Rogue Trilogy: Parts 1 - 3

by Jade Dean

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  Chapter Nine

  Josh drove towards the northern end of the beach and parked on a side road when they couldn’t go any further. The sun was just setting as they piled out and shouldered their bags. Ryan took the lead, staying on the grass rather than trying to jog on the loose sand. He headed for where they’d seen the speedboat docked in the satellite photos.

  After the estimated hour, he spotted the silhouette of a boat ahead. Josh silently stripped down to his shorts and handed his clothing to Dale. He slung the waterproof bag over his back then headed for the water. Abby had to admire the sheer beauty of his body, even if Doran was far too large for her tastes.

  Restless again, Matt checked his watch every few minutes until a dark head broke the surface of the water and Doran jogged towards them. “That boat isn’t going anywhere,” he said with a satisfied smirk.

  They waited for him to dry off then dress then Ryan led the way again. They entered the jungle before they came into sight of the lone guard watching the boat. It was dark enough beneath the trees that they were forced to don their night vision goggles. Ryan stayed well clear of the rough path that led to the compound, but they eventually reached the outskirts of the compound.

  Switching to thermal imaging, Abby crouched down beside Ryan as they all inspected the building. Their goggles were powerful enough to see all the way through the structure. “I count fifty-three bodies,” she whispered. “Five are too small to be adults.” That meant at leave several women were being held inside as well.

  “Head for your positions and wait for my signal,” Ryan said to his team.

  With a nod, all three SOB agents split up and made their way to the north, south and west walls of the compound. Ryan and Abby would take the east and were already in position.

  Giving the team ten minutes to move to their designated areas, Ryan clicked his radio twice. He received three clicks of acknowledgement then they moved in at the same time, targeting the men guarding the doors.

  Using her silenced handgun, Abby took the guy on the left while Ryan aimed for the man on the right. Their lifeless bodies slumped to the ground without alerting anyone inside. Working in tandem, they dragged the dead guards out of the way and Ryan opened the door a crack.

  Studying the long, dimly lit hallway, there was no one in sight, so he opened the door just wide enough to slip inside. Abby followed right on his heels, exchanging her night vision goggles for her gas mask. Ryan donned his as well, but they left them hanging around their necks for now.

  Just like the compound that he’d lived in for twelve months, this one had a series of rooms on both sides of the hall. The doors were made of wood rather than metal and none had windows that they could peek inside. It took time to check every room and Ryan was tense each time he opened the door and didn’t find their target inside. None of the doors were locked, which made their search easier. They split up so they could get through the rooms at twice the speed.

  They did find several women and all five of the children that their thermal images had picked out. One of the mothers opened her mouth to scream, but Abby darted inside and clapped her hand over her mouth. “Be quiet or your child will die,” she hissed in Portuguese.

  The threat was enough to shock the woman into silence. She cuddled her young daughter to her chest and nodded shakily. Abby didn’t like to threaten women or children, but she also didn’t want to see either of them die. “Get down on the floor and stay quiet,” she ordered.

  Obeying her without a word, the woman slid to the floor and curled up on her side, shielding her daughter with her body. The toddler was fast asleep and didn’t even stir as Abby left the room.

  Abby had shut her emotions down the instant before she’d shot the guard. From now until she allowed herself to feel again, she’d do what she’d been trained for; kill anyone who posed a threat to her or her team.

  Her resolve was tested when she opened the next door and a surprised bandito was standing only a few feet away. He reached for his gun, but hers was already in her hand. Abby didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

  Hearing a muffled report from across the hall, Ryan winced. While he’d hoped Abby wouldn’t have to add to her death tally, he knew it was unavoidable. The men that occupied this building were all outlaws, rapists, thieves and all around bad guys. Why waste time knocking them out when it was far quicker and easier just to shoot them? He’d have to think of a way to make this up to her, if that was even possible. The only way he could think of was to make sure she was never put in this positon again.

  They each shot four men and none of them were Montoya. Meeting up at the end of the hall, they came to a T-junction. They remained together and turned left. Halfway through searching this hallway, they heard gunfire to the north end of the building where Dale had infiltrated the compound.

  “There goes our stealth approach,” Ryan muttered and ducked back inside the room that he’d just searched. Abby did the same across the hallway as feet thundered towards them. Half a dozen banditos sprinted past them and they went in pursuit. It wasn’t very sporting to shoot their adversaries in the back, but Ryan didn’t let his morals intrude on common sense. He used his assault rifle to cut them down while Abby watched his back.

  Alarmed shouts rang out as more gunfire came from the south and west. Holt and Doran had also given up their stealth attacks now that their presence was known. Their visibility would be hampered once they put their masks on, so Ryan held off on using the gas grenades until there were too many men swarming down the hallway towards them.

  Seeing Ryan move his mask into place, Abby copied him and knelt as he pulled a canister out of his bag. Activating it, he tossed it towards the men. Smoke billowed and filled the corridor and men began couching and choking. She felt nothing as she took aim and cut them down. She’d been trained never to leave an enemy at her back. To do so would only court disaster.

  “I see Montoya,” Dale said suddenly. His next words were drowned out by heavy gunfire.

