Counter Strike

by Beth Rhodes

  He laughed. “You could never be boring.”

  She shrugged as if she didn’t believe him and blew out a breath. “How far now?”

  “At least a few miles.”

  “And you’ve—what?—got a map in your pocket?”

  Jamie tapped his head. “I studied the maps of the area on our way to Mexico.”

  “We’re travelling based on your memory?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Jeez.” She blew out a breath and laughed. “Jamie. Sometimes I forget.”

  He frowned. “What?”

  “You’re a Marine and trained. You and Hawk, before you were Elite and doing your own thing.”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, well, Hawk and I went through lots of the same training, except he went by way of officer school. He could still out-nav me any day, by the way.”

  “Out-nav?”

  “Land navigation, reading maps and making it from point A to point B.”

  Her brow rose at his claim. “Blind?”

  “Seems like it, sometimes. The guy is invincible.”

  She hummed a negative. “You hide your strengths. Why? Hawk would be lost without you.”

  He wanted to give her a real answer. “I’m not the leader type. Never have been. I’m good at taking orders. Don’t want it any other way, which is probably why he and I work well together.”

  “I get that. I have this student in my class. Brightest kid of the whole bunch. He lost the spelling bee last month.”

  “Cracked under the pressure?” he said, as he tightened his grip and started them walking across the road and back under the cover of trees on the opposite side.

  She laughed. “No. He liked the girl in the second row. Guess who won?”

  Jamie scowled. “She did? That’s not what I do. I’m actually crap at putting the bigger picture together. I see parts very clearly, and I work detail-oriented through those tasks.”

  “Hmm.” She made a sexy humming noise, and when he glanced over at her, she wagged her brows.

  He coughed back a laugh and shook his head. “We don’t have time for that right now.” But holy moly, she sure made him think they should stop and get reacquainted.

  “Fine but, just so you know, I see a leader in you. It’s the details that need attention sometimes. You’ve been running The Shack for ten years, and you’re doing it successfully. That’s not a man who only takes orders. That’s a man who knows how to work, how to take care of business. Maybe, in the field, you just haven’t tested yourself.”

  “Colombia.” He said the one word. It was enough. He’d taken lead and watched the shit hit the fan.

  Now, he just wasn’t sure anymore. He wanted to scuba dive on the coast, fish in his boat, and make love to Missy as soon as she got home from school every afternoon. Maybe have a few kids.

  He stumbled on a root. Shoot. Where had that thought come from? He shook his head, picking up the pace over the rough ground. Kids, geez.

  Didn’t matter though, because that dream seemed to be disappearing before his very eyes. Would her sense of family bring her back to Mexico for good? What if she decided to stay with Nina? What if Martinez was taken down, and she had the opportunity to live in Veracruz—without the threat of danger?

  Would she stay in Mexico or come home with him?

  ***

  “Gentlemen?” Two men sat on the sofa, one on each end, as if they belonged there, in his mother’s home. A beautiful woman sat close to the beefy guy with the computer.

  Antonio had driven over shortly after the fiasco on the road. He’d had the surviving guard taken back to the compound. The driver hadn’t made it. The man had only been on staff for a month. No family. They came to him that way. Sometimes runaways, sometimes fugitives, and sometimes these guys really had no family at all.

  The regret struck hard. His mother had picked a side.

  And it wasn’t his. She was standing in the way of justice, of his determination to finish Martinez.

  She came from the kitchen, content and happy as she pleased, carrying a cup of coffee for him. She kissed him on the cheek.

  Felt more like the kiss of Judas.

  “We do not know where they have gone,” she stated when he took the mug, sipped, and handed it back to her. She rolled her eyes and walked away, placed the cup down on the table, and went back into the kitchen. “You will have to leave, hijo.”

  Antonio sent a look to the one with a computer in his lap. “You.”

  The dark-haired guy with the beard looked up at him from the laptop. The woman, tucked into his side, also sipped at a mug and stared Antonio down in an unnerving way. Her violet-colored eyes blinked, and Antonio cleared his throat before giving his attention back to the smirking, confident man.

