Hard Target: Elite Ops - Book One (29 page)

“No idea, but the timing is just too coincidental to have been anything else, and . . .” Risa’s voice trailed off.

“No one here believes in coincidences,” added Leland.

“And the place was leveled,” finished Fisher.

“Could have been the Vegas or another cartel,” offered Marissa. “We’re not sure if Rivera was there. He sent men to follow us out of the compound, but whether he was with them or not is anybody’s guess. Early indications are that no one on the premises survived.”

Anna and Zach had been listening quietly. “Oh no,” she said. “All those doctors and—”

“His wife,” said Leland, finally understanding the real issue.

“So you see why we need to get you all out of here ASAP?” asked Marissa. “If Rivera is alive, he will think you did this and take action.”

“I sure as hell don’t want to be coming back down here for you tomorrow,” said Fisher.

“I understand,” said Leland.

“I’ll get the car.” Fisher headed for the Hummer.

Marissa nodded. “I’ve got to talk to Walters about Nick.” She headed for the doctor, leaving Anna, Leland and Zach together.

Leland waited a beat, thinking Anna might say something. But she didn’t. He started to speak but didn’t know how to begin.
I’m sorry
was insufficient and
I was only doing this for your own good
was patronizing.

So he said nothing. The anger simmered off her in waves and the moment was lost. She never even glanced at him as she pulled Zach with her toward the Hummer.

Chapter Thirty-One

T
HIS WAS HAPPENING
too fast.

Anna was still processing everything that had transpired in the last hour as Leland and Bryan talked ammunition for their handguns and got the Hummer ready to leave the courtyard. They piled in with Marissa driving, and Bryan shut the gate behind them.

Shirtless, Leland was on the other side of Zach, who suddenly didn’t seem nearly as mad at Leland as he’d been when they first arrived at the vet clinic. His shoulder was still bleeding despite the work Fisher had done on him.

She didn’t know what to say or how she felt.

He’d held a gun to her head. He’d knocked her out. He’d endangered her son’s life. She knew all the actions he’d taken since she met him two days ago had been about keeping her safe. Still, she couldn’t reconcile her emotions.

While they’d been gearing up to go, Anna called her sister Liz, quickly explaining as much as she could and asking her to have an ambulance at the airport when they arrived. Zach was looking good. A little pale but there was a light in his eyes that she knew was reflected in her own.

After all this time, all this trouble, all this anguish, he was going to have a donor, not a stopgap pump but a real solution—
if
they could get out of Mexico.

She took a breath. One crisis at a time.

Leland and Bryan were divvying up weapons, passing magazines across the seat when Marissa rounded a hairpin corner at breathtaking speed and came on a line of cars blocking the road. When Anna saw the men standing beside their dusty SUVs with AK-47s, she immediately understood what was happening.

“No!” She slid to the floor without being told, pulling Zach along with her in the process.

“It’s Rivera,” said Fisher. Marissa threw the vehicle in reverse while Leland and Bryan hung out the windows and fired. Anna threw herself over Zach as they were slung around a corner and the Hummer started moving forward again.

“You got anything with more firepower than these handguns?” asked Leland.

“In the back,” said Marissa, focusing on the road. “Big case. Grenade launcher.”

“Jesus,” Leland turned to look over his shoulder. “Not that I mind, but where’d you get this?”

“Long story,” Bryan said.

Anna looked up from the floorboard and felt like she’d been here before. Leland wouldn’t be able to crawl over that seat with his shoulder, so she raised her head and peeked into the cargo bay at the long flat case.

“Anna? Can you see the case Risa’s talking about?” Bryan asked.

She lifted her whole body to the seat and reached for it. “Yeah, I’ve got it.” For the second time in as many hours she heard a bullet shatter the passenger window and thump into the upholstery beside her. She fought not to scream out loud when Leland threw himself over her and pushed her to the floor again.

She looked up to thank him, but he was focused on the unopened case.

“How many shells are in here?” asked Leland.

