Less than twenty minutes later, Castello drove the truck through the security gates at the private air strip and they boarded the plane—destination Mexico and hopefully Krystal.
“This isn’t what I expected.” Axel voiced the words Castello had been thinking but hadn’t found a way to say them as of yet. He had expected a military flight. Had expected to have another ass-numbing trip.
“They are used to this?” Axel gestured to the guys before tightening his seatbelt as the plane accelerated down the runway for takeoff. All around them the teams had settled in as if this was just another day at the office for them. If this was the lifestyle Castello and Ambra were used to, then Axel was so far out of his depth it wasn’t funny. He was an idiot for even thinking that there might be room for something between them. “It’s pretty fancy.”
“I know right?” Castello looked around the plane, holy hell, he could get used to flying like this. Jonah Montgomery, former Delta Force sniper and Country Music star’s plane fucking rocked. Kitchen—check. Bar—check.
Comfy couches—check. Top of the range internet connections—check. Bed-freaking-room— double check. It was official, he was in the wrong damn business. He’d been on the plane once before, in the Middle East. But dayum, this would never get old. “And no, we aren’t used to this, the owner served with us, with Grif.” He shrugged as if that explained everything. He wasn’t about to tell Axel the secrets Grif and his family kept. It wasn’t his place to do it. If Griffin St. Clare wanted Axel to know, he would tell him. “We should try and get some sleep. By the time we get to where we are going, we will have a shit load of work to do.”
“Yeah.” Axel wriggled his butt, shifting on the leather seat, making himself comfy. His last thought was how on this plane, it was like flying on his own well-worn comfy leather recliner.
Castello folded his arms across his chest and tipped his head back, resisting the urge to tug at Axel until he leaned against him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Zack and Sage casting glances his way and whispering. Nosey fuckers, it was a good thing they were family and he kinda
liked having them around or he would be tempted to toss them out without a freaking parachute.
Chapter 12
In the rear-view mirror, Castello could barely see Axel pulling at his seatbelt seconds before he felt his head against his shoulder as he leaned through the front seats of the SUV.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m following that truck.” Castello gestured to the vehicle in front, driven by Rock. He got the need for secrecy and understood they had to be careful. Even so, driving with only parking lights to reduce the risk of being spotted as they drove through dirt tracks that wouldn’t even be classified as a road if they were in freaking Afghanistan was pissing him off.
“Ugh,” Axel grunted in what was probably frustration, and sat back in his seat.
Castello got it, about an hour ago they had landed in Mexico. In Jalisco state, to be exact, and if he was anything like Castello, he wanted to go looking for his family right the fuck now. But years of experience had taught Cas that they needed to follow the process. That meant recon and getting their ducks in a row before they launched their rescue mission. Fucking up the process would piss off the Mexican Government, which would piss off General Buchanan, and while the general was a decent Boss, his punishments for failures were—creative.
Showing their hand too quickly would tip off El Mencho’s men that they were here. All the sources Sage could find showed El Mencho's inner circle was made up of mercenaries with former military training. His second security circle was much larger in size and served as a rearguard to notify El Mencho's inner circle of suspicious activity and ambush potential parties that might attempt to get close to him. Nope, that was one rattler they wanted to stay in his fucking hole until they could pay him a surprise visit.
“We’re going to a safe house,” Castello kept his eyes on the road and the rear end of the SUV ahead of him; if Rock braked for any reason and he ran up his ass he would never hear the freaking end of it. Zack sat next to him, a rifle across his knees. Rafe sat next to Axel with Balas half sitting in the footwell at his feet with the dog’s front paws on his handler’s lap. Sage had the third seat. His equipment had gone into the rear of this truck and Sage never let his gear go anywhere without him. Even if it was his Boss driving the truck.Probably because it is you driving the truck.
Castello tapped the brakes to slow down just in time. “Fucker.”
Muttering under his breath he took yet another turn, following Rock.
“Asshole could have given me some kinda warning.” Stretching his neck from side to side until it popped relieved some of the pressure.
“Boss is that a cliff?” Zack braced his hand on the ‘oh shit’ bar, ready for Castello to hit the brakes.
“Yup, I see it.” Castello lifted his foot off the accelerator, what the hell was that dumbass doing. He kept the truck moving, even while every instinct warned him to press the brakes. “Jesus he’s gonna hit it.”
“Fuck.” Zack leaned forward, peering into the dark. “There’s a hole in the cliff face.”
Castello could feel his eyebrows shooting upward. There was no way he could have stopped it. He drove forward following Rock.Fuck that’s narrow,please fit, shit, shit, shit.It took all his concentration to drive into a tunnel so fucking tight that the paint on the wing mirrors scraped off the sides. In the mirror, he caught the faint light of the other SUV behind him, as it too followed him into what could only be the gateway to hell.
A minute later the lights on Rock’s truck flicked on, illuminating the passageway ahead. Now that he could see better, Castello relaxed a little. Oh, his nerves were still firing off sparks, and not the good kind he got when Axel kissed him, but the ones that asked what the fuck he was doing. They drove on a slightly downward trajectory for about half a mile before the tunnel opened up into a massive cave, and Rock pulled into a marked parking spot. Castello parked next to him and blew out a breath. “What ya think?” he asked Zack.
“If they want to kill us,” Zack opened the door, “I can pretty much guarantee you, they will never find our bodies.”
“Welcome to Dreamland.” Rock slammed the door of his SUV, walked to a wall, and pressed a button. Flood lights lit up the whole cave.
“More like the fucking bat cave, man.” Castello counted his guys as they climbed out of trucks. Once his brain registered they were all present, he forced himself to relax a little.
“Grab your shit, ladies, let’s go.” Rock yelled, his voice echoing off the walls.
Okay, Castello could deal. If that asshole was shouting then he believed they were secure here. That was good enough for him. He grabbed his go bag and one side of a heavy metal box, taking a second to wink at Axel as he grabbed the other side.
“Code is one, seven, zero, three.” Rock led them to a metal door in the wall, “Don’t worry, we’ll change it when you’ve gone.” He smiled at Grif,
