Delta knew she was going to need some help to get out alive. She chipped away at the floor with a piece of metal she found wedged in the corner of one wall, but nothing would give. The guard at the door hadn’t responded to her request for more water, and the air in the room was stifling and stale. Slumping down against the wall, Delta sighed, “Come on, Con, I can’t do this by myself.”
It had been hours since the general had left, yet Delta could hear nothing outside except the familiar night sounds of the jungle, barely audible through the trailer walls. He must, she reasoned, be keeping the hostages in the caverns. But why couldn’t she hear anything else? Surely, she should have heard soldiers laughing and talking; something that indicated there were people outside.
Closing her eyes and leaning her head against the wall, Delta’s mind bounced from subject to subject like a pinball in a 100,000-point arcade game. She thought about Flora and how eager the poor girl was to have a life, an adventure of her own. Adventures in Delta’s life were a dime a dozen, some welcome, some not. She thought about Alexandria Pendleton’s offer to come work for her as a special investigator to the DA. Now that could be an adventure. She and Connie could be partners. The thought was both exhilarating and intimidating. She thought about Connie and Gina raising a baby in an ever-frightening homophobic society. She thought about Carducci moving on to SWAT and finally fulfilling his John Wayne dream.
And she thought about Megan and the fear and anxiety she must be feeling at the prospect of living a life without Delta. Delta had been there, and she knew that it was one of the loneliest, scariest places in the world. She only hoped that Megan was too busy getting to her to think about the fear. The fear, like raging cancer cells, could eat you alive. She hoped Megan was stronger than that. Delta hoped they were all stronger than that.
When Delta’s eyes opened, she realized she’d been asleep. For just how long, she didn’t know. What she did know was, if the soldiers were drinking and partying like Megan had said they were prone to, they were doing it someplace else.
Delta placed her ear to the door and held her breath as she listened. The murmur of low, indistinct voices was all she could hear.
The door opened abruptly, surprising Delta. The light temporarily blinded her. For a moment, the guard said nothing. Then, without warning, he cried, “Usted!”
Crouched low beneath some short palms, the small cadre looked down at the flickering torches surrounding the encampment. They’d come upon the camp at nearly 2 a.m..Instead of tents ringing the camp, there were half a dozen torches, each manned by an armed guard. The trailer Megan had visited more times than she cared to remember had managed to find its way here, though it sat awkwardly to one side, as if set down on a slope. Apparently, no one had bothered to right it. There was a torch and a guard in front of the trailer as well, but there were no hostages to be seen.
“Where are the tents?” Megan whispered to the group.
Connie and Sal looked to each other for an answer. It was Connie who spoke first. “My guess,” Connie said, “is that after you escaped, they made some changes.”
“I’ll say. You don’t think…” Megan said, covering her mouth with her hand.
Connie shook her head. “No, I don’t think they’re all dead. If they were, he’d be long gone. He still needs them to pan and transport the gold. Zahn’s not about to kill his pack mules until he’s gotten all that gold to safety.”
Sal took her cap off and shook her head. “Greedy son of a bitch. He could have been long gone already.”
Connie nodded. “Greed’s a bitch.”
Taylor, who had said little the entire trip, eased over to Connie. “Is that the place?”
Connie nodded. She hasn’t realized how tight the security would be around the camp. There was no revelry, no partying, and no easy way in and out. The trailer may as well have been Fort Knox. “That’s the one,” Connie replied, pointing to the trailer and handing the night goggles to Taylor, who peered through them once before handing them back. They would have to kill many more men than Connie had originally thought. Either Zahn had reinforcements, or she had severely underestimated the number the first time around.
“Cake,” Taylor said, a little too loudly.
“Shh. You can’t be serious,” Sal said, staring through the second pair of night goggles. “They’ve got the place covered.”
Taylor grinned. “Au contraire, mon amie. In and out like that.” Taylor snapped her fingers. “These bozos don’t have the first clue about security. I can tell you right now, I’ve seen better security forces from the rent-a-cops in some Podunk-y museums.”
