Ripple Effect

by L. T. Ryan

I looked around like I just noticed he wasn’t standing there with us. “Where is he?”

  “Hell if I know.” Spero gestured with his head in the direction behind me. “What’s going on out there?”

  “Jack took out the guys down here. He’s got Nicolás, but he didn’t have a chance to clear the second floor. Let’s go.”

  I knew Spero didn’t like taking directions from me, but I was already on the move. The threat of the unknown upstairs was bigger than his problems with me. And with me leading the way I had them at my back. It would put them at ease, even though it was a false sense of security. They had no idea what was waiting for them.

  The three of us crept up the stairs as silently as the wooden steps would allow. As soon as I hit the landing, I took off to the right. Spero took off left, directing McGinnis to follow me. I stopped at the first door and looked back at him. He nodded his head and twisted the knob and pushed it open slowly. When no one jumped out, I stepped inside, quickly taking in the spacious bedroom. It held a wide cherry bed and a matching desk and dresser. I crossed to the left side of the room. McGinnis took the right to clear the bathroom.

  I made it look like I was going to check the closet, but as soon as he stepped out of view I circled around and slipped into the confined room. His eyes caught mine in the mirror. I had to act a second sooner than I planned. Instead of a perfect kill strike, I swung my knife down into his shoulder, then kicked his legs out from underneath him. His head smacked the porcelain sink. As he went down I wrapped my hand around his jaw to both pull him up and to keep him from calling out. I pulled his head back against my torso and slid the knife across his throat and ended him right then and there.

  I left the body on the floor and crossed back around the room. As soon as I entered the hallway, I heard a crash from the direction Spero had walked in. I charged into a room at the far end of the hallway where Jack and Spero grappled hand-to-hand. Noble had years of martial arts experience but it looked as though Spero might give him a run for his money.

  Jack looked up when I entered the room. He gave me a slight nod, then managed to get enough leverage to push Spero several steps back. The other man still had no idea I was there. I crept forward and dug my knife into his spleen. He cried out, twisting away. Jack landed three heavy blows to his gut, and then drove Spero’s head down into his knee.

  Spero fell off to the side. His nose was bent an inch or two to the left. Blood poured over his mouth. Jack looked down at him. “Guess you were right about us all along.”

  “Fuck you.” Spero choked on his blood.

  “Maybe next time.” Jack looked up at me.

  I pulled out Reynard’s suppressed Beretta, racked the slide and chambered a round, and fired three rounds into Spero’s head. “Phase one complete.”

  “Now for the hard part.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The safe house was ten miles from Nicolas’s place. The final stretch was a dirt road littered with potholes. The sedan bounced and pitched and swayed. The AC stopped working along the way. Dirt and dust rode in on the wind and settled on the dash, the seats, and us. The air felt moist. A glance to the west revealed dark clouds headed in from the Pacific. I had a feeling a hell of a storm was brewing.

  The banging from the trunk didn’t phase us. Nicolás had been gagged before we threw him in. His ankles were tied together, so were his wrists. A foot-long length of rope connected the two.

  The three-story home stood out against the dark clouds a quarter-mile away. Not necessarily a bad thing. Not great either. Sadie slowed to a crawl as she navigated the long driveway. I made no move to hide the AR-15 I’d taken from Nicolás’s place on the way out. Thirty rounds gave me plenty of leeway. Sadie pulled up to the side of the house and shifted into park.

  Jack and I cleared the house, floor by floor, room by room. Sadie remained outside. If anyone turned toward the house she’d fire her pistol to warn us and then drive off with our prisoner.

  It didn’t come to that.

  We carried Nicolás inside to the second floor. Jack and I and pinned him down in a chair while Sadie tied his legs to the base and then secured his torso. Even if he managed to free himself, he wouldn’t get far. The three of us would take him down within seconds.

  Nicolás had one eye swollen shut and a large gash above the other. Blood still trickled from his nose and corner of his mouth. Sadie was not to be messed with, it seemed. I stared down at him, showing no emotion. He met my stare. His arms strained against the rope and he extended both middle fingers and aimed them at me.

