Rogue Trilogy: Parts 1 - 3

by Jade Dean

  Early morning sunlight now filtered through the leaves overhead, but it was still relatively dim at ground level when they stopped half a mile away from their destination. The men gathered around when she gestured for them to draw in close.

  “We should be close enough to listen in to their radios by now,” she said and pulled her earpiece out of a pocket. They all inserted the devices into their ears and switched their radios on. They flicked through the channels until they heard a guard on patrol reporting in.

  “I’ll keep track of the chatter,” Holt offered. He had a spare radio in his backpack that he could use to listen in on the nearby radio conversations.

  Abby nodded and switched to a channel that wasn’t in use by the banditos. The men switched to the same channel so they could keep in contact. Holt would alert them if he heard anything to indicate that they’d been spotted.

  Hunkering down, Abby opened the laptop and zoomed in so the entire property was on display. Swift had commandeered a US government satellite to take photos of the grounds and they studied it intently. Abby had already come up with a plan and she gave the team their instructions. “Holt, you take the south end. Jackson, circle around to the east. Doran, take the north. I’ll take the west.” The west wall was the closest to their current position and it was the smallest area to survey. “Click once when once you’re in position.” It was a tactic commonly used by covert forces and it was one that her old squad had employed on their missions. “Let’s keep the chatter to a bare minimum in case they’re monitoring all channels.”

  “What’s the plan, Abby?” Jackson asked. He considered Ryan to be a friend even if he had deserted from the SOB. He wanted to get him out unharmed almost as much as Abby did. Taking a long look at her intense dark gray eyes, he had to rethink that. It was clear that she cared about Sheldon a great deal. He was glad his friend had managed to move on from Miranda’s death. Ryan deserved to be happy after everything that he’d done for his country.

  “Move in as close as you can and recon the grounds. Double click if you catch sight of Ryan. Use the thermal binoculars and take note of how many targets are in and around the buildings. Meet me at my position near the west wall in three hours.” Acknowledging her orders with brisk nods, they moved out at a fast walk.

  Abby was the first to reach her goal. She stopped to smear dirt on her hands and face to mask her pale skin then shimmied up a tree. She was distant enough from the compound not to be easily spotted amongst the branches, yet she was close enough to see the grounds and distant mansion clearly.

  A large white building sprang into view when she lifted her binoculars. She counted half a dozen guards watching the walls to the west and south. Trees and the house cut off her view from the north and east. Switching to thermal imaging, she targeted a smaller brick building to the left of the mansion. According to her laptop, that was where Ryan was being held. Zooming in, she picked up the distinct red outline of a person pacing up and down in a confined area.

  Relief made her shoulders sag for a moment before she squared them and turned her attention to the rest of the prison. She heard three separate clicks to signal when her team arrived at their destinations. She clicked once in response when the last man checked in then glanced at her watch. The face was much larger than usual and gave her the option of keeping track of the time in three different zones. It had a small compass that had come in handy many times over the years.

  It had taken half an hour for them to all to settle into position. They would have a full two hours to study the compound then another half hour to return to her. During that time, she saw a total of ten external guards and twenty-seven red blobs moving around inside the two buildings. The guards weren’t particularly alert and none carried binoculars to scan the trees for snipers. They were banditos just like the men that Ryan had been in charge of during his year-long mission to take down his enemy.

  At the designated time, her team returned and Abby climbed down from her tree to meet them. They moved away from the compound so they could talk without any possibility of being overheard. One by one, they related what they’d observed about the mansion and the grounds.

  Forty-seven people were either inside the two buildings or were guarding the property. Thirty were guards and only fifteen were on patrol at a time. The other fifteen had bunked down in small building at the back of the mansion where Abby’s thermal imaging hadn’t managed to reach. Come dusk, the guards would probably change over. After dark would be the best time to infiltrate the mansion. Abby just hoped that Diego wouldn’t make a move towards Ryan before then.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Eleven

  It was going to be extremely dangerous to face so many enemies and a sneak attack was their best chance of success. Abby’s instincts told her to enter and break her boyfriend free now, but her training overrode her emotions. It would be lunacy to attack the mansion in broad daylight. Ryan was safe where he was, for now. She and her team would move in under the cover of darkness.

