Breaking Hearts (Delta Force Strong Book 5)

by Elle James

  His cousin left them in the yard, went into the house and came back out with a couple of helmets, handing them over. Then he led them to the two motorcycles that stood apart from the others.

  Ramón frowned at Blade. “You have ridden a motorcycle, have you not?”

  Blade nodded. “Yes, I have.”

  Ramón’s frown turned into a smile. “Good. We should get going. It’s going to be dark soon.”

  Xavier held up a finger, turned and ran back into the house. He came back out carrying two pistols and a couple of shoulder holsters. He handed them over to Ramón.

  Ramón thanked him. “Gracias.” He handed one of the shoulder holsters to Blade and waited while he slipped into it and then handed him a forty-five caliber pistol.

  Blade dropped the magazine out of the handle, checked that it had bullets and shoved it back into the handle. He turned to Ramón’s cousin and nodded. “Gracias.”

  Xavier went back into the house and came back out with a couple of lightweight jackets for them to put over their shoulder holsters. Complete with their guns and helmets, the two men mounted their motorcycles and drove out of the walled compound.

  Ramón led the way through the roads out into the western side of Cancún following highways and then dirt roads.

  Blade checked his cellphone map every once in a while, to make sure they were on course. Ramón had a good handle on their direction and led them the right way. For all he knew Ramón could be working with the cartel to capture him as well. But Blade’s gut told him that he was one of the good guys.

  Ramón slowed and pulled out his own cellphone. He came to a halt on the dirt road and waited for Blade to catch up.

  Blade pulled in beside Ramón.

  Together, they studied the map where the GPS coordinates had led them. At some point the roads were no longer displayed on the map and the coordinates were out in the green space. There had to be a road or a track or something to get back to where the coordinates indicated.

  “The road has to be here somewhere,” Ramón said.

  Blade nodded. “We’ll go slow until we find it. I’ll take the lead from here.”

  Ramón fell in behind Blade as he drove his motorcycle along the dirt road. After a couple miles passed by and still no sign of a road Blade began to worry that they were on the wrong path. Then he noticed muddy tracks up ahead. He raised his hand and slowed, pulling off to the side of the dirt road and in amongst the bushes where he hid his motorcycle.

  Ramón rolled to a stop behind him. They dismounted and left the motorcycles hidden in the trees and underbrush. Moving quietly through the jungle, they paralleled the road up to the point where the muddy tracks lead into the jungle. A perfect hideout for a cartel.

  This had to be the place.

  Sophia struggled to free herself from the man who had pulled her across the jet ski, but every time she tried to break free, she was hit in the face by a wave and struggled just to breathe. The big jet boat pulled up beside them. The jet ski came to a stop.

  With the waves lessened, Sophia was able to break free of the man holding her, and she dropped into the water. When she surfaced, there were men leaning over the boat to grab her arms and yank her out of the water. She fought, kicking and screaming, but she was tired, breathless and too far away from the people on the catamaran. In fact, she could no longer see them. Her heart sank to her knees. She couldn’t give up, no matter the overwhelming odds against her. She lifted her chin. “I’m an American citizen. You can’t treat me like this.”

  The men spoke to each other in Spanish and laughed.

  “You better let me go or the U.S. military will come down on you.”

  They spoke to each other again in Spanish and laughed. Then one of them turned to her and said, “The U.S. military can do nothing here. In case you didn’t notice you are in Mexico.”

  At least she knew that one of them could speak English, and quite well at that. “You won’t get away with this,” she said. “You might as well let me go now. The U.S. government—”

  “The U.S. government what?” The man who spoke English snarled at her. “They won’t do anything. We get away with murder. They do nothing.” He nodded to the other guard.

  The other man pulled a roll of duct tape out from under a seat, tore off a small piece and slapped it over her mouth.

  Sophia immediately regretted her outburst. Especially when they wrapped duct tape around her wrists and forced her to sit on the back seat of the jet boat. She considered throwing herself over the side of the boat as it took off, but with her wrists bound and her mouth taped shut, she’d struggle to keep her head above water and air in her lungs. She’d have to plan her escape for when they were on dry land.

  The jet boat sped along the coast for some time, pulling into a small cove with a pier jutting out. It appeared to be a private pier with no tourists gathering around to witness the men carrying the woman off the jet boat and toss her in a van. The pier and the beach around it appeared deserted. There were no tourists and no witnesses that she could shout to even if she could shout for help.

  When Sophia landed on the floor of the van, she slipped out the door onto the ground outside. She hit the dirt, rolled away from the van, pushed to her knees and staggered to her feet. She made it all of five steps before she was grabbed from behind by her hair and yanked to a stop. Sophia wasn’t sure where she would have gone, but anywhere was better than the back of the van because she had no idea where they were going to take her next.

  The two men lifted her, carried her back to the van and threw her onto the floor.

  Her head hit the metal floor so hard she blacked out. When she came to a few moments later, the vehicle was moving along a bumpy, curvy road. They were on paved roads for a while. The van turned off the pavement and rumbled over what had to be gravel. Without a window to look out, she had no idea where they were taking her. Soon even the gravel turned into what felt like a rutted path. Their pace slowed.