  “That ain’t gonna get you nowhere,” I said. “Except maybe down to eight fingers when you leave here.”

  The man leaned his head back and then spat a bloody wad of saliva at Sadie. She moved her head in time but couldn’t get completely out of the way. The mess hit her sleeve.

  “You son of a bitch.” She reared back and drove her open palm into his groin. His face twisted as an empty howl passed his lips. She rose and took a couple steps back. Her hand rested on the Glock 19 she had tucked into her waistband.

  He stared up at her with a pained expression that went deeper than his crushed gonads. “You bitch. You think you can deceive me like this? Who are these men?”

  “You haven’t told him yet?” I asked.

  “I figured you guys would want to watch this.”

  The guy had complicated her job in more ways than one. It was time for her revenge.

  “You figured right,” Jack said.

  Sadie looked at me, then at Jack, then back down at Nicolás. It was impossible to gauge her feelings by looking at her face. “I’m not who you think I am. I’m not an accountant. I’m not Michelle. I am in no way involved with your pathetic ass. I work for the CIA, Nicolás, and I’ve been playing you from day one.”

  Nicolás stared down at his hands, eyes wide. Then his nostrils flared, his lips drew tight, his eyes narrowed. He fought against his ropes, tipping his chair over. Jack caught it and righted the man. “I’m going to destroy you.” He looked wildly around the room, then shouted, “All of you.”

  Sadie pulled the sidearm from her hip and pressed the barrel against his groin, making him go still. “You’re not in a position to talk to me like that, Nicolás.” She was cold and calculating. Hardly the woman he’d come to know over the years.

  “What are you saying?” He shook his head, smiled. “The CIA has been watching me this whole time?”

  Sadie’s lips twitched. “Are you serious? You think you’re worth anything more than a passing glance? Your uncle was the mission. Then eventually Goddard. You were barely on our board.”

  Nicolás’s face went another shade darker. “When I get out of this—”

  Jack leaned down. “When you get out of this, if you get out of this, you’re going to prison. Which is a best-case scenario, buddy. Your man Goddard is getting a personalized bullet. Count your blessings.”

  I stepped forward. “We know you have the girl.” Nicolás’s head snapped in my direction. “Where is she?”

  His lips parted as a wide grin spread over his face. Sadie had knocked out at least three of his teeth and broken two others. If he kept that smile on his face, he might lose a few more. His eyebrows rose and he stared at her. “I guess you don’t hold all the cards after all, do you?” He started laughing.

  My hand shot out and I punched him in the face. His head snapped back then rebounded forward. Nicolás spit fresh blood onto the floor an inch from Jack’s shoe. Jack pinned the man down with a look.

  “You don’t want to test me today, man.”

  “And you don’t want to push my buttons,” Nicolás said. “I know where the girl is. You won’t get her until you let me go.” He looked at each of us in turn, perhaps trying to isolate the weakest of us. “Seems like a fair trade.”

  “Except for the part where you walk free. Not gonna happen.”

  Sadie stepped forward, holding her arms out to keep both me and Jack at bay. She looked down at the
man in the chair. “Look, we’re going to find her eventually. You help us now and I’ll protect you. I’ll tell my bosses you were cooperative.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  I took a gamble. “Then we turn you over to Goddard like we were meant to from the beginning. You think jail is worse than what that asshole and his deranged security guys will do to you? Who knows where you’ll end up if you’re in his hands. He’s got more power down here than the CIA. You might not even get to a torture cell. You’ll only get a grave if you’re lucky. He may just want to make an example out of you.”

  Nicolás stared at his hands. I could see him weighing his options.

  Jack pulled out his cell. “You’ve got ten seconds. I’m calling Goddard. You get to decide what I tell him.”

  He licked the blood off his lips, swallowed hard. “What happens if I play your game?”

  Sadie gestured toward us. “Then we keep you safe until we take Goddard out ourselves. Either way, you’re at the end of your rope. You better make the right decision.”

  “Five seconds,” Jack said.

