Dead.
Applause behind her forced her around. Snyder, along with men it looked like he pulled off the streets, all stood behind her. She recognized two huge men in the back as Ron and Rich Neely, two guys she'd met back at Gahanna. She didn't know what they were doing down in Colombia, but was glad to see them.
"Nice job," Snyder commented. "Nice dress."
"Where did you come from?"
"We heard the commotion and came running, thinking it might be more of Mercado's men. We already dropped a handful of them and were hungry for more." He didn't look like he was in any better shape than Dan. Both his eyes were swollen, though not shut. Cuts were sprinkled across his face, though not as many as Dan. He appeared to have full use of his legs.
"What took you so long?"
"I've been gathering the troops. We've been casing the joint for hours trying to figure out where in the hell everyone was. Mercado suddenly appeared in the house, and then had disappeared by the time we got inside."
"There's an elevator leading to a lab underneath us."
"That's what we were thinking. Where's Weber?"
"This way." JT motioned for them to follow her as she went back down the cellar. She pointed out the entrance and let them all know how many men were down there. After laying out the floor plan for them, they all piled into the elevator. "Give me something better than a pistol."
Someone handed her an UZI, and JT smiled. The cavalry had arrived. Now to rescue her agent in distress. She took her place at the lead and waited for the elevator to lower them down.
Chapter 25
Dan barely blinked as he watched the doors to the elevator. What was she doing on the surface? Did she run into Mercado's men? His mind ran through all of the reasons why he should stay on top of the train, perfectly hidden, perfectly safe.
But all those reasons didn't weigh an ounce against the one reason forcing him to slide down the side of the train and start sneaking over to the landing. If they took him down, he'd come back and haunt her until her last breath.
He could do this, even with his knee out. He still had a good one. She made it without so much as a—
"¡Oye! ¡Allí él es! ¡Obténgalo!"
Busted. JT made it look too damn easy.
Dan knew better than to challenge the men running toward him with their guns drawn. He couldn't out fire them, so he dropped his weapon. He couldn't out run them, so he remained still. The only thing he could do was raise his arms and surrender, which he did.
They surrounded him. Barrels were pointed at his face, torso, and everywhere in between. One man pushed him toward the lab.
"¡Vayamos!"
"I'm going," Dan replied and started toward the lab. Well, he wanted to get to the demonstration. Now he would get a front row seat to it. Not exactly the way he'd planned it, but it worked, too.
The elevator doors whooshed open. Chaos erupted. Yelling in English, Spanish, and a few other languages Dan couldn't quite pick out echoed through the large cave. He looked over and smiled.
The cavalry had arrived, with JT in the lead. So that's where she went. What a woman.
The shooting started. Dan hit the deck and rolled out of the circle of men as they started to fall. He jumped behind a crate after grabbing his pistol with one hand, and an UZI off one of Mercado's men. Judging by the holes scattered throughout the guy's body, he wasn't going to need it anymore.
Dan fired on the men, dropping them where they stood. Some were running, and they were dropped, too. It only took a short time for them to secure the scene and for the cave to fall silent.
"It's about time," Dan commented wryly as he moved out from behind the crate. He held JT's eyes for several seconds before moving his gaze to Snyder. Thank God. Relief washed through him at the sight of his friend. "I thought they got you."
"They thought they did, too. It's a little trick I picked up down here. Play dead, and most of the time, they believe you." Snyder eyed him. "You look better than I thought you would after I saw how many guys snuck in there behind you."
Dan chuckled, slapped him on the shoulder. He glanced around the crowd. The Neely brothers were in the back, grinning ear to ear as they both nodded at him. He nodded back.
Pedro moved toward the front of the crowd. "For you, Dan Weber, I work night and day. I call the number, and those two huge men were at my doorstep the very next day."
"Who are the rest of them?"
"My brother's men. And this," he said and stepped aside, revealing a taller, thinner version of himself, "is my brother, Jesús."
Dan held out his hand. Jesús accepted it with a grin. "He esperado muchos años para esto. Gracias."