  What little light had been coming through the front windows dimmed. Sophia couldn’t tell if it was because of nighttime or because they were in dense foliage. Either way it was getting dark inside the van.

  She pushed to a sitting position. With her arms bound behind her she felt the inside of the van for any kind of rough surface she could grind the tape against to tear it free. She found a rough piece of metal and started sawing at her hands behind her back, trying to get the tape free. Sophia did her best to hide her efforts behind her from the men sitting across from her.

  Because her mouth was covered in tape, she couldn’t talk to them. And that was just as well. They kept up a running conversation between each other, of which she could only translate a word here and there.

  When she got out of this situation, she hoped to take Spanish so she would never be so clueless as to what others were talking about. She wished that Blade was with her to translate, but then again, if he was with her, he would have gotten her out of this spot already.

  Sophia wouldn’t accept that she was helpless. She was a strong woman capable of taking care of herself. Well, it was time she proved it.

  First things first. She had to get her wrists unbound. Then the next time they stopped, she’d do a better job of making a break for it. Once she was free, she would find her way back to the resort.

  By now, Blade would be frantic. No, not frantic. The man would be determined. He’d come up with a plan and find her no matter what. In the meantime, she had to keep herself safe and get herself out of the pickle she found herself in. She didn’t want Blade to wade into this quagmire of a cartel and get himself killed.

  The van finally stopped, and the door slid open. Based on the shadows, evening had settled in. Gone were the beaches and sand of the coastline. They had brought her deep into the jungle. She had only managed to tear the tape a little bit, but not enough to free her wrists completely. She needed more time with the rough metal inside the van. Still, as soon as they pulled her out of the van, they let go o
f her long enough that she headbutted the man who spoke English hitting him square in the gut.

  He flew backward, landing hard on his ass. The other man hadn’t quite been looking when she’d knocked the English-speaking guy to the ground, giving her just the break she needed to make a run for it.

  She took off and headed for the trees, figuring that whatever was out there wasn’t nearly as bad as the people who’d captured her. She didn’t get far before the two men caught up with her, grabbed her and spun her around. The one she’d headbutted smacked her hard in the face busting her lip and making her ears ring. The one who didn’t speak English flung her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, clamping his arms around her legs to keep her from kicking him in the face.

  He carried her away from the edge of the forest through a gate into a walled compound, inside which were two main buildings. One was a long narrow structure that could have been barracks for the cartel’s minions. The other was more a palatial residence with few windows. She could hear the hum of a generator. The van’s headlights lit their way forward into the compound. Other than that, it was pretty dark inside the wall and in the jungle. With the overgrowth of trees, she imagined it would be hard to spot the buildings from a satellite.

  The cartel had the perfect location for a stronghold and a hard one to find even for the Delta Force. Her heart sank. She couldn’t be guaranteed that Blade would find her. And even if he did, how would he get inside? Sophia counted two guards at the gate carrying AK-47s.

  Blade was but one man. How would he get in here to rescue her, even if he found her?

  Her jaw firmed. She would have to find a way out and then find her way back to the resort. It would be easier for her to get out than for him to get in by himself, even though Delta’s were known to be very resourceful. Sophia didn’t want Blade to risk his life for her. Especially since she was the one who got them in this situation by flirting with Andrés Calderón. As if the mere thought of his name conjured the man, she heard a voice say.

  “Ah, so we meet again, Senorita Phillips.”

  The man carrying her dumped her on the ground in front of Calderón. The man’s nose was swollen, and his eyes were blackened. His lip curled in a nasty snarl.

  Andrés reached down, grabbed the tape across her face, and yanked it off.

  It hurt. Sophia fought to keep from showing her pain. At least now she could talk freely. “What’s the matter, Andrés?” she asked. “Not as tough as you thought you were? One man took down three of you. I bet your daddy wasn’t pleased.”

  His eyes narrowed. “You think this is all about revenge?”

  “Isn’t it?” she cocked an eyebrow.

  He laughed, reached out, and twirled a finger around one of the strands of her coppery hair. “This is all about supply and demand,” he said. “Basic economics. There’s demand on the market for redheads. And because there are so few in the supply chain, that makes you in high demand.”

  When she tried to move her head away to get the strand of hair away from his fingers, he twisted his hand and tugged hard on the strand of hair. “I don’t like to disappoint my buyers, especially when they pay good money. And yes, I will use you as bait to get your boyfriend to come looking for you. And when he does, I will exact my revenge.”

  “So, you’re going to let him know where you’ve kept me?”

  Andrés shook his head. “I’m a fool to have let him best me the first time, but no, I’m not that much of a fool.”

  “And your father is okay with what happened? I’m sure he had words with you. Was he not embarrassed that his only son couldn’t handle one man, even when he had three people to help fight against him?”

  Andrés’s eyes narrowed to a squint. “My father does not own me.”

  “Oh, and he doesn’t clean up your messes?” Sophia raised both eyebrows. “I would think that would make you a liability to him. Does he know that you are trafficking humans?”

