Black Ops Chronicles: Dead Run (18 page)

“And therefore, I should have no qualms about killing my own grandson? After all, it’s for the good of the Church. Have I got that right?”

Graves hesitated and cleared his throat. “I—ah, I realize, of course, that this is, ah, difficult for you. But you must understand what’s at stake here.”

“You bloody
, buggering
bastard
!” Levi snarled, allowing his rage to show in his voice and on his face. The man blanched as Levi stalked toward him. “What’s at stake here is the life of an innocent young woman. I don’t give a rat’s ass about your precious church.”

Graves squirmed in his chair. “Of—of course,” he stammered. “Her life is, ah, an important issue, naturally, but—”

“I’d suggest you leave it at that,” Jonas said, his voice low and furious. “I’d also suggest you go. Now. Before Levi loses his temper completely.” Shooting Levi a tight smile, he added, “I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to control him if that happens.”

Graves flinched, but stayed put. He cleared his throat again. “If the—organization has to take care of Nick, he’ll be eliminated with an eye toward making him suffer. So I suggest you handle this yourself.”

“Oh, we’ll handle it,” Levi growled. “You can be sure of that.”

“Fine, then. That’s...fine.” Graves got to his feet and lumbered out, throwing nervous glances over his shoulder.

Jonas scowled at the door as it closed. “Pompous ass.” He grimaced. “For a minute there I thought you were going to strangle him.”

“I was tempted. Can you blame me?”

“No, but it’s probably best you resisted. Disposing of a body
that
size could be a challenge. Now, where were we before we were interrupted?”

“Trying to figure out what I’ll need in Baja.” Levi shook off the revulsion Graves had left in his wake and studied the map. “I’ll need a high powered rifle with silencer, my .45 pistol, and ammo for both. I should have plenty of moonlight, but just in case it’s cloudy, I’ll want night-vision goggles.”

He ran scenarios in his head. “
Nick’s Folly
is down there and from what his men told me, Nick plans to leave it at the marina in La Paz and take rental cars to the rendezvous. Idiotic plan, but that works in my favor. If I use the boat, I shouldn’t need a vehicle. But I’ll rent a car in La Paz anyway. Just in case.”

Lips pursed, he mulled over any additional requirements. “I could really use a desert gilly-suit.”

“Do we have any?”

“No, and there isn’t time to locate one. So I’ll just have to hope there’s plenty of cover.”

“Grab the weapons, ammo, and goggles from the gun safe before you head to the airport,” Jonas said, replacing the atlas in the bookcase. “Can you get all that through airport security?”

“With my connections and my own plane, it won’t be a problem.”

“And can you handle this thing with Tess?” Jonas studied Levi’s face. “I know you used to be in love with her, and the two of you argued when she chose Nick.” Levi opened his mouth in outrage, but Jonas shook his head. “All I’m asking is if you can convince her to come home and not just make her mad.”

Levi took a deep breath and bit back the sharp retort that sprang to his lips. None of this was Jonas’s fault. “My feelings for her haven’t changed. And I don’t piss her off on purpose. She’s just so damned stubborn.” Pain squeezed his heart and curled his hands into fists. “The last time we fought, I was trying to save her from Nick. Hell, I even asked her to marry me, but she refused.”

“Then get her back, and maybe you’ll have another shot.”

“Not if she goes to prison—or worse.”

“Let me worry about that. You work on Tess. If she won’t come willingly, don’t force her. Just make sure Nick doesn’t hurt her.”

Levi hesitated, pondering how to say what he needed to.
Straight out’s probably best
. “I might have to kill him. You realize that, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Jonas said, his lips thinning with suppressed fury. “Tess may be a distant cousin, but she’s as much a part of this family as Nick. And, damn it, she’s an innocent bystander in all this.”

Pain and frustration flared in his eyes. He closed them a moment. When he opened them again, they’d turned cold and hard. “Nick crossed the line. He knows the consequences. If you have to kill him to save Tess, I’ll understand.”

CHAPTER 12

7:37 a.m., Los
Pargos
Restaurante
, La Paz, Baja California Sur
:

As Max ate breakfast, his gaze made frequent sweeps of the room, scanning for danger. He knew he was stalling, but he had a bad feeling Tess wouldn’t like his idea. His eyes swept the restaurant once more before coming to rest on hers. “We need to talk.”

She frowned. “About?”

“There’s something I need you to do for me.” He kept his voice low despite the clatter of dishes and the loud Spanish curses coming through the kitchen doors off to the right. “Something important.”

Studying him, she scooped up a forkful of scrambled eggs and popped it into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “From your reluctance to tell me what, I’d say it’s not something I’m going to like, is it?”

“You don’t miss much, do you?” he asked, trying to work out the best way to approach what he wanted to say. “That’s one of the things I like about you.”

She waved her fork at him. “Forget the sweet talk, Max. Flattery’s not going to convince me of anything. So just tell me what you want me to do.”

“
Sweet talk
?” Damn, she was adorable. He fought a grin and lost. “Angel, I haven’t even started on the sweet talk.”

“And it won’t work when you do. You’re stalling, Max.”

