2. The First Legacy Family #3
We rush toward the women and I shove a laundry cart across the entrance while Jan scans the corridor.
Her gaze catches on the metal hatch at the far end.
A stainless-steel laundry chute.
I move forward and wrench it open looking into the darkness.
“Steve, no.”
Gunfire tears through the door behind us. There’s no time to argue.
I grab Harmony and push her toward the opening.
“Down you go.”
Her eyes widen.
“You’re joking.”
“Wish I was. Feet first.”
Another round punches through the wall.
Jan helps me force Harmony into the chute, and her scream disappears into the darkness.
Then I catch Jan around the waist and lift her off her feet.
“Meet you downstairs, love.”
Her fingers lock around my shirt.
“You won’t fit.”
“Story of my life.”
“Steve.”
I kiss her hard, pry her hands free and push her into the chute.
She disappears into the chute with a furious curse following her all the way down.
“Faaaaark!”
I slam the hatch shut as another round punches through the wall beside my head.
Angus, Jax and Gabriel open fire behind me.
Jan and Harmony are heading toward the basement the fast way.
Now I only have to make sure the rest of us live long enough to meet them there.
The mercenaries keep coming. Too many. Too coordinated.
They knew our floor, our rooms and exactly who they were hunting. We don’t even know exactly how many there are.
We reach the stairwell as smoke rolls beneath the ceiling.
“Down!” Gabriel shouts.
Gunfire shreds the wall behind us as two mercenaries push into the corridor.
Angus drops the first with a shot to the chest. Jax has the second covered before the man can bring his weapon up.
“Stairs,” I shout.
We move fast, Gabriel covering the rear while Angus takes point.
Another man appears at the landing below.
Angus fires once. The man folds against the rail and slides out of sight.
More boots pound somewhere above us.
“Keep moving.”
A mercenary bursts through the next fire door.
Angus hits him like a truck, driving him back through it before finishing the job.
Gabriel strips a spare magazine from one of the bodies without breaking stride.
The fire alarm screams through the stairwell as haze from the flashbang hangs in the corridor.
We hit the basement landing.
Two more men are waiting.
Jax drops one. Gabriel takes the other.
We leave them where they fall and run for the loading dock.
Jan and Harmony are already at the end of the corridor.
Harmony crouches behind a laundry cart, covered in dust and industrial fluff, watching the corridor with wide eyes.
Jan stands in front of her with her pistol raised.
She lowers it when she sees us, then glares at me. Covered in dust, linen and laundry fluff, she’s absolutely fuming.
I cross to her without a word.
She opens her mouth.
I pluck a pair of floral underwear from her hair and drop them onto the concrete between us.
Then I kiss her.
She shivers as I pull back, still glaring.
“That is revolting.”
“You made it.”
“I made it covered in somebody else’s underwear.”
“I’ll buy you new ones.”
“Mine weren’t the problem.”
Gunfire echoes above us.
I take her hand.
“Come on.”
We burst through the loading dock door as the sprinklers activate overhead.
A black SUV tears around the corner.
Not ours.
Angus fires at the windshield while Gabriel drags Harmony behind a concrete barrier.
Jax reaches one of our parked SUVs first, and the engine catches as the rest of us dive inside under fire.
The rear window explodes as we accelerate out of the alley.
Glass cuts across my face and hands.
Jan tears open the SUV’s med kit and presses a thick gauze pad against my temple.
Jax drives and Angus returns fire through the shattered window.
Gabriel holds Harmony down on the floor between the seats.
Two vehicles follow us onto the highway.
We lose the first near an interchange.
The second stays with us until Jax takes an exit too fast, sends us through a barrier and down an embankment.
The SUV comes to rest in a drainage ditch.
For several seconds, no one moves.
Then Angus lifts his head.
“Everyone alive?”
One by one, we answer.
The mercenaries race past on the highway above us.
I climb out through the damaged door and call Victor.
He answers immediately.
“Steve?”
I sit in the dirt beside a Texas highway, blood running from a dozen glass cuts.
“They know who we are. We’ve just been attacked by about ten mercenaries at the hotel and escaped.”
I look at Jan, Harmony and the men scattered around the wrecked SUV.
“They’re coming for us.”
Victor is silent for half a second.
“Understood. Where are you?”
“Outside El Paso. The vehicle’s done.”
“Stay off the road. I’m sending a Blackstone helicopter to extract you.”
“Where to?”
“San Antonio. We have a secure property there.”
I glance at Harmony. Dust streaks her clothes, but she’s still on her feet.
“And Harmony?”
“She goes with you. Father Gabriel stays until his replacement arrives.”
“Replacement?”
“Former DEA. He's from Juárez. He knows cartel logistics, the tunnels, and every route money and people use to move between Mexico and the US.”
“What’s his name?”
“Rafael Cortina.”