  Exchanging glances, Ryan and Abby sprinted through the dissipating clouds of gas. They cut down several more banditos as a deafening battle raged on to the north. Meeting up with Holt and Doran, they found themselves at the rear of a crowd of outlaws. Matt didn’t hesitate and opened fire. All traces of mischievousness were gone and his expression was grim as men fell beneath his barrage. Jackson was on the other side of the group and he wasn’t about to let his comrade fall.

  Feeling exactly the same way, Josh stood shoulder to shoulder with Matt and swept his weapon from the right to the left. The sound of screams was muffled beneath the hail of bullets.

  Jackson cautiously poked his head out from the doorway of the room where he’d taken refuge when the gunfire stopped. Seeing his team through the haze of smoke, he pointed at a door halfway down the hallway. “Montoya and the crazy Russian went in there.”

  “Watch our backs,” Ryan said to Holt and Doran then exchanged his nearly empty magazine for a fresh one. Abby also refreshed her ammo and they approached the door side by side.

  Taking a deep breath, Ryan kicked the door open then ducked sideways, expecting to be fired at. He had a bad feeling when he heard only silence through the now open door. Cocking his head, he did hear something after all. A faint rustling sound drew him to the opening. As he’d feared, the noise was coming from the curtains at the open window.

  “He’s gone,” he said, striving to remain calm. Montoya would have had a vehicle nearby and he’d fled during the short siege.

  “This guy is like a cat,” Josh said incredulously. “How many lives can he have left now?”

  “Can you find him again?” Ryan asked Abby.

  She nodded, but was reluctant. “I can, but my laptop doesn’t have strong enough security to mask our location.”

  Weighing up their options, Ryan let out a frustrated breath. “We don’t have much choice. If we don’t take him out now, he’ll continue to pose a threat not just to us, but to the r
est of the Special Ops Branch.” Diego was the type of narcissistic, petty man who couldn’t stand to look weak in the eyes of his lackeys. He’d get his revenge on them one way or another.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Ten

  Jackson went in search of a vehicle while the others kept watch for more of Diego’s men. Faint screams came from the children that had been woken during the battle. Their mothers were too frightened to flee, deeming it to be safer to stay where they were.

  Abby was prepared to use her laptop to locate their target, but doing so would put them in immediate jeopardy. Word would get back to her boss soon after her unauthorized use of the highly restricted program was detected. She’d be hijacking a very different satellite this time. It was the same one that she’d used to find Montoya on his island hideout.

  A horn honked and they filed outside, still wary of stray gunmen. None appeared and they piled into yet another dilapidated old truck. This one was riddled with bullet holes and looked like it would fall apart at any moment. The motor ran rough and they’d be lucky if it made it back to the city.

  Dale waited for them all to climb in then followed the dirt track. Jungle encroached on both sides, hemming them in and hampering his view. Abby rode shotgun with the computer perched on her lap. It was difficult to type while the truck bounced over ruts, but she managed to log in through the backdoor that she’d secretly created before going AWOL.

  Ryan, Holt and Doran rode in the back of the truck. They were alert for pursuit as the truck rumbled along the track. Branches slapped the sides of their vehicle, forcing them to stay in the middle or risk having their weapons yanked out of their hands.

  It took only a few minutes for Abby to hack into the program. It took a few minutes more to angle a US government satellite towards Rio. Using one of the photos of Diego that she’d stored on the laptop, she set the program to search for him.

  Within seconds, she had a hit. CCTV cameras had captured him entering the sprawling city only moments ago. He was driving a small white car that looked in only slightly better shape than their truck. She caught glimpses of Tatiana at his side. The pair was alone. They’d had to leave their guards behind again.

  She tracked their progress as they made their way through to the middle of the city. They eventually stopped in one of the poorer areas to the south and abandoned their car on a side street. Abby guided Dale towards their fleeing targets. They closed the distance a lot faster once the pair was on foot.

  “It looks like they’ve gone to ground in a five-story apartment building,” Abby said after the images stopped popping up on her screen. “Pull over. It’s only a few blocks away from here.”

  Dale nudged the truck into an alley and the loud noise of the motor cut out. Just to be sure their target was still in the building, Abby continued to monitor her laptop for a few more minutes. There was no sign of Montoya exiting from any of the doors.

  Climbing out, Abby carried her laptop to the back and placed it on the bed of the truck. The men gathered around to get a look at the building they were about to infiltrate.

  Ryan studied the structure and the two beside it. Pointing at the one on the right, he spoke to Jackson. “Dale, head up to the roof and keep watch to make sure Montoya doesn’t run again.”

  “I’m on it, boss,” Jackson said and took off at a quick but noiseless run.

  “Matt and Josh, enter through the back, Abby and I will take the front. You two search the first and second floors while we take the third and fourth. Use your thermal vision to check each room for a male and female together.” Both men nodded then moved away at a fast jog. Thermal vision wasn’t an exact science, but they could usually tell males from females.

  It was late enough for most inhabitants of the city to be asleep and the streets were quiet as Ryan and Abby jogged after the others. They instinctively kept to the shadows to avoid detection as they closed in on the building. Holt and Doran disappeared around the back of the structure as Ryan stepped through the open front door into a shabby foyer.

