Tong shook her head. “Not likely. That’s dense jungle.”
Leroux tapped his chin then turned toward Child. “Do you have enough data yet to show what direction they’re headed?”
Child nodded. “North.” He gestured toward the screen and Leroux turned to see the image zoomed in much closer, a red line showing how the dot had traveled.
“What scale is this?”
“You’re looking at about a quarter-mile in travel.”
Leroux’s head bobbed. “So enough to show a definite direction. What’s in that direction?”
“Just the town.”
Leroux pursed his lips. “Okay, that makes sense. It’s probably the missing wife that Delta reported. She’s probably trying to get home.”
Tong spun in her chair toward Child. “Zoom out again.”
Child spun the wheel on his mouse.
“Look. There’s a road about two miles to the east. Why wouldn’t she just take that? It would cut her travel time way down.”
“And increase her chances of being caught. If it is the survivor, then she’s scared and alone, and doesn’t know who to trust.”
“Can we assume she’s alone?”
Leroux turned to Child. “Run with it.”
Child chewed on his cheek for a moment. “Well, we know the bad guys ambushed the survivors, because they had a bunch of bodies and dumped them. We know they’re linked to the professors, because she knows about the deaths. Remember, she said ‘many dead’ in her text. The unidentified bodies could have been with her group.”
“That’s true,” interjected Tong. “According to what I’ve been able to gather, Professor Morales was leading a dig in the area with a team of students from his university.”
Child repeatedly jabbed a finger at her. “That’s right! So the students are probably the unidentified bodies. So if they were together somehow, the only explanation is that either the survivors came to the archaeological site, or the students went to the site of the explosion.”
Leroux shook his head. “I can’t see that happening. No professor in his right mind would allow his students to head to an explosion, certainly not en masse.”
Child’s head bobbed furiously. “Exactly! Which means the survivors came to the site.”
“Do we know where this site is?”
“No, but we do know the professor’s text message was sent from several miles south of the blast area.”
Leroux stared back at the screen, their data points mapped out. “So, there’s an explosion. It’s close enough for those at the site to see. The students remain behind, and if I know our subjects, the professors and Agent Reading, and possibly Professor Morales, go to investigate. They discover the survivors and bring them back to the site. This now brings the students and the survivors together. They then leave together in two vehicles and are ambushed by the owners of the drug lab, looking to clean up the mess. This means they probably had a tracker with them so they knew where the survivors were.”
Child spun in his chair, his head tilted back. “Right, but here’s the thing. How did this one survivor escape?”
Tong shrugged. “She was never with the main group?”
Child shook his head. “No, they have the tracker, right? So they’d have used it to determine if anyone else had escaped.”
Leroux stopped, turning toward Child. “She was with them when the ambush happened. They knew everyone they were looking for was together. They shot them all, or so they thought, but she escaped in the confusion. They never thought to check the tracker again, because they just assumed they still had everybody.”
Child threw up his hands. “Bingo! I think we’ve got it. She somehow escaped the ambush, nobody knows she’s out there, and now she’s trying to get home.”
Leroux sat, staring back at the screen. “So how does that help us?”
“Could she be with the hostages?”
Leroux shook his head at Tong’s suggestion. “I don’t think so. They’d have just killed her.”
“Could she be with Palmer?”
Leroux’s head tilted slightly to the side. “Perhaps, though there’s no way to know.” He rose and approached the screen. “We have no way of knowing where she is in relation to the professors, except it does provide a piece of data that we didn’t have before.”
“What’s that?”
“We now know how quickly a person can travel in the jungle. If she’s alone, then she’ll probably be traveling faster than the hostages. If she’s not, then she’s either with them or Palmer, or she’s being delayed because they’re too close. Either way, we now have a worst case scenario estimate of when they’ll reach their destination.”
Child’s eyebrows rose. “Which is?”
Tong tapped some keys, the image changing to show a large, walled compound at the edge of a town. “El Jefe’s compound in Tepich. DEA says it’s a fortress. About a hundred men on site, heavily armed.”
Child whistled. “Christ, if they reach there, it’ll take an army to get them out.”
49
Forward Staging Area
Mahas, Yucatan, Mexico
Command Sergeant Major Burt Dawson tossed the keys to Inspector Alfaro who caught them easily.
“So, how’s your cousin?”
Dawson smiled. “Still an asshole.”
Alfaro laughed, shaking his head. He became all business. “You’ve heard where they think they’re headed?”
Dawson nodded, briefed by Langley only moments before about the drug cartel’s compound. “Yeah. Not a surprise. We should get in there before they arrive otherwise it’s going to be a bloodbath.”
“This is what I have suggested as well, however I’ve been overruled by Mexico City.”
Dawson pursed his lips. “Come again?”
“The government feels there is no way to save your friends, therefore they are using it as an excuse to finally hit the compound.”
Dawson tensed slightly, his blood pressure ticking up a few points. “You’re telling me that the hostages have become sacrificial pawns in your drug war?”
