Page 82 of Dark Reunion

CHAPTER 31

TREV

The helo came in low over a black ocean, rotors chewing the night into a steady, murderous thrum. The red cabin light washed over their faces and gear, turning the team back into blood-tinted ghosts from his past. Arek sat opposite him with his jaw set, Wolf silent and coiled, the nervous tension about what condition he would find Maeve wafting off him. Kes checked his carabiner like he trusted nothing. Morry grinned evilly, like she’d bitten down on a live wire just to feel it hum. They may not have said a word, but he felt their energy regardless.

Trev kept his gaze on the open door and the darkness beyond it. Warm wind slammed the cabin, carrying the scent of jet fuel. Far below, Mexico sprawled out, a tapestry of land that could be a beautiful as any paradise, or as harsh and deserted as any desert. The night vision allowed him to see a dry riverbed scoring the earth, and the pale artery of a dirt road leading to their destination. The compound. The reason they were here.

He flexed his gloved hands once.

It had been years since he’d ridden a bird into the teeth of something ugly with these soldiers at his shoulders. Years since the ritual, the checks, the clipped nods, the weight of a gun in his palm, and the kind of silence that was packed with purpose.

It came back like breath. Like the old bike, you never forgot how to ride. He felt the rhythm slot into his bones, the one that allowed him to think two steps ahead of whatever wanted them dead. The Ramírez force was deadly on its own, but now, knowing for certain that someone was controlling the Righteous and using them as a weapon, they had no idea how many enemies they would face.

Arek tapped two fingers to his eyes, then pointed out the door. Trev leaned over and stared down. He swept the ground—dry arroyo snaking west, patchy mesquite, a smear of rock face that would make a perfect windbreak. A good landing zone, thirty seconds to the drop

He nodded.

The helicopter slowed to stop.

Wolf’s mouth barely moved, but Trev knew the words. “It’s go time.”

“Woohoo! Fuck I missed this,” Arek said over the intercom, voice way too excited for the moment.

Trev ignored his brother. “I’ll go first, Wolf with Arek next. Morry and Kes bring up the tail and protect our six.”

“Aw. He paired us by personality. How thoughtful,” Kes smirked, and Morry rolled her eyes at him, reaching across and punching Kes in the shoulder.

“I’m not like you,” she growled. “Don’t insult me like that.”

“No comment,” Kes quipped back with a smirk.

Trev tossed the ropes down and sat, getting ready to descend. The night pressed in close. For a heartbeat, the thrum of the rotors filled his chest, a second heart pounding. He tasted dust, the wind picking up. He wrapped the rope, braced, and slid. He scanned his surroundings on his way down, but other than a lone coyote, he didn’t see any sign of life.

Arek and Wolf came next, and Trev noticed Wolf wince ever so slightly when his feet touched the dirt. Trev shook his head, crazy fucker shouldn’t be out here, but there was no keeping him back.

Trev watched Kes and Morry descend. Kes landed like a cat, showing off with a too-smooth release like he was dismounting a balance beam.

“Graceful, I know,” he bragged.

“Just like a drunk on a Friday night,” Morry shot back.

“What do you see?” Trev asked Arek, who was already crouched and scanning, rifle sweeping in measured arcs as he looked through his scope.

“Lots of movement on the wall, but I doubt any of them can see beyond the lights. We should find a weak access point. The front gate has over a dozen men that I can see.” Arek stood and swung the large sniper rifle over his shoulder, so it lay across his back.

The rope disappeared as the bird peeled away, the sound fading to a distant growl that the desert devoured.

“Let’s move,” Trev ordered.

They fell into a wedge without thinking. Arek on point, Trev offset left, Wolf right, Kes a pace behind, Morry anchoring. Boots whispered over grit. The air had that baked-in heat that never truly left, even with midnight crouching over it.

Trev kept his eyes busy. He clocked the hazard weeds that would eat a shin if you got sloppy, the loose rocks, potential holes, and snake pits. He even noted the anthill that was close to two feet tall. The little details gave him a visual of where people walked, and where no one had stepped in a very long time.

They crested a low ridge and stilled in the thin grass. The compound lay in a shallow bowl ahead, a cut-and-paste fortress of cinderblock, large boulders, and topped with razor wire. There were tall guard lookouts with floodlights that burned cones into the dirt, overexposed and harsh as they swept the ground just shy of their location. Trev noted the spacing with a soldier’s precision. Two of those lights were misaligned. Another flickered. Electrical corners cut. Money saved in all the wrong places.

From their vantage point, he could see just over the top of the wall. Inside, he noted a number of buildings, their purposes unknown. There were six that had corrugated metal roofs, two lower outbuildings, a lean-to with stacked drums, and a water tower throwing a long shadow. Vehicles parked nose-out like someone had taught them one smart thing. A few dozen trucks, two pickups, and a lineup of SUVs near the hacienda.

“Count,” Arek murmured.