BRAINRUSH 02 - The Enemy of My Enemy (7 page)

Or so Jake had thought.

Lacey pounded her fists on the table, bringing Jake’s attention back to the group. “No way, no way, no way!” she said. “I can’t leave now. We start shooting tomorrow, for Christ’s sake.” 

 “I ain’t goin’ nowhere without my family,” Tony said. His wife and two children were visiting her mom up at Big Bear. He’d called last night to make sure they were all right, but didn’t tell them anything about what had happened.

 “Don’t worry about it, Sarge,” Papa said, reverting to the use of Tony’s rank when they’d met on active duty with Special Forces. “We got time, man. It’s not like anyone knows where we’re at.”

Jake shared Tony’s concern for his family. He’d long ago moved his own mom and sister to a small village just north of Pisa, Italy, where they remained safely ensconced with distant relatives. Besides Sarafina, who should arrive any minute with Bradley, Tony’s family was the last of those in the immediate circle of risk.

“I got it!” Marshall’s pronouncement electrified the room. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gathered around the laptop.

“Okay,” Marshall explained, “I still haven’t cracked into the list of incoming and outgoing calls. But I was able to reconstitute parts of the final deleted voice mail.” He turned up the volume on the laptop speakers and hit the Play button.

A stream of static scratched its way out of the speakers, rising and falling with a cadence that hinted at the existence of an underlying voice.

“Hang on,” Marshall said, pausing the recording. He tapped a quick series of commands and hit Play again. 

The static dissipated, replaced by a raspy, angry voice speaking Dari. “
…don’t care what you have to do. Bring him to me now. The woman, too. If his friends get in the way, kill them!”
The line went dead.

Every one of Jake’s nerve endings seemed to explode at the same time. He shared a look of shock with Tony, the only other person in the room who understood the Afghan language.

Francesca gasped. She stumbled backward to get away from the voice. She looked around wildly, her chest heaving. Jake rushed to catch her before she fell and wrapped her in his arms. He knew Francesca didn’t need to understand the words in order to recognize her previous mentor’s voice—the same man who had torn her life apart. The man had kidnapped her and Sarafina, giving them over to his vicious and perverted executioner, Carlo, to do with as he pleased. Her body shook.

Luciano Battista is alive.

Jake embraced the burst of adrenaline that prepared his body for action and clarified his thoughts. The scene around him moved as if it were a slow-motion video. The stunned and worried looks on the faces of his friends seemed glued in place. Through a slit in the vertical blinds, he saw Bradley’s Jeep Grand Cherokee come to a stop in the parking lot. Sarafina sat in the backseat, an anxious smile on her face. Max was next to her, his tail wagging in slo-mo. Josh sat on the other side of the dog, his arm around Max’s neck. Back inside, Tony had raised his cell phone to his cheek, his teeth clenched in concern. Papa and Becker were both strapping on weapons and ammo magazines. Lacey and Marshall stared at Jake, fear etched in every line on their faces.

It felt to Jake as if a noose had just been looped around his neck and slowly being tightened. He shook his head to tamp down the growing sense of rage that threatened to overwhelm him. He needed to get everyone to safety. After that, he would take care of Battista. Once and for all.

“Either we get to the safe house immediately, or we’re all dead.”

Chapter 13

Redondo Beach, California

“W
hat’s the matter, Daddy?” Sarafina asked. She clung to Jake’s neck as he hurried around the Jeep to retrieve her backpack from the rear compartment. They were in the Elks Lodge parking lot. Car doors slammed on either side of Jake as the rest of the team rushed to their vehicles. Papa and Becker squeezed in with Snake on the front bench seat of the pickup truck with their weapons within reach. Tony, Francesca, Marshall, and Lacey had piled into Tony’s Highlander, leaving space in the backseat for Jake and Sarafina.

“Everything’s just fine, sweetie,” Jake said as he popped the lid on the rear hatch. “We’re going on an unexpected vacation, that’s all.”

