by Elle James
With his back to the sunlight, Lily couldn’t make out his face. But by his commanding presence, she knew it was El Patron.
He shoved what appeared to be a satellite phone toward her. “You will call your boyfriend and tell him to be here within the hour, or I will start killing his children.”
Robbie gasped beside her; his arm encircled her leg. He looked up at Lily, his eyes swimming in tears, “I don’t want to die,” Robbie whispered.
“You aren’t going to,” Lily said, raising her chin. She took the sat phone from El Patron and pressed the number she’d memorized for Tony’s cellphone.
After the fourth ring, Tony answered, “Delossantos speaking.”
His voice filled all the empty spaces in Lily’s heart. “Tony?” She swallowed hard to keep a sob from rising up her throat.
“Are you okay? And the kids?”
“We’re okay for now,” she said.
“What do they want? I’ll give them anything. Money, my hotel, anything.”
El Patron jerked the sat phone from Lily’s hand and spoke into it, “I want you, for them.”
“As long as you don’t hurt them, you’ve got a deal,” Tony said, his voice sounding loud inside the hut. “Where do you want to make the trade?”
“I will notify you when and where.” El Patron ended the call and sneered at Lily. “Let him wait. He can think about the years I spent rotting in prison.” The man touched a finger to Lily’s cheek. “Maybe I’ll take what I want first. It’s been a long two years.”
Lily met his gaze, her eyes narrowing. If the man tried to rape her, he’d soon find that he’d met his match. She lifted her chin, refusing to back down.
“Muy bonita,” he murmured and bent to press his lips to hers.
Shocked, Lily backed away.
Robbie darted forward. “Leave my Lily alone!” he yelled and kicked the man in the shin.
El Patron muttered a curse in Spanish and backhanded Robbie, sending him flying across the room.
Lily started forward, ready to take the man down for hurting Robbie. Before she could, Mari screamed and lunged toward El Patron.
Lily caught her and swung her up into her arms, holding her as she fought to get to the bastard who’d hit her brother.
El Patron laughed and left the building, slamming the door shut behind him.
Lily hurried to Robbie and helped him to his feet. Even in the shadows, she could see he had a split lip and a mark on his cheek that would soon become black and blue.
“He’s a bad man,” Robbie said, his bottom lip quivering.
Mari squirmed out of Lily’s hold and wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck, her body racked with sobs.
Lily had to get them out of there, before Patron returned to do even worse things to them.
She hated to ask Robbie, but she had no way of pulling herself up to the edge of the wall. Her upper body strength wasn’t enough to get her up that far. If she were just a couple feet taller, she might be able to pull herself up. “Robbie, do you think you could hold me up if I climb on your back?”
“I think so,” he said
“Get on your hands and knees,” she said and pointed to the ground, below the loose tin.
Robbie did as she asked.
“Tell me if I’m hurting you. I don’t want to do that.”
“I can hold you,” Robbie insisted.
Lily stepped onto his back, pushed the tin roof panel up and tried to ease it to the side. The other end of the sheet squealed, and a nail scraped across wood. The panel moved and slid across the one next to it. Lily lowered it carefully, trying not to make any more noise than she already had.
Once she had the panel moved, she grabbed the edge of the wall and levered herself up until she balanced on her elbows and upper arms. From her perch, she could see the jungle less than three yards away from the shack. No one walked behind the building. To her left was a dilapidated tent barely standing upright, the canvas dingy with dirt and mildew.
Lily didn’t see anyone around the side or back. But she could see men moving near the front. If they looked her way, they could possibly see her.
Knowing she might be seen at any time, she had to hurry. Lily slung her leg over the top of the wall and straddled it. Then she leaned back into the room and called out softly, “Robbie, can you lift Mari up to me?”
“Yes. I can.” Robbie scrambled to his feet, grabbed Mari around the waist and lifted her as high as his little arms could reach. Lily stretched her arm as far as she could but couldn’t quite reach the little girl.
