Ripple Effect

by L. T. Ryan

  Jack opened the passenger side door. “Let’s roll.”

  * * *

  The rest of the car ride was spent arguing over whether Sadie would join us on our mission to kill Goddard. She wanted to be there. She wanted to be the one to put a bullet in his brain after all these years. She wanted him to look up at her and realize she had been playing him the whole time. If anyone was gonna obliterate the op she’d worked on for so long, it had to be her.

  Jack didn’t want to take that from her, but there was the little problem of the man in the back seat.

  “You can just leave me in the car,” Nicolás said.

  The hope in his voice was comical. I couldn’t help but laugh. “In another life, I might have liked you, man. You’re an idiot, but you’re a funny idiot.”

  Nicolás scowled back at me. There’d been a change in him. He’d been taken down a peg. All that undeserved power he’d garnered from being related to his uncle had gone to his head. It hadn’t been a flattering look on him. Not that this broken version was much better. A marginal improvement at best. I no longer wanted to knock out the rest of his teeth every time he opened his mouth.

  Sadie kept the gas down to the floor. She wanted to get back to the city as quickly as possible. Now that we had a plan, everyone was looking forward to seeing it through. “Let’s call in Javier and catch him up. We can drop Nicolás off, take him off the board. You need me more than we need him with us.”

  “I have a rapport with Goddard now,” Jack said. “We don’t need you to get in the door.”

  He didn’t mean to be dismissive, but his words rankled at her.

  “Jesus, Jack. I’ve been undercover for years. I’ve wasted my life here. You think you deserve to be there more than me?”

  “It’s not about who deserves to be there or not.” He popped open the glove box but didn’t take anything out. “It’s what makes the most logical sense.”

  Sadie released one hand from the wheel and dug into her outer leg pocket. Jack was so busy digging through the contents of the glove box that he didn’t notice until it was too late. Before he could swat the phone out of her hand, she dialed a number and hit send with more force than necessary and had the phone up to her ear.

  “We’ve got Nicolás.” There was a pause. “No, he doesn’t know where she is. We need to drop him off with you. We’re heading over to Goddard’s now to figure out the next step. She’s close. I know she is. We’ll get her.”

  Jack’s fists were balled up on his lap, but he didn’t reach for the phone. If he had, he might not have kept his hand.

  “Be there in forty.” Sadie hung up and slammed her phone down into the cup holder cracking the screen. “See? Problem solved.”

  “You shouldn’t have done that. Javier’s desperate. If he thinks Nicolás doesn’t have Camila, he’s gonna start making bold moves. He’s got resources, assets, that he can call off of their assignments. You don’t know what kind of ripple effect this could have.”

  She relaxed her grip on the wheel. “Then we better wrap this up sooner rather than later.”

  “You’re putting a girl’s life in danger.”

  Sadie slammed on the brakes so suddenly that it launched me forward into the back of her seat. Nicolás threw up his tied hands and stopped himself from smacking his face into the back of Jack’s headrest. Noble cursed. A horn honked behind us. A station wagon with wood paneled sides passed us by. The driver threw his hands up in anger but didn’t bother stopping to chew us out. Probably best for him.

  “You will not take this from me, Jack.” Sadie’s voice was deadly still. “Javier won’t do anything that could put Camila in danger. She’s all he cares about. Admit that you just don’t want me there because you have it in your head that you need to keep me safe.”

  Jack looked like she’d slapped him. “You’re an agent for the CIA who has clearly managed to survive in this ecosystem for several years. Why the hell would I feel like I need to keep you safe?”

  “Because you’re a man? Because you don’t think I can handle myself? Because you have a history of losing the people around you, so you constantly overcompensate by taking those choices away from them.”

  “Don’t use bullshit psychology on me, Sadie. Keep that to yourself.”

  She’d struck a nerve with him. I leaned forward. “We don’t have time for this.”

