Chapter 15

Hours later,darkness had fallen. Ty and Gunn were back at the campsite. Federales in black uniforms, wearing Kevlar and bearing weapons, were gathered in the mess tent. Cookie had made sandwiches and a fresh urn of coffee. The federales were a quiet, determined bunch, mostly keeping to themselves.

Inspector Maldonado and his team had just returned from Ma'ax. They'd taken over the police station and questioned the officers there, but no one would admit to knowing where Ramos was. They'd surrounded his house and then broken through the front door, but he wasn't to be found. There was also no sign of Cara.

The tracker application on Ty's phone had stopped pinging her location as Ramos had continued moving north, out of cell tower range.

Now, they were waiting. Maldonado was waiting for his resources to find any properties Ramos was associated with and any money trails that might lead them to someone who could give them answers.

Fredi came running into the mess tent. He and Luca had been assigned to watch the road leading into the site because the Brotherhood Protectors were expected to arrive at any moment.

Maldonado hadn't been particularly excited to hear that "foreign agents" were arriving and had warned Ty he wouldn't have them "stepping" on his authority.

Ty explained that they were here to add manpower to the search and that they had their own intel resources they were tapping to find Cara.

At least he was now back in control of his emotions. The fierce anger still burned inside, but he knew he'd be of no use to anyone if he didn't rein it in. Cara needed him to think clearly. When he'd first heard the news of her abduction, he'd been consumed. Now, he breathed deeply, and he focused on his surroundings, the men around him, the things they'd learned, which wasn't much, really. He had to keep optimistic that they'd find Cara. Any other conclusion was unacceptable.

Moments later, Stone Jacobs and Walker Pierce strode into the tent, followed by the rest of Ty's new Team Eagle teammates: Corbin River, Knox Preston, and Colton Henderson.

Ty and Gunn moved forward to greet them, getting some much-needed bro hugs.

Walker hugged him, then set him back at arm's length and looked into his eyes. "How are you, Ty?"

Ty swallowed hard. "There was a moment…" He shook his head. "I'm scared for her, but I'm good. I swear. I just want to find this bastard."

Stone stepped up beside them. "Where's this Maldonado? I have some intel Swede shared just as we were blowing through Ma'ax."

Ty nodded and turned, leading Stone toward Maldonado, who stood staring back at the new arrivals. From his expression, he was none too pleased to see them.

"Inspector, this is Stone Jacobs from the Brotherhood Protectors. Stone, this is Javier Maldonado of the Federal Police."

Stone stuck out his hand, and Maldonado accepted it, shaking.

"Our tech guy just got some intel that might help—perhaps you already have it, but I wanted to share what we've learned."

Maldonado nodded.

"While we haven't had much luck finding Ramos attached to any properties other than his home in Ma'ax, we've been monitoring the hostage negotiations for Duncan Moore, the student who was kidnapped. There's been some activity in the past few hours. The parents, with the insurers, have made a payment, and we were able to trace the account to where the money was paid. They did a Western Union money transfer to a bank in Campeche. We got footage from bank cameras of the man who picked up the cash." He held up his camera and showed them a picture. "He's Manuel Ojeda. The mayor of Ma'ax."

"I won't ask how you hacked our cameras," Maldonado said, arching a dark brow. "I don't suppose you already have the address for the mayor…?"

Stone grinned. "I do. Plus, we've got a list of properties the mayor owns."

Maldonado pinched the bridge of his nose. "You are quite efficient."

Stone shook his head. "We don't have a bureaucracy to navigate. Just call us a ‘confidential source' when you write up your reports."

Maldonado turned to eye the men who had accompanied Stone. "Do I want to know whether your men are armed?"

"No, you don't," Stone said.

The inspector's mouth twitched. "I will take a team to visit the mayor. We will divide up the properties list. Try not to put a bullet into anyone while you search your sites. Explanations—and the paperwork—will be too difficult."

Stone grinned. "Give me your phone. I'll share the photo and the list. Then let's assign teams."

Half an hour later,several vehicles left the campsite, heading toward Ma'ax. They would each head directly to one of the locations on Stone's list and the mayor's house. They hoped to hit the locations at the same time so whoever was involved didn't have time to warn their accomplices.

