Docking their raft next to the one Zahn must have come in during the night, Delta looked over at Connie, whose face registered the most menacing look Delta had ever seen her wear.
“If they’re dead, Del, stay the hell out of my way, because I’ll gut the son of a bitch myself.”
Delta barely nodded, wondering if Connie and Sal had it together enough to do what needed to be done. The desire for revenge was a poor replacement for a good, rational plan and common sense. If they were going to get out of this alive, they would need plenty of both.
“They’re not dead,” Delta said defiantly. “If Zahn did board this boat last night, you can bet Megan and Gina figured out a way to make themselves less expendable.”
Connie said nothing with her mouth, but her eyes burned with an intensity that scared Delta.
The expected rifle showed up immediately after they tied their raft to the dinghy bobbing next to the fishing boat.
The hands that lifted them roughly to the deck were not the loving ones of Megan or Gina. Instead, four men, along with General Zahn, stood guard over Megan, Gina, Flora. Logan was slumped against the side of the boat. Dead or unconscious, Delta couldn’t be sure which.
Zahn stared down into the boat at Josh and Taylor. “Where is the other?” Zahn barked, standing toe to toe with Delta. His was the coldest, cruelest gaze she had ever locked eyes with, and she knew it took everything he had not to kill her right where she stood.
Looking over his shoulder at Megan, Delta winked. “Your men shot him in the back like the cowards they are.” Delta waited for Zahn to slap her. Instead, a hate-filled grin spread across his face.
“You have proven to be much more trouble than you’re worth.”
Delta looked away from Zahn and over to Connie, who was stone-faced and trying not to look at Gina, whose eyes were wide with fear.
“Wondering why you and your friends are still alive?” Zahn asked.
Delta shrugged. She had to buy as much time as she could. “Nope. I find it useless to second-guess egocentric lunatics.”
General Zahn slammed his fist into Delta’s stomach, doubling her over. “Do you still not realize who you’re dealing with, you filthy American whore?”
“I just… told you.” Holding her aching stomach, Delta straightened back up and cut her eyes to Megan, who instantly read them and gave her a slight nod. The soldier holding his gun on her looked at Delta with suspicion, before stepping closer to Megan.
“I could snuff you out like that!” General Zahn roared at Delta, snapping his fingers.
“Then do it, and stop all the yammering.” Delta pushed past him and reached out to hug Megan. The soldier stepped in front of Megan and glowered at Delta, but Delta pushed past him and embraced Megan.
If Delta could have seen the look on Zahn’s face, she would have laughed out loud. He had probably never suffered such insolence as this. “You can’t possibly be this brazen!”
Pulling away from Megan, Delta quickly whispered, “Tony’s under the raft.” Turning from her, Delta grinned at Zahn. “As a matter of fact, I am. But you see, I know that you’re a businessman, and I believe I have something you want.”
Zahn’s eyes narrowed, contempt etched across his tanned face. “What could you have that I would possibly want, besides your blood on my hands?”
Stepping across the boat, Delta pushed past Zahn’s gun and leaned her hip against the side, her arms crossed casually in front of her. “Aren’t you just a teeniest bit curious how I got out of that cavern?”
“Your luck is of no concern to me.” But Delta could tell he was intrigued.
“No? You mean you’re willing to leave behind the huge chunks of gold back there?” Delta saw the flash in Zahn’s eyes which betrayed his interest. The hook was baited. “Okay, fine then. Pull the trigger and be done with it. You’re beginning to bore me.”
General Zahn looked at his four men, their rifles trained on the women. It was more than simply losing face now, and Delta knew it. She had one card to play, and she had to play it to perfection. “I assume you’re keeping us alive to help transport the gold your men have yet to deliver. You may want us dead, but if you don’t deliver to your boss, you’ll have more than just my blood on your hands. Capische?”
Zahn flinched. Another hit. Delta grinned. He needed them, and that shifted the balance of power. Zahn may have the upper hand for the moment, but pretty soon, this whole ugly ordeal would be over.
“Perhaps. And perhaps I am simply waiting for my men to signal me all is well. Then, I shall fill your pathetic American bodies with holes and send you to the bottom of the ocean.”
