Impossible End (Unchecked Book 3)

by Bartel, Sybil

  “Blaze?”

  I spared her a glance. “We’re going to be fine, but we may have to move.” Quickly. “Get dressed.” Gun in one hand, phone in the other, I leaned in to give her a reassuring kiss, but she pulled back and glared at me.

  “Damn it, Buck, tell me what’s happening.”

  Two minutes. “I’m Buck now?” She only called me by my nickname when she was pissed at me. “Hurry.” I moved to another window.

  “I’ll get dressed as soon as you tell me what’s going on.”

  I looked at my naked wife and weighed whether or not I should tell her she had a price on her head. She was strong as fuck but everyone had a breaking point, and I’d seen hers one too many times. Out of options, I studied her. Arms crossed, her chest moving in and out with steady breaths, she looked calm—pissed, but calm.

  I made a judgment call. “Maldonado put a price on your head.”

  She went still. Not breathing still. Then, “I thought he was in jail.”

  “He is.” Only because I’d made an inexcusable mistake. I should’ve killed the fucker when I had the chance. I glanced out the window. One minute thirty.

  “How is that possible?”

  “It’s possible. I need you to get dressed, baby. We’ve gotta move.”

  “We’re on an island.”

  “I know. Jeans, shirt, shoes, c’mon. Grab your passport.”

  Inhaling, she stood and became the woman I married. “Okay,” she said matter-of-factly, taking thirty seconds to get dressed, shove her passport in one pocket and a wad of cash into the other. “I’m ready.” She twisted her hair up and fastened it. “Do you have a gun for me?”

  I stopped counting and stared at her.

  She nodded at my bag. “Now would be a good time to hand over the extra Beretta you carry with you.”

  Fuck. “I love you,” I blurted.

  “Seventh time,” she counted. “Love you back. Now give me the gun.” She held out her hand.

  I shook off the moment and focused. Pulling my backup piece out of my bag, I handed it to her.

  She checked the clip like a pro. “How much?”

  I was almost embarrassed to tell her how little. It pissed me off. “Hundred grand.”

  She glanced up. “Seriously?”

  My phone vibrated right on time and I answered. “Report,” I demanded.

  “The second I went visible, they eased around to the north side of the island. Ivy says they’re approaching the marina.”

  “Ivy? I thought we only had two men on the island.”

  “I meant Collin, sir. He climbs like a motherfucker. We call him Ivy.”

  I didn’t give a shit what they called him, as long as he could shoot. “I don’t want them pulling into any of the slips.” Our boat was there and it was our way out. In a pinch, I could call Roark to pick us up in his seaplane but that’d take time we might not have and I wanted Layna off the island.

  “Copy. Hold on.” Tyler’s voice faded as he spoke into his mic. “Don’t let them dock. Preregistered guests with ID only… I don’t give a fuck. I’ll deal with hotel security… Ten-four.” Tyler came back on the line. “Sir?”

  “Here.”

  “They’re approaching now. We’ll turn them away. How do you—”

  He cut off midsentence as two muffled shots rang out.

  “Shit.” Tyler started yelling into his mic. “Report, report!”

  Goddamn it. I scrambled in my bag for my disposable cell and dialed André.

  Tyler came back on the line and I could hear him running. “Switching to com, sir.” He hung up.

  Holding the cell to one ear, I hung up my phone, grabbed my earpiece from my bag and put it in the other ear.

  André answered on the second ring. “Already on my way. What’s happening?”

  The noise in the background told me he was on a boat. “They approached the marina. Two shots fired. No report yet.” Come on, Tyler.

  “Who fired?”

  “Hold on.” I pushed the talk button on my earpiece. “Report.”

  “Approaching marina, no visual on Ivy,” Tyler’s voice whispered through my earpiece. “The runner boat is in the farthest slip. It appears empty. That’s all I have right now.”

  “Copy.” I spoke into the phone. “Collin’s MIA. The boat’s docked in the farthest slip but it’s empty. ETA?”

  “Two minutes. Approaching marina. Redirect to the cottages?”

