Eight hours later, Scott sat in a cargo transport heading for Ramstein Air Base in Germany, then on to the States. His team surrounded him, weapons cleaned and stowed. But each man wore the same expression: the blank, focused look of operators preparing for a mission.
“What’s the situation on the ground?” Vince asked. At thirty-four, he was the oldest of them, a career NCO with a wife and two daughters of his own back in Texas.
Scott pulled out his phone, scrolling through the research he’d been conducting during the flight prep.
“My ex-wife, Tammy, has been seeing a guy named Gilberto Barajas. Small-time criminal in Ridgefield, Oregon. That’s where she moved after the divorce. Population 12,000. Barajas has two brothers, Rafael and Jeremy. All three have records: assault, drug possession, extortion.”
“Police?” Bernie asked.
“I called Oregon State Police from the base. Reported the abuse. They said they’d send someone to do a welfare check.” Scott’s jaw tightened. “That was six hours ago. No call back.”
Bill Blackwell, the team’s communications specialist, pulled out a laptop. “Let me see what I can dig up.”
For the next two hours, as the transport droned across the Atlantic, Bill worked his magic. What he found painted an ugly picture.
“The Barajas brothers aren’t small-time,” Bill said finally. “They’re part of a larger network. Their uncle, Valentine Vaughn, runs a drug distribution operation across three counties. The brothers are his enforcers. And get this: Ridgefield’s Police Chief, Peter Sharp, has a brother-in-law who worked for Vaughn. The whole department’s compromised.”
“How compromised?” Scott asked.
“There were three complaints filed against the Barajas brothers in the last two years. Assault, domestic violence, intimidation. All of them disappeared from the system. No follow-up. No charges.”
Scott felt the ice in his chest spread, numbing everything except the mission. This wasn’t just about getting Tommy safe. This was about dismantling an entire network that thought it was untouchable.
“All right,” he said quietly. “Then we do this the hard way.”
