And he knew Gabriella very well.
Kane called him from a secure sat phone once he was out of Sean’s earshot.
“Kincaid.”
“It’s Kane. How fast can you get to Guadalajara?”
“Six and a half hours.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“They all are. You have a plan.”
“Working on it.”
Jack didn’t say anything for a long minute. “Who else do you have down there?”
“No one. Blitz, Ranger, and their team are in Honduras. They can’t be reached.”
“Is this about the kid?”
“Yes. Sean sent everything he uncovered to Jaye—read it on the fly.”
“And he’s worth risking your lives?”
That was always the question—was an operation worth the risk, because every time they engaged, they could be killed or captured.
“Yes,” Kane said without hesitation. “Look at the file. You’ll know why.” He wasn’t going to spill Sean’s secret about Jesse, but Jack had to understand the emotional component.
“We need a team.”
Kane didn’t want more than he’d counted on, but Jack would do what he felt best, always. And Kane trusted his instincts. “Small and elite. Gabriella is here.”
“Well, fuck.”
“I’m going to talk to her, but you know what she has planned.”
“Ten years. Ten fucking years, Kane.”
He didn’t say anything. Ten years wasn’t that long when someone killed the person you loved.
Siobhan had told him three months ago that she loved him. He replayed that moment every night, every time he closed his eyes. She thought he’d shut her out because he didn’t want his life to taint her. That wasn’t it.
He could never love her, never call her his own, because when she got killed—and in his line of work, that was almost a certainty—he would become Gabriella. He would hunt down those responsible and slaughter them. Without hesitation. Without remorse.
In fact, he admired Gabriella as much as he was frustrated with her. She’d waited ten years for her revenge. Patience. Kane would slash and burn until he was gunned down, and then he would thank the God he didn’t believe in that it was finally over.
Kane said, “I will talk to her, but I may need you to convince her.”
“Understood. Are you camped at our primary airstrip?”
“Yes.”
“Six and a half hours.” Jack disconnected.
Of course Jack knew Gabriella. It had been his soldier who’d fallen in love with her, his soldier who had proposed to her, and his soldier who’d been tortured and killed by Samuel Flores, one of the psycho brothers. Jack had talked her down once before, but after this long, Kane didn’t think Gabriella would listen to anyone. He didn’t blame her—but when his nephew and his brother both had their lives at stake, he had to make her listen.
Unless, of course, she got exactly what she wanted: Samuel Flores’s head on a platter.
And Kane had to figure out a way to do it without Gabriella taking the credit … and no RCK fingerprints. RCK didn’t do assassinations, it’s what kept them off the cartel’s most wanted list. Certainly they had caused enough problems over the years that the cartels would kill anyone affiliated if they had an opportunity, but until Tobias Hunt had put a price tag on his head, Kane had been able to work relatively anonymously over the years.
Kane reached the jeep he’d hidden far on the edge of the airstrip. He pushed off the fallen branches and drove into town.
His cell phone rang. It was Gabriella. He’d ignored her first three calls last night.
“The audacity,” Gabriella said in her exotic accent.
“Meet me in thirty minutes. You know where.”
“No.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed.”
“Do I care?”
“Your brother will.”
“Dante understands.”
“I can get you what you want and you can walk away.”
“I will see this through. Why are you even here? What do you want with Jesse Spade? None of this is your concern.”
“I will tell you why when you meet with me. You owe me.”
“I owe you nothing, Rogan.”
He didn’t say anything. She knew exactly what she owed him.
“No promises.” She hung up.
*
Before Kane left that morning, he’d told Sean to write a letter to Jesse—a short note that explained everything. Sean did it, but it hardly seemed adequate. Kane was standing over him. What could he say? How could he say it? Why write it? It was like trying to tell Lucy over the phone that Jesse was his kid … he couldn’t.
But he did it because Kane said Jesse needed to be on board with them or they would all be killed. Sean understood, but that didn’t make it much better.