“I’ve been wondering when you would crack.” Eddie gave a throaty laugh. “Cole told you what happened to my kid sister, right?” They all nodded. “Well, I needed to see for myself that she was okay, but I also wanted to find out who the motherfucker was that tried to grab her.”
“Any luck?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah, as a matter of fact.” He shared a look with Cole. “We’re pretty sure it was someone who works for our old pal, Rodrigo Muñoz.”
“Alejandro Muñoz’s son?” Hawk was lying on the deck of the plane and raised up to rest on his elbows. “He took over his father’s organization, right?”
“He did.” Boone was the only one who didn’t know the history, so Cole filled him in. “His older brother, Alejandro Muñoz Jr., was supposed to take over. Only problem was, he was a degenerate, womanizing cokehead, and his father didn’t trust him to handle the job. For reasons I won’t go into now, Junior kidnapped Dulce and took her to Colombia.”
“I was working deep undercover as a part of Junior’s inner circle, so I was there when they brought Dulce in.” Eddie was on one of the drop-down seats, and he leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees. “The only way to get her out of there alive was to blow my cover. Which was fine, because after more than three years, I was burned out as hell.” He sounded so blasé, like it was an everyday occurrence for a guy to put himself in the crosshairs of a deadly cartel. “Anyway, I’m guessing Rodrigosomehow found out I was involved and decided to get to me through my family.”
“Why come after you, though?” Cole rubbed his chin. “He hated his brother and was pissed when his father got them into human trafficking. One of the first things he did when he took over was to eliminate that part of the business from the organization.”
“Yeah, he thought it was beneath them.” Eddie scoffed. “One of the largest drug-dealing cartels in South America, whose product has killed millions of people, andthatwas where he drew the line.”
“That’s one seriously fucked up moral compass.” Calliope was sitting cross-legged on her sleeping bag, polishing her rifle scope.
“My guess would be, he’s trying to save face with the other cartels. He can’t have them thinking he’s too weak to go after the guy who managed to infiltrate their organization for three years and played a part in getting his old man and loser brother killed.” Eddie removed his seat belt and spread out his sleeping bag next to Hawk’s. “Anyway, thanks to Cole, my family has protection, and the guy in charge of the agency assured me that Rodrigo won’t get anywhere near them. I’ll deal with that asshole when we’re done with this op.”
“We’lldeal with him,” Cole clarified.
“That works, too.” Eddie lay down on his back, crossed his hands beneath his head, and fell asleep like a man without a care in the world.
“How does hedothat?” Calliope tossed the polishing cloth down next to her and carefully tucked her scope back in the bag.
Boone slipped his phone from his pocket and scrolled through his photos of Luna. He’d managed to sneak a few of her that first day she came to the ranch. His favorite was one with her nuzzling Patience’s nose with her own. It was a candid, unposed shot, and it showed the powerful connection she shared with the horse.
Calliope zipped her duffle bag shut, popped up from the floor, and moved over to sit next to him. She glanced over at his phone.
“Great pic.” She nudged him with her shoulder. “You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”
“I love her.” He clicked off his phone and tucked it back in his pantleg pocket.
“I hope you told her that.” She kept her voice low so their conversation remained between them.
“I did, and she said she loves me, too.” So that was convenient.
“What’s not to love?” She was quiet for a moment. “I assume she’s told you about—”
“The Farm? Yeah, she told me about that during our first ride together.”
“Saying goodbye is hard, isn’t it. Lucas and I have been together on all but one mission, and watching him leave without me was brutal. I hope I never have to do that again.” She glanced over at her husband, who was chatting quietly with Viking. “It does make for a great homecoming.” Her eyebrows bobbed up and down. “Seriously, though, she’s tough. She’ll be fine.”
“She really is. Luna has doubted herself for so long, it’s nice that she’s finally starting to realize that what she went throughactually made her stronger.” He was relying on that strength to carry her through his absences.
“I’m happy for you, little brother.Bothof you.” She patted his knee, stood, and moved over to plop back down on her sleeping bag.
Boone watched her inspect and wipe down each piece of her rifle for the third time. What a lucky guy he was to have stumbled into this amazing life. A life he looked forward to sharing with Luna.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Lunatriedtokeepher mind occupied during this communication blackout period. She’d already checked with Khalid, and he’d assured her things were in place and ready for when the team arrived. After that, she’d organized her workbench—though it hadn’t needed it—emptied her garbage and took her gun apart and cleaned it. She tried to eat something, but it had tasted like cardboard, so she’d ditched the idea. She checked her watch again. By now, the team was about ten minutes out from Gilgit Airport and would be checking in.
Her gaze continued to travel back to the drawer where she’d put his letter.
She was anxious and on edge, and they hadn’t even gotten to the most difficult part of the op yet.
“Pace yourself, Luna.” Her voice carried over the low hum of electronics. “This is no different than any other operation, and there’s still a long way to go.”
