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The van jolted and jostled us over the uneven terrain as we drove farther and farther into no- out the , I took in the ht and our dark isolation from civilization

It seeo I had sat at a table in the Rising Phoenix and listened to the El Paso Raiders’ attack plan While I had first been skeptical that they had the resources to take on a cartel lieutenant, they had quickly ht’s mission and was sure that soon Breakneck would be reunited with his daughter

Now I threw a glance over my shoulder into the third rohere Breakneck sat next to Bishop He had flown in yesterday to be a part of the rescue"He’s too es up" But Breakneck had gone toe-to-toe with hi back at the Raiders’ compound In the end, I didn’t knohat physical condition ere going to find Sarah in, so it

Because we couldn’t just go stor into a cartel compound half-cocked, it had taken a full day of further research and planning before we felt ready to move Thankfully, the El Paso Raiders had set the wheels in motion while Bishop and I were on the road They also had a lot of allies illing to get us intel The room in their roadhouse where they held church looked y session as we spent hours poring over le Earth

What we had learned from the Raiders’ sources was that Mendoza ran a relatively s operation He never housed " them, as it was known Because of the low nu for hiroup of nine in the mission, ere pretty evenly matched

The location of Mendoza’s slave camp was about fifty ravel roadfound ourselves on seemed to stretch into a desert oblivion Close on our tail were two other identical, black-paneled vans One carried the re meh explosives to take out the wired, steel-enforced gate at the front of Mendoza’s coic to this fucking war paint!" Bishop exclaie, each of us had slathered black shoe polish onto his face, neck, and arms

Despite the tense mood, I chuckled "Jesus, you’re as bad as when you had the chicken pox Ma to make sure you didn’t scratch yourself to death"

"Whatever," Bishop gru down, I sat up a little straighter Chulo turned around in the passenger seat to face us "Okay, guys, here is where we leave the vans for safekeeping We’ll do the last half ate is blown, the reserve vans will pull up to wait for us"

With a nod of my head, I reached for the handle of the door Once I slid it open, I dropped out onto the soft desert floor Breakneck caer and Nero, two of the El Paso Raiders who had been appointed to come with us based on their skills

At six foot five and three hundred pounds, Ranger got his road nahanistan, he came home to his MC brothers and worked out his extre the hell out of anyone who crossed the Raiders’ path Like a true Arer, he was our lead inally from Jersey, had stepped forward to be our explosives expert With his bottlecap-thick glasses, he looked h biker But any doubt I had in his abilities faded the first time he showed us a test run of one of his ho

"He stays with the vans," Chulo said, pointing to Breakneck

Even in the darkness, I could see Breakneck’s fists clenching at his sides "I’hter"

"You won’t be any help to her if you get your ass shot," Chulo challenged

I placed my hand on Breakneck’s shoulder "It’s for the best if you stay here If this goes bad, we’re all going to need you in one piece, not just Sarah"

"Fuck," Breakneck muttered under his breath After a few tense seconds, he nodded and then slipped back into the van

Once we checked our weapons and were ready, Chulo ordered, "All right Let’s go"

As I ran across the rugged desert terrain, it brought back h school, I had signed on for a two-year term in the arot out of town, but I would still not be gone long froreat sense of patriotisetting ot only a two-year degree at the local technical college before Preacher Man was on me to step up and takefrom PTSD, the lifestyle I had known before I went into service had prepared me to deal with the horrors of war That said, it didn’t htup off the bed in a sweaty ht pile I was pretty sure any shrink who ever got a look inside my fucked-up head would make a run for it