  Nicolás struggled against his bindings again. He grunted, then went slack with a raspy sigh.

  Jack hit the call button and held the phone up to his ear. “What’s it gonna be?”

  Nicolás’s face scrunched up. He spoke through his clenched jaw. “I’ll tell you where she is. But you better hold up your end of the bargain. If anyone shows up there without me, she’s dead.”

  The attention of the room switched over to Jack as soon as Goddard answered the phone. He put the call on speaker. “It’s done. Nicolás is dead.”

  “Good.” There was a rustle of paper in the background and the sound of a drawer sliding shut. “And his men?”

  “Taken out. It was a bloody fight and there were losses on our side, too. But we shouldn’t have any trouble from here on out.”

  “So I suppose you really are as good as Michelle said. Is she safe?”

  Jack looked up at Sadie, who stepped closer to the phone. She let a waver of emotion enter her voice. “I’m here. Everything’s okay. They kept me safe.”

  “Good. Good.” There was a pause. “Put Spero on the phone.”

  Jack met my gaze. “He already took off. Franklin went down and Reynard took a knife to the side. Once we cleared the house, Spero split.”

  Goddard hesitated a moment before he answered. It sounded like he drummed his fingers near the phone’s speaker. “That doesn’t sound like him.”

  “Hell if I know.” Jack spoke quick and gruff. “I got Bear and Michelle with me. You want us to go after him?”

  Another pause. “No. Head back. Bring me Nicolás’s body.”

  “Can’t we just take a picture, man? Not too keen on hauling a body around in a car. Things would get messy real quick if we got pulled over.”

  “Then don’t get pulled over. Bring me Nicolás’s body. Don’t make me tell you a third time.” The line went silent.

  Jack slipped the phone in his back pocket, then turned to Nicolás. “We did what we said we’d do. Your turn.”

  “So I can tell you where she is and you can bring my body to Goddard after all? No way, man.”

  Sadie opened her mouth to argue when a ringtone went off. It took a moment to pinpoint the sound. Jack stepped forward and pulled a phone from Nicolás’s pocket. The name Vasquez lit up the screen.

  Jack turned the phone toward Nicolás. “You expecting a call?”

  Nicolás’s eyebrows drew together separated by a fine line that traversed his forehead. “I don’t know why he’s calling me. We don’t have any business with one another. It all goes through Goddard.”

  “Any idea what it could be about?” Jack said.

  Nicolás thought for a moment. “Could be a heads up for Goddard. Rumor has it Vasquez holds a grudge.”

  “A grudge for what?” I asked.

  “Hell if I know.”

  The phone stopped ringing. We all stared at it for a couple heartbeats, then it lit up again.

  “Better answer it,” I said. “Only way to find out.”

  Jack tapped the speaker button. He waited for Vasquez to say something first.

  The other man’s voice filled the room. “Hello, Mr. Noble.”

  My head snapped up. How could he possibly know Jack was with Nicolás, much less that he answered the phone? Sadie crossed the room and looked out through the window. After a moment, she turned back to us and shook her head. There was no one out there.

  “And Riley is there too, I presume?” Vasquez said. “And Michelle? Though I doubt that’s her real name. I still haven’t tracked down her real identity, but it’s only a matter of time. Don’t be shy. Speak up.”

  “What the hell do you want?” Jack said.

  “Ah, Jack, you need to work on your bedside manner.” Vasquez laughed. He knew he had taken us by surprise and was basking in it. “All right, all right. Here’s what I want.”

  There was a weight in my stomach that made me feel as though I was going to crash through the floor at any minute.

  Vasquez cleared his throat. “Kill Thomas Goddard within the next twelve hours or I’ll tell him exactly who you all are.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Jack tossed Nicolás’s phone on the floor and strode over to the window. He threw it open with a couple of strong heaves. A warm gust blew in, disturbing some papers on a corner table. The room smelled like gardenias. He wiped the sweat from his brow, shook it off, then grabbed Nicolás by the back of the collar and dragged him to the wall. The chair screeched on the red tile floor like fingernails down a chalkboard. I gritted against the sound. He cut the ropes binding the man to the chair and hoisted him headfirst through the window. Sadie and I lurched forward. Jack threw up one hand to keep us at bay. He had the man secured at the ankles. The soles of his shoes were all I saw.

