by L. T. Ryan
Jack twisted back around in his seat. “Good man.”
Sadie put the car in drive and launched us forward. The tires skated along the loose dirt before gaining traction. Plumes of dust rose in our wake.
Jack decided against calling Javier. There was no point in getting the man’s hopes up. Besides, he’d want to know where we were heading. If he showed up emotion would rule the game. Nothing good would come from that. It was better to deliver no news than to create bad news. And even better to stay quiet and surprise someone with exactly the news they were hoping to hear.
The drone of the engine and the road filled the car. Nicolás only spoke when he instructed Sadie to make a turn here or there. His voice was low, calm, and empty. He was defeated in every sense of the word. I caught Sadie glancing at him in the rearview every couple of miles. She seemed more confused than concerned. She’d known him for years, had seen the extent of his cruelty. Maybe she’d even felt it once or twice. Now he was a broken man in comparison. But that’s what happens when all hope is lost. You give in. You die. Even if your body still lives. Nicolás had it all for a few fleeting moments. Now he’d learned that being at the top only means you have further to fall.
And they all fall.
I watched the countryside turn into the outline of the city and fade back again, occasionally turning toward Nicolás to make sure he wasn’t trying anything. He was almost pathetic to watch and after about half an hour I stopped checking on him as often. He wasn’t part of the equation anymore, which worked out in our favor, except now Vasquez had replaced him. That didn’t bode well.
I leaned forward between the seats, surprising Sadie and making her jump. The car swerved just a little bit and she scowled at me over her shoulder. People always underestimate how well I move for a guy who’s six-six.
Since the phone call, something had been bothering me. Vasquez had too much information. I tapped Jack on the shoulder. “How does he know who you are?”
Jack rubbed his temple for a few seconds. “I don’t know, man. Been wondering that as well. He’s working with different information than Goddard.”
“And why does he want Goddard dead?” I turned back to Nicolás to see if he had any other information to share.
“I don’t know. The two of them have been working together for a while. I didn’t know anything was off between them until recently.” Nicolás turned to the window. The wind rush blew his hair off the bloody rag covering the wound on his forehead. “Make a right up here. We’re almost there.”
I leaned back in my seat and continued watching the scenery go by. The suburbs gave way to trees and fields, and soon Nicolás instructed Sadie to turn and five minutes later pull off to the side of the road.
“The cottage is about a mile up ahead,” he said.
“Anyone patrolling the property or surrounding woods?” Jack asked.
Nicolás shook his head. “There’s four guys inside. Two out front, one at the rear, and the last keeping an eye on the girl.”
“You’re a piece of shit, you know that, right?”
Nicolás looked away, shook his head, as though he wanted to say more. Maybe he was going to apologize. Maybe he had an excuse. No one particularly cared what it was either way, and it seemed like he knew that. He snapped his mouth shut and turned back to the window.
Sadie pulled out her gun. “You two go on ahead. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
Jack opened his door, placed one foot on the ground, looked back at Sadie. “Anyone else comes from that direction other than us and a little girl, you shoot first and ask questions later. Dump him in a ditch and get the hell out of there.”
She racked her Glock’s slide. “Copy that.”
Jack and I waited for a large truck to pass, then dashed into the woods. We led with our pistols. We were far enough out in the country that a couple of shots wouldn’t cause unwanted attention, and even if it did, we would be out of there before the authorities arrived.
I led the way through the trees, as quickly and quietly as I could. This was my domain. I’d grown up in the backwoods of North Carolina. Give me a forest anywhere in the world and I was home. I sucked in a deep breath and inhaled the mix of dirt, bugs, life, decay. Dead leaves and twigs crunched underfoot. For now that was acceptable. Once we were closer to the house more precautions would have to be taken.
It had been a couple of days since Camila had been taken. Nicolás was hardly a humanitarian, but I doubted he was a big enough asshole to keep her locked up without food and water. Then again he was a big enough asshole to kidnap a ten-year-old in the first place. Anything was possible at this point.