  With their plan in place, she sent her men back to their original positions and climbed the tree again. She waited patiently, watching for any signs of movement that might force her to alter her plans.

  Well practiced at staking out her targets, Abby didn’t succumb to boredom while she waited and watched. The sun was finally falling towards the horizon when she saw five red blobs moving from the mansion towards the prison building. Switching to normal vision, she saw a tall, statuesque bleached blonde and four men take the brick path towards the prison. The blonde was decked out in an all leather outfit that screamed ‘slut’.

  Abby switched back to thermal vision when the party entered the prison. Her heartbeat sped up when they headed directly to what she assumed was Ryan’s cell. Switching back to normal vision when the group emerged again, her heart leapt when she recognized Ryan.

  Now that she had visual confirmation that he was both here and he was still alive, her plan to extract him became even more crucial. Her eyes narrowed when she saw his split lip and tiny nick on his chin. Other than those two small injuries, he seemed to be physically intact. His shirt had been sliced open and gave her glimpses of his bare chest and stomach. Filing the information away, she refused to allow herself to wonder why his shirt was in ruins. Speculation would only distract her from her goal.

  Zooming out slightly, Abby’s eyes narrowed even further when the blonde moved in close to her captive. She whispered something in Ryan’s ear and patted him on the ass far too familiarly. Ryan gave her a cool look that reflected his utter lack of interest in her and whatever he said wiped the smirk off her face.

  They disappeared inside the mansion and Abby knew she couldn’t wait for full darkness to descend before moving in. Montoya was going to exact his revenge on Ryan now and she’d run out of time.

  Sliding down to the ground, she spoke to her tea. “Change of plan,” she said. “Ryan has just been taken inside the mansion. I’m going in alone and without my radio, so you won’t be able to contact me. Take down your targets then converge on the mansion. I’ll try to delay them for as long as possible.”

  “Roger that,” Jackson said and the others clicked their radios in acknowledgement of her orders.

  Stripping down to her underwear, Abby donned casual clothing of a white, long sleeved shirt, khaki cargo pants and hiking boots. The clothes were loose enough that her movements wouldn’t be restricted if she had to fight hand to hand. She used her bottled water to clean the dirt off her face and hands then broke into a run.

  Abby sped through the jungle towards the overgrown driveway which offered the only entrance to the property. Stopping near the edge of the driveway, she stashed her backpack out of sight in a dense shrub. Two guards pointed their assault rifles at her when she burst out of the trees and skidded to a stop. They shouted countermanding orders and she raised her hands to show that she was unarmed.

  “I want to see Diego Montoya!” she shouted in Portuguese and they went silent.


  Exchanging glances, they sauntered over. “What do you want with Mr. Montoya?” one asked. He leered at her chest and reached out to fondle her.

  “He has my boyfriend and I want him back,” Abby said coldly.

  The thug hesitated and drew his hand back. Everyone knew that a highly dangerous American spy had been incarcerated in the prison. All of the guards had been told to be on the lookout for an American female with dark hair. This woman spoke flawless Portuguese, but she didn’t look like a local. They both correctly concluded that she was the female their boss was expecting.

  Deliberating for a moment, the second guard spoke into his radio. “Tell the boss that the American woman is here.”

  Abby only had to wait for a short while before two more guards came running. She recognized them both immediately. They were the two brothers that had cornered her the last time she’d visited Rio. Their eyes were still flat and emotionless, but wide grins appeared when they saw her face.

  “Welcome back to Brazil,” one of them said.

  “We were hoping to see you again,” the other added.

  “Diego has promised us some time alone with you after your boyfriend is dead,” the first brother said.