Alfaro bristled, sniffing in a quick breath. “Not my drug war, Agent. Your drug war.” He relaxed slightly. “Listen, we’re all on the same side here, but we have different priorities. Yours is to save your people, ours is to save our country. El Jefe is extremely powerful, extremely well protected. The only reason we’ve been able to get any type of authorization to raid his compound is because of your people. If we rescue your people before they reach there, then there won’t be a reason to hit the compound. By going in, full force, we can save thousands of lives. Your four people are unfortunately on the losing side of the equation.”
“Uh huh. So shoot first, ask questions later.”
“Yes. It’s ugly, but that’s Mexico today. Huge areas of our country aren’t under our control, but thanks to your friends’ kidnapping, we may be able to take a portion of it back.” He lowered his voice, apparently picking up on Dawson’s building rage. “Listen, we’re going in and killing everything in sight. That’s the unofficial orders from the capital. All of my men know about the hostages, and won’t kill them intentionally, so there’s still a chance they might survive.”
“Assuming El Jefe doesn’t have them killed the moment you open fire.”
Alfaro shrugged. “That’s always a possibility, but if we succeed in taking down El Jefe, they won’t have died in vain.”
Dawson suppressed a growl. “When are you hitting the compound?”
“Not until we know your friends have arrived.”
“And how will you know that?”
“We’ve got eyes on the place now. We can see anyone coming or going.”
Dawson spun on his heel.
“Agent, don’t do anything rash. I can’t allow you to risk this operation.”
Dawson turned back toward him, stepping into Alfaro’s personal space. He lowered his voice. “Those are my friends out there. You better pray they survive the night, or
you and I are going to have a problem.”
50
South of Tepich, Mexico
This isn’t good.
Laura watched as the two men who had just returned to the group headed straight toward them. She ducked low, pulling Rosa down beside her, there barely one hundred yards between them. She rechecked the handgun she had confiscated, the magazine full with one to spare. She had killed their companion out of necessity, their location about to be discovered, but these two were an opportunity.
Killing them would leave only three hostiles, a much easier number than the original six, and the current five. Yet she had to be smart about this.
She shrugged off her backpack and took a nearly empty water bottle out. She held it up to her lips and drained it, then stuffed it with leaves, Rosa watching curiously. Laura pointed away from where the two men were heading. “Go that way and stay out of sight.”
“Where are you going?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”
Rosa nodded and scurried away, Laura cringing as she prayed the woman didn’t reveal their position again. She turned back to watch the approaching men when they suddenly turned to the right. Matching Rosa’s movements.
What the hell?
She hissed and Rosa turned. Laura signaled for her to stay where she was and rushed over at a crouch to join her. “They’re following you. How?”
Rosa scratched her arm.
Laura grabbed the woman’s hand and yanked it away, gasping at the fresh scar on her shoulder. She pressed her thumb into it and felt something hard underneath. “You’ve got a tracking device!”
Rosa’s shoulders slumped and her face went red as her eyes filled with tears. Laura glanced over her shoulder, the men getting closer. They’d be on them in minutes, and with the implant, there would be no escaping them. Her hopes of an ambush were now impossible, not if she stayed with this woman who had betrayed her.
Just leave her.
With the device in her arm, and no time to do anything about it, Rosa was dead anyway. But if they chose not to kill her, they’d make her talk, and Laura had little doubt the woman would tell them everything she knew in an attempt to save her life.
Which would mean in short order they’d know she was out here, following them.
Laura looked again, the men getting closer, then back at Rosa, the terror and shame obvious. This woman was a victim. It wasn’t her fault what had happened here today, and she could never live with herself if she simply abandoned her.
She sighed. “There’s nothing we can do about it now.” She pointed at the ground. “Stay right here.” Rosa nodded and Laura quickly backed away, positioning herself behind a tree as the men continued to approach. She stuffed the barrel of the Beretta into her makeshift suppressor then pressed against the tree as they came into view. One pointed to the tree Rosa was behind, saying something in Spanish.
Just stay calm, Rosa.
The two men rounded the tree, barking an order. A trembling Rosa appeared, her hands held high. Laura stepped out from her hiding place, one hand gripping her weapon, the other holding the suppressor in place.
Yet she couldn’t fire, she couldn’t shoot someone in the back.
“Lads, if you would.”
The two men spun toward her. She squeezed the trigger twice, putting two in the first one’s chest, then adjusted her aim slightly, putting two more into his companion. They both dropped in heaps, their hands never reaching their weapons.
She tossed the suppressor aside, her creation at best a muffler, failing at reducing the volume as much as she had hoped. There’d be no hiding from the main group the fact that shots had been fired. She rushed forward, Rosa hopping up and down in a panic, two hands clasped over her mouth, her eyes wide.
Laura grabbed an AK-47 from one of the men then all their ammo, stuffing them in her backpack. She searched their pockets, a lighter the only thing of use. She picked up the tracker they had been using and pressed it against Rosa’s arm. It beeped rapidly and the woman shrank away.