  Andrés laughed out loud. “Not only does he know, but he has also assigned this area of his business portfolio to me. He expects me to handle it by myself.”

  “By yourself? Or with the help of his minions?”

  “We are familia. His people are my people.”

  “Well, you’ll be disappointed to know that my boyfriend is not my boyfriend. He won’t be back for your satisfaction. You’ll have to go back for him.”

  Andrés touched a hand to his nose. “Oh, he’ll be back to find you. And when he does, I will take care of him. A man does not fight that fiercely for someone he does not love.”

  Sophia snorted. “Like you would know what love is.”

  “I have known love,” Andrés said. “I have known the kind of love that you would move heaven and earth to keep alive. Your man loves you. He would move heaven and earth to come after you.”

  Sophia snorted.

  The determined look on Andrés face sent a shiver of apprehension down Sophia’s spine.

  Blade had injured the man’s ego. Andrés wouldn’t let it go. He’d get his revenge and then he’d sell Sophia to the highest bidder.

  Well, to hell with that. Sophia wasn’t going to let him get away with either. She’d get the hell out of there before Blade found her and before Andrés could capture him.

  Chapter 12

  Blade and Ramón crept along the side of the dirt road until they reached the rutted path leading into the jungle. To the untrained eye, it looked like an impenetrable forest. And from a distance or from satellite, no one would know there was anything out there but jungle.

  They were still about fifty yards away when Blade spotted movement. He put his hand out to stop Ramón. Blade pressed a finger to his lips to indicate silence. They ducked low in the foliage.

  A man carrying an AK-47 leaned against a tree, his gaze on the road in front of him. He appeared bored.

  As Blade studied the shadows, he spotted another man on the other side of the rutted path. He carried a submachine gun. And he too appeared bored as he kicked a rock.

  Blade pointed in the direction that the rutted path led. They swung wide of the two men on guard at the entrance to the road leading into the jungle and moved through the trees and underbrush parallel to the rutted path.

  A hundred yards in, they found a concrete wall, six feet high. Ramón cupped his hands and bent low. The only way to find out what was on the other side was to go over the wall. Blade stepped into the other man’s palms.

  Ramón straightened and lifted Blade off the ground.

  Blade pulled himself up to the top of the wall, looking first before he committed. In front of him was a long building with very small windows. When he saw no movement on the back side or on either end of the wall, he straddled the wall then pushed to his feet and walked along the top of the wall like it was a balance beam.

  When he arrived at the end of the long building, he dropped down and hugged the wall, creating as low a silhouette as he possibly could. Then he inched forward. Beyond the long narrow building was a larger one that looked like a fortified residence with few windows.

  Buried in the jungle like it was, it was an excellent spot for a cartel stronghold and a perfect place to take Sophia.

  He counted a guard at the front entrance of the larger building and another peeking around the back corner.

  Blade studied what he could, wishing he was Superman with X-ray vision to see inside the walls to find Sophia. After a while, he scooted backward until he was behind the barracks building.

  He dropped down beside Ramón and motioned for them to make a full circle around the area, counting all the guards. When he returned, he didn’t want any surprises.

  Without help or weapons, he could do little to break into the compound. Blade had to recruit some help and do it in a hurry.

  Ramón and Blade hurried back to where they’d ditched the motorcycles.

  “What are you going to do?” Ramón asked.

  Blade shook his head. “I don’t know. I need help. At the very least, I
need a distraction so that I can get past the guards and inside the compound.”

  “You can’t do it alone,” Ramón said.

  “I don’t have my team with me, so I’m on my own. I have to do something. I don’t know what they’ll do with Sophia.”

  Ramón led the way back to Cancún, pulling to the side of the road near the outskirts. Blade stopped beside him.

  “I will help,” Ramón said. “And I know friends and relatives who dislike the cartels as much as I do and are willing to do something about them.”

  “Do you know anybody with some C-4 or anything I can use to make a big bang? I feel like I need to blow a hole in the exterior wall as well as the interior wall. We’ll need a distraction, because, once I get inside, it’s going to take time to find Sophia. I might need a number of explosions just to get their attention away from inside the compound and bring the guards out.”

  Ramón nodded. “I have a cousin.”

  Blade almost smiled. “One who can hook me up with explosives?”

  “The same one who gave us the coordinates.”

  “Maria’s cousin?”

  He dipped his head. “He is my cousin as well.”

  Ramón’s cellphone buzzed. He glanced down at it. “It’s Maria.” He lifted it and pressed it to his ear. He listened for a minute and nodded. “Si.” He ended the call and looked across at Blade. “The cartel left a message all over your bungalow. The resort staff are concerned.”

  “What was the message?”

  “Surrender or she dies.”

  “That’s it? No instructions on how I surrender?”

  Ramón shook his head. “No. I expect that they will call or leave a message someplace else. For now, we will return to the resort. They know to find you there.”

  Blade revved the engine on his motorcycle, anger burning through him. “We need to return the motorcycles to your cousin.”

  Ramón shook his head. “Not yet. You may have need of them later.”