Signed SEAL'd and Delivered

by Jack Silkstone

  He made his way along the ridgeline to what looked like a cell phone tower. The structure was actually an array of sophisticated sensors that included thermal cameras, vibration monitoring gear and communications intercept modules. It was part of the broader security network that piped data to the ranch house, three miles away. This particular tower had recently reported an error message.

  As he approached the tower he spotted the problem. An access panel had popped open in the wind and birds had built a nest inside. “Sorry guys.” He stripped the debris from the hole and closed it.

  A noise to the west caught his ear as he patrolled back to the ATV. He took binoculars from a pouch on his rig and lifted them to his eyes. Far out over the desert he spotted a cloud of dust.

  “Alpha, this is Bravo, I’ve got a vehicle inbound,” he transmitted over his radio.

  “Alpha here,” responded Jenny. “That call sign is friendly. Get your ass back to the ranch, lunch is on.”

  Rick scrambled down to the ATV and gunned it across the desert. Insects bounced off his goggles and slapped into his face as he approached the ranch house. Parking, he joined Jenny and Junior under the sweeping verandahs of the renovated hacienda.

  His fiancée was dressed in combat pants and T-shirt with a pistol on one hip and the toddler on the other.

  “Looks good on you,” he said, slipping out of his armor.

  “Pistol or the kid?”

  He kissed her on the cheek. “Both.”

  Behind them a glass door slid open. “Mike and Ali are inbound,” reported Ernie as he entered.

  “Any news from TJ and Deb?” asked Jenny.

  “Yeah, they’re in a secure location with Axe and will extract tonight. They should be here in the morning.”

  A horn sounded as the approaching vehicle passed the outer fence of the home block and drove up the gravel drive.

  “Axe, Axe, Axe,” chanted Junior as he recognized his father’s pickup. It pulled in alongside the ATV. The doors swung open and Mike and Ali appeared. Ali made straight for the porch with her arms extended.

  Jenny had already lowered the toddler and he took off across the grass still chanting the dog’s name.

  Ali swept him into her arms and hugged him tight as the others gathered around. “My darling boy. I missed you so much.”

  “Mom, where Axe?” he asked.

  “He’ll be back tomorrow,” said Mike as he joined them. “Guys, thanks so much for looking after him.” He hugged Jenny and shook hands with Rick and Ernie.

  “It was our pleasure,” said Jenny. “Come inside, we’ve got lunch on the table.”

  Mike updated the rest of the team on TJ and Deb’s success in locating and extracting Axe.

  “So, all going well, they should be here tomorrow?” asked Ernie.

  “Yeah,” said Mike. “Now, what do we know about Barbosa?”

  “His people smashed their way into a maximum security prison, snatched him and detonated a massive IED to cover their tracks. They killed a half-dozen guards and at least thirty other prisoners.”

  “Brutal,” said Rick.

  “Axe’s abduction had to be part of this plan,” said Mike.

  “I agree,” said Ernie. “And so do the FBI. They want to put you all in witness protection.”

  Mike shook his head. “No. We’re not spending our lives running and hiding. Once TJ and Axe are back we need to find a way to neutralize Barbosa. We need to go on the offensive.”

  ***

  The ring tone of Duvan’s phone sent an involuntary shiver down his spine. He glanced at the screen, hoping it wasn’t another call from Barbosa demanding an update on the search for the dog. So far his people had failed to locate any trace of the animal or the people who had snatched it.

  This time it wasn’t Barbosa.

  He answered. “Tell me good news.”

  “I’ve got a tip off,” his source replied. “The people you’re looking for might be in a safe house near Los Barriles.” He rattled off an address.

  “Where did you get the information? Is it good?”

  “It’s from the inside. It’s good.”

  “It better be.” Duvan terminated the call and dialed Barbosa. The cartel kingpin answered immediately.

  “Have you found them?”

  “I’ve got a lead on a safe house in Los Barriles.”