The woods opened into a small clearing. A tiny one-room wooden cottage sat dead center. As soon as we walked up to the last tree, I stopped and looked back at Jack. We were close to rescuing the girl. This sideways adventure in Costa Rica was about to come to an end. I lifted my eyebrows and nodded at him.
He peered around me before meeting my eyes. Something was wrong.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The door swung on one hinge with the wind gusts. A pair of bodies lay slumped against the jam. Even from a distance I could see the holes in their foreheads, the dried blood on their faces and clothes. Jack climbed the steps first and stole a glance inside. Soft music escaped through the opening. He turned to me and shook his head.
I gestured toward the side of the house. Jack nodded and turned back to the front door. We’d been working together so long little had to be said or done to communicate our intentions. Chances anyone was left alive inside were slim. Jack could handle it on his own even if someone was lying in wait. I just hoped the only dead we came across were anyone but Camila.
I turned the corner of the cottage and crept along the side, scanning the wood’s edge. When I reached the end, I eased around the corner. I kept my pistol a couple feet ahead of my sight line. There was one more body lying on the ground. Feeling certain he was just as dead as the first two, I moved forward and kicked him over. He had bullet wounds to the chest, abdomen, and a single shot in the center of his forehead.
The back door was simple and wooden. It hadn’t been kicked off its hinges like the front, so I grasped the knob and twisted it slowly. When I felt it unlatch, I threw it open and stepped inside. Jack peered back at me, his pistol raised.
The cottage was very nearly a single room as Nicolás had described. The minimalist kitchen opened to the living room, which housed a sofa and a pair of chairs. The fabric was worn and faded and patched up in a couple spots. A small TV sat on one leaning wooden cart, hooked up with a couple of gaming systems. A body lay slumped across the couch. We didn’t bother checking his pulse. Half his head had been blown away.
“Three guesses who got here before we did,” Jack said.
“I’m glad we decided not to tell Javier about this place. He’d have a breakdown on the spot.”
Jack shook his head and cursed at the walls. “Vasquez is playing a goddamn game with us.”
Jack pulled a buzzing phone from his pocket . He looked up at me and ground his teeth, then answered and hit the speaker.
“Hello, Mr. Noble.”
“Vasquez.”
“I assume you’ve made it to the cottage by now. Nicolás should’ve known better than to keep her there. Amateur move on his part, which is what I would expect from him.”
“Where’s the girl?”
“With me. Safe. I won’t harm a hair on her head unless you decide to keep ignoring my directives. You have a little more than ten hours now to complete the task. Kill Goddard and you will get sweet Camila back.”
“She’s just a kid.”
“I know, Jack. I know. I have children, too. They’re all grown up now, but my grandkids are the light of my life. They keep me good. They keep me grounded. Goddard threatened them. Did you know that?”
Jack said nothing.
“He did. And though he has not acted on his threats, I fear it is time for me to eliminate the chance that
he will. I want him dead.”
“All you had to do was ask,” Jack said. “Guess that was too hard for you. But this? You’re willing to kill an innocent girl to ensure this happens?”
“Yes.” Vasquez’s voice went hard. “My family before anyone else’s. I don’t want to hurt her, Jack, but I will. Goddard’s own family is unfortunately out of reach, otherwise I would let sweet Camila go and take them instead. Unless something changes, she will have to be my insurance that Goddard is killed.”
“And why don’t you do it yourself? Set up a meeting and take care of him there. You don’t even have to use a weapon. Poison takes longer. It’s more fun.”
Vasquez laughed. “You know better than that. The cleaner my hands on this job, the better. I’m not asking for fame. That’s the last thing I want. I just need my revenge, and I’ll be happy.”
“You’re a bastard.”
“In point of fact, I am.” Vasquez paused. “You have ten hours, Mr. Noble.”
