Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(67)
Now it was time to go and get David. Meat had done some recon about the barrio where David was supposedly being held and realized it was the largest and most crowded of all the local barrios.
There were only ten of them set to enter the barrio—six Mountain Mercenaries and four additional members of an elite division of the Peruvian police force—against what was literally thousands of people living in the barrio. They had no idea how many were working for del Rio, or if the man had already moved David again before they could get there. But hopefully, since they’d left within an hour and a half of finding out where David was being held, he’d still be right where del Rio had left him.
Dave was allowing his men to be the lead, but he refused to stay back at the motel or in the car. He was wearing a radio, as all of them were, and would stay in the background, but he was going to be there no matter what. He needed to be there. To put his arms around his son and reassure him that he was all right.
As everyone did radio checks before entering the barrio, Gray slid over to him.
“You okay?”
Dave nodded once.
“All right, we’re heading out in two minutes. You know the plan?”
Dave tried not to get irritated at his friend. “Yes, I fucking know the plan. I helped make the damn thing. And I know plans B, C, D, and E too. I get it, I’m an outsider here, but don’t forget who planned most of the other ops you’ve been on. I’m not some Joe Shmoe off the street here.” He looked up at Gray and pinned him with an intense gaze. “The bottom line is, if anything goes wrong, I’m taking David and getting the hell out of Dodge.”
Gray nodded. “Good. We can take care of any trouble in the barrio. And if del Rio shows up with any kind of firepower, we’ll hold him off while you get David out of there. The residents have built a makeshift ladder to get up and over the back wall. You take David and disappear into the neighborhood behind the barrio. I’m hoping del Rio won’t show his face at all, but if he does . . . who knows how long he might search for you? We have to assume it would be for a while, because he doesn’t like to lose. You two hunker down and lie low. We’ll go back to the motel, get the women, and come back to find you. Stay hidden, and don’t take any chances. We’ll use the tracking device in your radio to get close. No matter what, do not go back into the barrio.”
“I’m not an idiot,” Dave told him. “You know I’ve pored over the satellite images of this neighborhood. I know exactly where I’m going to go with David to lie low until the coast is clear.”
Gray grinned and shook his head. “Sorry. I still have a hard time some days comprehending that you’re actually Rex.”
Dave relaxed. “I know I don’t have the experience you do, but this is personal for me. I’m not going to fuck it up.”
“I know you’re not,” Gray told him. “I trust you.”
His words meant the world to Dave. He hadn’t realized how much he wanted and needed his men’s approval. It was one thing to trust Rex, but another altogether to trust Dave.
They both paused their conversation to listen to the chatter in their earbuds about how the team was ready to set out in one minute.
“I don’t know where you found the Peruvian men who are helping us today, but they’re pretty fucking badass,” Gray said.
“They are,” Dave agreed. He’d made connections in practically every country in the world, and he was thankful he’d found some men who hadn’t been corrupted by del Rio to help him out. They were going to save countless children from a fate worse than death soon, and in just a few more minutes, they’d help him rescue his own son. Dave would get to meet Raven’s child, their child, for the first time minutes from now. He was nervous, but calm at the same time.
There were only four Peruvian men with them, but they’d all agreed since this was a scoop and go, and hopefully not a full-scale battle, the ten of them should be adequate for the mission.
After they got the all clear to head into the barrio from four different entrances around the cinder-block wall, and the others dispersed, Gray said quickly, “We’re gonna find him, Dave. Wait until I give you the go-ahead when we get to the old woman’s hut. Okay?”
He didn’t like it, but Dave nodded anyway. He understood that his men were protecting him. If David was dead, or if the mission went sideways, they didn’t want him to have to see his son in that condition, or put him directly in the line of fire in the case of a military firefight.
He and Gray slipped into the barrio and quickly made their way toward the northwest side of the camp, where Ruben had claimed David had been brought. In some ways, this barrio was the same as the one Raven had lived in for years. Trash everywhere, and the smell of campfires permeated the air. But it was the wary and distrustful look in most of the residents’ eyes they passed that gave Dave cause for concern.
These were not people who were content to get by with what they had. These were harder, more jaded men, women, and children. No one made a move to stop them as they walked, but it was obvious if something happened, no one would be willing to help, as Raven and her friends had helped Black and Meat a few months ago.
“Target in sight,” a voice said in Dave’s ear. He looked up and realized Gray had spoken, and they were approaching the end of a row of run-down shacks made out of whatever the residents could get their hands on.