Delta shook her head. They’d all be dead already if Zahn was intending to kill them right away. He definitely needed them alive. Something was troubling Zahn. He had a boatload of hostages but didn’t seem to quite know what to do with them. He was waiting for something.
“Well?”
“Shut up!” Turning to Flora, he instructed her in Spanish, and she started the engines. Delta persisted. “You wait much longer to go back after that gold, General, and you’re busted. Caught. Nailed. There’ll be Panamanian police and who knows who else swarming all over the place. Don’t tell me you didn’t see those helicopters.”
Nodding, Connie said something to him in Spanish, which caught his attention, but he didn’t like it. He was a man cornered, looking desperately for a way out. As he conferred with his men, Delta spied Carducci’s hand as he pulled himself up on the starboard side.
“Hey, General?”
“Shut up!” Zahn barked as he paced across the deck. His calm exterior was cracking. He approached Delta and sneered into her face. “You have given me a headache for the last time, you insulting bitch!” As Zahn raised his pistol, a loud crack reverberated through the air, causing him and the three living soldiers to turn in the direction of the shot. Zahn looked in stunned silence at Carducci, who was perched on the side of the boat. He started to swing his pistol around to aim at Carducci, but Delta grabbed it. As she did, Carducci fired two more fatal shots into the heads of the other soldiers before taking a round in his shoulder from the third. He plunged backwards into the water.
“Tony!” Sal cried, running over to the side of the boat. Attracted by her movement, the soldier turned his rifle on Sal and would have shot her in the back if Connie hadn’t leveled the Colombian with a blow to the back of his knee. Buckled, but not out of commission, the soldier rolled to his back and fired a round at Delta that nicked her forehead, knocking her backwards against the side of the boat. Without releasing her hold on Zahn’s gun, Delta fought to regain her balance as blood streamed down the right side of her face.
The lone surviving soldier, afraid of hitting Zahn, panicked as he tried to find another victim to shoot. Before he could, Connie’s heel smashed into the side of his head. As she connected with his temple, his finger squeezed off one final round before he succumbed.
Landing from the kick, Connie turned just in time to see Zahn’s gun erupt and Delta and Zahn tumble over the side of the boat. When Megan saw them go over, she snatched the Bowie knife from Sal’s hand just as Sal jumped into the water after Carducci. Running across the deck, Megan looked at Connie and shouted to her, before following Delta and Zahn over the side of the boat.
Megan landed in the warm Caribbean water, a short distance from Delta and Zahn, who were still struggling for the pistol. Delta was determined not to let go and would have gladly sunk to the bottom with him to prevent him from hurting them anymore. She knew why Josh made his sacrifice, and she was prepared to do the same. As Zahn clawed at her, Delta headbutted him in the face, sending more blood spurting around them.
Still, he would not let go. With her left hand, she held the wrist of his gun hand while, with her right, she repeatedly bashed his already broken nose. It was all Zahn could do to stay afloat.
Blood swirled as it slowly sank, and Megan swam over to the two of them, the Bowie knife in her mouth like Tarzan in some o
ld movie. Megan’s eyes held the same hatred and bloodlust Delta had seen in Sal and Connie’s eyes.
Suddenly, the pistol went off again, and without hesitation, without thinking, Megan did something she never would have believed herself capable of a few weeks ago. In one swift motion, Megan climbed onto Zahn’s back, plunging them both deeper into the water and forcing Delta to release her grip on his hand. The pistol went off one more time before Megan grabbed him by the hair and, as efficiently as any commando, silently slit his throat to the back of his spine, nearly decapitating him. A burst of red surrounded Megan as she regripped the knife and wheeled Zahn back around so that he was now facing her.
If Megan hadn’t been so possessed, so bloodthirsty for his death, she might have laughed at the look of amazement forever stamped on his face. But she turned him around and furiously plunged the Bowie into his shoulders and chest. Blood gurgled from his neck wound as the knife hit home again and again, sending more clouds of red fluid into the saltwater. She struck repeatedly, each blow a payback for the abuse she had endured. So intent was Megan on making sure he was dead, she did not notice that they were sinking like two stones, deeper and deeper into the sea. Finally, when a hand reached down and stopped her from plunging the knife in once more, she emerged from her frenzy long enough to understand the danger she was in if she didn’t surface soon.
