Rob shrugged. “We’ll make it or die trying.” He pushed the old military chopper as hard as he dared, then pushed her a bit harder. He quelled the alarms as they sounded and tried to ignore the warnings.
DJ slapped the bulkhead separating the cockpit from the cargo hold. “Follow the smoke!”
Lisa’s eyes scanned the horizon and she saw the black wisps slowly rising. She pointed to the right and Rob angled his approach. “I see it.” He flipped the main battery to hot and zeroed in on the area. “I only got one ATS left.”
Lisa gripped his arm and shook her head. “We don’t have a bearing on the boys.”
Bertha came alive behind them and DJ was yelling as he adjusted his aim, following the tracers imbedded in the chain of cartridges. Lisa keyed her coms, “Stand down! We don’t have a twenty on our people!”
DJ gave her a duh look. “Red smoke!” He turned his attention back to the rapidly approaching battle zone and opened fire again.
Lisa’s head spun around and she sat up in her seat, her eyes searching for the marker. She felt the corners of her mouth curl into a slow grin as the craft passed over the red column of smoke and Rob loosed the air to surface missile.
The craft banked to the left and Rob brought it into a clearing less than a hundred yards from the marker. As the skids tapped the ground, two men rushed from the thick canopy of green and bolted for the chopper.
Lisa’s smile slowly faded and she stared at them. “Where’s Mario?” Panic began to rise in her chest and she reached for Rob’s arm again. “Where’s MARIO!?”
Rob shook his head as the two men dove into the cargo hold. “Go, go, go!” Bridger slapped the bulkhead and Rob lifted the chopper from the ground.
Lisa practically scrambled out of her seat and crawled to the opening in the bulkhead. “Where’s Mario?”
Mauk met her gaze and his face fell. He gave a slight shake of his head. “He didn’t make it.” He glanced at Bridger then averted his gaze. “They put two in his chest before we made our escape.”
Lisa fell back and slid into her seat. She stared at the lush greenery that zipped by underneath them, her mind unable to comprehend the loss. She turned her gaze to Rob and fought the tears that formed. “Wolly, tell me we can go back for him…”
Rob Wolcott reached out and gripped her hand. “I’m sorry, darlin’. It’s too hot down there.”
She ripped the headset off and twisted in her seat. She turned away from the other team members and tried to remain numb, but the tears flowed.
“What the hell happened out there?” Matt Laughlin glared at Bridger as the group walked through the door.
Bobby opened his mouth as Mauk stepped between the two. “We were outed.”
“Outed? By who?” Matt bellowed. “We’ve been following all the traffic and—” He spun quickly and pointed at Gregg. “Soares, we have been following the traffic, haven’t we?”
Gregg nodded and leaned back in his chair. “Definitely.”
“Then how could this have happened?”
Bridger held a hand out and stopped Mauk from pushing forward and doing something stupid. “Murillo invited us in and presented a wooden box to Mario. He said it was a birthday gift.”
“Gold and silver Colt .45 automatic,” Mauk growled.
Bridger nodded. “He pulled it out of the box and pointed it right at Mario. The two were laughing as Murillo pulled the trigger.”
“He put two in his chest then the shit hit the fan,” Mauk muttered. “I don’t think his own men knew what he was about to do.”
Bridger tossed his pack to the table. “We were lucky to get out alive. If it hadn’t been for Wollychop showing up when he did…”
“Death from above, that’s my motto.” Rob hopped up and sat on the cooler along the wall, waiting for the shit to run downhill.
“This isn’t good,” Matt groaned as he fell into his chair. “We spent two years getting Mario imbedded with Murillo’s people.”
“Speaking of…” Bridger stepped forward and looked down at the smaller man. “We’ve run a ton of sorties out of that jungle. Where did all the coke go?”
Matt looked up at him and shook his head. “What difference does that make? The company impounded it and sent us the cash to keep Murillo’s people stupid.” He slowly came out of his chair. “Even the loads that didn’t make it to the mainland, we paid for.” He narrowed his gaze at the operator. “What are you implying?”
Bridger snorted. “I’m not implying anything.” He made his way around the table and eyed Mauk as he passed him. “We’ve run a ton of coke out of this place and passed a shit ton of money to that madman. We’ve also run a half dozen operations to kill off the people who work for him.”
“And?” Laughlin’s gaze narrowed.
“And?” Bridger crossed his arms over his thick chest. “Why the hell haven’t we removed Murillo? God knows we’ve had the opportunity.”
Matt shook his head. “It wasn’t authorized.” His voice was barely a whisper.
“Fuck authorization.” Lisa stepped forward and began pointing at his chest, her finger driving harder with each poke. “If you had given the green light to remove that piece of shit the first chance we had, Mario would still be alive!”
Matt grabbed her hand and pulled it away from his chest. “I’m sorry about Mario.” His eyes rose and met the others. “I really am. He was a good man and a damned fine operator.” He let her go and stepped away. “But even I have to follow orders.”
“Were you following orders when Mario told us that there were women and children in that car?” Bridger turned and eyed Laughlin. “We told you that the mark wasn’t in the vehicle and you had us blow it anyway.”
Matt shook his head. “I was
