by Rebecca Deel
The Fortress operatives had skills she wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but she knew if they could obtain information they needed without hurting someone, they would choose that option. Raul hadn’t given them a choice. If Curt hadn’t obtained the information, Risa would have died.
A flurry of activity caught her attention. A dirty van raced toward the house and skidded to a stop in the driveway. Two thugs hopped out and came around to the side, yanking open the door. They dragged out a bound and gagged prisoner.
Even at this distance and in the dimming light of day, she recognized the prisoner fighting for his life.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Adam felt Veronica’s body stiffen as he watched the tableau play out in front of him. “Vonnie?” he murmured.
“That’s Carlos, my informant. I have to help him.”
When she inched forward, Adam stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “Not yet. The other teams aren’t in place. If we go in early, we endanger everyone.”
“Carlos doesn’t have the training to withstand an interrogation. He won’t make it. I can’t let that happen, Adam. He has a family.”
“Silverman may not be here. Darkness will fall soon and we can free Carlos.”
“That might be too late. I can’t take that chance.”
“Vonnie….”
“Hear me out,” she interrupted. “I understand the team can’t move yet, but I can go in alone to help Carlos.”
“They will catch you, baby.”
“That’s the point. These guys know my face. They know not to touch me until Silverman returns.”
“I haven’t forgotten the guard who wanted to rape you.”
“You killed him.”
“There may be others who enjoy hurting women. What if Silverman is there? You know what he’s capable of first hand.” He captured her chin with his hand. “I know you want to help Carlos, but we can’t move until nightfall, no matter how much you want to change the timetable. As team lead, I’m asking you to trust me and hold position.” If she wouldn’t obey his orders on a mission, he’d ask Maddox to assign her to a different team for her safety and his.
The battle raged in her gaze a moment, then she nodded. “I’m sorry, Adam. I know better than to question the team leader or change the game in mid-play. It won’t happen again.”
He nudged her shoulder. “I don’t expect you or my team to be puppets.”
The goons forced a still struggling Carlos into the house and slammed the door.
Adam’s phone vibrated. Shielding the screen, he checked the text from Maddox. Excellent. He activated the mic on his comm system. “We go in twenty.” His team acknowledged the order. Twenty minutes. Adam hated Carlos might pay the price for helping Veronica. His girlfriend had survived three days of torture. Her informant could handle a few minutes of discomfort.
He asked Zane for a satellite image of the mansion and the surrounding estate. The result came a minute later. Adam studied the series of images, including the guard routes he’d memorized from his first breach of the place.
His lips twisted. Nothing had changed. The storeroom was still the best way into the basement where Carlos was likely to be. Once his team took care of business in the basement, they would clean out the nest of vipers. The hoods wouldn’t expect enemy attack from inside the house. Adam hoped Silverman was on site. If not, he’d track down the interrogator and take him out personally.
Four Fortress tech gurus were aiding the teams with thermal images of the target buildings. Zane was assigned to Adam’s team. He trusted his brother-in-law more than any member of tech support.
At the twenty-minute mark, Adam signaled his team, the darkness deep enough to hide their movement across open ground. He covered the distance to the same window, using the same bush to hide him as the pair of guards swept around the corner and walked the path in front of the house.
Once they disappeared around the other side of the house, Adam activated his mic. “Go. One minute before they reappear.” He raised the window and slipped into the darkened storage room, followed quickly by Veronica, Remy, Lily, and Jake.
He texted Z and had him patch into their comm signal through Adam’s phone. When his brother-in-law was in the communications loop with them, Adam said, “Thermal image update.”
“No change in the last fifteen minutes.”
“Copy. We’re ready. Vonnie’s informant was brought in twenty minutes ago. Location?”
“Down the hall, third room on the right.”
Just as Adam expected. Carlos had been taken to the same room where Veronica was held. He eased the door open a crack, checked that the corridor was clear. He signaled his team and, with his weapon raised and ready, slipped into the corridor.
Veronica followed on his heels to the torture chamber while the rest of his team swept the other rooms. All were clear except one. Remy quickly subdued another guard.
Through the comm system, Zane said, “The informant has been suspended from the ceiling and there is one other person in the room, circling.”
Veronica’s jaw flexed.
“Copy. Remy, Lily, start setting the explosives. Jake, cover the stairs. Vonnie, with me.” Adam didn’t want the others to sweep through the upper floors without him and Veronica. According to Z, the mansion held fifteen occupants plus two guards outside.
Adam tried the knob. The door was unlocked. He glanced at Veronica as he screwed on the suppressor. She nodded. He held up three fingers and counted down in silence.
He eased open the door enough to listen to what was going on in the room.
“Now, Carlos, let’s have a chat, shall we? Tell me where I can find the pretty American woman you helped. Give me the information I want and you return to your family. That’s a good bargain, isn’t it? She’s not worth your pain and suffering, my friend. Where is she?”
“I don’t know. She’s a photographer. She travels all the time. I never know when I will see her.”
“That’s not what I wanted to hear.”
“It’s the truth,” Carlos protested, his voice rising.
“You must have some way of contacting her. Give me that and I’ll be satisfied. I’ll send you home.”
