Black Ops Chronicles: Dead Run (22 page)

They drove several miles before turning into a long gravel driveway leading to a stately, two-story,
adobe
house. He parked and yanked her from the car. Taking her right arm, he propelled her down the walk to the front door.

She hardly noticed the room she was shoved into, or the five other men in it. All she saw was Nick, standing by the fireplace, smug and self-righteous. It turned the pain in her heart to rage. She wanted to use her fingers as claws and tear the skin off his arrogant face. But when Tanner released her, she forced herself to stay silent and wait.

Nick walked over. “Thanks, man,” he said to Tanner. “I’ll see that you get paid.”

“My pleasure,” Tanner replied. He nodded at Tony and left.

Nick smiled at her. “Welcome, sugar. I’m glad you decided to join the party.”

Knowing her anger would amuse him, she took a firm hold on her temper and kept her voice level as she gave him back some of the criticism he’d once used on her. “Stop trying to be witty, Nick. You haven’t got the brains for it, and it just makes you look more pathetic.” She had the satisfaction of seeing shock flicker on his face before she continued. “But then, you’ve always been an idiot.”

“Watch your mouth,” he snarled, backhanding her.

She ran her tongue over her lips and tasted blood. It acted like a shot of tequila, priming her for the fight, giving her courage and strength. Without a thought to the consequences, she attacked, dragging her nails down his face.

Blood ran down his cheeks. He squealed and staggered backward, grabbing a pistol out of his waistband. “You’ll pay for that, bitch.”

She braced herself.

“Easy, slick.” Tony took the gun from Nick and put it on the fireplace mantle. “
Revenge’ll
be much sweeter if she’s forced to imagine it for a while before it happens. We do want her to suffer, after all.” His lips curved, but the look he aimed at Tess belied any amusement. “Tie her up and throw her in the back bedroom. We’ll blow her up with the house.”

Dread curdled her stomach as Nick yanked her arms behind her back. He tied her wrists together with cord from a pile on the floor. She lifted her chin, refusing to let them see her terror. He tied her ankles then beckoned to a couple of dark-skinned men she assumed were terrorists. “You guys haul her back there and put her with that guy.”

The two men looked at another man. When he nodded, they picked her up and carried her into a room where a man lay on the carpet, trussed up worse than she was.
Oh, God. They’ve captured Max
.

The men dropped her on the floor then left, closing the
door
and shutting off the light from the other room. In the moonlight coming through the single window, she could see Max staring at her in disbelief.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded. “You should be on your way to Mexico City.” Alarm and frustration vibrated in his voice. “Jim was supposed to keep you safe.”

“Bradshaw’s idea of protecting me was to leave me with FBI agent Tanner, who just happens to work for Nick. Nice going, ace. I managed to avoid Nick just fine until you came along.” Her fury at the whole stupid fiasco made her voice sharp as a knife. “I told you I dreamed I was in danger there, but you wouldn’t listen. Now look where we are!”

“An FBI agent brought you here?” Closing his eyes a moment, he groaned. “Jesus, Tess. I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath. “Jim couldn’t have known about Tanner. I’m sure of it. I’d trust him with my life.”

“But that wasn’t enough for you, was it?” she snarled. “You had to trust him with mine. Now here we are, waiting to die.” She turned her face to the wall. “Save the apology, Max. Even if I could believe you, I don’t want to hear it.”

“Damn it, angel, I was trying to protect you.” Max sighed and cleared his throat. “Listen, you may be able to get us out of here. Curl your body and bring your feet through your arms so your hands are in front of you.”

“Oh yeah. Like I’m really going to do anything you tell me.”

“Don’t be an ass. If we can get untied, we can escape out the window before the house blows. You’re too smart to let us both die just because your pride’s been hurt.”

“My
pride
? God, you’re an arrogant bastard.” Muttering more insults, she curled her body and brought her feet through her bound hands as he’d said. “Now what?”

“Now, see if you can get the knots undone with your teeth.”

She went to work on the knots at her wrists, biting and pulling until she untied them. “How long have you been in here?”

“I’d guess about half an hour.”

“Why didn’t you get yourself untied?” With her hands free, she started in on her ankle ropes. “Seems a big, bad CIA agent like you should’ve already escaped by now.”

