Raging Fire (Guarded Secrets Book 4) (11 page)

“Why are the upper level members all going to a trade? That’s dangerous and doesn’t sound like the planning Harley is known for.”

Sandstorm’s eyes squinted to a slight close as he wondered how I knew that, and then decided to move on for timing’s sake. “That’s because the true upper level guys aren’t going. The people going are the ones who are learning their possible positions, but I want them taken out and then I’ll go after the heads of the cartel. I just don’t want anyone rising to power.”

“So you’ll kill them and that will start a war.” The plan was slowly becoming clear; clear with blood and bullets. It would be suicide, but it would be worth it.

“Exactly, and I’ll need you and your friends to do that for me. I’ll talk to your blonde friend and tell her what to do. All you have to do is prepare for a fight after taking a few of them out while I go after the higher ups with your ninja friend.”

“Their names are Rum and Siren. Rum isn’t a ninja, she’s just very skilled in silent maneuvering. Siren is excellent in hand-to-hand combat. She may be the best for the choice considering you’ll need back up and Rum can sneak around to prepare for the attack.”

He nodded and opened his mouth to say something but before he could, voices drifted toward us. “The patrol is here. Get out of sight. I’ll take what you said under advisement and I’ll work on signals to share with you guys. Until then, don’t get in the way and don’t tell anyone who I am unless you have to, the less people who know, the better for us all. I’ll figure something out. I want this over as much as you want him taken out. I’m ready to take a break for once.” He took off without another word as I drifted into the shadows to hide from the patrol. 

Siren and Sandstorm would be okay. It sounded as if Rum and I would be in the most danger by remaining on the outside of the compound. I just hoped we could handle whatever came our way.

Chapter 16

I waited for about an hour near the beach, but remained concealed in the trees waiting for Rum to return. I didn’t want to run into another patrol by accident or meet whoever Siren stole the drugs from on the beach. I’m sure they’d remember three girls who were no longer around and connect the dots, despite how inebriated they were, and I didn’t feel like dealing with them. It wouldn’t be much of a fight if the guys got physical, it would just be bothersome. They would be surprised I could take them down, and their friends would mock them, then I’d be hot, sweaty, and tired. It was best for everyone to stay hidden, for now.

“Hey, there you are. I thought I’d have to walk a little further to meet up with you. Siren wasn’t really clear on where to go. I figured I’d run into you eventually though.” Rum sauntered over to me with a bright smile on her face that I usually don’t see unless she’s caused trouble with her mentee.

“What did you do?” 

“I ran into a couple of guys back at the resort who were here earlier, I guess they figured out someone took their drugs.” She laughed loudly and unrestrained. I hadn’t laughed like that in years. “I showed them what they get for accusing someone of a crime they didn’t commit.”

“We really did take it though,” I pointed out as she continued to laugh to herself.

“Technically, Siren took it. I didn’t know she did until she pulled it out. I guess a little bit of her past life still leaks through on occasion.” 

I laughed lightly this time. Siren’s past was littered with swiping drugs to make a profit. It wasn’t pretty, and she decided to turn over a new leaf after almost getting taken out by a guy she stole from. That was another part of her past that she didn’t like to talk about. “Don’t let her hear you. You know how she feels about that.”

“Yeah I do, but oh well. It’s fun to take a few playful jabs at her sometimes.”

“Until she gets revenge. Now tell me what happened with Macy. How long will she be out for?”

Rum stretched her back and jumped around as if to wake herself up before continuing. “The police should hold her for a little while. With the amount we had on her, it should be long enough to give you the remainder of the week as you wanted, but if she gets out before you do something then we’re fucked. So I hope you have a plan and we aren’t just fucking around waiting to get caught.” 

“Yeah, I have that handled. There’s a plan in the works right now and if all goes well then that timeline should still be fine. Sharp Shooter will know I’m gone by then, but if Macy is still in a holding cell then you may have just spared her life. I can see this going poorly for all sides, and Sandstorm doesn’t think it will be pretty either.”

“Sandstorm? Who’s that? I’ve never heard of that agent before. How do you know him?” Rum asked as she stopped stretching. She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow, awaiting my answers to her questions.

“Sandstorm was one of the first agents I met after my recruitment. He was the one who found me after my siblings died. He took me to Demon and let me do a little training with him while they wrapped up a short mission.” 