Josh scooted over to them and peered through his night goggles. “She’s right. These guys aren’t soldiers. They may look and act the part, but they’re civvie, no doubt about it.”
Megan rose. “That’s good enough for me. Come on. Let’s go find Del.”
Everyone reached to stop her.
“No way, Meg,” Josh whispered. “Get down.”
“But she could—”
“We didn’t come all this way only to get careless now,” Josh explained. “Connie and me will recon the area. When we get back, we’ll figure out the best route for getting Taylor in and out. Like that.” Josh snapped his fingers and winked over at Taylor.
“I agree with Josh,” Connie added. “We’ll do her no-good dead. You guys stay here, check our weapons, and hang tight. We’ll be back as soon as we can.” Connie took Megan’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze. “Hey, we made it this far, didn’t we?”
Megan sighed. The thought of her Delta being treated the way she’d been tore at her heart. “Con?”
Connie pulled Megan into a hug. “I know. We’ll be back as fast as we can.”
Megan shook her head. “I was going to say, leave him for me. You get what you need, you get Taylor to Delta, and we get the hostages, but you leave Zahn to me.”
Connie studied Megan for a fraction of a second before nodding. “Sure thing.”
When Connie and Josh slithered into the darkness, Taylor slid over to Megan and whispered, “Let it go, Megan. Whatever he did, you have to let it go. That kind of anger is a dangerous place to work from.”
Megan inhaled a jerky breath, forcing the memories of Zahn’s abuse from her mind. “If he tries to rape Delta, she’d rather go down fighting. He’ll kill her.”
“Or she’ll kill him,” Carducci said, snapping together one of the rifles. “My partner doesn’t go down easily. Soldiers or no, Delta won’t go to the bone yard alone.”
Megan closed the circle so they all sat elbow to elbow. “That’s true, Tony, but this time, Delta may think she’s alone. Who knows how she’ll react if Zahn put his hands on her? I may have been able to force myself to do those things, but Delta? She’d rather be dead.”
Taylor sighed loudly. “Sounds to me like you need to have more faith. She was able to contact Connie, right? That doesn’t sound to me like a woman getting ready to throw in the towel. You guys need an attitude adjustment if we’re going to pull this off. Delta is alive, she’s unharmed, and all we have to do is get in there and whisk her away from them.”
“Shh,” Sal said. No one moved. Then, out of nowhere, Connie and Josh returned, silent, as if walking upon a carpet of grass and not a pile of leaves.
“Any sign of her?” Megan asked anxiously.
Connie shook her head. “No. We didn’t see anyone but the guards. There are two posted at the mouth of the cavern. We suspect Zahn may have the prisoners there, but we can’t know for sure until we get in there.”
Josh nodded and squatted next to the group. “It’s much harder to escape from a cave. Zahn’s no dummy.”
Megan looked back down at the camp and the flickering torchlights. Yes, she had escaped into the protective darkness of the jungle, knowing full well the risk to the others. She had stolen a knife from Zahn’s trailer and waited until nightfall before she cut her way out of the back of the tent and rushed into the wilderness, leaving S
iobhan, who was too frightened to come with her, whimpering inside the tent. Megan had promised Siobhan she would come back for them if she reached safety. It was a promise she intended to keep. Megan could only hope Zahn needed the labor more than he needed a scapegoat or an example. Otherwise, her tentmate was already dead, promise or no promise.
“And you didn’t see anyone besides soldiers?”
Josh and Connie shook their heads. “He’s sealed that place pretty tight.”
“Any rovers?” Carducci asked.
“Not that I could tell,” Josh said, lowering his voice. “But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.” Megan took a pair of night googles and studied the camp. “Well, after seeing it up close, do you guys have a plan?”
Josh ran his hands over his face. “The way Con and I see it, Delta got cut off when she was on the phone in the trailer. Someone caught her, and she signed off. Since the general is a macho sort of guy, he wouldn’t have the trailer guarded in order to keep anyone out. We think he’s posted a guard there in order to keep someone in.”
Carducci nodded slowly. “Sounds reasonable.”
Josh continued. “It’s possible he’s keeping her there so she’s away from the others. No doubt, there’s something precious in that trailer, or why the guards?”
