Page 184 of Plunge into Obsession

“It would be their death warrant,” Raphael said darkly.

“True. But I don’t need the headache. Not when we already have to deal with Ivan Antonov, the supplier, and who knows how many men working under him.”

“From the looks of it, most of the men there are foreign mercenaries coming to Mexico to look for jobs. There did seem to be a few men from Mexico, but if they belonged to an organization, I couldn’t tell.”

“Have you ever caught sight of the supplier?” I asked, though I could probably guess the answer.

Raphael shook his head.

“Who is he? And how could we not have heard of him before?”

“There’s power in anonymity,” Raphael commented, echoing my sentiment.

I knew now why he wanted my cooperation and to cut ties with the Bratva.

Right now, the Vasiliev Bratva was our biggest ally, along with the Bianchi Famiglia in California, headed by Francisco Bianchi, Catalina’s father.

But the supplier?

The one Antonov referred to as the Grim Reaper?

He could cause problems for us later if we didn’t find out who he was, even if I were to kill Antonov myself.

Nothing in the photos told me much about what was going on inside. I had sent men to keep an eye on things, but short of storming inside and shutting everything down, there was nothing I could do now but watch.

“Is this their only operation?” I asked.

Raphael shook his head. “We know of three so far. But I’m sure there are more along Mexico and the U.S. border.”

“How the hell did they get so big? Where were all ourHalcones, and why did they not see it?”

Halcones, or falcons, were the ears and eyes of the street. They were supposed to keep a lookout for anything unusual and report back to me. But the fact that it wasn’t my men who reported on this, but theHalconesof the Sinaloa Cartel who found the information, pissed me the fuck off.

“I don’t know, Gabriel,” Raphael said. “But I’ll find out.”

I nodded.

As myteniente, he was below only me in position.

He was in charge of theHalconesin my territory and beyond that. This was a mistake he would take personally.

As he should.

I leaned back in the chair again.

“We have to find out if there are other operations they might have,” I said. “Call Francisco Bianchi and see if he can lend some of his men. Have them patrol around the border in his territory. See if they can find more of the operation.”

This was so much more than the fact that those sons of bitches had encroached on my territory.

It was the fact that they were trafficking people when I had already shut that shit down, after I took over for Luis.

This was personal now, because Bianca would hate it, especially since we still didn’t know what happened to Lucinda.

“We also need to find out who the Grim Reaper is,” I said. “No point in hunting a ghost. It would be better if we had something to go on.”

Raphael nodded.

“And have men posted around the known operations. Have someone go in and talk to the mercenaries. See if we can turn them to work for us while staying on the inside.”

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