The Omega Team: Tough Target (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

Pinecrest Memorial Hospital and Trauma Center

Tavio crossed paths with his brother as Amadeo emerged from the hospital elevator on the ground floor. He had a strained expression on his face as he grabbed Tavio’s arm and pulled him outside. He didn’t speak until they were far from the building and hidden in the shadows of nightfall.

“She’s dead, Tavio. Camila is dead.”

Under the moonlight, Tavio saw the glint of tears in his brother’s eyes.

“What? How do you
know
this?” Urgency gripped Tavio by the throat. He refused to accept Camila was gone. She was strong, too much like her father—yet
he
was gone, too.

“A cop told that woman in uniform, the one that came with Rafferty.” Amadeo raked his fingers through his thick dark hair. He turned to walk away, but came back. “She died, running from the police or the
federales
, in a car crash. Rafferty must be to blame. Did you ever reach her on the phone?”

“No.” Tavio yanked his cell from his pocket and tried her number again. Still no service, only static. “This cannot be. What will they do to us, Amadeo? She died under our protection. We cannot go back to Cuba. We are not even safe here.”

“What do we do,
hermano
? Please, tell me.”

Tavio wanted to puke. He had dedicated his life to the Borregos. His existence meant nothing if he could not protect Camila.

But when the spark of an idea came to him, he grasped at it.

“We finish what she started. We must kill Sam Rafferty, in her name. It is the only honorable thing to do, even if we die. We must find this man and butcher him the way Camila wanted.”

Tavio didn’t know where to look for Rafferty. Camila had the tracking laptop and she had their vehicle, but he vowed to steal whatever they needed. Nothing would stop him from avenging her. Anger seethed under his skin to make his blood churn. He had lost his Camila, but he could still make her proud of him.

“Then God must truly be on our side.” Amadeo smiled and held up a white piece of paper in his hand. “I know where Sam Rafferty is. The
federales
have the Navy SEAL in one of their safe houses nearby, but only for one night. We must act, my brother. We can remind these Americans that there is no such word as ‘
safe
’ when the Borregos come after you.
Verdad, mi hermano
?”

Tavio grinned and kissed his brother on both cheeks.

“Come. We shall pay our last respects to Sam Rafferty. He shall not breathe a day longer than our Camila.”

He spat on the ground to make it so. This Navy SEAL would soon know the cruel depth of his anger.

***

Pinecrest, Florida

After 9:00 pm

After Tavio changed back into his suit and tossed the ridiculous surgical scrubs, he followed his brother to the hospital parking lot. They had to find wheels. Amadeo picked a late model Honda Accord to steal. The older vehicle had been easy to hotwire and would not draw attention. In the glove compartment Tavio found a city map and after Amadeo drove far enough away from the medical center, he turned on the overhead light and unfolded the street map.

“
Mierda
,” he cursed under his breath as he wrestled with the unwieldy folds, trying to figure out where they were before he could find the address on the paper—the location that would be the end of their long journey, a pilgrimage Camila would want them to finish.

“You take too long.” His brother hid his face in the shadows and watched the streets for unwanted attention.

Tavio rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. He didn’t like this any more than Amadeo did.

“Try your phone. We’re far enough from the hospital, it could work now. Make yourself useful.”

“Yes. It’s working.” Amadeo grinned and reached out his hand. “Give me the address.”

“No. Give me your phone and you drive. I will tell you where to turn.”

The FBI safe house was located on the edge of town, along a channel of marshland. Old clapboard houses stood on large parcels of land, most of them looked deserted, probably due to the storm. Thick stands of trees and shrubs made good cover for their approach, but to play it safe, Amadeo cut his headlights and rolled down the street quietly with his driver’s side window open. The pop and crunch of gravel under the SUV’s tires carried on the night air.

When they drew closer, Amadeo pointed ahead.

“That one on the end. The number is on the mailbox,” his brother said. “The coward is there, waiting for us to end his miserable life.”

Tavio nodded. The house at the end of the long narrow street had a porch light on and a murky glow coming from a window. The Fish and Wildlife truck was parked on the property near a shed.

Rafferty was here. Tavio felt it.

“
Cabron
. Why is Camila dead and this asshole lives?” Tavio glared at the house and reached for his weapon. “Set to full auto,
hermano
. I want nothing left of this
pendejo
.”
He

Tavio left the car and chambered his first round as he crept toward the house where Rafferty hid. His brother did the same. The abrasively loud sound of croaking and chirping toads filled the air and only quieted as they drew near. Tavio hoped Rafferty would not notice and quickened his steps. He had to keep his edge.

He gave a hand signal to his brother to split their attack. If they drew fire, it would make it more difficult for both of the brothers to be hit. Each step brought him closer to the revenge that had always been Camila’s. Her face filled his mind and his heart filled with the grief of losing her.

When a shadow moved at the window, Tavio stopped dead still. Someone was inside. With adrenaline surging through his veins, he didn’t bother to hide anymore. Tavio aimed his weapon at the house and opened fire. Full auto.

“Die,
cabron
.”

Both brothers sprayed bullets across the windows and walls. A cry came from inside and the shadow disappeared from the window. Tavio did not stop firing. Shards of glass and slivers of wood splintered into the night air as if in slow motion. Tavio screamed curses, not caring what he said, and Camila’s face never left him.

When floodlights blinded him, he winced and held up a hand to block the glare.

“FBI. Drop your weapons!”

“Hands in the air. Now!”

Voices bellowed around him.

