by Zoe Dawson
They ran and kept running, dragging Anna with them through thick underbrush and illuminated ground littered with debris, lifting her off her feet when she stumbled, practically carrying her the rest of the time. A copse of trees provided cover until they came to the area where Max had fallen, picked up his trail, and took a breather. Releasing the death grip he had on her arm, he gave her a quick glance. He’d been holding onto her pretty damn tightly, so of course, his grip had marked her. Every one of his fingerprints stood out on her pale skin like a brand.
Each of them drank a bottle of water and he moved away from her now that the urgent need to get her away from the conflict behind them had passed.
He resisted the urge to put his hands on her again. He had a round in the chamber of his weapon, and a full mag, along with more mags in the vest. Under the worst circumstances, this was a goatfuck waiting to happen.
She should have never been allowed on this op.
His heart was racing, and her breath was coming hard and fast. Damn, but that had been close. A split second later and they would have been fighting both factions. The sound of chopper blades had them all ducking for cover as one flew overhead.
When it was gone, he looked at her, careful to keep his voice confident and controlled. “Are you all right?” The adrenaline he was used to. It jacked him up and left him buzzing. She was shaking hard, the bottle quivering in her hand.
“Yes.”
He took in a hard breath. Thank God she was all right. A little roughed up from her interrogation, but on the whole unharmed, at least physically. He scanned the area, Professor and Saint watching all directions.
He checked the whole area again, reevaluating the scene, mapping the path ahead in his head.
“There’s blood on my shirt,” she said from behind him, her voice softly horrified.
He turned toward her, his jaw flexing, his gaze falling to the smeared blood. Then he realized it was from his hand. He’d gotten blood on it when he’d killed the first guard.
“You’re okay, Anna,” he said. “You’re doing great.”
Her gaze lifted to meet his, and his heart sank. Her eyes were wide, frightened, darkened by the night and the shadows.
“I didn’t know,” she whispered. “I mean, I knew…but...”
“It’s best not to think about it. They were guards, holding you against your will. They would have killed you on command and even worse if ordered. I won’t lose an ounce of sleep over them.”
“You killed him twice,” she whispered, taking a step and stumbling. He was there catching her against him, supporting her.
“Precaution,” he murmured. “I’ve got you,” he said. He made peace with what he’d had to do as an SBS and SEAL. In the job he was tasked to do, he never doubted his purpose. That’s why he joined the SEALs and his resolve was rock solid.
He had to be better than they were and win every time. Otherwise they would have all been dead. And he’d have to contend with Fast Lane kicking his ass to hell.
The man’s face drained of color and the rifle dipped slightly. Max moved in and disarmed him. He stepped back. “We came here because I was wounded, and your wife saved my life. We didn’t harm her, but she is missing.” He watched Logan/Jason rub at his temple.
“I just got my memory back right before the earthquake. Carolina doesn’t know. It’s why I went into town, to call the Marines.” He closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. “I couldn’t get through to them.” He sagged back against the nearest stall. “I’ve been clueless about who I was since I stumbled onto her dad’s farm. She took me in, protected me, and we fell in love.”
“Your sister, Shea, has been looking for you for a long time. She never gave up.”
“She must have been so worried about me. Where is she?”
“In Asunción. We came here to search for three missing Marines, but Shea wanted to find you.” His face softened at the information about his sister, and Max couldn’t help thinking about his own. It was enough to slam a guy good.
“Three Marines? Let me guess. Sergeant Brendan Hanson, Lance Corporal Thomas Schellenberg, and Lance Corporal Joe Taggert.”
“Yes. Schellenberg and Taggert are both dead and Hanson was transported back to the US to face charges.”
He took an uneven breath. “I remember who I am now, but parts of my memory are still blank or fuzzy.” He stepped forward. “Where is my wife?”
“Last night Diego came here looking for her. He had a sick bull and asked her to go with him. She said she would probably be gone all night, but both of us are worried. We just want to know that she’s all right.”
“Who are you?” Jason asked.
“I’m Petty Officer Max Keegan, and this is Dr. Renata Cavalcante.”
“Navy? You’re not with the Marines?”
“No. I’m a Navy SEAL.”
“I know where Diego’s family farm is. I’ll take you there.”
He saddled his own horse while Renata closed up the house and Max released the animals into the pasture, filling all the water troughs to full. It should last them until they returned.
“Is that your dog?” Jason asked when Max came back into the barn with Jugs.
“Yes, he’s an MWD and his name is Juggernaut.”
Jason’s smile was brief. “Right. MWD’s have been saving Marine asses for a long time.” He swallowed hard, and Max understood what it was to have someone Jason loved in possible danger. His gut twisted thinking about Renata threatened. He would much prefer her to stay here while he checked it out, but if Carolina was hurt, she would need a doctor.
They both had to put Carolina’s needs above their own.
Max had ridden a few times as SEALs tried to garner all the skills they might need in the field. He was rusty, though he handled the patient horse well. Renata rode like she’d been born to the saddle. There was so much he didn’t know about her. So much he wanted to know about her.
Jason reined his horse in and said, “Diego’s farm is just over that rise. Maybe we should recon on foot before we step into something we’re not expecting.”
