PRIMAL Reckoning (Book 1 in the Redemption Trilogy, the PRIMAL Series Book 5) (18 page)

The
rancher’s cold grey eyes seemed to bore a hole straight through his head.

“If
you’re not going to talk, then this is going to be hard on you. Not just you,
but your family too.”

At the
mention of his family the rancher’s leathery lips thinned. Pershing thought he
was about to speak.

A knock
at the door interrupted them.

Pershing
grabbed his hat. “If you’ll excuse me, sir, business is calling.” He opened the
door.

“The men
are ready, boss,” Burro said. Behind him three pickups of armed Black Jackets
were waiting.

“Good.
Lock this sorry son-of-a-bitch in one of the spare offices and post a guard.
Make sure he has water, food, and a bucket to shit in.”

Burro
turned and snapped out orders to two of his men. They looked disappointed as
they jumped down from a truck. They would miss out on the hunt.

“OK,
let’s get this show on the road!”

CHAPTER
21

Bishop looked at the stars as he caught
his breath. He knew it was futile to try and spot the drone. What they needed
to do was hide from the aircraft’s sensors, and the only way to do that here was
to get underground.

They had
reached the sandy area with the poisoned creek, Bishop running alongside as
Christina rode her horse down the canyon. He fished his iPRIMAL from his
pocket; hoping it had enough battery power to activate the emergency beacon.
“Damn.” The screen was cracked, he must have landed on it during a fall. He
powered it up but the screen glowed blank.

He
switched the device off and pointed at the hill to where Roberto had showed
them the old gold mine. “We can’t take your horse up there with us.”

“What
about the drone? She might lead them back to the farm,” said Christina as she
dismounted.

Bishop
knew the safest option was to shoot the horse. But he couldn’t bring himself to
do it. “The drone will stay on us.” He hung the horse’s reins over the saddle
and slapped her on the rump. “Go on, go!” he yelled clapping his hands. The
beautiful Palamino took off down the canyon at a gallop. “Good luck, girl.”

As they
climbed the hill the rumble of engines grew louder. “That didn’t take them
long.” He grabbed Christina by the hand and hauled her up the slope. “We need
to move!”

He pulled
out the ROVER and activated the screen. The drone was still fixed on them. He
zoomed out and identified the old mine location. It was only a few hundred
yards away. A worn trail to the entrance was on the overhead image. “Come on.”
He scrambled up the rocky incline. Behind him Christina struggled for her
footing.

“I’m
sorry,” she puffed.

“Don’t be
sorry. You’re doing great.” The noise of the vehicles stopped, replaced by
doors slamming and men shouting. “I’m going to scout ahead,” he hissed. He
climbed further and found a goat trail. In the moonlight he spotted the track
the cartel guys would be using. He didn’t dare to pull out the ROVER again. Even
with the screen brightness turned down, it might give them away.

Christina
caught up with him and he gave her a chance to catch her breath. As he watched
the track he spotted the first figures approaching. “Christina, I need you to
go first. This path leads to the mine. I’m going to slow these guys down.”

She nodded
and scrambled into the darkness.

Bishop
knelt and waited half a minute before he closed one eye and lifted the AK. He
fired a burst at the figures on the track below, then dashed after Christina.

Yelling
filled the air followed by random gunfire. He smiled, it was the exact effect
he was after. He jogged back along the track, pushing through waist-high grass.
When he spotted Christina he knelt again.

A minute
later he caught a glimpse of a dark shape approaching cautiously. He aimed and
fired. A man cried out. He sprinted after Christina and almost ran into an old
mining cart. She was crouched behind it. Bullets snapped through the air and the
bark of automatic weapons reverberated off the hill.

Bishop
kicked at the ground in front of the cart. His boot hit something hard and
metal. “Railway tracks. Follow them into the mine.”

Christina
continued through the grass as Bishop waited by the cart. He took one of the
grenades from his stolen chest rig, yanked out the pin, and tossed it into the
darkness. He turned and ran after Christina.

