Page 60 of Resolution

“Well, we know Castillo wants the fifty million,” Raven said. “Aston brought Tawny down there to meet with the banker to get it for him. I’m guessing they haven’t met?”

“The meeting is scheduled to take place on the day after tomorrow,” Bradley said. “She’s supposed to go with Aston to the bank.”

My jaw dropped. “Why then would you float the idea of me going into Castillo’s house? Why was that plan A to begin with?”

“Plan A is off the table!” Bannister exclaimed. She shot a hateful look at Raven. “Let’s move on.”

Raven narrowed his eyes at her, and I squeezed his hand. “So, Aston and Tawny are supposed to meet with the banker,” he continued. “Why don’t you guys substitute the real banker with one of your guys? Then, he can say something like the funds can’t be accessed for a few days. It’s fifty million dollars, not five. It’s not like Castillo can verify the truth if they stall. Then you can grab Castillo when he’s coming out of the bank.”

“Assuming Castillo goes with those two. He could force Aston to go with Tawny alone,” Bradley said.

“We’ll have to give him some other incentive then,” I said.

“Like what, Mr. Huerta? The man surrounds himself with his men and barricades himself in that house for a reason,” Bannister said. Her tone was as hostile as it could be. I ignored it.

“There has to be an open line of communication to that property somewhere,” I said. “We need to find it and then put the fake banker Raven suggested on the line with him. He can tell Castillo the only way he can facilitate the withdrawal of a sum of money that sizeable is to transfer it to another account at the bank, one he personally has to open. I don’t know. You guys can figure that part out. But we have to make the return of those funds conditional upon transferring the funds to his own account. I think he wants them so bad at this point, he’ll leave that house, even if it means being surrounded by a platoon of his own sicarios.”

“That still leaves Agent Willis trapped in that house with a hundred men,” Bannister said snidely.

“You’re forgetting about Brian Leopard,” Raven said. “Or are you just thinking of him as collateral damage at this point?”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all,” Bannister spat back.

SAC Bradley held up both hands. “Tempers are a little hot here. I think it’s safe to say we all want the best outcome.”

“The scenario Raven and Miguel came up with has merit and frankly, I think you’re greatly exaggerating the number of sicarios Castillo has at his disposal,” Lincoln said. “Raven and Miguel’s plan will split the number of men in half.”

“The FBI can send in a tac team to retrieve Leopard and Willis once Tawny Flores and Aston are out of the house with Castillo,” Mac said. “If the DEA takes care of the guards on the perimeter and grounds, a good enough FBI tac team can take care of the guards inside while preserving the life of the hostages.”

“That might work,” Bradley said thoughtfully. “What is the realistic number of guards inside the house? Obviously, there aren’t a hundred,” he said to Bannister.

“No,” she admitted. “There’s more like ten inside, twenty outside, guarding the grounds and perimeter. The DEA can take care of them. We have our own tac teams.”

“What we need is a Spec. Ops team to augment the FBI tac team with the hostage rescue,” Cassidy said. “Their training in stealth, breach, and retrieval has a proven record under fireasgood or better than an FBI tac team…and they’re used to operating in an environment where there’s little to go on such as floorplans. Military tactics are a proven commodity.”

“Military? On foreign soil?” Bannister scoffed. “No way.”

“Not…active-duty military,” Cassidy said, looking at me. “We know some guys.”

“Who?” she asked skeptically.

“We’ve got a SEAL right there,” Mike said, pointing at Cass. “Recon Marine over there.” He nodded at me. I wouldn’t trust myself going in alone but with some painkillers and as part of a team, hell yeah. “And big Mac is our Green Beret.”

Max raised his hand. “Former U.S. Marshal with a Marine Corps background. Tracker and marksman.”

Kindness raised her hand. “Marine Corps. Hand-to-hand, mixed martial arts.”

Perez pointed to himself. “Marine Corps—”

Bannister held up both hands. “I get it. You’re all highly trained.”

“We have a couple of snipers at our disposal as well,” Mac said. He pointed at Lincoln. “His wife is the SAC at the ATF and can kill anything she points a weapon at. One of the guys on her team is a former Marine Corps sniper with more than fifteen years of experience.”

The door to the conference room opened and Damon silently rejoined the group, staying off to the side as the conversation continued.

“Let’s put it this way,” Cassidy was saying. “Get us a rough layout of that house and we’ll put together a team to rescue the hostages including Trevor Willis. Satellite photos will suffice.”

“Well, if you’ve got it all covered, the DEA doesn’t need to be here at all,” Bannister said, folding her arms across her chest.

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