In his ear piece, Zane murmured, “Silverman has his back to the door.”
Adam pushed the door open wide enough to slip through the opening, Veronica a step behind. He moved to the right while she shifted left. Both had their weapons drawn and aimed at the man who had tortured Veronica.
Without turning around, Silverman said, “I told you never to disturb me when I’m working. What is it you want?”
“I hear you’ve been looking for me.” Veronica walked into Silverman’s line of sight, keeping his attention focused on her.
“My dear Veronica. How nice of you to join us. Come to save your friend?” He shook his head. “Waste of time, my dear. I’m disappointed. No matter. We’ll spend a lot of time getting reacquainted.”
As Silverman turned, Adam tackled him from behind and took him to the floor. The interrogator bucked, trying to throw Adam off his back and to attack. When that didn’t work, he threw an elbow back and clocked Adam in the temple.
For a moment, he saw stars in front of his eyes. That momentary distraction was enough for Silverman to slither free. As he started to rise, Veronica snapped off a roundhouse kick to his rib cage, the crack of ribs sounding loud in the stone room.
The ruffian scowled at Veronica. “You’ll pay for that,” he said, fighting to draw in breath.
She smiled and executed another kick, this one to his temple. Silverman dropped without another sound.
“Nice job,” Adam murmured as he zip tied and duct taped the unconscious man.
Veronica hurried to the wall near the door and lowered the iron frame from which Carlos was suspended. “Are you all right, Carlos?”
He nodded. “Thank you for rescuing me, but you shouldn’t be here. Los Diablos are looking everywhere for you. They want information they thi
nk you have.”
“I know.” She freed him. “There’s a storage room down the hall to the left. Climb through the window and hide behind the bush until the guards pass. Once they’re on the other side of the house, run to the woods and flag down a ride at the road.”
“What about you?” Carlos nodded at Silverman. “If he wakes up and finds you gone, the other members of Los Diablos will scour this area like locusts. You must protect yourself.”
“I’m not alone, Carlos. My teammates are with me. After we’re finished, you won’t have to worry about Los Diablos again.”
“Be careful, my friend.” And he was gone.
Zane murmured, “Fifteen minutes to complete your mission.”
After slapping tape over Silverman’s mouth, Adam and Veronica returned to the hallway as Remy and Lily approached.
“Finished,” Remy said, pointing with his chin to the bomb attached to the wall outside the torture chamber, one of several strategically placed bombs. The team would set more after they took care of the members of Los Diablos in the residence.
“Z, location of targets.”
“Take the stairs. Turn right. Six people at the dining room table. Two others are roaming guards, one on the first floor, one on the second. The remaining four are asleep on the second floor.”
“Copy.”
Adam signaled the others to attach their suppressors, then he led the way upstairs. Near the landing, footsteps approached the staircase door. He held up his fist, then aimed his Sig at the door.
The knob turned. A beefy man, dark-skinned with black hair, pushed open the door and walked into the stairwell. Adam fired one shot to his heart. The thug dropped and Adam shoved him out of the doorway and moved into the hall. The sounds of glasses and eating utensils clinking against stoneware drifted their direction.
“That was the roaming guard on the first floor,” Zane said.
One less to worry about.
“Two entrances to the dining room,” Zane continued. “If part of the team goes through the living room and turns left at the corridor, you’ll come up on the far side of the room. The table is situated so that you won’t be shooting each other.”
“Copy. Jake, head for the second floor. Take out the roaming guard as quietly as you can.” Adam signaled Remy and Lily to take up position on the far side of the dining room. Between the four of them, they should be able to take care of the occupants of the table. Hopefully, one of them would be the head of Los Diablos.
A minute later, Remy clicked his comm system to indicate he and Lily were in place. Adam glanced at Veronica, received a nod. He activated his mic and counted down. On his mark, the four Fortress operatives commenced firing.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
At the first shot, the cartel members leaped to their feet. Chairs hit the floor. A glass dropped from nerveless fingers and shattered. Within thirty seconds, the men who had been eating around the table were dead, their bodies on the floor or fallen across a chair or the table.
“Go, go,” Adam said and sprinted for the stairs with Veronica right behind him. The noise of the battle would have alerted those on the second floor to trouble, and Jake was alone against the remaining cartel members.
As he neared the top of the staircase, the sound of suppressed gunfire reached his ears. Adam peered into the hall, spotted Jake aiming at a tango who had emerged from his room with his weapon drawn.
A movement to his right caught Adam’s attention. Another man was drawing a bead on the medic from behind. Adam fired as Jake dropped the goon he’d targeted. “Room to room,” Adam whispered into his mic. They needed to take out the rest of the Los Diablos personnel, blow the house, and get back to the plane. “Z, time.”
“Seven minutes.”
“Jake, watch our six.”
“Copy.”
“Remy, Lily, go left. Vonnie and I will go right.”
Adam motioned for Veronica to take the first room while he took the second. Veronica’s weapon discharged seconds later. In the room Adam prepared to breach, feet raced toward the door. He motioned for his girlfriend to drop to the floor. As soon as the ruffian opened the door, Adam slammed the butt of his Sig on the back of the creep’s head. Veronica leapt to her feet, and used zip ties and duct tape on the thug, then Adam dragged him back into his room.
