Drop Zone

by Traci Hunter Abramson

  “You’re breaking my heart,” Tristan retorted.

  “If you’re so bored, why don’t you go collect some fuel for our fire tonight?” Brent suggested.

  “I’m not that bored.”

  “Go find some fuel anyway.” Brent’s tone shifted from a mild suggestion to an order.

  Quinn accepted the direction good-naturedly. “Come on, Tristan. You can help me.”

  “Hey, I’m injured.”

  “A couple of scratches and you call that an injury?” Quinn asked. He didn’t wait for an answer before heading into the brush.

  “You know he’s not going to last much longer just waiting here,” Tristan said as soon as Quinn’s footsteps had faded.

  “I know.” Patience had never been Quinn’s strong suit. Brent looked out at the horizon. “How’s your arm doing?”

  “Better.”

  “Better, as in it’s starting to heal, or better as in you can climb down a cliff?”

  “Both.”

  Brent considered his answer. “We’ll give them until noon tomorrow. If we don’t see any sign of them by then, we’ll start after them.”

  “Do you think those vines will hold us?”

  “They’d better.” Brent motioned to the tree above them. “But we’ll test them in the morning just to make sure.”

  * * *

  “I know Quinn said the terrain was rough, but this is getting ridiculous,” Jay said.

  Seth stood beside him, staring at yet another steep drop, this one situated between two thirty-foot waterfalls. He looked at the water flowing on either side of them. It appeared when they had ditched their longboat, they had inadvertently come ashore between two tributaries of the same river. They were trapped by the rapids on either side, but if they could reach the lagoon below, they could skirt around to the village. If necessary, they could swim across.

  “At least it’s not as bad as the last one.”

  “The last one we had rope, and we still had to leave half the squad behind,” Jay reminded him.

  Seth couldn’t argue with that.

  “And,” Jay added, “we didn’t have to worry about an audience.”

  Less than a mile away, they could see the thatched roofs of a community of huts clustered by the lagoon. A number of people were currently taking advantage of the wide beach and peaceful setting.

  Seth studied the cliff face, pleased that this one had a decent number of hand- and footholds. He considered their dilemma. They couldn’t climb at night, or they wouldn’t be able to see to get down. If they tried during the day, they would most definitely be noticed, and he hesitated to be in a position of drawing attention to themselves. “I think our best bet is to wait until sunset. The shadows will hide us, but we’ll still have enough light to see. The airport looks like it’s only a mile or two past the village. We can make it there easily tonight.”

  Jay pointed to some nearby trees. “We should be able to hide out there and get some rest while we wait.”

  “And eat some more pineapple?”

  Jay rolled his eyes. “And eat some more pineapple.”

  Chapter 33

  Vanessa stood across the street from the restaurant. She was early. She was always early.

  The restaurant had barely opened for dinner when she approached the host and made her reservation for four o’clock. At the same time, she had pressed a small audio device to the underside of a wooden podium just inside the door.

  She had no intention of sitting exposed at a restaurant. She would wait for Antonio to come to her. Then she would show up after she was sure neither of them had brought any unwanted company.

  From her position, a shadowed alley between two buildings across the street from the restaurant, she had the added advantage of being able to observe the comings and goings at the bank. Damian had told her how to spot a diamond courier, but after an hour had ticked by, she hadn’t spotted anyone who fit the profile.

  The courier Damian and Paige had tagged with the marking spray was who they expected to see tomorrow, but their sensors showed he was still in Colombia. If she did see a courier tonight, it would be someone else, someone they hadn’t seen before.

  Business continued at the bank and the restaurant as usual. The earpiece Vanessa wore gave her access to the people entering and leaving the restaurant, but so far, no one had asked for Guillermo, the name Vanessa and Warren had agreed on. Four o’clock came and went, Vanessa growing apprehensive as the minutes ticked by.

  One of the rules she often tried to drill into her students’ heads was the importance of being on time for a meet. She also emphasized that when someone wasn’t on time, the likelihood of intelligence being compromised grew exponentially. Ignoring her own advice, she lingered thirty minutes longer, hoping Antonio really was just running late or perhaps had gotten caught in traffic.

  When it became apparent that her contact wasn’t coming, Vanessa finally stepped out of her hiding place. She strolled casually down the sidewalk past one business and entered the next one, a bakery she had scouted when she’d first arrived. She went through the motions of buying a baguette.

  After making her purchase, instead of heading back out the front door, she walked to the back of the shop as though she was going to use the restroom. Just past the restroom doors, she reached the back door of the bakery, turned the knob, and stepped outside.

  Now in another alleyway, she used the buildings on either side to conceal her as she traveled a full block before entering the underground garage of another building, this one a hotel, where she had parked Damian’s truck.

  Though she knew she should wait until she got back to the hotel room to call Warren, she pulled out her phone and dialed. “Your guy wasn’t there.”

  “I don’t understand. I confirmed with him right after we spoke. He had the address and the time. Are you sure you didn’t miss him?”

