Counter Strike

by Beth Rhodes

  “Do I remember,” he guffawed. “How are you, Missy?”

  “Fine…” She smiled shyly. “Could I use your restroom, though?”

  Tom pointed to the door across the lobby. The one clearly marked Los Banos.

  She was holding up, staying tough, but Jamie worried. They still had to get back to Veracruz.

  The airfield wasn’t private, nor was it public…and it definitely wasn’t regulated. Not only that, but Tom didn’t own the land; he’d merely been squatting for the past twenty-some-odd years. His service in and out of the region kept any of the usual red flags from being raised. People needed a plane, and Tom believed in equal rights…and money.

  If someone had cash, they had a ride.

  “How was your journey?” Tom asked, as he clicked away at the old box computer on his service desk.

  “We stayed under cover and weren’t followed,” Jamie was certain of that. The helicopter had dropped out soon after they left the village, obviously on one of its usual runs, as Rafe had suggested.

  Jamie glanced over at the bathroom again. What was she doing in there?

  She was really freaking him out right now. She’d been fine up until the last five minutes of the trip, then everything had gone to shit. Her face had lost all color, and he knew the signs, had seen it in grown men who experienced an adrenaline high.

  He guessed this was part of the morning sickness that plagued her.

  The door to the bathroom finally opened. He turned. She looked pale and weak,…even skinny. She wasn’t eating enough. They’d travelled too far. The heat was getting to her. The stress wasn’t good for her…or the baby.

  “You look like hell,” he said.

  The room went silent. Kiana raised her eyebrows. Bobby, who’d been doing jumping jacks in the corner, stopped and stared.

  Missy’s eyes widened. “Okaay…”

  “Look. I know I said we would finish this.” His heart was pounding as he focused on her, her face, her pitying gaze. “But obviously, we have more to consider than our own wants. And now we’ve got some asshole out there, waiting to take us all down.” And hadn’t that only happened to him a week ago? Or was it two weeks ago? Shit, the days were running together. Colombia was enough cluster for this year. “You’re sick, Missy. We can’t—”

  She marched toward him then.

  He took a step back.

  “She’s sick?” Kiana said, worry in her voice, as Missy stopped in front of him, eyes blazing. Her hands rested on his shoulders, gentle and firm. He backed up. She stepped closer and placed her hands on his face. Then she lightly kissed his lips. She wasn’t angry, like he thought. But she wasn’t happy either.

  Resigned, he asked, “Do we know where Antonio is?”

  “No,” Tancredo answered from his spot between the rows of folding chairs, where he was doing push-ups.

  Jamie really looked around then. The team was relaxed. Most were doing some kind of workout to pass the time or to loosen up their muscles.

  Jamie ran a hand through his hair. “Tom, can we get a plane out of here today?”

  “Jamie,” Missy said, pulling his attention back to her. “Stop.”

  “My planes are always ready to make money,” Tom answered.

  Jamie scowled but grateful the man was willing to make a buck on him instead of convince him to stay. The guy had been military. He’d also been kicked out of the military. He’d come to Mexico under the shadiest of circumstances and was known to work both sides of the law, depending on who paid more.

  The man grinned, charming, and possibly his only hope.

  “We’re meeting Andrea tonight at the meeting in Veracruz.” Missy spoke firmly. She wasn’t going to take no for an answer, and it broke him.

  “Babe,” he begged.

  “Now, hold on a second here,” Kiana demanded, a hand on her hip. “Go back to the part where she is sick.”

  Missy was already shaking her head. “I promised I would be there. I’m going to be there, and I’m going to find those photos, and if I have to, I’m going to testify. This is my turn to fight back. And get justice for my family.”

  His throat tightened.

  Her gaze turned sympathetic—pity. Jamie turned away, rubbed a hand over his mouth. Anger boiled deep in his gut. Why was she doing this? What happened before didn’t matter as much as what could happen in their future.