  All bluster was gone. Nicolás was screaming his head off.

  “I’m going to say this one time, asshole. We’re going to save that girl, then we’re going to kill Goddard, and then I’m going to deal with Vasquez personally. The only unknown factor here is whether you live or die, and that depends on what you choose to tell me right now.”

  Nicolás was trying to flail his limbs to keep his balance, but his wrists and ankles were still bound. His screams intensified. We didn’t care. There were no houses for miles in either direction. He could make all the noise he wanted.

  Jack let the guy even further out the window. I resisted the urge to pull him back. I had no love for the guy, but a girl’s life was on the line. Jack was taking a big gamble.

  “My grip is slipping. Keep screaming. No one is going to hear you out here. Not even when you hit the ground.”

  “All right, all right!” Nicolás yelled. “All right! I’ll tell you.”

  “Tell me now before I accidentally let you go.” Jack was starting to strain against the man’s thrashing. It was taking all his strength to keep him from diving head first into the concrete.

  “She’s at my uncle’s safehouse. It’s a cottage outside the city. I can take you there.”

  Jack started to pull the guy up, then hesitated and let him slide back out a couple inches at a time. Was he thinking about letting him go?

  “Jack.” Sadie said, perhaps sharing my concern. “If he takes us there, we can keep an eye on him. If he’s lying, we can deal with that then.”

  “I’m not lying.”

  “Jack.”

  Jack glanced back at Sadie. His wild eyes calmed and he nodded. He turned back to the window and stuck his head out to look at Nicolás. “Make no mistake about it. If you’re lying to me, I will kill you slowly and painfully. You’ll beg me to bring you back here and drop you out of this window.”

  Jack pulled Nicolás inside and let him crash to the tile floor head first. His scalp split open under his hairline. Somehow the guy had the wherewithal to keep his mouth shut. Jack looked around the room before snatching Nicolás’s phone off the ground and
heading down the stairs.

  Sadie glanced over at me, mouth open. “The hell was that?”

  I pushed a breath of air through pursed lips. “It has been a long day.”

  * * *

  Blood mixed with sweat and settled into Nicolás’s eyebrow. Sadie found a dirty rag and tied it around the guy’s head to stop the blood flow. We secured his hands behind him. He seemed to have achieved some state of zen and remained calm while seated on the floor. A lot of men were all bluster until they met someone with less respect for life than themselves. A solid brush with death will put anyone’s existence in perspective.

  “Jack’s already outside,” Sadie said. “You ready?” She glanced down at our prisoner.

  I reached down and picked the guy up. He went limp, his spoiled ass resigned to the fact that he had no choice in the matter. His blood trickled down my triceps and around my elbow. It settled into the hair on my forearm. Halfway down the stairs I knocked his head into the wall. The guy didn’t make a sound. Sadie opened the front door, peeked outside, then stepped out of the way so I could clear the entryway without further damaging Nicolás.

  Jack was leaning up against the car, arms crossed, eyes closed, facing the sun. He looked like a wolf soaking it in after a long cold winter. Behind his closed eyelids he sensed everything around him. Saw it outlined in the heat signatures the bright light offered. His cheeks and forehead were red. His hair rose and fell with the wind.

  “Everyone cool as cats now, huh?” I said.

  The trance was broken. He opened his eyes, shrugged and circled around to the other side of the car. “You got him, big man?”

  “Yeah.” I pulled Nicolás off my shoulder and opened the rear door. A cloud of dust rose off the seat. I tossed the guy into the back and forced him to move over so I wouldn’t have to walk around. He did so without any grumbling. Sadie slid in behind the wheel and Jack jumped into the passenger seat.

  Sadie’s lips were pursed. “Where to, Nicolás?”

  “Start driving.” He jutted his chin straight ahead. “It’ll take an hour or so.”