Laura dropped it on the ground then slammed the butt of the AK-47 against it several times, rendering it useless. She looked up at Rosa. “They can’t track us now.”
Acton’s chest pounded from the adrenaline rush. Four shots had been fired, there little doubt of that. Their captors were now debating what to do, the three men clearly letting fear dominate their decisions.
“We should see what happened.”
“I’m not going, no damned way.”
Diaz silenced his two remaining companions. “Nobody is going. If they killed whoever was following us, they’ll rejoin us. If they didn’t, well…”
This silenced the two as they glanced nervously over their shoulders.
“Let’s just keep moving. These constant delays will force us to spend another night out here, and I’m sick of this damned jungle.”
Diaz pressed forward, ending the debate. Acton followed, with Reading close at his side, Morales behind them as the other two covered their rear, constantly watching the jungle for their friends.
They won’t be coming.
“Did you hear the shots?” whispered Reading.
Acton nodded. “Yeah, two double-taps.”
“Exactly. And from a handgun, not the AKs like those two were carrying.”
Acton smiled slightly, Reading on the same page as him. “I’m guessing whoever is following us just took out two more of these guys, and is still alive.”
“Yeah, and they might be well-trained.”
Acton’s eyes widened and he risked a glance at Reading. “Do you think it could be Laura?”
Reading frowned slightly, recognizing his desperate hope as just that. “No, Jim, I’m sorry, I don’t. It’s probably whoever blew up the drug lab.” He leaned in slightly closer. “But whoever it is, just might give you the chance to get even with these bastards.”
51
Forward Staging Area
Mahas, Yucatan, Mexico
“Remember when Agent K blew off that Tony Shalhoub guy’s head in Men In Black, and it grew back, but was really small at first?”
Niner nodded at Atlas. “Yeah. Good movie.”
“Well, that’s what your head would look like on my body.”
Spock cocked an eyebrow. “Are you two still going on about that?”
Niner shrugged, jutting his chin at Dawson. “What else are we going to do? He won’t let me kill anything.”
Atlas stared down at him. “We could spar.”
Niner regarded him for a moment then shook his head. “Nah, I wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of all these fine Mexican soldiers.”
Dawson grunted. “Uh huh. Sounds like a chicken shit excuse, to me.” His comm squawked and he held up a finger, silencing his team, Colonel Clancy apparently finally reached.
“Zero-One, Control Actual. Status?”
“Sir, we’re on hold here. The Mexicans are saying they’re not going in until the hostages can be confirmed on the compound, then they intend to wipe everyone out. I get the distinct impression the lives of our people are of no importance to them.”
“I see. And what do you want me to do about it?”
Dawson already knew there was nothing the Colonel could do to change the Mexican’s minds, though there was one thing he could do. “We need to get in there first, sir.”
“Sorry, Zero-One, you’re there as observers only. When are they heading in?”
“They estimate the hostages should arrive by nightfall.”
“Well, Zero-One, it sounds to me like you and your men have some downtime until then.” There was a pause, a smile already creeping up Dawson’s face. “Perhaps you should do some sightseeing while you wait.”
Dawson outright grinned. “Yes, sir!”
52
South of Tepich, Mexico
Rosa stared at Laura as she dragged the bodies out of sight. This woman was unlike any she had ever met before. She was a killer. To call her a murderer might be a
ccurate, though not fair. These were bad men who had taken her husband and her friends. If Rosa had the courage and the ability, she could see herself doing the same thing if it were her husband or children held.
Yet she was still terrified.
This woman seemed to invite trouble, to relish in it. She could have run away long ago, but she hadn’t. She had killed three men by her own hand, and seemed determined to push forward, taking the weapons and ammunition off the dead, casually searching their pockets for anything useful.
It was chilling.
Yet some small part of her cheered this woman on. She was fighting back against the evil that was the drug gangs, gangs that dominated daily life in her small town, gangs that controlled her life—owned her life.
She was a dead woman walking, unless she could convince El Jefe she was still useful.
And this woman and her friends could be the key to that.
At least that was what she had thought at first. By keeping close to this woman, she had hoped to hand her over to El Jefe’s men, yet she had never expected to be accompanying a female Rambo. There was no way she could overpower or trick this woman.
Yesterday that might have devastated her, yet today it gave her hope. This woman was incredible, a warrior, someone who might be able to help her. If she were on her own, she might get killed or captured before reaching the town, but instead, with this woman, she stood a chance of getting there alive so she could warn her family. Thanks to this woman, she might escape town before El Jefe found out she was still alive and ordered her family captured or killed.
And Laura kept saying that help was coming. She had sent a message on the now dead phone. If it had been received, help could be here any minute. If she were alone, or worse, if she had handed Laura over to the others, that help would treat her as an enemy. Certainly Laura would, should she betray the woman.
No, Laura was the key to saving not only her life, but her family’s.
“Ready?”
Wrath of the Gods (A James Acton Thriller, #18) (James Acton Thrillers) Page 13