“Now what?” Morgan asked the sky. He leaned back against the tree fern’s stem, then snapped forward, wincing with pain. His sleeves slid off, having nothing to hold them up.
“Well, I figure the house is only about fifty meters away, and everybody just ran out of it toward the wreck,” Felicity said. “I’m thinking that’s the place to be.”
“They are not running to the crash,” Frederico said. “They are running in all directions, disappearing into the jungle. They fear Anaconda’s death, and without a clear leader, the Escorpionistas will begin fighting each other for dominance. No one wants to be in that battle until they know which way it may go.”
Morgan nodded, and struck out for the house. The grass was wet and sharp against his toes and it felt good. The sun had risen a bit and its warm rays felt good too. He was not sure he deserved to be alive, but he sure appreciated it.
Felicity gripped Morgan’s arm. He staggered and almost fell over. When he looked at her with a question in his eyes she pointed off to their right. At first he saw nothing, but he soon focused on a figure in the grass. He was propped up on one arm, holding a gun with the other but unable to aim it. Oily hair hung straight down his forehead to a scar stretching out from next to his right eye.
“I’m thinking that’s unfinished business,” Felicity said, and Morgan nodded. He left Felicity behind and walked toward Quesada. He stopped when he stood five feet away. The Colombian’s gun hand wavered aimlessly. Morgan looked down at the helpless figure and smiled a crooked smile.
“Rough landing,” Morgan said. “Break your leg?” Quesada looked up at Morgan and dropped his gun, trying to sit straighter. “No, it’s your hip that’s broken, isn’t it?” Morgan knelt beside him. “They left you behind, didn’t they? And you can’t walk, can’t even crawl, can’t defend yourself. You don’t want to lay here and wait for blood loss or thirst or the wolves to come for you.”
Quesada looked up at Morgan, his eyes pleading. Morgan leaned toward him and wrapped an arm around Quesada’s head. “By the way, the girl’s name was Mary. Mary Carter. Got it?” Quesada nodded. “Good. When you get there, make sure you tell Marta. He doesn’t know why I killed him.”
Morgan looked toward Felicity. Although she was facing away from him, he saw her jump when she heard Quesada’s spine crack. A moment later, he rejoined her, handing Frederico a torn jacket, which he wrapped gently around Felicity’s shoulders.
Numbed by all that happened in the last half hour, it was a moment before Morgan felt the eyes on him. He turned to face a snarling maned wolf. They had not looked this big before. Morgan and the wolf locked eyes. As long as he faced the animal, it hesitated.
“Frederico, get Felicity to the house,” Morgan said. “Slow and easy.” Why didn’t you pick up Quesada’s gun, he asked himself.
Morgan felt danger from another source and glanced quickly behind himself. Felicity had almost reached the back of the house, and she was face to face with evil. She was staring at Anaconda who, impossibly, was standing almost unhurt, pointing a pistol at Morgan.
“I cannot be destroyed so easily,” Anaconda said, her silver eyes wide with madness. “Don’t you understand? I will always come back. I have power. I have a destiny.”
Frederico opened the sliding glass door and thrust Felicity inside before turning toward his former mistress. “I am sorry,” he said. “Your story ends here.”
Uncertainty crossed Anaconda’s face as she waved her small pistol from Frederico to Morgan and back. Morgan watched her closely, gauging distances and timing, knowing full well that in his present condition he could never reach her before she shot him.
Then a growl made Anaconda turn. A maned wolf was racing toward her. He stopped when she spun on him, but she panicked and shot him. Four others stepped toward her. While the animals focused their attention on Anaconda, Morgan sprinted for the house. He heard a second shot behind him, then the nerve shattering clack of a hammer falling on an empty chamber. Tiny footsteps followed him toward the door, falling hopelessly behind.
Cowering, intimidated animals had become a pack of ferocious predators and the sound from those slavering maws drove Morgan forward. He dived through the door and Frederico slid it into place behind him. Anaconda never got closer than fifteen feet from the glass wall. Felicity dropped her head, but Morgan and Frederico, for different reasons, felt drawn to watch the grisly scene. When she fell forward, Anaconda’s mirror eyes held Morgan’s for an instant, before predatory jaws closed on her face. She never got a chance to scream. The slavering sounds mingled with occasional short growls as the beasts fought over their prey. In two minutes, nothing recognizable as a woman remained.
On her knees at Morgan’s side, Felicity said “Sure and she won’t be coming back from that.”