  She hadn’t ever really fought him on the important stuff. Or maybe it was just that they’d never had something so important on the line. “You can’t just think about yourself anymore,” he said, the panic growing, the fear sitting hard in his gut. She was more than just a casual housemate, more than just his girlfriend. “You would put our baby’s life in danger?”

  “Oh,” Kiana said softly.

  Jamie sent a glance around. Everyone was watching.

  Bobby stood there, grinning. “Shit.”

  Jamie wasn’t going to be able to stop Missy from going.

  There was a certainty in the thought.

  And he owed her an apology, but when he turned back, she’d disappeared. Tancredo pointed to the pilot’s lounge, a small room at the back of the lobby that had a kitchen counter with a coffee pot sitting on it and two comfy chairs in the corner. He could see her feet, stretched out in front of her.

  He blew out a breath. “Guess I messed that up, huh?”

  Malcolm laughed. “You’re allowed to panic…Dad.”

  Heat rose on Jamie’s neck.

  Tan came over and pounded a hand on his back. His own wife was also pregnant. Hawk Elite was becoming this hotbed of knocked-up significant others. Despite the fact that Jamie wanted a family with Missy, he’d assumed they’d have more time to actually talk about it, make a decision about what to do next like a pair of responsible adults. Jeez. Now they were going to have a baby amidst this…

  “Fucking chaos,” he whispered then looked up to find everyone’s eyes on him.

  “I can help you convince her to go home,” Tan said.

  “No tu puedes, Tancredo,” She yelled, proving that she wasn’t exactly ignoring him. She came back in, fired up in true Hispanic fighting form. “How many times has he left me for dangerous missions? Left me for countries far away? I left my country twelve years ago. Now, I’m back. Jamie is going to have to use all of his skills—and you can help—to make sure we both get out of here alive, because I’m not leaving without Jamie nor without finishing this.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Tan answered. “You know we’ve got your back. But we also know that it would make Jamie very happy if you were safe, like all the way back home safe.”

  She shook her head and shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I can’t leave until I find those photos.”

  Those photos could be long gone. Everyone was thinking it. He was thinking it, which meant his job was to protect her on this wild scavenger hunt. She was the only one who mattered in this mess. “Looks like we’re going back to the city,” Jamie said.

  Tancredo looked to Jamie.

  He had to brush off the nerves of the failed mission in Colombia. Get up. Dust off. Keep going. There was no other option.

  “What about the meeting tomorrow night?”

  “Going to the meeting is pointless without the photos, Missy. Let’s focus on that first.” Jamie didn’t like the anonymity of the gathering. Too many people, too little accountability. He could trust no one but those on his team. “We’ll start at ground zero.”

  Missy frowned. “What’s ground zero?”

  “Home Sweet Home,” Jamie answered.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “The old house?” Missy frowned.

  “Yes.” Jamie slipped his phone out of his pocket. “Let’s call Nina.”

  “I got this.” Tom waved them over to the desk. “Leave your phones alone. I’ve got a whole drawer full here. Untraceable, just the way you like it.”

  Jamie took a phone and dialed, putting it on speaker after it started ringing.

  Missy took her camera
back out. She leaned over the counter, not wanting to forget anything this time.

  Jamie was close and when he took a deep breath, she couldn’t help but glance up at him. “Are you sniffing me?”

  He shrugged. “I like how you smell.”

  She smiled. “She’s not answering.”

  “We’ll try again in a bit. Malcolm, can you get anything on Antonio or Martinez?”

  “Working on that now,” Malcolm answered, eyes on his laptop.

  “She’s probably out in the garden or hanging her laundry on the line,” she said, even as worry cut through her.

  Jamie pulled her in and kissed her just above her eyebrow. She rested her head on his shoulder.

  “I knew your dad,” Tom said from across the desk.

  “Somehow, I’m not surprised,” she answered. “My dad protected me. He wasn’t the man I thought I knew.”

  Tom shrugged. “Our parents never are.”