"De nada, Jesús. But it's I who should be thanking you."
He turned to Pedro, who translated it for him. "He speaks no English," Pedro explained.
"Uh," JT cut in. "I know you want to continue the celebration for proving you are all The Greatest Warriors on the Planet, we still have a psycho to stop and a weapon to destroy."
She was right. As much as Dan would love to stand around and pat the rest of them on the back, they still had to stop Peck. "The lab is on the other side of those doors."
"Gotta plan?" Snyder asked with a grin.
Dan gave JT a sideways glance. This was her mission now. He just came along for the ride. "Brief them, Agent Turner. This is now your op."
Her mouth opened slightly as color splashed her cheeks. She quickly recovered with a nod. She went over her plan with them, which, of course, involved shooting everything that moved.
"Let's go." She hurried toward the double doors, leading the rest of them. Dan took up the rear and kept watch to make sure they didn't have a tail.
As the doors opened, everyone on ready, they entered into a long metal hall. There were doors on each side of the hall, all the way down until hallway turned to the right. "Check every door," JT ordered. She fell back until she rested next to Dan. "I have something to share with you."
"Good? Or bad?"
"Good, I think."
"Let's have it."
"I found Raven. She's dead. Took a knife through the heart. I thought it rather fitting, all things considered." She arched her brow at him.
Dan halted, shocked. Momentarily, his words wedged in his throat. A new and unexpected warmth surged through him. "You?"
She captured his eyes with her own. "You're welcome."
He realized they'd been left behind and started to move again, though awkwardly slow. But she wouldn't hurry ahead. She stayed by his side. "I believe you are starting to grow on me, Turner."
"Ditto, Weber," she retorted pleasantly.
The men were at a T in the hall. Snyder ordered them to split. JT and Dan took the right, along with four of Jesús' men. The rest went with Snyder to take the right.
Another set of double doors stood at the end of the hall. Dan had a feeling they'd found the entrance to the lab. Falling into place on either side of the doors, they all entered, their guns drawn.
It was empty.
The doors closed behind them as they moved away from the entrance and searched the room. Dan signaled for JT to take the control room full of computers while he took the lab. They split the men and each took two.
The shots came out of nowhere. Dan spun around as both the men with him went down. Two more shots and the men with JT went down as well. Where were they coming from?
"Surprise." Jason Peck stepped out from behind a large cabinet in the lab, a wicked grin on his scarred face. He raised his pistol at Dan and fired a single shot.
* * * *
JT screamed. The force of the shot sent Dan back, slamming him against the wall. He then slowly slid down, leaving a red trail of his blood. The Kevspa didn't work, damn it! It was supposed to stop the bullet.
No. Please God. No! "Dan!" She started to run toward him.
"One for the kill. And five for the thrill," Peck said as he approached Dan. "I didn't quite hit the head this time, but I'll make sure the othe
r five count."
"No!" JT jumped on his back. He threw her down and pointed the gun at her. She didn't care anymore. He'd taken everything away from her. Her career. Her uncle. Dan. She had nothing to lose. Scrambling to her knees, she crawled over to Dan.
"I don't think so, Miss Turner."
Screw you, Peck. She ignored him and settled by Dan's side. The bullet hit him in the chest and exited out the back, but JT couldn't tell whether it hit any vital organs. A shot to the chest. Oh Jesus. She heard a slight whistle and looked at his ribcage. The bullet pierced a lung. The whistle meant he was still breathing.
Barely.
She had to find something to plug the hole. Grabbing some plastic sheeting on the shelf next to her, she covered the hole. The whistling stopped.
Dan opened his left eye as best he could and looked up at her. His eye was out of focus, his breathing ragged. He started to pale. "Stay with me. Come on, Dan. Stay with me." Her voice shook, her eyes filled with tears.
"Take her."
Hands on her arms pulled her away from Dan. "No!" She cried and struggled to break free. He kept his eye on her as they dragged her away. As his eye closed again, she screamed out a sob. "Dan!"
He couldn't be dead. He was too stubborn to let a bullet take him. This wasn't the plan. It couldn't be. Why would God let him live through one Hell, only to take him now?
