The Cartel (A Sarah Roberts Thriller Book 15)

by Jonas Saul

  Is that where we’re headed now?

  A quick look out the side of the helicopter revealed the roof of the house as they passed it at an angle. A total of five men dressed in black continue to shoot toward the front gate and the flaming BMW just inside the entrance.

  Then something happened to her hand.

  It numbed.

  Vivian?

  Her arm numbed. Her chest numbed. And Vivian swooped in like a long lost friend. The narcotic’s effect disappeared as Vivian took control.

  Finally.

  Sarah got to her feet and grabbed a safety strap dangling from the side of the chopper as it rose into the sky. She swung out and around and delivered a side kick to the pilot’s head, snapping his helmet off as it bounced off the window. She landed on her feet, leaned between the two front seats and elbowed Enzo so hard, blood spurted from his nose. As the pilot turned to see who hit him, she jabbed at his throat. Sarah felt in control yet at the same time, a puppet. Vivian offered a retreat from the drugs momentarily. The fighting was all Sarah.

  The pilot let go of the control stick to clutch at his throat. Enzo recovered faster. He lunged from his seat as the machine hovered and wobbled in the air. He landed on her in an awkward position, and flailed at her. Sarah took the blows one by one as she squirmed under him.

  After five blows, with blood seeping out of a cut to the forehead, Sarah drove her knee into Enzo’s crotch. He lost the will to fight as he curled into a ball and rolled off of her. She grabbed the gun from his waistband and rolled the other way.

  The open door came quick and she had to grab at the safety strap to stay inside the chopper.

  The pilot had regained the stick. She caught the look in his eyes as he swung the machine to the left, tossing her about.

  The next moment Sarah was airborne. If it wasn’t for the solid grip on the safety strap, she would’ve fallen the few hundred feet back to the ground.

  Dangling outside the chopper, Enzo’s gun in her free hand, she aimed and fired twice at the pilot’s head.

  The machine righted and Sarah was flung inside where she smacked into Enzo, who was clinging to the mesh that held the explosives inside. In a brief flash, Vivian still controlling her as the helicopter hovered level, Sarah brought the gun around and fired into the back of the pilot’s head to make sure he was dead. Blood sprayed across the inside of the windshield.

  Then Vivian left her.

  As fast as she was there, she disappeared. The effort expended had been too great. Sarah felt that. Vivian felt that. There was no way to maintain that kind of connection for too long.

  The exhaustion from the brief encounter was enough to make her want to sleep for days. The pain in her ribs had intensified in the minute she had been on the outside, clinging one-handed to the safety strap.

  “You bitch,” Enzo yelled as he clambered to his feet, a hand still clinging to his crotch. “You broke my nose.”

  She looked up at him from the floor of the chopper. “You’re such an asshole.”

  She spun the gun around in her hand and swung, butt end first, at Enzo’s left kneecap. She hit the top of his knee hard, the gun rattling in her hand. Enzo dropped like a broken elevator, hitting the floor beside her, writhing in pain.

  She crawled onto him in her weakened state and pistol-whipped him in the nose, making more blood shoot out. He hollered in agony. She hit him again, and again and again until his face was a ruined mush of flesh, bone and broken teeth. He tried to resist, tried to push her off, but the pain in his crotch, knee, and face weakened him. He could barely turn his face away to choke out the broken teeth bits.

  The helicopter veered left. Then right. No one was at the controls. She had never flown one before and had no idea how.

  She climbed off Enzo and struggled to the back of the front seats. The stick between the pilot’s legs had to be what steered it.

  One glance over her shoulder told her all she needed to know about Enzo. He was out cold as blood seeped along the floor toward the open door.

  She hopped in the seat Enzo had occupied and pushed the stick gently to the left. The helicopter turned toward the house. Then she pushed the stick forward and quickly learned it changed the pitch of the main rotors. There were two foot pedals. She touched the one on the left and the machine turned left. Then she tested the right and it turned to the right.

  How do I lower this thing?

  On her left, beside the seat, sat a bar that looked similar to a handbrake in a car. She touched it, hoping this was it, and gently pushed it down.

  The helicopter responding instantly by dropping from its elevated position. Learning what did what in the chopper offered no illusion that she could successfully land it. But getting closer to the ground gave her a fighting chance when she jumped.

  A hole formed in the bubble window to her left. Then another one formed as she steered the helicopter toward the grounds.

  “They’re shooting at me,” she said to herself. “Enzo’s men are shooting at me.”

  In the distance, on the roof of the house, two black figures aimed at her and fired.

  Bullets pinged off the helicopter. The windshield cracked and threatened to break altogether.

  She jumped out of her seat, bumped the stick between her legs, knocking the chopper sideways. She lost her balance and fell into the dead pilot.

  “Shit.”

