Spies & Stilettos: A MacKenzie Family Novel, Book 18 (The MacKenzie Family)

by Liliana Hart

  “You okay to go inside and get situated? I need to make contact with the team and check on their ETA.”

  “So we’re not going to wait?”

  “I know the team is coming, but there’s no reason we can’t start the ball rolling. Agreed?”

  She nodded.

  Brady grabbed as much gear from the golf cart as he could hoist across his back and shoulders. He motioned for her to go inside—he was on his way inside the lobby too. She knew about the cache of weapons and surveillance equipment. She also knew it would be stolen within seconds of them going inside. She didn’t hate her countrymen for stealing. She hated the cartel for imprisoning them into poverty so they were forced to steal.

  It took an extra five bucks cash to secure the entire third floor. The place was a large, empty shell. Painted in pinks, yellow, and turquoise, it had been neglected. The pool was a black sludge where iguanas and dogs battled for scraps. Brady led her upstairs and then pushed her behind a crevice when the maintenance man came up behind them to deliver the keys.

  “You sure you haven’t seen this girl?” the maintenance man asked, holding up a crumpled picture

  “Just hand over the key,” Brady replied to him in Spanish. “I don’t want questions.”

  The old man’s expression shifted. “No gringo?”

  “No.”

  Elena braced at the sight of her picture but quickly relaxed when she realized she hadn’t been recognized. She assumed the old man had to be blind not to notice her or see that the six-foot-two-inch, blond Thor look-alike was indeed a gringo. She pressed her palm against her lips to muffle the chuckle at the conversation the two men were engaged in.

  “Here’s your key, mi amigo.”

  “Gracias.”

  Brady, still lugging all of their gear, grabbed Elena by the elbow and quickly led her back up the stairs. She noticed what looked to have been an elevator, but was now just another trash receptacle.

  “What’s the deal?”

  Brady fumbled with the key but drew his pistol before he shoved the door open with his foot. He entered and quickly cleared the area before allowing Elena to enter.

  “Why’d you give him such a hard time?” she asked.

  “While I was unloading the car, he told me the cartel had sent out an alert with a picture of you. He asked if I’d seen you and said that there was a thousand dollar bounty on your head.”

  “Just a thousand?” She planted her fists into her hips, masking her nerves with false bravado.

  Brady grinned and rolled his eyes.

  “Baby, we can’t do anything here. Everyone is desperate for that money, and they’ll be turning over random women to the cartel just for the hell of it. We can’t trust anyone. Which is why I’m going to tie up and gag our friend and shove him in a closet.”

  “What should I do?” she asked.

  “Put the wig back on.”

  “Lost it.”

  He held up the photograph he’d been given by the old man. She still looked the same. He handed her his KA-BAR knife.

  “Am I supposed to use this to defend myself?”

  “No. Cut your hair off.”

  Brady paced along the balcony. It faced inward, but the mosquito-infested pool didn’t serve any purpose. He needed an observation point. At the far end of the third floor balcony, he discovered a service ladder. It was actually a few metal steps welded to a rusted railing. He climbed it but wasn’t sure it would support him.

  His thumb hit speed dial and he waited for the series of beeps before Willa answered from HQ.

  “Can you patch me through to Declan?” he asked.

  “Easy as pie,” she said. “Hold tight, sugar. They’re still in the air.”

  Brady waited as Willa worked the switchboard.

  “MacKenzie,” Declan said a few seconds later.

  “What’s your status?” Brady asked without greeting.

  “We’re still about a couple of hours out. Anyone else arrive yet?”

  Willa, who was patched into the call replied, “No, sir. Cade was the first in country, but last I heard he was held up at customs.”

  “Those fuckers are more powerful than I imagined. They’ve sealed off the entire country. Willa, reroute the others into Guatemala. Campeche is less than twenty-five miles from their border.”

  “And if they get stopped there?”

  “Then get everyone a damned parachute,” he said.

