Ronald was sitting across from the only man he’d ever wanted to kill.
Vargas riffled through a few of the papers, then slid them across the table. “Sign these.”
Ronald quickly scanned the documents. Vargas wanted him to authorize a lot of flights. A lot of
Instead of responding, Vargas turned toward one of the men and said something in Spanish that Ronald didn’t understand. Without question, the man turned and strode in the direction of his daughter and the other woman.
“Wait.” Instinctively Ronald’s hand flew out and grasped Vargas’s arm.
Vargas shouted something else and the man froze. His eyes traveled to Ronald’s grip.
Ronald immediately let his hand drop. “You’re going to kill me anyway.” His words were spoken so low there was no way Holly could hear.
The drug lord’s jaw clenched, but then he shrugged. “I’m picking up a delivery for an associate of mine in the Sudan.”
“What about Djibouti?” Ronald knew he was pushing, but he had nothing to lose.
“Why all the questions?”
“I want to know before I die. I deserve that much.”
Again, Vargas didn’t negate that he would eventually kill him. His mouth curved into a cruel smile. “Djibouti will be a testing ground before we introduce a new
Other than a few poor shantytowns, there was an American military base in Djibouti. “War?”
“Your country grows weaker every day. They can’t keep out my drugs and they won’t be able to keep out, what does your government call it . . . biological warfare. A stupid term for the plague.”
“Plague?” Ronald asked dumbly.
Vargas pounded a fist on the table, causing some of the papers to shift. “Enough. Sign now and your daughter will not suffer.”
With a shaking hand, Ronald picked up the pen and began authorizing what could kill thousands. Hundreds of thousands.
It didn’t matter, though. Wesley and Jack promised it wouldn’t matter in the end. They wanted to find out who Vargas was working with, but they said if things got too dicey they’d storm the place.
So why weren’t they here yet? As he authorized the last change, sweat dripped from his forehead onto the paper, smearing some of the ink.
Vargas snatched it from him just as he lifted the pen. Then he glanced to his right at one of his men. With a tilt of Vargas’s head, the other man headed toward the women.
Panic settled deep in Ronald’s gut, twisting like a rusty blade. Where the hell were those guys? This situation qualified as bad to him. “What are you going to do with us?” he asked.
“Kill you. You will not suffer, though.” He stood as he spoke.
One of the men grabbed the chair Ronald was in, forcing him to stand.
Ronald waited with barely concealed impatience as the guard walked toward him, gripping both women by their upper arms. “What do you want me to do with this one?” The man shoved the Asian woman toward Vargas but didn’t release his tight grasp.
Even Ronald could see how much pain the woman must be in. The man squeezed her small arm so fiercely, red stained down her skin.
Vargas stared at her for a long moment. “Keep this one alive for now. We might need her later if the Moreno woman decides to show her face.”
“You son of a bitch! You’re not going to get away with any of this!” The shouting of the petite woman surprised everyone. A stunned silence descended on the hangar.
The pause was short-lived. A loud crack echoed as Vargas backhanded her across the cheek. “Do not speak unless you are spoken to.”
At that, he nodded at the man holding both women. The man shoved Holly in Ronald’s direction, then dragged the other woman back toward the plane.
“Daddy,” she sobbed as she stumbled forward and wrapped her arms around him.
Ronald held her tight because that was all he could do.
“Take them to the swamp,” Vargas ordered.
Ronald wasn’t sure what he meant, but he guessed the Everglades. They could dump their bodies and his wife would never know what happened.
Before the thought had a chance to settle in, gunfire and shouting erupted. Holly screamed in his arms and all he could think about was keeping her safe. Using his body as a shield, he threw himself over her. They landed on the floor with a thump. She’d probably have some bruises, but as long as she was alive, it didn’t matter.
Sharp pain sliced into his side. He yelled in agony but didn’t move from his position. Keeping Holly’s head protected with his arms, he risked a glance around. Wesley’s men swarmed the place like bees.
Pops sounded everywhere. Everything was so loud and bright. Like the movies, but a hundred times worse. He put his head back down. Holly was trembling underneath him and he was afraid he was dying. He didn’t know if he’d been shot, but the needles of pain slicing down his left side told something had hit him.
Suddenly the viciously loud staccato pops stopped. Or maybe he’d gone deaf.
• • •
Jack trained his SIG on Vargas, who had a gun placed directly on Hannah Young’s head. Sophie was back in the other hangar and he knew she had to be seeing all this through the live video feed.
“Drop the weapon, Vargas,” Jack shouted.
“You’re not taking me in,” the other man shouted back. He pulled Sophie’s friend tighter against his body.
From his limited vision, it looked as though their team had neutralized everyone but one man. Through the video feed, they’d been able to get a decent head count, and one man was definitely missing. He spoke low into his radio. “Johnson, you copy?”
Johnson stood off to the left of him with another agent behind some crates and out of Vargas’s line of sight. They had one of Vargas’s thugs restrained facedown on the floor. Jack didn’t look at him, but he saw him tilt his head and speak into his radio. “I’m here.”
“There’s still one guy missing. Do a full sweep of the crates. Then try to get a shot at Vargas.”
“Copy that.” Jack still hadn’t taken his eyes off Vargas, who was slowly backing toward the plane. As if he thought they’d actually let him leave.
“You’re surrounded. Give it up.”
“Why should I?”
The fact that he asked told Jack he might be interested in cutting a deal. “You’re not who we want. You know that. Let the girl go and we’ll talk. So far no one’s been hurt.” It had been a long time since he’d negotiated with anyone. Normally Jack was undercover as one of the bad guys or the places he infiltrated had no clue he was even there.
Before Jack could respond, one of the thugs he recognized from earlier walked out from behind one of the crates with a gun to Johnson’s head. “Boss?” The guy looked around nervously at all his fallen associates.
Vargas took another step back. “You lie!”
“One of my guys is going to open up the crate labeled X6. Tell your boy not to do anything stupid.”
“Fine.” Vargas nodded at his man.
One of the Delta Force guys kept his weapon trained on Vargas, but walked across the floor. He eyed everyone, then set his weapon down and opened the top of the crate. After digging through stuffing and bubble wrap, the agent gingerly pulled out the rigged pack of C-4 and held it up for everyone to see.
“There’s more placed all over this warehouse. And you’re within strike range, Vargas. You are not getting