“It’s not high enough,” Lily said.
“Wait. I know what to do.” Robbie set Mari on the ground and knelt beside her. “Get on my shoulders, Mari, por favor.”
Mari climbed up, holding onto Robbie’s hair to steady herself. Then, bracing his hands on the wall, Robbie lurched to his feet and moved close enough Lily could reach out and snag Mari’s hand. Clamping her thighs to each side of the wall, she hauled the little girl up to the top and sat for a moment until the muscles in her arms stopped hurting. Then she looked into Mari’s eyes. “When I let go, you’ll fall a little, but you’ll be all right. Stay there. Don’t leave until Robbie and I can go with you. Okay?”
Mari nodded. “Estoy asustado,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.
Robbie spoke softly in Spanish.
Mari nodded.
“She’s scared,” Robbie said. “I told her she would be okay.”
“Ready?” Lily asked.
Mari nodded again.
Holding onto Mari’s wrists, Lily lowered her as much as she could and then let go, praying the child would land safely.
She held her breath until Mari pushed to her feet and grinned up at her.
Then Lily turned back to Robbie and reached down to help him up.
She stretched as much as she could but could barely touch the tips of Robbie’s fingers. Her pulse raced. Already committed to this escape plan after dropping one child on the outside, she had to be able to get Robbie out as well. But he wasn’t quite tall enough to reach her hand.
Desperate now, Lily leaned farther over the wall. She could still only touch his fingertips.
“Don’t leave me, Miss Grayson,” he whimpered, standing on his toes, reaching up as high as he could.
“Robbie, you’re going to have to jump and grab my wrist with both hands.”
Robbie nodded, his eyes brimming with tears.
“You can’t cry, or you won’t be able to see me to grab hold,” Lily said softly. “You can do this.”
Robbie scrubbed his hand across his eyes and nodded.
“Ready?” she whispered.
Before she could say jump, Robbie left the ground, grabbed her wrist and held on with all his might.
Lily nearly fell back into the hut. Her legs strained to hold her at the top of the wall. For a moment, all she could do was hold on and pray. Then she leaned back, slowly sitting up, her back muscles screaming as she dragged Robbie up the side of the wall. When he could get his leg over the top, he let go of her hand and held on, breathing hard, his little body shaking.
Lily heard the sound of voices nearby and shot a glance toward the front of the building. Men walked down the middle of the camp, carrying rifles and what appeared to be military-grade weapons. Lily froze until they passed. Then she took Robbie’s hand. “I’ll let you down as far as I can then you’ll drop to the ground.”
He nodded.
Lily lowered him, her arms and back straining. When he was a low as she could manage, she released her hold.
The boy dropped to the ground and rolled up onto his feet.
Shouts rose up in the camp.
Lily cast one last glance toward the front of the shack and tents. Men were running toward the road leading into the encampment.
While their captors’ attention was on something other than the prisoners in the shack, Lily dropped to the ground beside Mari and Robbie. She swung Mari up onto her back. “H
old on tight,” she said.
Mari’s little arms wrapped around her neck.
After a quick glance around her, Lily looked at Robbie. “Remember how fast you ran at recess?”
He nodded, his eyes wide
“I need you to run that fast again. But you have to stay with me.”
He nodded and looked toward the jungle.
They left the shadows of the shack and raced for the jungle. Once they had pushed through bushes and brush and were deep enough into the gloom of the canopy, Lily slowed and turned back to see if they were being followed.
An explosion shook the ground beneath their feet, and gunfire erupted.
Lily dropped to the ground and took the children down with her. They’d gone deeply enough into the jungle that Lily could no longer see the camp, only hear the sounds of shouts and gunfire echoing off the hills.
Had Hank’s team set the explosives? Were they there to rescue Lily and the kids?
If El Patron had discovered they were missing, he’d be angry. Were his men shooting indiscriminately toward the jungle, hoping to hit the missing captives?