  “Where are they?”

  Beard man didn’t answer but shrugged. “Lost them.” He didn’t elaborate.

  Antonio’s phone rang. He answered, his stare never wavering from the computer guy’s face—cocky little fucker. “What is it?”

  “We caught up with them thirty miles south, a town called Cruces. They took a header into Rio Jamapa.”

  Antonio’s breath stopped. “Did you get to them?”

  “No. They swam across the river and disappeared into the trees.”

  “Shit.” They would most likely head into the National Park, and he’d never find them.

  The black man in charge stood, and Antonio unholstered his sidearm. The man slowed but had no fear. “Stop,” Antonio said, touching the man in the soft flesh of his shoulder with the barrel of his gun. No one seemed to care. Not one even tensed. The oddball air of casual put him even more on edge. They couldn’t deflect bullets!

  “Antonio.” Nina grabbed his attention, her gaze on him, disappointment—not anger—in her eyes.

  Cruces. Padre Franco wasn’t far from where Missy had been stranded. The man had helped Missy escape years ago. Would she and Jamie go back? Follow the same path they’d taken all those years ago? His heart pounded in excitement at the thought. A priest, someone to confide in, someone to share things with…like photographs taken years ago.

  He slipped his gun back into the holster. They weren’t trying to get away. They were looking for the photos. He just had to follow them. Let them find the photos, and then get to them before they exposed Martinez.

  What he’d said to Missy must have made a difference and woken the fighter in her after all. Now he just needed to get her on his side.

  “It would be in your best interest to find your way out of this part of Mexico,” Antonio addressed the entire group.

  But the couple on the couch stared blankly at him.

  “I’ve always wanted to vacation in Veracruz. Haven’t you, honey?” The rough-looking computer guy said to the woman. She gazed up at her partner. “It’s like a dream come true, Sugar Smacks.”

  They both grinned then looked at him again. She shrugged. “We like it here.”

  “Malcolm,” the guy in charge said, “add Antonio to our list of new friends in Mexico. Any uncle or family member of Missy’s is a friend of ours. We wouldn’t want him to get caught in any crossfire.”

  Antonio was on shaky ground here, and he knew it. He might have power within the ranks of the compound as the security lead, but out here, in his mother’s home and with Hawk Elite, he did not.

  If he wanted Missy, he was going to need to get to her first.

  Chapter Eighteen

  In front of Kiana, Bobby quietly opened the back door.

  A voice drifted in from the living room, and she stopped.

  The uncle. The one who’d killed a man and left her for dead. His voice threw her back to that moment. She let out a shaky breath and crept into the small room next to Bobby, careful not to make any noise. They were both soaked, dripping rainwater from head to toe.

  He slipped a towel off the refrigerator door, wiped his face and rubbed his hair, and handed it to her. She dabbed at her face and squeezed the bun at the nape of her neck. Felt useless, t
hough, as she was standing there drenched to the bone, as if she’d jumped into a pool.

  The front door slammed, making her jolt. “Shit.” She was more shaken than she wanted to admit.

  Bobby gave her shoulder a squeeze and went into the living room. “We got a problem.”

  She leaned in the doorway, letting Bobby have the attention.

  When a hand settled on her back, she heart jumped. Nina had come up behind her, from God knows where. Kiana cleared her throat and tried to smile, but holy crap, she was shook up. Nina offered her a glass with an amber liquid in it. “Drink.”

  “Thank you.” She knew what it was like to have shady family like Antonio. She’d grown up in a not-so-great part of Chicago with family who were part of the no-so-greatness.

  When she took a long slow sip, Bobby was looking back at her, his eyes questioning her. Had he said something? Everyone else was looking at her too. She cleared her throat again. “I missed something.”

  Bobby let loose a slow grin that made her stomach drop. “Can you sit with Malcolm and give him a description of the guy in the car?”