  She gave a laugh, and it loosened the tension running through her. “So true.”

  “Yup,” he answered. “One day you’ll be so boring, your kid will never believe you were on the run from the Cartel—twice.”

  “I hope so.” Jamie added. Missy sent him a look, but he only shrugged, revealing just how much he’d changed in so short a time. They were definitely on the verge of having a very long talk about what in hell to do with the future.

  Missy ran a hand up and down his arm.

  “I guess you never built your boat.” Tom said, putting away the rest of the phones and straightening up the desktop. “Otherwise, you’d have quit your soldiering years ago.”

  Jamie frowned. “I haven’t thought about that in a long time, so…no. No boat. Missy and I run a recreational diving business on the coast. We have two boats right now, but none of my own designs.”

  “Even when you were in the military, you talked about building.”

  What was Tom doing? Trying to create dissension? Make Jamie feel badly? Make her feel badly? Well, she was—feeling badly. Had she been the reason Jamie hadn’t fulfilled his dream?

  Was he the reason she hadn’t fulfilled hers?

  “I’ll get to it.” Jamie added, as if he had all the time in the world. “Times changed, that’s all. And they will change again.” Jamie smiled at her, as if to say, don’t worry. He checked his watch. “Time to get back to Veracruz.”

  She grimaced. “We never should have left.”

  “Survival wins out and retreat is the only option in some situations.”

  “I’m headed that way too.” Tom picked up a set of keys. “Take the phone and follow me,” he said with a nod at Jamie, who picked the cell up and tucked it in his pocket.

  Tom led them into the lounge, pulled back the rug on the floor and folded it in half. He lifted a hidden door in the floor, stood back, and grinned.

  Then he jumped down into the tunnel beneath.

  ***

  They were on the run again. But this time they were running towards trouble.

  Jamie was ready. The blood pumped through his veins, same as it had hundreds of times in the past. His team surrounded him. Missy was at his side.

  They would finish this. By tunnel, apparently. Jamie swiped at a particularly large spider web that crossed the dark space in front of him as Missy made a small noise of dislike beside him.

  “Almost there,” Tom noted, without even lowering his voice.

  The entire team had taken to hushed tones and silence. It felt appropriate, buried here in the earth.

  Missy placed a hand at the small of his back, and he knew—without a doubt—he was ready to be done and free of this life. This was his last mission—break her free of the binds of her past, so she could let go.

  The dirt tunnel opened up to what could only be described as a garage. Sure, it had dirt and stone walls, but it also housed three vehicles—a pick-up truck, an old VW van, and a golf cart. Along one wall were shelves piled with motor parts and all the stuff to fix said motors.

  A low whistle had Jamie looking to his left. Bobby stood admiring the small yet significant armory shelved in that direction. There were a couple dozen kinds of guns, and shelves stacked with bullets. Under the table, there were all the tools for reloading those bullets.

  Straight ahead, light streamed in through the cracks of two large sliding doors.

  “We’ll lose the sunlight soon,” Tom said. He walked to the table just beyond the golf cart and shuffled through the pile of keys that sat on top until he found the right set and then headed for the van. “Load up in the VW.”

  “Yes,” Tan whispered and grinned.

  Jamie rolled his eyes.

  “What? I’ve always wanted one of these, but they are hard to find, man. Seriously. In good condition like this one?” He shook his head.

  Tom went to the garage bay doors and heaved his weight into one, pushing it out of the way. Jamie stepped up to do the other side. The place was convenient and hidden but also lacked modern amenities. He guessed that made it special. But when his sleeve got caught on the rough surface of wood, it ripped his shirt. “I could give you a good deal on a garage door, opener…and even an update on security,” Jamie said, grunting as the door finally started to slide.

  Tom just laughed as if Jamie were making a joke.

  It was a tight fit, but everyone climbed into the van. Tan in the back with Malcolm and Marie, Bobby and Kiana in the next row with Marie closest to the door, and Jamie up front with Tom.