“Four. Single shot.” Bryan leaned out the window to thoroughly check the side mirror before looking back at them. “Can you handle that with your shoulder?” Leland nodded. “Here’s what we’ve got to do. You’re gonna drop me and the case and go on. I’ll make sure they don’t follow.”

“What?!” Marissa’s eyes never wavered from the road. “I seem to recall something about no one being left without backup.”

Leland barked a laugh. “Hell, I knew that argument would come back to bite me in the butt. Risa, you know we don’t have time to fight about this.”

“Dammit, I don’t want to leave you alone.”

“I appreciate that, but you know this is the only way for y’all to get to the airstrip.” He leaned forward over the back of the driver’s seat and pointed. “Up here and around that corner. See the fountain? Slow down there.”

“Got it.” But Risa didn’t sound happy.

Were they going to just leave him here? That didn’t make Anna happy either.

“I need you to open the door when we stop and push the case out for me. Okay?” Leland was looking at her, waiting for her answer.

God, now it was
really
going too fast. She just needed a few more minutes. She had things to tell him. What, exactly, she wasn’t sure, but she knew she wasn’t ready to say
goodbye
yet.

“Alright,” she murmured, not saying what she was really thinking. “Are you sure?” she finally asked.

God, there was so much more she wanted, needed to tell him, and they were down to only moments before it was too late. He looked down at her and smiled. Despite the dire circumstances, there was something in his eyes she hadn’t seen before. “Yeah, I’m sure. Anna, back at the compound when I—”

They rounded the fountain and Marissa stood on the brakes, interrupting whatever he’d been about to say. They didn’t even have a chance for
goodbye
before Leland was rolling out of the Hummer. Anna pushed the case out to him and he slammed the passenger door.

She looked through the broken glass to meet his piercing gaze. So much to say, and now they were completely out of time. He’d given her hope for the first time in so long. She desperately wanted to tell him.

His eyes were ablaze with unspoken emotion. With startling clarity Anna realized he was feeling some of the same things she was.

No matter what happened, she couldn’t be angry with him for getting her and Zach out of Rivera’s. He’d done it because he cared for them. She just hadn’t realized how much until now. He was willing to give his own life for hers. Nothing she could say would be adequate. She cared for him.

But it was more than that. Why was she just figuring this out now? When it was too late?

He nodded and Marissa stomped on the accelerator, the decision made. Everything would remain unsaid. Anna watched him through the shattered glass until Marissa rounded a corner and he disappeared from view.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I do trust you.” And they were gone.

Chapter Thirty-Two

L
ELAND GAZED AT
the Hummer barreling away for only a moment before he flung open the case and grabbed the M79 grenade launcher, a single-shot weapon resembling a pump-action shotgun.

This was what he’d dreaded and needed. What he’d been dealing with since the Colton debacle. Being here, being the only thing between innocent people and destruction. Wondering if he was good enough. But this was about more than standing between innocence and annihilation. This was about protecting someone he . . . loved.

God, he was in love with Anna. He’d just realized it. Somewhere in the past two days, he’d fallen for her. The knowledge didn’t scare him like he’d thought it would. He’d always assumed love made you defenseless and put you at risk. To the surprising contrary, that vulnerability made him feel whole. Made him stronger. He shook his head in disbelief, so stunned by the revelation he almost dropped the M79.

Too bad he was just realizing this now when it was too late to tell her, but he could do something about it. And he’d damn well do it right. He’d stop Rivera’s men or die trying.

His vision wavered and the launcher felt slick beneath his clammy hands. The bandage was soaked through. His shoulder dripped blood on the dirt beside him. He’d done something else to it when he rolled from the Hummer.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he counted to five before opening them to stare into the case. There were four shells just as Fisher had said. Leland wiped his palms on his jeans, took a deep breath, and loaded the first one. Standing braced beside the fountain, he waited for Rivera’s cars with the launcher aimed from his good shoulder.

Everything around him sharpened to a clear focus. Dust motes danced in the last rays of the late afternoon sun. Water splashed gently in the fountain behind him. Warm blood streamed down his arm from his less than graceful exit from the car.