Max liked Shea’s brother and nodded. “Exactly my thinking.” They left the horses tethered to several trees. Jason had his rifle and Max his handgun. As they topped the hill, they crouched. The farm with a house, corral, and barn looked quiet and deserted. Not a good sign. This was a busy time for farmers.
“I’ll check it out. Stay here and cover my ass,” Max said. He attached Jugs’s leash to his belt and, crouching, sprinted to the house. He settled under the window, but all he heard was the sound of the wind and the rustle of the leaves on the trees. It was eerily quiet. He popped up to look inside but saw nothing. Going around the house, he got to the front door and his heart sank. The lock was broken, the frame splintered.
He went inside, clearing the house and found Diego’s mother and sister in the living room. Both of them had been raped and shot in the head.
He searched the rest of the house and was relieved that Carolina hadn’t met the same fate. He walked out of the house and waved them forward. “There are two bodies in there.”
“I should check them out just to make sure…” Renata trailed off.
Renata went into the house to check the victims. It looked like whoever had been here was gone. He took no chances as he proceeded to the barn, but something in the corral caught his eye.
He slipped through the fence and found Diego’s dad lying on his back, a dead bull beside him, both shot at close range. Max crouched down to search for a pulse as Renata and Jason came up to him.
He shook his head when he met Renata’s gaze. Diego’s dad was gone. Her fists clenched and she looked away.
Jason, his voice strained, said, “These were decent, kind people. Who did this to them?”
“I don’t know. But we need to find Diego and Carolina.”
He looked out to the field, and as they walked, he noticed a few cows had been butchered, the grass covered in blood.
In the distance, he saw another body and increased his speed. As he approached, his senses on alert, he could see the rise and fall of the person’s chest and hear labored breathing.
“Renata,” he said softly.
When they got to the body, they discovered it was Diego. He’d been shot in the abdomen and left to bleed out.
“Diego,” Renata said as she knelt down, pulling her pack off her back with the medical supplies they’d brought from Carolina’s practice. She started to work on him. Max went to his knees beside Diego’s head.
“Who did this to you?” Max asked in Spanish.
“Hezbollah.” Diego cried out and panted, closing his eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was fainter.
“Stay with me, kid,” Max said. “What happened to Carolina?”
“They took her. Needed a doctor.” He reached up and clasped Max’s shirt. “Find her. They are animals.” He broke down and tears gathered in his eyes. “She is a good person. They took her north…camp…help…her. His breath whooshed out, his eyes fixed and blank. Max sat back in the grass and swore.
Jason made a soft, anguished sound, his face contorted in pain and fear as he began pacing. Max reached out and touched Renata’s arm, and she looked at him. He shook his head, squeezing, and her expression fell as her gaze went to the boy’s face. She gasped on a soft inhalation and reached up and closed his eyes. As she cleaned her bloody hands, Max rose.
Outraged at the senseless killing, he was sure that whatever they wanted Carolina for, she was in terrible peril. Once they got what they wanted from her, she would be in danger of meeting the same fate as Diego’s mom and sister.
“What are we going to do? The Paraguayan local forces are stretched thin by the earthquake and a lot of them are corrupted anyway. We can’t leave my wife in terrorists’ hands.”
Max clapped him on the shoulder. “We have no intention of leaving her with Hezbollah.”
That seemed to settle Jason. Even though his face was ashen, the glint of steel in his eyes told Max he was a true Marine. That was good. He was going to need the elite soldier here instead of Carolina’s husband.
“How are we going to find her?” Jason asked.
“Go get the horses.”
Renata stood and sighed. “He was just a boy. His sister so young.” He reached out and slipped his arms around her, pulling her close. “I can’t handle the thought they will hurt Carolina. Please, Max.”
“I know, babe.” He tightened his grip on her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her sweet face into his throat. Jason returned on top of his horse, pulling theirs along behind them. “Go ahead and water them,” Max said as he kept Renata in his arms. “We’re going to be moving fast.”
Jason complied, pulling them over to a trough that was close by in the field.
“She is such a good person. She didn’t deserve this.”
“No one deserves this,” Max said. Everything he stood for mixed with the cool, collected anger he used to fuel his intent. He cupped the back of her head, his hand smoothing down her back. When Jason returned with the horses taken care of, Max released her and cupped her face. “You will do everything I tell you to do, right?”
She nodded. “I want to help in any way I can.”
He didn’t want to jeopardize her. Everything in him wanted to send her back to the Rojas farm. But Carolina was out there, alone and threatened. She could be hurt, and he couldn’t take the chance with her life. He was a fair medic, all SEALs had to learn the basics, but his babe was the real deal. Renata was coming with them.
“Go ahead and mount. Be ready.”
Max pulled out the scarf. Crouching, he slipped it under Jugs’s nose. The Malinois immediately focused, picking up Max’s energy. Jugs’s ears pricked, his chest thrust forward.
Dogs were amazing, and for good reason, but the Belgian Malinois was a step above. The breed had a ton of great attributes—athleticism, endurance, and fearsome demeanor. They had to be just as alpha as their human warriors. Unflappable in every task and never spooked by dark rooms, slippery floors, open metal grating, helicopters, fast-roping, rappelling, parachuting, entering and exiting water, jumping onto unstable objects, or entering tight places like ducts and crawl spaces.
