Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(49)

Resnick and Kyle Phillips hurried up to where Steele, Rio, Donovan and Sam stood. The teams gathered loosely around so they could listen in on what Resnick had to say. As usual, Resnick had a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth and as soon as he finished one, he was quick to light up another. A more nervous, agitated bastard, Steele had never met. He still wasn’t too keen on the fact that KGI had kissed and made up with Resnick after he’d f**ked them over in the past. But it was Sam’s call whether to use him. Only now Steele had more of a personal stake, whether he liked that or not. Maren wasn’t just under his skin. She was inside him permanently. She belonged to him. He’d staked his claim whether she realized it or not.

He’d listen to what Resnick had to say, but this was still his f**king mission and it would be done his way. Whatever Resnick had for them, it must be pretty damn important because Resnick had refused to say shit over the phone. Instead, he’d hopped a damn plane with his black ops group and hustled down to give his report in person. They didn’t have time for this shit. Steele was itching to move in. The sooner they quit f**king around with reports and intel, the sooner Maren would be back in his arms, where she was safe. And he wouldn’t make the mistake of leaving her unprotected ever again.

“We’re wasting time,” Steele said impatiently. “Say what you have to say so we can move out. Every minute we waste is another minute Maren is in that bastard’s hands.”

Resnick nodded and stabbed another cigarette into his mouth. “Look, Mendoza is up to his ears in arms and drug trafficking. Thought KGI would find it interesting that he cropped up after you took Alex Mouton down and we dismantled his entire operation and seized his assets.”

Sam’s gaze sharpened. Alex Mouton had been his wife Sophie’s father—or rather her uncle since it was later discovered that Alex’s brother had actually fathered Sophie. The world was definitely a better place without the Mouton brothers. They’d caused Sophie—and KGI—no small amount of grief. But especially Sophie.

“He took up where Mouton left off. Took over his operations. Expanded rapidly.”

“It’s like f**king Whac-A-Mole,” Cole muttered.

Resnick nodded. “For every one we take down, two or more pop up to take their places. It’s a dog-eat-dog business. If we don’t take them down, they take out each other. The weak get culled and the strong, ruthless ones rise to the top.”

“What intel do you have on Mendoza?” Steele cut in, determined to get to the point. They were wasting too much f**king time with the idle chitchat.

“Cagey bastard,” Resnick muttered. “Slippery as a goddamn eel. He changes names and appearances like most people do underwear. I have profiles on him under a dozen different aliases, and those are just the ones I know about. There are probably just as many if not more that I don’t know of. Every government agency in the West has a major hard on for him. He’s number four on my agency’s most-wanted list, but if he isn’t taken down soon, he’ll be number one in short order. I want him. That’s why I’m here and my team is here. We’ll do whatever we can to assist. And if we nail Mendoza, I’m going to need to take DNA samples to verify his identity because he’s had plastic surgery multiple times and he even has his fingerprints surgically altered.”

“Then let’s quit f**king around and get on it,” Steele said in irritation.

“I’m with Steele,” Donovan said.

There were murmurs of agreement all the way around.

Resnick nodded. “Your call. Sam said this was your mission.”

“Let’s roll,” Steele said. “P.J., Cole, you two take Joe and Skylar with you. Get into position and pick off what you can when we helo in.” Then he glanced at Kyle Phillips. He knew the young Marine wouldn’t like taking orders from him, but that was too damn bad. “You and your team go in from the ground. The rest of us are going to helo in. When you see the helicopter, blast your way in but make damn sure Maren doesn’t get caught in the crossfire.”

“Yes sir,” Kyle said.

Kyle turned and motioned for his team and they headed out, melting into the woods that would take them to the perimeter of Mendoza’s holding.

Steele surveyed the remaining team members. With Baker, Renshaw and Dolphin left from his team and Nathan, Edge and Swanny from the other team plus Sam, Donovan, Rio, Terrence, Diego and Resnick that made a total of thirteen. They had sufficient numbers to ace this operation no matter how heavily armed Mendoza’s men were.

“You flying the chopper Rio brought?” Steele asked Donovan.

Donovan jerked his thumb toward Nathan. “He knows more about choppers than I do. I can fly pretty much anything, but he can fly them better.”

“Let’s go then.”

They did a quick weapons check, tested their radios and receivers and then lifted off. Steele ran down the checklist in terse tones until everyone was clear on their assignments.

The helicopter buzzed low, clipping the tops of the canopy of trees and then burst into the clearing where the compound was sprawled. The atmosphere inside the chopper was tense. Expressions were focused and grim. Rifles rose, gripped tightly as they prepared to do the helo drop inside the walls.

“On my signal,” Steele barked.

The chopper swooped in and hovered several feet off the ground. Below them, men scattered in all directions, taking cover.