  “Positive. I was two hours early, and I waited another half hour past the meet time.”

  “I’m sorry, Vanessa. I’ll check to see what happened. We can try for another meet tonight.”

  “Tonight’s not good,” Vanessa said, feeling like she would be pushing her luck to try for a first-time meeting after dark. “I’ll get back with you.”

  She didn’t wait for Warren’s response. She hung up the phone, turned it off, and slid the key into the ignition. The truck roared to life, and Vanessa pulled out of the parking garage. Using her own brand of CIA protocol, she circled away from the bank and drove in a different direction than her final destination.

  She made sure she wasn’t being followed and finally stopped to eat dinner. She took her time over her meal, waiting until it was dark before making her way back to the truck and circling through the city once more, this time toward the hotel.

  * * *

  “You aren’t going to believe this,” Terrance said as he walked into the room.

  Andrea looked up from the stack of real estate listings that currently littered the kitchen table. “You’d better not tell me Vanessa Johnson is dead.”

  “No, but she disappeared again.”

  “Did she show up at the bank?”

  “I caught a glimpse of her heading into a bakery across the street,” he said. “Are you sure your friend at CIA is giving you good information?”

  “The information is good. You just aren’t using it very well.”

  “She didn’t see me there. She’ll be back in a couple days. Obviously, she thinks the clue we left her is credible, or she wouldn’t have shown up today.”

  “I hope we don’t end up regretting killing Pablo,” Andrea said.

  “He had become a liability, and you know it,” Terrance insisted. “Vanessa could identify him, and we couldn’t take the chance that he would be picked up and talk.”

  “I thought you just didn’t want to pay him the extra money he was asking for.”

  “That too. Paying off that cop to kill him was a whole lot cheaper than what Pablo was asking for,” Terrance sa
id. “Besides, it could prove helpful to have someone on the police force helping us look for Vanessa.”

  “This is getting ridiculous. We should have had her days ago.”

  “We’ll get her.” He tapped his finger on the real estate listing closest to him. “You just concentrate on how you’re going to spend all of this money once we do.”

  * * *

  “Is this all for us?” Paige stood in the center of the large living room, a half dozen wide chairs arranged with several occasion tables to make a nice conversation area. Three doors spanned the wall across from the entrance, a shared bathroom situated between the two bedrooms.

  She pulled her suitcase to the room on the left to find two full-sized beds as well as a hammock hanging from the wall to her right and a pillar located a few feet from the end of the beds. Leaving her suitcase inside the door, she turned back to Damian. “Seriously. Is this all for us?”

  “It is.” Damian put his suitcase in the other bedroom. “I’m not sure if this was all they had available when Kel booked our room or if he’s being optimistic about us finding the rest of the guys.”

  “Let’s assume it’s the latter.”

  “I want to take a walk around. Do you mind coming with me?”

  “Not at all.” Paige followed him outside, raking her fingers through her hair when the wind picked up and sent it dancing around her face. They walked in silence past a large thatched building that appeared to house standard guest rooms, each one equipped with a hammock hanging from the pillars on either side of a small patio.

  She could have guessed he would head straight for the water. After passing by the resort restaurant, he took a path through some tall palms and led her out to the beach. In the distance, the sun was dropping on the horizon, shadows playing over the water.

  Seeing they were alone, Paige asked, “Any idea how you’re going to find them?”

  “Not really. At this point, it’s pretty much a matter of luck and prayer.” Damian slipped his arm around her waist. “The earliest I could reserve the helicopter tomorrow was eleven. Assuming the helicopter is fully fueled, that will give us at least a couple hours of search time. The challenge will be convincing them they want to be found.”

  “You think they’ll try to stay out of sight?”

  “I would,” he said. “They’re in a country they have no business being in, and they wouldn’t have any idea who is flying above them.”

  “You make it sound impossible.”

  “Not impossible, but challenging, to be sure.” Damian squinted his eyes, staring out at the waterfalls. “It can’t be.”

  “What?”

  “I think I may have just found them.”

  “What are you talking about? Where?” Paige followed his gaze, but all she saw was the shimmer of the sun on the water and the white of the rapids coming over the falls.

  He drew her closer to his side and leaned down as though telling her a secret. “Look at the falls on the right. Between them—can you see it?”

  She leaned her head against his shoulder so it wouldn’t look like she was staring. For a full minute, she didn’t see anything but what she expected to see. Then she caught a glimpse of movement. “Is that someone climbing down the cliff?”

  Excitedly, he gave her a quick squeeze. “I can’t think of anyone else who would do that in this particular spot. Tourists would be with guided tours and wouldn’t be able to reach the cliffs between the falls. The locals would know better than to get trapped between the sections of river.”

  Paige continued to watch, but she didn’t see anyone besides the one figure approaching the bottom of the cliff. “I only see one person.”

  “I saw two when I first spotted them. The rest of them must already be at the bottom.”

  The last man disappeared into the shadows. “I can’t see anyone now.”