It took us half the amount of time to get back to the car. There was little regard to how much noise we made. I picked a line and led the way, deviating as necessary. All the sweet smells of the forest were lost on me now. In the thick jungle the wind died early amid the tangle of brush and vines. The humidity was killer, my body drenched with sweat. Pain ate at my muscles and joints with every thud of my feet. Hunger pangs filled my stomach. But we had to push on and get to the car quickly.
Sadie stared from within the dusty Camry. Her side mirror glinted in a brief moment of sunlight. Her pistol was aimed in our direction. Without the girl, she had no reason to believe it was us until we got closer. We kept our hands in view and exited the trees slowly and deliberately. Once we were in sight she lowered her firearm.
Nicolás leaned out the door, which Sadie had opened to presumably give him some air. It would be stifling in that tin can at this point during the day. Still, it wasn’t a great idea. If he tried to escape, she’d have to deal with it. That meant time out in the open. The road didn’t have much traffic, but we weren’t privy to when there’d be a passerby.
“Where is she?” he asked.
“Not there,” Jack said.
He shrunk back inside the car. “I swear I was telling the truth. She was there. She was there with four of my men. Two out front, one out back, and—”
“And one inside,” I finished. “Yeah, we verified that. They’re all dead.”
Sadie emerged from the car and grabbed my arm. “Any trace of the girl?””
“Gone.” I freed myself from her grip. “Vasquez has her.”
“How do you know?”
“He called me.” Jack gripped the phone tightly in his hand. He looked as though he wanted to toss it against the side of the car, but thought better of destroying the only line of communication he had with Vasquez. With Javier’s daughter.
“What now?” Sadie asked.
I wiped a line of sweat from the top of my lip. “Kill Goddard, hope Vasquez keeps his word.”
“We can’t take that risk.” She stepped back and blocked the opening to the driver’s seat.
“We might not have a choice.” I drew a line in the dirt with the tip of my shoe. “Vasquez seems smart. Hell, he knows our moves before we make them. He’s not going to be as stupid or as easy to crack as this idiot. I don’t think we’re gonna be able to find her.”
Nicolás looked up sharply, as though he was going to say something smart to me. He thought better of it and leaned back inside the car.
Jack reached into the backseat and pulled out his jacket. He reached into the pocket and brought out a pair of sunglasses. He made to place them on his head, but he paused and stared down at the shades with his brows knitted.
“What is it?” I asked.
After a moment’s pause Jack turned toward Nicolás. “Who told you about the hit?”
“What?”
Jack grabbed Nicolás out of the back of the car and pushed him up against the Camry. “Who told you about the hit on Goddard?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“Bullshit.” Jack punched Nicolás in the gut.
I moved in position next to him. I leaned in and said, “What is it?”
Jack said nothing. He drove his knee into the man’s midsection and let him fall to the ground.
“I seriously don’t know.” Nicolás coughed to regain his breath. Dirt mixed with his sweat and caked the left half of his face. “I got a call from a guy. He was an American. He told me about a hit going down on Goddard. Said if I wanted things to work out in my favor, I’d make sure it happened on my terms.”
Jack knelt and smacked Nicolás across the face. “And you never questioned why this mysterious man was handing you Goddard on a silver platter? Come on. Are you really that stupid?”
“Of course I did. I’m not an idiot.” His gaze slid over to me then shot back to Jack. He flinched when Jack rocked back on his heels. “It’s not like I got any answers. He just told me who Javier was and where we could find Camila. I’ve got a couple contacts and I had them and my guys looking into who could’ve made the call, but we didn’t come up with anything. I figured I’d deal with the possible consequences when they came through.”
“And that’s why you’d never be as good of a leader as your uncle.” Sadie crossed her arms and leaned against the car, an eyebrow raised in challenge. Nicolás didn’t say anything. “You think he would’ve let this happen?”
I copied Sadie’s posture. “What are you thinking, Jack?”
Jack finally let Nicolás go and started pacing along the length of the car. “Whoever called him gave him Javier’s identity, which means he knew who we were, too. But he didn’t tell Nicolás about us. Why?”