"Take comfort in knowing he's now with the rest of his unit where he should have been all along, Miss Turner. The rest of your little rescue gang will soon be with him when Mr. Mercado's men find them. Now let's go. There's someone waiting for you."
She continued to struggle as they dragged her away from Dan, ignoring how every jerky movement tore open what ever wound she'd accumulated since the onset of this mission. If she could just break free, she'd kill Peck, along with all of the other assholes he had with him. They walked through another set of doors and the two men dragging her threw her down. She spotted two perfectly white shoes. Lifting her gaze, she looked into the eyes of a monster. Next to him stood Donovan.
She knew it.
"You bastard," she said to him.
He darted his eyes between Peck and Mercado. "Is Weber dead?"
JT squeezed her eyes shut. God, please let him still be alive.
"It would seem so," Peck answered.
"I hope you rot in Hell for what you've done." JT wanted to spit at his feet.
"Get her ready," Donovan ordered the men. They lifted her into a chair and then tied her to it. "Let's get this over with."
Santos Mercado walked over and ran his finger down her cheek. "I am beginning to think you do not like me, bonita."
"What gave it away?"
"I did not want it to end this way, Miss Jessica," Mercado told her. "But you leave me no choice."
JT spit in his face. He wiped it away with a smile, then swiftly backhanded her, causing an explosion of pain over her right eye. Did he have to wear such a sharp ring? She could feel the trickle of blood run down her cheek from where it cut her. "Is it ready, Mr. Peck?"
Peck had a vial of cloudy yellow liquid in his hands. He waved it back and forth as he approached her. "Do you know what this is, Miss Turner?"
"A urine sample? No, wait. It's lemonade."
"How interesting you find humor in this. However, I doubt you'll be laughing once I inject LEON into your blood." He held up the vial. "These little nanobots are hungry for flesh. Donovan, if you would please do the honors."
Donovan nodded and inserted a long syringe into the vial, extracting a rather large dose. He pulled it out and held it up. "I'm sorry about this, Turner." He then moved toward her and rested the needle on her flesh.
She didn't know what LEON did, and she wasn't about to sit around and wait to find out. JT struggled. She jerked. Damn if they didn't do a good job of tying her down.
But not good enough.
It tore at her flesh, but she fought and ripped her ankles out of the bindings just as the needle pierced her skin. Standing and twisting around, she used the chair to knock Donovan off balance. She broke her hands free and grabbed the syringe out of her arm, stabbing it into his chest, making sure to push all of the contents into his system.
He stumbled back. He didn't have his cane with him to fall back on. His leg couldn't hold him. He went down.
Donovan screamed. Peck and Mercado stepped back, stunned into silence as they watched the nanobots start to eat Donovan's flesh. He kept screaming and screaming, writhing around on the ground as the nanobots ate through him.
When they surfaced, Donovan looked like he was melting. With no meat to cling to, his skin started to slip. He screamed again and started to convulse. He then went limp and fell silent.
It had to be the most gruesome thing JT had ever witnessed. Her stomach turned at what was left. Bones and skin. His hair. Nails. And not much else. They literally ate the meat right off his bones.
Mercado started to breathe deeply. The demonstration excited the psycho bastard. "It is perfect, Mr. Peck. You and your Alejandra may take possession of the shipment."
"Uh," was all Peck could say. "Just stay away from the body for at least ninety seconds. That's how long it takes for them to disable if they don't have a host." He visibly swallowed.
"And if anyone touches him before then?" Mercado asked.
"They die much like he did. The nanobots will jump to a new host."
"And after?"
Peck shook his head. "I don't know, but I wouldn't go near him, just in case."
"Excellent." Mercado seemed ready to explode with pleasure.
JT couldn't believe it. The horrified look on Peck's face gave it away—he had no idea what the nanobots would do if left alone. He then recovered and brought his attention back to Mercado. "Yes. Fine. I will send for Alejandra."
