Counter Strike

by Beth Rhodes

  Her uncle had known what would happen if she came here. He understood the loyalty to family, the need to connect. Strategically done. Well done, Tio Antonio.

  Nina patted her shoulder and then set her back, eyeing her from head to toe, her hands firmly on Missy’s arms. “What did you do to her?”

  Tio Antonio scanned her face, looking contrite, but also frustrated. “I could not go to her alone. She fought.”

  Nina gently touched the side of her sore face and touched the broken lip, then took Missy’s hand and led her to the kitchen. “Sit.” She handed her a cold compress. “For your lip. And for your stomach,” she added as she set a bowl of oatmeal in front of her.

  “I am hungry.” Unexpectedly so. Missy rubbed at her stomach as it sent a growl from deep inside.

  Like old times. The memories flooded. From the time she was just a child, coming here and learning to cook alongside her old grandmother. An urge consumed her, and she gave in, pulling her camera from her bag to snap a photo of her grandmother. Her throat tightened.

  “You still have it,” her grandmother breathed, her eyes wide.

  Missy set the hardware on the scarred table. “I’m sorry. I can put it away if it bothers you.” It had been her father’s before her, and her grandfather’s before that. She hadn’t been thinking.

  “No. I’m only surprised.”

  “I haven’t used it in a long time. I don’t know what made me grab it before—” She hesitated. “Before Antonio came for me,” she finished, trying to be sensitive. He was her son, after all. “Everything is the same as I remember, Nina.”

  Light came through the picture window along the south wall, landing in stripes along the tiled floor. Pots hung from the ceiling on a wrought iron rack.

  But it wasn’t like old times.

  Missy turned on her uncle. “Why even bring me here?”

  “Because you needed a reminder of who we are fighting and why we fight.”

  Missy growled and lifted a hand, gesturing to him. “Nina, please.”

  “He does what he can,” she admitted. “I don’t always agree with his methods, but the people have seen worse times before. Now, there is some predictability for them. The stress of living under the thumb of the cartel has eased.”

  “You agreed to this?” Missy’s stomach hurt.

  “No,” Nina said firmly, easing her worry. “He orchestrates this on his own. This time, there is nothing I could do. He goes against my wishes, and I am just an old woman. But he will keep you safe.”

  Missy was already shaking her head. “Why should I believe that?”

  “Because if anything happens to you, I will kill him myself.”

  “She is serious,” Tio agreed. “I already said I would keep you safe. I need those pictures you took, Marguerite.”

  Nina set a plate on the table. Sauce drizzled over some tortilla wrapped concoction of meats and rice. Missy sat and picked up the fork to dig in. The smells covered her, inundated her with visceral happiness, and a reprieve from the worry at hand. She chewed slowly, closing her eyes and shutting out the world. Another bite and another, until she’d gathered her thoughts and was ready to face them.

  “I didn’t have them in Punta Gorda. I don’t have them here.”

  “We will find them.” Tio Antonio sat at the table across from her. “I will get you back out when this is over.”

  But, even if that were true, Jamie would not wait. “It’s too late for that. As soon as you kidnapped me, you sealed Jamie’s fate.” A chill ran up her spine. “Please, let me go back.”

  “No. Your family needs you.”

  “That’s low, and you know it.”

  “You once hated Martinez, too.”

  She scowled, turning her gaze out the window. Where had her hate gone?

  She’d let go. It had happened so slowly, she hadn’t noticed.

  Had she done her family wrong?

  Would her father be disappointed in her?

  “Who do you owe more?” Antonio tapped the smooth wood surface, even as he took two phones from his pocket and set them in front of her. “If it wasn’t for your grandmother, you wouldn’t have Jamie right now.”

  “Yes, I know.” Maybe she did owe something. The international penpal program out of the States had been Nina’s idea.

  Long before he’d come for her, she’d known Jamie. In a way, they grew up together. “I’m sorry, Nina, but is it so surprising that my loyalties would be with him? Now. All these years later? I was forced to move on.”

