Page 81 of Our Tricks

That had me uncrossing my legs and setting my coffee down on the table. “So you knew enough to know that the Mad Dogs were part of his network as well as the role Diego played. Since you needed to hurt Marco and possibly get him to make some mistake, you let us take out both groups. Did your higher-ups communicate that to the FBI?”

“You’d have to ask them, but they don’t like to give up much,” Corbin said. “If I were a betting man, I’d say they kept you out of trouble, especially when it was clear your handler wasn’t handling anyone and never planned to. Had Black been your inside man from the start?”

I decided not to answer that but just smile and rest my hand on Cam’s thigh. This know-it-all hadn’t earned the right to get that kind of information from me, and I wasn’t going to share it for free.

“Fine, fine… keep your secrets. Clearly, you’re fucking good at keeping them, that’s for damn sure. Having you come out as Two Tricks wasn’t a move I saw coming. I thought for damn sure it was Weston. He was too savvy with a computer and never liked to get his hands dirty,” Corbin commented then took a seat. “You’re right, Dax. If you know where Marco is, then yeah, you have outsmarted us.”

“Don’t pet my ego, Corbin, it won’t get you any points,” I snapped. “Tell us what you want and what we’ll get out of it?”

He shook his head and chuckled. “Damn, cutthroat and to the point, just like every whisper on the street says. Lucky for you, I want you to do just what you planned, only you’re going to bring us along. If we can help, we will, but I’m going to let your people run point, and if I can offer a better option, I’ll speak up. You were gonna do this anyway, but now you just have the government stamp of approval.”

“You’re gonna let me kill him?” I challenged.

Corbin shrugged. “War is a messy thing, and it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that my best friend was on the team he killed. Marco put up a fight and left us no choice but to take him down the hard way.”

Fuck, this sounded too good to be true.

“Alright, hot shot, you got any connection on getting a cruise ship?” I asked, kicking my feet up on the table. “We need to move a lot of people without drawing attention.”

“Then what’s Dante Black doing?” Corbin asked. “Thought he was the one you sent to make that happen.”

“You said if you had something to offer, you would. There are other things I could have Dante doing than that, but if you don’t, then at least we have the best man on the job to make it happen,” I stated, flicking my fingers to brush off his concern. “So is this the point where we tell you the whole plan, and you steal it from us and run the mission yourself?”

Corbin clasped his hands behind his head and regarded all of us. “Seriously, guys, I get why you’d be skeptical of anything and everything I say. I’m not looking to rake you over the coals, catalog every rule you break, and then toss you in jail after this. As far as the government is concerned, they have no knowledge of us, of you, or even that this mission is happening. They asked for people to take this on, knowing there’d be no help if things went sideways. Whatever we do needs to work, and I’m not above admitting we can’t follow the letter of the law on this.”

That had not been the answer I’d expected. Things were making more sense now that I knew this was a Hail Mary, and if it didn’t work, then the CIA was going to say fuck it and let someone else take their turn dealing with Marco. If Corbin wanted to use us to get this done, it was a win-win for all of us.

“Fine,” I answered. “But I’m not the one in charge or the one you need to convince. Cam, Sprocket, and Magnus are the leads on this fight. Get them to give the green light, and I’m in, but if not, then you’re not going to get anything out of us.”

This seemed to surprise Corbin, and I knew it would. He’d been turning every argument into something I’d understand and appreciate, but that only gave the others time to watch and study him. What it had also done was told me they’d been tailing us for some time and knew who had teamed up with me on this.

“Tell us what you do know about Marco, from his background, business, network, all of it. Once we know what you know, then we might be able to help you fill in some gaps,” Sprocket offered.

Magnus grunted his agreement. “If we do help you pull this off, are you getting us across the border? Guess I want to know just how on our own we really are.”

“You know what I want to know,” Cam cut in. “Who the hell do I work for. And what the fuck happens to me after I’m done with this mission?”

“On paper, you’re employed by the CIA but as a covert operative which means no one knows shit about you. After this mission, if we are successful and make it back, you have a choice… stay on and work missions with my team or walk away like none of this ever happened. The FBI won’t be told anything, so as far as they’re concerned, you’re not their problem,” Corbin informed Cam. “Something tells me you’ve been wanting out for a while and didn’t know how to do it. Being married to one of the biggest crime bosses would create all manner of conflicts of interest, so I don’t blame you. Do the mission, make it back home, then leave to live your life as a thank you from a grateful government.”

Damn, with that one offer, Corbin knew he had us on the hook. There was no way we could turn down something that would set Cam free. Fuck, doing this would set us all free to live our lives with the normal amount of government interest all members of the criminal world dealt with.

“That’s a dirty play with pretty packaging,” Cam said through gritted teeth. “I’m in.”

Sprocket nodded his head in agreement. “Me too, seems you finally decided to show us the ace in your pocket.”

Magnus crossed his arms and glared at Corbin. “Fuck, if I care what happens to them. Answer my question, and I’ll give you my vote.”

“We can absolutely get the thirteen of you into Mexico,” Corbin assured him. “Alvaro has to stay here, though. We plan to move him and his mother to a secure location, putting them into witness protection. A preventative measure in case we aren’t successful.”

“About that,” I cut in. “While I love the idea behind that, and you should absolutely do that for his mother, we kind of need him to get to Martin.”

Corbin frowned. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is… we already have a move in play, and to take Alvaro out of the mission would hurt more than it would help. Marco has made sure that Martin is in a different location so we are using the brotherly-love connection that those two have to get Martin out in the open,” I explained. “Moving his mother works because they wanted him to bring her with him as part of the deal, so if they know she’s left the facility, then that adds to Martin thinking Mariana is coming with.”

He started to rub his forehead like I was giving him a headache, but he could suck it. This asshole had yanked our chain enough for one day, so he could man up and take a dose of his own medicine. “Fine, we’ll make that call once I know the whole plan.”

“Where do you want to start?” Sprocket asked.