“How did he find you so quickly?”

I paused, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell the one part of the story I rarely admitted, even to myself. She had a right to know, but I wasn’t sure I could bring myself to tell the whole story. I took a deep breath and forced it out of me, into the open. “He was there. He must have seen it happening and tried to fight them off when they killed my brother. He managed to take out one, but the other took out my sister and I was next.” My eyes began to well up with tears, but I refused to let them fall. I had cried over that day for so long. Now I had to fight through it. “He stopped them before they could kill me. Thanks to him, my attackers were dead along with my siblings. He saved me and gave me a choice. I took it without hesitation. He offered to tell someone about the bodies so they could be collected without anything else happening to them. I couldn’t thank him enough for that.”

Rum placed a hand on my shoulder before pulling me into a hug. My tears, which I hadn’t realized were falling, dampened her shirt. Every time I talk about that day, I am reminded of their bodies, the blood, and watching the life leave their eyes. It was haunting and I carried it around with me like an oversized sweatshirt I never took off. 

“It will be okay, Spit Fire. I understand. I’m glad he’s here to help you finish it too, and this time you have Siren and I to help. The Cardoza Cartel and Harley will be dead and gone by the time we are done with them.” She waited in silence for a moment while I recovered. Once she thought I was in a stable enough emotional state, she continued. “Now tell me what Sandstorm had to say.”

“He said he’s willing to help us if we help him. He already has a plan, which is currently in motion and Siren will help him as well for the ‘inside job’ parts. We won’t come into effect until part three.”

“And part three is what?”

“I’m sure it will change slightly while we continue to talk about it, but the gist is that we are going to eliminate all of the upper level cartel members along with the ones being trained as replacements for their positions.”

Rum looked at me with skepticism in her eye, one eyebrow up, and her mouth twisted into a disbelieving frown. “That doesn’t sound like a very put together plan. We’ll have to work on it. I want to know the best place to enter, and exactly what has to be done. We will definitely need to do some reconnaissance. I’m not going in blind.”

“We don’t go in. That’s the thing. Part three will lead into the finale very quickly. We will take out the trainee leaders first when they are heading to a trade to learn their job, it may not be all of them, but surely enough to make a dent. From there, it will all go to hell. The base will erupt in bullet fire and we’ll start taking out as many people as we can. We want all the upper level members gone with no one to step into their place, and Sandstorm requested you, but I think you’ll be better on the front lines to handle anything they throw at us, so instead he’ll take Siren for her hand-to-hand expertise and take out the leaders.”

“I’d rather be on the front lines anyway, but so would Siren. Do you think she’ll be okay with this?” 

I let my mind wander back to our training days, when we ran staged operations for training exercises. Siren just wanted an important job. She wanted to be the deciding factor so she could have all the glory. That’s why she liked being on the front line; she could take out a lot of people, lead the charge, and stand by her friends in a time of need. She didn’t want to be behind the scenes, running around to collect things to take back, but after a few staged missions she learned every job was important. Though she still preferred the positions which put her in a spotlight, which I had a feeling had to do with the trust others placed on her in that position. She liked having them trust and believe in her enough to give her such an important job. With this one she was both on the front lines and in the background; perfect for her.

“I think she’ll be fine and if she isn’t then she’ll let Sandstorm know.” 

Rum flashed a knowing smile and nodded in agreement. “Well, then we better get into position. It sounds like we have a lot to look for and not a lot of time to do it. Is there a signal I need to know in case he wants to talk to us or something?” she asked, leading the way back toward the compound. 

“I don’t know. He didn’t get a chance to give me one, because we were interrupted by the sound of a patrol approaching. I guess our only option now is to wait and watch for a signal. Though I have a feeling Siren will come first. His movements will be scrutinized more than hers from what he told me. He’s a liaison between the group he’s undercover for, so I’m sure Harley is watching him while they set up the old trade line again. There’s no way he’d risk blowing his cover before this happened.”

“I can understand that. As for Siren, I think she’d be the better choice. I’m not sure what Macy did, but you’re right. She’s probably not watched as closely as Sandstorm is. She was an insider who most likely already earned their trust, whereas Sandstorm will have to continue to work for it. Even then he may never have it. After Renegade’s reveal I’m sure they are wary of everyone, especially outsiders from other cartels.”

