This past week had been excruciating for me. I bugged Smoke every day to see if my passport had been approved and I paced the damn clubhouse until I was worried that I’d worn a path in the damn floor. The guys and ladies tried to distract me without much success. The only thing that helped me not totally lose it was Zara texting with me.
She was still upset, and I knew she was unsure if I was telling the truth. But I could tell she was now doubting the picture. This gave me hope. At least she hadn’t stopped communicating. I wished she would call me and let me hear her voice.
My phone dinged with my first message of the day. I smiled as I looked down. That smile was quickly wiped off my face.
Zara: There’s something strange going on here, Luca.
I quickly responded.
Me: What do you mean? Are you alright?
Zara: I’m fine at the moment, but there are no patients today. And the soldiers are antsy.
What in the hell were soldiers doing in her village?
Me:Soldiers! What soldiers? Zara, what the hell is going on down there in Mexico?
There was a pause as I waited for her to respond. As I waited impatiently, I texted 911 to Bull. When her reply came, my gut seized.
Zara: …
That was it. I waited for her to finish. As I did, Bull rushed into the clubhouse with Tank on his heels. They came straight over to me.
“What’s wrong?” Bull asked.
“I don’t know. Zara texted that there were no patients today and that they have soldiers there who are acting strange. She started to ask me to find out something, and the text ended. Jesus Christ, what is going on down there?” I shouted. This got all the other guys’ attention.
“Give me a minute. Let me get Smoke on the line,” Bull remarked. He pulled out his phone and dialed. Even if he wasn’t Smoke’s president, he was the charter president. He had the numbers of all the members and could ask them to do something at any time, though he usually went through their president. Today, we didn’t have time for the niceties.
Smoke answered quickly. Bull had him on speaker. “Hey, Bull. Good morning. What can I do for you?”
“Smoke, we need help.”
“What’s wrong?” You could hear him go into serious mode. He whispered something in the background, probably to his wife, Everly. She worked with him.
“Demon just got some weird texts from Zara about soldiers in their village and they’re acting weird. There were no patients today. She stopped texting mid-sentence. Is there something going on down there we should know about?”
“Let me check. Everly’s checking too. I do know that the whole area is a hotbed of rebels and local Mafias. They tend to grow their shit there, but they haven’t been ones to bother doctors when they come. Zara and her group aren’t the first ones to go there. Give me an hour tops. I’ll see what I can find out.”
“Make it fast. I’ll be calling Terror. Thanks.” Bull hung up. I got up and began to pace. All I could think about was something had happened to her. I should have gone in and gotten her when this all started. To hell with waiting, we had contacts. Surely, they could have gotten me in and out of the fucking country. I swung around to look at Bull. He was watching me with concern.
“Call the Dark Patriots. See if they know anything. I want a transport there ASAP. I don’t care what it costs. I’ll pay for it. I’m going to go bring my woman home,” I growled.
“Settle down. We don’t know anything for sure.”
“Goddamn it, Bull. She’s in the middle of rebel and Mafia territory. She’s a beautiful, female American doctor. You know damn well what could happen. They kidnap people! Sometimes their families never get them back!” I knew I was starting to cycle out of control. My voice was getting louder and higher. I shouldn’t be yelling at my president, but I couldn’t help it. This was Zara.
“Demon, I know. I just want you to not assume anything. I’ll call Sean and see what they can do or might be able to tell us. Smoke and Everly are working on it. You know how they are. Just try and not lose it. Okay?”
I couldn’t speak. All I could do was nod. For the next hour, I paced. When Smoke called, he confirmed he’d found out the government had sent in soldiers to guard the doctors a couple of days after they got there. They were worried about an increase in rebel sightings in the vicinity. I kicked a chair when he told us that.
He assured me Anderson was working on it. Anderson was some high-up in a government agency I didn’t even know the name of—one of those alphabet soup ones. Both Smoke and Everly had worked for them and still did from time to time.
Bull had spoken to Sean, and he was on it too. He assured me he’d have a plane ready to go as soon as we knew something. We’d helped him in the past with a rescue mission of some kidnapped women. I knew he had the means to get what I needed. God help them if someone had taken her.
Over the morning and into the afternoon, it was bits and pieces coming in, mostly rumors about the rebels. Who they might be. What past problems they’d had or not had in the village. All of it was just making it worse. I wanted to scream at them and tell them to fucking let me go. I had been a Marine sniper for God’s sake. I could go in, get her, and take out any son of a bitch who got in my way.
It was around two in the afternoon when Bull’s phone rang. He answered it and put it on speaker again. “You’re on speaker, Smoke. Tell us you have something.”