The team was surprisingly focused as each told me their own version of the story. Keith and Cole were the most matter-of-fact. Mike was oddly emotional but filled in a few empty gaps, and Mark, sadly without his usual sense of humor, was able to recall what some of the cartel leaders looked like. He noted how eerily confident they seemed. One detail in particular stuck with me.
“Um,” Mark rubbed his head with his hand, and I watched as some dry mud crumbled to the floor, “one of them got close to where I was, and his radio went off. Someone was cheering about how Seven Webs was going to be happy.”
“Seven Webs,” I repeated and madly wrote it down on my notepad. So, it was a nickname for someone. Maybe it wasn’t a gang symbol like I was researching. “Who do you think that is?”
“I asked myself that question whenever I let my mind idle.”
“What was your conclusion?”
His dull eyes moved to mine, and I could see he was barely with me. “That someone out there named Seven Webs is going to die a very long, painful death.”
“Let’s hope.” I nodded as he went to leave. “Thank you, Mark.”
An hour slipped by while I was down a rabbit hole digging for information on anything that could possibly help.
“Coffee?” Mark popped his head in the door holding up a cup. He seemed a little livelier since he’d cleaned the mud off—well, the best he could, anyway.
“God, yes, thank you.” I stood to stretch my aching back and gladly took the brew and didn’t question when he handed me a sandwich. I realized I was starving. “Any word on Daniel?”
“Still in surgery. That’s all we know.”
“What about John? Any word on the x-ray?”
Mark shrugged and rubbed his eyes in frustration. “This is one of the reasons we use the North Dakota hospital. There is protocol there for Blackstone to get information. I understand why Frank brought Daniel here, but it sucks not knowing anything.”
“Yeah, I bet. I’m sure everything will be okay, and regretfully, we aren’t the only ones in this hospital.”
Mark moved the drone pictures around on the table and studied them.
“I knew this fight was going to be endless.” He sounded beyond beat. “I knew, we all knew, we’d lose some of our people, but we were prepared for everything we possibly could be. The cartel are like rats. Every time you stamp out a pack, more just keep coming back. We spent nearly a year coming up with a strategy that would work while we were in enemy territory. Blackstone counts on having the element of surprise,” he picked up a photo and showed it to me, “so how in the world do they know what we’re doing before we even get there?” I opened my mouth to speak, but he held up his hand. “And don’t tell me we have a possible leak somewhere.”
“I promise you, Mark, I’m doing everything in my power to prove otherwise.”
Mark dropped the photo he was holding and sat down on the couch, his face in his hands.
“They’re picking us off. Half of North Rock is fighting for their lives in North Dakota, or missing, and who the hell knows if they are alive or not? Now Daniel, if he even makes it, will have months of recovery. John sounds like he has jacked-up ribs.” He threw his hands into the air. “Our teams are being held together with Band-Aids and gauze.”
“It looks bad right now, Mark, but give me time. I’ll figure this out. This is what I do. If there is something here to be found, I’ll dig until I find it.”
Mark nodded a few times. His face looked defeated, he was pale, and there were dark circles under his eyes.
“How much longer until Mia arrives?”
“She should be any time now.” He stood and shook his arms as though to relieve the stress. “All right, we’ll be in the other room. If you get burned out, or need anything, you know where we are. I’ll let you know if we hear anything.”
Mark’s words bounced around in my head again. As much as I didn’t want to go there, the reality was that Blackstone had had a leak before, and money was definitely the root of all evil. I woke my computer back up, opened a fresh web page, and began to look into all of the North Rock Team’s lives.