“She’ll come back,” Morgan said somberly. “They always come back.”
-47-
“We must look a sight,” Felicity said, climbing down from a Ford Ranger they “borrowed” from Anaconda’s retreat.
“Well, they look okay,” Roberts said, nodding toward the men. “You look like a little kid in her father’s clothes.”
“After we phoned you, I scouted the house,” Felicity said. “There weren’t any women’s clothes that came close to fitting me, so I had to take men’s stuff.”
“Well the reports are already coming in,” Roberts said, ushering his three guests into his office building. “At least I never have to wonder where you’ve been.”
“Just what do you mean by that,” Morgan asked. He regretted snapping at his old friend, but he was as tired as he could imagine being. Plus, he hated wearing someone else’s clothes, especially since the man he took them from did not seem particularly clean.
“Well, for one thing, I mean you leave a trail of unconscious and dead men. And women.”
“So what are they…wow. Mark, you’re my hero.” Felicity had just stepped into the conference room. The table was laden to overflowing with food. She sat and began filling a plate with whatever her hand fell on. Morgan and Frederico followed suit. Roberts sat smiling, watching his guests filling themselves. It was all basic breakfast fare and pretty bland, but it was hot and fresh and filling. After six or seven scrambled eggs, Morgan slowed down.
“Just what are your reports saying?” he asked.
“You’ll be pleased to know that the Escorpionistas are in chaos,” Roberts answered. “The sudden leadership vacuum has them sniping at each other in a massive power struggle. The locals don’t generally like to get involved in that stuff but after talking to you, I made a couple of calls. I got the Colombian National Guard to investigate this report of a helicopter crash in the mountains. In the process a number of small time gangsters were gathered up.”
“So, all the deaths and injuries get chalked up to infighting?” Felicity asked, using fingers as a comb to keep her hair out of her food.
“Roger that! And the bonus is, with production shut down for now and no real leadership, it looks like The Escorpionistas won’t be exporting any ice to the States for a while.”
Morgan stopped eating and opened his mouth to say something, but reconsidered. He looked at his partner and saw that she had followed the same thought pattern.
“You’re right,” Felicity said with a weary sigh. “It wasn’t worth it. Nothing could be.” She stopped with a fork halfway to her mouth, and lowered it as if her appetite had faded. She rose from her place and went to one of the windows. Morgan was about to ask about her pensive mood, but he had a feeling she wanted to be out of their conversation for a while.
“Do you need a ride home, Frederico?” Roberts asked.
“Home?” The question seemed to surprise Frederico. “My mistress is gone. My brother is gone. I have nothing here but parents who sold me for money. There is nothing for me here. I hope to go to America and get a new start.”
“I’m sure we can find you a place to stay,” Morgan said. “There’s got to be a job for a guy with your talents.
Maybe in Las Vegas, or at a race track, eh?”
Away from the group, Felicity stared at the mountains dwarfing the city below and slowly shook her head. She had lied to Anaconda after all. The scars, physical and emotional, did not go away. She had always been proud of her body. Now she realized that was where the real damage was. Not to her body, but to her pride.
“I’ll deal with it,” Felicity whispered to herself. “I’ll just have to be as strong as Morgan.” She said it, even as she realized she would be leaning on him more than ever. Forcing herself to stand straighter, she turned to face the group.
Behind her, Morgan was looking at Roberts, only half listening to him. “By the way,” Roberts was saying to Morgan, “not all the calls I made last night were local. I managed to get in touch with…”
Before he could finish the sentence, the door banged open against the wall and Claudette Christophe blew into the room. She was dressed casually and her eyes sagged from sleeplessness. Morgan leaped from his chair and rushed into her embrace.
“God, it’s good to see you,” he said into her jacket collar. Her face and body felt cold, but she clung to Morgan as a nursing baby would its mother. “This assignment has been one snafu after another from the get go. Chuck Barton is dead. And I…I got a girl killed.”
“Do not worry, mon cher. Mister Roberts has told me more about what happened than I really should know. I can make you whole again, my love.”
“Maybe later,” Morgan said, pushing a hand through her straightened black hair. “I need to be by myself for a while. I’m going away.”
“Merde,” Claudette snapped. “This running off to lick your wounds is for children. I am here for you. And I can heal you.”
“You don’t understand.” Morgan pulled away just enough to see her sharp, dark eyes. “The girl and I, we…”
“I can guess.” Claudette’s face was stern but not hurt. “I don’t expect to own you, but when the time comes for caring, I want it to be me.”