  They took the stairs up to the third floor then split up to search. Abby went left, tugging her night vision goggles down and switching to thermal vision. She found only families after examining each room. Meeting Ryan back at the stairs, he shook his head and they went up to the fourth floor.

  Again, she went left and Ryan went right. Finding two people alone in one of the apartments, Abby quietly picked the lock and switched to night vision. The floor creaked in a few places as she tiptoed through the tiny kitchen and living room. The bedroom door was open and she sidled up to the doorway and snatched a quick glance inside. One glimpse was enough to tell her these weren’t her targets.

  She tiptoed her way back out into the hall, pulling the door shut behind her. After another disappointing search, she met Ryan at the stairs. Noise from below had them both swiveling to point their silenced handguns downwards. Josh held his hands up peacefully and they lowered their weapons again. Matt joined them then all four headed up to the fifth and final floor.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Eleven

  Ryan had a feeling that they were walking into yet another trap the instant his foot touched the top step. The creaking of a door to the left intensified his hunch. Going down to one knee, he motioned the others to stay back and leaned out just far enough to look down the hall.

  As he’d suspected, one of the doors was open a few inches. He glanced to the right, but saw nothing alarming. Tugging his goggles back into place, he switched to thermal vision. His quiet expletive was enough to warn the rest of the team to use their goggles as well.

  Abby was unsurprised to see dozens of armed men waiting to ambush them. Montoya had proven to be even wilier than she’d thought. He’d set up several contingency plans and had weaseled his way out of their clutches twice already. With Jackson watching from his position up high, she hoped he wouldn’t be able to escape a third time.

  Motioning the others to creep back down to the third floor, Ryan drew them into a huddle.

  “What’s the plan, boss?” Matt asked. Even facing such bad odds, his natural cheekiness still wasn’t dampened.

  “These walls are pretty thin and there doesn’t seem to be any women or children in any of the rooms,” Ryan said. Abby smiled as she realized his intention, but her eyes stayed blank and expressionless.

  “Stay low and take cover as much as possible,” Ryan suggested. “Abby and I will go right, you two go left. Let’s cut these bastards down.”

  Moving back up to the fifth floor, they readied themselves for action. Abby shifted several spare magazines into her pockets for easy access then shouldered her rifle. Following their earlier routine, she would fire at the left side of the hallway while Ryan would take the right. She trusted Holt and Doran to do their jobs and to watch their backs.

  “On three,” Ryan said. He counted down then all four agents opened fire. Bullets raked the walls, punching through them into the rooms beyond. Cries of agony and alarm sounded and bodies fell.

  Moving in unison, Abby and Ryan started down the hallway. Their thermal vision made eradicating their enemies almost too easy. Even when the targets were crouching or were hiding behind furniture, they couldn’t escape from the barrage.

  Doors opened and red blobs spilled into the hallway. Abby flipped her goggles up and fired more discriminately at the banditos. Single shots took six men down and Ryan finished off the rest.

  Matt and Josh faced an equal number of adversaries and Doran cursed when a stray bullet tore into his left bicep. He didn’t let the wound slow him down and moved forward at a crouch to the next doorway. Matt was across the hall and frowned at the blood dripping from his teammate’s arm. Josh waved his concern away and shot the legs out from under the next man who made the grave error of stepping out to fire at him.

  Ryan was both ruthless and methodical as he cut down the banditos hiding in the rooms on the right side of the hallway. He and Abby drew closer and closer to the end of the
hall until there were only four enemies left.

  Turning back to back, they kicked open the doors to both apartments and fired at the few remaining targets. Triumph flared inside Ryan when he spied Montoya. Diego ducked behind his guard, narrowly avoiding a bullet to his head. His guard’s body jittered as Ryan shot him at point blank range.

  Desperate, knowing he was about to die, Diego backed through the kitchen towards the living room. He’d changed his clothes and now wore far less expensive attire. He was dressed in the same filthy clothing as his lackeys in khaki cargo pants and a black T-shirt. A bandage was around his right bicep where Ryan had shot him during the ambush that had almost taken his life.

  Montoya reached for a weapon and his hands found a bag of flour on the counter. He flung it at Agent Sheldon, then turned and fled.

  Instinctively flinching away from the white substance that blinded him, Ryan’s shot missed Montoya. Blinking flour out of his eyes, he raked bullets across the apartment, firing wildly rather than with precision. He used his sleeve to wipe his face clean then searched the rooms for his hated enemy. He let out a string of curses when he saw an open window. The building next door was only a few feet away. Diego had leaped the distance from one window to the other and was probably making his way down to the ground floor even now.

  His battle with Montoya had only taken seconds and he threw a glance backwards to see a dead man on the floor and Abby in a knife fight with Tatiana. Torn between helping the woman he loved and killing his foe, he caught Abby’s eye when she spared him a look.

  Seeing the indecision on Ryan’s face, Abby realized Montoya must have escaped from their trap yet again. “Go!” she shouted, then twisted away as Tatiana’s knife flashed towards her face.