always with her.”

“Sweetheart, I like having you around, too. You are never clingy; don’t worry about that. I would never think that.” My bag was packed, and I zipped it shut. Farron and Raven were waiting for me. I pulled Kat close, kissing her until we needed to breathe. She wrapped her arms around my neck, whispering, “Come back to me.”

“I will, sweetheart, I promise.” I set her down, realizing I’d lifted her without thinking. Her legs had been wrapped around my waist. I kissed her again. “I’ve got to go. ”

“I know. Be careful.” She let me go. I couldn’t look back; if I did, I might not be able to leave.

“So what is the plan? Who shot Kash Walker?” I asked as we drove out of the gates.

“It’s the fucking gangs there. They’ve taken over, and the authorities are in their pockets. Not all of them, but the higher-ups. The local government lost control. A man named Omari runs the show now, and they’re taking kids in broad daylight.”

“What about the families? What do they do?” I asked.

“If the families try to stop them, they get shot in the head,” Raven replied, his tone cold.

“I’m not going over there to do the police’s job. I’m going there to help the kids and kill the bastards who hurt them,” I said, my voice hard.

Leaving Kat behind was brutal. I hated it. I should have told her I loved her before I left. I love her more than anything. I don’t want to scare her, but I hope she feels the same way. Next time I see her, I’ll tell her.

We landed in Johannesburg, and Cyclone picked us up. After a two hour drive we stopped at the building where we were staying.

Matt Grey approached. “Thank God you’re here. We have to wipe this gang out. If they keep operating, it’s only going to get worse. Omari’s already sent men to other communities to capture more women and kids.”

“Where’s Omari based? Why not blow his compound up,” Raven asked. “I was here a year ago, and they were trying to get this bastard.”

“He uses children as shields, keeping the older girls in his compound for the visiting men. If we can extract them, we can destroy the compound—with him inside,” Matt explained .

“When Kash saw what was happening, he knew something was off. That’s when we got involved. He went to the government, but it was clear they were profiting from this mess just by how they talked to him,”

“Typical,” I muttered. People turn a blind eye when there’s money involved.”

“This is our building; you can put your stuff on any of those beds there,” Cyclone said, waving his arm. It’s just a cot, but at least it’s not the floor.”

I dropped my gear. “It’s scorching and humid here. We need a plan—something better than just reacting when they snatch a kid. We have to take Omari out; otherwise, this won’t end.”

Matt walked us into another room, laying out maps. “Here’s what we’ve got. The compound is deep in the jungle, about three miles from here.”

I looked down at the paper, which showed where all the buildings were and where Omari’s compound was located.

“Yes, we are on the jungle's edge; his compound is ten miles from here,” Gideon explained. “Cyclone and I scouted it, The place is rigged with cameras throughout the jungle. The only way in is to blend in—we have to become the jungle.”

“How the hell do we become the jungle?” I raised an eyebrow.

“We have to make a cover around our body and move slowly. The only way we can do this is to move the kids.” Cyclone said. “I’ve seen this place, and there are so many guards. There are to many guards to get close without some kind of distraction.”

“Are there any honest cops left?” I asked.

“Maybe,” Gideon said. “But we don’t know who they are. They all claim to be the good guys, but we can’t trust them. No tipping them off.”

I looked at the team. “How are the kids supposed to know we’re there to help? What if they panic, when they see us dressed like the jungle and take off screaming?”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said. “Let’s walk around so I can get a sense of things,” I said.

After checking out the surroundings, we noticed people weren’t thrilled with us patrolling, even though we were cleaning up their communities. They lived in clapboard huts they built themselves, and kids ran freely everywhere. Didn’t they realize their children were at risk?

“Do you think they know we are here?” Raven asked.

“I think they know every move we make. Whatever we do must be done at night,” I replied. If we looked closely enough, I'm sure we would see someone watching us,” I said. “Let’s continue this walk at night. I want to get a good look at the compound.”

“How will we check out the compound with all those cameras?” Raven asked.

“The jungle’s thick with trees. With our camouflage, we’ll blend in, stand against the trees, and they won’t spot us. Listen,” I said, locking eyes with each member of the team. “We’re the best at what we do. We’ll handle this. I need to wrap this up before anyone tries to pull Kat into a mission.”

“I’m about to fall asleep on my feet.” Raven said.

“Me too. Let's get some shut-eye. We’ll be awake all night.”

I jolted awake, and Raven handed me coffee. You look like you need it more than I do. Did you have a nightmare?” Raven asked .

“I think so. I could’ve sworn I heard Kat screaming my name. I guess it was a bad dream. Is it dark out?”

“Not quite, but it will be soon. So, you and Kat—what’s the story there?” Cyclone asked. “It’s been a while since I’ve been home, and I’m sorta out of the loop.”

“Yeah, we’re a thing now. I don’t want to talk about Kat. That dream was unsettling. What time is it in California?”

Cyclone looked at his watch. I didn’t know why I didn’t just look at mine. “It’s two in the morning, in Carlsbad, California.”

“What do we have to eat?” I asked.

“Not much. I made a pot of stew earlier. It’s heating up now. We have no bread. There isn’t a lot of food in this area, so we should avoid meat unless we know where it comes from.”

“When the stew was ready, the team discussed our plan while we ate. “I put together more camouflage,” Cyclone said, dragging four jungle outfits into the room.

“Are they flexible enough?” I asked, inspecting one. It fit snugly around my torso, but I could still move freely.

“This is perfect,” I said. “As long as we move slowly, they won’t notice us. Who’s coming on the mission?”

“It’ll be you, me, Matt and Raven. Gideon and Farron will stay out front, pretending they’re just hanging around while we slip out the back."

“Is everyone ready?” I asked. I made sure we had water first. We put on our Jungle jackets and left by the back door. The humidity was suffocating, and the air felt heavy as we moved closer to the compound. It seemed to take longer than it should have, and we were as close to the compound as we would get tonight.