Wen’s ex-SEAL team had already taken care of the four perimeter sentries, and Wen was handling the security system. Miguel Lopez, Wen’s contact from the Mexican government, had brought three men with him, so they had three teams of three, one going in each of the three entrances of the main house, plus Miguel who was driving the electronics van, on a side road on the other side of the house. Wen and Steve had supplied topnotch firepower. From what the prisoners had said, el jefe rarely kept more than a dozen men on the inside at any given time. The odds weren’t bad, and they weren’t going to get any better.
Jake and Steve were assigned the rear entrance, through the walled backyard. At Wen’s signal over their communicators, Jake scaled the wall, carefully snipping the coil of concertina wire before he scrambled over the top and tucked the wire cutters back in his pocket. Steve materialized beside him and handed over a silenced Glock, just as Wen appeared next to him.
Be easier if I could teleport like Steve—or whatever it is that Wen does. Unfortunately, Jake knew Steve couldn’t carry the weight of another person when he poofed from place to place, which left Jake going over the wall the old-fashioned way. “You have any idea where they’re located within the house?” he whispered.
“No.” Wen motioned for them to move up around the pool and toward the house. They stayed low, in the shadow of the wall, screened slightly by the row of palm trees that circled the pool. A layer of cloud cover had rolled in, casting the yard into mist and shadows. “There’s a living area just off the patio—nobody’s in there, so it’s a good entry point.”
The plan was a simple one—get Jake, Wen and Steve inside, to do as much reconnaissance as possible. Wen’s and Jake’s superhuman hearing was a plus, as was Steve’s ability to teleport and magick locks. Then if things went south, the two strike teams would be ready to bust the doors down and pour in the front and side entries.
They reached the patio, so Steve popped to the inside and undid the latch, letting the others in. Wen’s form shimmered next to Jake, and Jake knew his friend was functionally invisible to anyone who didn’t specifically know he was there. Jake really wished this was another amphibious operation. Here on land he was at a distinct disadvantage to the other two. But this one was for Heidi and there was no way he was willing to let her down or sit quietly on the boat while his friends handled the dirty work. He was here, and he’d pull his own weight.
The large sitting room was full of dark, heavy furniture, with a big, empty hearth. The building was old-style Spanish construction with heavy wooden doors and foot-thick adobe walls. Miguel’s satellite photos showed the building was a large square with an open courtyard in the center. Not only did they have to watch for dangerous criminals, but the big question was where they kept the prisoner. All the captured drug smugglers had said was he was in one of the interior bedrooms. That meant on one of the two sides of the house, giving them a fifty-fifty chance of starting out in the right direction.
“Most of the activity seems in the right-hand wing,” Wen whispered after he’d vanished again for a few moments. “There is a billiard room with four men in it playing pool, and another three are drinking in the kitchen, which is at the front right corner. Finally, there are two men in an office, on the left front corner. One of those is Velasquez, the man you spoke with in the cantina. The blinds are down in the rest of the rooms, so I couldn’t tell if there were more in any of them, but the layout of the house is simple. Each room opens directly onto the courtyard, except for two at the rear corners of the house. If I were them, that is where I would keep a prisoner.”
“Okay, let’s start with the left rear corner then,” Jake reasoned. Less activity meant less chance of being caught before they found what they were looking for. If they were really lucky, they’d get out of here tonight without a firefight, but somehow Jake didn’t have a whole lot of hope of things working out that well.
They slipped through the empty sitting room to the glass doors opening into the courtyard. A covered gallery ran all the way around the square, providing access to the rooms, which all had glass doors here and smaller windows on the exterior of the house. The courtyard was a lush garden filled with tropical flowers and succulents, crowned with a large fountain in the center. It was also well lit. Steve focused for a moment, then one strategic floodlight was extinguished, casting deeper shadows on the rear left corner. Moving slowly and sticking to the shadows, the three men moved toward the next set of windows.
The blinds were open in the fairly small bedroom immediately next to the sitting area. One man lay asleep on the double bed, snoring loudly.
“Got it.” Steve popped into the room and injected the man with a hypodermic needle, then reappeared in the courtyard. “He’ll sleep for a couple more hours. There’s a bathroom and a closet. Bathroom also opens into the next room. It’s empty.”
The next room was the last on this side, so they moved up to the first set of windows on the left hand wing. Again, no light glowed from this room, but this time all the blinds were drawn, making it impossible to see in.
“Here we go again,” Steve muttered, just before he disappeared.
“How many more times can you do that in one night?” Jake whispered into his com. He knew magic was taxing on the wizard, and didn’t want Steve to wear himself out.
“Enough,” Steve replied as he slid open the glass door and slipped back out a few minutes later. “This looks like the big guy’s personal quarters. It’s a suite, and there’s a fortune in watches and jewelry tossed on top of the dresser. The corner is a big walk-in-closet, easily big enough to use as a cell, but there’s nothing in there but custom-tailored suits and Gucci loafers.”
“So the other side might be the same setup,” Jake reasoned. “Guess we backtrack.”
