Chapter 15
Jed
Like an asshole, I’d spent way too much time tucking Sandee in, and my options were narrowing by the second.
Boer’s team had made good time, despite the snow.
The monitor on my phone showed me that the first SUV had already driven past my trap before I could spring it.
The next one would be there in a couple of minutes.
Which I fucking hadn’t been. God, stopping to kiss her goodbye and whisper sweet nothings into her ear? I may as well have read her a bedtime story while I was at it. I was a whole new level of pussy-whipped bonehead today.
I just hoped her improvised hiding place stood the test. But it was a desperate last-minute solution, and I couldn’t be sure Boer wouldn’t find her. He was an asshole, but he was not stupid, and he knew Sandee was with me. He’d keep on looking for her. He wouldn’t give up easily.
There was also no guarantee Sandee would stay put. God knows, she had a history of being self-destructive, and ignoring direct orders.
I had to forget Sandee, and get into the zone. Nothing but the mission, which was crystal clear. Thin those bastards out, by any means necessary.
I spotted the big rock that marked the spot on the bridge where I had buried the spike strip under some pine needles, wondering if the snow would render the teeth ineffective.
It was fine, dry powder, and there wasn’t that much of it right here under the huge trees.
Last night’s wind had swept away still more.
The SUVs were big and heavy, packed full of men and guns, and my spike strip was a motherfucker.
Long, sharp blades to bite into those scumbags’ tires, deep and hard.
I could only hope that the setup would still work, months later. Snow and all.
I heard the second SUV approaching now. The big motor growled as it rounded the bend. I shucked the rifle, hid it under a log, and dove for the huge culvert that ran beneath the bridge. It was choked with brush, but I shoved my way in, and found the wiring I’d bolted to the top of the culvert.
The grenade was in my hand already. I had to time this perfectly. I leaned out, waiting for the motor to get closer…still closer…
Now. I hit the button. The spike strip activated. Thunk.
The big vehicle slewed, revving its engine, and juddered to a halt. I heard men talking from inside it. Angry voices, shouting. Scolding, accusations.
Wait. Wait. I slid silently out of the culvert, staying doubled over, waiting for the sound of a door opening. Any second now. Come on, guys.
Clunk. The vehicle door opened, and the volume of the voices inside went up. “…the fuck happened to the tires, man? What the fuck did you do?”
“Nothing, asshole. Shut your fucking hole and let me see what’s going on.”
Now. I pulled the pin, leaped up, lobbed the grenade right into the open car door. Sank back down and dove right into the culvert again, wondering if I was too close to survive the blast. I heard screams of panic, all four car doors bursting open. I blocked my ears and braced myself.
Boom. The force of the blast shook the woods, jolting snow off the tree boughs.
I waited a few seconds, then scrambled out of the culvert. Heard the crackle and roar of flames. The doors, still open. Limp bodies, lying half in, half out. A balloon of smoke, bitter and greasy and black.
Four down. Good. But whoever was in the first vehicle was now closer to Sandee than I was, and that was unacceptable.
I sprinted back up the hill, feet flying.
It was the closest thing to happy Nicole had been in a very long time, lurching and bouncing through the snow on the ATV. She was going dangerously fast through the snow-frosted trees, the wind in her hair, face half frozen. The ice-cold air burned the inside of her nose. She liked the way it felt.
It was a relief to get a break from that self-involved asshole.
It wasn’t as if fucking Wex distressed her all that much.
She had a strong stomach, and being indifferent to pain or discomfort had made it possible for her to keep him satisfied.
It cost her little to give him what he craved.
But it was tedious, and a poor use of her time and abilities.
She got more bored and irritated with it every day that passed.
The upside was, soon she would peel off that asshole’s face, and he would finally learn exactly who he was dealing with. Cheerful thought.
The cabin across the canyon came into view. Nicole pulled the ATV to a halt and got off, leaving it hidden in the trees. She crept forward, staying low.
She’d studied the satellite maps of this place on the drive over here, memorizing every detail. Boer had wanted a sniper rifle across the narrow canyon for their ace in the hole. They were temporarily short-staffed after the Dew Drop debacle, and she was excellent with a long gun, so here she was.
She hoped she’d have the opportunity to shoot someone. She loved the little jerk they made. The pink mist that came out. Such a rush. She could use a pick-me-up.
