Chapter 12 #2
When water rushed over him, he kicked hard. Once he came to the surface, he only had seconds to duck back under before one of the speed boats blasted over him, turning toward the shore.
The next time he surfaced, the Zodiac had skidded up onto the sandy shore, and his teammates bailed to either side and then lay low in the sand as bullets zipped over their heads.
Stone, Dax, Bubba, Carter and Moe low-crawled across the sand, keeping their heads down.
The speed boats weren’t the kind of boats that could be easily beached. The drivers turned before they got too close to shore. The men on board fired toward Stone and the guys, completely oblivious to the fact that two of their team had bailed before the boat had gone ashore.
Hunter couldn’t begin to help his team. Not when Savvie was out there in the water.
Where was Savvie? He spun, his chest tightening. Did she know how to swim? Had one of the speed boats hit her? Had she been pulled out to sea in a riptide or undertow? He couldn’t call out and draw attention to himself and her.
Hunter tread water, making a three-hundred-sixty-degree turn, more desperate with each passing second. If she’d gone under and couldn’t come up on her own, there was no way to find her in time. His heart sank into the pit of his belly.
No. Oh, hell no. Not again.
A face surfaced in front of him.
“Savvie,” he cried and reached for her, pulling her to him and sending them both under.
He loosened his hold but didn’t let go, kicking hard to bring them up for air. “Savvie,” he gasped. “What the hell? You scared the shit out of me. Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers while still treading water.
“I’m sorry,” she said, then raised a finger to her lips and pointed toward the shore.
The five men of his team were completely surrounded by more than a dozen men, each armed with an AR-15 rifle.
Hunter had to do something to help his friends. As he started for shore, a hand snagged his arm and arrested his movement.
Savvie held onto his arm.
He turned toward her. “They need help.”
“The two of us won’t make a difference,” she argued. “They’ll still be outnumbered. This way, if they take them captive, they’ll be inside the compound with the others.”
“If they don’t shoot them first,” Hunter said.
The men surrounding the Yellowstone team closed in on them, yelling for them to drop their weapons.
Stone laid down his rifle and raised his hands. “Don’t shoot.”
Hunter and Savvie swam wide of the men on shore and the two motorboats circling close by. They headed for the far end of the beach, where a rocky outcropping stretched out into the ocean and the palm trees grew close to the water’s edge.
All the while, Hunter watched his brothers in arms as they were herded into a line and marched off the beach, disappearing into the shadows of a stand of trees.
The speedboats raced away, leaving Hunter and Savvie in the clear to emerge from the water onto land.
“We need to follow them,” Savvie said. “At a distance. They’re probably following a path through the woods that goes to the compound.”
They didn’t have time to wring the water out of their clothes. His clothes and boots still damp from seawater, Hunter led the way, staying in the shadows of the trees until he reached the path his team had been herded down.
Moving quickly, he and Savvie closed the distance between them and the guards moving the team.
Hunter could hear the guards telling the guys to hurry along. When they came to a halt, Hunter could barely see them through the underbrush.
Someone shouted. Hunter couldn’t make out the words. Then a loud clanking sound rang out.
The men ahead of Hunter and Savvie moved.
Hunter crept a little closer until he could make out the straight lines of the compound wall.
He shrank back into the shadows and watched as his friends disappeared through a heavy iron door.
Holy hell. How were he and Savvie going to get inside the fortress and rescue the prisoners they’d originally come for, and now, the men who were like family to him?
Hunter motioned for Savvie to move back into the jungle.
When he felt they were far enough away that they wouldn’t be overheard, he tapped the mike on his radio headset.
He was surprised they were still in his ears, considering he’d been for a swim in the ocean with them. Yeah, they were still there, but would they work?
“Eagle Rock, this is Yellowstone. Come in.”
Nothing. Not even static.
He tried again. “Eagle Rock, come in.”
This time static filled his ear.