  Sadie gestured at Jack while accelerating past the station wagon. “Tell him that.”

  I turned to Jack. “Look, man, I get it. She’s one more back we gotta watch. But we could use her. She’ll get us in close to Goddard. Having an extra set of hands isn’t going to hurt us. She knows what she’s signing up for. She deserves to have this. And even if he suspects us, she can strike without notice, without suspicion. It might go down smoother with her there.”

  Jack blew out a breath and cracked his neck from side to side. I felt the warm wind blow in through the windows and slam into my face for the first time. The next sixty seconds might as well have been an hour. When he answered he was much calmer. “It’s not that I don’t think you can handle it.”

  “Then what is it?” Sadie’s voice was still sharp.

  Jack laughed humorlessly. “If things don’t go as planned, if it gets out of hand, Goddard will use you against us. Do you understand who we are?”

  She glanced over, said nothing.

  “I mean who we really are? If you don’t then pull over and get out now, because every inch we take forward cements you further into this, and I will not be held liable for the decisions I have to make to get this job done.”

  There was a moment of silence in the car. I couldn’t help myself. “I’m offended.”

  Sadie looked at me from the rearview mirror, an eyebrow raised.

  “Known this son of a bitch for years. I’m still not good enough to be used for leverage against him. He’d sooner let me die than drop his weapon.”

  “Nah, man, I’d just shoot right through you. You can’t get any uglier as it is.”

  Even Nicolás chuckled. I shot him a look and he knew well enough to turn in the other direction, though there was still a smile on his face.

  “So you’re just trying to keep me pretty?” There was finally some humor in Sadie’s voice.

  “Exactly.” Jack’s face turned serious. “Look, forget I said anything. You’re right. You deserve to be there. But it’s a tossup between who gets to pull the trigger.”

  “You’re on.”

  I leaned forward again. “Count me in.”

  Nicolás turned back to us. “What about me?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “Nice try.”

  “You’re going away for a long time, man.”

  Nicolás shrugged. “It was worth the try.”

  * * *

  The scene outside the compound was unlike before. There were several vehicles parked on the grounds. Javier sent three of his men out to meet us. They took Nicolás by the arm and shoved him into the back of a sedan with heavily tinted windows. The guy shot a look back at us that I had trouble reading. Was he saying goodbye? Had he changed his mind and wanted us to take him back?

  Two of the men climbed into the vehicle. The third approached and told us that Javier was busy working another angle to find his daughter and that he’d be in touch with us shortly. We should proceed as planned.

  “I almost feel bad for the guy,” I said as the sedan pulled away.

  Jack shot me a look. “Seriously?”

  I shrugged. “In another life he could’ve been a funny guy.”

  Sadie started to walk back to the Camry, driving her shoulder into me as she passed. “In this life he was a killer. He doesn’t get a chance at another life, even a hypothetical one.”

  We all slid back into the car. Jack caught her eye. “You feel bad?”

  “About turning him in?”

  “That.” He chose his words carefully. “And the fact that he wasn’t the man you hoped he could’ve been.”

&
nbsp; Sadie started the car and slowly pulled away from the compound. When she spoke, I heard the conviction in her voice. “No. He had his chance. He proved he wasn’t interested in being a better man. I can understand living in gray areas. We all do it. But I won’t stand for someone who consistently chooses themselves over others. There’s no hope for people like that.”

  I caught the strain on Jack’s face as he looked out the window. We both struggled with being good men, but perhaps Jack more so than most.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “Is it done?” Goddard stood at the top of the concrete steps, his hand on his stomach as though he’d just finished a healthy meal.

  The three of us made it halfway from the Camry to the front door before we were met by his security detail. They approached with weapons drawn. They patted us down and stripped us of our pistols. This would not be an easy fight.

  Jack hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “Body’s in the trunk. With the heat and humidity we don’t want to wait too much longer or he’s gonna start to stink.”