As vehicles peeled off to their separate destinations, Ty, Walker, Knox, and Colton continued north to the farthest location north of the town. Their destination was a defunct machinist shop. Ty felt as though he'd been given an outlier site to keep him away from what was happening in Ma'ax. He thought perhaps Stone believed he was too close to Cara to keep hold of his emotions should shit go down.

Ty understood Stone's thought process, but for the first time in a long time, Ty felt what he always had before a mission. Laser focus. His head wasn't clouded with images of hell. His heart rate was steady, and his breathing was even. There wasn't a tremor in his entire body. He felt like his old self—pre-incident.

He glanced down at the GPS he held. "Take the next right, you see," he told Knox, who was driving.

They took the turn and traveled another half a mile.

"Find someplace to pull over. GPS says this place is only a few hundred yards away."

Knox drove off the road into some tall grass and cut the engine. The men piled out of the vehicle and quickly donned the equipment they'd brought from Montana: Kevlar vests, web belts with magazines and flashlights, and handguns with holsters. Two would carry rifles. Lastly, they put on helmets with night vision goggles and communications mics.

Ty rechecked his GPS, then led the way, flipping down his night vision goggles, then heading down the road, moving into the trees as they approached the location.

They reached the forest"s edge and took a knee as they gazed at a large metal shed. Two vehicles were parked outside it. Flashlights shone in the windows. There was movement inside.

"Radio Stone," Ty whispered to Walker. "We won't wait to go in, but they should know we've found something."

Walker quickly unclipped the radio and let the rest of the team know they'd found men moving inside the machine shop the mayor owned.

"Maldonado just breached the mayor's house," Stone's voice came back. "They're searching his house now. Heading to your location with Corbin and Gunn."

Ty's mouth noted that he didn't mention bringing any federales with them.

Then using hand signals, the team moved, one at a time, toward the shop. Stopping at the outer wall, Ty moved upward to peer into the shop. Lights shone to the right down what appeared to be an opening to a hallway.

"Hall to the right. Not sure there's another entrance at the end," he said.

"Probably locked if it is," Knox said.

"I'm going in," Ty said.

"We're right behind you," Colton said.

Ducking beneath the windows, he ran toward the door with the open hasp, pulled down on the door lever, and slipped into the darkness.

Cara awoketo the sound of a doorway opening.

"What are you doing?" Duncan's muffled voice sounded.

She rolled off the cot and went to the door to press her ear against it.

"Move," came Ramos's voice.

"Did my parents pay?" Duncan asked, sounding nervous.

The sound of a fist striking flesh and then the slide of something—a body being dragged?—echoed from the hallway.

The sound moved away, but heavy footsteps drew nearer to her door.

She moved back against the far wall and waited as her door opened. A flashlight blinded her, steps drew nearer. A hand reached for her arm and pulled her hard.

"Wait," she said. "Where are we going?" Her heart was hammering fast. She didn't have a good feeling about this.

"Cállate, puta!" Ramos bit out. He pushed her arm behind her back and bent it, pushing it upward until the stinging pain made her cry out.

"I'm coming," she said, bending slightly as he forced her forward through the doorway. "Where are we going?"

He bent her arm higher, and she gasped.

"Shut up and move!"

She shuffled forward as Ramos shouted out in Spanish to the man who must have Duncan. The fact they were moving them from here in the dead of night did not feel like a good thing. All she could imagine was being forced to her knees to be shot in the back of the head like the Guatemalans in the chamber.

Her stomach roiled, and she wished she could fight, but her arm was already burning with strain. One more push, and he'd dislocate her shoulder.

They were out of the hallway and moving into the larger workshop area, heading toward the door. She prayed for some divine intervention, a chance for either her or Duncan to break free, but it seemed hopeless.

Ahead of her, she heard a scuffing sound from the right. Then, a dull creak behind her.

Ramos stiffened and halted. He tossed his flashlight away where it spun on the floor, the light flashing and dousing with each rotation.

"Give me a reason to pull this trigger," came a deadly but familiar voice.

She bit back a sob. He'd found her.

"Lower your gun," Ty said. "Then toss it away."

"You will not shoot me," Ramos said. "I have your woman."

Something hard and cold pushed against her side.

Ahead, a scuffle sounded, a shot was fired, and Duncan screamed.

Another shot was fired, and then more footsteps sounded. The doorway leading to the outside was flung open, and she watched as a man with his arm around the much thinner Duncan helped him outside.

