Page 71 of Our Tricks

Frustrated, I crumpled up a wad of paper and chucked it at the wall. “Then what the fuck good does it do for us to know this?”

Heavy hands settled on my shoulders and pulled me against his body. “Easy, little demon, this is farther than we’ve ever gotten. Let’s not turn this into a small win, but a place we can hit that will fucking hurt him,” Void chided.

“Plus…” Ghost added, clicking over to another image, “… I also found his hideout.”

There in the mountains was a stunning hacienda-style home with a pool. It was two stories, and the courtyard in the middle was full of plants and a fountain making a peaceful place for anyone to spend time. The driveway was paved for miles until you reached the main road, and a larger town with everything you would need for supplies wasn’t too far. Everything about this made me sick. This bastard was living the life of a king in his so-called palace safe and sound while he destroyed other people’s lives.

“Where’s that in comparison to the drug farm?” Sprocket asked.

Ghost zoomed out, and we spotted the river giving us a marker. The bastard was about an hour away from the other location in another state on the opposite side of the river. He’d thought of everything to keep the trail off of him. He picked a town he named after his hometown so when he referred to it, no one was the wiser, and he flew from location to location on his fancy helicopter I saw waiting for him to use at any time on his home property.

“Go back to the hacienda,” I requested. “This time, keep it zoomed out for a more aerial view.”

Looking at it from this vantage point, I saw the wall built around his property and the guards stationed on the property. It was like he was in a fortress on top of the mountain that no one could sneak up on. Everything was done in such a manner that kept him from ever getting blindsided by an attack. Other than his property, they’d removed most of the trees, leaving only shrubs and grass behind. There was even a guard tower at each corner of his property to ensure no one even dared to get close.

“How the fuck are we going to pull this off?” I murmured.

Void’s firm hand massaged the back of my neck, making me instantly turn to mush. “We know where he is now, little demon. The rest will fall into place, don’t you worry. With the thirteen of us working on it, we’ll find the perfect answer.”

“Don’t forget, Dax, we also have your tank to use. No way they’ll have the weapons to take that out,” Ghost reminded me.

“I’d do a fly-over with a sensor to make sure there are no land mines,” Eagle suggested. “That might not take out a tank, but it could disable it.”

Magnus murmured his agreement, and Cognac made a note on a different piece of paper, ensuring we didn’t forget.

“Well, I say we did a hell of a job today,” Harper announced. “Why don’t we take a break, do something fun?”

“Really, something fun, like what?” I asked.

My best friend shrugged and looked at her guys. “I suck at this part, but the guys always have good ideas. We’ve been living and breathing this problem for days, and I’m afraid if we don’t give our brains a break, we might miss something.”

Ghost cleared his throat and raised a hand. “I have an idea.”

“This is my shocked face,” Jaxson retorted, motioning to his unimpressed look, making us all laugh. “Let’s have it.”

“So does anyone really know how to operate a tank?” Ghost asked.

“You know we don’t,” Void pointed out.

Ghost raised his hands like he was warding us off. “Fair, but I might have been doing a little research of my own about where I could be taught, so if we ever needed one, I’d be ready. Who wants to take a trip to a training base and play on some tank simulators?”

“Fuck yeah, now we’re talking,” I cheered, clapping my hands in excitement. “Where is it?”

“Missouri,” he answered. “Figured we could take one of our planes.”

The rest of the guys let out whoops of excitement and rushed to get their shoes and other things they would need.

“What about Alvaro?” I asked. “Would Raven mind keeping him around longer? Hell, if she wants to put him to work, I say go for it.”

“I’ll call her. If not, then we’ll just bring him with us. Harder to take out a moving target than leaving him to sit in one spot,” Magnus reasoned.

Tapping a finger on my chin, I thought that over. “Okay, let’s pick him up and take him with us. Then we can ask him questions on the plane and have all the fun when we land.”

I’d never seen the guys move as fast as they had getting their shit together to go on this impromptu trip. Alvaro was collected, and we were at the private airport within an hour and a half of deciding to do this. It was a five-hour flight, but it was still early afternoon, and we gained an hour. That gave us all night to play with the simulator, plus Cam called his contact at the CIA and told him he’d make his own way since we had something come up.

“They told me I had to be standing inside Langley at nine o’clock,” Cam shared when he hung up the phone and took his seat. “Guys, this is a nice jet. It makes me think one of us should get our pilot’s license. It would make things easier.”

“Well, it would make sense for you to do it since you might be able to get the CIA to pay for it,” Jaxson pointed out. “From experience, I think you should also have one more of you learn to fly. Magnus and I find it helpful to switch off so we can pee and shit like that.”