Page 22

CHAPTER 22

Jayce and Nash were nestled in the hills just north of the Diego compound. Luke and Caden took up a position on the south side. Both teams were in a sniper nest, prepared to take out the enemy without drawing attention to themselves.

Annie's father, Fletcher, and his friend Hollywood had met them in town and handed over the information they had collected. Luke asked that they remain in town in case an emergency evac was required. With any luck, it wouldn't be needed and they could slip out as easily as they slipped in.

"I've got eyes on Manuel, but we got a problem," he radioed over his mic to Luke.

"We need to remain problem-free," Luke reminded him.

"Manuel has a woman chained up in the bedroom and it doesn't look like the kinky kind of chained up." He handed the binoculars to Nash.

"Son of a bitch," Nash growled.

His friend had three younger sisters and always took it harder than most when women were involved. Especially women of abuse.

"We need to bring in EMTs." He said the words that he knew would change their plan. They hadn't accounted for a hostage and he wondered why Fletcher hadn't known about her.

Jayce took the binoculars back and examined the room, and the female. Some of the cuts looked fresh but the bruises were in different states of healing. There was no indication in sight that the woman had been on the bed. Jayce wondered if she was recently moved to the bedroom.

"Take out Manuel and his men as planned. Then take out the guards. Once the place is clear, we’ll move in for the rescue."

Just as he suspected, the plan changed. Originally they had agreed to kill only those in command. None of them wanted a high body count. Now there was no choice.

"I've got Manuel in my sights," he told the others.

"We've got the other two," Luke advised. "Take your shot."

Keeping his breathing steady, Jayce squeezed the trigger and watched as Manuel's head exploded on the other end of his scope. He racked the chamber and waited to see if someone noticed the shot. Four seconds later, two guards rushed in.

"Left," he said at the same time Nash commented, "Right." They took their respective shots and ended two more lives.

Racking the chamber one more time, he waited to see who else would come to investigate. After two whole minutes, when it was clear no one else was coming into the room, he radioed Luke.

"Bedroom is clear."

"Rear is clear," Luke returned. "Take out the rest of the guards and move in."

He lined up his next shots alongside Nash and slowly took out the guards one by one. It wasn't nearly as satisfying as a close-up kill, but knowing that, with each shot, he was making his son safe, made up for the lack of excitement.

"All clear in the front."

"Back is clear. Move in."

Jayce stood up, slung his rifle over his shoulder, and unholstered his Sig while Nash did the same next to him. They traveled down the hill and hopped the wall that secured the compound. Dropping down onto his feet, he crouched and waited for footsteps. When no one approached, he turned to Nash who was in a similar position.

"It's almost too easy."

"You would think getting through an assignment unscathed was too easy."

He smirked at the exasperated tone of his friend. He much preferred a challenge, whereas Nash liked things simple. It didn’t make for the best partnership, but in this case, Jayce was enjoying himself.

"Let's go get the girl and get the hell out of here."

It wasn't until they rounded the corner that they ran into another guard. One shot between the eyes and another threat was neutralized.

“You enjoyed that too much.” Nash shook his head as he spoke.

“Taking a target out from a sniper nest doesn’t give me a challenge. This, on the other hand”—he motioned to the dead guard—“is a much better use of my skills.”

Nash continued to shake his head but echoed his words from earlier. “Let’s go.”

They made it to the bedroom without any further incident, but he and Nash cursed the second they stepped over the threshold.

Chained to an old gold radiator was a woman curled up in a ball. The few clothes she wore were filthy, like wherever she had been kept before this was full of dirt and grime. Her ankle, where the chain was attached, was red, raw, and bleeding. And if the smell was any indication, possibly infected. There was fresh blood near her but the lack of dried blood only further confirmed his suspicion that she was recently brought to this room.

He and Nash stepped over the three dead bodies and slowly made their way over to the shaking woman.

“It’s okay,” Nash soothed. “We aren’t here to hurt you.”

He let his friend take the lead. Nash was better at these things and women tended to trust his easy smile better than the scowl Jayce wore, like a suit of honor.

The chained woman shook more violently the closer they got, so he chose to stay back and let his friend handle the situation while he called Luke over the mic.

“Make sure those EMTs are on standby. Looks like our package has an infection from being chained up.”

He could imagine the cursing Luke did before he responded back since it took him a few moments. “Copy that.”

Jayce was listening to Nash try to convince their hostage that she was safe to come with us when Luke spoke again. “EMTs will be standing by at the rendezvous point to stabilize her until we can get back to the States. Annie will take over care from there.”

He had almost forgotten Annie was in med school. “We need to move,” he told Nash.

His friend snapped back, “I’m working on it.”

They both winced when the woman flinched and further tried to make herself one with the wall.

“Sorry.” And he actually meant it. As much as they did need to get a move on, the last thing he wanted to do was scare the woman.

It took a few more minutes but Nash finally managed to calm the woman enough to allow Nash to cut the chain from her ankle. After that, it was a flurry of events.

The half-naked hostage threw herself at Nash, almost causing him to lose his balance. She was crying hysterically and mumbling something in another language.

Now that she no longer considered Nash a threat, she wasn’t letting him go. His friend had to use the wall to stand up because there was no way Jayce was getting closer and ruining the progress Nash made. Finally, Nash had her cradled in his arms and they were on the move. Thankfully they weren’t met with any resistance on their way out of the compound.

In less than ten minutes they were off the compound and at the meeting spot where an EMT was waiting for them. Their hostage—who, Nash now told them, was named Maria—refused to leave Nash’s arms while being treated. She was given a round of antibiotics and a quick assessment to ensure nothing was broken before they were once again sneaking out of Mexico.