  “No.” For the moment, we were safer here on the other side of the island. And I wanted him to do recon at the marina before I moved Layna. “Pick up Tyler. We’ll need an escort to our boat.”

  “Ten-four.” André hung up.

  “I heard shots.” Layna approached the window but I pulled her back with a growl.

  “It was at the marina. We’re safe here.” I hoped. I shoved three extra clips into my pockets.

  She watched my movements. “Who were you talking to?”

  “André, he’s on his way.”

  “And on the ear mic?”

  I didn’t see an upside to withholding info from her now. “Two of André’s men are on the island with us.”

  She digested that a moment. “When did Maldonado put out the hit?”

  I looked out the window again, checking for any sign of movement before I spared her a glance. “Two days ago.”

  Air whooshed out of her lungs. “My birthday.”

  Our wedding day. “Hell of a present.”

  She sunk to the bed and dropped her head to her hands. “You never should’ve married me.” Her voice defeated, her shoulders slumped, she held the gun like she’d forgotten about it.

  “Hey,” I barked, but she didn’t look up. I reluctantly stepped back from my position and crouched in front of her. Taking the gun, I set it on the bed and tipped her chin. “Those words will not cross your lips again, you hear me?”

  Her eyes wouldn’t make contact.

  “Look at me,” I demanded.

  “No.”

  I forced my voice to go soft when I wanted to yell. “Layna. Please.”

  Stricken eyes found mine.

  “I made you a promise,” I reminded her.

  “At what cost to you?” she asked miserably. “Dying because you got too close to me?”

  Pissed at myself for letting everything get to this point, I released her. She was right, she didn’t know me very well. Yes, I’d made a mistake but there was no way in hell I was going to let that piece of shit Maldonado get away with this. “You think that asshole has a chance against me?”

  “If he’s determined to kill me and you get in his way, it’s only a matter of time. Opportunity always knocks.”

  I checked my clip and looked out the window without moving the blinds. “Not if he dies first.”

  “Blaze,” she pleaded. “I do not want you killing for me. It’ll ruin your life. Don’t you see that? Then he wins. Either way, he wins.”

  Bullshit. I had no intention of letting him win. “You’re my wife. I protect what’s mine.” At whatever cost.

  An anguished cry ripped from her lungs and she folded in on herself. I reached for her, but Tyler’s voice came through the mic.

  “One man down, one on the island with Ivy in pursuit. Coming to you for extraction.”

  I pressed the talk button. “Copy.” I pulled Layna up. “We gotta go.”

  Just as I got her on her feet, a series of clicks that made my blood run cold sounded in my ear piece. It was all the warning I got.

  I threw Layna on the ground behind the bed and covered her body with mine as the quiet room exploded with automatic gunfire and shattering glass. Bullets sprayed everywhere. I reached up and blindly emptied an entire clip. Grabbing the next clip, I slammed it home and did it again. Halfway through the third clip, crossfire finally rang out and the shots aimed at us tapered off.

  I wasn’t hit, so rationally I knew she wasn’t either, but I still looked down in a panic and checked Layna for blood. “You’re okay, b
aby.”

  Her hands over her head, shaking, she didn’t respond.

  Goddamn it. I pushed the mic. “Where the fuck are you?”

  “Here,” Tyler called into the room.

  Feet crunched over glass and I rose up, gun first.

  Scanning the room with his rifle, Tyler stepped through what used to be the sliders. “Anyone hit?”

  “No.” I pulled my shocked wife to her feet and Tyler reached for her. Jealously, thick and unforgiving shot through me but I forced it down.

  Layna gripped my t-shirt in fear. “Blaze!”

  I tempered my voice. “It’s okay. He’s one of André’s men and he has Kevlar. Go. I’ll be right behind you.” I thrust her toward Tyler as André walked backwards into the room.

  “You’re worse than our paying clients,” André said casually, sweeping left and right with his rifle.

  Ripping at the Velcro straps, Tyler took off his vest and put it over Layna’s head. Securing the straps on her small frame, he pulled Layna’s back to his chest and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he hoisted his weapon. “Let’s go.”

