Chapter 5
FIVE
Argentina
Ice watched the helicopter swing around, rapid-firing at the east side of the building where Adam and Dan had entered. The loud boom of shots echoed across the valley and split the sky with the smoke of violence.
In his ear he heard, “Any indication who they are?”
He shook his head at Marina’s question, mostly because she couldn’t see his face. “It’s not like they have Evil Incorporated stenciled on the side.”
She chuckled over the comms channel, sounding relaxed while the ever-present tension in him hardened like concrete.
“Maybe I’ll go ask.” He figured no one cared if entry showed up on the security system now, so he simply bypassed it since the guards were likely more preoccupied with the chopper firing at the building.
Ice ran down the hill toward the building, sprinting for cover. Not that being up against the white exterior wall would protect him if they came this way. He raced to the corner and spotted the chopper as it set down.
Four guys jumped out. No, six. All of them wore black tactical gear, black masks over their faces that left only a slit of their eyes visible. Rifles in hand. Pistol on the hip. Knives—probably more than one—in different sheaths on their person.
And here he was, with minimal weapons per the instructions they’d been given for this assignment. “You know…” He trailed off, not wanting to finish lest he sound overly paranoid.
“What do I know?” Marina sounded distracted, likely pulled a million directions by the screens in front of her.
“We’re unarmed. These guys are strapped.” Ice watched the woman who jumped out give orders to the men, who raced toward the building. “Seems like this might be a trap. Whoever hired us sent these people in to kill us.”
“Double-cross anyone lately?” Ash asked over the open comms channel. “Because I haven’t.”
“I doubt anyone in my online poker game would come after me like this,” Ice shot back.
As if that was the worst thing he could think of.
In reality, he had more enemies than he could count.
Far better to just live under the radar and let the story that he’d disappeared years ago be the truth people told.
Kai said, “We’re stuck behind a lab door. Gonna work our way around.”
“Listen, just get to Nix and Dan and work your way out together. We have no idea what they found downstairs.” Ice watched a woman climb out and stand there, glancing around with her hands on her hips. As if this was any other Tuesday and she could take a moment and admire her handiwork.
“Copy that,” Ash said.
“No, no, no…” Marina’s muttering trailed off.
“This about us, or something else?” Ice asked her.
A rustle entered his awareness behind him. The brush of clothing. A shift of gravel that indicated a footfall.
“Something else.”
“Work on it,” he said. “We’ll do the same here.”
Ash said, “What are you—”
Ice pulled out his comms earbud and zipped it in his pocket. He strode out from the corner of the building toward her. No weapons. Hands out by his sides so she could see his palms were empty.
Whoever was behind him could make their move.
She whirled around and eyed him. Dark hair, a slim body packed with muscle she could downplay, but was visible in how she moved. The command in her graceful step, and how she held her shoulders. She was deadly and she knew it.
Ice heard the guy behind him. Definitely a guy, given the sound of his footsteps. He took a couple more steps, slower than before, so whoever it was got close enough, then turned. Planted his foot. Twisted his hips. Swung out with a fist, blocked the knife with a swipe of his other hand.
Fire erupted on the front of his shoulder, beside the protective vest he wore. This might be an op that demanded no weapons, but he always guarded his vital organs. He wasn’t an idiot. Except when he got distracted, too in his head, and an elbow smacked it.
Ice’s skull jerked from the blow. Ouch. If he was going to get answers from this woman, he needed to be in a conversation, not a fist fight.
He slammed a punch into the guy’s stomach but faltered as if the blow to his head had knocked his equilibrium askew. The guy capitalized on it, which was good because Ice didn’t know how to make it convincing otherwise.
A one-two hit the wound on his shoulder, and his cheekbone.
Then he was flat on his back, looking up at the Patagonia stars overhead and trying to catch his breath. This guy hit hard, almost as hard as Ice’s father.
The guy landed on him, and Ice could smell his breath. He kicked his legs but didn’t dislodge his attacker.
