Chapter Forty-Two Ryder
Chapter Forty-Two
Ryder
“Motherfucking son of a ...” Alex snarled, baring his teeth, and I had to push him back down on the ground.
“Hold still, dammit.” My hands were soaked in his blood, and if he didn’t stop moving, he’d bleed out on me. “Can you keep the flashlight right there?” I directed to Seraphina, who was kneeling next to me alongside our patient.
She smoothed the back of her hand across Alex’s forehead as she held the light up so I could see outside in the dark. “You’ll be okay.” The fact he reminded her of her brother had to make this situation twice as hard on her.
“He’s not swearing up a storm because he’s in pain; he has morphine in him,” I explained while zeroing in on the main problem, and thank God these GRS operators had a decent medkit on hand. “He’s mad because—”
“The bitch shot me,” Alex barked out, trying to sit again, and Reed had to help me pin him back down. He was ready to go after his ex-wife, who’d successfully been extracted less than ten minutes ago.
“She’s gone off the rails.” Reed kept hold of Alex’s arm, trying to prevent him from moving around too much so I could deal with his wound.
“The smoke ... I couldn’t ...” Alex finally stopped resisting, which worried me even more that he was fading.
“One more second. Hang on, brother.” I continued to manage his wound, working to stabilize him. I was using the innovative device Nate had provided after we’d made it out of the safe house and were no longer under enemy fire.
“She got away.” Alex started cursing, which was a good sign the device I was using was doing its thing and helping.
“What’s that do?” Seraphina asked as I used the syringe-like applicator at his side where his flesh had been ripped apart and he still had a round embedded beneath his skin.
Reed spoke for me, explaining, “He’s injecting these small sponge-type things into the wound cavity. They expand and exert hemostatic pressure. Think of it like temporarily sealing a flat tire so no air can leak out. Or in this case, blood.”
I opened my hand palm up, a silent request for gauze, and someone handed it to me so I could finish patching him up.
“Better?” Seraphina asked him.
“No,” Alex grunted, clearly still in pissed-off territory. Yeah, you and me both. “My ex tried to kill me, and she got away.” He tried to sit, and I set a hand to his chest to encourage him back down on the grass. Not the best operating table, but we had no choice.
“I’m done with the light,” I let her know. “Not sure if the bullet hit any major organs. There was a lot of blood. We need to get him to a hospital ASAP.”
“No, don’t you dare medevac me to an ER.” Alex, dammit, with the protest. Always putting himself second to a mission. “We need our helo and pilot to chase after her.” The stubborn man tried to sit again. “Beth had her people blow up the bird here.”
“Do you have a death wish, brother?” Reed gritted out. “We’ll get her, but we need you alive.”
We had to first get our Black Hawk back at the villa. I had no clue where the hell we were, but we couldn’t be too far given the time it’d taken to leave the meeting with ángel to arrive at this safe house.
I pivoted around, searching out the GRS pilot who was now on our side, and he gave me an okay nod he’d have our backs on this. Thankfully, he hadn’t been a Beth loyalist.
After the windows to her bedroom had been blown out so her team could breach, smoke had filled the room just as Alex walked in.
I assumed he’d been caught off guard, and knowing him, couldn’t shoot her.
However, she hadn’t hesitated. She grabbed a 9mm from one of her rescuers and shot Alex in the torso before her team extracted her, taking her out the window.
She’d only exfil’ed with her two loyal operators that Nate had already warned us about. She’d left Leo behind after rendering him unconscious.
Two more tangos had fast-roped down to the other side of the property where I’d been exiting with Seraphina, and they were after her, not us.
Nate and I took them down. Headshots. No hesitation. Zero fucks given at that point. Thankfully, Seraphina never had to shoot anyone with the 9mm I’d given her. I never wanted her to experience what it was like to take a life.
A door gunner inside Beth’s escape vehicle, a modified Boeing Apache that had no business being anywhere in Costa Rica, had opened fire on us once she was safely on board. He’d forced us to take cover while he blew to high hell the helo parked there, along with the three SUVs.
Only when we were in the clear could we safely move Alex to handle his wound. Hopefully, we hadn’t lost too much time. The fact he was still conscious and could swear were good signs. The morphine I’d shot him up with may have helped the pain but not his anger.
“So, not to state the obvious, but how are we getting to our villa?” Seraphina asked.
“We can’t carry him for miles, and we have to be at least a good ten mikes out from our place, if not more,” I said, trying to work the problem. To think.
“We could call for an ambulance, but then we have to explain what happened, and I don’t think we want to deal with the police. We’re not technically here, remember?” Reed reminded me of my conversation with Potus .
“We have no choice. We have to get him there somehow.” I finally stood, helping Seraphina up as well. I set my hands on my hips, assessing the scene, along with our options. I did a three-sixty, checking out the chaos around us.
While there were no other houses around that I could see, the explosions and “fireworks” would have drawn attention. The authorities were more than likely en route now. We’d all get thrown behind bars until Potus could negotiate our way out. That was a problem second to our first one: Alex’s GSW.
“ángel,” she announced, and I turned to see her holding her phone. “He’s calling.” I’d forgotten I’d given her cell back before I spoke to the president. “Maybe he can help us?”
Great. Get help from a former cartel member. What choice did we have at this point? “Okay,” I agreed after exchanging a look with Reed, who nodded as well.
ángel cut straight to it once she had him on speakerphone. “I saw what happened. I didn’t trust her, so I had you all followed after you left my shop. We had a drone up.”
My hands fell to my sides at the news. “Tell me you still have eyes on her.”
“I do. They’ve already landed about six miles due north of that safe house you’re at. I’m not letting them out of my sight. I also have a team on their way to you. Looks like you need a lift.”
That we do. We’d be leaving Leo behind here, though. He could find his own ride home.
“Thank you,” I finally managed, hanging my head in relief. I’d never have thought this man would become a guardian angel for us.
“I need to go after her.” At Alex’s words, I spun back to find him trying to sit, and Reed was at his six, easing him down yet again before he hurt himself.
“We will,” I promised. “The team sent to help her, do you know anything about them? Are they CIA? GRS?”
“This was a surprise even to me,” ángel began. “But the house she was taken to, well—”
“Don’t tell me,” I cut him off. “I already know.” I swallowed, then lifted my eyes to the dark, starless sky.
“Who?” Seraphina asked.
“Ezra Sokolov,” ángel answered for me.
“Wait, no, that doesn’t make any sense,” she whispered. “He can’t be in the know, because then ...”
“I don’t think Ezra’s a CIA asset like Nina is. But Beth is the one he’s afraid to piss off, not his wife.” My shoulders slumped as the pieces came together. “He knows he’s not working for the Russians, because he’s working with her.”