One more room to clear. Veronica pressed her back to the wall on one side of the door while he took the other. He reached for the handle. A noise inside made him freeze. “Z,” he whispered. “I hear a baby.”
His brother-in-law growled. “Hold.” Seconds later, “The mother must have been holding the child. There are three people inside, one a baby.”
“Position?”
“The baby is on the bed with an adult. The second adult is standing in front of the two with a weapon pointed at the door.”
Not what he wanted to hear. A stray bullet could injure or kill the child. “Copy. Vonnie, aim for the heart.” He would take the head shot to make sure a gun battle didn’t rage with a baby close.
From the side of the doorway, Adam kicked open the door. Immediately, bullets peppered the wall across from Adam. In concert, Adam and Veronica took their shots, and hit the man in the heart and head.
Adam glanced at the man now spread-eagled on the floor. Satisfaction curled in his gut. Javier Salazar, head of Los Diablos. The president would be pleased this target was down.
The woman on the bed had curled her body around her baby. She was crying, the baby wailing in fear. “Please, don’t hurt my baby,” the mother begged in Spanish.
“Take your child and get out of the house. If you want to live, don’t come back here for any reason,” Adam answered. In English, he said, “Jake, take care of the guards outside.”
“Copy that.”
The woman scrambled from the bed, shoved her feet in her shoes, grabbed a blanket and wrapped her baby. Veronica handed her the diaper bag as Jake said, “Guards are down. The path is clear for the woman and her baby.”
“Copy.” To the woman, he said, “Go now. Hurry. Stay on the driveway to the road.” He didn’t want to chance this woman triggering one of the traps in the woods.
She scooped up her baby and raced from the room.
He and Veronica followed her into the hall and met Remy and Lily. “Clear?”
“We’re clear.”
“Time, Z,” Adam said.
“Three minutes.”
“Jake, we’re setting the rest of the explosives inside the house.”
“Heading for the vehicles now.”
Remy and Lily raced to the first floor while Adam and Veronica took care of the second floor. With thirty seconds to spare, the five operatives met at the tree line where they’d entered the grounds.
Adam pulled out a burner phone and handed it to Veronica. “You do the honors.”
She grinned. “With pleasure.” A minute later, the night rocked with multiple explosions. The windows exploded outward, and flames and smoke billowed from the gaping holes.
Nice. Nate Armstrong’s bombs were perfect to take down the house without blowing a huge crater or setting the nearby trees on fire. “Let’s get out of here. Whatever passes for EMS in this place will be responding soon.” Along with the federales who were in Salazar’s pocket. Adam led his team into the trees and bushes, following their cleared path.
The Suburban was still covered. Adam, Veronica, and Jake tossed aside the tree branches and bushes. Remy checked the vehicle for tracking devices while Lily dropped to the ground and shimmied under the frame as the others finished clearing the camouflage.
A minute later, Lily wriggled free of the car’s frame and leapt to her feet. “Clear.”
Remy drove them from the trees and onto the road. He turned toward the airstrip. Three minutes later, flashing lights raced toward them.
Adam reached into the cargo area and grabbed his rifle. He lowered his window, as did Lily. They waited to see if these were EMS workers on the way to the burning hom
e or federales who had no love for Fortress. Emergency vehicles sped past their SUV and raced toward the orange glow in the night.
“Keep to the speed limit, Remy.” Adam laid his rifle on the seat beside him. “We don’t want to attract attention.” More sirens sounded in the distance. Not wanting to distract the other teams, he called Zane. “We’re away from the mansion and en route to the plane. Status on the other teams?”
“All the missions were completed and the teams are heading to the airstrip.”
“Have you caught chatter on the Internet?”
“A lot of speculation. No facts. A couple people mentioned ghosts which will make Maddox happy. I’m continuing to monitor communications in the area.”
“Adam.” Remy pointed ahead of them. “We have a problem.”
He glanced through the windshield. In the distance, the road was blocked by three vehicles and several heavily armed men. “Zane, contact the pilots. Tell them we’re coming in hot. Warn the other teams of trouble.”
“Copy that.”
Adam ended the call. “Remy, take the next right. The area behind the roadblock is heavily populated.”
The operative sped up and, at the last second, took a sharp right, controlling the skid with ease. The SUV surged forward as Remy floored the accelerator.
Adam twisted in his seat to watch out the back window along with Jake. Remy made a left turn followed by a quick right at the next corner. The headlights of the trailing vehicle stayed behind them, inching closer.
Adam frowned. Remy couldn’t continue evasive maneuvers long term. They needed to go to the airstrip. Chances were high the other teams encountered the same problem. “Remy, at the next intersection, take a right. The road is a relatively empty stretch all the way to the airstrip. Once it’s safe for innocents, we’ll deal with the vehicle following us.”
“Too bad we don’t have Jon Smith aboard,” Jake said. “This horrible road will make a shot difficult.”
Adam clapped him on the shoulder. “Who needs a world-class sniper when we have rocket-propelled grenades?”
