Chapter Thirty
ANDRE KEPT HIS aim centered on Javier Garcia. “Let her go.” One finger twitch, one tug of the trigger, and she’d be dead in an instant. He couldn’t let that happen.
Obsidian Storm’s leader laughed, amusement in his eyes. “Who has the upper hand here, Marsh? It’s certainly not you.”
From the corner of his eye, Seth signaled Teagan. She nodded. Echo’s team leader then looked at Elliot Montgomery, who gave a slight nod.
Andre should breathe easier with two world-class snipers locked onto Garcia. With Riley so close to the line of fire, he was anything but at ease. “Want to count how many of your soldiers are dead or injured? I’ll be glad to wait.”
Garcia snorted. “Your friends will all die. Is that what you want?”
Seth inched closer. “What do you want, Garcia?”
“You took something from me. It’s only fair I take something from you.
I’ll take the beautiful Riley and her boyfriend.
You and the rest of your people will leave our province and return to your families.
You will stay away from the Chihuahua Province.
We’re the power here. You’re unwelcome invaders.
If you don’t give me what I want, you all will die along with Riley and Andre.
Come now. That’s a more than fair bargain, isn’t it? ”
Seth smiled. “No deal.”
Garcia uttered a long string of shouted curses. “You are a fool. You can’t win this fight. We outnumber you.”
“Checked your numbers lately?”
Garcia flicked a glance around the lab. When he noticed the Fortress operatives far outnumbered the soldiers left alive, the muscles of his face hardened.
“The numbers in this lab don’t matter. I have the prize right here.
Like in a game of chess, I have the queen and the king.
If you want them to live longer, you will leave this place now. ”
Movement behind Garcia caught Andre’s attention.
When a man with a familiar face appeared, Andre’s breath caught.
These two men had serious steel spines. They were looking down the barrels of 20 guns and acted as though they had the advantage.
Didn’t matter that they still had a handful of soldiers pointing weapons at the operatives.
Fortress trained its people to shoot well.
They couldn’t miss so close to their targets.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Andre deliberately relaxed and sounded casual. “Riley is a handful. She’ll tell you as much.”
His woman smiled at him and winked. Oh, yeah. He loved Riley Sloan with every breath he took. They just had to survive so he could spend the rest of his life proving it to her.
“Look at our other prize, Javier,” Diego Mendoza said. His gaze locked on Andre’s. “We have a cooperative Marsh who will do whatever we say because he’ll never leave his woman behind. Isn’t that right, Marsh?”
“No one will separate me from Riley. Do you realize how much danger you’re in?”
Diego assessed the situation and shifted from one foot to the other, his confidence undimmed.
A hand signal from Seth and it was all over. Two of the best snipers in the black ops business would take Garcia and Mendoza down.
Riley moved her hand while staring straight at Andre.
He frowned. The movement was too subtle for him to make out at this angle. What was she telling him? He shook his head enough to pass the message that he didn’t know what she planned.
The sassy woman rolled her eyes as Seth pretended to consider negotiating with Obsidian Storm’s leadership. She gave the same hand signal, and he noticed a minor change in the rest of Artemis. They shifted subtly, but it was there.
“So, what is it going to be, Marsh? Watch your friends die or stay with your woman and watch your friends go free?”
“I pick door number three.”
The two men looked puzzled, while several of the Fortress operatives smiled.
“What does that mean?” Mendoza asked.
“It means I want another option, and I want it right now.” His voice rose on the last word.
Riley activated her wrist sheaths, changed her hold on the hilts and plunged the steel blades deep into Garcia’s thighs.
He howled with pain, dropping his gun and releasing her to clasp his thighs.
Startled, Mendoza turned toward his friend.
Andre covered the distance between them in one leap. He tackled Mendoza from the side, forcing him away from Riley. With his greater weight, he drove the other man into the lab floor.
Although stunned for a beat, Mendoza recovered quickly and retaliated by flipping their positions, ending with him on top of Andre. He grinned as he threw a roundhouse punch to Andre’s jaw followed by a punch to the left cheek.
Andre growled, wrapped his arm around Mendoza’s neck, hooked two fingers in his cheek, yanked his head in the opposite direction, bucked his hip, and followed the terrorist as he rolled over, ending up on top.
Once there, he slammed his fist into Mendoza’s jaw and then his throat, crushing his windpipe.
