SPY IN THE SADDLE

by Dana Marton

Several doors lined the hallway, all of them closed. They were taken to the last one. One of the men unlocked the door and shoved them in, then the door banged shut behind them. The key turned in the lock.

  Her gaze flew to the half-naked man on the floor in the far corner, all bloodied. Cuts covered his body, not a good sign for the newcomers.

  He didn’t look Mexican. He had fair skin and blondish hair, matted with blood.

  Shep went to crouch next to him. “Hey, are you all right?”

  The man moaned in response. He looked as if Yo Tee’s men pulled any punches.

  Shep glanced back at her and she shot him a helpless look. There was absolutely nothing they could have done to help the poor guy.

  Shep must have come to the same conclusion, because he turned from the man to scan the rest of the space. “We don’t have much time. They’ll be coming in a minute.”

  “Where did they go?”

  “To get their tools, probably.”

  She so didn’t want to think about what those tools might be. Judging from the man on the ground, they would be sharp. She’d just as soon not see them up close and personal. “We need to get out.”

  Shep was already sitting and untying the rope from his ankles. She did the same, then helped him untie his hands and he helped with hers like before, as if this was their usual routine.

  The door was locked. She tried it anyway, grabbed the knob and shook it hard. Nothing gave.

  Shep nodded toward a small window high up on the wall. “How about that?”

  The narrow opening had two metal bars crossing each other but no glass, probably to let some air in. It didn’t look too promising as an avenue of escape. For one, the window was too high up the wall. And the bars had been built directly into the brick.

  But since she had no other suggestions, she moved that way. “Let me see.”

  Shep stood by the wall, cupped his hands and gave her a boost. Once she was standing on his wide shoulders, she could reach the opening. Unfortunately, it seemed as narrow up close as it had looked from below.

  “You’re not going to fit,” she said, giving him the bad news first as she rattled the bars. “But I will.”

  “Then you must go,” he said without hesitation.

  “I’ll climb out through here, then come around and set you free.” She rattled the bars again. They were old and no longer tight in the brick, but she couldn’t rip them out bare-handed. “I need something sharp and hard.”

  He swayed under her for a few seconds then passed up his belt. “Use the buckle.”

  She attacked the mortar between the bricks with the sharp square of brass, and it did work, the dried-out material crumbling. The only question was, could she get it all done before the men came back?

  She went at the task with all her strength, knowing they had minutes at best. The bottom end of the perpendicular bar came out, the rest wobbled. To free them one by one would be too much work, she realized. They weren’t going to make it doing things that way.

  “Loop the belt around the bar,” Shep called up, apparently having come to the same realization.

  She did, catching on at once what he wanted. She looped the belt then jumped to the ground from his shoulders.

  They grabbed the end of the belt together and yanked hard. The bar flew out of the wall on the third try, Shep catching it with the reflexes of a superhero before it could have clattered to the ground and given them away.

  Then she was on his shoulders again, pulling herself up and looking out.

  She was in some kind of a ventilation shaft surrounded by four brick walls. The shaft had no exit on the bottom, but was open to the sky above.

  She glanced back at Shep. “I’m going up. Try not to get into any trouble until I get back.”

  He looked up from weighing the iron bars, probably testing them to use as a weapon. “Be careful. Don’t take unnecessary chances. Getting a call through to Ryder at the office is more important than coming back for me.”

  “I’m planning on doing both.” And she got started right away.

  She had to play with the angle to fit her shoulders through the opening. She felt his hands grabbing her feet, giving her support and pushing, helping her up and out. Then she was up all the way, outside, standing in the opening.

  The drop to the ground was about fifteen feet, not a big deal, but she’d be trapped down there. The way up was a lot more difficult, at least thirty feet, and with nothing to hang on to but minuscule grooves between bricks that could crumble at any moment beneath her shoes and fingers.

  And she had to rush. If the men came back, they could easily figure out where she’d gone. Them shooting up through the window would be like shooting fish in a barrel with her stuck in a tight, boxed-in space with nowhere to hide.

  She brought her right foot up, wedged the sole of her shoe into the gap between two bricks and tested it, putting her weight on it little by little. It held, but she didn’t shift her full weight forward; she kept some on her hands. Then came the other foot, then moving hands, never letting just one limb carry her full weight, but always two and preferably three. Up she went step by step, reach by reach.

  There were other windows opening to the ventilation shaft, small like the one she’d just exited. All barred so she couldn’t climb in. One she passed opened to a storage room, another to an empty office. At least there was nobody in either room, so nobody spotted her as she climbed.

  Still, she barely dared breathe until she reached the roof and pulled herself up. No gunshots or shouting had come from below, so they hadn’t discovered her missing yet, but that could change at any second.

  She wasted no time and ran across the roof. She needed a gun, a phone and to get back to Shep before they beat him bloody.

  She dashed to the edge of the roof, flattened herself and looked down at the same loading dock they’d come through. There were several trucks waiting for their loads. To grab one and drive away didn’t even occur to her. She was going nowhere without Shep.