With blinding clarity it came to him. This was what he was good at, being in the clinch. Regardless of his earlier doubts, he could do this. Anna and Zach were as good as on that plane and out of here.

The first SUV flew around the corner on two wheels. Leland didn’t hesitate. He pulled the trigger and it looked like a movie stunt. The launcher kicked hard. Pain reverberated across his chest as the missile shot across the square and detonated on impact.

The car rose in the air, flipping backwards onto the vehicle following it. He reloaded as two more SUVs barreled through the flames. They were so close, he wasn’t going to be able to get out of the way.

He was beyond running on his boot and woozy from the blood loss. Going forward was the only option. Despite the proximity, he steadied the launcher on his good shoulder again and pulled the trigger.

The third car disintegrated into a fireball, hurtling on to the sidewalk then through a building, while the fourth vehicle kept coming. He didn’t have time to reload the launcher, so he dropped it and pulled out the snub nose .38 he’d liberated from the nurse’s purse at Rivera’s, grateful Fisher had given him ammo in the Hummer. He took a quick breath and aimed for the driver, emptying his magazine into the windshield as the car sped toward the fountain.

He dove into the water even as the SUV swerved once then relentlessly headed straight for him. He could hear the engine revving just before the water closed in over his head.

Searing pain speared his booted foot and raced up his entire left side with such intensity he opened his mouth in a gasp. Water entered his lungs and he was choking. He felt a dizzying pain in his head and everything went black.

Chapter Thirty-Three

L
ELAND WOKE SLOWLY
to unfamiliar surroundings. The bed was hard, but he felt no discomfort. His vision was fuzzy as he floated on what he knew had to be a cloud of heavy-duty painkillers. A fan swirled lazily overheard. Nothing hurt anywhere, which surprised him, but his mouth felt like cotton.

He licked his lips. They were dry and cracked, a minor irritation in the grand scheme of things. His fingers brushed against rough sheets and touched cool plaster at his . . . thigh?

What the hell? His leg was in a cast? What had happened? Where was he? What about Anna and Zach? The last thing he remembered was the SUV heading for him in the square. Everything else was a blank.

He tried to sit up but could do no more than raise his head off the pillow. Big mistake. That floating feeling disappeared in a howling screech of agony. All his questions about what had happened and where he was were suddenly immaterial to the feeling of his brain sliding out of his skull.

He moaned and that small effort made his head ache even more. A persistent buzz of what sounded like a mosquito flying around his ears didn’t help. He steeled himself to swat at the pest and turned his face to see Gavin sitting in the chair beside his bed.

God, that hurt
. He squeezed his eyes closed then opened them again. His vision was still wavy.

Gavin stood over him.

What was going on?

His friend looked as bad as Leland felt—blood-shot eyes, three days’ worth of stubble, and a bloody t-shirt.

“Don’t try to talk.” It sounded like Gavin was shouting at him.

Leland grimaced as the words bounced around between his ears. He pulled in a deep breath to control the pain. Gavin kept talking, oblivious to the discomfort he was causing.

“I know you have questions, but you need to rest for now. You’re gonna be alright. We’re going to get you home. Just sleep.”

Leland tried to say “okay” or give an indication that he understood, but the words came out as another head-splitting moan.

Screw it,
I can’t do this right now
. And that was his last coherent thought as he slid back into blessed oblivion.

When he woke again, his body was facing in the opposite direction. Was he in a different bed? There was no ceiling fan this time, but an AC unit was providing a wheezy white noise as it labored in the background.

His head still ached, but turning it on the pillow resulted in nothing like the howling agony he’d experienced earlier. Gavin was still there—now showered, shaved, and wearing a clean shirt. Leland raised an eyebrow despite the pain in his skull.

“I know I’m not dead ’cause you wouldn’t be here if that were the case.” His voice sounded rusty, like he hadn’t used it in a while.

Gavin smiled, but the expression didn’t reach his eyes.

“Could I have some water?”

Leland watched him pick up a covered cup with a straw from the bedside table. He held it for Leland to take a deep sip. His friend looked beyond exhausted. Damn, if Gavin was here that meant Kat was . . .