Maya Banks - Forged in Steele

There was no way she would take off without telling her family. Which meant that whatever had happened to her wasn’t by her choice. If some asshole hurt her, so help him, he was going to take the son of a bitch apart with his hands.

STEELE stared piercingly at the man standing in front of him and his team, waiting for him to cough up an explanation as to why he hadn’t figured out Maren was missing until well after her disappearance. For that matter he hadn’t known jack until Sam had contacted him for information. Steele had no patience for half-assing a job, and it was clear Sam had employed someone to watch out for Maren who’d done a piss-poor job of it.

The man looked nervous, but then he was being scrutinized by an entire team of pissed-off people. Donovan had his arms crossed over his chest, staring expectantly. P.J. and Cole were on the other side of Donovan, not looking any happier, and Baker and Renshaw were circled around so they almost encompassed the guy.

Yeah, he knew he’d fucked up.

“I’ve been talking to the locals and the most likely suspect is Javier Mendoza. Apparently he’s been sniffing around Dr. Scofield for quite some time. Mendoza’s hired heavy was seen outside her clinic the night before her clinic didn’t reopen as usual. She hasn’t been seen since.”

Steele’s nostrils flared and his lips curled in displeasure. “I see. So maybe you can explain to me why you had to find out this guy was sniffing around Maren from the locals. Your job was to keep an eye on her. You should have known the moment some asshole started expressing interest, and you should have immediately reported that to Sam Kelly, the man who pays you to know these things.”

Rico went pale and he shuffled his feet nervously. “There’s never been a problem. Things are always quiet around here. She gets up, goes to her clinic, treats her patients and then she returns to her cottage. Every few weeks she’ll drive to get supplies, but other than that, she’s predictable.”

“So you got lazy and complacent,” Donovan growled. “You didn’t think anything would go down, so you stopped keeping a close eye on her.”

Rico didn’t respond, but it was evident that was exactly what had happened.

Steele shook his head in disgust. “If anything has happened to her. If one hair on her head has been touched in any way, I’m coming after you. There isn’t a hole you can hide in big enough that I can’t find you.”

Rico looked like he was about to piss his pants. He stuttered and stammered, trying to come up with an explanation, but Steele was done with this idiot. He was pissed that Sam hadn’t kept better tabs on the moron. He was pissed that he’d been called away from Maren and she’d been left vulnerable and alone. If he’d been here, there was no fucking way Mendoza’s man would have gotten close to her.

It ate at him that while he was away on a mission, Maren had been in trouble and he’d never known a thing. He hadn’t left her any way to get in touch with him. It hadn’t even occurred to him to leave her a way to reach him on his phone because he’d planned to be back as soon as possible. He’d fucked up. Every bit as much as the idiot Sam had hired.

No way in fuck that was ever going to happen again. As soon as he had Maren back, things were going to change.

“You’re fired,” Donovan snarled at Rico. “Get the fuck out of here. I don’t want you anywhere near Maren or her clinic.”

Rico looked relieved and spun around on his heel, hurrying to his SUV. He couldn’t get out of there fast enough, and he likely realized the very real danger of getting his ass kicked the longer he stayed in their presence.

“Rico,” Steele called out.

Rico halted and slowly turned around to look at Steele.

“Don’t even think about fucking us over by giving Mendoza a heads-up. You’re a dead man if I even suspect you talked.”

He went pale again and nodded. Then he hurried to his vehicle, got in and tore off down the road.

“Son of a bitch,” Donovan swore. “What a dumbass.”

“Yeah,” Steele agreed. Then he turned to his team. “Okay, we need to do some recon stat. I want everything there is to know about Javier Mendoza and I want it yesterday. P.J. and Cole, I want you two to take position outside his compound. Figure out the lay of the land. Tell me what goes on, what we’re up against. Baker, I want you and Renshaw working on an entrance-and-exit strategy. I want visual confirmation of Maren’s presence inside his compound. We have twenty-four hours to get this together. I don’t want Maren in this asshole’s hands any longer than absolutely necessary, and I want to make damn sure she isn’t hurt when we go in.”

“Where does that leave me and Dolphin?” Donovan asked in amusement.