The
explosion shook dust and rocks from the hillside as he ran into the mouth of
the mine. Christina had baulked at the gaping black hole. He grabbed her arm.
“We’re dead out there. In here, we have a chance.” Reluctantly she followed him
into the darkness.

***

Pershing was waiting in the Chevy a few
hundred yards from the mine when Burro tapped on the window. He checked the
time on the dash. It was four-thirty in the morning. He lowered the window.
“Have you captured them yet?”

Burro was
still puffing. “They’re cornered in the mine.”

“Have you
sent anyone in?”

“No, Mr.
Pershing, but there’s nowhere for them to go.”

He
sighed. “So it should be very easy for y’all to go in and get them.”

“OK.” He
turned to walk back.

Pershing
opened the door. “Oh and Burro. Send someone to get explosives. If we can’t get
them out, we’ll bury them in there.”

“That’s
more like it.” The cartel killer talked to one of the men at the trucks before
heading back up the hill. A pickup started and drove off.

He watched
for a moment then followed Burro, catching him halfway up the hill. “Did you
lose any men?”

“Yes,
just one. But it’s OK, he was stupid.”

They
walked the rest of the way in silence. Pershing looked out to the east. In less
than an hour the sun would start to rise, taking the edge off the frigid desert
air.

When they
reached the mine entrance they found men on both sides of the opening, some
sitting on rocks, others with weapons pointed in to the darkness. Every now and
then one flashed the tactical flashlight mounted on his weapon.

“So who’s
going in there?” Pershing asked.

The men
looked at each other.

He laughed.
“So you’re all chicken shit.” He cupped his mouth and yelled down the hole.
“Aden, you and Christina should come out now. If you stay in there you’re only
going to die.” He paused. Hearing nothing, he continued. “I’m going to give you
twenty minutes to consider your options. Then, if you don’t want to come out
we’re going to come in.”

Pershing
turned to the men sitting on rocks watching. “What are you dumb shits doing?
It’s goddamn cold. How about you light a fire.”

***

It was pitch black inside the mine.
Bishop used the flashlight on the AK to light their way as they pushed deeper
into the heart of the mountain. When they were a few hundred yards inside he
activated the ROVER and placed it on the ground. Without a signal from the drone
it was just a softly glowing panel. With the brightness turned down he guessed
it would last at least a few hours.

Christina sat next to the glowing screen,
wrapping her arms around her knees.

Bishop draped his jacket over her.
“You heard the cowboy. They’re going to
send guys in here. We need to be ready.” He unfastened all the pouches on his
vest and performed a quick check of his equipment. Four full magazines remained
for the assault rifle. He also had two grenades, a packet of cigarettes and a
lighter, the ROVER, his damaged iPRIMAL, a watch, and his Gerber covert folding
knife. He ran his fingers through his hair and cursed. He’d lost his baseball
cap.

“Are we
going to be OK?” she asked quietly.

He
flashed her a confident smile. “Of course. I’ve gotten out of worse than this.”
It was not exactly a lie. Bishop had been in plenty of situations where death
seemed imminent.

She
swallowed. “OK. What do you need me to do?”

***

Pershing stood in front of the blazing
fire warming his hands. He checked his watch. Twenty minutes had passed and he’d
heard nothing from inside the mine. He turned to Burro. “I need two men to go
in.”

“Good
luck with that, Mr. Pershing. Nobody wants to go in there.”

He took
out his wallet, peeled off a thick wad of hundred dollar bills, and addressed
the group. “I’ve got two grand here. I’ll give a thousand dollars to anyone who
goes into that mine. When you get the Aden guy and his girl, I’ll give you another
nine each to match it.”

The men
started talking. He had their interest. Before long two of them stepped
forward.

“Finally,
among the sheep we have some wolves.” He handed each man a thousand dollars. One
of them refused the cash and spoke to Burro in Spanish.

The
lieutenant translated. “He doesn’t want the money, Mr. Pershing. He wants your
pistol.”