Nicole made her way stealthily through the huge, tumbled rocks at the edge of the canyon. She found the perfect place quickly, with an excellent view of the exposed house on the other side, and big, tumbled boulders for cover.
She set up her rifle and hunkered down, situating the gun barrel between two craggy granite monoliths. In her winter-camo snowsuit, no one would ever see her. As soon as Jed Clearwater wandered out into her sights, she’d—
Boom.
The huge sound shook the canyon, startling the hell out of her. Nicole’s breath stopped. She grabbed the handheld and called Boer. “Wex? What the fuck was that?”
“Don’t know, but the other team’s not answering.” Boer sounded stressed and angry. “Sounds like he blew them up. I can’t wait to blast his fucking head off. Have you got a fix on him yet?”
“Not yet. I don’t see a soul over there. I just got here and got myself set up.”
“Well, hurry the fuck up. Use the thermal imager. Get back to me fast.”
“Of course, boss,” she murmured. She indulged in a pleasant little fantasy of driving the spike heel of one of her fuck-me shoes into Boer’s eye while she got out the thermal goggles, and scanned the hillside. Back and forth, with binoculars, with the thermal imager, then again…and again…and again.
She finally saw it, against the cliff face.
Nothing big, just a subtle “what’s-wrong-with-this-picture” feeling.
That plumb line against the granite cliff face, slowly coming into focus.
Too straight to be natural. Not a dangling root.
It was a rope, hanging down. She followed it up with the binoculars.
Someone had knotted it around that big scrub oak tree trunk that was clinging to edge of the cliff.
But why? The rope didn’t reach all the way down to the bottom of the gorge, so why hang it off the edge?
She put the thermal imaging goggles back on, and studied the cliff face.
Back and forth…back and forth…and yes. A faint glow of heat in the shadowy recess beneath the overhang.
It had to be Freya Masters, huddled in a hole like a frightened rodent.
And Nicole was the eagle, swooping down for the kill.
She felt the absurd, unprofessional desire to giggle, but squelched it, getting on the handheld again.
“Wex, good news. Freya Masters is hiding in a cave in the cliff face, right under the overhang. I’ve got her in my sights. I could waste her right now, if we wanted.”
“We don’t want,” he snapped. “We need her. Kill Clearwater. Not her.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Nicole muttered, rolling her eyes. “There’s a rope. A scrub oak tree, right near the edge of the cliff. That’s how she came down. After we bag Clearwater, we could just wait her out. She’ll come crawling up when she gets hungry or nervous.”
“Keep your eyes on her,” Boer said.
“So I kill Clearwater as soon as I see him?”
“No,” he said sharply. “Wait. I want to talk to him.”
“Play with him is more like it, right?” She tried not to sound disdainful. Wex was so predictable that way. He had to fuck around with his victims, just to prove his dick was bigger, before he took care of business and got on with it. So childish.
“I need information.” Wex’s voice was defensive. “I need to know what he knows. Who he’s told. How long he’s been hooked up with this bitch.”
“She’d be an easier mark to interrogate than he would,” she said, studying the top of the cliff. “From where I’m looking, it looks like you could get down to Masters from above and drag her out. If you wanted to entertain yourself with her. Could be fun.”
“Where?” he demanded. “Give me a reference point.”
“See that big round rock with the flat diagonal one leaning against it? Go around the diagonal one to your right until you’re right in front of it, and she’ll be right below you. If she poked her head out, you could grab her by the scruff of the neck.”
She saw the flash of movement in the trees across a canyon, and focused the rifle scope on it. It was Boer, moving around the back of the house. Going toward the rocks.
The crosshairs were right on his chest. Her finger quivered on the trigger. The scope, wavering on his face, his chest. His groin.
Not yet. Wex had his uses. She still needed his resources. They ran through personnel at a very fast clip, and he had the contacts to replenish them swiftly.
She had no reason to feel put upon. She’d taken Wex Boer’s measure the second she’d laid eyes on him. All he saw in her was a body to use. Her mind, her intel, her skills, all of that was secondary.
That made men like him so vulnerable. Because they never knew who they were dealing with until it was too late. And it surprised the living fuck out of them.
That part was always so entertaining.