“Almasi tied me up, and he tied my wrists to my ankles. Just like I did the men in the cave. So I can’t do what you’re doing. If you hadn’t shown up, I’d have become part of the rubble from the blast.”

“Oh.” She suppressed a shudder at his words. When the ropes dropped off her ankles, she crawled over and went to work on his.

“Thanks, angel.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she warned. “I may decide to kill you myself before we’re through.” She used her teeth on a stubborn knot. “I loved you, Max. Trusted you. And you betrayed me. I didn’t know you could be that cruel.”

He stared at her. “Jesus, you—”

A gunshot exploded in the other room. Tess jumped. “What’s happening out there?”

“How should I know? Hopefully, they’re killing each other off.”

When his ropes fell off, he sprang to his feet and grabbed her hand.

She jerked away from him. “Now, what?”

He reached for her again. “First, I—” A second, much louder blast of gunfire cut him off. “That sounded like two shots together.”

They stared at each other a moment before heading for the window together. Then someone rattled the doorknob.

CHAPTER 15

8:02 p.m., on the Sea of Cortez, Baja California Sur:

Levi motored south to the last outcropping before the rendezvous house, cut his engines, and dropped anchor. Then he took a pair of binoculars to the bow of the cruiser and scouted the terrain.

“Not much cover,” he muttered. If the area around the house didn’t have any better vegetation than this, he was screwed. Without sufficient camouflage, he couldn’t get close enough. And if he couldn’t get close enough, he might as well not have come. He glanced down at his desert-
camo
cargo pants and long-sleeved, turtle necked T-shirt. “I should’ve gotten the damn gilly-suit.”

Bracing his hands on the railing, he mulled over the problem and remembered that one of his instructors in the SAS had once mentioned a technique that just might work. For use in desperate circumstances, he’d said. Well, these certainly qualified.

He retrieved his duffle and ran below. After taking his weapons out of the bag, he hunted up a ball of twine then stuffed it and his Swiss Army knife in one cargo pocket of his pants and his pistol in another one. Next, he grabbed the rifle and screwed the silencer to the end of the barrel. With one last check to be sure he had everything he needed, he headed for the dinghy.

The small, dark-green-and-gray striped craft sported an engine that had been modified for stealth. Though appalled at Nick’s motives for altering it, Levi was grateful for its quiet purr—no louder than a whisper. Lying flat in the boat, he motored around the point.

Three hundred yards from his target, he killed the engine and drifted silently to the beach, where he hauled the dinghy ashore and hid it behind a patch of shrubbery.

After winding the twine around his torso, he tied it off, pulled up handfuls of desert plants, and stuck the roots under the cords over his back. Though hardly a professional gilly-suit, it should still break up his outline enough no one would notice him in the moonlight. He hoped.

He crouched down to waist height and crept to within sight of the house. Then, dropping to his stomach, he slithered like a snake toward his objective.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and froze. A dark sedan drove down the gravel driveway and paused at the end before pulling out onto the road. Levi hoped it wasn’t Nick or Tony leaving. He aimed his riflescope at the car for a quick look. Nope. Someone he didn’t recognize. As the car drove away, Levi returned his attention to the house. Four armed Middle Eastern men were wandering around outside. Guards, he supposed. They didn’t look very alert, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Besides, these bastards weren’t soldiers. They were murderers who preferred killing innocent civilians rather than facing armed combatants.

Bracing his elbows on the ground, Levi snugged the rifle against his shoulder, took careful aim at the nearest man, and squeezed the trigger.

He didn’t wait to see if his target went down—he hadn’t blown a shot in years. As soon as the bullet left the barrel, he slithered away to new spot.

Two of the other men must’ve seen the body fall. They ran to it and stood, side-by-side, staring down at it like idiots. Levi only had to shift his aim a fraction between one hit and the next to take them both
out
. Christ, didn’t these dumbasses know to duck and cover when their comrades started dropping?

He scooted to another position, several yards closer in. Raising his head, he scanned for targets. The last guard stood at the open front door, shouting at someone inside. Probably telling them there was trouble. Levi stopped the man’s tirade with a bullet to the head. Now let’s see what they do.

He didn’t have long to wait. Four men ran out the door, jumped over the guard’s body, and headed for the dock where a speedboat waited. Looking through his scope, Levi could see that Nick and Tony weren’t among them. So they must still be inside the house. Probably slipping out the back while he was busy at the front.

