Shattered Lies (Web of Lies #3)(74)

“Here we go,” Kirby said, crossing his arms over his chest and watching.



* * *



He looked into the television where he projected the videoconference. “What the hell am I looking at?”

“It’s the location of Dan March’s cell phone, se?or.”

He sat up on his couch with surprise. He’d been woken in the middle of the night by Manuel, and that normally didn’t bode well. The past two days had been shit, and he was plotting his next move. He’d put this whole plot into motion, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Birch Stratton ruin it for him, no matter how many people he had working with him now. He shook his head. He’d been cut off from the president, and it worried him.

“Dan March? That bastard. Where the fuck is he?”

“Ten miles west of San Diego, heading into port.”

Right now he needed Dan. He had thought he was dead, but the son of a bitch must have survived and slowly made his way back from the South China Sea on a boat. “Go get him. Give him whatever he needs—men, food, weapons. I don’t know how the president found out about us, but we need to shut him up and fast. Send him to DC with orders to take Birch out once and for all.”

“I’ll send my men now.”

He disconnected from the video call and ran his hands over his face. Where had everything gone wrong? Well, at least one thing he was sure of. He didn’t become as rich and powerful as he did by giving up when things got tough. No, he would fight this to the bitter end. Presidents came and went, but power . . . you held on to that. You accumulated that over time. And he’d accumulated a lot of power. Enough power to take down a sitting president, that was for sure.



* * *



“So, do you love her?” Dalton asked Grant as they lay on the ground of the mountain, hidden by rocks.

Grant didn’t answer. Below them was the entrance to the tunnels. Grant maneuvered the drone to the coordinates Alex had given them, but so far he didn’t see any movement.

“Stop pretending you can only do one thing at a time. I’ve seen you lay cover fire as you carried out a patient. You can damn well talk to me while you play your video game,” Dalton ribbed.

“Of course I bloody well love her,” Grant said, zooming in on the solar panels.

“Have you told her?”

“No. I’ve been a wee bit busy. But when I do, it’ll be more romantic than your proposal.” Grant grunted. “There’s no movement.”

“Do you feel that?” Dalton asked.

Grant pressed his hand to the rock and closed his eye. “There’s a vibration.”

“Get ready,” Dalton said quietly into his coms. “Is everyone in position?”

“Yes,” came the soft replies.

A moment later the door below them opened and six men rushed out speaking quickly in Spanish. Grant grabbed Dalton’s ankles and Dalton reached down to the door before it shut and wedged a piece of cardboard along the top of the doorjamb. The door looked closed, but there was enough of a buffer to prevent the lock from engaging.

No one seemed to notice as they tore the camouflaged tarps from the helicopter. The pilot climbed into the helicopter and the five men stepped into the back as the engine was turned on and the blades began to spin.

“There’s only room for one more person on the return trip,” Grant said after pulling Dalton back up and hiding behind the rock.

“That makes sense. They think they’re picking up Dan. But where did they come from?”

“There must be a structure under the solar panels.” Grant and Dalton rolled onto their stomachs and hid their heads as the helicopter took off. From the air, their camo would hide them well enough.

They listened to the helicopter take off and fly west toward San Diego before moving. Grant moved the drone to see the cars beneath the structure and confirmed people were there. Grant dropped to the ground outside the door and propped it open with a rock. Dalton hurried to the various cars covered by the tarps and slashed all the tires as Lizzy, Janet, and Valeria made their way to the door.

“Six men left with the intention of coming back with seven. Taking the helicopter tells me they’re interested in speed and getting Dan March back here immediately. We don’t know how many are left behind, but if Manuel is here, there will be some tough fighting ahead of us,” Grant told them as Dalton jogged over to join them.

“The middle SUV is ours. I took off the distributor cap.” He held up the small object that would prevent the car from starting and put it into his pocket.

“Manuel always has four men with him,” Valeria cut in. “Two like to act tough and shoot anything that moves, but they’re easy targets since they can’t hit a target to save their lives. They’ll just spray the area with a rifle. It’s the two quiet ones you need to worry about. One is good with knives. He’s the one with a beard. The tallest is a crack shot. Go after those two first.”

“We need either Manuel or Roland alive. Preferably both,” Lizzy told them. “If this is indeed where Sebastian was taken, and if Sebastian is telling the truth, then Roland may very well be here and can lead us to the head of Mollia Domini.”

“Got it,” Janice said, looking at the body cam she was wearing. “Ready for us to turn this on?”