  “You sure you’re okay driving us into town?”

  “I’m going to the meeting anyway.” As soon as he cleared the doorway, Tom pressed on the gas and they shot out onto the road that wound down off the mountain.

  Jamie glanced back at Missy, questioning her silently. She smiled at him. So far, so good.

  He gripped the door as they turned into a sharp curve and then bumped onto a dirt road.

  The landscape didn’t change, a contrast to the people who lived in it. This late in the year might cool the climate some, but the heat kept the greens dark and lush and the flowers in bloom. The scent of wet earth floated through the air, and it was invigorating for him.

  “When this is over, Missy, we’re taking a nice long vacation.”

  “Yes,” she answered with no hesitation. The van bumped again, and he could see the team in the back come off their seats in unison.

  They finally hit a state-maintained roadway, and even though Jamie would have thought it impossible, Tom sped up. With the adrenaline racing, it felt like no time at all until they were back in city limits.

  The rush of intensity turned quickly to a hyper awareness. Congestion on the roads, people moving along the sidewalks, at least three bodies deep. So many people.

  “SUV on our six,” Marie stated, calm as can be.

  Tan looked back, grunted in confirmation.

  “Hold on,” Tom said and took the next turn at breakneck speed, followed quickly by two more turns and a straight shot into an underground garage. They circled down a level and back up and exited on the opposite side.

  “Something tells me you’ve done this before.” Jamie glanced back, but no one was there. The street was quiet, and they’d entered into a neighborhood with pretty houses lining each side. Front yards were small but neat. Flowers grew in abundance, as if it was a rule.

  They also stuck out like a sore thumb.

  “How much further?” Jamie asked, getting antsy, wanting to hit their destination as soon as possible.

  The van slowed, and Tom pulled up in front of a two storied home.

  “This is it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Padre Franco said it was still standing, but I didn’t expect it to look exactly the same.” Missy’s blood pounded in her ears. Down to the lattice that crossed the front porch where her dad had grown vines and hung planters. “I can’t believe it.”

  “The fire burned hot, which is why your dad died. The heat would have fried his lungs, but as far as the house went. Wi
th some repair, it survived.”

  A man and woman walking down the street, turned up onto the front walk.

  “What’s going on?”

  Tom gave her a funny look. “This is where the meetings are.”

  “Shit,” Jamie hissed from his spot in the front seat.

  She couldn’t stop the rush of excitement that fluttered in her stomach.

  Jamie frowned at her.

  “We’ll look for the photos first,” she said, to reassure him first. “When we find them, you can decide if it’s safe to stay.”

  Jamie sent a glance to Tancredo, who nodded.

  “Okay,” Jamie said. “Let’s do this.”

  Missy stepped out of the van first, and her legs shook. Jamie closed his door and turned to her. He smiled, and she wondered if he meant it. Taking her hand was enough though. He was with her in this to the very end.

  Marie stayed outside, taking the seat on the front porch as if she owned the place. Malcolm came through the door with them then remained there just inside, keeping an eye on the back entrance.

  It might look the same on the outside, but inside proved Padre Franco’s claim. It had been modernized and looked very much the vacation rental. Granite counter tops in the kitchen. Pretty painted walls with authentic Mexican tilework on the backsplash. Larger tile on the floor.

  “You okay?” Jamie came up and squeezed her shoulder.

  She nodded. “It’s the same but different.”

  There was a hum of voices coming through the basement door. She looked up at Jamie. “I’ll head upstairs first.”

  “Yeah. Photo first. Then the meeting.”

  “Hey,” Tan spoke as he opened the door to the basement. “The three of us will head downstairs with Tom.”

  Bobby and Kiana went down first, followed by Tan.

  Missy went back to the front of the house and peek into the living room. The two front windows had been replaced with one big picture window that let light into the room and revealed the front gardens, and Marie—a reminder that there wasn’t time to woolgather. People were depending on her, waiting on her to find those photos so they could go home.