ES_ebook_8.2.19 Read online

  As they set up, Ken nodded to her piece and asked, “How do you like it?”

  Smiling at her new Accuracy International AXMC, she nodded. “He definitely came through on this one.”

  “Devon says it’s the Ferrari of sniper rifles and, although Jesse and Nemo each argued for their own rifle, he assured them it’s the most accurate as far as he’d found.”

  “I don’t know about it being the Ferrari, but I agree on the accuracy.”

  Ken softly snorted. “He might’ve been referring to cost.”

  Rubbing her hand up and down the smooth barrel, she smiled. “I wouldn’t disagree there.”

  His gaze focused on her hand and the unintentional sensual movement. His jaw clenched, but he swallowed hard. She realized what he must be thinking. Many men would, but that hadn’t been her intent. Heat rose in her face, hopefully covered by her green and black face paint. She stopped her movement and turned back to her task.

  Ken cleared his throat. “Why didn’t you go with the Barrett M82? You could shoot through concrete and brick to hit your target.”

  “While that would be cool,” she said with a sly smile, “I want range, and the M82 isn’t as long-range as this one tested at. Anti-material is the primary use of the M82. You didn’t hire me for that.”

  “Aren’t there some long-range shots with the M82? I thought I heard about one in Desert Storm.”

  She snorted. “Lucky shot.”

  She didn’t expound, so he dropped on the ground beside her since, as she’d anticipated, if he set up the tripod to spot, he couldn’t see. After he made a hasty search, he identified reference points and sectors. As he finally directed her to each target, he listened as she described every man in detail except for underwear and eye color.

  Franks updated them on the team’s location, which she’d searched, and applauded them for blending so well. Then she briefed the team on what threats existed.

  “Here’s the 411. Four towers, north, south, east, and west. West is sleeping and north is bouncing his head to the music instead of paying attention.”

  “Dumb asses,” Cowboy inserted.

  Ignoring that, she continued, “Two roving guards outside compound. Two entry gates—west and east—five-hundred meters from cover to entry. Walls are about two and half meters and scalable. House is fifty meters from entry. There appears to be a barracks fifty meters to the south of the house. Size could house ten. Twenty with twin bunks.”

  Stone interrupted. “Am I too late for the party? ETA twenty.”

  Ken stiffened next to her. “Sitrep.”

  “Ran into a snafu.”

  It didn’t matter what Bev had done now. It couldn’t have been in Cody’s best interest. As soon as she returned to the States, Sam would petition the court for custody. Being a single woman would hurt her, but staying with Bev would hurt Cody.

  Ken turned to her and narrowed his eyes, as if she’d been part of whatever Bev had done now. “Go on.”

  “Her seat on the flight went unclaimed. When Devon researched further, he found that she boarded an earlier flight—right before it went airborne—under her maiden name and old passport. She landed in Mexico about the same time we did and wasn’t waiting at the airport. She’s Oscar Mike again, Boss, and I’m guessing here.”

  As if to validate the intel, a car approached and Beverly Shodun sat in the driver seat.

  12

  Damn Bev. Why did she have to interfere? She’d called on Sam, and she had this. Of course, Sam brought HIS, which Bev didn’t like or trust, but no one was better at rescuing children and hostages. They hadn’t failed a rescue op—ever. Between them, they’d taken a few bullets, whether grazes or surgery required. But they’d brought everyone home safe and sound.

  Did the woman really think she could talk Alejandro out of keeping Cody? Or did she want to reunite with the man? At one time she thought she could answer what Bev would do, but now….

  That niggling feeling she’d had about the validity of the evidence Bev had presented her of Lance’s death hit her full force. Could her friend be that devious or did Sam just want to believe it wasn’t true?

  “Sam…,” Ken said.

  She shook her head. “I have no idea.”

  “Shit.”