  The senator regarded us for a moment. His voice was even as he spoke next. “I haven’t heard anything from Spero or the others. What happened?”

  “Hell if I know, man.” Jack appeared agitated at the question. “Like I said, he took off with Reynard. McGinnis was with him. They’d been inside after the dirty work was done. Who knows what they might’ve found or took from in there. All I know is it’s not my problem they haven’t checked in yet.”

  Goddard stepped forward. “It absolutely is your problem. You were the last ones to see him alive and now he’s not answering my calls? It doesn’t look good, Jack.”

  Sadie took on a pleading tone. “I saw them leave, too. They just drove off without a word. I don’t know what happened.”

  “Who took Nicolás down?”

  “Spero did,” I said. “We were supposed to do it as a team, but I got hung up around back and they entered the house before I did. I didn’t make it inside until it was all over.”

  “You were meant to be with him, Michelle. And you, Jack, to keep her safe. So what happened when Spero and the others entered the room?”

  Sadie and Jack exchanged a look. She spoke first. “Spero took him upstairs. Told us to wait there. I heard screaming, and then just…nothing. When he came back down he looked agitated. Reynard was injured. They didn’t even say anything. They just left.”

  “And why do you think that is?” Goddard’s voice was cold.

  Sadie looked nervous. “I really don’t know. Did Nicolás have any information that Spero wanted? Did he have a reason to just abandon you like that?”

  Instead of answering, Goddard turned to two of his men. “Start at Nicolás’s compound and go from there. I want them found before the day is over.” He turned to the rest of his guys. “Get Nicolás’s body out of the trunk and bring him around back.”

  With that, Goddard walked back inside and slammed the door. The two men instructed to go after Spero headed to one of the vehicles parked out front. A beefy man with a mustache gestured at Sadie’s car with his AR-15 and forced us to the lead the way to the trunk. The remaining three men followed behind. They appeared to be unarmed.

  Jack dragged his feet as he made his way over to the Camry. He started making small talk with me, waiting for the other car to pull out of the driveway and disappear down the road.

  “I can’t wait to get the hell out of this country.”

  Sadie caught on quickly. “It’s not so bad. There are some perks.”

  “Few and far between” I said. “I miss cheeseburgers.”

  “You know we have cheeseburgers in Costa Rica, right?” she asked.

  I waved my hand. “Don’t taste the same.”

  “You’re so full of shit.”

  “I just have distinguished taste buds.”

  The beefy guy cut the rifle’s barrel between us. “Get on with it.”

  We’d reached the trunk. Sadie patted her pockets but came up empty-handed for the keys. She looked at Jack. He patted his own pockets, then held up a finger and jogged around to the driver’s side of the car. As he popped his head inside, I peeked at the car retreating down the driveway. Just a few more moments and they’d be out of sight.

  Jack dug around inside the car for long enough that one of the men got antsy and walked over to the passenger side and stooped to look in the window. Jack popped up and held the dangling keys in his hand.

  “Let’s go, let’s go.” The lead man made a sweeping gesture with his rifle.

  “Relax, dude. He’s not getting any deader.” Jack circled back around to the trunk. He stole a glance at the car on its way out as he did. Its taillights faded as it turned the final corner in the driveway. Jack stuck the keys in the trunk and twisted. I felt Sadie tense next to me, ready for what was going to become a fist fight if we were lucky and a massacre if we weren’t.

  Jack threw open the trunk, dropped his hand inside and spun toward the man with the rifle. He slammed the business end of a baseball bat across the guy’s face. The man took it with a grunt and stumbled backward, throwing his hands up in defense a few seconds too late.

  A tall, lanky man lunged for Sadie just as she brought her foot up to kick him in the gut. He dropped to his hands and knees. She drove her foot into his face. His head snapped back. Blood poured from his nose.

  The remaining two men stalked toward me as I backed around the Camry, drawing them away from the others, hoping the separation would work in our favor.