I shrugged. “Sometimes you have to deal with the cards your dealt. Sandstorm will figure something out. He has to.” 

A silence fell between us as we walked back toward the compound. My mind was swimming with thoughts of my family, slowly bleeding together with thoughts of the family I had at CIRA. I was doing this for both of them.

I tossed a glance at Rum, her purple hair flowing out behind her as she paved our path back toward the cartel. Correction:
we
 were doing this for them. Rum and Siren didn’t know the full reason why I came here, but they didn’t care. They dove in head first to help me, even with the risk of hitting rock bottom. That was family to me, unwavering trust and the willingness to be beside them in the worst of times. We didn’t choose each other, but we stood by each other and that’s what counts.

Rum broke the silence as the compound came into view. Her voice quivered slightly, as if she was afraid to ask the question on her mind. “Spit Fire, are you sure we can trust him? You haven’t seen him since your recruitment. He’s been playing the double agent part for so long, what if he’s become one? What if we’re walking into a trap?” 

“I don’t know, Rum. I can’t ease your mind about that, but after what I’ve been through with him I hope we can trust him. He’s done so much for me and others, I don’t think his cover would take that away from him.” I was putting my faith into Sandstorm. He better not be tricking me or he’d figure out what it meant to be on the wrong end of my anger. He’d pay just as much as Harley if he hurt any of my friends, but he’d live long enough to regret it. Harley wouldn’t get that pleasure because as far as I’m concerned he couldn’t feel regret anymore. My family and I were stepping stones for him to get to the top, and once we lived up to our usefulness he tossed us. Soon he’d know how that felt
.

Chapter 17

Rum and I watched the compound the next day for a sign from Siren or Sandstorm. By now Siren had to have run into Sandstorm, or vice versa. Hopefully he sought her out to tell her the plan and make sure she knew he was a friend before anything went wrong. He wanted to cut right to the chase because by the end of the week we would be in for a bloody battle. So we waited for a sign, which never came. Neither of us had seen Siren or Sandstorm since they last entered the compound. I couldn’t be sure how Harley ran his cartel or what had happened to our friends, but the waiting was starting to affect me. I could barely contain myself to a tree branch to remain out of sight. I wanted to end this, but Sandstorm’s plan was better thought out than any other we had and now we had enough people to make it work. So I didn’t want to risk anything. Despite my impatience, we waited.

We watched as countless people walked across the compound, unaware of what was about to happen to them. Though I doubted they would do anything differently if they knew. According to Sandstorm, they had a failsafe in effect so they most likely wouldn’t even worry about an attack. He didn’t know what the failsafe was, but I guessed he had overheard the upper level members discussing it while following them around. Whatever it was put uncertainty into our plan. We’d have to deal with it and overpower it, if that was even possible.

Rum broke our silence, trying to get my attention, by clearing her throat from a tree branch not far from mine. Being in the trees was safer than being sitting ducks on the ground. This way we weren’t easily spotted and had good vantage points to see what was happening around us and on the outside of the compound. We hadn’t figured much out, which left patrols dangerous if we decided to venture to the ground. “I think I figured it out.”

“What did you figure out?”

“Their pattern. Patrols head out at fifteen minute intervals around the hour. So since the last one left at 13:15 then the next one will be leaving in two minutes at 14:30.”

I didn’t respond. Instead I craned my head in the direction patrols usually came from and waited. The phrase ‘hurry and wait’ came to mind. That seemed to be the slogan for CIRA. Get to where you have to be and wait until you could get in with minimal damage, and if that couldn’t happen then wait for help. I hated waiting; especially when it came to cartels. If we waited too long, they became harder to get rid of. That’s the reason we were still fighting the Cardozas; we waited too long for Sandtown and had to start from scratch with a batch of new agents. If we had just gotten it right the first time then we wouldn’t be here now, but then I wouldn’t have had a chance to face Harley myself and finally have a little peace knowing he was dead and couldn’t hurt anyone else. Sometimes the past had to happen to lead to a certain point, and if all the pain I went through led to me killing Harley then I’d be okay with it.

“There they go, right on time,” Rum mused, breaking me from my mental reverie. “Slowly becoming more predictable.”

I could hear the smile on her lips as she spoke, and her smile meant she’d put something else together. “So, how much time would that give us?”