“What about me?” Josh asked. “I wanna go on vacation.”

“Sorry, buddy,” Jake said. Bradley stepped out of the car. Jake caught his attention and turned back to Josh. “You and Max need to stay here to keep Bradley company.” 

“Hey, Josh,” Bradley said in a calm voice. “Let’s you and I take Max to the beach today, okay? It’ll be a blast.” The confused expression on Bradley’s face didn’t match the enthusiasm of his words. Noting that Sarafina’s head was turned away, and that Josh’s blindness would prevent him from catching on, he silently mouthed to Jake,
What the hell is going on?

Jake ignored the question. He slung Sara’s backpack over his shoulder then reached out and clasped Bradley’s hand. “I’ll never forget what you did for me yesterday at the school. I owe you my life.”

Bradley tightened his grip on Jake’s hand, preventing him from leaving. His expression left no doubt—he wanted to know what was up.

Pulling Bradley close, Jake turned his head to one side so that Sarafina wouldn’t hear. “The guy in the plane yesterday?” he whispered. “He’s got friends.”  

Before Bradley could react, Josh shouted from the backseat, “That means Sara’s not coming back!” Jake had forgotten that the boy’s sense of hearing was exceptional. From the shattered look on Josh’s red face, Jake knew he was about to burst into a fit.

“No fair, no fair, no fair!” Josh screamed.

Max’s tail tucked between his legs. He licked at the tears streaming down his master’s cheeks. Josh’s screams only got louder.

“We’ve gotta go,” Jake said to Bradley, pulling his hand free. “I—I’m sorry.”

As Jake turned to leave, there was a screech of tires. Two white vans careened around a corner a few blocks down the street, headed directly toward Jake and his friends. The rest of the team noticed the vans as well. Engines started. Becker leapt out of the pickup’s cab and jumped into its rear bed. He pulled back the slide on his assault rifle to chamber a round as Tony’s Highlander lurched forward. The rear passenger door, which had been left open for Jake and Sarafina, slammed shut from the momentum.

Jake didn’t hesitate. Like it or not, the circle of death that surrounded him had just expanded to include Bradley and Josh. “In the car, now!” he ordered. “I’m driving!” 

The two men dove into the car. Jake passed Sarafina over the console into the back. “Kids, fasten your seatbelts.” He started the engine, put it in drive, and floored it. It bounced over the curb, onto the sidewalk, and fishtailed into the street. He pulled behind Tony’s Highlander, heading south on Catalina. Max lost his footing and yelped. Josh and Sarafina pulled him across their laps and held him tight. Josh was no longer screaming. Sarafina buried her face in Max’s fur and hummed a nameless tune.

Jake checked the rearview mirror. Snake’s yellow pickup truck was immediately behind him. The two white vans were three or four cars back in the morning commute traffic. They swerved from side to side, moving fast. Jake motioned toward his cell phone, gripped in its holder on the dash, and said to a scared-looking Bradley, “Get Marshall on speaker. Quick.”

Jake gave him the number. Marshall answered immediately, his voice panicked. “What the hell, Jake? How did they know where we were?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Jake shouted. “Tell Tony to head for the hangar. Then put me on speaker and conference in Papa and Snake.” While he waited, Jake sifted through their options. When they’d originally set up the safe house escape plan, Jake had used the last of their funds to purchase the aircraft that would take them there.

Papa’s voice came over the phone. “I’m up,
jefe
. You makin’ for the plane?”

“No other options,” Jake said. He leaned on the horn to alert an older couple to stay clear of the crosswalk. “Becker was right, man. We’ve got to get to the safe house.”

“My family ain’t here, Jake,” Tony said over the line.

“No worries, Sarge,” Papa chimed in. “I’ll send a couple of my crew to watch over them.”

“I owe you,” Tony said.

“Forget about it,
compadre
.”