He couldn’t deny it. How the hell was he going to convince her to follow the plan he’d come up with? Maybe if he could scare her enough. “First, let me ask you something. How do you suppose Nick found you?”

Surprise flickered in her eyes, then her lips pursed as she considered the question. “You said Nick’s meeting the terrorists near La Paz, so he probably had his men already waiting in El Nopal. They saw me on Wednesday when I went to call Karl. After that, it was only a matter of time until they showed up at the cottage.” She cocked her head. “You think there’s another reason?”

“It seems awfully suspicious to me they just happened to be in that village. Why weren’t they waiting here in La Paz?”

“That’s a good question.” She stared into space a moment. “Nick probably had them stay in the village motel, thinking El Nopal was small enough for them to go unnoticed.” Shaking her head, she scooped up more eggs. “Of course, the smaller the village, the more his men would stand out. But Nick wouldn’t understand that. And it’s just my bad luck I ran low on money when I did and had to make a phone call.”

“Bad luck, huh? I don’t think so. Who in Salt Lake knew you were in the village? Did Karl?”

“No. No one knew. Karl knew I was near La Paz. But he didn’t know exactly where.” Her fork stopped halfway to her mouth. “You’re thinking that someone in Salt Lake betrayed me to Nick, aren’t you?”

“Can you think of anyone who would?”

“No. But I do think Karl’s phone might be tapped.” She ate the bite of eggs then drummed the edge of her fork against her lower lip. “Although, we didn’t mention Baja, La Paz, or the village during the call.”

“How many times have Nick’s goons found you since you started running?”

“If I stay in one place for very long, they always do. So I’ve moved on several times without waiting for anything suspicious to happen. Still,” she said, holding up one hand, fingers spread and thumb tucked in, “I know for sure they’ve found me at least four times, counting yesterday.”

“And that doesn’t make you think about a spy?” He knew he was onto something. She had to see it, too. Didn’t she?

“No,” she said. “Tony’s smart.”

“No matter how smart he is, he can’t find someone without some information to go on.” He met her gaze, got lost in it, and had to force himself to concentrate. “And with only a little information, you’re easy to find—with your hair and your face, people remember you once they’ve seen you.”

One of her eyebrows rose. “More sweet talk, Max? You still haven’t told me what you want me to do.”

“If there is a spy, every time you make contact with someone in Salt Lake, you’re vulnerable. We need to put a buffer between you and home. Someone who won’t betray you to anyone, who knows where you are, and can make calls and collect any mail for you.”

“Who do you have in mind?”

“I’d like you to go to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and talk to a friend of mine named Tom Davis,” he said with an internal wince. As soon as she talked to Davis, she’d know everything, but her safety had to come first. “Tell him what’s happened and that I told you to ask him for protection. He’ll take care of you.” When she didn’t respond, he upped the ante. “I’d like to find you again when this is over.” She just looked at him. “Please, Tess. If you never do anything else for me, do this.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Is this because you need this Tom Davis to know what’s going on in Baja, or is it that you want me out of the way?”

“I don’t want you out of the way. I want you protected. You matter a great deal to me.”

“And what happens when the people at the embassy betray me to Nick?”

“I’d trust Tom with my life, and I know I can trust him with yours. Will you do this one thing for me?”

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it. But I can’t go anywhere until I pick up the cash at the marina.”

“If you won’t go to Mexico City, will you at least run somewhere else? Somewhere safe?”

“I’m not sure there’s any place that is safe.” Pushing her plate away, she leaned forward, placed an elbow on the table, and rested her chin in her hand. “If I do run, what are you going to do?”

“I have to find the terrorists and stop whatever they’re planning, which means stopping Nick as well.”

“So you’re going to risk your life for me, and I’m going to run?” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “I was right. I don’t like it.”

“I’m not risking my life for you, I’m simply doing my job. So just think about it, okay?” He waited until she nodded then got to his feet and held out his hand to her. “There’s brave, and then there’s stupid, Tess. And I refuse to believe you’re stupid. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t prove me wrong by getting yourself killed.”

***

8:21 a.m., El Nopal Motel, El Nopal, Baja California Sur
:

“Who’s the man with Tess, and what’s their relationship?” Nick stood in his motel room, drinking bad coffee and asking himself the same frustrating questions over and over—along with totaling up the mistakes.

Josh and Glen had been rescued from the cave, but they’d lost their weapons and radios. The children Tony wanted to take hostage hadn’t come back to their farm. There was no sign of Tess in the village. And she hadn’t shown up at the marina yet, or Joe would’ve called. Worse, thanks to Josh and Glen, wherever she was, she was now armed and expecting them.

This man helping her...Nick kept coming back to him. “I’ll enjoy killing him. Slowly.”

Jealousy and resentment swirled in his gut, mixing with the bitter coffee and turning his stomach as sour as his mood. Tess still belonged to him, and only him, damn it. So what if he intended to kill her? That was just business. It didn’t give her permission to find someone else. Bad enough that she’d betrayed him and gone to the FBI, but to take up with another man? The thought was unbearable.