  “Gee, I can’t wait,” Abby said with heavy sarcasm and started walking towards the open gates. Made of wrought iron, they were almost too decorative for the razor wire that topped it. She walked at a normal pace rather than rushing down the driveway. There was still far too long until sundown and she had to delay for as long as she could to allow her team to move into position and to do their jobs. The bandit brothers flanked her on either side as she reached the brick path that would take her to the mansion doors.

  Feeling friendly eyes on her back watching her through binoculars, she hoped Trevor had chosen his team well. She might be deadly, but not even a Black Squad member could take on nearly fifty opponents alone and hope to survive.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Twelve

  Ryan was tempted to try to spot Abby wherever she was hiding, but he didn’t want to give her presence away. Of course, he could just be deluding himself that she’d come to save him.

  Tatiana moved to his side and he couldn’t help but tense up when she leaned in to speak to him. “Diego has promised me that I can carve you apart piece by piece when he is done with you. I believe I’ll start with your useless manhood,” she said and patted him on the ass.

  “Cutting it off and using it as a dildo is the only way you’ll ever be able to have sex with me,” he replied and her smirk disappeared.

  Ryan swept his eyes over the high walls topped with razor wire one last time before he was marched through the doors. His back stiffened slightly when he saw a man wearing camouflage gear high up in a tree. He only saw the man because he’d allowed himself to be spotted. The glance had been fleeting, but he recognized the outfit as the standard Special Ops Branch uniform. His intuition that Abby had come for him was now confirmed. He didn’t yet understand how she had come to be working with the SOB, but fresh hope surged that he might actually survive the coming torture.

  Used to the squalor of his old quarters in the shabby compound, the mansion was almost too opulent in comparison. It had probably been decorated by a professional. He doubted Montoya’s tastes were this refined. Expensive paintings hung on the cream walls and elegant furniture and attractive rugs graced the rooms that he was marched past. The white floors were either real marble or were a convincing copy. He caught only fleeting glimpses of a parlor, library and vast dining room before Tatiana turned into a smaller hallway and opened a door halfway down.

  A flight of stairs awaited and she descended first. Two of the guards followed her and waited at the bottom of the stairs with their guns pointed at Ryan. A hand in the middle of his back pushed him forward and he took his time descending. A huge, dimly lit room spread out in front of him when he reached the ground. The floor was plain gray concrete and a metal chair sat in the middle of the room. The restraints were made of leather rather than metal, but it was very similar to the torture chairs that graced the SOB cells back in Washington.

  Diego Montoya was waiting for him. He wore linen pants and a dark blue silk shirt that was open almost all the way to his waist. The material stuck to his skin from sweat. The upper area of the mansion was air conditioned, but the basement wasn’t and the air was humid.

  Montoya smiled with genuine pleasure when the rogue agent came to a stop ten feet away. Ryan observed that the scar on his left cheek had healed cleanly and didn’t mar his handsomeness at all. Diego was in his early forties and had the typical dark hair and eyes of a native Brazilian citizen. He was only an inch or two shorter than Ryan and they were roughly the same build.

  Tatiana walked over to the drug lord’s side and slid her arm around his waist. Five more guards stood at attention in the background. They were ready to act if the captive did anything stupid. Four of them eyed him familiarly and he suspected they were the men that had captured him in the US. They were the most dangerous guards in the room and they’d be at his back once he sat down in the torture chair.

  “We meet again, Agent Sheldon. I trust your stay has been pleasant so far?” Diego asked with a charming smile.

  “Well, there was one nasty moment when your trained whore paid me a visit,” Ryan replied.

  Tatiana snarled in rage, but Diego grabbed her by the shoulder before she could take out her anger on his prisoner. “He’s just trying to bait you, Tatiana,” he admonished her. “You must learn to control yourself.”

  Flushing at the rebuke, she nodded and crossed her arms tightly. This pushed her breasts up until both nipples were peeking out of the top of her vest. Ryan wasn’t the slightest bit distracted by the sight, but the men that had escorted him into the basement couldn’t take their eyes off her.