  Even as she thought that, three guys came from inside and began loading one of the trucks, ending any possibility of her climbing down on this side. She pulled back and hurried to another spot, around the corner.

  An abandoned courtyard stretched down below, stacked with rusty equipment. She spotted an open window directly below her. Perfect. Unless, of course, she slipped and got impaled on the machinery on the ground. Best not to think about that right now.

  She pushed everything but her next move out of her mind and lowered herself next to the window. She carefully peeked in from the side. But there was nobody in there, thank God. She pulled herself over and in, dropped to the tile floor and stayed in a crouch for a second.

  That had been nerve-racking. She participated in regular training sessions and worked out daily, but didn’t exactly do a lot of rock climbing.

  Thinking of Shep, she didn’t pause for long. In a few seconds she was moving again, through the empty office, sticking her head into the hallway. There was one more door to her right, at the end of the hallway, a security door that looked as if it was made of reinforced steel.

  On her other side she could see four more regular wooden doors toward the stairs. Those, too, all remained closed. She stepped out and hurried that way, glad that the doors had no glass, so even if there were people inside the offices, she wouldn’t be seen. Unless, of course, they exited. But nobody did, and she made her way to the staircase safely.

  But as she looked down the empty staircase, she could hear angry shouting coming from below.

  They’d just figured out that she’d escaped. That should gain Shep a few minutes of a break, while the men all ran off looking for her.

  She needed a gun, but for that she would have to catch one of the men. Or... She turned to the steel-reinforced door. A top-floor
office with top security. Yo Tee?

  One way to find out.

  She stole back down the hallway to that last door and tried the knob. She wasn’t that surprised to find that it gave under the pressure of her hand. Yo Tee wouldn’t expect an attack in his own stronghold.

  She shoved the door open and rushed in, counting on the element of surprise, and found herself in a small entryway with another door directly opposite her. A guy with an assault rifle guarded the space.

  “Who the hell are you?” he asked in Spanish and lurched forward.

  She started with a kick to the man’s middle, ducked when he tried to bash her face in with the butt of the gun. “Where is the Coyote?” She turned and kicked higher, at his arm this time, but he held the weapon tightly and didn’t drop it, dammit.

  Instead, he pulled back to aim it at her, but she stepped right in with a hard punch to his solar plexus. Then a quick second punch to his stomach again. He bent forward at that, and she used the advantage to bring her knee up.

  His nose broke with a satisfying crunch, spraying blood on her, the least of her concerns. She didn’t even slow down as she grabbed his gun and whacked him in the back of the head, sending him sprawling onto the floor. She did hesitate, but only for a second, before bending and breaking his neck. She didn’t want him reviving and attacking her from behind.

  She kept the gun and rushed the inner door. This one was locked. But it wasn’t steel. A good roundhouse kick next to the lock took care of it, and she, carried by momentum, fell through the opening.

  She was in a sprawling office this time, Yo Tee coming through yet another door in the back, drying his hands. He’d probably been in his private bathroom. He froze as she pointed the rifle at him.

  “Freeze.”

  He did. But he didn’t look scared. “You think this over,” he told her. “Whoever you are, I make you rich beyond your dreams. I don’t think you understand who I am and what I do for the people who help me.”

  “Put your hands in the air.”

  He gave a superior smile. “You American law enforcement. You have no jurisdiction here.”

  She nodded at the rifle. “This gives me enough jurisdiction for the moment. Hands in the air.”

  He complied, keeping the smile on his face even as his gaze hardened to frozen steel.

  She stepped closer and searched him, took a small pistol off him and stuck it into her waistband. “Don’t move.”

  She sidled over to the desk and lifted the phone, dialed Jamie’s cell, her gaze darting back and forth between the phone and Yo Tee.

  Jamie picked up on the third ring.

  “Hey, it’s me.”

  “Where the hell are you?” he snapped when he heard her voice. “Everyone’s looking for you. Is Shep with you, dammit? Are you hurt?”

  She filled him in, in as few words as possible, and gave her location, requested backup, then hung up. The team would have to negotiate their next step with the Mexican government, but that was their task now. She had plenty of items on her own to-do list, the two at the top being keeping Yo Tee secured until the team got here and stopping his men from killing Shep downstairs.

  She handed the phone to Yo Tee. “Call your men and tell them to bring my partner up here.”

  He didn’t move.

  “Fine, then we’ll go to him.” All she wanted was to hole up in some defensible position with Shep and Yo Tee until the team arrived.

  “Where are the people you’re planning on smuggling across the border?” she asked as she considered her options.

  “I don’t know what you talking about. All I know is U.S. government agent broke into my place of business held me at gunpoint. Neither of my governments be happy about that. I’m Chinese-Mexican and respected businessman in both countries.”

  “That’ll end soon,” she promised. “Where are the terrorists? Are they here? In this building?”

  His lips narrowed; hate flared in his gaze.