  “Oh, sure. Okay. Sorry.” She waved a hand. “I’m distracted. And wet and…”

  “No problem, Kiana,” Tan reassured her. “After you get changed. What else have we got, Malcolm?”

  “I’ve got reports of a traffic incident south of Cordoba.” Malcolm swiped across his screen. “A Jeep dove into a river.”

  Kiana stopped in her tracks and turned back. “Jamie and Missy? Are they okay?”

  “Witnesses report a high-speed car chase, and gunshots.”

  “Geez,” Bobby laughed. “Man, why don’t the fun things happen when I’m around?”

  Kiana stared. She’d been warned against this carefree side of him, which apparently still existed. She shouldn’t like him at all.

  Hawk sat back down at the coffee table. “So, we don’t really know where they are?”

  “Cruces is the name of the town.”

  “How far from here?”

  “A good thirty minutes.”

  “Antonio knew,” Marie said from the couch. “He was on the phone. That’s why he left so quickly.”

  “I don’t think he’ll find them.” Bobby suggested. “I’d bet my left ball they’ve gone off grid. It’s what I would do, what any of us would do.”

  “Padre Franco,” Nina spoke, her voice quiet and shaky. “He is near there.”

  “They could be headed that way,” Tan suggested. “Does Antonio know about your priest?”

  “Si,” she answered. “He has been a family friend for a long time.”

  “Then Antonio will also know to go there,” Kiana added, her stomach tight with worry. “We have to get to them.”

  “We always get our own.” Bobby’s matter-of-fact response eased her tension.

  Malcolm closed the lid of his computer and stood, taking Marie’s hand as he did.

  Tan rubbed at his eyes. “I gotta call Liz. Don’t worry, Kiana. Jamie’s been in tighter spots. How long until the storm passes, Malcolm?”

  Marie swiped at her phone. “It’s going to be a couple hours, maybe more. Pray for a good stiff wind. It’s not going to be fun out there in this.”

  “I want pairs doing guard duty. Malcolm and Marie, take the first hour. Kiana and I will take the second. Then Bobby can finish up. We’ll leave at first light.”

  “Señora?” Tan turned to Nina, but he didn’t even need to speak.

  Nina spoke in rapid-fire Spanish, waving her hands and bustling around the house. In mere minutes, she’d gathered extra blankets and pillows and was pointing them to different rooms of the house.

  “Do you need anything, sir?” Kiana asked, when she noticed that he’d sat at the table in the dining room instead of heading anywhere to rest.

  Tan sent her a smile. She had no idea how old he was. He was married, though. Had a sister and a wife who lived with him—the ice skater. Everyone on the team were like family. And wasn’t that the weirdest thing about this job?

  Her entire life she’d been able to trust one set of people—her co-workers, her fellow soldiers in the Army—usually. Adding personal relationship to that dynamic—no. Never going to happen. That just made things messy. And dangerous.

  “I’ll be going through the files Hawk and Malcolm put together on the Patriot Union.”

  It wasn’t like Hawk Elite to dive into local politics, as far as she knew. “We going to a meeting, sir?”

  Tan rolled his eyes and sighed. “Quit with the sir, Kiana.”

  Oops. “Sorry. Habit.”

  “Well, break it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Bobby laughed, even as he picked up his bag from near the front door and headed down the hall. Kiana scowled at him, and when she turned back to Tan, she found his gaze on her.

  “You okay?” he asked. “Is Bobby bothering you? I can talk to him.”

  “Oh, no! He doesn’t bother me.”

  His brow rose.

  “Really. I’m a teammate, nothing more. Hardly even a female to him, probably.”

  “I doubt that,” Tan said drily.

  Heat rose on her neck. “It’s okay. I promise. There’s no harm in him.”

  “Okay. I’ll let you deal. Just…” His pause made her heart pound again. “Hawk Elite is a safe place, and if you ever don’t get that feeling around here, please tell someone. The guys,” his glance went to the door Bobby had gone through, “sometimes they act stupid.”