Guided by a pair of hands that pulled her closer and closer to the air, Megan kicked her feet and looked at the clear blue sky above the water.
When Megan reached the surface, she gulped down lungfuls of air and looked over at Delta, who had a steady stream of blood flowing down the side of her face. “I think I’m hit,” Delta said, reaching for Megan, who stuffed the Bowie in her belt before wrapping her arms around her lover.
“I’ve got you, sweetheart. Hang on.” Megan slowly side-stroked both of them to the side of the boat, careful not to touch Delta’s torn forehead.
Flora leaned over and helped Megan get Delta over the side. When Megan climbed in herself, she stopped abruptly, staring at the mayhem strewn about the deck. Sal had managed to bring Carducci up from the water and was putting direct pressure on his shoulder to keep him from bleeding to death. He looked pale and weak, but it appeared Sal had everything under control.
But the sight that caught Megan’s breath in her throat was Connie kneeling next to Gina, who was bleeding profusely from the femoral artery in her left thigh. Connie wore blood on her shirt and pants, and the scent of iron lingered heavily in the air.
“Megan?” Connie was trying unsuccessfully to slow the blood pouring from Gina’s largest artery by applying direct pressure with both hands. Like a broken water pipe, the artery continued to pump a steady stream through Connie’s fingers and onto the deck of the boat.
“Delta!” Connie cried, wild-eyed and panic-stricken. “Help me! P-please…”
Delta coughed and sputtered, spitting saltwater from her mouth. “Con?” When she focused enough to see Connie’s bloody hands trying to prevent the pulsing blood from escaping, Delta ignored the pain in her own head and scrambled over to them, slipping twice on the blood spreading across the deck.
From years of experience, Delta knew a fatal gunshot wound when she saw one. Although Gina’s eyes were still open and she was conscious, it was only a matter of time before the loss of blood meant the loss of her life.
Her life, and the life of the baby inside her.
“Delta?” Gina said, reaching with her bloody hand.
Delta took Gina’s hand and put it against her check. “I’m here, honey. You just hold on, now, you hear me?” Delta felt Megan stood at her side and also felt the tears and panic she knew was consuming Connie, who looked at Delta with an expression that nearly ripped her heart out.
“Help me, Delta,” Connie pleaded weakly. “I can’t stop the blood.”
Delta turned from Connie and searched Gina’s eyes. They had been friends for nearly ten years, and Delta loved Gina more than she could ever love a sister. Gina had been there for them, always understanding, always supportive, always courageous, even when she questioned Connie and Delta’s motives.
And in that one instant, Delta loved Gina enough and understood her friend well enough to know exactly what Gina wanted from her.
Gina squeezed Delta’s hand, her eyes pleading for Delta to do what she knew Connie would never be able to.
“Honey,” came Gina’s soothing voice to Connie, who stared, glassy-eyed, at her lover and partner of twelve years. “Consuela, you have to listen to me.”
Connie nodded like a little girl who didn’t know what else to do.
“Are you listening to me?” Gina asked, reaching a bloody hand out to stroke Connie’s cheek. “I need you right now. I need you to be my genius, to be Delta’s common sense. Do you understand me?”
Delta and Megan looked at each other, both with tears in their eyes. Megan squatted next to Gina and held her other hand. She, too, knew what Gina was about to ask.
Connie shot Delta a frantic expression that pleaded for her to create a miracle, any miracle. But Delta was out of miracles, and Gina was just about out of time. “Storm? Oh god, Delta, please… do something.”
Delta brushed Connie’s hair off her shoulders. “She’s not going to make it, honey, and she needs you to listen to her right now.”
Connie’s eyes blinked hard, as if her mind refused to register this.
“Gina needs you to hear her. Do you understand? There isn’t much time.” Delta looked at the amount of blood on the deck and wondered how Gina had stayed conscious this long.
