For His Eyes Only (17 page)

“
All clear,” she whispered. “Wait outside.”

He stepped onto the balcony, leaving the door open.

Jesse reached for the door and started to close it, but Cole stopped it an inch from the latch. She released the handle. Insisting he close it all the way would rouse suspicion. She took a step toward the desk. Light flickered and her glasses shut down, plunging the room into total darkness. Damn. So much for searching the rest of the desk.

Jesse took two steps, felt the desk with an outstretched hand, then eased around to the front. Sliding her Beretta into its holster, she knelt in front of the desk. Three lights glowed green on the sniffer. She snatched the device, opened the lid. A single phone number glowed on the display. She memorized the number, then hit the reset button, clearing the screen. Maybe her gamble had paid off.

The study door swung open with a bang. The light snapped on.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Jesse jerked her gaze to the guard standing in the doorway as the balcony door struck the wall with a crash. She reached for her weapon. The guard’s eyes widened in the instant before he swung an AK-47 in her direction. She ducked and rolled. Cole fired. She rebounded to her feet, Beretta aimed at the doorway. The guard went down, but another filled his place. She fired and the second man crumpled against the doorjamb.

“
Go!” Cole shouted, and backed up a step.

Jesse sprinted toward the door. A shot fired and the sniffer flew from her hand. Her wrist wrenched from the blow. Pain raced up her arm. Cole fired three shots into the hallway as cover. A bullet whizzed past her ear as she dove onto the balcony.

“
Move!” she shouted, and leaped to her feet.

She bounded four paces and vaulted the rail. A second of weightlessness, then impact with the ground, and she rolled. Cole landed beside her. Shouts sounded overhead as she sprang to her feet. A guard appeared at the balcony railing. She shot twice at him, saw him topple over the railing, and sprinted toward the trees. Cole fired twice. A single, wide search beam split the darkness above them.

Booted feet pounded pavement amid shouts of “Hondole, amigos, Vamanoos!” as they headed across the open grounds.

Jesse pumped her legs faster. Ahead, the floodlight illuminated the west wall and raced along the perimeter. If they went over the wall where the light had already passed, they’d make it. Outside lights lit the hacienda like a refinery.

The spotlight swung onto the ground on an intercept. Fear twisted her belly. A machinegun erupted from the north side of the hacienda. Jesse glanced left. Armed men poured from a doorway. She tore her attention from the men and back onto the spotlight. Two seconds until intercept. They would never make the wall under the cover of darkness.

“
Amanda,” she choked.

A hand unexpectedly seized her arm, and yanked her back against a hard body as the beam of light cut across the grass in front of them. Jesse registered Cole’s warmth an instant before he shoved her forward and sprinted for the wall. She stumbled, then righted herself, spurred on by the rat-a-tat-tat of AK-47 fire ripping the ground to the right.

Light sliced into the darkness on the wall ahead of where the gunfire had hit. She and Cole made the wall and slammed their weapons home. Cole threw his shoulder against the wall, cupping his hands. Jesse stepped into his intertwined fingers in simultaneous motion with his shove upward. She caught the wall and pulled herself up despite the pain in her wrist. Cole leaped up, grabbed the ledge, and pulled himself to the top. They dropped side-by-side to the ground outside the compound.

Jesse scanned the area. No guards outside the wall.
Yet.
Over the shouts from the compound, the creak of the west gate warned her they only had seconds to reach their vehicle. She raced forward, Cole alongside. A moment later, they plunged into the jungle. Only thin light from the moon penetrated the canopy. Jesse slowed, reaching out to Cole as she pulled a compass from her vest. She pressed the light button.

“
Turn right,” she ordered, and veered in that direction.

They had put thirty meters between them and the compound when the howl of dogs rolled through the jungle.

“
Damn,” Jesse hissed.

“
Move
,” Cole ordered.

The barking became abruptly louder and she knew the dogs had cleared the compound walls. She and Cole covered another twenty meters. If they didn’t reach the Harvester soon, the dogs would catch them. She glanced at Cole. His arms worked at his sides, but she could tell he was holding back.

“
Go on ahead,” she panted.

They burst through a line of elephant’s ear.

He kept pace with her.

“
Cole.”

“
I won’t leave you,” he said without turning his head.

“
Start the Harvester,” she ordered. “I’ll be ten seconds behind.”

He didn’t reply.

She’d be damned if the remaining team member got himself killed on her account.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Jesse whirled in the direction of their pursuers.

Cole grabbed her arm. “You stay, I stay.”

The heat of his fingers penetrated her cotton sleeve.

“
I know what you’re doing, Jess.”

The guards’ shouts and dogs’ barks drew closer.

“
Damn you.”
She lunged toward the Harvester. “Move!”

He caught up with her. “They’ve got five dogs on our tail.”

“
Yep.” Jesse jabbed the compass light. They were heading too far north. “Angle left,” she said. Foliage thrashed twenty meters behind them. A dog growled so close behind, she nearly whirled in anticipation of attack. “We’re not going to make it.”

“
Sound carries,” Cole said. “We’ll make it. Twenty more meters.”

They crashed from the jungle into full moonlight. The Harvester sat ten meters away. A dog shot onto the road behind them. Cole whirled and fired. Jesse tensed in anticipation of the dog’s high-pitched yelp, but heard nothing.

“
Get in!” Cole shouted.

She yanked open the door and dove into the backseat as he fired another shot. He jumped into the driver’s seat, rocking the vehicle. The lead dog streaked forward as Jesse slammed her door. She startled at sight of the animal. Cole had shot to scare the animal!

The Harvester roared to life and lurched forward, throwing her against the seat. She rebounded, striking her head against the front seat headrest. The vehicle hit a rut and went airborne. She clutched at the headrest, getting a fistful of Cole’s hair. He grunted, but didn’t slow.

