Undercover Texas (18 page)

He compared the two maps. “They’re heading into Big Bend National Park. That’s some rough terrain.

“Where can we land?” Hunter called to Noah.

“Lajitas,” he answered. “They have a large enough airstrip. I’ll have a car ready when we arrive.”

Hunter bent down and checked his weapons and clips, then sheathed his knife. He met Daniel’s gaze. “Top priority of this op is the safety of Erin and my son. No matter what else is going on. Agreed?”

Daniel gave him a solemn look. “We’ll have your back, Hunter. We’ll do what it takes.”

“Good, because it’s almost dawn and before this day is over, I’m going to take Miller down. Ali and anyone else involved in kidnapping my family are going to pay.”

Hunter glanced at the dot, and his heart lurched. All movement had stopped. “You don’t threaten what’s mine and get away with it.”

Chapter Twelve

Dawn broke over the mountains. The pink and orange rays of sunlight sliced through the mesquite and pine, highlighting the rocky crevices surrounding Erin like burning fire.

Miller had driven deep into Big Bend National Park, then gone off-road for several miles until they’d reached what he’d called their rendezvous point. “The nearby waterfall will mute a lot of stray sounds,” he said with a smile. The way he said the words made her blood chill.

From the moment she’d witnesses General Miller’s cold-blooded execution of his own men, she’d realized the man wouldn’t leave witnesses behind. She had to find a way to get Brandon away from this monster. She had no idea what he would do next.

Now she sat at the edge of a small clearing, her hands still duct-taped behind her back. The baby was strapped in a harness that Miller had pulled from his vehicle. She was thankful. At least her son was near her.

Brandon was cold, wet, whimpering and desolate. She looked down to comfort him. Even that small movement set her cheek throbbing. Her face was swollen and her right eye barely opened anymore. She tried to keep the circulation going in her shoulders, but the angle they were tied at behind her back made them ache.

On the trip up here, she’d searched the back of the vehicle for at least an hour, hoping to find a sharp edge to cut the tape, but she’d failed. If Miller ever walked far enough away from her, she’d feel for a sharp stick or rock to use to shred the tape.

She had to find a way out, but she simply didn’t know how to get away from this man. And no one knew she and her son were here.

She turned to watch Miller. With more light, maybe she could figure out what the general was doing. Knowledge was power, and she had to hold on to that hope.

Miller rounded the clearing, looking into the woods and listening, his weapon at the ready. He opened a small bag on his shoulder and rounded the clearing again, but this time he stopped every foot or so and stepped into the surrounding brush and trees. He’d crouch down, fiddle with something, then, a moment later, step back and move on to the next spot.

As he came closer to Erin, she studied him very carefully. When he stopped, he pulled a small device from the bag he carried and lined it up with the previous unit.

Oh, God,
Miller was setting electronic versions of trip wires. Whoever broke the plane would explode a mine powerful enough to maim...or kill...anyone near it.

If the visitors triggered a mine on either side of where she and Brandon sat, they would be in the blast radius.

Miller glanced at his watch. “It won’t be long now.”

Erin shifted backward slightly so as not to attract Miller’s attention, reaching her hands as far behind her as she could. She sifted through leaves, pine needles, twigs, but found nothing substantial.

Then her left hand brushed something hard. She paused and rubbed her thumb against the jagged edges of a stone.

Although elated, she forced her face to remain impassive. Erin grasped the small rock in her hands, grateful that it wasn’t a smooth stone from the nearby streambed. No, this was hard and sharp and might just cut through the tape that bound her.

Gripping it awkwardly, she bent her wrists as far as they would go to spread the tape. Just a little nick, that’s all she needed to get started. She rubbed the rock’s sharpest edge against the thick tape, but it didn’t give at all. She repeated the motion, over and over again, biting her lip in concentration until she realized Miller had looked her way again.

Erin schooled her expression into one closer to resignation and despair, which wasn’t far from what she was feeling. She wished he’d turn away. She couldn’t let him see that she was doing anything. But Miller needed to believe she’d given up.

She glanced down at her sleeping son. She was all that stood between him and death. And she would never, ever give up.

Miller tensed. He walked over to her and dragged her to her feet. Brandon nearly fell out of the chest harness and he screamed, glaring at their captor.

“Shut him up,” Miller snapped.

“He’s a baby. He’s scared. Let my arms loose. He won’t be quiet unless I hold him.”