While the Storm leader struggled to breathe without success, Andre jumped up to go to Riley’s aid and discovered she didn’t need his help. Of course not. She had Garcia trussed up like a turkey with zip ties around his wrists and ankles and a piece of duct tape over his mouth.
Teagan stood over the fallen leader with her weapon pointed at his head.
“Are you okay, Riley?” Andre raised his voice to be heard over the renewed gunfire.
“Never better. Take over here, please. I need to finish the last two computers. After that, we can use Garcia as a get-out-of-Izamal-free card. What about his partner, Mendoza?”
Andre glanced at his opponent. No movement. No breathing. Nothing. “Not a problem anymore.”
“Good. Help the others take care of business. I can handle the computers.”
“I’ll stick close if you don’t mind. The last time I turned my back, an enemy combatant got his hands on you.” He glared at the man who muttered behind the tape. Probably didn’t want to know what he was saying. “I still owe him for that, too.”
She flashed Andre a grin. “If you ask nicely, you might get a chance for payback.”
As Riley hooked her minicomputer to another laptop, the lab went silent. The lack of gunfire seemed deafening. She glanced around the large room, as did Andre.
No Storm soldiers left standing. Satisfaction eased the knots in Andre’s stomach. Fortress had taken care of business. The number of Storm soldiers still in the compound remained unknown, but Fortress had cut down the Obsidian Storm numbers drastically.
“How much longer, Riley?” Seth helped the others secure the last of the soldiers.
“Five minutes or less.”
“Make it less. I don’t want to battle the rest of the terrorist cell where we have limited space to maneuver.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Grant, set the charges. We need enough to destroy the lab.”
“Copy that, sir.” He grabbed his pack and got to work.
“Search for intel we can take back to the jet.” Brent directed the operatives to various stacks of files. “We’ll take as much as we can.”
David went to the closest stack, grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his pack. “The last thing we want is for what remains of Obsidian Storm to rise from the grave again and pick up where Garcia and Mendoza left off.”
Brent picked up another stack of folders and dropped them into his pack. “The FBI wants a crack at Garcia. I promised to bring him to the US if possible.”
The operatives scattered around the lab and picked up all the flash drives they could find and stuffed them in their pockets. When they finished that, they grabbed every folder they could find and shoved them in their packs.
At the five-minute mark, Seth whistled. “Wrap it up. We need to go. And someone needs to haul Garcia to the SUVs.” He grinned and folded his arms across his chest. “It won’t be me.”
Noah scowled. “Why not?”
“Leader’s privilege.”
That brought jeers and heckling from Echo unit.
When the levity died down, Levi Montgomery and his brother, Elliot, glanced at each other, then Elliot turned to Seth. “We’ve got him.” They hauled Garcia to his feet and cut through the zip ties holding his ankles together.
One minute later, Riley stood. “Finished.”
Seth looked at Grant. “Well?”
He rose. “Finished. I’ll set the charges off when we’re clear of the building.”
“All right. That’s it, folks. Pack the files you have in the next thirty seconds, then we’re out of here.”
The operatives pushed the remaining files into their bags and slipped them over their shoulders.
Iona glanced around. “Stay alert. We still don’t know who’s friend or foe. Until you know otherwise, assume they’re the enemy.”
Nico Rivera, leader of the Shadow unit, motioned to Andre and Riley. “We should put Marsh and Sloan in the middle of our group. They’re still prize targets for the soldiers who remain alive.”
Seth motioned for the other members of Echo and Artemis to surround the two operatives. “Levi and Elliot, you’re in the circle of protection, too. Time to go, boys and girls.”
The Fortress group walked away from the ruined lab and climbed the stairs to the ground floor. Seth glanced at Nico, and Shadow unit led the way from the stairwell. Around the ground floor were signs of the fierce battle M team and Shadow unit fought against the Storm soldiers.
The operatives returned to the dark hallway where they’d entered the building. After checking that the coast was clear, Nico and the rest of his team led the operatives from the building. All of them remained alert for trouble.
At the corner of the next building, a group of soldiers came into view. They skidded to a stop and grabbed their weapons. Before they could get off a shot, Nico’s team and M team fired their weapons. None of the soldiers remained standing.
Twice more, they repeated the process until the operatives appeared to be the only ones left standing. They left the compound through the front gate instead of scrambling over the concrete wall with Garcia.
