Page 89 of Our Tricks

There was a rumble as the tank was released from the straps holding it to the ramp, and then we were airborne. When I’d researched this tank model, I found it was specially made to be airdropped out of a plane to where it was needed in battle. This tank could also move through water as well if we needed it to, but I wasn’t foreseeing that happening.

“Brace for landing in three, two, one…”

While the tank might be built to be dropped out of the sky without any harm to it, I’m not sure we applied to that theory. Everything had been padded around us to help with the landing but fuck did that rattle your teeth. The sound the tank made as it landed right in the middle of the garden in Marco’s hacienda was deafening to us, even with noise-canceling headphones on. I couldn’t imagine what it sounded like out there.

It took us a minute to pull ourselves together, but the sound of bullets ricocheting off the metal hull snapped us back into focus.

“We landed right where we wanted to be,” Void shared. “These fuckers have no idea what to do with us.”

“We know what to do with them. Use the machine gun,” Harper ordered, shocking the hell out of me.

Void didn’t need much encouragement on that suggestion, and soon a rain of bullets was mowing down all the men shooting at us from the top of the walls.

“Harper, where’s our best chance to make a hole for the others to join us?” I called.

“We need to turn around… we’re facing the back of the house. We need to do a one-eighty, then we can fire straight ahead,” Harper instructed.

With that order, we got busy destroying Marco’s house just like he did mine. Unlike with me, though, I didn’t snoop through all his shit first. Nah, I didn’t give a fuck what he had in this place other than Alvaro. We had a plan we made at the hostel for that if we got word none of the others found him.

“Tank team, we got word from Dante the takedown is finished. They got the parents but no sign of anyone else,” Cam relayed. “We are on the ground and headed your way. Meet us at the southeast tower?”

“Sure thing, we’re just making our presence known,” I shared, now facing the direction we needed.

“Load it up, Void, and make it big,” Harper ordered.

We’d had to look up the different options that François had been sent. There was an armor-piercing, heat-seeking, incendiary, and just a really fucking big explosion. This is the one Harper was looking for, and it would probably do the job nicely. Void had the shell loaded and ready in record time as Harper made the last adjustments before yelling. “Fire in the hole.”

Through my small little view of the world, we all felt the tank rock as the shell hurtled out of the barrel and slammed into the building. Seconds later, the shell exploded, and shrapnel flew everywhere, tinging off the hull of the tank. Sending the tank forward, the tracks made their way over the rubble until we realized the shell hadn’t made it all the way through. Backing up, we loaded another, and that one did the job.

“This is so much better than any video game ever made,” Void muttered, forgetting that everything we said went through the headset, making everyone laugh.

Once we were out of the house, we headed for one of the four watch towers on the property. “We’re in range,” Harper announced. “Let’s do a guided shell… that way I can make sure the trajectory is just right.”

“Angel, do you know how sexy you sound right now?” Ghost piped up.

“Nope, none of that when all of us have to listen to it,” I cut in before he could say anything more.

“Shell is loaded,” Void said. “We’ve also got incoming on the left that looks like some four-wheelers.”

“Let’s take out the bigger problem first, and then we can switch to the machine gun,” Harper suggested, and we all agreed.

This is why Harper and I fought for this pairing because we knew we could work fast and decisively. While destroying part of Marco’s house was a delightful happenstance, our goal was to draw all the attention so when the rest of our team made it on the scene, it was already chaos. The watchtower exploded and toppled down like it had been made of straw. What was left of it caught on fire, and there were men on fire running, but they dropped seconds later, telling me our guys had arrived.

Interestingly enough, half the guys knew how to parachute out of a plane so they doubled up and dropped in, which is why they’d needed us to make the spectacular scene we did. Harper had the turret swinging around, allowing Void to use the machine gun while she kept them in his sights.

The hardest thing of this whole battle is we had no idea if Marco was here or how many men might be on the property. The hacienda was massive, and I’m sure it probably had more hidden places under it that we couldn’t see. Marco liked his games, so I wasn’t putting anything past him. One of the biggest mistakes we could make now was to assume what was seen was all we were dealing with. Hence, why we had Gator and Mutt coming as backup once they were done with the drug farm.

“Pedal to the metal, Dax. We need to take out the watchtowers before switching out,” Harper announced.

I’d been surprised at how fast this baby could go on flat land, and as we went, the other two dealt with the bigger issues while our men played hide and kill. Void wasn’t bothered that he was missing out since he was in here blowing shit up.

Second watchtower done.

On to the third—bam.

The area around us glowed in a haunting orange light as we took out the last watchtower, its flames adding to the atmosphere. There wasn’t any time to take in the sights as Void unlatched the top hatch, and we all climbed out. Jaxson and Ghost were already there on the hull waiting to take Void’s and my place. Everyone agreed Harper could come as long as she didn’t get the fuck out of the tank while the fight was still going.

“You good?” I asked them.