  “Good, get as many men together as you can. I want the dog alive. Kill everyone else.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  TJ managed to slide his wounded arm into his shirt and fasten the buttons with one hand. Then he left the room where he’d been resting and explored the CIA safe house where he, Deb and Axe were laying low.

  He found Deb in the kitchen making dinner with Axe by her side. She was still dressed in the tactical outfit she’d been wearing the night before. “Hey gorgeous.”

  She turned and smiled. “Coffee?”

  “Yes please.”

  “How are you feeling?” she asked as TJ sat at the kitchen table. Axe moved to his side and placed his chin on his thigh.

  He stroked the dog’s head. “Pretty good, thanks to you.”

  “Terrance…”

  He winced at the sound of his given name, she only used it when she was about to deliver a lecture.

  “What happened between us doesn’t fix the problem.” She poured him a cup of black coffee from a percolator on the bench. Turning she registered the pained look on his face. “Don’t get me wrong, it was wonderful. It’s just…” She passed him the mug.

  “Yeah, I know. But I also want you to know that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to rekindle what we had.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  Axe growled.

  “Clearly someone disagrees.”

  She smiled faintly. “Well, he is the matchmaker.”

  Axe growled again and headed out into the hall toward the front door. TJ noticed that his hackles were raised. “Have you got a weapon?”

  “In the basement. What’s up?”

  He rose from the chair. “Probably nothing, but–”

  Axe’s bark was one that TJ had heard before. The dog was alerting them to an impending threat. “Show me the basement, now!”

  Deb dashed into the corridor and he followed her through a side door and downstairs. “Axe, come,” he ordered as they descended into a small room filled with shelves of supplies. Deb gripped the corner of a rack of boxes and slid it sideways revealing a selection of weapons and equipment. TJ grabbed an ammunition-laden vest, wounded arm forgotten, dropped it over his head and fastened it around his torso. Axe stood at the top of the stairs, guarding the door.

  Deb opened another hidden panel exposing a row of CCTV screens. She studied them intently as TJ geared up. “I can see two vehicles.”

  He joined her at the screens. The safe house was located a short distance from the beach and backed on to scrubby dunes. One of the cameras showed two pickups parked among the dunes. Gunmen were clustered around them, their attention focused toward the safe house.

  “Why are they waiting?” asked Deb.

  “They’re waiting for more of their buddies. Once they have the numbers, they’ll storm the joint. We need to get out of here and fast.”

  “If it weren’t for Axe they’d have got the jump on us.” Deb took a vest and submachine gun from the rack. “What’s the plan?”

  TJ loaded and cocked a rifle. “They’ll have the road blocked. The beach is our best option.”

  “Good idea.” She gestured to the screen where another vehicle had joined the others. “More of their friends.”

  TJ grabbed a backpack filled with ammunition and slung it over his shoulder. “I’m on point. You got the keys? ”

  She nodded. “What about Axe?”

  “He knows his way around a gunfight, right bud.”

  The dog gave an excited bark.

  TJ led them out of the basement and through the house to the porch that overlooked the beach. Their SUV was parked to
one side. TJ figured they could get to it unobserved then make their escape. He checked Deb and Axe were close behind and descended the porch to the sandy lawn. Crouching at the corner of the house he peered past the SUV to where the cameras had revealed the massing gunmen.

  “Cover me,” he whispered to Deb.

  “No.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll drive. You shoot.”

  The stubborn look on her face told him not to argue. “OK, use the key not the remote, it will flash and draw attention.”

  She nodded and stole forward to the side of the SUV. As she inserted the key in the driver’s door he moved forward to the passenger side. Opening the door he gestured for Axe to jump inside.

  As the dog leaped in a burst of gunfire sounded from behind and bullets smacked into the side of the house. TJ spun and spotted figures approaching from the road. He returned fire as Deb started the SUV, and then clambered in.

  Axe barked excitedly as they rocketed across the lawn, smashing through a white picket fence before bouncing over low dunes onto the beach.

  The SUV fishtailed wildly as Deb turned and ran it parallel to the dark blue ocean.

  “Steady on,” grunted TJ as he climbed between the seats into the rear. Axe licked his face as he clambered into the cargo area. “Thanks, bud.”