Connie looked over at Taylor, suddenly aware of just how much they needed her. “Taylor, can you get into that trailer undetected?”
Taylor grinned. “I told you. It’s cake.”
Josh looked over the camp and shook his head. “Girl, you gotta be crazy. There’s nothing easy about going through a bunch of would-be soldiers with their fingers on the trigger.”
Taylor tousled Josh’s hair as she reached for her bag. “Who said anything about going through them?”
For a split second, Delta thought her best chance was going through him; just ram into the wall and take her best shot at getting out the trailer door.
“Puta!” The soldier spat as he stood in the tiny doorway.
When Delta’s eyes adjusted to the light, she was staring into the face of a man who had chased her through the jungle. His face had the same branch marks across it as she wore on hers, and there was a butterfly bandage across one eyebrow. For a long moment, he stared at her, and Delta knew the ruse was up. Unless she could think of something in the next ten seconds, her life was going to come to the very unpleasant end the general had warned her about.
“You!?!” the soldier growled again, through clenched teeth. He snapped some quick Spanish over his shoulder to the general, who shoved him out of the way and backhanded Delta across the face.
“Fucking bitch! Where is Megan?” His voice was harsh and menacing, nearly cracking in its anger.
Licking her bleeding lip, Delta sneered, “Safe and sound and away from your sorry ass.”
Slap! A second backhand rocked Delta’s head again, and she struggled to maintain her balance.
“You lie.” Zahn clenched his fists and stood ominously, breathing heavily into her face.
Delta wiped her chin with the back of her hand. She had about five minutes left to live if she couldn’t come up with something to appease his anger.
“Okay, she’s dead. They’re all dead. Crashed into the cliffs. Gone in a puff of smoke. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
General Zahn grabbed Delta’s arm and pulled into another room. This one had a bare, stained mattress on the floor, a small, bare, bulb light hanging from the ceiling, and one tiny window.
A mattress.
Shit.
Spinning her around, the general slapped her again. “I told you what would happen if you lied to me!”
“Lied? I didn’t—”
Whack! Another blow to the side of Delta’s face. If she took too many more, she wouldn’t be in the game much longer.
“Where are the others?”
“I told you. Dead.”
The general raised his hand again, and Delta held his angry gaze. “Do you honestly think I’d have come back here unless I had to?”
The general slowly lowered his hand that, a moment before, had been poised to strike, his eyebrows lifted in question.
“Think about it, General. I came back here because I didn’t make it to the helicopter and was left alone. Otherwise, I’d be dead with the rest of them.”
“You’re a dead woman anyway…” Zahn was evidently at a loss for what to call her.
“Delta,” she answered, for no other reason than she wanted him to know who it was that was going to kill him.
“Well, Delta, when my men get through with you, you will wish you had died with your friends. Although it is a shame that Megan had to die. She gave such good head. Perhaps you do as well.”
Delta felt her insides begin to crumble. Her worst nightmare was coming to pass, and this time, it didn’t appear as if the cavalry was anywhere in sight. Delta Stevens, officer of law, saver of lives, giver of gifts, was facing the kind of death she had always dreaded. In a heart-stopping panic, Delta knew one clear truth: she did not know how to survive this. She did not know if she wanted to.
Sensing her fear and apprehension, General Zahn smiled maliciously. “Yes, you’re going to die tonight, Delta, but not before my men take their brand of pleasure from you. After all, they have earned it for killing your friends.”
Eyes searching desperately for an exit, Delta felt the bile rise to her throat. Should she go for his gun and try to end it here, or should she allow her body to be abused in an effort to prolong what short time she had left? Suddenly, Megan’s choice was profoundly understandable.
“Your men, like you, are pigs, General.”
The general flicked a smile at her. “Perhaps, but your friend, Megan, enjoyed every moment of my piggish behavior.”
Delta could stand it no longer. If she was going out, she was going out with her virtue intact. She lunged. “You son of a—”
Before she could get near him, the other soldier rammed a fist into her stomach and then slammed her head back with his other fist, sending her sprawling to the floor on her side. Her thigh injury flared up like a hot brand on her leg.
