Page 119 of Canyon of Deceit

“Without a doubt.” Therese gave me a light kiss. “What can you tell me?”

“Not much in the time left. Sergio requested I stay here. Rangers aren’t involved in this mission.” I shook my head. “What I can tell you is the expected arrival was moved up to today and this location. Please keep our conversation to yourself.”

She mouthed,Rurik.

I whispered, “He left his house and can’t be found.”

“Escaped?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

“Alina believes he’s dead.”

I frowned. “He might be or he’s on the property.”

A text from Sergio stopped me from saying more.Cargo ship in sight. Confirmed passengers. Stay where you are. Situation not neutralized.

—

“Stay here. I’ll be back in a few.” I closed the kitchen door behind me and made my way to the glass wall overlooking the cargo ship.It moved unusually close to the hotel. I studied the area through my binoculars. Two tugboats bounced over waves toward it.

The possible use of the laser weaponry enabled by recovery of the activation chips from Dog Canyon pressed into my concern for innocent people becoming victims. Its use toward volatile cargo had the capacity to destroy the ship, everyone on it, and the two tugboats racing its way. Cameras were everywhere. How did the ROC think they’d get away with an attack?

I desperately wanted to be where the action brewed in the channel.

I refocused my binoculars and caught a flicker of movement on the cargo ship. A man, a small boy about four, and a slender woman gazed out over the railing. I recognized Edik Baranov from his pics. He lifted the boy into his arms, nodded at the woman, and they jumped.

I held my breath until Baranov surfaced with his son in his arms. His wife bobbed up, and together they swam toward an emerging tugboat filled with armed US Feds. Thank goodness they hadn’t jumped into the brackish channel behind them. It had been deemed a sacrifice zone from the years of dumping petrochemical waste without heeding environmental regulations.

I lowered my binoculars and spotted an unmarked boat speeding toward the scene. Zooming back in, I counted at least eight armed men, and none were a part of the federal agencies involved with the transfer of the Baranov family.

Rifle fire broke out over the blue waters.

SEVENTY-ONE

The horror unfolded through my binoculars. Bullets spit at the water surrounding the Baranovs’ swim to safety. One of the tugboats pressed in between the swimmers and the shooters while the second tugboat jumped the waves to retrieve them. The cargo ship slowly moved away from the firefight.

A federal agent defending the territory fell overboard from a rifle blast to his shoulder.

A shooter dropped to the deck of his boat.

A fourth boat skipped over water to the scene. US or ROC?

Hell had broken loose in front of me, and regret filled me for not being there. I’d been reduced to a storm chaser. I sucked in a breath and prayed for every man and woman risking their lives.

The fourth boat, filled with US Federal Law Enforcement, opened fire on the shooters, dropping two into the waves.

Feds pulled Edik Baranov and his family into a tugboat as an Airbus helicopter flew over the hotel and straight toward the firestorm. Bitterness rose up my throat at the memory of what had happened in Dog Canyon. I stared up at the attack helo, more like a flying tank with killer capacity.

The tugboat with the Baranovs sped toward the hotel’s marinawhile the second tugboat and the shooters barraged the air with bullets.

The Airbus moved over the tugboat containing the Baranovs. US enforcers opened fire with AR-15s and blasted the aircraft. Nothing was foolproof, and enough bullets penetrating the metal would bring it down.

The Airbus exploded into a fiery inferno, flinging fire and metal in all directions. The aircraft whirled nose down toward the tugboat. I held my breath. The flaming helo zoomed to destroy the boat. Baranov and his family dived into the water. US personnel followed. Two helped the wounded swim to safety.

The fighting team and the shooters exchanged fire.

Would this ever end?