"No, you won't," JT cut in. She had worked the other hand free and stepped away from the chair. Why wasn't Peck trying to stop her? Were they all too stunned at what they just witnessed? Shocking, yes. But JT wasn't about to sit around and wait to see what they had next on their agenda. "She's up in the house, a knife through her heart. A personal gift from me as payment for what she did to Dan."
"She's dead?" He frowned, obviously not happy with the news. Taking his gun back out of its holster, he pointed it at JT. "You'll pay for that."
He then looked past her. His eyes widened, the horrified look replaced with shock. "No," he breathed.
A shot from behind and Peck staggered back. She whipped around to see her hero standing in the doorway, the barrel of his gun smoking. "You first," Dan stated gruffly.
He'd come to her rescue again. But more importantly, he was still alive. She jumped out of the bindings and caught the gun Dan tossed her. Together they took out the four men standing guard around Mercado. One for each of Jesús' men they'd gunned down. An eye for an eye.
Mercado retreated a step. Dan pointed his gun. "Stop," JT told him. "He's mine."
JT jumped over Peck and almost fell on top of Donovan when Peck grabbed her ankle. Catching her balance, she kicked him and turned back to Dan. "This one's still alive."
"He's mine," Dan said and moved toward Peck.
Mercado simply stood there as JT tackled him down. He fought her, but was oddly weak for a man his size. That happens when you hire your muscles instead of using your own. She easily held him down, her hand over his mouth to quiet down whatever Spanish phrase he kept repeating. She wanted to make sure Dan didn't need her help with Peck before focusing on removing Mercado from the human race.
Dan made his way over to Peck.
Peck, lying in a pool of his own blood, looked up at him. "How many times do I have to kill you for you to die?"
Dan grunted and looked down at him, his gun pointing at the traitor's forehead. "This is for Steve Gessler, you asshole. And for the rest of the world."
"Dan!" JT called out, motioned toward Donovan.
Dan nodded in understanding. With a few grunts, Dan had Peck up and hovering over w
hat was left of Donovan's body. "Rot in Hell, you asshole."
Without hesitation, Dan dropped Peck's body on top of Donovan. At first he just lay there looking up at Dan, waiting for something to happen. He then curled his lip into a grin. "I guess you are too late, Hollywood. You'll just have to kill me the old fashioned way."
Peck stiffened suddenly. His eyes darted to JT, then back to Dan. "No. You can't do this. Dan, please! We were on the same team. Don't do this!"
Dan stepped back when Peck roared in a panic, screaming over and over. He reached out to Dan. In seconds, the nanobots had eaten clean through his back and started in on his front. Peck made a few rancid gurgling noises and then fell silent. A few more seconds and there was nothing left of Jason Peck.
"Ew," JT stated. "That's just gross."
"Excellent," Mercado breathed.
JT brought her attention back to Mercado, who seemed just as interested in the show as her. As soon as he realized it was his turn, he started to struggle.
But not enough.
JT tossed her gun aside and grabbed his cane, pulled out the dagger. His eyes widened as she brought it up. "Goodbye, Santos. Can't say it's been nice knowing you."
"¡No! ¡Usted no puede hacer esto a mí! ¡Usted no puede hacer esto a mí!"
She understood that. You cannot do this to me. "Sure I can." She stabbed the dagger into his heart and twisted. He screamed and then went limp. She would have loved to throw him on top of Peck, just to watch him suffer, but just wanted it over with. Standing, she turned to Dan.
He'd collapsed next to Peck. Please, God. Please don't let him have any part touching Peck. "Dan!" She hurried to his side. "My God. Dan. Dan!"
He opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Is it over?"
"It's over."
He groaned when she dragged him a good five feet from Donovan and Peck. "Good. Remind me to thank Snyder. That playing dead trick really does work. You wanna neck?"
She laughed and cried at the same time. "Maybe later. Let's get you to the surface before you bleed out."
"Good idea."
Perfect timing. Snyder and the rest of the cavalry crashed through the door, guns ready. He glanced around and looked disappointed he'd missed the action. Then he caught sight of Dan lying on the floor.
At Any Cost Page 33