  “What are you doing?” asked Deb as he found the lever to release the trunk door.

  “Preparing for company.” He braced his legs either side of the opening and aimed his rifle down the beach. They were a few hundred yards from the house when the first of the sicario trucks appeared.

  “Right on cue,” said TJ as he squeezed off a volley of shots.

  “How far do you want me to go?” yelled Deb.

  “Get us back on the road as soon as you can.”

  “OK.”

  TJ fired again as three pickups accelerated after them. Sitting on massive tires with powerful engines the trucks ate up the distance between them. He spotted muzzle flashes from above the cabins as men in the beds of the trucks fired. A bullet shattered a side window, spraying him with glass as he fired back.

  “You OK?” he yelled between shots.

  “Yeah, there’s a track ahead. I’m getting us out of here.”

  He fired again and a jet of steam burst from the hood of one of the pickups. As he switched aim to another vehicle he was thrown sideways as Deb sent the SUV careening off the beach. Shrubs lashed the sides of the car as they blasted along a narrow track. Tires squealed as they turned abruptly onto tarmac.

  “You OK back there?” yelled Deb.

  TJ glanced over his shoulder and saw Axe calmly watching him with his tongue lolling and ears flapping in the wind.

  “Yeah I’m good,” he said, replacing an empty magazine with a fresh one from his vest.

  “I’m going to contact my people and arrange an extraction,” said Deb.

  “Good idea.” TJ turned his attention back to the road as they accelerated around a sweeping bend. “We need to stay off the main highway.”

  He fished his phone from his pocket and checked the screen, no reception. “Typical,” he mumbled.

  “How’s the arm?” asked Deb as they turned onto a dirt track.

  With the adrenaline of the gunfight and escape, he’d completely forgotten the injury. A glance confirmed that the bandage was intact and the wound wasn’t weeping. “All good. Your stitches are holding.”

  “Who would have thought? I mean considering how crappy my sewing is. Remember that time in New Zealand when I tried to fix your pants?”

  “How could I forget? I inadvertently exposed myself to a table of old ladies.” He glanced over his shoulder and caught her looking at him in the mirror. Her eyes were shining and there were smile lines around them. She held his gaze for a moment before returning her attention to the road.

  TJ turned to check if they were still being followed but couldn’t see anything through the dust cloud trailing behind them. Despite their precarious situation Deb was softening, he was sure of it.

  ***

  As TJ and Deb made their way north toward the border, Mike was pacing the living room at World’s End. He hadn’t been able to get through on the Chief's number. With every passing minute he was getting more and more worried. It was unlike TJ not to check in or make timings. Something had definitely happened.

  He heard footsteps on the terracotta tiled floor and turned to see Ali approaching with a concerned look. “Any news?” she asked.

  “No, nothing.”

  She wrapped an arm around his waist as Ernie and Rick appeared.

  “You guys get through to TJ?” Mike asked.

  “Negative,” answered Rick.

  “Well, let’s hope that Deb can get her people to help out.”

  “Not sure how a fine dining magazine is going to help get them out of Mexico?” Rick said, with a confused look.

  “She’s Agency,” said Mike.

  “No shit!”

  “I did not see that coming,” said Ernie. “Although it does explain a few things.”

  “And it means she can get them out, easy. TJ and Axe are in good hands,” said Rick.

  “Unless something’s happened to them. What if Barbosa’s men caught up with them? We’re literally sitting on our hands here,” said Mike.

  Rick grasped his shoulder. “Bud, you need to think of your family. If you go charging down to Mexico, they could lose both you and Axe.”

  “And that’s exactly what Barbosa wants,” said Ernie. “Let’s give TJ and Deb a little more time. I’ve got a feeling they’re going to come through with the goods.”

  ***

  “We’ve got a tail!” yelled TJ over the wind rushing into the SUV as it tore along a desert road. He’d spotted the outline of a pickup in the thick dust they were throwing up behind them.