The screeching grew even louder. Finally, Miller cursed and sliced the tape between her wrists. “Keep him quiet or I swear I’ll kill him. I’m too close to succeeding to have him blow it.”

Erin jostled Brandon, trying to calm him and herself.

“Don’t think for one moment you can get away from me,” he said. “I’ve already proven
everyone
is expendable.”

Pain splintered up and down Erin’s arms as the circulation in her shoulders was restored. She gritted her teeth, praying Brandon wouldn’t pick up on her distress and cry more.

She held him close, crooning nonsense words of comfort, and finally he settled against her chest and quieted.

A beep sounded from Miller’s belt. He pressed her back against him and shoved the barrel of a gun against her ribs. “They’re coming,” he whispered in her ear. “Don’t say a word. Follow my lead if you want to live.”

Shock slammed through her. There was a chance? After killing his own men...

He shifted her to face south. A tall, thin man pushed through the bushes. Two men flanked him, their assault rifles pointed directly at her and Miller.

“Lower your weapons, Ali, or Dr. Jamison will be the first to die.”

The man’s eyes narrowed in anger, but he nodded at the men. They immediately turned their weapons to the ground. The three men stepped into the clearing. “You have made the entire transaction difficult from the very beginning, General. However, as you see, I can come and go into your country as I wish across this southern border. I am pleased to see you honored your part of the bargain. I don’t like that my merchandise is damaged, however. Thankfully, Dr. Jamison’s value is not in her beauty. Her skill will shine through her current disfigurement. Otherwise, you’d be dead already.”

The man smiled at Erin, his snakelike eyes sending an icy quiver through her entire body.

Erin stood frozen. Miller was giving her to Akbar Ali? She recognized the psychotic despot from several briefings on terrorism. A ruthless and cunning man, he’d clawed and killed his way up the ranks of a once small-time militant group. The organization had been loosely run, with dozen of factions warring among themselves. Ali, after killing his competitors, had unified the disparate groups under one leadership that no one dared question.

Ali walked toward them. “I want the doctor now.”

“That’s close enough. I haven’t seen any money yet.”

Erin shot an incredulous gaze over her shoulder at Miller. Money? She was being sold to a terrorist for money?

Ali signaled and one of the men moved forward into the clearing. He knelt down and opened a small nondescript suitcase, then turned it around.

It was packed with U.S. dollars.

“Very good,” Miller said. He took another step back.

Ali advanced. “Now for my prize,” he said smoothly. “I have much need of her special expertise. You and I will cause quite a stir to those who doubt the...sincerity...of my intentions, Dr. Jamison.”

Her stomach churned with disgust. Ali’s eyes glowed with the promise of death. Hunter had been right. She never should have been so naive as to not see the weaponization potential of the prototype. The world could make anything good into evil. If good men let them.

Miller tightened his grip on Erin. “I have one more piece of business to finish with you.” His hard voice carried a threat.

Ali smiled. “I doubt that very much, General. You would be a fool to take us on. You are one man. We are three. One shot to the head, and this meeting is over.”

“Then you will never leave this clearing alive,” Miller said. He pulled out a small remote device and pressed a button. “I’ve activated a net surrounding us. If anyone walks through, they will not survive.”

“You’re bluffing,” Ali said.

“Try me.”

Ali nodded to one of his bodyguards. “Go.”

The man gave a slight bow and, without hesitation, walked to the edge of the clearing. He stepped forward. One step. Two steps. Light flashed, and a loud explosion erupted. The man’s body burst into flames, but he didn’t scream.

He was already dead.

* * *

F
ROM
BEHIND
THE
COVER
of a large boulder, Hunter, Noah and Daniel peered through the cottonwoods and watched the plume of smoke billow into the sky. The acrid stench of burning flesh filled the air. Erin’s terror and Brandon’s cries shredded Hunter’s heart.

“Go,” Hunter whispered. “You know what to do.”

Noah crawled on his belly, hidden by bushes until he reach the electronic trip wires. While the standoff in the clearing continued, he dismantled two of the mines with great care, then positioned himself behind Ali, ready to attack. Daniel did the same.

Hunter made his way around to where Miller and Erin stood, and dismantled another setup.

Ali and the bodyguard held their weapons on Miller, Erin and Brandon. “I don’t see a winner for this game, General.”

“It’s not a game. You killed my son, Ali. You’re dying today.” Miller shoved Erin into the lone bodyguard. Erin dove to the side. The bodyguard raised his gun. Miller didn’t flinch. He aimed his weapon and took out Ali with one clean shot to the temple, just as bullets from the bodyguard’s gun strafed Miller’s chest.