Lily didn’t want to risk the children being hit, so she stayed down, watched and waited for a few more minutes before she eased the children out of their hiding place and went deeper into the forest, farther away from the danger of being hit by a stray bullet. She prayed Tony, Hank and Marcus could find them before El Patron did.
The cartel leader would be angry enough, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill.
Chapter 13
Tony had received the call on the satellite phone he’d brought with him, having forwarded his cellphone, knowing reception in some parts of Costa Rica could be nonexistent. When he’d heard Lily’s voice, he’d clutched the phone in his hand so tightly, he’d thought he would crush it.
They were alive.
Based on the GPS tracker, they weren’t too far away. Maybe five or six miles.
His team of operatives had turned off the narrow highway onto a dirt road that wound through the trees, heading deeper into the jungle toward the hills.
After El Patron ended the call, Tony leaned closer to Marcus’s shoulder. “Can we go any faster?”
Marcus shook his head, his jaw tight, his knuckles white on the steering wheel as they bounced and jolted along the rutted road.
“When we get closer, we’ll park the SUV in the bushes and go in on foot,” Hank said.
Tony nodded.
“You might want to stay back with the vehicle,” Hank suggested. “You’re not trained in special operations combat.”
“I’m going in.” Tony held up a hand. “I’ll hang back, so I don’t sabotage the mission by doing something dumb, but I’m going in.”
“You need to reconsider,” Marcus said. “Those kids need their father alive.”
“I can’t stand back and wait for word. What if you’re outnumbered?” Tony asked.
Hank’s lips quirked. “We’ve been outnumbered before. We know how to get in quietly and take out as many as we can before they sound the alarm.”
Tony’s lips pressed into a thin line. “I know what you’re saying. I might slow you down or give away your position. I won’t do anything to risk the lives of Lily or my children. Again, I’ll hang back and watch your backs.”
“Hopefully, you won’t shoot us in the back because you think we’re one of them,” Boomer said. “Even the best of us get confused in the chaos of battle.”
“Look, I know how to handle a rifle or a pistol,” Tony insisted. “I won’t shoot unless I am one-hundred-percent certain it’s not one of you, Lily or the kids.”
Hank’s mouth pressed into a grim line. “You’ll stay back?”
Tony raised his hand as if swearing in at a court hearing. “I will.”
“Give him a handgun,” Hank called out.
Boomer reached over the back of the seat and pulled out a Glock nine-millimeter pistol and a box of bullets. He handed them over the back of Tony’s seat. “Don’t make us regret this.”
Tony loaded the magazine and put extra bullets in his pockets.
When they were within a mile and a half of where the green dots had ceased moving, Marcus pulled the SUV off the dirt road and hid it behind several bushes.
The men climbed out, selected their choice of weapons and fitted radio communication earbuds in their ears, testing them before they headed out.
Hank gave Tony a set of the earbuds and showed him how to use them. Then he clapped him on the back and nodded to the team. “Let’s do this.”
They moved out swiftly, paralleling the road in case sentries had been posted to warn El Patron when their opposition arrived.
Tony was careful to move quietly through the trees. He watched as the others spread out, moving from shadow to shadow, keeping as low to the ground as they could, and still move out smartly.
Fifteen minutes later, they approached the location where the green lights on the GPS tracker still glowed brightly.
Hank waved Tony forward and showed him the device, and then pointed in the direction they were located. Then he pressed a finger to his lips and pointed to a place far to their right toward a clearing. A movement in the clearing made Tony freeze. A man stood with his back to a tree. He had a rifle slung over his shoulder and was smoking a cigarette.
Hank pointed to Taz and circled his finger toward the left.
Taz took off in a wide circle around the perimeter of the camp.
A few minutes later, a voice whispered into the headset in Tony’s ear. “I count twelve bogeys that I can see. Three on perimeter, one by the road in, another thirty yards to his right the other thirty yards to his left. Nine in the camp. Four tents, a small hut, six vehicles and a barrel I assume contains fuel to run the vehicles.”