  She twisted around, grabbed the stick and righted the machine. It was back on course for the main house, a sprawling mansion with black figures on its roof firing madly at her.

  She dropped in behind the pilot’s seat and tried to think of how to get out of here alive. When nothing came to her, she leaned over the seat and made sure the chopper was still aimed at the house. In thirty seconds, the helicopter, loaded down with explosives, would smash into the house, and Sarah had grown too weak to do anything about it.

  She slumped behind the seat and stared out the window as the house drew closer.

  I need to fly this thing somewhere else.

  But she was too tired to get up. She slumped down farther. Then she prayed.

  Vivian shouted in her head.

  Sarah was too weak to listen.

  Vivian shouted again, this time louder. Loud enough to make Sarah cover her ears.

  Enzo was waking up. He held a knife in front of his bloody grotesque face. He advanced on her.

  Jump … Vivian shouted one more time.

  But wasn’t she out of time?

  Enzo dove for her, the knife set to stab between the bones of her ribcage. Sarah pulled from a reserve of energy and rolled to avoid him, absolutely exhausted from the fight.

  The ground was close. No one steered the chopper. It wobbled in the air, canted to the right, then left, then back again.

  Enzo held onto a safety strap and readied himself to jump on her again.

  She rolled to get away from him and saw the helicopter was dropping fast and still headed directly for the house. They were going to crash in seconds.

  Her consciousness waned as she rolled away from him one more time.

  Enzo screamed in terror.

  Sarah heard it from a distance as her eyes closed.

  Chapter 46

  Aaron peeked around the thick tree he had been hiding behind. The men on the roof had turned to shoot at the approaching helicopter. Only one man remained, firing recklessly at the trees.

  Malaka, the best shot among them, took careful aim, then squeezed the trigger. He missed.

  After the required slew of curse words, he aimed and fired again. This time the man’s head jerked back and he disappeared from sight.

  The rest of the gunfire was aimed at the chopper that slowly made its way toward the house.

  Darwin stepped from behind the guard shack. Parkman joined Aaron and stood at his side as Daniel, Alex, Bush and the rest of Darwin’s men crowded around them.

  “Didn’t Sarah get on that chopper?” Bush asked.

  Darwin nodded. “She did.” />
  “What the fuck do you think is going on?” Malaka asked.

  “No idea,” Darwin said, as if in a trance.

  Through the light rain, Aaron saw the cockpit of the helicopter. One man lie slumped to the side. A blur of movement went on behind the pilot’s seat. No one seemed to be flying the chopper.

  A sickening feeling that—yet again—he would have to say goodbye to Sarah, covered his body in sweat. He began to chant the word no as the chopper got closer to the main house.

  Parkman started across the lawn. Daniel followed him. After a moment, Bush and Malaka ran ahead to offer cover fire if needed.

  The helicopter disappeared from view for a brief moment as it swooped in low behind the house.

  Time stood still. He couldn’t hear anything, feel anything or do anything. His body numbed. Darwin shouted something beside him.

  A loud crunch of metal shot across the open lawn as the helicopter crashed into the back of the huge mansion of the Enzo Cartel.

  Aaron dropped to his knees, horrified at what his consciousness was digesting.

  The house exploded in a fireball and knocked him backwards at least five feet. Darwin landed two feet past him.

  He looked up as chucks of wood and paneling and glass rained down around them. He couldn’t see Parkman, Daniel, or Darwin’s men. For a brief moment they were obscured in the smoke.

  Parkman, supported by Malaka, emerged from the smoke. Then Daniel, held by Bush. The foursome hobbled toward Aaron. They were mostly covered in black and red, bleeding from several spots. Aaron quickly assessed the wounds as not too serious. No puncture wounds. No missing eyeballs.

  Aaron watched the fire rise from the center of what was once the house he saw as a prisoner in this compound. Breathing grew ragged as an acrid smell filled the air.

  Sarah had been on that chopper. If she had jumped, she would die in the fall. If she had stayed inside the chopper, she was certainly dead.

  He had to face the truth, come to terms with a new reality. Sarah couldn’t have saved herself from this one. As much as he hoped she was still alive, he couldn’t come up with a reasonable play that allowed that possibility.

  Sarah Roberts was finally dead.

  Aaron gasped as he fainted.

  Chapter 47

  It was odd for her to hear the explosion and not be able to breathe. A slick cold enveloped her body and her mind processed the feeling as death, a leaving of the body.

  Like a life review before entering the gates of Heaven, thoughts of Aaron, her parents and Parkman shot through her mind. What would they think? How would they feel about her posthumously? Was this Vivian’s design from the beginning? Could she have done something different to save the people she loved from such grief? A vision of the Danube River in Europe entered her mind. All those years ago, fighting alongside Parkman in Hungary by a basilica in Esztergom. She had ended up in the river, almost died, then got on a helicopter and flown to safety. This time she was on a helicopter first. Then a river.