  No one said a word while Ken evaluated this monkey wrench in their plan. They’d always been flexible, but Bev had them all the more wanting to rescue Cody to get him away from the madness.

  “Do you think she’ll tell him about us?” Ken asked.

  Thoroughly perplexed with Bev’s behavior, she shook her head. However, the thought frightened her because she’d pulled them into this. “I honestly don’t know what she’ll do. If he really wants Cody away from her, she won’t succeed. I think then if she was losing and wanted some leverage—” She bit down on her lower lip. “—I think she might.”

  Only a moment after Ken scrunched his brows, he pulled out the sat phone and called Devon to reschedule their ride, then told Old Man and Franks to move up the timeline.

  “Stone, double-time it and fall in with Franks,” Ken ordered after disconnecting the call.

  Stone chuckled. “This is where I’d say some hooah bullshit if I’d been military.”

  Ken grunted his agreement and Cowboy voiced, “You bet your sweet ass.”

  “If you want to do it right, it’s hooyah, not that army bullshit,” Doc added.

  Chuckles sound but only briefly. A stoic silence met the air over their comms.

  Ignoring the silence, knowing Franks needed the chance to organize the team, he set out the ground plan. Later, he’d find out why the team hadn’t been in position when he and Sam had arrived from their longer trek. “Franks, we’ll take care of the towers. I want you over the north wall. The extraction point is to the west. You might get stuck with a rover inside the compound. We’re not elevated enough to help you there.” He took a breath into a slight pause. “Damn, I wish we had floor plans.”

  “I can blow the entry gate,” Cowboy offered.

  After thinking about it for a moment, Ken declined. “No, we need to go in quiet. Beverly may have already announced our presence, so I don’t want that big entrance. Use it if you can’t get in the house or if you run into a problem with the gates.”

  Jesse suggested, “We’ve got our silencers on. If Sugar uses hers, we’ll have a small advantage until someone notices dead bodies around.”

  She didn’t tell them that Ken had already told her to use her silencer, not that he would’ve had to do so.

  “What is that woman about?” Cowboy asked.

  Her mouth dropped open. Bev hadn’t been in the compound long before she sped away like she had the devil on her heels. “Does she have Cody?” she asked, putting the car in her crosshairs for a better view. Alejandro must’ve refused to see her or allow her to see Cody. Good for the man, but they would have Cody before the day ended. They were no longer waiting until nightfall when they’d have a better chance to slip in undetected.

  “Not that we can see. She should pass near you shortly,” Franks said.

  With the road being in and out on their side of the jungle, a visual on Bev should’ve been good. But she’d have had to adjust too much and even then, had too much blockage. They could only go with what the team had seen.

  “If it’s possible, I’m having that woman thrown into a jail cell. She’s a menace to society,” Ken said.

  “I don’t know about society but definitely to her son,” Sam added.

  Ken didn’t look at her as he spoke, even with his mic on, “We’re not taking him back to her.”

  As she’d expected, that had been aimed to her, and no one contradicted him. Maybe that’s why he didn’t turn off his mic. He wanted to show her they were united in this.

  “I’d hoped you wouldn’t.”

  While waiting for Ston
e to catch up, they took a sidetrack that was important to the end of this mission that surprised her. “Today, Devon will talk with our lawyers. We’ll find him a better situation.” He paused and turned to her, waiting until she did the same before he asked his question. “Do you want it to be you?” This time, he did turn off his mic so only she heard and followed his example even though it wasn’t allowed on an op. With Ken as the boss and the delicate topic, she hadn’t hesitated to mute hers also.

  Her heart pounded so fast she worried her chest might explode with hope and happiness. With HIS behind her, she could make this happen. She couldn’t hold back her smile and didn’t think twice about how she’d just shifted her rifle. “Yes,” she breathed.

  Smiling, he nodded to her rifle for her to be ready to reset. After they lined her back up and she’d had enough of him telling her “come up two clicks,” and more, she finally told him, “Thanks for coming along, but I know what the hell I’m doing.”

