She stayed out of sight behind a large pine and watched as the other guard tried to radio his friend. With no response, he called the other guards for back up, jumped from the porch, and made his way into the thick brush. Sin didn’t want to take any chances with him spraying bullets with the automatic weapon he carried, so as soon as he was in clear view, she put a bullet in his head and hoped no one would hear the sound.
She wasn’t that lucky.
The two men guarding the front of the cabin ran toward the rear, guns pointed. “It’s about to get ugly,” she mouthed to no one as she moved from behind the tree to the next. As soon as they came into view, she dropped to a prone position and pumped the trigger. Both fell before they even heard the shots.
From her position, she heard yelling and the scurrying of footsteps from inside of the cabin. With a sneak attack no longer possible, she took a moment to drop the magazine from her pistol, snap in a fresh one, and take a deep breath. She made her approach, thinking, If I can’t sneak up on them, I might as well scare the shit out of them.
Making sure not to accidently shoot Pia, Sin fired eight shots into back side of the wooden structure up along the tin roofline. Gunfire rang out from within, breaking the windows on the side of the cabin. As soon as someone poked their head out, she shot them. Staying out of sight, she listened to the voices and footfalls. Two left, she thought as she again dropped the empty magazine and reloaded. Using the time she had before someone else got brave and started shooting, she ran from the back of the cabin to the front and pumped two bullets into the door.
This time she heard no voices or movement. If I were them, she thought, I’d expect a frontal attack.
With that train of thought, she pumped three more bullets into the front of the cabin and crawled around the side of the cabin to a spot where there were no windows. As soon as she heard the repeated blasts from an automatic weapon pepper the front wall of the cabin, she grabbed the porch railing with her free hand and pulled herself up and over, landing in a crouch. She checked her watch, shrugged off her backpack, and duck-walked just below the busted window, hugging the side of the wall the entire time. White-knuckling her sidearm, she took a cleansing breath and waited. When she heard the ‘click, click’ from the assault rifle that had been spraying bullets at the front door of the cabin, she knew he was out of ammo. It was now or never. She sprang from her position and leapt through the broken glass.
Landing hard on the wood floor, Sin spotted a table to her right. She rolled behind it, grabbed the steel leg of the table, and dropped it on its side while bullets flew in her direction. She felt the unmistakable burning pain of a bullet smash her left thigh, gritted her teeth, and grimaced. She brought her hand down and checked her injury. Using the toppled table for cover, she shot out the inside light, trying to even the playing field.
She heard one man give the order to separate and approach her from both sides. The one giving the order moved to her left. The other was hesitant.
That was the one she went for.
Barrel-rolling to the right, her arms out in front gripping her weapon, she spotted her target and fired, hitting him dead-center in the torso. Before she could take aim at the other, he fired, hitting her in the chest.
The pain was excruciating, but she ignored it, tried to turn in his direction but was shot again.
Everything went dark.
36
Back at the Johnson Place, Russo received a text letting him know the five million dollars had arrived. He excused himself from the room, telling Aria he needed to use the men’s room.
He made his way outside and contacted Sin. He tried her number twice, but she wasn’t answering. Not knowing what else to do, he dialed the emergency number he was given. Troy picked up on the first ring.
As soon as they left the plane, Troy and Danny made their way toward the boat. His phone rang, and although the number wasn’t familiar, he picked up. “Captain Stubbs.”
“Captain, this is Dominic Russo. I just heard from my men. We have the ransom. I only have twelve hours to make the deadline before they kill my daughter. I’ve tried to reach Agent O’Malley, but she isn’t answering.”
Troy thought hard before answering. “Have you attempted to contact the kidnappers?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Okay. Good,” Troy yelled over the sound of the diesel truck engine. “Mr. Russo contact the kidnappers and tell them you were able to secure the ransom. Let them know you need twenty-four hours to take possession.”
“Didn’t you hear what I said. They’ll kill Pia in twelve hours!”
“Mr. Russo, this is five million dollars. What would you do if you were in their shoes?”
“I’d want my money.”
“Exactly.” Troy waited for a response, his heart pounding.
“You better be right, Captain.”
“I am,” Troy said.
Onyx read the text and grinned, his grill reflected off the harsh lighting. He gathered his men—his inner circle—from around the kava joint and made his way outside. “I want you to personally go and tell everyone to meet back here in four hours.”
No one asked why, they scattered like flies.
37
Sin woke to the sound of rain beating on the tin