“Between when they pass us and return? Maybe fifteen minutes or so depending on pace, and it takes a little under an hour to do the full sweep, but once they reenter the building we have about twenty minutes to do whatever we’d need to. That would be the best time to meet with Siren or Sandstorm to figure out what’s going on inside. Just be sure to stay out of sight of the security cameras.”

I nodded, understanding the train of thought and planning how to use it to our advantage at the same time. It would give us plenty of time to run through a plan before starting Sandstorm’s part three. At least then everyone would be on the same page before the shit hit the fan. “Siren will probably come out between sweeps, but Sandstorm found me in the middle of one.” I glanced behind me and down to the ground to see the three-man team walking by. None of them had Siren’s unmistakably bright, blonde hair, or Sandstorm’s build. I waited until they passed to continue, watching them fan out to cover more ground as they went.

“So?” Rum prompted once they passed and put some distance between us.

“I’m wondering if sometimes Harley throws in a fourth person just to make sure no one moves around the patrols for a surprise attack.” I saw movement below from my peripheral vision and glanced down to see a two-man team moving slowly behind the other group, guns drawn. They fanned out, just the same as the other group had done, but made their way more slowly than the previous team. That could cause a problem. “Like that.”

“I’ve noticed them before, don’t worry about them.” Rum turned away from the teams and jumped to a different tree branch to change her perspective on the compound. “They’ll return in ten minutes. They’re just a precaution, as you said, but they only come out every other patrol it seems, on the top and bottom of the hour. They won’t affect the time in between patrols, though that’s the first time I’ve seen two as back up. I wonder if they suspect Sandstorm, or if he told them anything that caused a change in the amount of back up. Maybe that’s why we haven’t seen either of them yet.”

I shrugged, ignoring Rum’s jab at his trustworthiness. I understood her apprehension. She was just being cautious because she had never met him, therefore he hadn’t earned her trust as other agents had. Though without him we wouldn’t have a plan, and if we had come up with one it would have revolved around what we’d seen in the last thirty-six hours, unless Siren came out to tell us what she found out.

I glanced nervously toward the compound, silently begging Siren to come out just so I would know she was alive. I sighed, knowing I had to assume she was safe until proven otherwise. During her time at CIRA she had infiltrated countless groups, and she had trained Camo, who was able to fall into any identity given to her without a hitch. Camo had proven excellent at her job, which meant Siren had been an amazing teacher, and teachers rarely taught their students everything they knew. Therefore, Siren was bound to have a few tricks up her sleeve. I just had to believe she was okay.

“We can’t know until one of them shows up. No alarm seems to have been sounded, and no one is acting differently, at least that I’ve noticed. They may just be waiting. Siren is learning all of this stuff as she goes along, so she may not have found a time to get out yet without being noticed. Maybe she can’t get out alone. They are all in teams, which isn’t like how the Cardoza’s set up their bases before. They are learning from their previous battles with us, and I don’t like it.”

“I don’t either, but what choice do we have?”

“To end them before they get too far ahead of us.” The words fell from my mouth on their own accord before I even had a chance to stop them. I didn’t want to since every word of it was true, but something about saying it out loud made it real for me. I would end them before they could continue to grow, and thankfully Sandstorm followed the same train of thought. He wanted to obliterate them from the top and become a force to be reckoned with if any of the lower level members wanted to take over. 
That’s if they survived this, 
I thought with a wicked smile. I had a feeling those who survived would cut their losses and forget about the cartel, at least this one. CIRA would move onto others in time, and I’d be with them every step of the way to take down men like Harley.

“I’m good with that. I’m ready to stop chasing these guys. It’s time to move onto someone else. We can’t spend years following them all, we have to take on more than one at a time instead of dropping everything to take on these guys.”

I was about to reply to say the Cardozas are the biggest cartel so we needed to take them out first, but I was interrupted by a phone ringing. We ignored it for a minute before I heard the two-man patrol coming back.

“Do you hear that?” one of them asked.

Panic shot through me as I realized it was the phone Night Stripe stuck in my backpack. “Shit,” I cursed quietly as I dug for the phone. Pushing everything I touched to the side, my hand wrapped around the phone and clicked the side button to silence it. I glanced down to see the two-man team searching for the source of the sound and contemplated my chances of moving without being seen or having Night Stripe call me again and get me killed. Neither seemed likely. 