  She still couldn’t breathe but had to assume breathing wasn’t something they did in Heaven.

  Unless she wasn’t in Heaven.

  A river?

  Blind panic rushed through her system. She opened her eyes and thrashed about. Dark, murky water surrounded her. An orange and gray sky floated above the surface of the water. Her ribs ached something fierce with the rhythmic pulsing of her lungs as they starved for air. She pushed upward and broke the surface of the water, where she gasped oxygen in like candy after a year’s anti-sugar diet.

  Everything ached as she turned to float on her back and breathe. Breathing was good. For now that’s all she wanted. Fresh air.

  The house burned a hundred yards away. She watched it, knowing Enzo was dead. The men who had been shooting from the roof were dead.

  She was prepared to do what Aaron and Casper had done and walk away from this place. But first, a rest. Weariness had settled in after all the energy she used fighting Enzo, and she hadn’t eaten anything in ages.

  After a few minutes, she swam lightly to the edge and discovered she was in a reservoir. She climbed over the rim, needing to leave before firetrucks and police arrived. Being found here would make for too many questions.

  She rolled off the side and landed gently on a platform. The platform shielded her from the house where the flames had lost most of their orange color, turning yellow with black smoke billowing into the gray sky.

  She closed her eyes and laid her head down softly. Maybe a five-minute rest first. Then she could be on her way. Standing and walking out of here seemed impossible on the little strength she had left.

  A little rest, then walk.

  Just a little …

  Chapter 48

  Aaron woke to the sensation of being carried.

  “Put me down,” he said.

  Malaka set him on his feet. “You fainted. Boss wants us out of here before the authorities show up.”

  Aaron nodded once and turned back to the house. It was almost all smoke now with yellow flames emanating from the center.

  “Oh Sarah …”

  “Aaron,” Parkman said. “I’m so sorry.” Parkman was crying. He wrapped his arms around Aaron. “If there was anything I could do, I’d do it. Just let me take her place.” His voice cracked and he stopped talking.

  “Me too, Parkman. Me too, man.” They held each other and wept.

  “Guys,” Darwin whispered. “I’m pissed now. I’ll grieve later. You grieve later, too. No choice. We need to move out now. Can’t be found when the authorities get here. Cool?”

  Aaron felt Parkman nod against his shoulder, then they parted. Casper came up beside Aaron and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

  “I only knew her for a short time,” Casper said. “But it was enough to know she was one hell of a woman.”

  Aaron nodded, not trusting his voice to say anything.

  “All I could picture was you and me in that helicopter. Those guys Alejandro tossed out.” Casper shook his head and stared at the ground as they walked. “Sarah knew you’d die for her. I saw you jump myself—”

  Aaron stopped walking and went rigid. Casper’s arm slipped off his shoulder.

  “What?” Casper asked. “Was it something I said?”

  “The reservoir.”

  Casper snapped his fingers. “That’s right. It’s a chance. But what if she didn’t see it?”

  “She didn’t need to see it.”

  Aaron turned and ran toward the stables.

  “What do you mean?” Casper yelled after him.

  “Only Vivian needed to see it.” Aaron spun around and ran backwards for a moment. “Get the RV. Drive around to the back and pick me up.”

  Sirens roared in the distance.

  Casper, Parkman, Darwin and his men ran for the RV as Aaron bolted for the reservoir.

  He made it there in five minutes flat. The sirens were coming up the road at the front of the house, but he was shielded from the fire until he made it to the other side of the reservoir.

  There was no kidding himself. This was probably a dead-end. But even if there was a smidgen of hope, he had to look.

  He climbed a small ladder that led to a metal walkway which bordered the reservoir on all four sides. As fast as he could run, he headed down the length of one side, turned left to run the next walkway and stopped dead in his tracks.

  Sarah Roberts lay sleeping on the walkway up ahead. His Sarah. The Sarah. Alive. Before he approached her, he wiped the water from his eyes to see her better.

  “Sarah …” his voice broke.

  He dropped beside her and checked for a pulse. Weak, but there. Instead of waking her, he lifted her into a sitting position, placed his shoulder in her stomach, and brought her up until she draped over his shoulder, his right arm holding her close by the backs of her knees.

  Then Aaron carried her off the walkway, down the steps and across the grass until he reached the road in the back, his mind numb the whole way. Ho
w many lives did Sarah have? He would make her promise to go on a vacation. This one had been too close. But what a relief to find her alive.

  And they almost left her there. What kind of a man leaves his woman behind? From now on he committed to himself that he would exhaust all avenues, leave nothing to chance when it came to Sarah. If he didn’t find her body or her bones, then she would be considered alive. That’s the way it had to be when dealing with Sarah because she was too hard to kill.