Seth tapped his comm device. “We’re clear of the compound, Z. Returning to the vehicles now.”
“Copy that. Garcia?”
“In custody.”
“Mendoza?”
“No longer a problem.”
“Copy.”
“If we have a satellite handy, I’d appreciate any signs of activity nearby. We didn’t take time for a headcount of those remaining alive.”
“You’ve got it.”
Elliot and Levi ended up draping Garcia’s arms across their shoulders and practically carrying him. Some of his helplessness was an act to slow them down. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t work.
Soon, they shoved Garcia into the back of an SUV and held him down while Violet gave him a shot to knock him out.
Brent glanced at the restrained leader. “I’ll contact the FBI when we’re wheels up. They’ll have someone waiting to take him off of our hands when we land at the airport.”
“Good.” Levi exercised his shoulder muscles for a few seconds. “He weighs a ton and did everything he could to make the trek more difficult.”
“He thought he’d break free.” Elliot’s lips curved. “He was wrong.”
“Grant.” Seth glanced at their EOD man. “Do it.”
Grant pulled a small gadget out of his pocket and pressed a button. The night sky lit up behind them, followed by a loud explosion as the bombs he’d set went off. In seconds, the lab was gone.
The teams climbed into the SUVs and drove toward the private airstrip. Halfway to their destination, Zane said, “Company, Seth.”
Right on cue, a pair of headlights appeared behind them.
Seth checked the mirrors, then growled. “He’s right. We’ve got company. We’re 30 minutes from the airstrip. I don’t want to mess with these boys that long.” He glanced at Brent, who sat in the shotgun seat. “You said you’re missing the action. Want a shot at these guys?”
A slow smile crossed Brent’s face. “It will be my pleasure.” He looked at Andre. “Did you bring an RPG launcher?”
“Never leave home without it.” He opened his equipment bag and grabbed the RPG launcher plus a few grenades.
The boss grunted. “I won’t need that many grenades.”
Andre grinned. “Thought you might be a little rusty.”
Teagan laughed. “I’m not rusty. Maybe you should let me handle the job, Brent.”
The other man’s eyes narrowed. “Let’s see how rusty I am.” He lowered the window, prepared the launcher, and eased the upper half of his body out the window to sit on the frame. “Give me a smooth ride.”
“Yes, sir.”
A moment later, a bright light lit the night sky as the vehicle chasing them exploded in a blinding flash and burst into flames. Brent slid back into the vehicle, a wide grin on his face. “Now that was fun. Just like old times.”
“Nice job, sir.” Teagan patted his shoulder. “I’m impressed.”
“Like riding a bicycle. Once you learn, you never forget.”
Andre chuckled. “Will you tell Rowan that you blew up a truck filled with enemy soldiers?”
“Are you out of your mind? I don’t want my wife to worry more than she already does.” Brent glared at Andre. “And you won’t tell her, or my daughter if you know what’s good for you.”
Andre laughed. “Copy that, sir.”
Four more encounters with the enemy ended with the night sky lighting up as enemy vehicles exploded. More vehicles trailed the Fortress teams at a distance.
Brent looked out the back window and scowled. “They’ll attack us on the tarmac. That’s why they’re hanging back.”
“We’ve got this, sir.” Seth kept his attention on the pitiful excuse for a road.
“You better. I’d rather not leave Mexico in a body bag.”
Andre grimaced. That wasn’t his preferred travel plan home, either. He’d rather spend some quality time with Riley on the company jet.
Twenty-five minutes later, the caravan of SUVs drove onto the tarmac and skidded to a stop. Andre grabbed his gear and bailed out of the SUV. He tugged Riley from the vehicle and nudged her toward the jet. “Go. I’ll cover you.”
Riley and her teammates ran up the jet’s stairs and set up to provide cover for the others as they raced to safety.
More headlights appeared, coming closer by the second. Iona tapped her comm device. “Move it. Bogies on your six.”
The remaining operatives still on the tarmac sprinted up the stairs and into the jet.
“Jordan,” Seth yelled. “Five seconds. We have company.”
The jet’s engines revved as Seth and Andre pulled up the stairs and secured the door. “Go, go, go,” Seth and the other operatives still standing dropped into the nearest seats and strapped in.
The jet rolled down the airstrip, gaining speed every second until it lifted from the ground and banked to the right to head toward home.