“Very. Several agencies on the west coast have been trying to get them labeled as a terrorist group for a few years. But not much is really known about their leadership to do so,” Rocky advised Ryan as she looked at Lana.
Lana could feel each of her teammates’ eyes slowly move toward her after Rocky’s statement. She knew once Jayson and Ryan caught on, there would be questions that Jayson would lose his shit over once he got the answers.
Her team knew Lana’s background in human intelligence and cyber security. While Jayson knew to an extent what she was capable of, he didn’t know the full scope of it all.
There was so much he was unaware of with her and her military career. Well, her assumed short-lived military career.
“Are we missing something?” Ryan asked as he continued to look around the room.
Of course, Ryan would be the first to pick up on the vibe in the room. He was just like his brother, attentive and aware of his surroundings all the time.
“The C.I.A already has a dossier on them. We connected them to the Soriano Cartel. They also don’t have the usual leadership pattern that we see with most cartels and motorcycle clubs.”
“How do you know this?” Jayson asked, making Lana squirm.
“I assisted a Delta Force squad take out the original SA leader four years ago, along with a couple of cartel members they were protecting,” Lana admitted hesitantly.
“Wait, four years ago?” Jayson asked Lana, shock in his eyes.
“Yes, why?” Lana looked at Jayson in confusion.
“My team had originally been assigned to work a detail with an analyst out of Texas four years ago. We’d been chasing after Diego Ortega for a while,” Jayson announced, staring at Lana skeptically.
“Why weren’t you on that mission?” Lana asked softly.
“Since we were still waiting on specific intel and confirmation, they sent us on a different op. Bad intel on that one caused one of our guys to be injured and booted out of the military.”
“Who?” Lana asked, her breath coming and going quickly.
“Angelo Guzman. Was our demolitions expert,” Jayson said in confusion.
“Jayson, Guzman wasn’t injured on that op. He faked it to get an honorable medical discharge. He went to work for the C.I.A. He’s the inside man we have for the SA. He was assigned to shadow Hector Gutierrez of the Soriano Cartel. Our op not only cemented Guzman’s position with the cartel, but we took out Hector himself.” Lana sighed heavily as she nibbled her lower lip at the corner.
Lana waited as Jayson let the news she’d just given him sink in. It wasn’t common knowledge except for her team, about her still being in the Army Reserves.
“I thought you said you got out?” Jayson slowly commented, trying to put the pieces together.
“Active duty.” That was all she was going to say.
“So, you are in the reserves?” Ryan asked, looking back at the pictures in his head.
“Yes,” Lana admitted softly.
“Were you on that op? Physically seen by any possible survivors that are still operating within the cartel?” Jayson flat out asked this time.
“I was there to physically identify Hector Guiteriez for the C.I.A. I’m also the one who took out his wife while Delta took out Hector once he was confirmed on site. And no, they didn’t see my face.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
Lana didn’t know how to respond when Jayson got up from his seat and stormed out of the house. While it wasn’t a big deal about her still being reserves, she knew it was an issue of serious magnitude when a situation like Soriano Cartel and their associates could hunt them down.
Especially with the fact she was also a cop and living in Texas. She didn’t think Jayson would have reacted the way that he had.
“Please tell me they protected your identity and your face?” Ryan asked, looking over at her with pity in his eyes.
“Yes. There were no identifiers available for them. My face was covered, just like the Delta operators were. I wore no patches, nothing. I even wore specialized shoes so that my height was altered. Not even my hair was visible. That op wasn’t my first rodeo with a Delta team,” Lana huffed out as she moved over toward the large bay window and stared out.
