KACELA
We got out of the jeep and began running parallel to the road, trying to put distance between us and the jeep. We left all the packages, including the lovely fruit I had purchased and Earl’s new hat. I was slightly offended he didn’t love it more.
I still held my phone and Mouse was tracking our position. “There’s a river coming up,” he said. “You can follow it down. They build the northeast corner of the airport over the top of the river. You can enter it at the road and then swim through the culvert. There should be an access point in one of the hangers,” he said.
“Should be?” I asked. “I’m not a fish. Make sure that there’s a place we can get out before sending us down the river.”
“Checking.” Mouse said, ignoring my sarcasm. “Okay, there is. Hangar twenty. I’ll send Tank ove
KACELA The plane took off without incident. Mouse and one of the attendants pulled the stairs up and latched them just as the plane took off. No one seemed the slightest bit put off and I wondered, yet again, where Nellie had found the plane and crew. “What happened?” Tank’s deep voice broke through my thoughts. I shrugged. “We saw an opportunity. We took it.” Tank waved his hand. “Better come up with a better story. I put off the King several times already. He’s going to be calling again any minute and I know he’s going to want to hear this.” I bit my lip. I didn’t want Wyatt worrying about me and I certainly didn’t want him blaming Earl. “You had better not blame me,” Earl grumbled. “We were supposed to do intel only and next thing I knew you’re taking selfies with the target.” He tried to keep the stern look on his face but wasn’t able to. He gave up. “It was freaking brilliant,” he said, turning to Tank. “We’re up there, trying to look like some dumb tourists
KACELA“Petar is kind of a recluse,” Mouse said, poking at his keyboard and pulling up photos. “He orders everything in and rarely goes outside. He has rooftop garden but, at least according to satellite, he never goes up there.”“Seems easy enough,” Tank said. “We sabotage one of his deliveries.”“How can we be sure that Petar is the only one that is affected?” I asked. “We don’t want to take out someone innocent who decided they wanted his particular brand of breakfast cereal that morning.”Earl was silent for a moment and then he answered. “I hate to say this, but I think we use Kacela as bait.”Mouse nodded. “I thought that, too, but didn’t want to say that. Treason and all.”I snorted. “It’s not treason. And what are you both seeing that I’m missin
WYATTI was sitting in my office staring at my phone. Lia was sitting on the couch, leaning back with her eyes closed. We were waiting for updates from both teams.Nellie’s team had successfully taken out their first target. They were in and out without anyone knowing. They had slipped in while everyone was sleeping and injected a fast acting poison into his foot. The needle mark would never be found, and the death would be ruled as natural. Quite opposite of Earl’s team’s first target. That one had made national news.I knew that Kacela was busy in this exact moment, acting as bait. I was trying to be calm, cool, and collected but I also knew that I was failing miserably.“Stop that,” Lia commanded from her spot on the couch. She hadn’t opened her eyes.“Sorry,” I said. I had been clicking a pen on and off for the last five minutes.&nb
KACELAAfter my little phone session with Wyatt I needed to shower. I jumped in, washing myself completely and then wrapping myself in a robe before getting out. When I went into the bedroom, one of the female flight attendants was busy tucking the girls into bed. I smiled at her.“We’re tuckered out,” she whispered to me, pointing to the girls. They were wrapped in each other’s arms and sound asleep.“Thanks for taking care of them,” I said. She nodded and tiptoed out.I slipped on a clean pair of sweatpants and pulled on a tank top before following her out. I saw that our dinner had been served and so I grabbed a sandwich before sitting down.“What did Wyatt say?” Earl said, giving me a slow wink.“They’re going to meet us in Sao Paulo,” I said. “They’ll meet us at the private airfield and take the girls. He d
KACELATo kill some time, I sent a message to Wyatt to keep his warriors at home. It would be easier for them to meet us somewhere in the US since that was our next destination and I hoped we’d be heading there soon.We sat, all of us dozing off and then jerking awake. Mouse kept up a constant search on his computer, looking for news stories. About two hours later, I got a ping on my phone indicating that a video had been sent to me.I opened it up to see a scene through night vision goggles. They were walking through a house, checking rooms. They finally came to a bedroom and the door was opened. The person wearing the camera walked up to the bed and shook awake the female occupant.She looked up at the man with some alarm and mostly irritation. “Julia?” a voice asked off camera.“Yes?” she said in some irritation. Then the noise of gunfire filled the screen and she fell
KACELAI shook myself awake, opening my suitcase. I hadn’t packed any gym whore outfits, so I was going to have to make do with what I had.I dressed in a pair of biking shorts and rolled up the hems a little so that my long legs were showcased. I paired it with a tiny sports bra that I usually had a t-shirt over the top of. Instead of a t-shirt, I put on a flannel shirt and left it unbuttoned. I slicked back my hair and tied it into a ponytail high up on top of my head and then pulled a few tendrils out, letting them curl over my face. I added a lot of mascara and eyeliner to my face and applied concealer to cover my scar. I made big, pouty lips with some of Tank’s lipstick and then presented myself to the guys.They were all silent. “What?” I demanded. “Is it not good enough?”“Um, my queen? You’re showing a lot of skin,” Mouse squeaked out.
KACELAI went into the front desk and up to the reception. “Hey ya! I would like to get a guest membership, please.” I gave a big, perky grin to the tiny blonde girl working the desk.She looked at me and gave me a once over. I knew the type. She was used to being intimidating. I could have had fun playing her game but I needed something from her so I kept my cool.“Sorry, honey. We don’t do that here. You gotta pay for a year’s membership.” she said, turning back to her computer. I could see she was badly losing a solitaire game.“Oh, boo,” I said, pouting. I looked around. I probably needed a dude for this to work but I couldn’t see one. Dammit. I would try again.“So, here’s the thing,” I said, leaning forward, conspiratory. “I’m here for the week. I want to work
WYATTWhen I turned on the news this morning, I saw a story out of Boston about the O’Callahan men. The news anchor was reporting that the authorities were speculating that there was a carbon monoxide leak. I turned off the television and picked up my phone.I made some arrangements and then threw a few clothes into an overnight bag, running down the stairs. I could hear Lia’s soothing voice as I passed the second floor landing and I knew that she was talking to the girls from Laos. I felt slightly guilty about not stopping to help her, but they were still skittish of men and I wanted to go. I jumped into the waiting car and sped off.I met a private jet at the small airport in town and we took off. I was on my way to meet Kacela in Boston and then we were going to fly somewhere else, her choice. I wanted a few days alone with her, not on Packlands, where we could spend some time together without distractions