I furrowed my brow. “Must’ve had a reason.”
“He wanted to screw with the op but he was keeping our identities close to the chest.”
“Probably until it worked in his favor to reveal them,” Sadie said.
“So what game are they playing?” I said.
Jack shook his head. “I don’t know, man, but I got a pretty good idea of who made that phone call.” He held out Thorne’s sunglasses to me.
I took them. The reflection of my dirty face filled both lenses. “Why would he want to mess with the op?”
Sadie threw out her hands. “Who?”
Jack turned toward her. “A man named Thorne. He works for Skinner. He’s the only other person that knew about this.” Jack looked back at me over his shoulder. “We were set up from the beginning.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Thorne?” I couldn’t help sounding dismissive of the suggestion. “He’s nobody. Why would he want to mess with our op?”
“I don’t know that he does.” Jack continued pacing. He rubbed the stubble on his chin. “He didn’t tell Nicolás who we were. He gave him Javier’s identity, as well as Camila’s, and he told Nicolás to hold off on having Goddard killed until the time was right.”
“So there’s a reason why he extended the op, why he wanted Goddard left alive.” I started moving in Jack’s footsteps. “He was waiting for something.”
“What’s Goddard working on back home?”
“Hell if I know. Wasn’t pertinent to the job. I didn’t look into it any further. Did you?”
Jack shook his head. “We need to know.”
“We don’t have much time. Ten hours and counting.”
Sadie stepped forward. “Does it work out in our favor at all if we don’t kill Goddard? What if we just go after Vasquez?”
“I don’t think that’s going to work.” Jack put his hands on his hips and leaned his head back. “Javier wouldn’t hear of it.”
“What he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him?” I shrugged.
Jack met my gaze. “The girl is our number one priority. Goddard was our primary mission anyway. If we take him out, we kill two birds with one stone.”
“Three,” I said, “if it means screwing up Thorne’s plans.”
“Frank?” Bear said.
Jack laughed. “Absolutely. But Frank handed us the op. I don’t see why he’d do that just to take it away from us. No, someone else has is involved. Maybe it’s not Thorne, but he’s the most likely suspect at this point. I just can’t see why.”
I wiped the sweat from my brow. “Do we talk to Frank?”
“Frank doesn’t pussyfoot around. He’d go right to Thorne, and we can’t risk him finding out that we’re on to him. The more relaxed he feels about getting away with pulling strings, the easier it’s gonna be to catch him at it later.”
“Okay then what’s the plan?”
Jack looked at each of us in turn. “We go after Goddard and pray Vasquez turns over the girl. We hand her and Nicolás to Javier, make sure Camila is secure, and then we take down Vasquez. Once he’s out of the picture, we’re on our way home and Thorne’s gonna find out why we get paid contract rates for our work.”
“Works for me,” I said.
Sadie nodded.
When Jack turned to Nicolás, the other man just shrugged. “Better than a death sentence, I guess.”
Jack opened the passenger side door. “Let’s roll.”
The rest of the car ride was spent arguing over whether Sadie would join us on our mission to kill Goddard. She wanted to be there. She wanted to be the one to put a bullet in his brain after all these years. She wanted him to look up at her and realize she had been playing him the whole time. If anyone was gonna obliterate the op she’d worked on for so long, it had to be her.
Jack didn’t want to take that from her, but there was the little problem of the man in the back seat.
“You can just leave me in the car,” Nicolás said.
The hope in his voice was comical. I couldn’t help but laugh. “In another life, I might have liked you, man. You’re an idiot, but you’re a funny idiot.”
Nicolás scowled back at me. There’d been a change in him. He’d been taken down a peg. All that undeserved power he’d garnered from being related to his uncle had gone to his head. It hadn’t been a flattering look on him. Not that this broken version was much better. A marginal improvement at best. I no longer wanted to knock out the rest of his teeth every time he opened his mouth.