  “Umm…okie dokie,” she said. “This job is always interesting. I’ll give you that.”

  “You’re a peach, Willa. If anyone can find a way, you can. We’ve got to get the agents in country before it’s too late.”

  “Roger that, Lieutenant Hottie.”

  Brady felt a flush of embarrassment at being called that with Declan on the line.

  “Willa routed me into the encrypted messaging service. Brady, it’s not looking good for the visiting team.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Rather not in mixed company, but it’s getting close to a repeat.”

  “And?”

  “And, I think you four have to roll the dice and make the best play you can. Does she have the flash drive with actual data? If surrendering that is what it takes to save that girl, then the hell with it. Let ’em have it.”

  “Declan, that’s freaking incredible, but she’s made a Trojan horse.”

  “They’ll kill her,” he barked.

  “Well, to be honest, she admitted that when she devised the plan, she didn’t expect to come out alive.”

  “So she knew full well that once her niece was freed into the US, that she’d plant that virus we confiscated into their network?”

  “So far, so good.”

  “And the flash drive is engineered to transmit all of their data to a secured server at Mac Security and the DOJ while destroying their own database?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “That’s fucking brilliant,” Declan muttered.

  “Except the part about them torturing her to death.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Willa, can you pull Archer into this call?”

  “Will do, Brady.”

  “He’s not with you?”

  “No. We took a spot on the west side of the city and they’re grabbing a place on the east.”

  Declan let out a hum that caused Brady’s gut to start churning. Brady squatted down behind an H/VAC service shed. He peered across the tiny town and marveled that anyone survived out here. The place was archaic at best. He recalled Elena had originally come from a place not unlike this. It wasn’t that he was judging the people. He only knew he’d never make it out here.

  “Yo, what’s up, Dec?”

  “Hey, Archer. You enjoying the vacation?”

  “I’m having a ball, but Audrey said she’s going to castrate you. We’ve been to shitty places before, bro, but this has to be at the top.”

  “I can’t imagine, but if Brady was the one who picked it, I know it’s gotta suck. Remember that time you drove us out to that place off Coronado?”

  “Yeah, okay. Enough with the good-time gang. What’s our next step?” Brady stood to stretch his legs.

  “Hey, is that you?” Archer asked.

  Brady spun toward the east. “I guess so. Where are you?”

  “You guys don’t know exactly where each other are?”

  Archer said, “I know where he’s at. I can see him from my villa’s balcony.”

  “I was on my way to locate him when I took your call.”

  “Come on, guys, y’all have got…”

  Brady didn’t hear the report of the gunshot until after the bullet struck. He tumbled on to his back across a gutter on the building’s edge.

  “Shot fired,” Archer called out.

  “Fuck. Brady, you okay?” Declan yelled.

  Brady had taken metal to the face after the bullet struck the service shed. He wasn’t unconscious, but he would have to fight from fading to black. He heard their voice
s coming from his cell phone, but he’d dropped it on the roof.

  “I don’t see him,” Archer said. “Audrey, come in hot. We’ve got a sniper.”

  “He’s down?” she asked.

  “Don’t know. He’s unresponsive.”

  Brady fought to reach the phone. He had to warn Elena. The instant he moved, he felt the feeble gutter start to give way.

  “Brady!” Willa screamed from her console in Surrender.

  “You see anything?” Archer radioed to Audrey.

  “Nothing.”

  “Willa, call Elena, and tell her I’m coming,” Archer said.

  “Yes, sir,” she replied with a bit more composure.

  Brady was listening to all of their communications, but when he tried to call out from about ten feet away, he couldn’t speak. Slowly, he swiped fingers across his neck. Bloodied.

  Another shot ricocheted in the small town. Brady flinched. It almost caused him to break the welds on the piss-poor construction.

  “Shoot him,” Archer ordered.

  “I need you to counter spot for me.” Audrey’s tone remained cool.

  “Okay. Let’s take him out quick.”

