Dante laughed out loud. “Weird. I’m jealous of anyone who can shoot straight.”
They all climbed into the Land Cruiser with Dante behind the wheel and Hunt in the passenger seat. In the back, Egan had already found the cooler with the Gatorade. He passed a bottle to Hunt, who drank half of it down before he took a breath.
“Thirsty?” Dante asked.
“Nervous.”
For the next forty minutes, Dante went over the intelligence they had gathered so far and the equipment they had available. Finally, they brainstormed ideas about how to gain access to the Black Tosca’s residence.
“We haven’t come up with anything solid yet, Pierce,” Dante confessed. “Her defense is airtight. With four shooters and Abigail in reserve, I wasn’t able to figure out a way to get in, rescue your daughter and her friend, and make a clean exit.”
“Can’t you guys call the DEA offices in Guadalajara and Mexico City and ask for support?”
“Not happening,” Dante said. “Too many hoops to jump through. Too many regulations.”
“What if we forced her to come out instead?” Hunt offered.
“How?” Egan asked. “She has her own water supply, two or three power generators, and probably enough food and wine to last a year. I’m pretty sure she also has tunnels under her residence that lead to different houses in the neighborhood.”
“Cole’s right, Pierce. She’d never come out through the front gate.”
“Then we’ll have to figure out something else, and fast.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
They arrived at the Airbnb apartment rental five minutes later.
Dante showed him where the weapons were. Hunt selected one of the MP5s and a Glock 22 with a silencer. From a duffel bag, he picked two flashbangs, a hip holster for the Glock, and seven magazines of ammunition—five for the MP5 and two for the Glock. Dante handed him a bulletproof vest from another duffel bag. Hunt adjusted it so that it wouldn’t interfere with the rest of his equipment.
He picked up the magazines and placed them into the magazine pouches on his stomach. To expedite any magazine changes, he inserted the magazines with the bullets down and facing to the right. He checked the MP5 to make sure the weapon was clear and did the same with the Glock. Hunt inserted a magazine into the pistol and pulled the slide back, allowing the first bullet to feed into the chamber. He then released the magazine, holstered his pistol, and inserted another round into the magazine to top it off. He pulled the Glock out from its holster once again and reinserted the full magazine before holstering the pistol. He followed pretty much the same routine with the MP5, his hands working fast and expertly.
To clear his head, Hunt took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. He repeated the process three times.
Hunt was in his element. He was ready.
Then Carter called. Leila was on the move.
The time to move cautiously had passed. They needed to speed things up. Hunt’s conversation with Carter had been short but to the point. Abigail, who had taken Carter’s position close to the front gate, had spotted the same two white Range Rovers that Carter had seen earlier in the day. Using her own Nikon, she was able to get two good shots of the inside of the first SUV. She had sent the pictures to Carter, who had immediately confirmed that the girl seated in the second row of the SUV was Leila. No word on Sophia, though, so that complicated things. Hunt had hoped that the two girls would still be together. That would have allowed them to maximize their efficiency by not having to split up.
Hunt had just placed his hourly call to Moon when Carter phoned him.
“Where are you?” Carter asked.
“We’re leaving Centro now. What’s up?”
“Abigail and I followed the two Range Rovers to a neighborhood called Candelaria. You need me to spell it?”
“Negative, Simon. I know where it is,” jumped in Dante, making a U-turn. “We’re less than ten minutes away.”
Carter gave them the address. “Hurry up. I have a feeling we might have a play here.”
Carter and Abigail had no choice but to give the Range Rovers considerable leeway in order not to be spotted. The fact that Abigail and Carter each had their own vehicle was great, but they really needed six cars to pull off this kind of surveillance operation. That wasn’t going to happen, so they had to tread carefully.
The neighborhood of Candelaria consisted of very large and very private estates. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, so Carter had to play it safe. The last thing he wanted was to spook Hector. Carter had allowed four cars to pull in front of him as a buffer between his vehicle and the last Range Rover. Abigail hung back two cars behind. Up ahead, the Range Rovers made a right turn into private property.
Carter called Abigail to let her know.