I was very pleased with myself when I returned to the villa. I had given my pursuers the slip and I hadn’t had that much fun driving a car in over a year. The hardest part had been pretending not to notice them waiting for me to come out of the Supermercado Palco and letting them take photos of me and my car. That had gone against every instinct I had, but I had baited the trap and now we just had to hope that General Carmichael’s lackeys would think to search the footage from traffic and other cameras in Havana over the past few weeks and follow the trail.

I had thought for a moment that they were going to just take the photos and use those to try to track me, but I was pleasantly surprised when they actually attempted to tail me. Since I didn’t want them to follow me all the way home, I got to lead them on a nice little car chase. We wanted time to set up our little trap after all, and I didn’t want to make finding us too easy. It would also be easier to convince Carmichael that it had been a mistake on my part if they had to put in the work to track my movements over the past few weeks.

When we first put into place this plan of me being high profile whenever I was in Havana rather than laying low, it had just been because that was the very last thing that people who didn’t want to be found would do. Luckily for us, not hiding my activities and having a very flashy and easy to spot vehicle made it more likely that Carmicheal would think that I slipped up when I allowed myself to be photographed while eating that chocolate in my car. Now that I had given him the opportunity that he had been waiting for since I started taunting him, I fully expected that choppers and boats would be converging on our little villa sometime late tonight or early tomorrow. Hopefully I would be there when they struck.

Once I returned to the villa, I helped the others to load the supplies that I had brought into the large delivery truck that I stole several nights ago after swimming to the city. Once everything was onboard, along with all our other supplies and the medical equipment, we all gathered in the pool room where I told everyone, “As we thought, Carmichael still had one of his cronies watching the Supermercado Palco. I made sure that they got a good look at me and my car before leaving, and they tried to follow me, but I lost them pretty quickly. I’m guessing that they’ll have choppers searching the coastline for us sometime late tonight or early tomorrow, so it looks like we’re ready to go.”

Dad nodded, looking serious as he added, “Carmen and I have removed all our booby traps from the woods and the road leading up to the villa and repurposed the explosives. Everything is set up on a pair of remote detonators and ready to go in case our visitors decide that they want to push their luck. There will be a thirty second delay after the remote is used, so keep that in mind.”

“Everything is ready on my end too,” Uncle Jack added. “My contact in Belize finalized the purchase of a place on the coast two days ago and once we’re done going over our plans for tonight, I’ll take the truck to Vista del Mar, pay for our transportation, and get everything on board. As soon as I’m done, I’ll meet you at the agreed coordinates. The emails with the data packets are set to go, I’ll set them up to send automatically at midnight local time. Will that work for your contact, Natalie?”

The amethyst and hot pink hued Naethari, looked up from where she and Maddie were cuddling at the side of the pool and sighed before finally nodding. “Yeah, Janice’s plane landed last night and in her last message she was chomping at the bit to know what this was all about. I’ll text her back and set things up for midnight.”

Maddie hugged her girlfriend tighter and kissed her tenderly, “Thanks, Nat. I know that you weren’t thrilled about talking to your ex and getting her involved in this.”

“No, it’s okay,” Natalie assured her. “I have you now, so things worked out for the best. I wouldn’t have suggested her if I didn’t think that she was the best person for the job. This is what she does, and she’s been doing it for years. Hell, it was how we met. I guess it still hurts a little that she thought I was selling out when I went to work for Pierce and broke up with me over it, but the emails and phone messages that she left after we disappeared and Pierce put that price on our heads sounded like she was worried, and at least she didn’t say ‘I told you so’ when I emailed her back to tell her we were in hiding.”

“You’re sure that we can trust her, Nat? She isn’t going to double-cross us, is she?” Kara pressed with a worried expression on her face.

Natalie’s reply began with a grim nod, “Yeah, like I said, this is what she does. The way that I phrased my request, there is no way that she would sell us out. She’s definitely going to be shocked, but she’ll try to be professional about this. Honestly, I’m more worried about Carmichael.”

“He usually tries to run missions from a safe distance, but he’s too invested in this, especially with the way that Naiya has been needling him so he could try to get involved directly. Either way, he’ll send in the strike teams first, and boats to cut off our escape from the lagoon. He’s used to being in control, so if he thinks he’s got control back in his hands, he’s going to either want to be on-site as soon as he thinks he has us at his mercy so he can gloat and have a personal hand in our capture or he’ll have us brought to him somewhere more secure so he can feel like he’s won. If I‘ve learned anything while working under him, it’s that proving himself superior to his adversaries is very important to him, and I think it will especially be the case with Naiya,” Luiza contributed with obvious distaste for her former commanding officer. “I can’t say that I’m thrilled with my role in this, but at least I won’t be killing anybody I know.”

That had been something that Luiza was adamant on, that she wouldn’t have to kill anyone on these strike teams unless defending herself. We could all agree with that since we would probably feel the same way in her place. Her role tonight would be important, but hopefully wouldn’t require any killing of her former comrades in arms. In fact, she might be able to help us avoid killing anyone tonight if things went well.

Carmichael would still pay the piper, of course. Just how much it cost him would depend on how well Luiza played her role and how sensible he was. I wasn’t going to hold my breath for an entirely peaceful resolution though, and neither was anyone else, which was why we had planned things out in case Carmichael wanted to do this the hard way.

Once we were done discussing the plan, the backup plans, and felt as ready as we were going to get, Uncle Jack disguised himself enough to pass basic scrutiny and left in the truck. He planned to use routes that would avoid any cameras as he passed through Havana on his way to Vista del Mar, but one could never be too careful. As soon as he left, Mom and Aunt Carmen used the last of the food supplies still in the house to make us a nice dinner and we spent the rest of the evening just spending time together as a family until it was time for us to get to our assigned tasks and get in position. We had plans, but things could still go wrong and none of us wanted to miss being with the people that we loved on what could possibly be our last evening together and free.