“Any sign of the woman and children?” Hank asked softly.
“Negative,” Taz replied.
Hank’s eyes narrowed. “Can you create a diversion with that barrel of fuel?”
“I think so. The barrels on the edge of the camp. I can do even better than that; I can disable the vehicles while I’m at it. Nothing a little C4 won’t stir up.”
“Think diversion, not annihilation,” Hank warned. “A little C4 goes a long way.”
“Roger,” Taz said.
“You sure the woman and kids are clear of the area you’re about to fire up?” Hank asked.
“Clear,” Taz responded.
“Notify us when you’re ready,” Hank said.
“Roger.”
Hank handed Tony a miniature pair of binoculars. “Scan the camp and let me know when you locate El Patron. We don’t want to go in guns a-blazin’ if we’re in the wrong place. While you’re at it, let me know if you find Ms. Grayson and the kids.”
Tony took them gladly, hoping he could find his family and get them out without one of them getting hit.
He trained the binoculars on the center of the camp and searched every face he saw for the one he would never forget. When he finally found him, his blood burned in his veins. “El Patron is there.”
Hank nodded. “Either way, these people kidnapped a woman and two children. El Patron or not, they’re going down.” He turned to one of his men. “Boomer, swing around and get the guy on the far side. Make it quiet. Duke, take out the one on the road. Chuck, get the one nearest us.”
“Sure, give the old guy the easy target. He’s probably asleep,” Chuck said.
“Be ready to move when the fireworks start,” Hank said.
“Roger,” came the response from Hank’s four men.
A few minutes later, Taz’s voice sounded across the radio, “Ready to rock and roll?”
“Roger,” came the quiet responses from the others.
Hank pointed at Tony. “Stay here and watch for the stragglers deserting camp like rats off a sinking ship. Don’t let them circle back and cause us problems. Remember, if you’re firing toward camp, you run the risk of hitting one of us.”
Tony nodded. “Roger.”
Hank moved like a cat, hunkered low and inching stealthily toward the camp. He was halfway there, when an explosion destroyed the silence. A fireball shot up into the air as hundreds of gallons of fuel went up in flames. Two seconds later, another explosion shook the ground, then another and another. Tony counted seven all together. Six vehicles had been disabled. Along with the fuel they’d used to run them.
Gunfire erupted.
Tony ducked instinctively and peered through the binoculars toward the tent and hut. Men ran through camp first one direction and then the opposite. Chaos reigned. When they discovered they couldn’t take the vehicles, because they’d been destroyed, they ran toward the road.
Swinging the binoculars around, he saw when Chuck, Duke and Boomer made their moves and took out the sentries. Then they moved in, sneaking up to a position where they could lay down fire and pick off the men one by one.
Tony had never shot a man in his life. He’d been instrumental in the capture of El Patron, but he hadn’t had to kill anyone to make it happen. He knew if it came to saving the lives of people he loved, he’d sure as hell pull the trigger. Waiting and watching for escapees wasn’t something he wanted to do but getting in the way of the trained professionals would only put himself, his family and the professionals at risk.
Tony stayed put and watched vigilantly.
After a while, a dark-haired, dark-skinned man with thick black brows ran out of the camp and straight toward Tony’s position.
Tony lifted the binoculars and gasped. The man was El Patron. He raised his weapon and aimed for the man’s chest. When it came time to pull the trigger, he couldn’t. What if he missed? The bullet could travel as far as into the camp, where the Hank’s team was rounding up bad guys. And he didn’t know where they were keeping Lily and his children.
He waited until Patron was within easy range of the pistol, tracking El Patron with his hand gun. Still, he hesitated, not at all comfortable shooting in the direction where they might be keeping his family. His guess was that they were in one of the tents or the hut.
At that moment, one of the tents burst into flames.
Tony’s attention shifted from the escaping Patron to the tent that had just burst into flame. “Hank, tell me my family wasn’t in that tent.”
