Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(4)

“Right. Okay, so we go in, check things out in the barrio, and then you can approach your wife,” Meat concluded. “If she’s nervous about you or not sure she wants to go . . . you’re going to have to talk her into it, I guess.”

Dave chuckled, but it wasn’t in amusement. “Raven’s always been pretty hard to convince to do anything she doesn’t want to. I mean, I’m hoping she’ll be head-over-heels happy to see me, but I’m guessing there’s a lot more to her situation than we know.”

“Agreed,” Gray said. “We’ll have your back while you meet with her, and we’ll go from there.”

“It’s not much of a plan,” Ro commented.

Dave shrugged. “I’m truly hoping this will be an easy in-and-out thing, but if it’s not, we can refine as we go. I’ve kept Raven’s passport up to date using an age-progression picture that an ex-FBI friend made for me. Not exactly legal, but I’ve got enough people who owe me that it was overlooked. That . . . and I’m sure no one thought I’d ever find Raven and have a chance to actually use it,” Dave said.

“We’re going as tourists,” Ball said. “Thousands of people do it every year. I’m sure no one will scrutinize her passport that closely.”

“While we’re there, I’d love to see about finding a place to set up a free clinic,” Zara threw out. “God knows the people in the barrios could use it. And if anything happens, maybe you guys can use that as a reason as to why we’re there. The barrios aren’t exactly a typical tourist destination.”

“She’s got a good point,” Meat said, putting his arm around her. “A humanitarian effort as a reason for our visit would probably put a lot of eyes on us, but if push comes to shove, we can throw that out as a secondary reason why we’re there.”

“Del Rio might be an issue with the clinic, however. He likes to keep people dependent and under his thumb, all while acting like a benevolent leader helping out those less fortunate. Having a free clinic might take away some of the attention that he craves,” Zara said.

“Fuck. That guy again?” Black asked.

Zara nodded.

Dave’s eyes narrowed. They all knew about Roberto del Rio. He was one of the worst sex traffickers Dave had ever come across. He had no morals, no scruples. They’d learned the last time they were in Peru that he trafficked children as well as women.

A couple months ago, Dave had been more than happy to volunteer the Mountain Mercenaries to go to Peru and assist in a mission to save local children bound for the sex trade in Lima—but everything had gone wrong. Mostly because del Rio didn’t want their mission to succeed. He had a lot of influence in the country. Since then, Dave had learned the majority of the police force, locals, and even the military were either under his control or being paid to look the other way.

But honestly, at the moment, Dave was having a hard time caring about anything other than Raven. From what Zara had said, Raven hated del Rio and no longer had anything to do with him, so for now, del Rio wasn’t their objective. Finding and rescuing Dave’s wife was.

Dave leaned forward and said in a somewhat desperate tone, “No offense, Zara—I’m happy to help set up a clinic and bribe whoever we have to, but my main objective on this trip is to go into that barrio, grab my wife, and get the fuck out.”

“It probably won’t be that easy,” Zara told him.

Dave nodded. “I know. Raven and I have been separated longer than we were together. She’s been through a kind of hell I can’t even begin to understand. But I’m not leaving without her.” The last was said a bit harsher than he’d intended, but it didn’t matter. He wouldn’t leave the country without Raven.

“She might not want to leave,” Zara said quietly.

Dave ground his teeth together to keep the sharp words that sprang to mind from escaping.

“The Mags I know is as independent as anyone I’ve ever met,” Zara went on. “She’s smart and doesn’t show a lot of emotion. When she was trying to convince me to tell Meat that I was an American, to share my story and get him to take me back to the States, I asked if she would come with me. I knew about the time she’d spent working for del Rio, but to me, she was a fellow American. She didn’t seem all that happy to be here, but when I asked her to come with me, she shook her head and said her life was in Peru.”

Zara’s words were more painful than anything Dave had ever heard.

He had no idea why Raven hadn’t jumped at the chance to get back to the States. Back to him.

“Is she being held captive there?” he asked.

Zara slowly shook her head. “Not that I know of. But I’ve always thought something wasn’t quite right about her situation. Three days a week, she’s gone most of the day and doesn’t tell anyone where she goes. But she always comes back to the barrio before the sun goes down. I haven’t seen anyone following her, and she doesn’t act like she’s being threatened. Well . . . any more than anyone else, that is.”

“What do you mean?” Meat asked, putting his hand on his fiancée’s knee.

“Just that life as a woman in the barrio, especially one without a husband, isn’t exactly a walk in the park. We always had to worry about Ruben or one of his friends stealing what food we’d managed to scavenge, or . . . you know.”