Women should accept that what their man did was for the best, not run away and whore themselves. The man came first. Why didn’t Tess know that? The Church taught women to obey their men. But she obviously hadn’t learned that lesson.

This was all her fault. She’d forgotten that he was in charge. She’d rejected him. Run from him. Was she laughing at him, too—her and her new squeeze? He’d make her pay extra for that. He’d make them both pay.

But it was her dreams that really freaked Nick out—the real reason he’d gone along with Tony and agreed to have her killed. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t understand what they meant until it happened. The point was her dreams did come true, and that was just...wrong. Women weren’t allowed to hold the priesthood, so the dreams weren’t coming from God. They couldn’t be. And if they weren’t from Him, the only one who could have sent them was Satan. If Tess had stuck by Nick and married him as she’d promised, he’d have convinced her the dreams meant nothing and all the things that happened, that they seemed to predict, were just coincidences. She could’ve ignored the dreams and Satan would’ve lost his influence over her. But
nooo
. Instead, she’d run. Fine. Now she’d pay the ultimate price for her stupidity.

How big a part were her dreams playing in her ability
to always escape
him? Christ, if she’d finally figured out how to interpret them before the event—

A brisk knock jerked him out of his dark thoughts, and he almost spilled his coffee. Setting the cup down on the dresser, he opened the door to admit Tony. “Anything new?”

“I’ve talked to Tanner,” Tony reported. “The other CIA officers haven’t contacted Bradshaw, so they still don’t have Tess. She hasn’t shown up at the marina yet, according to Joe, but I’m confident she will. And finally, I just got back from the brats’ farm. There’s still no one there.”

Nick picked up his coffee, sipped. “Doesn’t it strike you as suspicious the way those kids just disappeared?”

“Not really. It’s Carnival. The family may have gone to stay with relatives after the parade.”

“So what do we do now?”

“We forget the hostages and move on.” Tony stole Nick’s coffee, took a sip, made a face, and handed it back. “We know for sure Tess is here and will show up at the marina sometime today to collect her cash. When she does, Joe will take her out.”

“What about the guy helping her?”

“If he comes to the marina with her, Joe will take him out, too. If not, it’s no biggie.”

“It is a biggie. I want both Tess and the guy dead.”

“The guy can’t hurt you if we get rid of Tess. Anything he knows would be hearsay.” Tony studied Nick’s face then sighed. “Look, slick. In this business, you have to worry about the things that really count. You want Tess dead. That’s fine. That’s important, not only because of what she knows, but to set an example of what happens when someone betrays you. But you only want the guy dead because you’re jealous. That doesn’t fly. I’m not willing to risk the important stuff to satisfy your pride.”

Nick knew it was pointless to argue, but he couldn’t help it. “She’s my woman! There’s got to be payment.”

“There will be. If nothing else, he’ll suffer when we kill Tess and, depending on their relationship, that may be worse for him than killing him outright.”

“Maybe. But that’s only if we get her.”

“We’ll get her,” Tony promised. “I always finish what I start. Trust me. Now, grab your bags and let’s get something to eat. Then we’ll head out to the rendezvous house. I want to get there well before our business associates show up. Just to be sure there aren’t any surprises.”

***

8:27 a.m., La Paz, Baja California Sur
:

“Why are we stopping here?” Tess asked when the cab they’d snagged outside the restaurant pulled up to the curb. “We’re still quite a ways from the marina.”

“We’ll walk from here and check out the terrain,” Max replied.

She climbed out of the car and looked around. The streets were full of people and leftover confetti. The air smelled like a hangover—stale beer, vomit, and urine. Here and there, revelers who hadn’t made it home the night before slept curled up in a doorway or under a tree.

And this would go on for four more days?
she
mused as she side-stepped to avoid a man stretched out, asleep, on the sidewalk. A smile curved her lips, even as she shook her head. God, what a strange bunch the Mexicans were.

As they rounded the corner into the marina parking lot, Max dropped down behind a parked car, yanking Tess down with him.

“What is it?” she whispered, fear swallowing the brief glimpse of humor.

“The guy from the village yesterday—the one you called Joe—is standing by that same sedan, watching the office. I don’t think he saw us, but I can’t be sure.” He gestured back the way they’d come. “Head around the corner and stay down.”

“Shit.” Struggling not to panic, she concentrated on keeping her head down until she was out of sight of the parking lot.

“I told you there was a spy,” Max hissed. “Nick obviously knew you were coming to the marina today.” He helped her to her feet. “Come on, I’ve got to get you to safety while I think this through.”

“I’m not leaving you. Besides, I can’t go anywhere without the funds to survive.”

“Look, angel,” he said, tugging her down the street, “I can go get your damned letter for you. But I can’t focus on what has to be done if you’re in danger.”

“Max, you can’t just shove me into a corner and expect me to stay there. We need to discuss this and work out a plan.”

“A plan?” He stopped, sighed. “Come on then.” Steering her into a little café, he led her to a table in the rear. He motioned for her to sit then repositioned his chair, putting his back to the wall. “I have to finish this, Tess. As long as Nick and his boys are alive and hunting you, you’ll never be safe.”