  Bullets cracked past his head, tearing into the roof of the SUV and exiting through the windshield. His heart lurched as he turned and saw holes directly in front of the driver. “Deb!” he yelled.

  Her head bobbed back into view. “I’m good. I’m good.” More gunfire sounded and the SUV shuddered. “Can you do something about that?”

  TJ blasted into the dust with his rifle. Remembering the backpack he dug into it and found a grenade. Tearing the pin free, he popped the handle and counted down.

  “Five, four, three, two.” He lobbed the grenade into the dust. “One, zero.”

  The bomb detonated with an angry flash in the dust. He raised his rifle and waited for the truck to reappear. Seconds passed without it emerging. “That’ll slow them down.”

  “We’ve got a town coming up,” said Deb.

  As she slowed a loud scraping noise filled the cabin. “Ah, TJ. I think they hit something vital.”

  The noise increased in intensity as she limped the SUV into a dusty town and pulled in alongside a row of dune buggies and pickups parked in front of a bar.

  “We need some new wheels,” said TJ as he jumped from the back of the SUV. Axe joined him as he eyeballed the vehicles. He strode across to a pickup truck with huge tires and exposed shock absorbers. It had tools strapped to the hood, spare wheels in the back and on the cab roof. “This will do nicely.” He opened the driver’s side door and saw the keys in the ignition. “Deb, we’ve got a new ride.” He tossed his backpack into the cab and whistled for Axe to join him.

  “You couldn’t find something less obtrusive?”

  “We need to get off the roads and head through the desert.”

  TJ turned over the engine, and the high-performance V8 rumbled to life. As he backed the truck out onto the street a figure appeared from the doorway of the bar.

  “Hey, what the hell are you doing?”

  Deb waved at the man as they roared down the road. “You’re crazy, TJ.” She laughed as they raced out of town.

  “Crazy is going to keep us alive.” TJ glanced in the mirror and spotted one of the pickups that had chased them from the safe house. “We’ve got company. Time to hea
d into the desert.”

  He bounced the off-roader over a ditch, pointed the nose north and gunned the engine. The custom machine spat sand from all four tires as it blasted across the desert, leaving their pursuers in its wake. Deb wrapped her arms around Axe as they bounced over rocks, smashed through shrubs and launched over dunes.

  After five minutes of bashing their way through scrub TJ reached a track heading roughly north. A further hour and they’d progressed a significant distance up the Baja peninsula toward the US border, winding their way through rocky outcrops and clusters of cacti, as TJ now knew was the plural for the prickly plants.

  “It’s got a rugged, uncompromising beauty that takes your breath away,” said Deb as they crested a low ridge, revealing a broad basin. The sun was low in the sky, and the shadows cast by the rocks and bushes looked like fingers clutching at the shifting sands.

  “Sure does,” he replied as they descended a rutted section of trail.

  As they drove across the valley floor the big V8 missed a beat and spluttered. TJ frowned as he studied the instrument panel. The temperature needle wasn’t in the red, oil pressure was good and the fuel gauge hadn’t moved from full. He tapped the glass with his finger and the needle immediately dropped to zero. It had been stuck on full. “Son of a bitch.”

  “How far are we from the border?” asked Deb as the engine died.

  “At least twenty miles.”

  “We could walk out.”

  He shook his head. “Not at night in this terrain. We need to get away from the truck and hole up. Your people can extract us in the morning, right?”

  Deb hauled her satellite phone from her bag and checked the screen. “Yeah, as soon as we go firm I'll update our position.”

  Axe whined, and TJ jumped from the cab to let him out. He immediately relieved himself on a cactus before patrolling the area around the truck while TJ and Deb gathered their gear.

  “They’ll expect us to keep heading toward the border.” He gestured to a rocky outcrop a mile or so to the east. “There might be a cave up there.”

  TJ found a bottle of water in the truck and stashed it in his pack. Then he led the threesome across the desert floor as the sun was setting behind them. In the distance he heard the snarl of engines, possibly dirt bikes. Their escape into the desert had bought them time, but it hadn’t shaken Barbosa’s men. They were still being hunted.