  “I thought you would be paired up with a girl.” Nina’s voice held a note of amusement, breaking the tension with her reminiscence.

  Missy glanced over and saw a trace of a smile on her face. “Bet you were shocked.”

  Antonio laughed. “It was too late when she figured it out. You would not let her fix it.”

  “Really? I don’t remember that.”

  “You were just eight years old. And stubborn.” He glanced at Nina. “And I imagine you were taken by the young man already, as young girls often are.”

  She rolled her eyes. “We’ve gotten off track.”

  He was right though. By the time she was sixteen, she dreamed of meeting Jamie. Not just Jamie, but his entire family. His sister Niamh and his mom and dad. He talked about his family in those letters. She’d never had siblings because her mother had died when she was a newborn. Her father remained unmarried. Her slew of distant cousins had been the closest to siblings she’d had. She remembered playing with them as a young girl, but as her father had gotten more deeply obsessed with stopping Martinez, they’d lost contact with their family.

  But Jamie had always been there in those letters, and eventually, they’d exchanged email addresses. His notes arrived less frequently, especially after he’d joined the military. But she savored each short email he sent. Sometimes with as few as five words as it took to say ‘hi’ and other times, he’d include a story about his life or a joke he’d heard from the guys.

  She lapped up every word.

  And then the trouble had started at her dad’s job.

  Long hours and arguments with Nina had been her father’s default mode. And he was rarely home. And then, in one month, he changed completely. She was sure he’d gone crazy, telling her she couldn’t leave the house and instructing her on how to escape if anyone came after her. He drilled her, over and over. Writing directions down and showing her maps.

  She never quite believed him, especially when her life continued without interruption. She went to her classes at university, met with friends, even did a few reporting jobs for the school paper. She’d wanted to help her dad and had followed Martinez.

  She’d seen…him. And gotten photographs.

  Missy blinked at the sudden reemergence of the horrible memory. The man, shot dead before her in the alley. She’d tried to stay quiet, but the pile of trash had fallen over and made a racket. She’d scrambled back and run.

  Her dad had been afraid for her, when he’d forced her to pack a bag and told her she would have to leave him and go to Padre Franco in the mountains. The day all hell broke loose. She’d taken her go-bag that morning. Had her father warned her again? She couldn’t remember.

  Her memories were vague.

  By the time she’d gotten home that afternoon, Martinez had paid his visit, and smoke billowed from every window.

  Missy took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. The memories resurfaced, one after the other. She didn’t want to revisit them.

  “It was a long time ago,” she added, as if to herself.

  “Not long enough,” Tio Antonio bit back.

  Hadn’t she paid already? She’d run into her home, praying to find her father alive. The heat, like a wall, stopped her, but she’d pushed through, screaming for him. Screaming. God, she remembered the screaming as if it hadn’t been her own voice. And Tio had come out of the flames, on fire, waving her back. He’d grabbed her arm and pulled her kicking and screaming from the house.
/>   Just in time, too. The ceiling of the front room had caved in as they cleared the porch.

  “I don’t have the photos! I can’t help you.” The flutters in her stomach came to life, and Missy swallowed hard as she looked at her uncle and the scarring on his face. He’d saved her. And then her grandmother had taken care of the rest. “I wouldn’t have left if not for you.”

  “It was best for you to leave.” Nina answered. “Martinez would not have stopped looking for you.”

  “Did he really think I was dead?”

  “The reports were inconclusive for a week. By then, your trail had gone cold. Jamie had come for you, and you’d disappeared.”

  “Yet, here I am,” she sent Tio the stink eye.

  Her grandmother chuckled.

  “What do you plan to do with me?”

  “Yes, what do you plan to do with her?”

  “Keep her alive.” Tio answered, with a fist pound on the table.

  “I feel like I was doing pretty good at staying alive in Belize.”

