Alexa stared into his dazed eyes until she knew he recognized her. With trembling fingers, she touched his cheek, careful not to cause him more pain. She never thought she’d see him alive again.
She had walked away from him in Cuba when she saw in his eyes that he had nothing to give her . . . or anyone. He was too much in love with his dead wife and too empty inside from grieving over his only child. And from what she saw in him now, that hadn’t changed, but she couldn’t help how she felt about him. Loving Kinkaid had been her joy and her curse. And she wasn’t sure she would change that, even if she could.
“You’re a hard man to kill, Jackson.”
“You say that . . . like it’s a b-bad thing.” When he tried to smile, he winced from his cut lip.
“They tortured him. I heard it . . . and I saw what they did. It was terrible,” the young girl said with fresh tears in her eyes. “When the rocks came down, he protected me.”
“Don’t make me out to be a hero,
“He’s got a point,” Alexa said as she shrugged out of her shirt. “What’s your name, little one?”
“Estella Calderone.”
“Thanks for helping him, Estella. Now we need to get both of you out of here. Can you walk?”
“Yes.” The girl nodded.
This time, she turned to Jackson. “And how about you? You look a little rough, big guy.”
“Took one in the shoulder. Is the bullet still in there?”
She helped him rise enough to see his back. Without an exit wound, the bullet was still lodged in him. Someone would have to cut it out. But something else caught her eye.
“What’s that old burn scar? When did you get that?” Before he answered, she remembered where she’d seen that burn before. “Actually, that looks like Garrett’s scar. You didn’t . . .”
By the look on Kinkaid’s face, she knew what he’d done. He’d burned his own skin to make it look like a scar Garrett had, in case the drug cartel had heard about it.
“Seemed like a good idea . . . at the time.” He shrugged.
“You’re insane. Plain
“No way. Perez just left. He’s wounded. I can catch him, but I gotta go now.” When Kinkaid struggled to sit up, rocks and debris fell off him. Alexa helped him brush off as she thought about what to say.
“When I saw him, he wasn’t alone. By now he could have plenty of help. And you’re in no shape to chase after them, not anymore.”
“Ramon Guerrero is with him,” Estella told her. “He’s a dangerous man.”
“There, you see? Listen to her.” When Jackson tried to stand, Alexa helped him to his feet, but the guy was real shaky. “Look at you. You have a bullet in you. Your face looks like raw hamburger meat. And you’re barefoot. How far do you think you’ll get like that?”
It took Kinkaid a moment to straighten up. And when he did, he looked her in the eye and ran a finger through her hair and tugged at a strand with a nod, his only acknowledgment of her changed hair color.
“I’ll get as far as I need to.” He softened his tone. “Now please . . . tell me where he went?”
When she didn’t answer right away, he glared at her with his one good eye. No matter what shape Kinkaid was in, he still looked intimidating. His handsome face was battered and bruised, and his broad shoulders and tight abs were covered with bloody cuts and contusions. He’d been tortured for days, and it showed on every inch of his body.
He was barefoot and dressed in a thin pair of pants and an oversized shirt that made him look like a refugee from a prison camp, but the fire in his eyes was still there. Seeing him like that made Alexa a believer.
Jackson Kinkaid wanted revenge. He had come to take down Manolo Quintanilla Perez and annihilate everything he stood for. Alexa understood that. The drug-cartel leader had brutally taken everything that Kinkaid held dear and loved—his wife and precious child.
From their last hostage-rescue mission in Cuba, Alexa had seen firsthand the pain of Kinkaid’s self-imposed exile from the rest of humanity. He hadn’t always been that way, but he’d changed after his family had been killed.
He’d alienated everyone who had mattered in his life. Her included. And he’d banished himself to live among drug dealers and the dregs of society as a mercenary for hire, so he could focus on the only thing he had left. She knew he hadn’t thought about tomorrow because, for him, there wasn’t one. Kinkaid hadn’t counted on living beyond this mission, but with so much at stake, Alexa knew.
She wouldn’t be the one who stood in his way.
“Come on. I’ll show you. But not before I bandage that shoulder.”
After Alexa had cut up her shirt to use as a bandage to stop Kinkaid’s bleeding and give protection to his bare feet, she led him and Estella down the collapsed corridor that she’d seen Guerrero and his boss escaping. It was dark, and the going was slow. They had to be careful they weren’t headed into an ambush. She’d followed a heavy blood trail. The big man Guerrero had helped get away was hurt bad.
But with Kinkaid barely able to walk without her and Estella’s help, they weren’t in much better shape. Jackson’s bare feet were holding up, but she knew he was in pain. And as they neared a busted door that looked like it led to the outside, Alexa took the lead and aimed her assault rifle.
“Stay behind me,” she said, mainly for Estella’s benefit. “And don’t move until I say so.”
Gripping her MP-5, she found a bloody handprint on the doorjamb and knew Guerrero and Perez had come that way. She listened through the door before she opened it, but what she heard had disturbed her.
She had expected to hear the UAV making a run overhead or the sounds of Garret’s men outside. When that didn’t happen, she kicked the door open and squinted into the first rays of sunlight. Brilliant orange painted the top of the ridge where they’d pulled surveillance. Alexa slowly stepped out into the sun and looked around, clearing the way for Kinkaid and Estella.
Inside the perimeter, fires were still burning, and black smoke spiraled into the early-morning sky. The smoke would make them an easy target for the local cops, who would see the attack site from a distance. And wherever Alexa looked, she saw no one to help them.
Perez and his men were gone, but so were Garrett and his people. They were alone.
“Damn.”
“Garrett couldn’t take the risk. You know that. He had his men to consider.” Kinkaid’s low, gritty voice gave her comfort. “I’m sorry, Alexa. If you want to beat it, I’ll understand. I can stall ’em until you and Estella get out of here.”
“Stall who?” she asked.
Kinkaid answered by pointing, and saying, “The Federales. And unless you want to see a remake of Butch and Sundance, you better take me up on my offer.”
On the horizon, Alexa saw a cloud of dust on the dirt road heading toward the hacienda. Several vehicles with flashing lights were barreling toward them. She didn’t need binoculars to know that the Mexican Federal Police were only minutes away. Their time had run out.
“No way, Kinkaid. No man left behind, remember? Come on. We gotta go. Now.”
When Alexa turned, she came face-to-face with Estella. The girl looked scared. And she didn’t have to open her mouth. Alexa knew what was on her mind.
“You can’t come with us,” she told her. “It’ll be too dangerous.”
“But please, don’t leave me here. They will put me in prison.”
“You didn’t do anything. Just tell them that. I’m sure after they question you, they’ll let you go.”
The girl grabbed her hand and begged.
“No . . . please. You don’t understand. I was Ramon’s whore, not by choice, but the police won’t care about that. I don’t trust them. They will lock me away to punish me.”
Kinkaid could barely stand, but he gave her the eye again.
“Don’t look at me like that. You know how this is going to play out. She’s better off without us.”
Alexa had hoped the girl would be questioned and released, like they would have done in the States.
“With the drug wars they’ve got down here, she could be right,” Kinkaid said. “There’s too much corruption and not enough good cops to cover the territory. They’re overworked and underpaid. She could fall through the