Tavio saw red laser lights cut through the darkness, aimed at him and Amadeo. A small army dressed in black tactical gear ran from cover and circled them. It happened so fast, he didn’t have time to think. Amadeo dropped his weapon. Seconds later, Tavio did the same and raised his hands.

A man forced him into the dirt and cuffed his hands behind his back.

“He had to die. You’re too late,” Tavio cried, forcing a smile on his face. “We did it for Camila.”

Strong hands grabbed Tavio by the arms and lifted him off the ground. When he stood, a man came toward him—a familiar face.

“You. No, it can’t be.” He shook his head in disbelief.

Sam Rafferty stepped into the light and didn’t say a word, his face grim.

“Then who is…inside?” Tavio asked. His voice cracked. “Please…I
must
know.”

Tavio lunged for the open door. Two men held his arms. They could have stopped him from entering the destroyed house, but they didn’t. In the split second before he would know the truth, Tavio imagined the worst and it unfolded in front of him—a nightmare that he would relive for as long as he breathed.

One of the women agents standing at the threshold said, “I’ll call for an ambulance.”

Something in Tavio broke as he witnessed what he and Amadeo had done.

Camila Borrego lay on the floor, clutching at her bloody chest riddled with bullet holes. Her eyes filled with agony and she gurgled and choked, drowning in the blood that drained from her mouth. Her beauty gone, she looked grotesque.

Tavio dropped to his knees in front of her. He shook his head and felt the chill of tears on his cheeks.

“Why were you here, Camila?”

“I followed him…his signal.” Tears filled her eyes. “I waited for him to…walk through the door. Why did you—?”

Tavio inched closer to her. If his hands weren’t bound behind him, he would have held her in his arms for the last time.

“I did not know it was you. It was supposed to be
him
. They said you were dead, Camila. We did not know,” he cried. “This isn’t our fault.”

Camila reached a bloody hand to his face and touched his skin, leaving a crimson trail with her shaky fingers. Tavio prayed for her forgiveness. For a brief moment, he thought he saw it in her eyes as she strained to tell him something.

“No one will believe you.” She gagged on her blood and her hand dropped. “You are both…dead.”

The life left her eyes and Camila died—nothing more than a gruesome shell of the beautiful and powerful woman she used to be.

“No.” Tavio yelled. “Do something. Save her.”

Camila’s dead eyes stared back at him as men dragged him away and separated him from Amadeo—her last words haunting him.

‘No one will believe you.’

Tavio and Amadeo would have nowhere to hide. Death would be a blessing.

***

An hour later

The local police and the FBI worked the crime scene. Yellow tape wafted in the night breeze and police barriers set up a line of demarcation for a multitude of city vehicles, from patrol cars with light bars spiraling to ambulances and even a fire truck. Beyond the string of emergency vehicles and police barricades, the media were jammed in tight.

Sam Rafferty watched the controlled chaos from a distance. He rested on the back bumper of Kate’s Fish and Wildlife truck, content to be alone in the shadows until Athena and Grey found him.

“When you called me asking for help and said you had a plan, you weren’t lying.” Athena nudged her shoulder against his and sat next to him. “How did you know for sure that Camila Borrego would follow you? Everything hinged on that.”

“It’s hard to explain how women respond to me, Athena. It basically boils down to one consistent factor—I really know how to piss them off.” Deadpan, Sam crossed his arms and didn’t even smile.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Athena said. “From what I know of her, she couldn’t have resisted the bait, especially if she thought she had the upper hand and could ambush you.”

“The wild cards were the Vega brothers.” Sam nodded. “It helped to jam their cell phone signals at the hospital. Thanks for arranging that, Athena.”

“When they couldn’t reach Camila by text or phone, they were without a boss,” Grey said. “That made it easy to make them believe she’d been killed in a police chase, but we couldn’t have sold the idea without Kate.”

Sam thought of Kate Cypress. She didn’t know all the players, but she held up her end. She only knew someone would set up the sting of Camila dying and would give her an address for a safe house. The FBI agent dressed in tactical gear who made contact with Kate at the hospital had been Grey Holden.

Kate had to do her part. She had to make sure that the Vega brothers would take the bait and think they had taken the address from her, forcing them to leave the hospital and hunt for him.

“I heard from Grey that Kate did her job like a pro,” he said.

Athena smiled.

“Yes, she did. I saw it all. An Oscar-worthy performance.”

What Kate didn’t know was that Athena had been with her, pretending to be a worried family member, waiting outside the surgical unit. If anything went sideways, Athena would back up Kate and protect her from the Vegas. Sam wouldn’t have left otherwise. He couldn’t risk Kate’s life—and the security of his mother—without knowing they’d be in good hands.

“The local police and the feds have to work the scene, but there’s not much question what happened here. Too many law enforcement witnesses, and Camila and her men were in the United States illegally. You did a good job keeping the Omega Team clean on this.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you.” Sam nudged Athena’s shoulder and forced a smile. “Thanks for getting here so fast.”

“It helps to have a Night Stalker helicopter pilot on the payroll. Kris Rowell mobilized our team, pronto. Grey pulled some strings. It all came together.”

“From what we found out about the Vega twins, Hector Borrego practically raised them after he found them hustling on the streets of Havana,” Grey said. “For them to pull the trigger on Camila, the cartel will not be sympathetic. Camila was right. No one will believe them.”

“Your plan put an end to the target on our backs,” Athena said with a somber expression on her face. “The cartel has someone else to blame. Tavio and Amadeo Vega may not even live to see trial, whether that’s in the U.S. or Cuba.”

Sam lowered his head, feeling the exhaustion that had been building in him.