Morgan stared out the window at the giant cross standing at the crest of one of the mountains surrounding the city of Bogota. He considered that perhaps he would try healing after a mission without the solitude he had grown accustomed to. It was not like a lifetime commitment, after all. He was not yet ready for that. Or was he?
So much of his life had changed since he met Felicity. He was a businessman now, with responsibilities and a permanent address. In some ways he had committed to his partner. After their years as lovers, did he not owe Claudette a certain commitment as well? Maybe, just maybe, he would try to tell her he really cared.
That thought reminded him they were in a rather public area for this conversation. When he looked over his shoulder he found Roberts staring, Felicity smiling, and Frederico pointedly looking away.
“Say yes, partner,” Felicity said, “and give yourself a real vacation. You deserve it. Come back when you’re ready.” Then, more quietly, “I’m not really sure what I’m going to do.”
Morgan stepped out of Claudette’s embrace and put a hand on Felicity’s shoulder. Now he felt this war was over, and the healing time really would begin.
Also Available by Austin S. Camacho
The Hannibal Jones Mysteries
The Troubleshooter
A Washington attorney buys an apartment building in the heart of the city, but then finds it occupied by drug dealers. No one seems willing or able to take on this challenge until the lawyer meets Hannibal Jones. He calls himself a troubleshooter, but he finds more trouble than he expected facing a local crime boss and his mob-connected father.
Blood and Bone
An eighteen-year-old boy lies dying of leukemia. Kyle“s only hope is a bone marrow transplant, but no one in his family can supply it. His last chance lies in finding his father, who disappeared before Kyle was born. His family turns to a troubleshooter named Hannibal Jones. His search for the missing man leads Hannibal down a twisting path of deception, conspiracy, greed and murder.
Collateral Damage
Bea Collins is certain her fiancée wouldn’t just leave without telling her. Troubleshooter Hannibal Jones is skeptical until the missing fiancée turns up dazed, confused and holding a knife over a dead body. To find the real killer Hannibal travels to Germany, Vegas and through Dean“s past, which includes the murder of Dean“s father.
Damaged Goods
The death of Anita Cooper“s father crushed her dreams. Then a hard man named Rod Mantooth stole her innocence and her father’s legacy. Hope was lost until she encountered Hannibal Jones. Hannibal follows a trail of corrupted human debris leading to Rod Mantooth and a final showdown in the icy waters of the Atlantic.
Russian Roulette
Hannibal Jones is forced to take a case for a Russian assassin. He must investigate Gana, who has stolen Viktoriya, the woman his new client loves. Evidence connects Gana to the apparent suicide of Viktoriya“s father. Then more deaths follow, closing in on Viktoriya. To save the Russian beauty, Hannibal must unravel a complex tangle of clues and survive a dramatic shootout side-by-side with his murderous client.
Other Stark and O’Brien
Adventures from Austin S. Camacho
The Payback Assignment
Morgan Stark, is stranded in the Central American nation of Belize after a raid goes wrong. Felicity O’Brien is stranded in the jungle south of Mexico after doing a job for an American client.
When these two meet, they learn they’ve been double-crossed by the same man: Adrian Seagrave, a ruthless businessman maintaining his respectability by having others do his dirty work.
Morgan and Felicity become friends and partners while following their common enemy’s trail. They become even closer when they find they share a peculiar psychic link, allowing them to sense danger approaching themselves, or each other.
But their extrasensory abilities and fighting skills are tested to their limits against Seagrave’s soldiers-for-hire and Monk, his giant simian bodyguard. A series of battles from California to New York lead to a final confrontation with Seagrave’s army of hired killers in a skyscraper engulfed by flames.
The Orion Assignment
Felicity O’Brien travels to her native Ireland to defend her uncle’s Catholic parish. The job looks easy until they meet Ian O’Ryan, an IRA terrorist who believes he is the reincarnation of Orion the ancient hunter. He is determined to keep the violence alive in Ireland and to spread it throughout the island. Morgan and Felicity use their psychic link to alert them to danger. But against O’Ryan they face danger from an entire army of enemies.
Trying to separate patriotic mercenaries from heartless terrorists leads them to a sniper mission on the rocky Irish coast, a deadly high speed motorcycle race in Belgium, and a final confrontation on an island off the coast of France where Morgan could die by slow torture if Felicity doesn’t find him in time.
Ice Woman Assignment Page 23