Page 5 of Extraction
“Apparently, Ben Bale, our new house guest, was working with her before he was captured.”
Frank shook his head. “He supposedly worked with Kimberly Ann Smith, but I did hear she’d been deployed home for mental health reasons. After Ben’s military team was killed and he was taken, you were sent in to get him.”
“According to him,” I pointed to the ceiling, “he hoped she was brought out as well.”
Daniel moved over to one of the keyboards and typed her name into our database. A flicker of the screen later, and a stunning woman with fierce green eyes and brown hair to just below the collarbone stared intensely from the other side of the camera. Her brows were perfectly manicured into a slight arch that accentuated her slender nose, smooth cheekbones, and pretty, pink lips.
I huffed at how gorgeous she was, but I saw a look in her eyes that told me she didn’t take shit from anyone. My gut feeling, this woman would be a handful, especially to those she worked with. I silently thanked God that Cole had never made us work with the press. We had bigger fish to fry than babysitting the media.
“Nicole Winter, born and raised in Billings, thirty-five years old, actively worked as a war correspondent for the past fifteen years.” Daniel scanned the screen. “She’s got quite the bio.”
“Where?” I stepped closer to the screen.
“Southern Mexico and a little time in El Salvador.” Daniel scoffed at something. “Seems she’s worked with several cameramen over that time. She’s had at least twenty so far.”
“Damn.” I knew a WC and their cameramen had to be in sync to do their job, so the fact she didn’t get along well with others was interesting.
Daniel whistled. “Seems she’s provided some seriously impressive information to the government over the years.”
I noticed Frank was quiet, so I turned to look at him. “What do you know?”
“Not much, but I know she’s under Bruce’s umbrella.” General Bruce had his own reputation for bending the rules, so it didn’t surprise me someone with her impressive track record would get her orders from him. My guess would be she was told to get in, do whatever was necessary, and get out. “Which means I don’t know much. Bruce keeps a tight lid on things. But I know she’s one of the best if not the best WC out there,” Frank continued. “She’s obviously gained the trust of a few major players down there.” He studied the screen.
“Like who?”
“Santiago Garcia, Mateo Tomas, Matias Lucas, to name a few.” A cold shiver raced down my back at the mention of those names. I had to sit down. He was right; they were all major players in the Cartel.
Daniel leaned in to read something. “Look who she’s with here.”
He brought up a photo, and I nearly fell off my chair when I saw her shaking hands with my ex-lover Talya’s father. The very man I’d helped to take out another major kingpin, Martin Castillo. Talya’s parents wanted to move up and needed Castillo out of the way so they could take his place. I shook my head. That was a whole other life for me, and things were different now.
“So, Paul, have you ever run into her?” Daniel pointed at her press picture he brought back up.
“I don’t think so. I’d remember those eyes.” Again, I glanced at Frank and wondered what other secrets he knew, because surely, at some point, we could have or would have crossed paths.
“Who’s the hottie?” Mark commented as he filed in with the others.
Daniel switched off the screen. We needed to debrief before we jumped into that one.
“We’ll get there,” he assured him.
“First, let’s start from the beginning.”
After we dissected and logged our mission, some of us decided to head to Zack’s for some celebratory drinks. It was one of the traditions we’d started years ago to help blow off some steam. It gave the wives some much-needed time with their husbands and without their kids. It was wonderful that everyone lived together, kids and all, but it was also incredibly important to carve out alone time for the adults. We needed time to bond and keep our heads on straight.
I was happy that Keith’s date, Liza, headed toward the table. She was a kick-ass weapons finder at Camp Green and had proved to be a huge asset to our organization. The wives did their best not to pry too much into what was going on with the two of them. The loss of Keith’s wife, Lexi, had left him and his two kids stunned and grieving. He’d been through the wringer over the past year, and it was important for him to find some happiness. At least that was how Dr. Ivy explained it when she was trying to make the point that I should be doing the same.
“Sorry for being late.” Liza smiled at Keith and then the rest of us. “Juliet flaked on me again, and I had to cover most of her shift at camp. I have no idea what’s going on with her, but something’s not right.” She took the chair next to Keith.
“No problem.” Keith poured her a beer. “Hopefully, whatever it is clears up soon.”
“Cheers to that.” She tapped his glass and took a deep breath.
I couldn’t mentally pull up who her friend might be, and I knew mostly everyone at Camp Green. “Who’s Juliet? Is she new?” I took a swallow of my own brew.
“New? No, not really,” Liza ran her finger down a drip on the side of the glass. “She’s been there way longer than me. She worked in soldier placements for quite a while, then was moved to my position to give me some much-needed time off, but so far all I’ve done is work more.”
Keith leaned back slightly to stretch his shoulder. “I’ll speak to Frank.”