* * * * *
Heidi listened to every word the men spoke into their coms. The trio of local men at the side service entrance to the hacienda had chased off a couple coyotes, and those in front, the Americans, were getting impatient. She also heard Jake and Steve move toward the corner suite opposite Velasquez’s private quarters. Please let Brad be in there. She didn’t really give a damn about Velasquez, as long as they found Brad and got him out of there without anyone getting hurt.
A sharp rap on the passenger side window of the car startled her into shrieking. She turned just as Jake’s voice whispered her name over the communicator.
Standing at the window was a grinning man, naked except for a pair of unzipped jeans, pointing a gun at her through the window. Before she could say anything, she heard a loud click from the open window on the driver’s side. She swiveled her head to see another naked chest, and looked straight into the barrel of another gun.
“Hola, señorita. You are lost, maybe? Or just looking for a good time?” The accent was thick, and the tone sent chills crawling down Heidi’s spine. Smells of sweat and cheap tequila emanated from the man pressed just inches from the window, making Heidi swallow hard to fight off a wave of nausea.
How had he known to speak English? Once again she felt like she had a neon sign on her forehead blinking out the word “Gringa”. She forced her vocal cords to function. “I was just…looking around, and my car ran out of gas,” Heidi said. “I’m waiting for my friends to come get me.” She tried to gauge whether or not they’d spotted the gun on the seat beside her, slowly inching her hand toward the weapon.
“Do not move that hand any further, unless you wish to lose it,” the man drawled. “My brother and I will be happy to fuck you with or without it, so it does not matter to me.”
Jake’s voice was getting frantic in Heidi’s ear, while Wen’s broke in, urging him to remain calm. “Let us know what you can, Heidi. Allow them to bring you into the house, if that is their plan. Front team? Try to get eyes on the car, keep us informed of what is happening. Do not engage unless you can guarantee success.”
Just knowing there was a plan gave Heidi the courage she needed to stay calm. “What do you want?”
“Where are you taking me?” Moving as slowly as she could while appearing to obey, Heidi opened the door and stepped out onto the gravel road.
“Stop playing stupid.” The second gunman sneered. “Did you bring the ransom?” He grabbed her forearm, hitting her injury, which had been hidden under the long-sleeved denim shirt she wore open over Jake’s Kevlar T-shirt.
She yelped in pain, gasping for breath. “Ransom?” It took her a second to realize what he meant as they started pushing her toward the house. Her sneakered feet crunched on the gravel, while both of her captors seemed to be barefoot. “Oh, the ransom. Well, I don’t have it with me, but I came to try to make payment arrangements.”
“What is he to you? Your lover?” Number one seemed to have a much dirtier mind than his brother, who was focused more on the money.
“Ummm…yes,” she lied. “Of course.”
“Not for long, I think,” said number one. “Soon it will be our names you scream in pleasure.”
“She’s fucking somebody,” the other man commented. “I can smell a man’s stink all over her.”
Well, that was kind of creepy-weird.
“We have visual,” said one of the men on the porch. “Two men, both with handguns, marching her toward the front door.”
“Shit,” whispered another voice. “Shifters. Why didn’t I pick up that scent earlier?”
Shifters? What the hell were they talking about?
“We’ve got to find Van Dorn before the shit hits the fan,” Steve hissed. “Wonder Boy, you with us?”
“What? We need to get out front,” Jake said.
“He’s right,” Wen argued. “The guards may have orders to kill him if there’s any problem. So we need to take out his guards before they bring Heidi into the house. Steve? You want to go inside?”
“I’m on it.” There was a short silence, then the quiet cough of a silenced weapon, followed by one louder shot. After another cough, Steve spoke into the com. “Two men, both down. I’m going into the closet to check for the prisoner, but it looks like this was a guard room.”
“We’ve got a pair of coyote shifters out front,” one of the men from the front walk said. “Possibly the same ones the guys on the side chased off. I’ll bet they got suspicious and went looking for the getaway car.”
“They’re gonna know we’re here,” said his partner.
Coyote shifters? Heidi’s brain whirled. Well that might explain the smell comment. And the scruffiness. Coyotes weren’t known for their grooming habits.
“One of them has a handgun jammed into her side,” said the third. “I can’t chance a shot.”
“We’ve got Brad Van Dorn,” Jake said into the microphone. “He’s unconscious but alive.”
“The dead guards in here were also coyotes.” Wen said. “But I scent humans in here as well. Perhaps there were just two teams of shifters on guard duty.”
Heidi’s legs nearly gave out on her and she stumbled. Coyote number two saved her from falling with another grab at her injured arm. “Ow,” she yelled, as the pain washed away the headiness of her relief.
“What’s wrong with your arm?”
Heidi didn’t want to answer him; she was busy listening to Jake, Wen and Steve analyze Brad’s condition and try to figure out how to get him to safety. Apparently he had a splint on one leg and a number of bandages all over his body, but nothing that looked life-threatening. The unconsciousness seemed to be drug-induced, which was probably a good thing.
Coyote Two grabbed her arm again, making her shriek. “What’s wrong with you?”
Heidi’s temper snapped. “I was in an accident a few days ago, you jerk. I’ve got cuts and bruises all over the place. Now let go of my damn sore arm.”