  “They’re either behind the waterfall, or they’re in the lake.” Damian kept searching the water, and Paige could feel his need for action.

  “Now what?” she asked when he continued to stare intently.

  “No matter how they decide to get there, I have a pretty good idea of where they’re going.”

  “The airport?” Paige asked.

  “It’s the only way out of here.” Damian slid his arm off her shoulders and reached for her hand. “Come on. Let’s get you back to the room, and then I’m going to go track them down.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked when they stepped aside.

  “For now, I just want you to stay inside and out of sight.”

  “Do you want me to call Kel or Vanessa?”

  “There’s no cell service here. Besides, I don’t want to say we found them until I’m sure.” Damian walked her inside. “Please don’t go anywhere. It will look odd if you’re outside alone, and I don’t want anyone wondering where I am.”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  “This might take a while. You might want to try to get some sleep. I have a feeling it’ll take them at least an hour or two to make it to the airport.”

  “Just be careful.”

  “I will.” Damian leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. Then Paige found herself in the middle of a beautiful hotel suite completely alone.

  Chapter 34

  The words of Damian’s various instructors paraded through his mind as he lay in wait. Even though he was sure his teammates would come here to the airport, assuming that really was them he’d seen on the cliffs, searching for five men who were trained to stay invisible wasn’t going to be easy.

  A total of five aircraft were currently on the ground: a four-passenger Cessna, two medium-sized passenger planes, and two helicopters. The planes were parked at the far end of the runway; the helicopters were off to one side of the airport, over two hundred yards away. That area was huge when considering who he was searching for.

  Forcing himself to be logical, he discounted the Cessna as being inadequate for their needs. He wavered between the other options. The passenger planes were large enough to carry them all out of here, but so was the larger of the two helicopters.

  “What would I do?” Damian asked himself. He couldn’t cover the entire airport by himself, and he knew his best chance of finding his squad was to wait for them at their destination, so he headed for the largest helicopter, the same one he had chartered for tomorrow. While the planes had enough space to carry them home, they also needed a runway to land. The versatility of the helicopter made it the better choice.

  Keeping to the trees near the airport, he made his way to the helicopters. Each step was painfully slow as he checked for underbrush and anything that would make a sound before putting his foot down. He knew his squad would be doing the same thing, but they were more experienced and undoubtedly faster.

  A man emerged from a structure nearby. His easy gait and lack of awareness of his surroundings told Damian he was some sort of employee.

  Cautious, Damian stopped. Realizing a single person wouldn’t deter his teammates, he willed his rapid heartbeat to slow.

  He continued to skirt along the edge of the trees. The man did a cursory check of the helicopters before heading across the field for the village. With any luck, he was closing up shop.

  Damian didn’t see any other signs of life at the airport. If he remembered correctly, airplanes didn’t fly in and out of Canaima at night, partly because of the remoteness of the airport and partly because tourists wanted the chance to see the falls when they flew overhead.

  The man continued forward, disappearing down a path at the edge of the airport building.

  As soon as the footsteps faded, the airport fell silent until a second man walked outside. Damian identified him as a security guard making his regular rounds.

  The man was clearly bored. His hands were shoved deep in his pockets, and his head was down as though his entire focus was on the ground three feet in front of him. Occasionally, he slowed long enough to kick a pebble in his path.

  A lig
ht drizzle began, the splatter of raindrops providing some background noise.

  Damian watched the man make his loop down the runway, stopping to check on each of the airplanes before swinging by the helicopter pad and then heading back to the airport’s main building.

  He went inside, presumably to take a break and get out of the rain. Damian crept forward, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of his team. He had to be able to pick out at least one.

  He studied the helicopter in front of him, trying to determine what they would do. With the security guard nearby, they wouldn’t want to open the door for fear that the cockpit light would draw attention.

  Disabling that light would be the first order of business, at least for him. Locating the panel where they would have to access the electrical system of the aircraft, Damian lowered himself beneath the helicopter, lying on the ground beside the runner.

  When the security guard made his next pass, he had to remind himself to keep his breathing slow and easy. Thirty minutes ticked by excruciatingly slowly.

  The security guard disappeared inside again. As soon as the door clicked closed, he heard it—the faint crunch of a palm frond, barely audible.

  Damian stayed where he was, his eyes still scanning. Several more minutes ticked by before he finally saw what he was looking for. A pair of U.S. Navy–issued boots approaching his position.

  He wasn’t sure he had ever seen Seth more surprised than when he leaned down to access the helicopter panel and found Damian lying in wait.

  “It’s Damian,” he said quietly.

  “How did you find us?” Seth asked, stunned.

  “I guessed.”

  “That was one heck of a guess!”

  “I have this helicopter chartered for tomorrow, and I have a room at the village.” Damian slid out from under the helicopter. He could just make out someone at the edge of the trees twenty yards away. From his height and build, Damian identified him as Jay.

  “Where’s everyone else?”

  “Still out there.” The airport door opened. Seth fell silent but signaled for Damian to follow him, and they both headed for cover.