Page 8 of Duty Devoted
Messy Desk Man cleared his throat quietly and introduced himself. “Joshua Merrick, Compass Medical Outreach,” he said, his voice carrying a slight academic tone. “I’m the director of the organization that placed Dr. Valentino and her colleagues at the Corazón clinic.”
Ethan leaned forward slightly, his expression professionally neutral. Years of managing high-stress briefings had taught him to deliver bad news as gently as possible without sugarcoating reality. “Dr. and Mrs. Valentino, Dr. Merrick, I’m afraid our intelligence confirms your worst concerns about the Corazón region.”
“How bad is it?” Richard stopped pacing, his full attention focused on the screen.
Ethan consulted the folder in front of him. “The Silva cartel has established complete territorial control over a one-hundred-square-mile area surrounding your daughter’s clinic. Diego Silva’s organization operates with virtual impunity—local law enforcement has been either eliminated or co-opted.”
I watched Richard’s hands as he processed the information—fists clenching and releasing in rapid, agitated bursts.
The movement triggered something in me. My own hands curled into fists as a memory surged:hostile faces, fists raised, the deafening crack of gunfire?—
Not now.Not fucking now. I forced a breath through tight lungs, shoved the images back into the dark where they belonged.
Focus. Conference room. Mission briefing.
I looked over to see Ty Hughes, newest Citadel team member, glancing at me. The kid was a pain in the ass most of the time. The witty one-liner king with the good looks of a fucking movie star. But he was also observant as hell andgenerally impressive in the field. He’d been with us for nearly a year now.
He’d noticed my flinch. I gave him a small nod to let him know I was all right. Then I locked down my emotions. I’d spent the past few months trying to make sure nobody at Citadel knew how bad my PTSD struggles had become.
“What does that mean for Lauren’s safety?” Catherine asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“The Silva cartel maintains control through systematic intimidation and violence,” Ethan continued, his tone remaining professional despite the gravity of his words. “Our sources indicate they’ve been escalating enforcement actions against anyone they perceive as a threat to their authority.”
Jace looked up from his monitors. “Intelligence gathered over the past two weeks shows four separate incidents of cartel violence in villages within a thirty-mile radius of the clinic. They’re not just targeting competitors—they’re eliminating anyone who might challenge their control.”
Richard’s face went pale. “Four incidents? What kinds of incidents?”
“Executions of village leaders who refused to cooperate. Destruction of businesses that wouldn’t pay protection money. Displacement of entire families suspected of providing information to authorities.” Ethan’s recitation was clinical, factual, but not cruel. “The Silva organization uses extreme violence to maintain psychological control over the population.”
Dr. Merrick looked up from his tablet, his face troubled. “We knew there was unrest in that region when we sent in the medical team, but we didn’t realize it would escalate so quickly.”
Catherine pressed her hands to her face. “And Lauren is right in the middle of this?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” I said, speaking for the first time since the call began. I would be the one leading the team in if we went,so they needed to hear a little from me too. “The clinic’s location puts Dr. Valentino and her team directly within the Silva cartel’s sphere of influence.”
Jace pulled up a map on his secondary screen, visible to both us and the others on the call. “The red zones indicate areas under direct Silva control. Your daughter’s clinic sits here.” He pointed to a spot completely surrounded by red.
“But it’s okay because she’s a doctor, right?” Richard protested, his voice rising. “She’s helping people. Surely they wouldn’t target medical personnel.”
Said the man who definitely wasn’t a cartel leader and didn’t think like one.
“Medical facilities have been targeted before,” Jace reported, consulting his intelligence files. “Three weeks ago, the Silva cartel ransacked a clinic in Santa Josefina because they suspected the doctor of treating members of a rival gang. Two weeks before that, they burned down a medical supply depot that refused to provide them with pharmaceutical drugs. Neither of them was volunteer-based, but still…”
Catherine let out a little sob, which I ignored. I was too busy cataloging tactical implications as I absorbed the information. A cartel with absolute territorial control and a history of targeting medical facilities meant Dr. Valentino was sitting in an increasingly dangerous position.
“What about government protection?” Richard asked desperately. “Military or police presence?”
Ethan’s expression darkened. “Regional police forces have been compromised or intimidated into noninterference. The military pulled back their checkpoints six weeks ago after losing an entire patrol to a Silva ambush. For all practical purposes, Diego Silva is the only law in that region.”
Catherine looked between her husband and the screen. “So, can we get Lauren out of there?”
Ethan closed the intelligence file and looked directly at the camera. “That’s what we do. There are four American doctors at the clinic, including your daughter. Citadel Solutions specializes in high-risk extractions from hostile environments. We can have a team deployed within twelve hours.”
Catherine reached back to squeeze Richard’s hand. “So we could have Lauren home in the next twenty-four hours?”
“That’s not how we typically operate,” Dr. Merrick cut in. “Barring any safety concerns, we prefer to give our medical teams a full month to wind things down. It gives them time to pursue other treatment options for their patients.”
“A month?!” Catherine looked like she was about to detonate.