  Tio stood up, restless…yet, she had to wonder if he wanted to take on a position of power. “You ruined that with your anti-terrorism editorial. And heroic jump into the waters.”

  She lifted her hands in exasperation. “One ridiculous video. How?”

  “You’ve been in hiding too long if you don’t know how the internet works.” The disappointment in his voice surprised her. As if he was also sorry to have had to come get her. “You’re living too sheltered, if you don’t know how an obsessed man never stops looking. He would have found you, come for you. You might have amused him for a while. Perhaps you would have been his plaything.”

  She cringed.

  “But Martinez has a short attention span. And you,” he continued, his words becoming forceful, “unwilling to be held against your will. I imagine you would make trouble. People, who make trouble for Martinez, die.”

  Nina murmured in agreement.

  “So, what are you suggesting?” She demanded as her heart pounded.

  “I’m taking you to Martinez. It’s time to find those photos. Then perhaps, we can put an end to Martinez together. And under my protection, you just might survive.”

  Missy’s heart fell.

  At least he was honest. Her phone sang an Irish tune, and her heart did that silly leap.

  Jamie.

  “I should answer, even if to put him off. He’s in Colombia. He won’t know,” she said, smooth as leather—a lie.

  Tio Antonio studied her, and she lifted her hands. “I wouldn’t put him in harm’s way for any reason.”

  He was checking in, but if she knew anything about Jamie and his team, it was that they were close behind.

  Antonio gripped her hand, a warning. He got up as if to leave. “I must check in. I will be back.” He snapped his fingers and a man came in through the back door.

  Missy gasped. “Geez,” she hissed. He had more…pull than she thought. Just how powerful had he gotten? But she nodded, thinking of the very dead Ignacio…and of Kiana, who could very well be dead. She swallowed. “No funny business,” she confirmed.

  And then answered her phone.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jamie had been calling her phone off and on as they travelled. If Malcolm was picking up the GPS, it must be on, so he had to try. He was about ready to hang up again when he finally got through.

  “She answered,” he whispered to Malcolm, who nodded once and then began typing on his computer.

  “Jamie.” Her voice cracked.

  “You okay?” He knew she wasn’t. The evidence within his home was enough to know.

  “Just grading papers. Had a busy day. Xavier lost his lunch in class today, hopefully we’re one and done. Not sure I can take another day with sick kids.” She laughed, but it sounded strained. Under duress flashed in his brain. He forced himself to answer.

  “Funny, how that happens. It reminds me of the last time I was sick. Remember how I hurled as soon as we walked in the door? We had to clean up the front hall. Might as well have had to clean up a dead body.”

  She hesitated, and he swore he could hear her release a slow breath. “That was the worst. And I was starving, so I went up to that little Mexican restaurant on the coast.”

  “I remember.”

  Malcolm gave him an okay sign.

  “Will you be home soon?” she asked.

  He hesitated. “Another day or so.”

  God, it was hard to talk to her. She spoke as if she were home, and she wasn’t. He was talking like he wasn’t home, and he was. Ironic much?

  “Good.” She answered shortly, and he caught the sound of someone in the background, which put his senses on high alert. “Look, I have to go, Jamie, and I want you to know. I love you. Plain and simple. I don’t know why I’ve put off marrying you for so long, and when you get back, I want us to get married.”

  His huffed laugh was filled with disbelief. “I get it.”

  His Missy was smart. She didn’t want to marry him any more than she had at the beginning of the week. “I’ll find you,” he said. “You take care of yourself, because I am coming for you.”

  She laughed, as if they were having a regular conversation about stupid shit. “You don’t have to do that. I’d marry you anyway,” she fake-teased.

  He kept silent at her mention of marriage and her statement that he should stay put. No way.

  “Just stay safe, okay?” Missy said. “Don’t worry about me. Take care of yourself.”

  His head was shaking when he finally replied, “You’re my life, Missy.”

  She hung up before saying anything else.