  She couldn’t have cared less about his feelings. “Have they already left for Galmer’s Gulley?”

  He couldn’t keep the surprise from his face when she mentioned the location, confirming the intel Shep’s team had gathered. Good to know they were on the right track.

  “I don’t know what you talking about,” he told her.

  “Where are the chemical weapons?”

  “We make paper here,” he said, as cocky and superior as could be. “You crazy woman.”

  She wanted to shoot him.

  She’d shot people before, but never without reluctance, never unless it was the last resort, in an effort to stop them from harming others. This was honestly the first time she wanted to put a bullet through an unarmed man’s kneecap.

  Short of doing violence, she didn’t think she was going to get him to talk, and maybe not even then. But Shep’s team could handle that, she decided, when they got here. This wasn’t the right time and place for an interrogation anyway, not when his men could burst through the door any second.

  She scanned the room, then scanned Yo Tee. “Take off your belt.”

  “You want my pants off.” He sounded amused now. “That against some American law. You so very politically correct all the time.”

  “Your belt. Now.”

  He shrugged and took off the belt then tossed it to her.

  She walked around him, keeping the gun aimed at his head. “Hands behind your back.”

  He complied after a moment of hesitation. “My men kill you as soon we leave this room. You know. Why not talk reasonable?”

  She bound his wrists together with the belt, kept the long end to hold him like a dog on a leash. “You’ll walk in front of me. Out. Now. Move.”

  He did, walking to the door leisurely, then out into the entryway. He looked at the dead man lying on the floor and kicked him in the head as they walked by him, apparently dissatisfied with his service.

  The hallway still stood empty. Good. She moved forward. “To the staircase.”

  “Your people can’t come here without authorization from my government. Diplomacy takes long time. Days. You think you hold an entire factory with single gun that long?”

  “I’m not the type to give up.”

  He took his time walking down the hallway, but they reached the stairs at last and started down. “Bravery a noble thing. Courage my people much appreciate. But a difference between bravery and stupidity.”

  She held the gun on him. “Let that be my worry.”

  “You and your friend get free leave, a car and suitcase full of money. You go wherever you want. You never have to go back across border again. You live happy long life down south on nice beach. Better than dying today, eh?”

  “I’m not planning on dying.”

  But just as she said that, half a dozen armed men poured out into the staircase down below. From the way they all swung their rifles around to aim at her, it looked as if she might not get a choice in the matter.

  She couldn’t get to Shep this way. She couldn’t get anywhere if she was shot. So she yanked Yo Tee back. “Come on!”

  She ran back toward his office with him while the men rushed up the stairs behind them, shouting. She fixed her gaze on the office at the end of the hallway and did her level best to reach it, even with Yo Tee resisting. The steel security door would offer more protection against siege than anything else she’d seen so far in the building.

  She had about a minute to reach it.

  Chapter Twelve

  Shep lay on the floor, all bloodied, waiting for them to be done with him, focused on protecting his body rather than trying to fight his way through a wall of armed men. Six, he could have handled. Twelve, he couldn’t. And he was determined to stay alive so he could help Lilly escape from here. So for the moment, instead of fig
hting, he did his best to appear limp and lifeless.

  They weren’t here to kill him; they were just taking their anger out on him. At some point, they’d be finished.

  The tactic worked. When shouting rose from somewhere deep inside the building, most of the men ran to whatever new alarm had been raised.

  Only two remained, each holding their rifles on him.

  He kept his eyes open only a slit, playing the part of a mortally injured man to the hilt. Not that difficult when he was in a world of hurt. He gave a weak groan and shifted, the move taking him maybe a foot closer to the bastards.

  Then he drew a slow breath, filling up his lungs. And then the next second his right hand snaked out, grabbed the nearest rifle barrel even as he vaulted to his feet and shoved the man into his buddy, twisting the rifle away from him in the same movement.

  The men were on the floor and Shep on them now, with ruthless efficiency. He didn’t want gunshots, didn’t want the others to come rushing back, so he bashed in the armed man’s head first, then his buddy’s as the bastard tried to roll away from him. They stayed down, the both of them.

  Shep pushed to his feet, grabbed both rifles then ran through the door and followed the sounds of angry shouting all the way to a staircase. On the floor above him, he could hear men rushing up the stairs. He had a fair idea why. Since Lilly had gone to the roof and was probably on one of the top floors, it was fair to assume that she’d been spotted.

  He kept close to the wall and ran up after the men. None of them were looking back down. They were all focused on something above them, pushing each other out of the way to reach the top faster. Shep pushed as hard as he could, trying to catch up without being noticed.

  Gunshots were ringing out by the time he reached the first floor. He was the only person in the staircase now; the others had gotten up all the way and pushed out of sight on the third floor, the gun battle intensifying.

  He ran up silently, as fast as he could, a rifle in one hand, the other slung across his shoulder. He needed to reach Lilly before it was too late.

  He didn’t care if she was here to assess his team. He just wanted her to stay alive.