Pershing
contemplated the request. The chrome pearl-handled .45 had been a gift from an
oil tycoon who had appreciated some work he’d done. It was one of his most
prized possessions. But hell, he could always buy another one. He slid the
weapon out of its holster and handed it over. “It’s a deal.”

The two Black
Jackets each chose a side of the three-yard wide tunnel and stalked forward, aiming
their weapon-mounted flashlights down the passage. Powerful beams of light
pierced the darkness.

When they
were out of sight, Pershing turned to Burro. “You sure there’s no other way out?”

Burro
shook his head. “Pedro said he’s been inside when he was a boy. There’s only
one way in and out.”

“The guys
inside have got ten minutes. If they haven’t dragged them out by then, we’re
going to blow it.”

***

The two gunmen were a hundred yards into
the mine and had yet to see any sign of either the woman or Aden. They moved
forward tentatively, the flashlights attached to their weapons bobbing in the
darkness as they leapfrogged forward. It was a slow process, but it meant
neither of them was exposed without a cover man.

“What’s
that? Can you hear it?”

The other
man turned his head. He thought he heard a woman crying. They edged forward
until they could see her in the soft glow of the ROVER screen.

One of
them inched forward until his flashlight illuminated the woman. She was hunched
over and sobbing.

She
looked up with tears flowing down her cheeks. “You killed him,” she wailed.

The man
lowered his weapon.

Bishop’s
arms were burning. He’d held himself in position up on the tunnel’s wooden
scaffolding for over two minutes as the Black Jackets slowly searched down the
tunnel. Christina played her part to perfection and when the men lowered their
guard, Bishop swung down from the roof.

His feet
hit one of the cartel thugs square in the chest sending him smashing into the
wall. A weapon clattered to the ground. Bishop landed behind the second man. He
transferred the blade pressed between his lips to his fist and punched it into
the base of the man’s neck driving it up into his brain. The body twitched as
it collapsed.

Dazed
from the blow, the first man feebly raised an arm as Bishop stabbed him in the
heart.

He
switched off the flashlights on the assault rifles. Only the glow of the ROVER screen
remained.

“Are they
dead?” Christina asked softly.

He
stripped the equipment from the bodies. “They can’t hurt you now.” As he
removed their jackets there was a clatter as something hit the ground. He
picked up a .45 pistol. It was a custom job. Not something you would usually
see in the hands of a low-ranking foot-soldier. He stuffed it in one of the
empty pouches on his chest rig.

He
dragged the pile of gear to Christina. He had selected the least bloody of the
two jackets for her. “Put this on, you’re going to need it.”

She
donned the oversized jacket and slung her Canon camera over it. As she adjusted
the strap on the camera, she stopped and sniffed the air. “Aden, can you smell
that?”

“Smell
what?”

“It
smells like something metallic. Like fireworks.”

It took a
split second for Bishop to recognize the smell of a burning fuse. He pulled
Christina off the ground. “Run, run!” He activated the light on his AK, grabbed
her by the hand, and dragged her down the railway tracks deeper into the mine.
As they ran Bishop flashed the light from side to side searching for a hole in
the rock. Finally he found one. He shone the light into it then pushed
Christina inside. He barely fit in behind her. “Block your ears and open your
mouth.” He wrapped his arms around her and they waited.

Minutes
seemed to stretch into eternity. Then it started as a rumble and shudder. Dust
and debris dropped from the ceiling and Christina whimpered.

Seconds
after the initial rumble a roar like a freight train blasted past the opening,
through the mineshaft. Christina’s scream was cut off as the oxygen was sucked
out. Then it was over and they could breathe again. Christina coughed in the
dusty air. “What, what happened?”

“They
blew the entrance.”

***

Pershing held onto his Stetson as the
rush of wind and dirt blew out of the mineshaft. It took half a minute for the
cloud of dust to settle, then he dusted off his suit. “Check it.” He waited as the
men lit up the entrance to the tunnel with their flashlights. The explosive
charge had done its work. The roof of the shaft had collapsed, completely
blocking the entrance.

Burro
laughed. “Nobody’s getting out of there, Mr. Pershing.”