Chapter 16
Levi detonated the sixth charge and watched the access road collapse into a crater that would take the patrol hours to navigate around.
Beautiful.
He was grinning despite the blood running down his side from a graze he'd caught two explosions ago.
The patrol was scattered, confused, trying to coordinate through comms he'd been jamming with Guardian equipment.
He'd bought Willow time—plenty of time for the run-up, for loading, for getting airborne.
Any second now, he'd hear the Beaver's engine roar overhead. Any second, she'd be climbing above the jungle, safe, heading for Seattle like he'd made her promise.
Any second.
The jungle went quiet.
No sound of the Beaver taxiing. Just silence and smoke and the distant shouts of confused guards.
Levi's grin died.
“Con,” he said into his comm, already moving back toward the airstrip. “Sitrep on the Beaver. Why isn't she airborne?”
Nothing. Then Con's voice, tight with something that sounded like concern. “Stand by.”
Levi didn't stand by. He ran, crashing through the jungle, his demo pack bouncing against his back. His ribs screamed. His leg throbbed. He ignored it all.
The airstrip appeared through the trees, and what he saw turned his blood to ice.
The Beaver sat motionless, engine silent. The cargo door hung open. Supplies were scattered on the ground like someone had been interrupted mid-loading.
And blood. Fresh blood on the concrete, leading from the plane to tire tracks that disappeared into the jungle.
“No.” The word came out flat, cold. “No no no—”
“Levi.” Con's voice in his ear. “I've got satellite playback. You need to see this.”
“Show me.” He was already moving to the plane, looking for … what? Clues? Evidence? Proof that she'd escaped somehow?
“Sending it now.”
He pulled out his phone, which now worked thanks to the fresh batteries Guardian had sent with the supply drop.
The image appeared to be grainy satellite footage showing the last ten minutes.
He ducked behind a dense stand of trees and watched himself detonate charges.
Watched the patrol split up. Watched one truck break away from the main group, racing toward the airstrip.
Watched Willow emerge from the cockpit, moving to load gear.
Watched her go down. Shot. Blood spray visible even from satellite altitude.
Watched them use a fist to hit her … the fucking bastards. They had his woman. She was bleeding and barely conscious when they shoved her into the truck.
The feed ended.
Levi made his way to the Beaver. He stood beside it, staring at the blood on the concrete, and felt something inside him go cold. He’d felt it before. He knew it and welcomed it. Rage distilled to its purest form.
“Where is she?” His voice didn't sound like his own. It sounded like death had been given breath. “Where did they take her?”
“Tracking now. Vehicle is heading northeast, toward the mountain range. Moving fast.” Con paused. “Levi. Satellite thermal shows she's still alive. Wounded but alive.”
Alive. She was alive.
The rage crystallized into something with sharp, lethal edges and focused purpose.
“Plot their course. I'm going after her.”
“Negative, Z. You're outnumbered. You need to wait for—”
“I'm not waiting for anything,” Berserker cut Con off and grabbed his pack. He started loading weapons, ammunition, and every charge he had left. “She's alive, and they have her, which means I'm getting her back. Guardian can either help me or stay the hell out of my way.”
Silence on the other end.
“All right, Z. I’m hearing you. I understand. What do you need?”
“Real-time tracking. Satellite coverage. Any intel you have on where they're taking her.”
“Already on it. The vehicle just turned onto a mountain road. There's only one facility in that direction. Hold on for a second. There, the coordinates are marked on your phone now.”
Levi looked at the map appearing on his screen. A compound. Isolated. Heavily fortified. And according to the intel tags, owned by—
“Morales,” Con said. “They're taking her straight to Morales.”
Of course, they were. The bastard wanted them alive. Wanted to know who'd been hitting his facilities, destroying his infrastructure, making him look weak.
And now, he had Willow.
“How long until they reach the compound?” Levi asked, already moving toward the tree line where he'd stashed additional supplies.
“At current speed? Two hours. Maybe less.”
“How much of a lead do they have on me?”
“They’re going straight through massive cartel checkpoints. You’ll have to go around.” They’ll probably get there a couple of hours before you can, and that’s with every trick we have available to you.”
“Fuck,” he swore loudly and bitterly. Willow would be in Morales's hands for two hours before Levi could even reach the compound. Two hours of interrogation, torture, whatever the bastard wanted to do to her.
The rage threatened to overwhelm him. It was icy cold, all-consuming, and completely useless. He forced it down, channeled it into cold calculation.
“Oh, thank God. Guardian has assets in the region,” Con shouted. “Phantom's team is currently four hundred miles north.”
“ETA?”
“Two and a half hours, they’re skirting weather.”
Two and a half hours. Willow would be in enemy hands for two and a half hours before backup arrived.
“Tell Phantom I need him for a hard rescue. Fortified compound, unknown number of hostiles, primary objective is civilian extraction.”
“Levi.” Con's voice softened slightly. “Phantom's specialty is close-quarters combat. Hand-to-hand. But the team he was with stayed with him. They knew how concerned Phantom is about you. The cavalry is coming, brother.”
“Not fast enough.” Levi checked his remaining charges. Three shaped charges. Five blocks of C-4. Det cord. Timers. Enough to make a distraction, create chaos, and punch through defenses. “I'm going in as soon as I arrive. Phantom can provide support when he arrives, but I'm not waiting.”
“That's suicide.”
“That's the mission.” He ran to one of the vehicles that had been abandoned during the explosions.
He jumped in and was instantly moving toward the mountain road, tracking the vehicle's path on his display.
“You've got two hours to get me everything you have on that compound. Blueprints, guard rotations, weak points. I want to know every entrance, every exit, every place they might be holding her.”
“Berserker—”
“She came back for me, Con!” Levi's voice cracked slightly, the rage bleeding through. “At the river, when she could have left me, she landed that plane under fire and pulled me out. She saved my life. I'm not leaving her in there.”
Con was quiet for a long moment. “Understood. Sending everything we have. And Levi? Whatever you're planning, you'll have backup, but you need to live for thirty minutes after you breach that fucking compound.”
“Good. Because I'm getting her back or taking everyone and everything to hell with me.”
“Copy that. Guardian is authorizing full tactical support. Whatever you need, you've got it. Whatever it takes, Z.”
Levi touched his earpiece once in acknowledgment and kept moving.
The jungle blurred past. His ribs screamed. His leg throbbed. Blood seeped through his bandages. He ignored it all.
Willow was alive. Wounded but alive. And Morales had just made the last mistake of his life.
Because Levi Rourke wasn't just a demolitions expert. He wasn't just Guardian's problem solver.
He was Berserker. And they had just released a monster they couldn’t conceive. A monster he’d kept contained. A monster that had fallen in love. And those fucking bastards had just hurt the only person he’d let himself care about outside of his team.
The compound wouldn't survive what was coming.
Neither would Morales.
“Hold on, Willow,” he whispered to the jungle and the mountain and the rage burning in his chest. “I'm coming. Just hold on.”
He’d have backup. Eventually. But he’d never been good at waiting.