Still, what was another minute? The front three were already out of site around the corner of the boathouse, but the guy at the end of the line...Levi squeezed the trigger again. The body fell backward into the water as the boat sped away.

Giving the area another quick scan, Levi got to his feet and sprinted to the corner of the house. He heard Nick inside, shouting that he didn’t just want Tess to die, he wanted her to suffer, and he refused to leave without blowing up the house.

So she was here, too, waiting to be blown to pieces.
Well, we’ll just see about that
!

He pulled out his knife and cut the twine, letting the plants on his back fall to the ground. Propping his rifle against the wall, he took the pistol from his pocket, crouched down, and peered over a windowsill.

Nick, his cheeks scored and bloody, stood over Tony, waving a gun and screaming. Tony knelt by a detonator switch, connecting battery wires. He wore an expression of two parts rage, one part contempt. Levi couldn’t see anyone else, but a television blared from somewhere out of sight.

Crawling past the window, he got to his feet, stepped over the body of the terrorist, and slipped in through the front door. “Evening, boys.”

Nick spun around, bringing up his gun. “Levi?”

“Try it, Nick. Just give me a reason to shoot. I’d love nothing better than to put one right between your eyes.”

Nick dropped the gun, raised his hands, and stepped back.

“You, too, Tony,” Levi ordered. “Get ’em up and back away.”

Tony finished one more twist of the wire, shrugged, and complied.

“Who else is here?” Levi asked.

“No one,” Nick whined. “The chicken-shit bastards all ran. Took their drugs and split,” he added with a vicious glare at Tony.

“Maybe you should pick better playmates.” Levi gestured with his pistol at a pile of cord. “Grab some of that and tie Tony’s hands behind his back.”

Nick picked up a piece of rope and crossed to Tony.

Levi stepped closer. “Do a good job, or I’ll put a bullet somewhere you won’t like.”

When Nick finished and backed away, Levi checked the knots. Good enough. Keeping his eyes on Nick, he frisked Tony and shoved him down on the couch. He made Nick lie face down on the floor. Then he frisked him, bound his hands, and jerked him to his feet. Pushing him down on the couch beside Tony, he tied their ankles.

“Okay, let’s talk.”

“What are you doing here,” Nick demanded. “When my grandfather—”

“Jonas sent me to stop you. Told me if I had to kill you, he’d understand.” Levi watched the blood drain from Nick’s face. “You screwed up, pal. You shouldn’t have put a contract out on Tess.”

Nick groaned then turned on Tony. “This is all your fault,” he snarled. “You said Grandfather wouldn’t find out.”

“I said he probably wouldn’t find out,” Tony replied calmly. “And I wasn’t the one who shot the Vargas family in front of her. If you hadn’t involved her, you’d have gotten away with it.”

Levi gestured at Nick’s cheek with his pistol. “Speaking of Tess, did she do that to your face?” When Nick glared but didn’t answer, he chuckled. “Good for her. So, where is she?”

Nick and Tony just looked at him. Levi shrugged and put the muzzle of his gun against the outside of Tony’s thigh, away from any major blood vessels.

“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, boys. Now, once more, where’s Tess?”

Nick looked outraged. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Levi just smiled and squeezed the trigger then transferred the gun to Nick’s thigh, while Tony screamed curses. A noise from behind had Levi spinning around. Glen ran into the room, half a sandwich clamped in his mouth, a pistol in his hand. He and Levi fired simultaneously. Glen’s bullet slammed into the couch cushions between Tony and Nick. Levi’s caught Glen center forehead. He crumpled to the floor.

“Bloody fool.” Shaking his head, Levi sighed. Except for evil bastards like terrorists, he hated killing anybody. Even in self-defense. Glen had been an idiot, but he shouldn’t have had to die from it. “Damn you, Nick. If you’d told me he was here when I asked, he’d still be alive.” Saddened and disgusted, Levi put the gun back on Nick’s thigh again. “Now, where were we?”

“Okay, okay,” Nick whimpered. “She’s tied up in that room over there with some guy.”

“Thanks.” Levi headed for the door.