Zahn turned and rattled off some orders to a second soldier who grinned widely and nodded before running from the trailer. To the soldier who had hit Delta, Zahn whispered something that made the man smile from ear to ear.
Slowly rising, Delta held her stomach and tried to stay conscious. If she went down now and stayed down, the things these fuckers could do to her body were too awful to contemplate. She had to stay to her feet, as unsteady as they were.
Returning his gaze to Delta, Zahn sneered at her. “Hector, here, would like to be the first, my dear. But do be careful. He likes to bite. Hard. Hector has been known to bite the nipples off of women who fight him for his pleasure. So take your pick, Delta. That is about the only option open to you now.”
Firing off a round of Spanish to Hector, General Zahn laughed at his own joke as he turned to leave.
“General?” Delta said, swallowing the lump rising in her throat.
Slowly turning, the general raised his eyebrows. “Yes?”
“You better kill me now, because if I live through this, you’re a dead man.”
Tossing his head back and laughing, the general walked out, locking the door with an ominous click. Delta was alone in the filthy room with Hector, who gave her a depraved smile, revealing tobacco-stained teeth. “I get you first, puta.”
Delta inhaled slowly and forced the bile back down her throat. This was it. She must decide here and now if she was willing to extend her life for a few more pain-filled hours.
“Take off your clothes,” he ordered.
Delta breathed in again as time slowed down.
“Don’t make me mad, bitch.” Hector grinned as he grabbed his crotch. “Muy largo,” he said, laughing. “And you’re gonna feel it up to your neck.”
Delta froze. God, this couldn’t be happening. Not to her. The last time she’d been in a situation similar to thi
s, Sal and Josh had bailed her out by killing both men who were going to rape her and leave her dead body in the desert. Where were Sal and Josh now? And Megan? Where in the hell was Connie? Connie, who had never let her down, not even once? Where in the hell was everybody?
When she finally found her voice, it sounded detached, like it wasn’t hers. “I thought all you macho types fantasized about being sucked off.” Maybe she could do that. Maybe, if she visualized something else, she could bite the fucking thing right off.
Hector’s facial expression didn’t change. “Sí. Especially by smart-assed American bitches.”
Delta looked at his crotch. God, she had no clue. She’d tried to give head once to a guy in high school and put the damn thing in her mouth like a piece of corn on the cob. She was so bad, the poor guy had to jerk himself off. Searching the corners of her mind, she found some lines from movies she’d watched. “Are you hard?” It was the only thing she could think of.
Delta was surprised to see a red blush creep across his face. She realized he’d been drinking. Score one for her side. Maybe, just maybe, there was a slim bit of hope.
Before Hector could answer, the door flew open and banged against Hector’s back, as a second uninformed guard came in. He muttered something to Hector before closing the door behind him. Now, there were two in the room, and Hector did not appear pleased. He spat something at the soldier, who snarled right back and pointed to Delta. The alcohol fumes from their breath filled the room, mingling with the odors of fear and perspiration.
It took everything Delta had in her to stay standing. The room seemed to spin around her, and she grabbed the wall to keep from falling. If she attacked them, they’d probably enjoy the fight. If she let them do what they wanted, it would only prolong her agony before they killed her.
It looked, for once, as if there was no way out.
Bowing her head, tears welled up in Delta’s eyes. Not for herself, not for the fate awaiting her, but for two women who, she knew, would never find her remains. She knew Connie and Megan would spend their time, their energy, and every dime they had trying to find a body that would probably end up as shark food. The thought of them never knowing what had become of Delta ripped at her spirit. As a tear slid off her nose, Delta closed her eyes and thought of Megan, her love, and Connie, her soul mate, and was glad they would never know what was going to happen in this tiny, dirty room in the middle of a jungle. Megan would get over it, eventually. She would move on, telling stories about her life whenever she spoke of Delta’s idiosyncrasies and exploits. She would see things and hear things that would remind her of their time together but eventually, Megan would recover.
Storm Surge (Delta Stevens Crime Logs Book 6) Page 13