  Layna reached for my extra gun on the bed and raised it in front of her with both hands.

  Tyler froze. “Whoa, boss. She know how to use that?”

  “Why don’t you give me your Lesocom rifle and find out?” Layna snapped before I could answer.

  Tyler blinked. “Point taken, Mrs. Johnson.”

  “Move,” I barked at Tyler. He fell in behind André and I followed, sweeping every inch of our goddamn perimeter.

  André scanned the area again and stepped out of the cottage. “Clear.”

  AS TIGHT AS ANY MISSION with my Marine unit, we moved in sync across the hotel grounds. André kept to the shadows and took us to the marina the quickest way possible. The side of the island we were on was silent because I’d rented out all the surrounding cottages but it was too quiet. My instinct was telling me something was off.

  “Where’s Collin?” I whispered.

  “Good question,” André replied, confirming he was having the same suspicions.

  We stopped at the side of a utility building.

  “He went dark after the first shots,” Tyler said quietly. One arm still around Layna, he let his weapon go slack on its shoulder strap as he pulled out a thermal imaging viewer. He took a quick scan then handed it to me. “I don’t see anyone but that’s a lot of open ground.” He lifted his rifle again and looked through the scope at the building tops.

  I used the viewer to cover the huge expanse of lawn that sloped down to the marina in front of us. I didn’t see anything either, but there were two buildings I couldn’t see around. I glanced at the cottages behind us then tucked the viewer in my pocket. “They ours?” I asked André, inclining my head toward a boat in one of the slips with three men on it.

  “Yeah. You want me to have them triangulate? Hotel security is lighting up my cell. I figure we got about ten, fifteen minutes max before the Coast Guard shows up. Your call.”

  I gauged the distance again. Something was off. Seriously off. “You didn’t spot any other crafts?”

  “No.”

  “Was there any dive equipment on the boat?” Someone could have swam ashore.

  “Didn’t get a chance to look,” Tyler answered.

  “What’d the man down say?”

  Tyler glanced at André then me. “He’s not talking.”

  I nodded and looked behind us again. There were half a dozen high points a sniper could set up at to pick us off. The only question was how good Maldonado’s contacts were, because you’d have to be a damn good shot to make it from some of those distances.

  I looked at André. “We wait, it’ll become a cluster fuck.” I glanced back at one of the buildings that would probably be high enough and did a quick calculation. If I were the sniper, there were only two other places I’d consider. “Clock’s ticking.”

  “Your call,” André repeated.

  Layna’s hand settled on my arm. “Please, let’s wait for the Coast Guard.”

  I wasn’t going to lose the opportunity. My mind already made up, I looked at André. “Call resort security and hold them back. Tell them to wait for the Coast Guard. Have your men ready to triangulate but wait for my signal. When I give the go-ahead, move Layna to our Cobalt. Once I clear the Marina and I’m onboard with her, have Tyler sink their boat a few miles out but send out a distress call first. You okay to stay behind and clean up?”

  André inclined his head once. “Roger.”

  I handed him my gun and he handed over his rifle with a pointed look, telling me he knew what I was up to. “I need two minutes.” I leaned down and gave Layna a quick kiss. “Do what they say.”

  “Wait,” she said desperately, reaching for me.

  But I was already running. I doubled back and made a wide arc to the building I wanted. It was only three stories tall but the other buildings I was guessing a sniper would be on were also three stories. The taller main building would only have roof access from an internal stairwell, and that was too risky.

  I made it to a cottage halfway between the two locations I suspected and went up the back stairs to the second floor balcony. As quietly as I could, I stood on the railing and pulled myself up to the third balcony. Repeating the same move, I did a quick glance over the edge of the roof. Empty. I hoisted up and belly-crawled behind an overhanging tree limb.

  Pulling out the thermal imaging viewer, I scanned the first cottage. Nothing. Swinging east, I scanned the next few buildings. Nothing. Exhaling, I slowly moved the viewer farther east, praying I wasn’t wrong.

