Carla Reyes was temporarily allowed to return home under 24-hour "protection" by Mexican intelligence agents. Rita Alfaro was fully responsible for overseeing the operation.
The following days were long and monotonous. Nearly a week passed with no sign of Luis "Lasso" Castillo despite the apparent success of previous operations and the lack of contradictory intelligence from various channels.
The SEALs, bored out of their minds, resorted to binge-watching Mexican soap operas. One evening, Mandy Ellis, looking unusually serious, gathered Major Blackburn, Jason, and Jack into a room for a private meeting.
"Rita has a sister."
Major Blackburn, perplexed, asked, "What are you talking about?"
As the only one not previously involved in discussions about a mole, he was in the dark. Jason quietly explained, summarizing their earlier suspicions.
"So, you investigated Rita Alfaro, discovered she had been hiding things from you, and now you suspect she's been bought off by Doza?" Blackburn asked, not necessarily opposed to their private investigation but concerned about how speculative their conclusions might be.
"We're the CIA, not the FBI. Jack might need evidence. We just need enough reason to suspect someone," Mandy said, casting a smug glance at Jack. This investigation had been entirely her own initiative, a point of pride for her.
Ever since this mission began, the FBI agent's stellar performance had inadvertently overshadowed her, particularly in Jason's eyes. From intelligence analysis to operational planning to direct participation in missions, Jack had consistently delivered, leaving Mandy to feel somewhat sidelined—a position she wasn't used to, given her years as a trusted CIA partner to Jason.
Of course, these were petty thoughts she barely acknowledged, existing only as subconscious twinges of dissatisfaction.
"Rita specifically told me she had no direct relatives left in the world. I had an informant check her background file in CISEN (Mexico's Investigation and Security Center), and it indeed states she has no living family," Mandy began.
"But?" Everyone waited for the twist.
"But I sent a team to investigate her hometown. They discovered she actually has a sister—Yolanda—who lives in Monterrey with her two daughters." Mandy placed several photos on the table.
Major Blackburn dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "That doesn't prove anything. Maybe she falsified her records before joining CISEN to protect her family from being used against her."
"Perhaps," Mandy nodded. "So, I had the team continue to surveil Yolanda. Here's what they found."
She revealed another photo, this one showing two men with menacing glares and skull tattoos on their necks, their rough appearances marking them as anything but law-abiding citizens. Their focus? Yolanda, pushing a shopping cart with her two daughters in a supermarket.
"Doza's men? They're watching her family?" Blackburn studied the photo, his brows furrowed deeply.
"Exactly. This explains a lot," Mandy said, tapping her knuckles on the other photos spread across the table.
Jason's expression darkened. "What's the plan? Do we detain Rita and hand her over to the Mexican authorities?"
Mandy exchanged a look with Jack, and both shook their heads. "Not yet," she said.
"Why not?" Blackburn and Jason both looked puzzled. As soldiers, their training emphasized removing threats as quickly as possible to minimize risk.
Jack explained, "Strictly speaking, we're here as guests of the Mexican government. We can't entirely bypass Mexican intelligence agencies. Besides, we still rely on their support for certain intelligence and resources."
"Then have them assign us a clean liaison," Jason suggested, still not fully grasping the rationale.
"And how do we ensure the new liaison is clean?" Mandy countered. "Rita was betrayed. Falsifying her background might fool most people, but not CISEN's higher-ups. It's clear someone at the top sold her out to Doza.
This explains why Rita turned traitor—she lost faith. She probably didn't even consider other options for protecting her family."
Jack added, "From her perspective, Doza's influence is inescapable. Betraying us was her only choice."
Blackburn and Jason exchanged uneasy glances. As soldiers, they excelled at handling combat and high-risk operations—raids, infiltrations, assassinations—but these murky, under-the-table schemes were far beyond their usual expertise.
They were accustomed to the support of a robust U.S. military intelligence network. Without it, even elite teams like SEAL Team Six or Delta Force were just highly skilled soldiers, flesh and blood, not invincible superheroes.
Now, they felt like the stranded soldiers in Black Hawk Down, surrounded by enemies. While the situation wasn't as dire—Mexico wouldn't dare overtly sabotage them—the thought of their every move being scrutinized by adversaries was deeply unsettling.
"Now isn't the time to expose the mole," Mandy said firmly. "We need to wait."
Jason's eyes lit up. "You think Lasso will still take the bait?"
"Why wouldn't he?" Jack smiled, understanding Mandy's reasoning.
"Remember the orders we got from the White House and Joint Special Operations Command? Why were we sent here in the first place?" Jack asked.
"To avenge the murdered DEA agent. This is a retaliatory mission. The objective is to bring Andrés Doza back to the U.S. to stand trial," Blackburn answered.
Jason seemed to grasp the idea. "And it was explicitly stated as a long-term mission. As long as we're here, Doza has to keep running like a rat."
"Exactly. So, if you were a drug lord like Doza, with ambitions and pride, would you tolerate this indefinitely?" Jack pressed.
"You think Doza will use his most trusted lieutenant to bait us into a trap?" Blackburn frowned once more.
As a cautious commander, he often came across as overly conservative, but this didn't mean he lacked decisiveness.
"Jason," Blackburn said, turning to his team leader, "this isn't our usual style, but this mission is different from our overseas military operations. I just have one question: If we know we're walking into a trap, can you and your team get out alive?"
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Surgical Fruit in the American Comics Universe (Chapter 1289)
American Detective: From TV Rookie to Seasoned Cop (Chapter 1316)
American TV Writer (Chapter 1402)
I Am Hades, The Supreme GOD of the Underworld! (Chapter 570)
Reborn as Humanity's Emperor Across the Multiverse (Chapter 660)
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