Page 82 of Our Tricks

Corbin grumbled something under his breath and motioned for us to follow him. “We’ll head into the other room, where it will be easier to go over everything there.”

“Thought we didn’t have clearance?” I teased, which got me a baleful look. “Wow, man, lighten up, or we’re going to drive you fucking crazy.”

More muttered words as he typed in a code on the keypad and then used his thumbprint to let us in. All the monitors watched various locations. Some I could pick out like the facility Mariana was at and our hotel lobby, but the rest I didn’t recognize.

“Taylor, go through what we know and start at the beginning,” Corbin instructed.

For the next few hours, Corbin shared everything his team had collected, and then we took our turn and filled in some of the blanks. Most of what they had we knew or suspected, but they confirmed it for us. The majority of it was backstory on Marco, his father, and Diego since they were so interconnected. Being able to tell the CIA more information about the operation and locations we suspected might be useful in Mexico was satisfying on a level I didn’t expect.

We paused for dinner and went up to the main part of the house. One of the barns was also a bunkhouse for the rest of the team since all of them couldn’t fit in the farmhouse. They also seemed to have divided up the jobs, so when we arrived, dinner was already made and ready to be dished out. It was still nice out, so my group decided to take our stew and eat out on the picnic tables we’d seen. The rest of Corbin’s people ate in the house or took their meals back to the bunkhouse where a dining area of sorts was set up.

“How is it that we know so much more than them?” Harper asked. “Honestly, it’s not like we did anything all that different or special.”

“Well, angel, I think it has something to do with the fact we are criminals and have connections to that world. We also look at things rather differently without all the rules and red tape,” Ghost reasoned. “Marco is also someone who’s a fucking master at covering his tracks. If we didn’t have Mariana and Alvaro to help us, I’m not sure we’d have figured this out as quickly.”

Picasso poked at his bowl of stew with a frustrated expression. “What the fuck are we even doing? How the hell did we end up in this kind of predicament?”

“I’d say that’s a combination of factors,” I said. “With how big of a player in the game I am, it doesn’t shock me one bit that they were watching me. Then I got involved with you guys, who were, I’m sure, on a watch list and became a higher priority when we started working together. It’s this interesting blend of a compliment for being that big of a threat they want to keep an eye on you combined with them keeping an eye on you.”

“Fuck, if anyone is watched as closely as the FBI or anyone else in law enforcement watch, they’ll find anyone doing something illegal,” Void grumbled. “This isn’t as bad as it could be. We get to take out Marco, not end up in jail, and then we all walk away with nothing hanging over our heads.”

When he put it that way, it didn’t sound quite so bad. Guess we’re back to the enemy of my enemy is my friend, but I was really fucking tired of working with people who could fuck me over on the turn of a dime.

Finished with dinner, we washed our dishes and put them away after seeing that’s what everyone else was doing. It also shocked me to find out they planned for us to join the rest of the team and bunk up. The wall of tiredness that hit me had me begging for any flat surface I could pass out on, so I didn’t care. These bunks were far more comfortable than the ones we slept on last night. These were homemade wooden ones with real mattresses, and it took me all of five seconds to curl up and pass out once we were assigned our spot.

At some point, I woke as someone joined me, but his rich, spicy scent told me it was Eagle. He moved me inward so I was back to the wall, curled into his chest while he put himself as my shield.

Did I think they were going to attack us now that we’d given them what they thought was all the information on Marco? No, because my money was on the fact they assumed we didn’t divulge everything. We were criminals, after all, expecting us to act like upstanding, honest citizens would be their downfall.

Listening to the steady beat of Eagle’s heart, I easily fell back asleep and didn’t stir until morning.

Chapter 29

Eagle

It took a fucking week to get everything sorted out and put the plan in motion—one agonizing week of being under the careful watch of this CIA special ops team. We couldn’t go anywhere on this property without someone watching us or following us around. They’d even made sure to take our cell phones and would only give them back to us if we needed them, then we’d have to give them back.

Corbin didn’t grow on me like Magnus had the more I got to know the guy. Instead, I couldn’t wait for this shit to be over so I could get my life back. We all rotated who shared the bunk with Dax at night but other than exchanging kisses, there’d been no chance for us to do anything else. Well, unless we didn’t mind an audience, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d let any of these assholes hear my woman coming on my cock.

Obviously, sex wasn’t something we needed to live, but it was something we had gotten used to having whenever we fucking wanted. Sprocket kept telling me it was psychological because we couldn’t act on an impulse, so it made things worse. He might be right, but it doesn’t fucking help when my dick was fucking hard twenty-four-seven. To me, it felt like simply another way to prove how much control Corbin had over us being here and under his control.

Thankfully, that was all going to end in two days. The cruise ship had gathered all our people and was well on its way. We estimated it would take them about two to two and a half days to get everyone where they needed to be. First was Puerto Vallarta, where some of our army would be dropped off. They would then make their way to La Garita and wait for the signal. The second group would be dropped at Manzanillo, where Angelina’s family was located. Then the last of our crew would disembark in Lázaro Cárdenas and head for the drug farm. Once everyone was in place and ready to go, we’d have them strike all at once. This would flush out Marco or make it clear he was in his mountain retreat gearing up for war.

Our team would be flying in on the cargo plane that held the tank tomorrow so we could set up the command center. The hardest part would be coordinating all the teams in various locations. There had been talk about splitting everyone up so each target had us involved.

“If you want to split up your men, that’s just fine, go right ahead,” Cam said, irritation in his voice. “As for my people, we’ll be facing this down together. I’m not going to let you ice us out at the very end, Corbin. This fight is fucking personal to us, and we’ve been doing our best to stay alive to end this battle.

Corbin slammed his hands on the table. “God, all of you are so fucking stubborn. Haven’t you figured it out yet that none of us are trying to fuck you over? This mission needs to work, and the only way that happens is if we have people we can count on to lead.”

“Which, if you’ve been listening, isn’t a problem,” Cam shot back. “Brian, Dax’s righthand man, is going to be leading the attack in La Garita. Dante is leading the team dealing with Angelina’s parents, which we’ve all agreed, if Marco or Martin aren’t there, will be a snatch-and-grab. You want to put them on trial back here in the States, so we’ll make that happen. Dante is the best to see that through, regardless of the CIA’s help. Finally, Mutt and Gator will be leading the hit against the drug farm. Those two are trusted enough to run the Phantom Saints when all of us are gone so trusting them with this is easy.”

I watched the muscles tick in Corbin’s jaw as he held back whatever argument he thought he had. “Then what the fuck are we doing?”

For the final piece of the puzzle, we’d kept that to ourselves, including them on all the plans worked in our favor. He’d been able to solve the problem of transportation and getting people back on the boat when it left, so it didn’t seem odd to have an empty cruise ship leaving port.

“We’ll tell you that once we get past the coordinated attacks,” Sprocket answered. “Besides, we have to pick up Martin in Guadalajara when he comes to get Alvaro and their mother. If we can get him out of the way, then we don’t have anyone to set off a warning alarm.”

“That brings up my point of what happens if he doesn’t come to get his little brother? What if he sends his people to do it?” Corbin challenged.