Ali fell back into a mine. Another explosion shot debris and body parts into the sky.

Hunter raced through the shrapnel and flames and tackled the surviving bodyguard to the ground. The man slammed his gun into Hunter’s head and turned his weapon on Erin.

With one sharp move Hunter twisted the terrorist’s neck.

The man lay still.

“Erin?” Hunter shouted, peering through the smoke

“Hunter!”

He saw her then, Brandon cradled in her arms. Behind her, Miller rose, the Kevlar of his bulletproof vest showing through his shredded clothing. He grabbed Erin when she tried to get up and pulled her to his chest.

“No,” Hunter shouted. “Let them go. You got what you wanted. Ali is dead.”

Miller gripped Erin close. “Damn it, Hunter. I didn’t want you here. It wasn’t supposed to go down this way. I don’t leave witnesses. You know that.”

“General, please don’t.” Hunter eased closer, his gaze on Daniel’s and Noah’s movements behind Miller. He had to keep the man’s attention.

Hunter stared into Erin’s eyes, trying desperately to convey that he had a plan, that he would save her. No matter what.

“What happened to you, General?” Hunter asked. “I thought I knew the man you were. You would never have sacrificed an innocent mother and child.”

“You know nothing. Did you realize they were going to take away the organization I built from scratch? They said I was too old. That I should enjoy my golden years after all my exemplary service. No one was ever going to catch this bastard. He killed my son, beheaded him like an animal at the slaughter, and no one was going to do anything about it.”

“Miller, I’m sorry—”

“Don’t. Our company was fighting the good fight and those pansy-assed politicians were taking that away from me, too. Who would be left to make these murderers pay? They killed my son. They were going to destroy the company, and you...you were going to leave me, too. After all I did for you.”

“What?”

“Matt didn’t have to go back overseas on that last tour. He volunteered. Four times he went to that hellhole and came back alive. I wanted him to stay home and work for me, but then he met you. He admired you, Graham. Wanted to be like you. Save the world. So he returned and fell into Ali’s hands, and
you
didn’t save him.”

Hunter felt the blood drain from his face. “Is that why you chose Erin?”

“Serendipity. The moment the information on her prototype came over my desk, I knew Ali would want it—and her. He came all the way to me.”

Hunter stared at his mentor. “
You
were the leak? You told the terrorists about her prototype?”

“I needed to get Ali here. Kill him on my turf. I had it all planned out.” He glared at Erin. “She screwed it up. With her and the baby gone, you wouldn’t be distracted anymore. Ali would be dead. The team would get the credit. The politicians would reinstate the funds. Sure, there’d be collateral damage, but I’d explain away your name on those lists as part of our plan, and you’d stay on as my lead operative. Since I took out Exley, your stupid lawyer, your identity would be safe again. We would have done great things.”

The general had truly lost his mind. “That’s never gonna happen, Miller. This op is over.”

Miller stared hard at Erin, then at Brandon. “I guess it is.”

He aimed his weapon at Brandon.

“No!” Hunter grabbed the gun. They fought for control, knocking Erin and the baby to the dirt. She scooted backward toward one of the remaining booby traps at the clearing’s edge.

“Erin, don’t move,” Hunter yelled.

Miller stared into Hunter’s eyes and smiled, a sickly dead smile.
Oh, God
. Hunter glanced at Erin.

The general yanked hard against the gun, then with a sudden shift of weight forced Hunter off balance. He stumbled. In that instant, Miller rolled and lifted the weapon. “There’ll be no witnesses!”

Hunter didn’t hesitate. He leaped between Miller and his family, using his body to protect them. A spray of bullets slapped Hunter. He grunted and hit his knees.

Miller let out a deranged scream. He laughed at them. Hunter scooped Erin and Brandon and shoved them away from the clearing’s edge. Miller couldn’t stop his momentum. He tumbled into the trees.

The force of the explosion left nothing behind.

Hunter rolled onto his back, struggling for breath.

Erin crawled to him, crying. “Oh, my God, Hunter. Don’t die. Please, don’t die. I love you.”

He let out a cough and shoved himself up onto his elbows. “Okay, I won’t. You said the magic words.”

Erin ran her fingers over his torso, shocked. “But he shot you.”

“He’s not the only one with a bulletproof vest, honey. Company rules for every op.”