The Relic Runner Origin Story Box Set by Ernest Dempsey (non fiction books to read TXT) 📕

Dak felt his heart skip one, and only one, beat when he saw the face he'd been fixated on for the last several days, although in his thoughts for much longer. Luis directed the men like a general sending his soldiers off to war.

It had been a gamble to lay out the plan this way. The strong possibility that Luis went along with his men to take out Esperanza certainly loomed. In Dak's mind, it was 50/50. But he'd set things in motion in such a way that he felt confident Mendoza would ask him to stick around—for more than one reason.

Mendoza would be suspicious of how everything fell apart, how Esperanza had somehow managed to acquire the two key pieces of property that Luis was tasked with selecting.

Several assumptions went into the plan, but Dak knew one way or the other, Luis would get his.

If Mendoza sent him along with the troops to Esperanza's complex, he would likely be cut down in the ambush that waited.

Esperanza made quite the show of his offer to purchase the shipping businesses. He'd dressed up workers from his manufacturing locations to look like his security detail, sending them to both locations simultaneously. To Luis, it would look like the ultimate invitation to wipe out the rival cartel once and for all. And it was a temptation Dak knew his old friend couldn't resist, nor could Mendoza.

Dak figured it didn't take much to convince the Aguilas boss to take action. And the man's choice to keep Luis at the mansion showed—at least to some degree—the man wasn't foolish enough to put all his eggs in one basket. He kept a skeleton crew on hand for personal protection, including Luis.

Now, however, the odds were tilted. Infiltrating the compound would still be a challenging endeavor, but with more than half of Mendoza's men gone, Dak liked his odds.

He climbed down from the tree and approached the outer wall in a section between where two security cameras hung along the exterior. He carried a lightweight, aluminum ladder, careful not to let it rattle as he moved. Carina had also equipped him with two concussion grenades, two flash-bang grenades, four 9mm pistols—one on each hip and one strapped to the outside of both legs—a hunting knife, and an AR-15 with a 10-inch barrel for easier maneuverability. A black, Kevlar utility vest carried extra magazines for the weapons.

Even though it appeared Dak was armed to take out a small army, he knew the resources were finite, and he couldn't just recklessly sprint into the compound with guns blazing.

Carina had also provided the best layout of the mansion she could obtain. Dak had studied the blueprints for hours, making certain he memorized it forward and back.

He stayed low, sticking to the remnants of shadows that faded ever darker as the sun dipped over the hills to the west. In the hours since he'd arrived, Dak hadn't seen any guards walk along the narrow ledge atop the wall. He also saw none patrolling the exterior along a beaten path that wound around the perimeter. Mendoza leaned heavily on his encompassing camera system, which proved to be one of the few weaknesses Dak could find in the man's security array.

He crouched when he reached the base of the wall and gently raised the ladder, extending it until the top rung was nearly even with the upper edge, and the rails overlapped by several inches.

Dak looked to his left and right, scanning the path. No threat approached. Confident he wouldn't be easy pickings, he scaled the ladder, careful with every step not to make even the slightest sound. Once at the top, he slithered over the other inner edge, clinging to it with his fingertips, then let go and safely dropped to the ground on the other side.

Again, keeping low, he swept the immediate area with the AR-15, checking both with the naked eye and through the red-dot sight Carina equipped on the sight rail. He lowered the weapon and raised the compact binoculars to get a better view of the area.

The enormous yard—if it could be called that—stretched across a field in two directions, while the third rolled up a slight incline toward the mansion where a courtyard sat atop the plateau. He'd seen the images of the property at Carina's office. Whoever said crime didn't pay had clearly not been to this place. It was a poster child of opulence, a blatant slap in the face to the governments of two nations that whoever controlled the drugs could get away with almost anything.

Dak didn't notice any guards patrolling the interior wall. He figured Mendoza must have pulled back the remnant of his security forces to the main house, forsaking the perimeter as he'd suspected when he saw no threat during his observation in the tree.

The drug lord was throwing everything he could at Esperanza, looking to end the feud quickly and barbarically.

With a clear path to the mansion, Dak sprinted across the field to a patch of shrubs next to a rock outcropping. There, he hid behind a boulder and raised the binoculars again. From the closer vantage point, he made out three guards around the near side of the mansion. Two stood next to an arched doorway that appeared to be the rear entrance into the building, the other paced a wraparound balcony on the second floor. From that vantage point, the balcony guard had a 180-degree view of the property's backside. Dak imagined a second was similarly stationed on the other side to watch over the front that led down to the road.

Carina's intel had been stellar, including drone footage of the compound, the timing of the guards' rotations when their shifts changed, and even when Mendoza typically went to sleep.

At the moment, the fortress was operating at thirty percent.

When the balcony guard turned the other way and began his long walk in the opposite direction, Dak left his hiding spot. Keeping as low as he