Jesse righted herself and twisted in time to see four men emerge from the jungle at a dead run, four more dogs in front of them. She yanked her weapon free and shot out the rear window. One guard halted. She fired again, but missed. He swung a rocket launcher over his shoulder and pointed its wide maw at her.

Shit!

A flash silhouetted him, then a roar followed. A rocket snaked toward them, bright, spinning, fast. Jesse involuntarily ducked. The rocket spiraled past, leaving a trail of smoke. The jungle ahead exploded. The Harvester bucked sideways. A tall palm lurched, toppled slowly over the road. Cole gunned the engine. The Harvester gained speed. The palm accelerated downward. Five meters, three—the Harvester passed under by bare inches. The tree slammed to the ground scraping their rear bumper.

The dogs vaulted the tree, unfazed. One leaped at the truck’s bumper. Jesse flinched at the loud snap of his jaws. She aimed at the guard who had fired the rocket, but at that range, the bucking Harvester guaranteed a miss.

“
Damn,” she swore.

More shots. Four bullets pierced the side of the Harvester behind her door in quick succession. Jesse ducked, shouting “Cole, get a move on!” but they were already turning the bend in the path.

The men disappeared from view. A dog lunged at her window, snapping the air in front of her face. She jerked back as he fell away.

“
If we don’t lose the dogs, Menendez’s men will catch us!”

“
If I go any faster, I’ll break an axle,” he replied.

Headlights abruptly cut through the foliage behind. Jesse’s breath caught.
How’d they get past the tree?

“
We’ve got to cut another path,” she said. Another dog leaped at the truck and bounced off. “Menendez must already have a road block somewhere ahead.”

“
Probably,” Cole replied, but kept going.

“
Cole,” she persisted.

“
What do you suggest, Jess? Ten feet off this road and we’ll mire the Harvester.”

“
We’ve got another mile before we reach the main road.” She glanced at her watch. “That’s two point four minutes. Menendez’s men made us approximately two and a half minutes ago. That’s a total of five minutes.”

“
Could be a problem,” he agreed.

“
We need to lose the dogs.”

“
Don’t shoot ‘em, Jess.”

She shot him a dirty look she knew he couldn’t see, and leaned out the passenger window with her weapon. Memory of Lancelot as he lay dying made her hand tremble.

“
Dammit,” she cursed, and aimed the weapon a good six inches in front of the lead dog and fired into ground. Two of the dogs yelped and fell back. The trailing headlights cut across the air above the dogs. She aimed high over the closest dogs’ heads and let off another round. One dog veered toward the trees but didn’t slow.

Headlights appeared high over the dogs, then hit the ground. Jesse jerked her aim twelve inches from the nearest paw, and fired. Ground spat up into the fringes of the headlights as they disappeared. A dog yelped, circled, then trotted toward the pursuit vehicle. She aimed between the two remaining dogs and pulled the trigger. They didn’t break stride.

Jesse pressed the light on her watch and checked the time. Half a minute to go. The whir of an engine and sweep of light jerked her attention behind them. A beefed up Jeep Cherokee rounded the corner thirty meters behind.

“
Floor this thing!” she shouted.

The Harvester bucked forward. She went airborne and struck her head against the roof. The vehicle bounced right, then hard left, and the thick jungle foliage opened up to the main road. Cole hit the brakes and skidded sideways on pavement. Jesse struck the seatback then the passenger side-door. Cole stepped on the gas. Tires screamed and the Harvester leaped forward. Cole shifted hard into second, and she was thrown back against the seat. She grabbed the armrest and turned to look for the Jeep. The Cherokee burst sideways across the road, and slid sideways into the jungle.

Jesse faced forward “Get the hell out of here!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“
Was it worth it, Jess?” Cole asked half an hour later as she glanced through the broken rear window for the dozenth time. She had climbed over the front seat and now occupied the passenger seat beside him. The country road they traveled crossed open ground which allowed sighting of distant headlights.

“
They’re back there somewhere.” She scanned their surroundings for manmade light.

“
Jess.”

She looked at him. “What?”

Cole took his eyes off the road and met her gaze. “Team members don’t lie to each other. That’s Lanton’s style.” He looked back at the road as if the matter was closed.

Anger replaced shock. “What did you expect? I don’t fucking know you!”

“
I put my life in your hands by going with you,” he said. “I trusted you to back me up.”

“
I did.”

“
Come off it, Jess. It’s dangerous for one team member to keep information from another. You have your agenda, and you’re sticking to it. It’s what you do.”

She stiffened. “Read that in my psych file, did you?”

Cole jerked the wheel right, driving the Harvester onto the shoulder, and came to a screeching halt that nearly sent her through the windshield. He threw the truck into park and seized her shoulders. The full moon shed light into the interior of the Harvester like a bright street lamp, illuminating the hard set of his jaw—and a blaze in his eyes she hadn’t seen before.

He gave her a hard shake. “You’re tough, aren’t you? Right. I read your file. I read about Madrid, Cairo, Bangalore. You can take care of yourself, but you’ve forgotten about teamwork.”

“
Fuck you!” she shouted.

His gaze dropped to her mouth and she startled with the impression that he wanted to kiss her.

“
You lasted one year in the Core before they drafted you,” he said. “Ever wonder why?”

Jesse gaped.

“
They can spot top operative material a mile away,” he went on.

“
What the—”

He gave her another hard shake. “Subject’s father dies before she turns twelve, her mother, just before her eighteenth birthday. Subject is left to care for special needs sibling. Subject studied some high-minded subject in college—say, political science as it applies to information security. Subject has a series of short relationships, of which only one serious.”