  His heart squeezed. This life, what a cluster. “Where is she?”

  “Not far from Veracruz, near the coast, like you suggested—in Martinez’s region. If the address you have is still the same, she’s at her grandmother’s,” Malcolm answered, even as he typed away. “I’m sending Hawk the coordinates, and he’ll have transportation ready for us within the hour.”

  A warm hand came down and rested on his back. He looked up at Marie, who gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ll get her.”

  He’d said the phrase to clients over the years, and it occurred to him, he’d never really known if it was true. Just hoped. He would reconsider using it next time.

  “Fuck,” he whispered and strode to the door, swinging it open and taking the few steps to the sand. He stopped short at the sight of the young woman, several feet from where he stood. The new girl. Kiana. She’d been here with Missy. He went over to her and sat, resting his elbows on his knees. “You okay?”

  She shrugged, rubbing a hand at the back of her neck. “I’ve had worse.”

  He didn’t know anything about her, but those three words revealed another story, one more for the books. They all came with stories of their own, which ended up weaving through the life of the company.

  Shit, he really was getting old to have thoughts like that. Awkwardly, he patted her shoulder. “I’m glad you were here.”

  She scoffed. “Yeah, right. Because I did an amazing job at taking care of Missy.”

  “If Missy had been alone, we probably wouldn’t even be here right now. We’d have flown to Raleigh for a debriefing, as we normally do.”

  She sighed, closed her eyes, and let her head fall back. Then, as she brought it forward, she began that slow rubbing again.

  “I talked to her, you know.”

  “What?” She turned to him sharply. “How?”

  “I called her again. She answered,” he said with a shrug.

  “Is she okay?

  “I think so.” A smile ghosted through him. “She’s tough—”

  “Apparently far tougher than I am,” Kiana said with a self-deprecating laugh.

  “I know how you feel.”

  She grunted. “I doubt it.”

  The sun was beginning to sink into the land behind them. He loved the darkening of the sky, the grays and purples disappearing into the shiny black of the wa
ter. He glanced back over at his new teammate and laughed. “You have no idea what happened in Colombia, do you?”

  When she turned her head, their gazes locked. There was a shine of the headache that was obviously bothering her, in her eyes. As if she just wanted to shut them for a while and relieve the tension.

  “I totally failed the team,” he continued. “Craig was shot, and a crazy German took us hostage. Bobby saved the day. Marie, too.” He chuckled. “I’m not really leader material.”

  “You aren’t to blame for anything that happened.”

  He shrugged. “Neither are you.” Jamie felt more than heard her sigh. “No one could have known who was going to come through that door. You’re lucky to be alive.”

  “I know. I know. Gawd,” she said, and he could hear the strong midwestern, Chicago accent come through. Her voice trembled, but she stiffened her resolve, turned her head, stretching the muscles of her neck. “It was just a shitty way to show that I’m a valuable member of the team.”

  With the sun gone, and the only light shining down from The Shack windows behind them, Jamie stretched his legs and stood. He held out a hand to Kiana.

  She took it.

  As he pulled her up, he said, “You’ve got lots of time to prove yourself.”

  They walked together back up to the scuba Shack. He wanted her to know that she was going to be enough, was good enough for Hawk Elite. Because being part of a team like this was intimidating. “You know Marie was a thief before she came to work with Hawk, right?”

  “I thought that was a rumor.”

  Jamie lifted a brow and grinned. “Eh.”

  The door opened as they reached it. “Everything okay out here?” Bobby’s voice held a note of…something different. But hadn’t he been acting strange? All oddly capable and responsible and shit?

  “Just talking about the team,” Jamie answered. “I’m going to check in with Malcolm. Would you make sure Kiana gets some Tylenol? She’s got a headache.”

  “I’m fine.” Kiana tried to cover her surprise by objecting. “Really.”

  Bobby rolled his eyes. “Come on, Key.” He took her elbow and guided her toward the steps. She tugged her arm back from his grip.