  “Why don’t you take a seat and make yourself comfortable?” Diego said and gestured towards the chair.

  Ominous dark red stains surrounded the only piece of furniture in the room. Some attempt had been made to clean the floor, but he could still smell the faint trace of blood in the drain that sat beside the chair.

  Taking his time, Ryan slowly crossed the floor and settled onto the cold, hard seat. Two men moved forward to secure his arms and legs to the chair. It had been bolted to the floor and couldn’t be easily moved. His whole body tensed as he was strapped in place. Untrained in detaining prisoners, none of the men thought to search him. His knife was still hidden in his right boot, but it was useless to him now.

  “Did you know that your agency has a snitch?” Montoya asked Ryan as he moved to stand in front of him.

  “I was beginning to suspect that might be the case,” Ryan replied and tried not to cringe when Tatiana’s hand settled on the back of his neck. Her nails dug into his flesh painfully. He refused to flinch and give her the satisfaction of knowing how much he disliked having her touching him.

  “Who do you suppose the traitor is?” Diego asked playfully.

  Clearly, Montoya knew very well who had betrayed the SOB. Ryan frowned as he pretended to think about it. Any delay could only work in his favor. “Aaron Swift?” he guessed.

  “Very good! You really are an excellent agent.” Diego’s grin faded and turned commiserating. “Or should I say, you were an excellent agent.” Moving closer, he stood only a few feet away from the man that had come so close to ending his life only a month ago. His hand rose unconsciously and stroked the scar on his left cheek. “Your wife’s death really was a shame and it was totally unnecessary,” he said earnestly, almost as if he expected Ryan to believe him. “If Agent Swift had done his job properly, Miranda would still be alive today.”

  Miranda had been far from the only victim to fall during the failed mission. Several other women and their children had been murdered, but that hadn’t stopped Trevor from trying to destroy Montoya. Only when his daughter, Elizabeth, was taken and repeatedly raped had he finally called a halt to the operation.

  “
What was Aaron’s job?” Ryan asked, focusing on that detail rather than on his wife’s murder. A vein pulsed in his forehead as he suppressed his rage and hatred.

  “To steer Trevor Watts away from me and towards my enemies, of course,” Diego said with a winning smile. “If I didn’t know better, I could almost believe that Agent Swift deliberately allowed the whole fiasco of two years ago to happen just so he could be rid of you.”

  “Why would he want to get rid of me?” It didn’t make sense to Ryan, but he was willing to listen to Montoya’s half-baked theories if it would buy him some more time.

  “Don’t you know?” Feigning astonishment, Diego coyly covered his mouth with his hand for a few moments before dropping it. “Aaron hates you. You are Trevor’s golden boy and you can do no wrong in his eyes. Agent Swift wants to take over when Watts retires, but it is clear that you are the most qualified man for the job. By having your wife killed and forcing you to turn rogue, he eliminated his competition. It was quite a good plan, really.”

  The admiration in Montoya’s tone made Ryan’s rage flare again. If this was true, then Aaron was responsible for Miranda’s murder, for the deaths of his co-workers’ families and for Elizabeth’s torment. Before he could voice his anger, one of the guards’ radios came to life.

  “Tell the boss that the American woman is here.” The radio was turned up loud enough for them all to hear the message that had come from one of the guards outside.

  “Have her brought to the basement,” Diego instructed the guard. Turning to Ryan, his dark eyes sparkled with merriment. “I have a feeling that things are about to become very exciting indeed.”

  Tatiana’s fingernails dug deeper into his flesh and Ryan couldn’t hold back his shudder. He’d expected Abby and her team to wait until dark before springing into action. By his calculations, nightfall was still around half an hour away. They were going to have to stall for as long as possible to allow the rest of the team time to begin eliminating their opposition. Firmly secured to the chair, he wouldn’t be able to do much to help her. He hated the idea of the woman he loved walking into danger, but it was going to be up to Abby to save them both.