  Willa returned to the call. “I’ve warned Elena. She said she’s going up top to help Brady.”

  “No fucking way,” Declan demanded.

  “This is Elena. I’m patched into the line. Sorry, Declan, I get to make the calls on my home turf. Brady needs me.”

  Brady heard Elena’s broadcast and peeled his eyes toward the left, where the rickety ladder was attached.

  “I need to draw his fire,” Audrey radioed.

  “I see a reflection at five o’clock, due southeast. No confirmation,” Archer called out.

  Brady’s eyes burned from the blood and shrapnel debris. He craned his neck to see Elena shimmy up the ladder. He tried to wave her down, but each time he nudged a finger or foot, the gutter separated a bit farther. He knew the fall probably wouldn’t kill him, but it sure would screw him up.

  “Down,” he whispered.

  Elena’s face was mired in horror.

  “Elena, get down,” Archer yelled.

  “I’ve got to save him,” she replied.

  Audrey snarled toward the target, “Come on, you fucker.”

  “Please, Elena. Get down,” Declan demanded.

  The third shot exploded from the sniper’s concealed nest. Elena went down.

  A fourth suppressed shot rang out.

  “Got your ass,” Audrey said.

  “Great shooting, baby. I love you,” Archer radioed. “I’m going their way.”

  “I got you covered,” she said.

  Declan’s voice was at an uncharacteristic fever pitch. “Elena, answer.”

  “I’m here. I’m okay. Just a scratch. I had to get the sniper to shoot again so we could take him out, right?”

  “Right. Great job, sister,” Audrey said.

  “Where’s Brady?” Declan asked.

  “I’ve got him back on the roof. Shrapnel to the throat. Swollen vocals for a bit, but he’ll recover his signing voice,” Elena joked.

  Brady grunted. Then he grimaced. “Did good,” he strained through a low whisper.

  Elena brushed his brow and cleared the sharp shards of fragment from his face.

  “Brady, I’m not going to live afraid anymore. I love you.”

  Declan’s voice broke over the radio. “Wow, that’s brave.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “It’s done.”

  Elena locked her cell phone after receiving confirmation that negotiations would continue.

  Brady held her. She knew he understood her worries about an actual face-to-face meeting with one of the cartel’s inner circle. They were known as the Vipers. They were a dangerous group of select men who had banded together in the early years against the Mexican government and rival drug gangs.

  By sundown, Elena would sit alone with Toro to discuss the exchange of data for her niece. The cartel said they were sending Toro for three reasons. He was a computer technology wizard, he was one of the few who hadn’t raped Marguerite yet, and finally, he wouldn’t hesitate to murder Elena if she tried to deceive him.

  Archer and Audrey had returned to meet them in their third floor room after having swept the small town for any other hide spots or sniper nests. They’d actually found an ice maker and wrapped a bundle of cubes in an old shirt for Brady. He pressed it against his throat and grinned.

  “Do you think they know where we are?” Elena asked.

  “I don’t think so,” Archer answered.

  Audrey furrowed her brow in what appeared to be disagreement.

  “Let me explain, honey. The cartel put the word out on Elena coming into the country. Elena, my dear, you are a very beautiful woman, but you look exactly like a Mexican woman. Brady, on the other hand, might’ve fit in back at the resort, but out here, he screams American. Every peasant with a rifle or a rock is aiming for him to get to you. There’s a bounty on your head. Brady can be killed for free.” Archer winked at Brady.

  “That’s what the old man said too,” Brady mumbled.

  “These people have no direct communications with the cartel. If someone were to bag you, they’d load you up in their wagon and wheel you to the temple’s door to claim their thousand bucks.”

  “Until then, it’s just random, uncoordinated efforts,” Audrey said.

  “You got it.”

  Archer kissed her.

  “I think what’s important is that they suspect or know you’re with old gringo over there, but they don’t know you’re also with this badass couple of super spies too. We’ll use that to help cover you for this meeting.”

