Island Girls

Vivian’s POV

As soon as I heard back from Catarina Carreno, my Colombian werepanther friend, I started working on my travel plans. Of course, no flights went direct from Denver. I bought a ticket to Miami, from there I would fly to Bogata and then catch a hop to Cartegena.

“Be safe, love,” Dallas said as he walked me out to the car, the driver waiting with the door open. “You trust this girl?”

“With my life,” she said. “Don’t worry, they will help us and it won’t be tracked back to us.”

He let out a sigh. “I’ve got vampires in my house, why not werecats too,” he said. “Let her know that she is welcome here. A friend of you is a friend to our Pack.”

I leaned in and kissed him, then bent down and gave Austin a big hug goodbye before kissing his cheek. “Momma will be back in a few days,” I told him. “I need you to listen to Daddy and have fun with your new Pack members, all right?”

He nodded. “Lum you,” he said.

“I love you too.” I cried a little as I drove away, watching Dallas lead him back into the Pack House. I texted a lot while waiting for flights and read books as I flew between airports. By the time I arrived at the passenger pick-up line in Cartegena, I was exhausted.

“VIVIAN!!!” The Range Rover’s passenger window was down and an arm was waving madly at me. I smiled and grabbed my bag, but as soon as the vehicle stopped, Catarina was out the door and hugging the stuffing out of me. “It’s so good to see you!”

“You too, Cat. It’s been too long.” She tossed my bag in the front seat, then pushed me in the back as she climbed in behind me. “Vivian, this is my mate Javier. Javier, my bestie from college, Vivian.”

“Nice to meet you, Alpha,” he said as he turned in his seat and offered his hand.

“A pleasure. I’m still not used to that greeting, I keep looking for my Dad when someone says it,” I said. We got on the road, and it was down to business. I updated them on everything I knew of the island from my talks with Tania. I had satellite images of the islands, updated with her notes, and I covered the basic plan. “There are two parts to this operation,” I said. “One is to go in there and wipe out the people running it. Talia is going to lead that; they will fly in, take care of the bad guys and fly back out,” I said. “They can’t fly with weapons, so those will have to be there when they arrive. I’m assuming you can buy weapons? I need four Glock 19’s and a subsonic sniper rifle, all with suppressors.”

“You’re kidding, right? You’re in Colombia, it will take me less time to buy those than to hire a plumber,” Javier said.

“Good. I’m going to need you to drop me near the island. I’ll sneak in with the arms, take out the sentries at the airfield and then cover our escape. My mate told me I have to avoid ‘excessive risks.’” They both laughed with me.

“How can we help you?”

“Well… do you know anyone who has a boat we can charter without arousing suspicions? A big boat capable of carrying twenty or more passengers?”

“We do,” Javier said. “It’s a commercial fishing boat, almost forty feet long. The owner and his sons are in our Pride,” he said with a smile. My jaw dropped, and he just laughed. “What?”

“You are cats, I thought you wouldn’t like the water,” I said.

“Jaguars love the water, we’re excellent swimmers,” he said.

I smacked the seat back in annoyance. “How was I to know, we were in a DESERT!” My home Pack was in the mountains east of Tucson, Arizona, and both had attended the University of Arizona. “Is your member available? I’ll pay, I just need to keep the transaction in cash and make sure he understands what he’s getting into.”

“Let me handle that,” he said. He got out his cellphone and started talking in rapid-fire Spanish. “He’s open to it but he wants to meet you first and work out the fee.”

“I have money, and our Pack will owe your Pride a favor,” I said.

“How many men are on the island,” Catarina asked as she looked at the map that showed the buildings.

“About twenty, most of whom will be armed. Add in another four to ten clients and any Cartel visitors.”

“Damn. How many are going in?”

“Four plus me, but trust me… that’s overkill. You’ve heard of the Alpha Killer?”

“Who hasn’t? It seems too fancilful to be true, though.” Catarina looked concerned. “You sure you don’t need us there? We can supply warriors if our Pride agrees.”

“No, the last thing you need is for someone to link your Pride with this. Watch this,” I said. I pulled out my phone and brought up the fight between Talia and Alpha Justin. Her mouth was hanging open for the next few minutes.

“Damn,” she said. “No werewolf is that fast. What is she?”

“Vampire and Werewolf hybrid. Incredibly fast and deadly, but she’s a good person and can be trusted. Another like her will be along, plus her little sister and her mate.”

“The one who was kept here?” I nodded. “Fuck. I almost feel sorry for those men.”

“Almost.” I put my phone away. “Once the attack is complete, I’ll signal your boat to come in to the cargo dock here on the island.” I pointed out the narrow inlet and the dock. “You’ll load up the girls and I and we’ll go back out to sea. The other four will get back on the plane and return to Jamaica, then fly home. By the time the Colombian police or the Cartels figure it out, we’ll all be long gone.”