  I wasn’t.

  On his stomach, his back to me, a sniper lay prone.

  Without a sound, I set up the rifle and sighted. Then I touched the talk button on my earpiece and whispered, “Triangulate.”

  Three seconds later, the men on the boat started to move. With practiced formation, they held their weapons in front of them and walked up the dock. When they hit the lawn they spread out and the sniper made a crucial mistake. He rose six inches to aim.

  I breathed out and pulled the trigger.

  Fractions of a second later, his weapon fell to the ground then his body followed. I was off the roof lightning fast. Dropping to the third story balcony, I swung over and fell to the second story, no longer caring how much noise I made. As I rushed down the stairs, I pushed the earpiece talk button one last time. “Cobalt,” I commanded.

  I ran to the eastern cottage. Not bothering to check for a pulse, I looped my arm through the sniper’s rifle strap then picked up his body and threw him over my shoulder. Jogging toward the dock, I saw André escort Layna to the Cobalt then veer toward the unmarked boat.

  I threw the sniper’s body and his rifle onto their boat next to the other body as André walked up.

  I nodded at the sniper. “Do you recognize him?”

  André studied him for half a second. “Can’t tell.”

  I’d hit the back of his head. The exit wound had blown his face off. “Where’s the second one?” I pulled my blood-stained shirt off and tossed it on top of the sniper.

  “Mangroves, other side of the island. Collin finally called it in. He has him trapped.” André motioned for Tyler to come over. Tyler set a small container of gasoline in the boat then climbed aboard.

  “Who fired the first shot?” I asked.

  Tyler pointed at the dead man next to the sniper. “That one.” He started the engine.

  “Go, we’re out of time.” André shoved the boat away from the dock with his boot.

  Tyler looked around then cursed. “No radio.”

  André tossed him a cell phone. “Have the others follow you out. Dump the phone with everything else when you’re done.”

  “Copy.” Tyler grinned at me as he pulled away. “Nice shot.”

  I nodded but I didn’t say shit. If he’d seen as much combat as I had, he wouldn’t have been smiling.

  André watched Tyler pull out of the m
arina. “Collin’s out.”

  “We got a bigger problem. All we did was slow Maldonado down. It’s only a matter of time before he finds a replacement. We need to handle Maldonado.”

  “Talon’s already on it.”

  My head snapped toward him but he was staring out at the ocean. “How does he know about this?” I hadn’t spoken to him since the wedding and right now, I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.

  “He has connections I don’t.” André was unapologetic.

  “I asked you to handle this, not him. He’s a fucking loose cannon right now and you know it.”

  “I don’t know shit except he officiated your marriage,” he said pointedly.

  “That’s beside the point,” I gritted out, my tolerance level dangerously close to snapping.

  André turned to face me. “Then what is the point? That your wife looks like his dead wife? That he’s human? He’d sacrifice his life for us.”

  “He’d give his life because he doesn’t care about it.” There was a difference between honor and suicide.

  “And we haven’t been there?”

  Goddamn it. I was not having this conversation. “We’re out of time.”

  “No shit.” André stared at me.

  I hefted his rifle. “This registered?”

  “No, make it disappear.” He handed my 9mm back.

  “Maldonado?” I asked again.

  He shrugged casually. “Vicious rumors in jail. No one likes a snitch on the inside. I hear they usually don’t last a week once word gets out.”

  “You better know what you’re doing,” I warned. If this came back on any of us, we were fucked.

  “Wash up. You got blood on your hands.” André walked to his boat.

  I went to the Cobalt but before I got on, I leaned over the dock and scrubbed my hands with a handful of silt.

  “You okay?” Layna asked quietly.

  I grabbed a few rocks. “Start her up. I’ll get the ties.” I didn’t have time right now to think about what she saw. I needed to get us in open waters.

  Without another word, she turned over the engines.

  Pretending like we weren’t on a race against the Coast Guard, I got on and took over the controls. I eased out of the slip but once I was clear of the marina, I ignored the no wake zone.