Panic started to set in, and the plan went out the window. To be fair, the plan always went out the window at some point. Especially when the chilled air tickled over him and blows rained down, and Ice fell back into far too many memories.
On a cold floor. His father standing over him.
A roar erupted from his lips, and he grabbed the guy by the collar, rolling them both. Ice got off the guy, backing up so fast he stumbled onto the ground on his butt.
“Enough.” Her English had an accent that sounded French to him, but it was hard to tell with only one word. He looked at her and saw she had a Sig Sauer, currently pointed at his vitals.
His attacker coughed.
“Go help the others.”
Her order was enough to get the guy moving, off the ground and jogging to the building. Though, not without shooting Ice a dirty look.
“On your knees.”
“Nope.” Ice shook his head. “Not gonna happen.”
“American.” She didn’t seem surprised.
He was just glad the accent stayed intact, but then he’d been using it for so long that the subterfuge had become part of him. Sometimes even he believed he was from Florida.
Ice got to his feet, ignoring the dampening shirt over his shoulder or the sting under the fabric. “What’s that line from The Princess Bride? ‘You’re trying to take what I have rightfully stolen.’ Something like that.”
“You think I’m here to steal from you?”
“I’m sure you’ll take whatever you can find after you kill the three of us.”
She almost smiled. “There are five of you.”
He got the impression she wasn’t quite certain, though. “That you know of.”
That did get him a smile. “How intriguing.”
“International man of mystery. That’s me.”
She lifted the gun, cupping her free hand underneath to steady her grip, and pointed it at his head.
“You’re gonna shoot me, and leave me bleeding out on this grass?
” Ice stared her down. “Maybe you could hear me out, and after I’m gone, you could send a message to my mom.
Let her know that I’m sorry. ‘Kids being kids’ and all that.
You know how it is. I just don’t wanna go without knowing that she’ll forgive me.
You’ll do that, right? Pass on a message? ”
Behind her the helicopter circled around, and a gunner on board opened fire on the far side of the building where Ash and Kai had entered. Wrecking their chance at exiting the same way they’d gone in.
She lifted her chin. “How do you know I won’t put a bullet in your mother, too?”
Ice shrugged. “You could try, but she’d shoot you first. She doesn’t like strangers on her property.”
The woman let out a laugh, a sharp sound that made him think of shards of broken glass, then walked around him until she was at his back.
Don’t like that. He started to glance over his shoulder when she grabbed the top edge of his vest and curled her fingers in.
Got a real good grip on him, scratching him with her nails in the process, then jerked him.
The barrel of the gun pressed against the back of his neck.
“Walk.”
So the plan was to take him hostage? Probably so she could try to get his teammates to hand over the two programs they’d downloaded.
Ice grunted. “Gotta say, we didn’t expect the security system here was good enough you’d respond so fast, or so thoroughly.
That’s one for the storybooks, right? We break in, and the response is you guys and your helicopter.
I thought the two security guards were it. We would’ve been in and out by now.”
Except the chopper was doing serious damage to the building, hovering low enough the gunner in the open door had a good angle.
Ice didn’t actually think whoever hired them sent her, but every theory had to be eliminated.
He figured she worked for a rival company, but he was on a roll spitballing aloud. Wasting time.
“I don’t get why you’d destroy your own building, though,” Ice continued. “Or is this place expendable? Some defunct research lab you guys don’t use now, and it’s scheduled to be destroyed. Why not use it as a training ground for your security forces?”
“You talk too much.”
“Just trying to get a handle on this assignment. Turns out it’s not as advertised.”
“Unless you have my book, you should shut up.”
“I mean, for starters—” He frowned. “Your book? That’s what you’re after? Why didn’t you just say! My friends and I will help you—”
She used her grip on the back of his vest to drag him backward so she could whisper in his ear. “Shut. Up. Or I put a bullet in your head, and you never talk again.”
Ice lifted his hands, splaying his fingers out and saying nothing.
“Your friends can give me the program. And then our business will be concluded.”
Ice wasn’t so sure about that.