  That’s what happened when you were the biggest guy in the room—you got the most attention. While Jack and Sadie had enough of a fight on their hands going one-on-one, I’d have to play it smart by taking on the last two guys from Goddard’s team.

  These weren’t rookies either. They both came at me at the same time swinging. I threw my hands up to block, but immediately took a fist to the stomach. It only slightly knocked the air out of me, but it was enough to catch me off guard. The man on the left, who had long hair and was wearing a beret like some Che Guevara wannabe, pulled out a baton and brought it down on my raised arm. I gritted my teeth against the pain.

  One perk of being the biggest guy in the room was intimidation. I could tell the other guy, who seemed to have been trained as a boxer and didn’t much use his legs, was playing it safe. His fists packed a wicked punch, but he knew that if I got a good jab in, he’d hit the ground like a ton of bricks. Worse for him was that he had to get close to deliver a strike, increasing the chances I’d connect on a counter.

  I backed up until we were at the front end of the car. It smelled like burnt oil and antifreeze. The sounds of blows landing on the other side was nearly enough to distract me. I wanted to make sure Jack and Sadie were handling their own, but one wrong move here and I’d be down for the count.

  As soon as I turned the corner of the car, I charged the boxer knowing Che Guevara would be able to land a couple of hits with his baton before I’d be able to turn my full attention to him. I deflected two punches as I moved in close. I picked up the boxer by the waist and slammed him down on the hood of the car driving my shoulder into his gut. The other guy smacked me twice on the back of the head. Black spots exploded in front of me reducing my field of vision in half.

  The boxer didn’t have room to evade. He was an easy target. He threw up his hands to block my blows, but I pushed through his defenses until my fist connected with his face. A couple of hits later he was a bloody mess, as still as a corpse across the front of the Camry. I endured a few blows across the back from the other man but it was nothing I couldn’t wait until later to worry about.

  When I spun to face Che Guevara, I had just enough time to lean back and avoid the full force of the end of his baton across my face. But I hadn’t moved quickly enough. The tip of his weapon broke open my left cheek and I felt warm blood spill down my face.

  My opponent crouched to keep his center of gravity low. If I charged him now he’d be able to use my momentum against me. S
o I hung back, waited for him to get impatient. Didn’t take long. He took two loping steps forward and brought his weapon down aiming for my head again. I was still dizzy from the last hit. If he landed this one I’d probably be out of commission.

  I’ve had my fair share of concussions and I didn’t care to add another to my chart.

  I threw up my arm to block the blow. The stick smacked my bruised arm. I growled in pain. My anger fueled my strength. I grabbed his wrist and twisted until it popped. He cried out and struggled to pull away. I wrenched the baton from his grasp and whipped him across the face. Blood sprayed from his mouth. The force of the blow spun him around. He collapsed on the ground in a cloud of dirt. Before he had time to recover, I was on him, choking him with the baton against his throat until his body went still.

  Breathless, I stood and turned back to the others. I saw Jack standing over his opponent’s lifeless body. Sadie had a gash across her arm to rival the one on Jack’s side. She’d wrested the knife free from her guy. It now protruded from his chest.

  “All right.” Jack dusted the dirt from his pants. “Who’s up for round two?”

  Chapter Thirty

  The dust that lined Sadie’s nose tickled the back of her throat. She pinched her nostrils together to stifle a sneeze as Jack checked the wound on her arm. She’d told him it wasn’t deep enough to worry about. He ignored her. Of course. He was an arrogant son of a bitch. But they worked well together, she thought as she glanced around at the carnage on the ground.

  Sunlight reflected off the windows stretching across the front of Goddard’s house. She shielded her eyes in an attempt to see what was going on inside.

  Jack ripped off a piece of his shirt and wrapped it tightly around her upper bicep. She nodded her thanks, then scooped up the Glock that had been taken from her. Jack found the big guard’s rifle, and Bear took the AR-15 he’d placed under the backseat of the car.