petrified bodies. The nonbelievers of the world are going to try to make my people, and others of our kind, turn from their faith. If it comes to that, we may have to commit ourselves to the salvation of our very souls, and that of the people who allow us into their homes three times a week.”
“Sounds like we may be busy then,” she said, moving her head to get her long blond hair behind her shoulders. She tore the page from the pad and tossed it onto the desk. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a flight to catch.”
“Not to ruin your good mood, my dear, but the Mechanic is coming in from Ecuador immediately and I will have him meet you in Houston. Use him. I do not want you directly involved if the Mechanic finds an opening against this Dr. Compton.”
“Oh, I have many uses for our Arab friend. Using him to kill is just one of them,” she said, shooting her father a demure look.
Rawlins watched his daughter leave the office. He knew Laurel was not a follower of his word, but there was a quid pro quo. She allowed him his own small peccadilloes as far as his religion went. As long as the money supply was up to a minimum level, Laurel was his forever. He smiled as he figured that it was probably time she earned her keep. He looked at his watch and frowned.
“All right, Mr. McCabe, where are you?”
Ryan had come around nicely. They made their way through the thick stand of trees as Jason asked Will Mendenhall one more time if his nose looked as bad as it felt. Collins raised his hand when he saw Everett suddenly stop and hold up five fingers, then clench his fist. He lowered his hand slowly with the palm facing down, telling through his fingers to stop, get down, and be quiet. Collins eased his way forward.
They had heard helicopters fly very low over the sparsely forested part of the foothills, and each time they had to scramble for cover, barely staying out of view of people who were obviously McCabe’s men searching for them. For the most part they had been lucky. The bulk of the search was being conducted around the falls and the lake they had been near more than two hours before.
Everett turned around and knelt beside Jack. “Looks like a cop up ahead on that small road-looks local to me. He’s parked next to a ’66 Chevy Impala with a male driver and a woman passenger. Looks like they’re changing a flat. The cop is just standing there, jawing.”
“This may be our chance to bum a ride.”
“That’s what I was figuring,” Everett confirmed, and looked back at the scene just below on the roadway.
Jack turned and held up a hand to Ryan and Mendenhall, indicating for them to stay put. As he watched, Will reached out and patted Ryan on the shoulder. He silently shook his head and made a face indicating that the nose looked real bad, causing the small Navy man extreme consternation.
“Okay, looks like we may be in business here, Jack. The cops are leaving.”
“Okay, stay in the tree line. I’ll see if we can get a ride.”
“Well, they look to be pointed in the right direction,” Carl said as he moved aside to let Jack by. “Watch your ass.”
“Yeah, my judgment hasn’t been real good today, so maybe you better watch it for me,” Collins said, easing out of the trees.
“Hola,” Jack called out. He raised his right hand and crossed the broken macadam of the old roadway.
The man was just lowering the large car from its jack. He paused and stood. He pulled the woman behind him as he looked at the bedraggled man crossing the road.
“Hola,” the old man answered, as his eyes searched the area around Collins to see if he was alone.
“ Habla ingles?” Collins asked, smiling the best nonthreatening smile he could muster.
“Si,” the man said. “Little… bit,” he said, holding up his index finger and thumb about an inch apart.
“Uh, I and some friends seem to be in a fix. Our car broke down a few miles back, and we need a ride into the next town.”
The middle-aged man watched as Jack approached the car, hands held slightly out in front of him. He seemed to relax a bit as he stepped away from the car.
“You need assistance?” the man said, the words clearly understood by Jack.
“Yes,” Collins said, looking around the car. All he could see was the woman standing behind the man, as though hiding.
“ Si, we will assist you,” the man said. He pointed west. “Quito,” he said, looking back at Collins.
“That’s where we’re headed.”
“ Si, bring your friends,” the man said.
Jack turned away and gestured toward the trees. Everett came first, followed by Will and then Ryan. As Jack watched them come down the small incline, he was shocked when he saw Everett dive into some bushes, quickly followed by Mendenhall and Ryan.
As he turned he saw that the small woman had stepped out from behind the older man. She held an ugly- looking UZI machine gun. Jack’s eyes widened as she brought the weapon up and started shooting. The initial line of bullets stitched a path directly to Jack’s front. He saw the gun move in slow motion. Without thinking, he jumped to the right and landed behind the car’s rear bumper. He rolled until he was underneath the hot exhaust pipe. The heat was intense, but he kept rolling until he hit the right rear wheel, still partially suspended by the jack on the rear bumper. As he watched, the man went to one knee and the first thing Jack saw was the blue steel barrel of an automatic being angled toward him. Thinking fast, Jack spun on his back, causing broken pieces of blacktop to dig into his skin. The woman once again opened fire on Everett, Ryan, and Mendenhall across the road. Collins, mustering all the strength he had, kicked at the jack. It didn’t take as much strength as he thought to make it break loose. The man had just spotted Collins and was about to open to fire when the car began to fall.
“Oh, shit,” Collins said, flattening himself as low as he could manage. The large Chevy came down and the rear quarter panel caught his would-be killer in the side of the head, propelling the side of his face into the roadway. The weapon was knocked out of his hands just as the car’s bottom hit Jack in the chest. The heavy-duty springs brought the car back up. Jack reached for the gun and fired into the woman’s legs. Two bullets hit her in each thigh, dropping her to the ground. Jack saw her face twist in anger, shock, and pain. She desperately tried to bring the UZI around.
“Don’t do it,” Jack yelled, aiming at a spot between the woman’s eyes.
Before she had a chance to fire her weapon, and before Collins managed to kill her, a large boot came down onto the side of the woman’s face. Jack relaxed when he realized Everett had come up on her without her knowing it. He lowered his head and took a deep breath.
“You okay?” Carl asked as he knelt and looked at Jack’s dirty face. “It’s a damn good thing you don’t have a beer gut, buddy. This car would have surely flattened it for you.” Everett reached out a hand and pulled Jack out from under the car.
When Collins stood he saw that the woman was out cold not two feet from the man’s body. Was the man her husband?
“Will, see what you can find in the car,” Jack said, reaching down and retrieving the UZI. He tossed it to Carl. “Get her legs wrapped. You and Ryan can pull both of them into the trees. I suspect their friends will find them soon enough.”
“Yes, sir,” Mendenhall said, amazed at the close call the colonel had just had.
“May I suggest we take the car and get the hell back to the city?” Everett removed the ammunition clip from the UZI and checked its remaining rounds. He smiled as he slammed the clip back home. He went around to the driver’s side, kicking the jack stand and crowbar out of the way as he did so.
“Let’s go, gentlemen. I have a feeling our ex-Delta man may have more friends waiting for us.”
Two hours later the old and battered Impala pulled into the main concourse area of the airport. Everett had taken all the back roads he could find into the outskirts of the city and the zigzag route had cost them time. The