“No one can possibly know where they are right now,” Jake interjected. “They need to stay put. We’ll get everyone else to the safe house. You and I will come back for them tomor—”

Staccato pops from automatic weapons erupted behind Jake. He checked the mirror to see the first of the two vans swerving back and forth behind Snake’s truck. Flashes of gunfire flared from the van’s passenger window. Snake’s pickup dodged. Becker returned fire from the rear bed as the deadly caravan sped through the quiet residential district of South Redondo.

Jake floored the accelerator to keep up with Tony’s Highlander. His worst nightmare was unfolding behind him—terrorists on the tail of nearly everyone he cared about, all because of him. He knew that the man behind it all, Luciano Battista, would never rest until they were all dead. Jake couldn’t believe the terrorist leader was still alive. How the hell had he lived through the massive explosion at the mountain fortress? Or the frag grenade that Jake had dropped into the man’s pocket just seconds before it detonated? 

Jake’s brain went into overdrive, his senses aflame. He recognized the instinctual reaction that boiled up inside him. His mind formulated the details of an escape plan even as he considered the fight-or-flight response his body was going through. His hypothalamus had fired signals, releasing adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol into the bloodstream. Blood was redirected from his digestive tract to the muscles of his arms and legs to provide more energy for quick movement—in Jake’s case,
super
quick movement. Respiration rate increased, fueling the blood with extra oxygen, pupils dilated to improve vision, perception of pain diminished, awareness sharpened, and the immune system mobilized, prepared for the worst.

Fight or flight?
 

Jake wanted to fight, but he’d choose flight for now, until he could get his friends to safety. After that, he intended to give Battista the fight of his life.

“Okay, guys,” Jake said into the phone. “Here’s what I want you to do.”

Chapter 14

Redondo Beach, California

T
he Hopkins Wilderness Park was hidden within the rolling hills of a tree-studded residential neighborhood in Redondo Beach. The eleven-acre protected site boasted four ecological habitats: forest, meadows, streams, and ponds, transporting visitors to an environment that felt more like the High Sierra than a small beachside community. It included a small amphitheater and three overnight campgrounds. Trees shrouded the entrance inset from a heavily traveled boulevard.

Jake sped up a steeply inclined street, hoping to beat the yellow light at its crest. He’d led the speeding caravan through every twist and turn he could find on the way to the park. Tony’s Highlander was directly behind him. Snake’s pickup hugged his rear bumper. The vans were fifty yards back, the gap widened because the unwieldy vehicles had been unable to keep up on the squirrelly route. The gunfire had ceased, replaced by the sound of police sirens in the distance. Not good news. Jake didn’t want to get held up by the authorities any more than by the bastards chasing him. For the time being, safety could only be found by disappearing.

The one-way road intersected the boulevard that fronted the park. The entrance was on the opposite side of the four traffic lanes. As the light changed from yellow to red, Jake floored it. The Jeep’s V8 responded with a throaty rumble and the car charged forward. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, ignoring a sign that read
right turn only
.

The Jeep leapt into the intersection; its front wheels hit the median strip. A gut-wrenching jolt launched the car into the air. It roared past startled drivers into the camouflaged park entrance. A quick check in the mirror confirmed that Tony and Papa were still with him.

Jake took a deep breath against the flash of memories that assaulted him as he raced through the entrance. It had been exactly four hundred and sixty days since he was last there. He knew every tree, every slope, each twist and turn of the walking paths. The sweet scent of moist earth and pine needles filled his senses, reminding him of the games of hide-and-seek with his wife and five-year-old daughter.

The park office was dead ahead. He whipped the Jeep to the left but it was traveling too fast. The right fender clipped the corner wooden structure. The side mirror went flying and Sarafina and Josh squealed in fear.

Bradley had one hand braced against the dash and the other had a death grip on the handhold over the window. Through clenched teeth, he said, “I hope you know what you’re doing.”