Page 25 of Maddox

While Gray had done everything he could to disguise the reason for my appearance in the country, cartels controlled a portion of the government and the economy. That meant there wasn’t an entrance or exit into the country without the bastards knowing.

The lure of taking time to track down Alfaro weighed heavily on my mind. Gray wouldn’t have a care if I suddenly was forcedto kill the man. However, hunting him wasn’t on the approved menu.

I had a short window to try to make the extraction work. Any complications whatsoever could spell the difference between success and absolute disaster.

And I didn’t like failing.

“Charmaine Douglas has been kidnapped.”

The reality of what I was dealing with hit me instantly. “What?”

“You heard me,” Gray said, sighing heavily.

“How?”

As the wheels touched down, my body was lurched forward. I didn’t like being strapped to a seat.

“The details are unclear at this point. She was visiting the orphanage listed on the extraction sheet and she and her group were ambushed. They made it back to the small village where they were staying before they were hit so the children were saved.”

“And?” I knew there was more to the story. There always was.

“And it was a massacre. Almost half the villagers were killed, the three members of her crew as well.”

Closing my eyes, I fisted my mouth. This was the worst possible outcome. “How do you know she was taken?”

“She’s not listed as one of the dead. We need to assume she was taken.”

“Has Alfaro or any of his men claimed responsibility?” The pilot rolled down the runway, slowing to the point of making a turn. I shifted from one side of the fuselage to the other, checking for any armed soldiers. At this point, there were none. That didn’t mean there wouldn’t be an ambush as soon as I stepped foot onto the tarmac.

“Not yet. That means he’s behind her kidnapping.”

“Undoubtedly.” I’d be goddamned. This was exactly what I’d been afraid of. “You fucking let me come down here knowing Alfaro was swirling the waters like the bloodthirsty piranha he is. He knew she was coming. Right? Fucking admit it, Gray.”

Gray’s hesitation pissed me off. While I understood I no longer carried a top-secret security clearance, which I assumed my ex-commander continued to carry, with a mission of this heightened level of danger, details were not just important. They could mean the difference between life and death and he knew it.

“Fine. We suspected he had an inkling. You know how he operates. You managed to infiltrate his organization.”

My laughter was sharp and quick. “Infiltrate. If you mean I was captured by the fucker, then okay.”

“I’m just saying you know more about how he thinks.”

“One monster to another.”

“Stop playing the martyr card, Maddox. That’s beneath you and you know it. You’re the best chance that girl has of getting out alive.”

“If she’s not already dead. Whether it was you or someone else, you purposely allowed her to step in harm’s way.” I’d been right.They’d used up every other possibility of obtaining this mystery information.

“We can argue about this later. Thermal imaging tells us someone was taken. We think it was Ms. Douglas.”

I gritted my teeth, taking a deep breath as I heard the engines being cut. This was going to be nothing but a shit show. Why did I have the feeling I’d been tossed into the middle of a potential war on organized crime? And why was it my instinct told me that Ms. Douglas held more importance than being some award-winning journalist?

“Since everything seems to be conjecture, is there anything concrete you can tell me?”

“We’re eighty percent certain we know the area she was taken. You do too.” The very location where I’d spent far too much time. At least I knew the area well.

“Eighty percent.” I laughed and immediately grabbed my duffle bags. “Let’s take that all the way to Vegas.”

“This is a serious development, Maddox.”

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