***

The sound of someone at the door made Tess cringe and sidle closer to Max. “Now what do we do?” She looked around for something to use as a weapon. “Shit, I wish I had my coins.”

“Maybe I can jump him.” Max whispered as he hurried to stand behind the door. “Get over against the wall.”

She backed into the corner. As the door opened, she peered at the man silhouetted on the threshold, his face in shadow, a gun in his hand.

He reached out and switched on the light. “Tess, luv, you in here?”

“
Levi
?”

“Yeah. I came to make sure you were safe.”

“Max, it’s okay. It’s a friend,” she called as she launched herself into Levi’s arms. “God, I’m so glad to see you.”

“It’s all right, luv. It’s over.” He hugged her. Hard and close. She saw him glance over as Max stepped out from behind the door. “Max?” Surprise and warmth flared in his eyes. “What the bloody hell are you doing here?”

“Still chasing terrorists. Same old, same old.”

Tess extracted herself from Levi’s arms. “You two know each other?”

“Levi and I go way back.” Max shook Levi’s hand. “What happened out there?”

Levi’s smile faded. “I killed five terrorists outside and one dumb jerk inside. Nick and Tony are tied up in the living room, and Tony’s got a bullet hole in his leg.”

Max’s eyebrows rose. “You’ve been busy.”

“Couldn’t afford to waste time,” Levi said, wrapping an arm around Tess again. “I came to save her, and I didn’t know what Nick’s timetable was. Tony was just getting set to blow the house when I walked in.” He steered her out of the bedroom. “Nick said you were tied up in here.”

“Actually, she got us untied.” As he stepped into the living room, Max gave a heavy sigh and raked his hands through his hair. “I hope Almasi was one of the ones you killed.”

“Almasi? Damn, I thought one of those bastards looked familiar.” Levi shook his head. “Sorry, man, I didn’t get a shot off in time. He took off in a boat.”

“Figures. Survival’s one of his talents.” Reaching out, Max ran his hand down Tess’s arm. “I have to go after him.”

“Then go. What’s keeping you?” She jerked away from him. For a moment in the bedroom, when they’d shared a common enemy, she’d almost forgotten his deception. Now, it all came flooding back.

Max studied her, his face bleak. “I’m sorry, Tess. I never meant to hurt you. I was only trying to protect you.”

“Sure you were.” She was in no mood to forgive him. For all she cared, he could go to hell. And take his incredible eyes and rakish grin with him. “Well, I guess you blew that one, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess I did.” He exchanged a look with Levi and said something in Spanish. Levi nodded. Max turned back to Tess. “Levi will keep you safe.”

“Wait,” Levi called as Max headed for the door. “According to my information, whatever Almasi’s planning will happen on Easter Sunday. I was going to let Langley know, but since you’re here...”

“Do you know what they’re planning, or just that it’ll happen on Easter?”

“Just when, not what.”

“Well, it’s more than I had before,” Max said. “Thanks.” Then he turned and left the house.

Tess watched him go, furious at the tears filling her eyes. She’d survive his betrayal, just as she had all the others. But a voice deep within her told her she was lying to herself. Max hadn’t just broken her heart. He’d trampled the pieces.

***

Max hurried out of the house, cursing himself for what he’d done to Tess. He just hadn’t seen any other way to keep her safe. But she hadn’t
been
safe, had she? No, he’d only made her situation worse.

Torturing himself with thoughts of her, he doubled checked the bodies of the men Levi’d killed. Almasi wasn’t among them.

Max had to go after him. He had to end this and correct his mistakes. And he had to get away from there before the pain of losing Tess overwhelmed him. Heading for the vehicles in the driveway, he chose a Jeep with its key in the ignition. He climbed in, started it up, and drove to the airport in La Paz.

Jesus, he’d miss her. Her warmth, humor, compassion. Her honesty. His instincts told him he hadn’t even begun to imagine how much this would hurt. To force his mind away from her, he tried to decide how best to track Almasi and the remaining terrorists.

They had a speedboat, so they’d probably cross the Sea of Cortez, head into mainland Mexico, and find some other way across the border now that Nick was out of the picture. Would they try to slip past the border crossing stations using fake IDs? Or would they use a “coyote” guide and sneak in with other illegals? The border stations would be iffy. The CIA had recent photos of Almasi, and he knew that. So the coyote was a better bet.