  “So you don’t think word from earlier will get back to the cartel?”

  “Elena, do you really think they give a rat’s ass about some punk with a gun getting his head blown off?”

  “Well, yeah. Kind of.”

  “You may be right. In that case, we’ll watch you extra close.”

  Audrey laid a paper out across an old, pitted tabletop. She’d sketched out the town and had already marked observation and escape points. She might have been more emotionally volatile than Archer, but the Mossad had schooled her well. Her training would soon be put to the test.

  “Elena, you will meet Toro right here. We need you to arrive about fifteen minutes late.”

  “Why? They said specifically not to be late.”

  “Exactly. They want to kidnap you.”

  “What?” Water spit from Elena’s mouth.

  “Everything is most vulnerable during transition. This means you are most at risk while the day turns to night. Why do you think they said to meet at precisely eighteen fifty-five hours?”

  “If I could focus enough to know when exactly eighteen fifty-five hours was, then I’d have a better idea why,” Elena snapped.

  Her nervousness began to creep back. It was understandable—these were the same brutes who’d raped her years back.

  “Five minutes before seven, and ten minutes before it gets dark. We want you to arrive about ten minutes after that. It’ll give us a chance to scout out their counter-surveillance and also allow us to use the NVGs to gain a better eye.”

  “Okay, I understand better, and sorry.”

  “Sorry?”

  “For jumping at you. I’m getting the shakes about this.”

  Brady sat up and took her hand.

  “No need for sorry. We will protect you, Elena. You’ve been very brave through this. Let’s keep everyone safe.”

  “Okay.” Archer leaned forward. “We can see where Audrey has positioned us to watch over you. The key points are that I’m designated to rescue you if anything goes sideways. While I’m busy being the hero, Brady and Audrey will lay down cover fire to distract and hopefully stop them.”

  “Not stop them—kill them,” Audrey snarled.

  “Elena, you cannot hesitate or resist me in any way. You must run as fast as you can, but do not try to go
on your own. If you do, I will knock you unconscious and carry you out. Understood?”

  She frowned but agreed.

  Audrey jabbed her finger on the number six. “This is our exfil point. I’ve already parked one golf cart at this location. We will all jump in and haul ass out. I’ve positioned the other cart as a decoy on the opposite side of the town. Keys are in it and set to explode. Please, do not make a mistake and run to that cart.”

  “I won’t resist you, Archer, but if I do, just don’t hit me in the face. Do a neck chop or something from the movies.”

  “Deal.”

  “This is where I come in,” Elena reported, switching to the work mode she felt comfortable in. “I’ve prepared this flash drive as a sample. I assumed they would’ve wanted to test it. They test everything. The data stored on here is legitimate but basically benign. Once they see that what I have is actual data, I’m sure we’ll negotiate for Marguerite’s release.”

  “Proof of life,” Brady said.

  “Yes,” Audrey agreed. “Demand proof of life before you give him the sample file. And then, what’s the plan for exchange of assets and verification of her release?”

  “What?” Elena asked.

  “If you give him the main data drive, they will just take it and kill you and her. What were your plans for making sure she was free and safe before handing over the flash drive?” Archer asked.

  Elena focused on the table, unable to meet their eyes, “I have no plans.”

  “Maybe that’s a good thing,” Audrey interjected. “Let’s do this. When you meet Toro, you shall demand proof of life. If he refuses, then you leave.”

  “Leave?”

  “Yep, just get on that high horse of yours and ride off,” Audrey teased. “We will be waiting and make sure no one follows you. They will reach out again. The cartel will not allow Toro to return to camp without that data.”

  “What then?”

  “You do not give them anything but attitude until they allow you to speak with Marguerite. Once they concede, then you’ll give them the sample. Allow them to play with it and gain confidence that they’ve got the real thing. Then tell them you will meet again in the morning. Say about zero eight hundred hours.”