“We have a secret weapon,” Max said as Jugs had Carolina’s scent. Jugs was amazing at tracking down whatever Max asked him to seek. Canines had some of the most sensitive noses on the planet. Navy SEAL dogs not only had a prey drive but also a hunt drive.
Max ran to his horse and quickly mounted. Jugs sniffed the ground in a serpentine search pattern. These people were going to see something amazing. Between one second and the next, Jugs launched forward without a sound. In an explosive kick of his back legs, Juggernaut was full out. He’d caught the scent.
Wherever they took Carolina, Jugs would find her. No one could hide from a Belgian Malinois.
12
Clenching her hands around the reins to stop the trembling and pull herself together, Renata couldn’t get the sight of Diego’s mom and sister out of her head. She’d never seen anything like that before in her life, and it drove home how much danger she was in during her research. If it hadn’t been for that agreement between the drug runners and the government, she might have met the same fate or worse.
There had been three teacups on the table, and Renata was sure Carolina, the sweetheart that she was, wouldn’t be able to turn down the offer of a cup of tea before she returned home.
She’d been there and seen all of that, her kind, gentle friend.
They rode hard and fast on Jugs’s heels as he sped ahead, nothing but a blur of dark and light fur. He was a marvel.
As was the man who handled him. He took charge like he was born to it, but it shouldn’t be a surprise. Max was a direct-action, door-kicking, assault-dealing SEAL. It’s what he did for a living. She tried to reassure herself that if anyone could find Carolina, it was Jugs. If anyone could rescue her, it was Max.
Jugs’s full-out run had come to an end. He was moving around the area like he might have lost the scent. Max dismounted, Jason and Renata following suit.
“What happened?” she asked, stumbling to him, the panic and fear she had experienced earlier giving way. Poor Carolina. They had to find her. She was all alone and had to be so scared.
Jugs sat next to Max, and Max shot her a quick look. A strong hand gripped her upper arm, drawing her attention. Maintaining his hold on her arm, Max caught her chin and forced her gaze away from Jugs and up at him.
“It’s okay, babe,” he said firmly. “We’re golden.” She stared numbly at him, her chest heaving and hurting, her breathing raw. He gave her a small, warped smile.
Jugs looked at Max, and Jason’s shoulders tightened. “Did he lose the scent?”
“No.” His tone was curt. “He’s being cautious.” Max moved forward and peered through the trees. He took her shoulders and pulled her in front of him, then pointed toward the thick stand of trees leading back into the jungle, then pointed toward the area. “See the cook fire smoke?” He adjusted her head, then pointed again. “See it?”
Aware of the heat of his body at her back, she finally saw what he was pointing at, and she nodded.
Resting his hand on her shoulder, he gave her a reassuring squeeze. “There’s a trail through here, too. Several people walked across here, big boots and one set of small boot marks. It’s Carolina. She’s alive and they took her for a purpose. They’re going to keep her alive until they don’t need her anymore.”
Swallowing hard, Renata wiped her face with the heel of her hand. “Let’s get her out of there.”
“Copy that,” Max said, giving Jason the same encouraging squeeze to his shoulder. Then he murmured a command to Jugs. Taking her hand, Max went back to the horses and gathered up the reins. “We’ll leave them in a safe spot, so they don’t make noise and spook the camp.”
“Recon first,” Jason asked.
“Yes, recon, then we’ll formulate a pl
an.”
They reached a barbed-wire fence, and before she could separate the wires to crawl through, Max hoisted her and Jugs over, then used the fence post to vault over. Grasping Jugs’s collar, he attached the leash. “Wait here a minute.” He took the dog a few paces into the trees, then crouched down when Jugs sat down.
“Tripwire,” Jason whispered.
Max moved to the right and she saw him do something, her heart in her throat. He pulled out a pair of wire cutters and snipped. Renata didn’t realize she was holding her breath until it whooshed out in a rush.
“He’s good, your friend.”
“Yes, he is,” she whispered back. “If anyone can get your wife back, they can.”
He nodded. “She’s my life.” His voice broke. “If I lost her—”
“No. That’s not going to happen. She is coming home with us.”
He looked at her. “To know her is to love her.”
“She’s wonderful and I won’t…we won’t let her down.”
He reached out and squeezed her hand.
Max beckoned them forward. “Stay right behind me,” he said, offering her his hand. “You doing okay, babe?”
Feeling more hopeful than she had since they found out Carolina had been taken, she slipped her hand into his, grateful for the support, for the steadying effect. Grateful that he was there.
“Yes. I’m fine,” she said. She could smell the cook smoke and hear voices speaking in a foreign language. They moved more cautiously until they were only yards from the main camp. They went to their knees to observe. There were smaller structures that served as latrines and showers, along with stacked crates and water drums.
The camp was centered around the open fire. On the fringes were seven large tents and one that was the largest and close to what looked like a weathered, collapsing barn. There was a makeshift barbed wire fence and a gate to let traffic in and out.
