Page 71 of More Tricks

There was no response, so either they didn’t have one, or they were dead. The Wright brothers had entered on the other end of the house, figuring we could work toward the middle. Shrugging, I tossed the radio to the side and started to search the rest of the house. This was the one thing the FBI trained me hard on was how to process a scene and not get shot doing it. So far, the rooms were empty until I reached what I believe was a study of sorts. A woman sat in an upholstered chair, reading a book and drinking wine. When I entered, she looked up at me with dead eyes, then went back to what she was reading.

“If you could shoot me in the side of the head, then I’ll still be able to have an open casket funeral,” Mariana commented.

Frowning, I lowered the gun slightly. “You want me to kill you?”

“Oh, I’ve been dead inside for so long I’m not quite sure why my body insists I keep living. To me, this is a blessing. I will finally be able to make it all end. I would have done it myself, but it appears I’m just not that strong of a woman,” she shared, glancing up at me set her wine down. “Would it make it easier for you if I tried to shoot you? That way, you can say it was in self-defense.”

I wasn’t a good man, even if I was an FBI agent. Everything I’d done was for Dax to protect her, ensure that she was safe however I could make her. While I didn’t have a problem taking out this woman, there was something that held me back.

“Tell me, if we killed Diego, your children, and anyone else who would come after us in retaliation, would you be one of those people?” I asked.

Mariana let out a heavy sigh. “Pity, I thought for sure you were a man with low to no morals. Seems I won’t be free after all from this torturous life. If it’s not Diego, it will be Marco. He will want his property back now that it's not doing him any good here.”

That had my attention. “You know Marco personally enough he would have so much control over you?”

She let out a bitter laugh gulping more of her wine down. “I’m the bastard's little sister, a pawn in his game to be placed where it will best serve the Tesoro Cartel and the man who wants to be king of it all.”

“Unfortunately, you will have to live a little longer, but I promise when we have what we need from you, I’ll personally see to it you’ll get your freedom,” I said, backing out of the room and locking the door from the inside before I shut it.

Holy fucking shit, we have Marco’s sister who landed right in our laps. The woman was broken enough that she would tell us whatever we wanted to know in hopes her end would come sooner. I mulled over the many questions we might be able to have answered because of this chance encounter.

Finished with the first-floor sweep, I decided to head back to the main entrance and found a few more dead bodies and Dax chilling on the couch, munching on mixed nuts out of a crystal bowl. When I gave her a disapproving look, she offered it to me. “Want some?”

“No, Dax. Shouldn’t you be, I don't know, dealing with Diego?” I questioned.

“He’s not going anywhere anytime soon. He’s in this panic room. The bastard didn’t even take his wife or kids with him, just saved his own ass,” she said, popping another nut into her mouth. “After dealing with the Mad Dogs, I feel like this was so much easier or maybe because it was better planned?”

I reached out a hand for her. “Come on, let's find the others and get this over with.”

“Wes is in the basement, and I think the triplets are clearing the second floor,” she shared. “Might as well head to the basement since that’s where they will meet us when they're done. They have what we need to get through the door into the panic room once Wes has disabled all the security.”

“So I found a surprise that we will be taking with us,” I mentioned as we headed for the basement. Dax cocked a brow at me, waiting for me to continue. “Seems that Diego’s wife, Mariana, is actually Marco’s little sister, who he uses to make profitable deals. She’s fucked in the head, but I think there’s a chance we can get some helpful inside information from her.”

Dax came to an abrupt halt. “She’s what? How did Wes miss that major piece of information?”

“My guess would be that since he didn’t want just anyone to know the connection, he kept it secret. Possibly even changed her last name or left their mothers, something like that. No one knows much about Marco’s family outside of him and his father,” I reminded.

“Sounds like an incredible Marco thing to do,” she grumbled. “Come on. Now we need to move faster if we have to get two people out of this alive.”

The basement wasn’t really a basement to normal people’s standards. It had a wine cellar, movie theater, and bar with a seating area. The panic room was near the wine cellar, which was smart, I suppose because I would want to grab a few bottles to drink as I waited for all hell to come after me. To my surprise, the triplets were already down there working on how to get through the door.

“We can’t use that. It will blow the whole goddamn house up with us in it,” Magnus argued. “Where are the plastic explosives that we can pinpoint to where we need them?”

Ghost all but pouted as he dug through a bag and handed him a brick of something that looked like clay. “You always have to take the fun out of everything, don’t you, Maggie?”

Glaring at his brother, he got to work molding the explosive material around the door hinges and the center of the door where the vault lock was.

“What was your first idea, Ghost?” I asked because I was far too curious to know what else he had in mind over using explosives.

He perked up at being asked and grinned at me. “Rocket launcher, I feel like it had to do some damage to the damn thing if it can take out a tank.”

Dax burst out laughing and yanked the man into a hug. “Fuck, you have some of the best ideas, Ghost, but Magnus is right. We need to be able to walk away from this.” She released him and stepped back, clapping her hands with an idea. “I know. Once we get everyone out, you can use it to blow up the place. Then it will cover our tracks, and no one will know who’s alive or dead searching through all the rubble. It will make my surprise at the fight even better.”

“Oh Dax, you delightful little pixie, you,” Ghost gushed, shoving her shoulder. “That’s a brilliant idea and makes lugging it all the way over here worth it. I forgot it when we first made the trek. Then I remember we had to get into this thing and thought it was the better option.”

“How you’re still alive is astounding,” Wes muttered as he clicked away on his laptop. “That should do it. All the feeds have been looped to cover our entry and everything that’s happened since entering the house. So that won’t tell the authorities anything or Marco if he should decide to investigate.”

“So boom time?” Jaxson asked, holding up the detonator.