Connie shook her head and turned to Gina. “Hang in there, sweetheart. You’re going to make it. We’re going—”
“No, Consuela, I’m not. Listen to me.”
“But—”
Gina shook her head. “No buts, sweetheart.” Grimacing from the pain, Gina squeezed Connie’s hand hard. “Are you listening to me?”
Connie looked hard at her lover before nodding. “Okay.”
Gina inhaled deeply and pulled Connie close enough to kiss her. “I love you. I have always loved you. You and no one else.”
“Gina, don’t… please—”
Delta touched Connie’s shoulder lightly. “Listen to her, Chief.”
Connie’s face was inches from Gina’s. “I love you, too,” Connie whispered, her tears falling onto Gina’s face.
Gina smiled. “You’re the best part of my whole life, but my life’s ending, sweetheart.”
“No!”
Gina squeezed Connie’s hand again. “Have I ever, even once, lied to you?”
Connie shook her head as tears ran down her face. “Never.”
“I’m dying, sweetheart. We both know that you can’t get me to a hospital fast enough to save me.”
Connie was crying freely now, her shoulders bobbing up and down as she sobbed. “Don’t go. Please.”
“You can’t save me, sweetheart, but you can save our baby.”
This rocked Connie, and it was the look in Gina’s eyes that Delta had read and understood. Gina wanted them to deliver the baby before she died.
“Save the baby?” Connie asked, as if she didn’t get that there were two lives at stake.
Gina nodded. “You have to deliver the baby before I go, or she’ll die with me. Please, don’t let her die.”
It was clear Connie was beginning to comprehend the severity of the wound she was holding beneath her hands. She stared at Gina’s bulging body and then back into her eyes, where she stayed focused for a protracted moment. “I… I can’t.”
Gina reached up with a trembling had and wiped Connie’s face. “Yes, you can, sweetheart. You have to. For me. For us.” Gina’s face had lost all color. Her voice was slower and her eyelids began to flicker downward. “You’ve never let me down, Consuela Rivera. Don’t start now.”
Delta looked over at Megan, who was also crying. When Megan saw Delta’s expression, she nodded and slowly pulled the Bowie from her belt with
one hand while wiping her face with the other.
“Honey,” Gina whispered. “There isn’t much time. Take…the…knife.”
Connie stared at the knife as if she’d never seen one before. “I… can’t, Megan. She’s my lover, for Christ’s sake. I…” Connie shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
Gina’s darkening eyes moved from Connie’s face to Delta’s. “Delta? Please. For me. For Connie. She’ll never…forgive herself if this baby dies. Please. Save our baby.”
Delta stared into Gina’s face and slowly nodded, unsure if she could do what Gina was asking. Taking the Bowie into her trembling hands, Delta swallowed back her trepidation. “You’re sure this is what you want.” It wasn’t a question.
Gina nodded and gestured weakly. “If you cut from here to here… about this deep… it will open like… a suitcase and you can… lift the baby right out.” Gina struggled for the strength to talk and breathe. “When you lift her out, tie off the umbilical before you cut it. You can do this, Delta.”
Delta nodded, feeling her head begin to spin. Her own blood still dripped from her head wound, mixing with Gina’s beneath her feet. Steadying the knife, Delta switched places with Megan, who knelt next to Connie and held Gina’s other hand.
“We got you, Gene.”
“You always…have.” Gina was weakening, but she grasped Connie and Megan’s hands with whatever strength she had left, inhaled a brave breath, and nodded to Delta, who lifted Gina’s shirt and placed the shaking tip of the knife against her belly. Delta could kill a man in cold blood, and had. She could have torn Zahn apart with her bare hands, but cutting open one of her best friends was the hardest thing she’d ever have to do, and she still wasn’t sure she could go through with it.
“Pretend…you’re drawing with a red… felt-tipped pen, Delta,” Gina instructed, smiling up at her friend. “And don’t stop when I flinch. It will hurt less if you make…one swift cut.”
One swift cut.
Delta shuddered. “Gina…”
“Connie needs this, Delta. If I die with this baby inside me, you will lose Connie forever.”
Storm Surge (Delta Stevens Crime Logs Book 6) Page 25