“Eagle Rock here,” Hank’s familiar voice filled Hunter’s ear. A brief rush of relief filled him, followed by the crushing seriousness of their situation.
“Yellowstone, five of seven captured.”
“Roger,” Hank said. “Proceed as planned.”
“Roger.” Hunter wasn’t sure how he and Savvie would breach the wall without the other guys to help. Hank and his team would go over from the other side of the compound.
He and Savvie wouldn’t have his team to protect them or to have their backs. On the positive side, if he and Savvie could scale the wall, it might benefit them to move through the compound, just the two of them rather than a team of seven.
Staying far enough away from the compound wall and hiding in the shadows, Hunter and Savvie moved through the woods, studying the wall for a potential location to go over.
A cloud passed over the sky, making it too dark to see much of anything.
Hunter stopped and waited for the cloud to pass before continuing. When the stars shone down on the wall again, they illuminated several cracks in the surface, big enough for hand and footholds but higher than Hunter could reach by himself.
“Ever been rock climbing?” Savvie asked as if reading his mind.
“I have. You?” He glanced her way.
Her lips curled upward in a smile. “I have. I’d go first, but I know I can’t help you from the top of the wall as much as I can help you down here.
” She tipped her chin toward the wall several yards from where they stood in the shadows.
“I’ll give you my knee and back to get you up as high as you can go.
When you’re on the wall, you can help me up. ”
“Deal,” he nodded toward the wall. “On three?”
“One,” Savvie said.
Hunter nodded. “Two.”
Together they said, “Three,” and then ran toward the wall.
Once they reached the base, Savvie bent, locked her fingers together and cupped her hands.
Hunter stepped into them, reached for the cracks, pulled himself up the wall and straddled the top, looking around for any guards that might be patrolling inside the compound perimeter. So far, the immediate vicinity remained clear.
When he was balanced, he leaned over as far as he could and extended his hand to Savvie.
She stood on her toes and could just clasp his hand with hers.
Hunter pulled her up to the top of the wall beside him and steadied her until she had her balance.
The building inside the compound next to them had no windows or doors on the side facing them.
Hunter pushed to his feet. The wall was wider than a balance beam, enough to walk along until they found an entry point into one of the structures or an alleyway between buildings.
Savvie stood beside Hunter.
“Drop to the ground, or follow the fence until we see an entry point?” Hunter whispered.
“Fence line,” Savvie answered.
Hunter walked the top of the concrete wall until they passed the end of the structure, only to find another building past the first and a door tucked beneath an overhang.
“That’s our entry point,” Savvie said.
“What if it’s locked?” he asked.
She grinned. “They taught us many useful skills in assassins’ training. One of which was how to pick locks.”
Hunter gripped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead. “You’re amazing.”
As quickly as he held her face in his hands, he released her and dropped quietly to the ground inside the compound.
He held up his arms.
Savvie lay atop the fence, then let her feet and legs drop over the side.
“Let go,” Hunter said. “I’ve got you.”
She slid down the fence into his arms.
He held her for a long moment, his body burning. Before he released her, he leaned close and whispered in her ear, “This is not the end, sweetheart. It’s only the beginning.”
“It might just be the end if we don’t get moving.” She turned in his arms and lifted her face to him. “Kiss me quick. We have a mission to finish.”
His lips descended onto hers in a bone-melting crash that left him wanting so much more.
They had to get through this task before he could convince Savvie she could have a full, rich life after her career inflicting death.
He raised his head. “The sooner we succeed, the sooner we can focus on what we want next.”
She opened her mouth to protest.
Hunter touched a finger to her lips. “We’ll talk then.”
He hoped this mission went smoothly and they all got back to Montana unscathed. Because they would talk, and he would make her see that she had other choices that didn’t involve running. Choices that involved her staying close so that she could get to know him better.
Hunter already knew enough about Savvie to know they would be good together. He wanted the chance to prove it to her.