  He chuckled then told the team, “While we’d have loved the time to learn the guards’ habits and schedules, with Beverly inserting herself, we don’t have the time. There’s no telling what she’s done or will do next.” He paused and no one disagreed. “Devon promised the bird will be at the extraction point in two hours, so we get the party started as soon as Stone arrives and hoof it double-time to get our asses closer to home. If we see a major change in security, we’ll know she outed us and will adjust accordingly.”

  Her stomach knotted again at Bev’s stupidity in coming here. What if she had Cody hidden in the car? Damn, she wished she could’ve seen more.

  While Ken double-checked that Devon had also confirmed the airplane pilot would be ready for liftoff when the helo dropped them at the airfield, Sam checked areas with her rifle for any tangos, while playing the team’s game of “find me if you can.” She had a general idea where they’d hidden, but the exact location was her goal. Their goal was to keep themselves hidden enough so she couldn’t get them in her sights. If she could, someone else could.

  “I’ll be glad when we get back to the plane. I hope he restocked the chow,” Cowboy said.

  “It’s food, not chow,” Franks informed him. “If we’re going to learn some of your jargon, you could at least use some normal speak.”

  “We do use normal speak. Mostly it’s vowels, but still,” Doc said with a chuckle.

  The joking continued until Cowboy taunted, “You’re slipping, Sugar. You should’ve at least spotted Franks by now.”

  “Screw you, you PJ,” Franks tossed back.

  Cowboy laughed. “Like that’s a bad thing. A DEA fellow like you requires help from someone like me to keep your ass alive.”

  Sam smiled. “Well, if that’s the case, he’s screwed.”

  “You don’t see me,” Cowboy said, appalled at the thought.

  “Oh, yeah, I do. I’d know that hat anywhere. Just had to be different from the rest of us.”

  Even the Old Man chuckled with that. As expected, said head slipped down out of sight.

  She enjoyed that any team leader allowed this while they waited. Someone always watched and didn’t participate, but the rest could do a bit of both.

  “Sugar,” Doc said solemnly, breaking her smile, “about Cody. We’ve got a few minutes to talk.”

  Her breath caught. She couldn’t stand it if one of them told her he couldn’t go home with her.

  Ken touched her to get her attention and pointed back at the compound so they could get lined up again.

  “We were talking on the plane,” Doc began, and she didn’t have to ask who with. Even before the team split, her four teammates—not included her team boss—had been thick as thieves. “Since we’ve agreed he can’t go back home, we think you should petition for guardianship of Cody.”

  Had they heard her and Ken? She’d thought both their mics had been off. Her heart swelled at their understanding and what would be best for the boy.

  “It’d be better for your chances for guardianship if you were married.”

  She choked on her own breath.

  “Well,” Doc continued hesitantly, “since you don’t have a beau, we thought you could marry one of us.”

  Her head spun trying to get around this conversation and the one her teammates must’ve had. While sweet of them, she didn’t plan to wed any of them, but she’d play this game. “Oh really. Who did you have in mind?”

  No one answered right away, so she wondered if they were still fighting it out or hadn’t expected her to take the bait.

  Finally, Franks came on the air as their apparent spokesman. “Each of us wanted to marry you.” He paused, also as hesitant as Doc had become getting nearer to this point. “But instead, we think Boss should do it.”

  Shock wracked her system and she barely noticed Ken had stiffened beside her. He probably hadn’t known their answer either. Just the thought of it tickled her belly.

  When she got her voice back, she chuckled—although she didn’t find it funny—and answered, “Well, that is thoughtful of all of you, but I’ll pass.”

  By this time, Stone had joined them and the transport bird was on its way and would arrive per the new schedule.

  Instead of responding to the quips, Ken grabbed their attention. “Ready, boys and girl?”

  “I’ve been waiting so long my ass itches,” Cowboy said.

