We debated whether we wanted to go in as a client or as the prey. Arguably, going as the client was preferable. We’d be walkinginto an enormous preserve armed. As the prey, we have no weapons.
I stare at the computer screen. I have the game preserve up on my screen with the overlay of the state-maintained trails outlined. There are three separate areas that are out of range of the trails. My guess is that if that’s where we’re headed, it’ll be in there.
We only get the coordinates once we book the hunting trip. I’d have gone that route except that the next trip they had available for three people was in six weeks. There’s no way in fuck I’m waiting that long.
The plan is somewhat straightforward. Isidro is parading as the driver. He’ll wear a mask, just as the driver always did. He looks enough like the driver with a mask on that I don’t think anyone will question him. There’s a chance that he will be questioned by the truck driver.
That’s another reason we have Isidro with us. He has a CDL driver’s license. If need be, he’ll take down the truck driver, wait for us to regain consciousness, and then drive the truck along the route we’ve noted. Our take-down will have to happen in a very different, and potentially more dangerous, series of events.
There’s a greater chance of failure if the truck driver questions. If that’s the case, my brothers and uncles are already en route and will be ready to move in quickly. Better yet, Rhodes and his pack are already wandering the game reserve.
“Your pulse has been quick for hours,” Mark says.
I turn to find Doctor Mark standing at my door. He has a tablet under his arm as he watches me.
“I imagine it is,” I agree.
Let’s be real here. I’m slightly terrified. I’mnota killer. I can plant electronic devices to blow up all of Manhattan, but I do that with a button. Not with my hands.
I’ve been trained with handheld weapons since I was a kid. Just like my brothers and my uncles before me. I know how. When it comes down to it, I’ll manage fine. Just as I had with Lor. Granted, I don’t trust my judgment or my skills, which is why I called in Imry to help me.
I’m relieved that Azlan and Wade are going in with me. We’re going to be a three-for situation and hope no one questions it. Azlan doesn’t have the capacity for fear or doubt. He’s a bulldozer with no brakes. That’s why Wade is joining us, too. Wade can hold him back when he’s walking into the viper’s nest recklessly and too soon.
In a way, I’m just along for the ride. I need to find Brek. I need to make sure he’s okay. Hehasto be alive still.
The three of us now have little trackers under our skin, in our wrists. They serve two purposes: GPS coordinates that are relayed to my father, brothers, and uncles, and vitals that will go to Mark. Rhodes also gets our GPS. It’ll send him in the direction he needs to be heading to get close.
As far as hidden weapons, the Shuttled driver states that he only looks for the obvious. It’s not a strip search. Most people aren’t carrying around concealed weapons anyway.
We’ll bring burner phones, and since Isidro is acting as the driver, we’re going to try smuggling them in. I’ll have one strapped to the inside of my thigh. I’ll also have a series of knives strapped to my body.
“Is this going to work?” I ask.
Mark smiles. “I’m a doctor. I can’t answer that.”
I turn back to the computer screen and stare at the game reserve. This is stupidly reckless. Although given that we’re going in withsomeweapons, it’s a step up from the crazy that had been Loren, Ellory, and Avory sailing to a remote island completely unarmed and walking straight into the arms of a fucking cult.
“It’ll work,” Mark says after a minute. “I don’t think the entire family would be going along with this if you were walking into a burning building covered in kerosene.”
“I’m wearing flame-retardant clothing as I walk into the burning building, huh?”
“I think they all agree that time is of the essence here. We know what’s going on, and we know we’re out of time. If we had more time, we’d do something different.” He shrugs.
“What kind of place doesn’t have security cameras?” I mutter. My fists clench in frustration. This is the first time we’re going in completely blind. There’snothingthat I can find. No technology at all. No radio interception, no internet feed, no satellite signals.
As it should be as a game preserve. Hell, even the IP address of the website is coming from the Florida Keys. I’m not sure if that’s actually where the guy is located because I don’t have time to trace all the bounces right now. I have some people working on it because this guy cannot get away, but I’m risking him vanishing when the alarm goes up in favor of having a chance of finding Brek alive.
“It would have caused some questions if there were signals coming from a large tract of land that is supposed to be untouched by humans,” Mark reasons.
He practically voices exactly what I’d just thought. I know that. It’s the truth. Doesn’t mean it’s any less frustrating.
I look at Mark as Dad steps into my office with Axl in a carrier on his chest. I nearly laugh because it’s completely wild to see Dad with a baby carrier over his suit.
My heart races as I look at my sleeping baby.
“Ready?” Dad asks.
I nod and hit the lock button on my computer. As I approach him, I think about everything that’s locked down, with only me able to get into it. I’m practically crippling half of this company if I die.