“She’s a feisty one, hermano. We’re going to have some fun, once el jefe gets through with her.” That was number one again. Ugggh. He seemed to have a one-track mind.
“They’re taking her around to the side door,” said one of the ex-SEALs.
“We see them,” replied one of the Mexican agents. “We’ll do our best to follow them inside.”
“Where are you, pendejos?” Coyote Two called as they approached the side of the hacienda. The outer wall here was only eight or ten feet from the actual house, allowing for ventilation, but not much activity in the side yards. The trio of agents here stood outside the wall, unlike those in front, who’d taken their position in the garden near the inner door. “Show yourselves, or we shoot the girl.”
“Do as they say,” came Jake’s voice over the radio.
Wen added, “Team one, come over the back wall, through the sitting room into the courtyard. Miguel, I want the van brought around as close as possible, and get an ambulance on standby.”
“We’ve got four men entering the courtyard from the right wing,” Steve added. “They must have heard the gunshot back here. We’re moving out into the courtyard to keep the fight away from Van Dorn.”
Heidi heard the faint sound of yelling over her headset. A weapon coughed. “Three,” Wen corrected drily.
There was another sound and Jake said, “Two.”
The three Mexican agents stepped out into the shadows, each holding an automatic weapon up in the air with one hand.
“Put them on the ground. Slowly.” At least that’s what she thought Coyote Two said. Her Spanish was a little rusty. He pulled his gun away from Heidi’s waist to point it at the agents. Heidi knew he’d seen that they were armored. He’d definitely go for headshots, and she didn’t want these men to die because of her. When she saw Number One shift his attention, his gun briefly pointed at the ground, she did the only thing she could think of. She dropped like a rock.
“What the…” Number One scrambled to grab her but the agents were quicker. One of them caught him in a flying tackle, while another swept the legs out from under his brother, then brought his weapon butt down on the top of Coyote Two’s head. Heidi rolled backward, trying to get out of the way.
“The two coyotes are down,” she said into the microphone as she made it up to her knees, wincing as she put weight on her sore arm. “How do we make sure they stay that way?”
“Kill them,” said Miguel calmly to his men.
“They can’t regenerate a bullet to the brain,” added one of the American agents.
“Ten-four,” said the one sitting on Coyote One, then repeated himself in Spanish. With calm, cool precision, he picked up his weapon and held it to the fallen man’s head, squeezing the trigger twice. One of his partners did the same to Number Two.
Heidi was glad she hadn’t eaten dinner. She’d said she didn’t much care if the drug dealers were killed, but seeing it just a few feet from her face was a wake-up call she could have lived without. After a couple of dry heaves, she managed to let one of the agents haul her to her feet.
“Bueno. We’re good out here,” said one of them into his communicator.
“All four men in the courtyard are down,” Jake confirmed. “That leaves three in the kitchen and Velasquez with one guard in his office, plus however many are sleeping.”
“We can hit the kitchen,” said one of the Mexicans. His English was better than that of many American students Heidi knew, with just the faintest trace of an accent.
“No,” Jake barked. “You need to guard Heidi.”
“The lady just picked up both the coyotes’ weapons,” said another with an amused grin at Heidi as they went through the gate into the side yard of the house. “Looks like she knows how to use them, compadre.”
“Come around to the back. Heidi can help guard Van Dorn,” said Wen.
Heidi wanted to hug him for not treating her like a piece of glass, though Jake’s prote
ctiveness was awfully sweet, in an aggravating sort of way.
“We’re in the courtyard,” said one of the SEALs. “Nothing moving in the backyard or the sitting room.”
“Fine, you take the kitchen,” said Wen. “Jake, you and Heidi guard Van Dorn. Steve and I can go deal with Velasquez, using Miguel’s team for backup.”
“Fine, but take him alive if you can.”
“We’ve got one man entering the courtyard from a bedroom,” said one of the SEALs.
“Not anymore,” said another. “He’s down.”
Heidi followed the agents through the patio doors into the living room, marveling at the coolness of the adobe structure. They moved through into the courtyard and she tried to hide the leap of joy she felt at the sight of Jake, standing beside his two friends outside a set of glass doors. Vaguely she could see the American team across the courtyard, peering in a window.
“There’s nobody in the kitchen,” said one of them.
“Shit,” Jake growled, wrapping an arm around Heidi as she got close. “Now what?”
“We’re going in anyway,” said one of the men. “See if Mad Dog here can follow the scent trail, see where they went.”
“That’s why we have a werewolf on the team,” said Wen. “The main rooms on the front may all have interior connections.”
Werewolf? Heidi shook her head. It didn’t even surprise her anymore.
Wen was still giving orders. “You three, go around this way and check in every room. Steve, you’re with them.” Then Wen’s form shifted and suddenly Heidi couldn’t see him at all.
“Okay, Heidi, we’re on guard duty,” Jake whispered to her. “I’m going just inside this door, so I can watch the exterior. You get behind that bed and shoot anyone who comes in.” The room had twin beds, with a dresser in one corner and a table with two wrought iron chairs in the other.
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