It wasn’t until almost oh two hundred hours that the strike teams were in position to attack. The first chopper pilot had spotted Holmes’s very recognizable car forty minutes ago and now the other five choppers had joined it and were in position to deploy their strike teams in an assault on the villa below. Warren could feel himself becoming impatient now that the moment was at hand.

Soon, very soon, those mermaids would be his and, after some enthusiastic interrogation at Guantanamo Bay, Holmes would be begging to work for him. He planned to ‘interview’ Holmes personally, he would be only too happy to cure her of her arrogance. He idly wondered what he could expect while bringing her to heel.

Did she have similar organs as a human? Could the creature feel pain? He would find out and do his very best to ensure that she did not enjoy the experience. How long would that sense of smug superiority that she possessed last before she finally broke? He couldn’t wait to find out.

Perhaps he would let Harris try to find out how her abilities worked. The man had proven useless at finding a way to track the mermaids, but he was familiar with them and a gifted biologist. Warren would have to be a fool to not use such a tool, and he was nobody’s fool.

As impatient as he was, he waited until the three boats that he had in the area were in position to block any escape from the small bay by boat before issuing his orders. He was currently on one of those boats himself since he fully expected the mercs to try to flee by water with his prize. “Move in. Teams Alpha and Beta check the house, all other teams set up a perimeter and keep an eye on those trees in case those mercs have anyone hiding out there. Current Intel says there are only five mercs including our primary target. Use extreme caution, our primary target is a master of disguise and extremely dangerous. Secondary targets will likely be found near water if they’re on site.”

“Let’s see how Holmes does without the element of surprise, when facing superior numbers,” Warren thought bitterly. They had at best five people, and while he grudgingly had to admit that Holmes might be worth three or four on her own, he doubted that even she could take on six well-trained and fully equipped strike teams. If the mermaids were there they would likely be in or near the water, and while intelligent enough to be trained they probably couldn’t be counted on to act as anything more than guard dogs, and his men had tranq guns to take them down before they could get too close.

At his command, the strike teams rappelled down to ground level and began to fan out. Through the comms he could hear their breathing and the sudden cracking of wood as they broke through the door. They fanned out and for several minutes everything was quiet with the exception of the occasional call of ‘Clear!’ as each room that they searched turned up empty. Was Holmes expecting this? Was this some sort of trap?

His instincts told him that something was wrong here. He was just about to order his men to withdraw when Captain Benson’s voice called out, -= Sir! We’re got one person in a bedroom; she’s just sitting in front of a computer. Miss, turn around slowly and keep your hands where we can see them. We don’t… Corporal Morales? =-

Warren quickly clicked on the feed for Benson’s bodycam. Sitting there in a chair, as calm as could be, was a woman who looked very much like his former subordinate. “That’s not Morales! It’s our primary target! Restrain her!”

Luiza sat in front of the computer in what had been Jack and Carmen’s bedroom. She had heard the first chopper overhead half an hour ago and had been patiently awaiting company ever since. She was nervous, she had never done this kind of thing before, usually she was one of the ones with the guns. The others were counting on her to deliver her message though, and she didn’t want to let them down.

Over the past week and a half, the motley crew of mercenaries and Naethari had grown on her, especially Kieshala. They might have been born in completely different worlds, but they had so much in common. They both shared a passion for magic and what it could do, and both had seen their share of trauma. She even found herself attracted to the Naethari woman, but she always had been more attracted to people more for who they were inside, rather than for the bodies that they wore. Not that Kieshala wasn’t pretty, she was gorgeous, and her striking coloring and gentle smile made Luiza smile even now.

Damn, she hoped that they both lived through this. She was worried about Kieshala, and about Naiya, Kara, and Jenny too. Their role in this plan was as important as hers, but at least it seemed to have gone off without too much trouble. They should be on their way back by now, so hopefully they would be back in time to help if things went pear-shaped here.

A loud crack from the vicinity of the front door broke her out of her musings. “Showtime,” she thought, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. Each bang of a door and each shout of ‘Clear!’ brought her former comrades ever closer. Finally, the door to the bedroom burst open and a voice that she vaguely recognized called out, “Sir! We’re got one person in a bedroom: she’s just sitting in front of a computer. Miss, turn around slowly and keep your hands where we can see them. We don’t…”

Luiza summoned a cold smile to her face, that same smile that Naiya used when she taunted the general in the first video that she sent him. Then she steepled her hands together and spun around in her chair like a bond villain and the speaker’s warning was cut off as a man that she barely recognized asked, “Corporal Morales?”

She kept her cool, and her smile stayed fixed in place as she tried to emulate Naiya by taunting, “I thought that Warren might appreciate a familiar face.”

She had barely gotten the words out when two of the men jumped her, knocking her to the floor and pinning her there. The general must have taken the bait. Her shoulder was a bit sore from hitting the ground, but all she let out was a small wince before placing the smile back on her face. -= You’re doing fine, just keep talking and deliver the message, =- Clara’s voice encouraged through the earpiece she was wearing.

“Warren, Warren, Warren,” she chided as she looked directly into the team leader’s bodycam. Damn it felt strange calling her former commanding officer by his name, but she had a part to play. “Do you really think that I screwed up, after all that I’ve shown you I’m capable of? I invited you here, Warren, and do you really think that I would do that without having some sort of plan? As long as we keep things friendly, me and my friends won’t have to kill all these nice men, but if you don’t listen to what I have to say, back off, and leave us the fuck alone there’s gonna be a body count. Now, to start, you can have one of your goons click on the file that is open on the computer.”