The phone vibrated in my hand and before it could make another sound, I answered. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just caused?”

“What are you talking about?” she questioned as one of the men below called out around him. I hadn’t expected her to hear it, but she laughed lightly. “Why didn’t you put the phone on silent after I called you the first time? I basically told you that I’d be calling back eventually. I can’t help that you didn’t take precautions.”

“I haven’t had a phone in almost seven years. I don’t know how to work this thing except to answer you and make it stop ringing. I wasn’t going to waste my time learning how to learn how to operate it either because I wasn’t planning on using it. Now why the hell did you put me in this situation?” I asked as I glanced back to the men, who had dispersed to check the area. Eventually the only answer left would be to look up. There was no way they would just forget about it and move on.

“I’m calling because you’ve run out of time.” Her voice was low, a soft whisper compared to her usual boisterous tone. From what I could tell, it was quiet on her end of the line. She wasn’t out in public in the CIRA building, she was alone somewhere, away from everyone. Either she wasn’t supposed to be talking to me or she hadn’t told anyone she could get in touch with me and wanted to keep it a secret. I didn’t have time to ask, I needed her to get right to the point. 

“How so?” I asked as I turned toward Rum, who had managed to conceal herself in the foliage near the top of the tree. I could barely see her, but I knew I was too noticeable. They’d spot me and then I’d really be out of luck.

“Sharp Shooter gets the flight logs today; I can’t stall Maverick or KC anymore. They’re free for the day because I couldn’t find agents who needed a flight anywhere. Sharp Shooter has been asking for them for the last few days. He even called them while Renegade and I were badgering him on the Cardoza Cartel. He’s going to find out, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen except that he’ll send someone to retrieve you. You need to do whatever it is you’re planning and you need to do it quickly or you may never get the chance.”

“I got it. Thanks for trying, Night Stripe. You gave me more than enough time. We have a plan that should be going active at the end of this week. Two or three days should be enough for me once Sandstorm gives me a definite day, but I should be finished if Sharp Shooter actually sends someone after us.”

“
Us?
So 
that’s
 where Rum went.” She laughed lightly to herself, a little of her usual cheerful demeanor returning to her voice. “I’m not sure who Sandstorm is, I’ve never heard of him, but if Rum’s with you then I know you’ll be fine. I won’t call you again, but just in case someone finds this phone and tries to call you, how about you put it on silent? It’s really easy, I promise. I can talk you through it if you need me to.”

“Don’t patronize me,” I growled as I shut the phone and effectively ended our call.

I glanced around to see the two-man team coming back with the three-person team not far behind. We were about to get found out if we didn’t think of something fast. I contemplated chucking the phone after clearing it and let it ring, but it seemed risky since I didn’t know for sure how to clear the phone. I didn’t want it somehow getting back to Harley where CIRA was. The location of the building had been kept a secret from those outside the agency for years, and I wasn’t going to be the one to blow it. I’d give that credit to a recruit one day I’m sure, but I prayed that day never came.

“Hey, stop there,” one of them ordered as the teams met up, their guns drawn.

I glanced around the tree to see where they were pointing, and saw a platinum blonde pony-tail sticking out from under a green hat. I let out a breath of relief as Siren came closer and stood confidently in front of the guns. She must have a plan, though she could be winging it again. I prayed for the former. I didn’t need to watch her get shot. We needed to get out of this mess.

“What are you doing out of the compound? You know you’re not supposed to leave the boundaries unless on patrol. We could have shot you or had the base operate the failsafe.”

“Whatever,” Siren said, lacing her words with a feigned valley girl accent. “I was given permission to be out here. Malik is looking for you guys, he has something to discuss before the next meeting and wants to see you now. He said he has important information to pass along that can’t wait until the day of, so I was told to find you and deliver that message, but feel free to shoot me. I’m sure he and Harley would like that. It would give them a reason to pull you guys off patrol and have you do something less glamorous, like maybe work in the hole.” 

The hole sounded like a threat, and judging from the sudden stiffening of the men below, that’s exactly what it was. They nodded to each other and ran off before one of them ordered Siren to finish their sweep and handed her a gun before joining his fellow members. Once they were gone, she glanced up to us in the trees and waved a friendly hello before Rum peeked out of her hiding spot.

“That was quick thinking, Siren. Thanks for the save,” Rum chimed, returning the wave.