Page 25 of Breached

“Smart.”

I tapped my head and dropped the accent to sound like me again. “You do what you have to.”

“Shit.” Hunter still looked at me in disbelief. “You’re Eric Noah? I mean, the guy’s had a rep for years. I’m not even going to ask how you pulled it off.” He looked at Cole.

“That’s a long story, as you can imagine, but that’s for us to know. In the meantime,” Cole checked the time on his phone, “we’ve got a lot to do, and we need to think about getting everything in place. Hunter, you said you have guys embedded in Bruno’s security around the house. Have you filled them in?”

“Copy.”

“Good. Eric will plant the bugs. You just have to make sure the signals work with the CRPAs,” Cole added. The best thing the military ever came up with was the controlled reception pattern antennas they were designed to detect incoming jamming signals. It essentially created a blind spot for our bugs without tipping off they were there.

Hunter made a noise, and we all looked at him. I could see his wheels spinning.

“What is it?” Cole asked.

“Those sleepers you say Bruno has in place—they’d be hired the same way as a contract hit. Once they get the green light, they don’t quit until the job’s done. Someone pays them to do something—these people don’t work for loyalty. They answer to money, leverage, or blackmail. If you take out Bruno, you just might lose your only shot at stopping them before they finish what they started.” Hunter glanced at Cole, and I could tell he had an idea we weren’t going to like.

“What are you thinking?” Mike asked.

“If you truly want this war to end,” he looked around at us, then stopped at Cole, “you’ll need to give up the location of the safehouse.”

“What?” Mark nearly doubled over. “You’re insane.”

“Wait.” Cole held up a hand as he thought for a moment. “He’s right.”

I stared blankly out the windshield as I sat in the truck at the back of Esmeralda’s compound. My brain quickly went over everything. Before I left the team, we had a hyper-focused four-hour brief, and I had it all burned in my head — entry points, choke points, blind corners, guard count, weapons layout, even shift rotations. Three exfil options if it went loud. I had a soft timeline to be back at base and prearranged signals with Hunter’s team if something felt wrong. Contingencies stacked on contingencies. All that was left was to keep my head in Eric—where it had to be—and that was proving to be the real challenge.

What bothered me the most was that I’d been waved through the checkpoints by ‘paid off’ ex-US soldiers. They were a joke and barely asked any questions—one even gave me an impressed smile after looking at the ID I offered, and I knew he recognized Eric Noah. My reputation as the operator of the Tunnel to Hell was well known in Mexico, and it didn’t surprise me it had spread across the border. How sad I was welcomed by these pieces of shit traitors who had turned their backs on our flag. It was a mindfuck to see them guarding the gate of the enemy on our soil. It was a testament that money was the root of all evil.

“You good?” John’s voice pushed through the tiny earpiece.

I gripped the steering wheel hard and closed my eyes. I needed to shift my headspace from Paul to the forbidden room in my mind where Eric was. Having John in my ear was making the pivot even more difficult. I opened my mouth to confirm I was fine, but nothing came out. I realized I had pulled the yellow card too soon—I shouldn’t have let my brothers into this side of my head until the job was finished. I could picture Cole holding Frank back from hitting the coms and ordering me to get my fucking head on straight. The struggle was real.

“Patching you over now,” I heard John say, and suddenly a familiar voice found me.

“Eric, we have a shipment coming in tonight, five blues and ten browns.” Chili jumped right into business. It had been our way of describing the girls, by their eye color. “Chatter says there’s movement from the Canos soldiers in the area, so be on the lookout during our transfer.”

“Roger that.” It was just what I needed. I felt my head shift into place, and my give-a-fuck-o- meter fizzled away. “Going dark.” I turned off the mic and tucked it away. Hunter and his team had the descramblers and would have them set by the time I got inside.

Removing the bugs from my jacket, I tucked them in a spot behind my buckle. It was a cool fifty degrees as I jumped out and slammed the door behind me. I used to get a lot of shit for being able to handle the cold when I was in Mexico—the only time I’d wear a jacket was when it rained, and I had to stay in character if I was going to pull this off.

I headed inside, mentally pulling the file for the layout of the building as I went. Hunter said he’d arrange to ‘accidentally’ bump into me somewhere near the front of the building.

Slipping an earbud into my ear, I activated the earpiece to play music from my phone. It was just for show, so I kept it on mute.

I coughed to let them know we were back online.

“I’m here with ya,” John whispered as if behind me watching my six. “The guy at the gate will alert Bruno, so it’s only a matter of time before⁠—”

“I heard you were here,” Bruno said as he blocked me from entering the lobby. I could already see Hunter standing not far behind him. “Should I be concerned that you dropped off the face of the earth again and are now standing here in my new place of business?”

I noticed he referred to the business as his, not his mother’s. Interesting.

I folded my arms and allowed my sleeve to slide up a bit. I wanted him to see the battered scar that had been created to conceal my tattoo—a reminder that he wasn’t the only one affected that day of the car bombing. Of course, he looked down at it, and then his gaze shot back up to mine.

I leaned toward him and slowly shook my head. “Bruno, for as long as our friendship goes back, you still question me at every turn.” I held his gaze and made him break it first. Christ, he is predictable. “I came here because I have information to share.” I knew he couldn’t resist knowing whatever I had to tell him.

His scowl broke, and he smiled and slapped my shoulder. “I’m just messing with you, Eric. Come, let’s talk.” He moved forward, but as he did, Armondo stepped in front of me.