  “Got it.” She hesitated. “He’s not exactly the guy I was warned against, though.”

  “I hope not. He’s been a jackass long enough, in my opinion.” He chuckled. “Don’t tell anyone I said so.

  She went to the room down the hall she’d claimed earlier. Bobby’s stuff was in the corner, but he’d disappeared. Closing the door, she changed into dry clothes and laid the wet ones over a towel rack in the corner.

  She sat on the bed, uncertain about how to actually sleep. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to. The thunder sounded above her head, and the rain picked up, drumming the window. Anticipation for the next step ran through her veins. They couldn’t stay in Mexico indefinitely. They were here to extract a teammate, a family member of a teammate, a family member.

  This idea of family closed in on her, choked her.

  She needed to do something, not sleep. She touched at the bruising on her face. Hadn’t she gotten enough unconsciousness?

  A blinking light out the window caught her attention. She frowned and refocused. There it was again. What in hell?

  Kiana slowly backed away.

  She’d almost reached the door when she bumped into Bobby, who grabbed her shoulders. She tensed.

  “What’s up?”

  “Someone’s out there,” she whispered.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “The plan was simple.” Martinez said, his anger an iced river, violent beneath the surface. “You—” He pointed a finger at Antonio. “You—” But as if he couldn’t quite formulate a thought, his words stopped.

  Fear slid through Antonio’s veins, but he kept his silence.

  “Has there been any sign of them at the grandmother’s?”

  “Nada,” he lied.

  “People don’t just disappear into thin air.” Martinez swiped a hand across the air before clenching his fist and taking his emotions back under control.

  Antonio squirmed under the man’s scrutiny. “We are doing everything we can. We assume they went up into the national park. They will show up, and when they do, I’ll have them. Everyone in the network has been notified. They won’t be able to make a move without me knowing about it.”

  “Except for the move they are making right now!” Martinez’s face turned a mottled red as he narrowed his gaze. “I am losing confidence.”

  “I will have them by sunrise. I promise.” That team of smug, interfering operatives were going to pay.

  “No,” Martinez said, sharply, his temper peeking out. “I have sent
someone else to watch the grandmother…and if necessary, to bring her in. She will talk. And I will have Marguerite.”

  “I promise you. I have been there. Marguerite is not with the old woman.” He clenched his hands behind his back. He wanted to wrap them around el jefe’s throat. The man wanted power, but one woman shows up, and all of his drive had been redirected to her. Why hadn’t she just kept her mouth shut? Fucking internet.

  The monkey wrench had changed the dynamics here, and his ability to protect his people was now compromised. It was unforgivable.

  “Perhaps you have decided you want the young woman for yourself?” Martinez suggested.

  “No, sir.” Antonio stood up straighter, as if indignant. “I want to help you.”

  Martinez studied him, a speculative light in his eyes.

  Antonio shrugged. “I am concerned for your campaign, sir. With your attention divided, the people will wonder. Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture over a woman. After the election, you will have the power of the people, and with your holdings here and in Mexico City, you will be the most revered man in our country. The richest and most powerful.”

  “My campaign…” Martinez went around his desk and turned. His stare sent a shiver up Antonio’s spine, and then he leaned in and rested his hands on the flat of the desk. “Will be nothing if the daughter of Diego Fuentes comes out with those photos. You lost her; you find her. Get me the girl. Get me those photos. Now.”

  Antonio swallowed, hard, and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “And bring me that old woman. She knows something.”

  “Yes, sir.” Hurrying out, he texted as he walked through the familiar halls of the compound. He wasn’t only in a race against Hawk Elite. Martinez was also hot on his heels.

  There were men on the payroll who would remain loyal to Martinez.

  Antonio shuddered. If she were apprehended by someone else—

  Not everyone had scruples.

  Marguerite might have been gone a long time, but in the end, she owed him and her grandmother everything. Without them, she would have died in the fire with her father or been absorbed into the Martinez compound, never to be seen again. God knew others had gone the same way after making the man angry.