  “Eww, that’s gross,” Sam responded.

  “You sound like a girl,” Cowboy countered.

  “That’s because I am, numnuts.”

  “Ouch, that hurts,” Cowboy mocked. They never should’ve started teaching her military jargon. Like learning a foreign language, she’d learned most of the bad words first.

  “Cowboy,” Franks said, “you might not want to piss her off before an op. Your six may go uncovered.”

  Cowboy chuckled. “She’d never do that. Would ya, Sugar?”

  “Gentlemen,” Ken cut in, “and lady,” he added, “lock and load.”

  Sam rolled her eyes. Everyone had been ready since they’d deplaned. Yet Ken said the same words on every op. You can take the man out of the military, but you can’t take the military out of the man. She’d heard the statement in passing and believed it to be true. While the men had their own wars about which branch ruled the roost, they came together as one for an op.

  “Are you ready?” Ken whispered near her ear.

  Hell, she hadn’t felt him moving closer. That lapse in her instincts didn’t bode well to protect her from Ken. Not physically, but emotionally. She gulped and whispered back, a little breathless, “Yes.” How could she be ready when, once again, she couldn’t control her breathing around him? In an effort to insert space between them, she leaned down and looked down her scope.

  “We’re going to go through this fast, so I’m not going to guide you in for each target. I’ll give you the first instruction, and then you’ve got to run on your own. The order is north, east, south, west. I’ll watch for other threats we need to take out.”

  She memorized the order and associated the tangos with them.

  Without giving her time to take a breath, Ken put them back on point. “Go to the north tower,” he instructed.

  Relaxing enough to slow her pulse and control her breathing, but not enough to leave herself vulnerable, she got down to business. “Contact.” She didn’t describe the target again since they’d already done that and nothing had changed.

  She walked through the steps with him, to ensure she was aligned and ready. When they finally got to the moment she’d been waiting for, she held her breath while Ken announced the winds. She adjusted as he cleared her to fire.

  With a light touch on the trigger, she took the first shot—and possible life—for today.

  13

  Proud as a papa, Ken watched Sam take out the four men in less than ten seconds without needing his guidance,
only his initial winds call. Granted he’d run her through it already. Her skill constantly astounded him. Without a second thought, he radioed, “Four tangos down.”

  Franks didn’t waste time. The team took that as the green light since all that had held them back had been the guards in the towers. “Go, go, go,” he directed. Then to Ken, he added, “Oscar Mike.”

  With weapons at the ready, the men crossed the expanse around the compound in what he considered record time. Because of their location, Ken lost sight of the team as they neared the wall. Now he wished he’d had Cowboy blow the gate so he could observe them but knew a silent infiltration worked better for this op. He trusted Franks to keep them safe.

  The next sight he had of the men was their climbing over the eight-foot wall. His confidence in them didn’t waver. After a minute with them inside, he wanted to scream, “Sitrep.” Impatience could kill a man in situations such as this. Maybe he shouldn’t have come since he couldn’t be with the team below in the middle of the action.

  “They’re at the front door,” Sam informed him.

  He abandoned the spotting equipment and dropped down beside her and looked down his scope. While he couldn’t hold a candle to Sam’s accuracy at this distance, on semi-automatic, he’d be bound to hit something.

  The gate appeared more imposing as he sighted it. Only tiny slits through the metal bars allowed for a bit of sight. To get a shot through there would be a phenomenal feat. Disheartened, he admitted, “I can’t get a shot through there.”

  “That’s why you’ve got me,” she said without boasting. “If you need to feel useful, you can do that spotting shit for me.”

  Had he heard her right? That she needed him? It was a first, and work-related, but their entire relationship was entwined between work and personal. He craved to tell her he loved her, but regrettably, now wouldn’t be the right time. After. That’s what he’d do. After they returned home and debriefed, they’d figure this out. No more running on her part and no more holding back on his part.