“Then what? We can’t bring them into a Colombian port.”

“I’ll call a contact in the FBI and have them send the Coast Guard or Navy to us. We rendezvous and hand over the women and the evidence they will be carrying, then the boat returns home and I get off. It needs to be done this way so the Cartels and the Americans can never know exactly who did this,” I said.

“How much time do we have?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Fuck,” Javier said. “We best get to the docks then.”

The Pride leader, Pablo Rodriguez, and the fishing boat captain, Jose Mena, were waiting below decks on the boat. Catarina handed me a shawl to cover my blonde hair as we walked down the dock and onto the older vessel. Thirty minutes later, we had a deal. I opened the secret compartment in my bag, withdrawing fifty thousand in cash and handing it over. “You’re paying in full?” Jose looked surprised.

“Your word is good, if I don’t make it back you have your money and will finish the job,” I said. I gave Javier another ten grand. He would go get the weapons and the other supplies I had asked for. He left with Pablo, leaving us alone below decks.

Catarina made an amazing dinner for us, and Jose took on fuel and provisions for the journey. Javier returned at nightfall, and Jose and his two boys got us underway. At three in the morning, we were slowly moving through the choppy seas, about a half-mile off the island. I was dressed in a wetsuit, with mask and snorkel and fins, the weapons bag attached around my shoulders with a rope. It was sealed watertight and had enough air in it to float. “You sure you don’t want more help doing this,” she asked.

“Just come get me when I call you,” I said. We had picked an insertion point that was hidden from the complex, and there wasn’t a significant surf or undertow to deal with. I’d have to traverse the island jungle, but I was a wolf- I wasn’t worried about that. “See you soon.” I stood and gave her a hug.

“Don’t get hurt,” she said. Jose idled the boat and I tossed the bag over the starboard side before letting myself fall backwards into the water. I came back up, moving away from the boat and heading towards land as they slowly moved away. I set a steady pace with my fins, and it wasn’t long before I was poking my head up on a shallow beach.

My wolf senses didn’t pick anything up, so I took off my fins and moved into the trees. Stripping off my dive gear, I stacked it then shifted into my wolf. Finding an area of soft sand, I used my front paws to dig a hole then shifted back and put the gear in it. Covering it up with sand and branches, I made sure it would pass a cursory inspection before I turned to the gear bag.

I pulled on the clothes inside; black cargo pants, black long sleeve shirt, thin black leather gloves and a black balaclava. The hood covered my blonde hair and left only my eyes exposed. I filled my pockets with the pistols and extra magazines, then slung the rifle onto my back. The rifle was the same type we used on my old Pack grounds to hunt wild boar with, an AR-15 in .300 Whisper with a suppressor and four-power Trijikon scope. Capable of ranges out to two hundred yards, it had plenty of power and sounded no louder than a hand clap. The last thing I grabbed was the two canteens, both black, they clipped to my belt.

I put my cellphone in my breast pocket, the earphone into my left ear. “Call Catarina,” I said and it rang. “I’m here,” I said.

“Good luck.” She hung up and I started moving through the jungle. Before sundown, I had my sniper hide built in the trees just off the runway. I didn’t move from my position, suffering silently through the growing heat as the day moved along.

The first sign of activity was a truck arriving at a control house. The netting that hid the airfield started to pull out of the way, and two men were securing it off to the side. A small twin-engine plane came into view, lining up with the runway it came in for a smooth landing. As it passed, I could see Talia and Tania in the windows.

When the aircraft revved its engines to turn around at the end of the runway, I lined up my scope and took out the two sentries. By the time it had come to a halt, I had the men hidden in the jungle. “We good?”

I smiled at Talia as she got out. “On plan,” I said as I handed her a pistol, suppressor and four magazines of hollow-point ammo.

“Good. Cover us as we go, this won’t take long. As for you, Mr. Jose Guerro, fuel the aircraft and be ready to take off when we come back. If you aren’t, your wife and children will be dead before you are,” she told him. He nodded and practically ran towards the fuel truck, clearly frightened of her.

I finished handing out the pistols, and they put on their hoods to disguise their features. “Like we planned,” Talia said. “Erica and I will go after the security center and the barracks, Bobby and Tania will go to the guest villas and the slave quarters. No mercy. Get the girls and send them to the dock.”

“Thank you,” Tania said. “Let’s get the girls.”

They moved off towards the complex as I moved to a position I could cover them from. “Everyone in position,” Talia sent over the family bond.

“Ready,” Tania said.

“Ready,” I said.

“Three, two, one, GO GO GO!” The two hybrids were a blur, the sounds of their gunshots like an automatic weapon.

The battle was on.