Chapter 54
Steve and Joe worked in perfect unison, a result of their many missions together – each man knowing how the other would respond in any given situation. Matt had nearly keeled over in shock when Steve caught his attention as he was walking past on his way to pay off a government worker. Steve was dressed as a maintenance man and had been crouched down next to an open electricity panel, his face obscured by a cap, and Matt hadn't given him a second glance until the SEAL had addressed him directly. Both men glanced to the far end of the corridor where Joe was doing an excellent job of keeping the official occupied by pretending to be a journalist who had been stopped from reporting on a story in the town. His Spanish was fluent and he was using a fair number of swear words to express his displeasure. Steve nearly didn't recognize Joe himself, he was wearing a very realistic-looking wig made of straggly grey hair and thick glasses and hadn't shaved in 4 days. Steve was also sporting some impressive beard scruff himself, having stopped shaving as soon as he had started planning this op.
The official sighed and ushered the angry journalist into his office to sort the matter out in private, he didn't want to incur the wrath of his bosses by ignoring the problem. Steve immediately put his plan in motion, "Matt, we don't have much time. Just listen to me and answer my questions, okay?" The other man stared at him with wide eyes but managed to nod. Steve continued quickly, "Have you uncovered the identity of the CIA agent that Marco Reyes is paying off?" Mattie shook his head,
"I know where he keeps his ledger with a full list of all the pay-offs he has to make each month, but I haven't been able to get my hands on it without raising too much suspicion – I have no reason to be in Marco's office when he's not there."
Steve replied, "Okay, just give me as many details as you can and then I'll get in there tonight and take a look for myself." Despite his surprise at seeing Danny's partner, Matt was able to rapidly provide Steve with detailed intel as to the location and layout of the office and a description of the book. Luckily Reyes didn't want any business dealings to be conducted at his home, where his family were also living, and so kept a separate office. It had minimal guards at night and privacy concerns ruled out the presence of any security cameras; besides no one would be foolish enough to mess with the cartel, the mere threat of what would happen to transgressors was enough to keep the place safe and sound.
Steve handed the man a folded up note, "We're going to frame the mole and pin the theft of the $13 million you took from Reyes on them and then get you out of this mess. Hide this note for now, read it carefully when you are in private and then destroy it. You need to be ready to act when the time comes."
They were just in time, Matt had walked away from Steve and was at the office door just as Joe came out, less agitated but still looking stormy-faced. The official gave a resigned sigh and watched the unhappy man stomp down the corridor before inviting Matt into his office, "I'm sorry to keep you waiting, my friend. Now that's taken care of let's move onto our far more pleasurable business, shall we?"
Steve and Joe each made their own way back to the safe house, careful not to attract undue attention. There had to be no sign of their presence in Columbia if Marco Reyes was never to find out what had really happened. Steve repeated everything that Matt had told him and Joe was in agreement that this would be a straightforward proposition. It was a one-person job and Joe put himself forward for the task, while Steve liaised with the CIA extraction team. Joe would call Steve with a name the minute he had it.
As expected, everything went without a hitch, the security had indeed been minimal and Joe gained access to the office and found the ledger in a matter of minutes. He took photos of the relevant pages, carefully leaving everything as he had found it and silently exited the office without anyone being any the wiser. He rang Steve as soon as he was clear of the building, nor bothering with any preamble, "CIA Agent Sam Alexander – unsurprisingly, he's listed as being from the State Department." Steve thanked Joe for the intel,
"That's great, Joe. I'll find out where he stays when he's in Columbia doing his business with Reyes. With any luck the man's in town now or in the next few days."
Agent Kendricks was livid when Steve passed on the name of the dirty agent to him. He had worked on many an assignment with Sam Alexander, going so far as to think of him as a friend. He quickly established the man's current whereabouts and relayed this back to Steve. He rang off and rested his head in his hands as he dwelled on the man's treachery, "Your time's running out, you snake, and not a moment too soon."
Steve and Joe had moved the bags of money, under the cover of darkness and careful to avoid the security cameras, close to the guest house that was privately situated on the Reyes estate. They settled down in the dense foliage surrounding the guest house, completely hidden from sight. The drug lord liked to keep an eye on his CIA handlers when they were in Columbia, especially this particular one – the deceitful agent was quick enough to sell out his country and so who knew what else he would do for the right amount of money. In keeping with the saying, 'keep you friends close, but your enemies closer', the cartel boss 'generously' housed Sam Alexander in the sumptuous guest house within the grounds of his estate. The man had been stopping there for the past few nights, not in a particular hurry to rush off back to the states – his accommodation here was far more luxurious than his small apartment in DC. He was stretching out his visits to South America as time went on, enjoying being indispensable to the cartel boss. His CIA superiors didn't give him the credit that he thought he was due and he was tired of waiting for his next promotion. He had grown used to the extra money that came with his little side arrangement with Reyes and he was starting to wonder how he could maximise the pay-offs to help give him a very well-funded retirement sooner rather than later.
His cell phone rang, it was Marco wondering if he wanted to join him and his family in the main house. Sam was keen to curry favour with the man and was quick to agree; after a cursory check of his appearance in the mirror he made his way up the artfully-lit path to the house. When they were sure that their target wasn't coming straight back, Steve and Joe slipped silently out of the bushes, dressed in what Danny would call full-on ninja gear and wearing gloves. They covered the short distance to the guest house to find that Sam hadn't locked the door, there was no need. Joe and Steve entered the little cottage and gently closed the door behind them. They scouted the place for a suitable hiding place for the money, not needing to risk turning on the lights as the porch lamp was bathing the inside of the guest house in a gentle glow, giving them sufficient light to see what they were doing. Joe pulled back the thick rug to reveal wooden floor boards, he gestured to Steve to help him loosen one and pull it up. They repeated it with 2 more floor boards, being careful to not make too much noise. The bags of money were then pushed through the gap and spread out on the ground below so that the boards could be replaced. Joe dropped the rug back into place, but made sure it wasn't laying quite flush – they wanted Marco Reyes to be able to find the money after all. Just before they left, they planted a tiny spy camera to give them eyes on the inside of the guest house so the extraction team could be deployed at the right moment.
The next day Steve left a note and some supplies in the pre-arranged drop location for Matthew Williams to retrieve - it confirmed that the mission was a go. When he was safely back in his house, Matt read it carefully several times and then destroyed the note. His hands were shaking and he hoped that he could pull this off. He didn't scoff in the face of danger like his big brother and had been rushing to the bathroom every 5 minutes ever since he got home and was now fairly certain that his bowels had nothing left to give.