“We need all the information we can get on Mendoza, his dealings, what goes in and out of his compound. From what little that dumbass Rico could tell us, he has tight security and he monitors every vehicle in and out of his gates. If he has deliveries, I want to know when and what day. That would be the easiest point of access for us if we could hop on one of the deliveries.”

“Provided the locals will even talk to us,” Donovan said grimly. “From what Rico said, he wasn’t able to get much out of them. They’re all scared shitless of Mendoza.”

“Rico is an incompetent idiot,” Steele shot back. “Do what you have to do. I need as much info as we can get.”

Donovan nodded and then turned to Dolphin. “You’re with me, I guess. Let’s go ask some questions.”

Dolphin grimaced. “How’s your Spanish? Mine’s a little rusty.”

“I can get by,” Donovan said.

“I want everyone to report back in six hours,” Steele said. “Stay low and don’t be seen. I don’t want Mendoza to have a clue that we’re here. If he keeps his finger on the pulse of everything local like I suspect, he’ll know we’re here, if he doesn’t already. We need to go in, get Maren and get the hell out before he knows what hit him.”

“On it,” Renshaw said.

The others echoed Renshaw’s affirmative and they quickly moved out.

Steele stared at the clinic and down the road to Maren’s small cottage.

“Hang tight, Maren,” he murmured. “We’re coming for you.”

* * *

SIX hours later, they gathered on the periphery of Mendoza’s compound in a dense section of trees and snarled bushes and foliage. Cole and P.J. were the last to arrive, slipping from the darkness. One minute they weren’t there, and the next they appeared, barely causing a ripple with their movements.

They were good, and if they didn’t want to be seen, you weren’t going to find them. Steele liked the absolute confidence his entire team inspired. There wasn’t a better team anywhere. Rio’s was good, but they weren’t Steele’s team. His money was on his operatives any day of the week.

“Give me the rundown,” Steele said in quiet tones. “P.J., Cole, I want your report first.”

“This is nothing like Garza’s operation,” Cole began. “Garza had a half-assed security net. He was lazy and convinced he was untouchable. Mendoza takes his security seriously. He has men on the ground in heavy patrols, but they’re irregular, so there’s no pattern. Looks like it’s designed that way so no one ever knows when or where the guards show up. This guy is smart.”

“Four guard towers, one on each corner,” P.J. added. “Three men in each plus an additional watch post in the middle of the complex that enables the occupants to see the entire encompassing area. He has six guys there. All armed with long-range assault rifles. I’d lay odds on them being crack snipers, but that’s just a guess based on what we observed of everything else. I doubt he’d go to such lengths with his security if they weren’t capable.”

“Fuck,” Steele muttered. “What else?”

“High concrete walls surround the main house. Iron gates on the north and south with four guards posted at each. No one comes in or out without being cleared. We saw one delivery truck come in and it was at least five minutes before they were allowed inside. Everyone inside the truck was searched and patted down. The entire truck was searched, top to bottom. I doubt we’d get in that way. They were very thorough,” Cole said.

“With only two snipers, the best we’re looking at is being able to take out front or back but not both at the same time. Cole and I would both have to team up and take out one side and by the time that happens, they’re going to know we’re here and all hell will break loose. This guy is armed to the teeth. I’d say he’s one paranoid son of a bitch,” P.J. said.

“What you’re saying is that we’re outmanned and outgunned,” Donovan said grimly. “We need to pull another team for this, even if it’s Nathan and Joe’s.”

Steele swore. They didn’t have the time for this shit. What were the fucking odds they’d run into a goddamn fortress tighter than Fort Knox in the middle of Bumfuck, Costa Rica?

“We don’t have time to pull in another team,” Steele ground out. “Any sign of Maren? Do we know if she’s even there?”

“We have a pretty good idea she is,” Dolphin interjected. “Ninety-nine percent certain.”

“Give me what intel you have,” Steele directed Dolphin and Donovan.

“Van and I poked around,” Dolphin began. “Mendoza had several deliveries. Women’s clothing. Several shipments of feminine shit. Lotions, bath stuff, perfume, hair crap. The whole nine yards. Not to mention a few local deliveries of floral arrangements. Looks to me like a man trying to court a woman. But no one has actually seen her. He’s tightened security in the last week, which falls in line with the timeline of Maren’s disappearance.”