"This will not end well for you, Ramos," Ty said. "My men are here, and more will be here in minutes. The federales have taken the mayor into custody. You're done. Over. Now drop your fucking weapon, or I'll put a bullet through your skull."

Ramos squeezed harder on her arm, and she fought to bite back a whimper. Then, the pressure eased until he let go. She fell forward and scurried out of range, knowing Ty would need her clear before he could finish this.

She watched the shadows of both men—Ty's taller, broad-shouldered frame, Ramos's squat body, as Ty shoved Ramos to the ground. "Got those zip ties?" Ty called out.

A figure moved forward and quickly secured a cursing Ramos.

Then a flashlight shone, sweeping over her. She held up a hand to shield her eyes from the blinding light.

Ty knelt beside her and gently pulled her against his chest, kneeling on the concrete floor as he rocked with her in his arms. She'd never felt anything so heavenly. Had never felt such relief and love.

When her heart slowed to a steady thud, she pulled back. "You found us."

"Actually, we weren't sure we'd find you both. We were tracking the money for Duncan, which led us to Ramos's partner, the mayor of Ma'ax. Thank God you were here, too, or Ramos would've been losing body parts until he told me where to find you."

She buried her face into the corner of his neck. "I thought for sure he was taking us outside to kill us."

Ty didn't say anything, so she was pretty sure that was his thought, too.

She and Duncan had been very, very lucky. "That shot. Is Duncan okay?"

"Duncan's fine. Ramos's man, not so much."

"Can we leave this place?"

"We'll have to stick around for a little bit, but we can get out of this place. Come," he said. "You're safe now." He stood and reached down to pick her up.

He cradled her against his chest while she cradled her sore arm. He walked to the doorway and then outside just as vehicles arrived, their headlights lighting up the area.

Soon,Ramos and the other co-conspirator, both zip-tied, were lying on the ground with a guard above them. Ty's friends, whom he'd introduced, surrounded them.

Ramos's helper's side was being bandaged by one of Ty's friends.

Ty sat her on the hood of one vehicle, a Kevlar vest between her and the warm metal, as he examined her bruised face. From the tightness of his jaw, she knew he was angry, but she reached out and touched his cheek. "I'm okay. I really am. I'm a little bruised here and there, but no permanent damage. I'll heal."

"I'm not sure I will," he said in a low, husky voice. "I should never have let you go into town without me by your side."

"Stop," she said. "You can't cover me up in cotton wool. I insisted. It was me who left the group to go pay the bill. I should've had the good sense not to go alone."

He shook his head and swallowed hard.

She leaned forward and captured his lips for a kiss. "Duncan and I are free—thanks to you. We're both fine."

Stone clapped a hand on Ty's shoulder. "She's right, Quigley. You have to let it go. Shit happens. We do our best to safeguard those we love, but we can't be everywhere. We can't foresee every danger. We just do the best we can. And today—we won."

More vehicles arrived, pulling to a halt in front of the shop. Men in dark uniforms quickly surrounded Ramos and the other man on the ground.

Inspector Maldonado strode toward them. He bowed his head to Cara. "I am very happy to see you, Cara Woodward."

She smiled, then gave a slight wince when her sore cheek stretched. "Not as happy as I am to see all of you."

Maldonado glared at Ty. "There will be some difficulty with your people shooting that man. However, I think we can get him to give us answers about the mayor's operation. We will make the shooting go away."

He turned to Cara, his expression softening. "Of course, we will need statements from you and Duncan before we can release you. If you prefer, you can return to the camp, and I will find you there later. I am also aware you both will be returning to the United States, but I think we have recovered enough information from the mayor's house that your presence will not be required—except, perhaps when this goes to trial."

"I'll give you and the Mexican government my full cooperation," she said.

When he walked away to join the men moving Ramos and his accomplice to one of their vehicles, she felt suddenly very tired. "It's going to be a long night."

"There's a cot waiting for you back in the mess tent. If we get back quickly, you can take a nap before the inspector takes your statement."

He reached forward and picked her up again.

"You know, I can walk. My face may hurt, but there's nothing wrong with my legs."

"Be quiet," he said, his voice growling. "I like holding you."

"Well, then," she said, smiling. "I won't begrudge you. I like being held by you, too."