might as well get it over with. He threw the door open and braced his shoulder against it. Quick sweep of the room, left to right, then behind the door. Nothing but a broken chair and metal bunk bed frames welded to the wall.
“One down,” he said quietly, closing the door behind him. He followed the same drill with the door opposite: quick sweep, all clear, nothing but junk the navy hadn’t bothered selling for scrap.
Jake was halfway down the hall when he heard a shout. The ship’s acoustics distorted it, he couldn’t tell if it was male or female. He darted back to the main corridor and strained his ears…another yell, garbled, and he suddenly remembered the radio. He spun the volume dial and heard Syd barking out instructions.
“Syd? Where are you?”
She was speaking rapid-fire, other team members chiming in. Jake was about to throw the radio against the wall in frustration when footsteps pounded toward him. He spun. Maltz was running, talking into his radio. As he passed Jake heard him say, “Op tango objective princess located? Say again.”
“What’s going on?” Jake asked, falling in step beside him.
Maltz shook his head and quickened the pace, their flashlights shining frenetic beams of light down the dark corridor. Jake hustled to keep up.
They were almost at the bow when shots rang out.
Madison huddled in the dark, tears streaming down her face. The despair was crushing. She’d come so close to escaping, only to fail. Plus her left leg was in agony, it was hard not to scream from the pain.
After grabbing her, Lurch slung her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing. Madison battered at him with her fists, but he laid one hand on her broken foot and she almost passed out.
“Be good,” he snarled, “or I’ll make it worse.”
At that moment they both saw people on the next ship. Her heart leaped, thinking she might be rescued after all. Lurch swore and dragged her downstairs. They were crouched in a tiny room, smaller and darker than the one she’d been held in before.
She tried to choke back her sobs, but the weight of her failure combined with the pain from her ankle made it nearly impossible.
“Shh!” Lurch said, breathing heavily in her ear. His hand gripped her arm tightly.
Dust disturbed by their entry still whirled in the air, tickling Madison ’s throat. She coughed.
“Jesus,” he hissed. “What, you want to die?”
“You’re going to kill me anyway,” she choked. “Don’t pretend you won’t.”
“If I was going to kill you you’d already be dead,” Lurch said. “I could have tossed you overboard, shot you in the head.” She caught a glint of light off something, realized he was showing her a gun. “I’m trying to save you, dipshit.”
“The other guy…”
“Ralph was always an asshole,” he muttered. “Hated that guy.”
“Where is he now?” Madison asked after a minute.
“Dead.” The word was hard, flat. Lurch seemed a little surprised by it himself.
“How?”
“Doesn’t matter. But the rest of them are coming. You want to live, you’ll stay quiet.”
Madison tried to sort out what was happening. “So you’re trying to save me?” she asked, puzzled. “Why?”
“I didn’t sign up to kill no kids,” Lurch said. “Now shut the fuck up, or you might change my mind.”
She hunkered down, nearly overwhelmed by this new knowledge. Signed up for what? she wanted to ask.
A sound in the corridor outside. Madison pressed herself farther back into the shadows. She heard Lurch suck in a gulp of air, then his gun clicked. This was insane, she thought. After everything that had happened, she was going to die in a shoot-out.
The door slid open an inch. A slice of light penetrated the shadows. Madison ’s heart still pounded so hard people onshore could probably hear it. A second passed, then the door eased shut again. She released her breath, relaxing, and felt Lurch do the same. He leaned in to say something.
The door was suddenly flung wide. Madison flinched as light blinded her. Lurch dragged her to her feet. Something pressed against her temple and her heart sank. He’d been lying about saving her, she should have known better.
The light lowered an inch, enough for her to make out two figures.
A female voice ordered, “Drop it!”
Lurch’s voice was full of surprise when he asked, “Who the fuck are you?”
Jake tore down the hall after Maltz, who quickly outpaced him. He seemed to have an exact read on where the shot originated. They passed another corridor, then Maltz darted down the next one on the left. Jake followed, adrenaline providing a burst of speed. Suddenly Maltz stopped dead. Figures blocked the entrance to a room. Jake’s flashlight caught on blond hair, then a camouflaged back. Inside, someone was crying. He took another step forward, arching his head to see inside…
“We’re here for Madison,” the woman said. Madison stiffened at the sound of her name and felt Lurch shift behind her, the cold press of the muzzle easing up.
“Who sent you?”
“Her father. Just let her go.” The woman sounded sure of herself. Commanding. Madison blinked at the mention of her father. She tried to place the voice, but it was completely unfamiliar.
“You the Feds?”
“No. Friends of the family.”
The term was so incongruous, Madison laughed. It was the wrong reaction. Lurch moved suddenly, dragging her with him. Then an explosion, impossibly loud in the confined space. She swiveled in time to see Lurch cave backward as if punched. His arms swung out in front of him, as if grasping for the second shot. He hit the wall before slumping to the floor. Madison touched her hand to her face and it came away sticky.
Blood, she thought, fainting.
“Is it her?” Jake asked, realizing immediately how inane the question was. Of course it was Madison, who else could it be? “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” Syd said. She crouched beside the girl, using her sleeve to wipe off her face.
Jake peered past them toward the crumpled form in the corner. One of the commandos was checking for a pulse. “Dead,” he said with finality.
Madison was crying, probably from the shock. Jake shoved past the two men blocking the door and knelt beside her. “ Madison. It’s going to be okay now,” he said, trying to sound soothing. The words bounced off the metal walls, echoing back at him. “You’ll be okay.”
Madison collapsed against Syd, shoulders heaving. Her ankle was at a strange angle, probably broken; other than that, she appeared dirty and shaken but otherwise unscathed. Jake released a breath and slumped down, head in his hands. They’d found her, and she was alive. Chalk one up in the win column for The Longhorn Group. He reached for his cell phone to call Randall with the good news.
There was a commotion at the door. Jake glanced up to find that the other team members had vanished. Voices down the hall, the sound of arguing. Quickly regaining his feet Jake stepped back into the corridor.
“Who are you people?”
It was a middle-aged man dressed in a uniform that sagged around his knees. He held an enormous SureFire tac light in one hand, the other was raised as if warding them off.
“Stand down!” Jake ordered, noting the commandos’ raised guns. “For Christ’s sake, stand down. It’s just the MARAD guard.”
It took ten minutes to sort out the situation, and another twenty for the medevac chopper to arrive. The MARAD guard had muttered about jurisdiction and losing his job. Syd took him aside, and whatever she offered calmed him down. Probably money, Jake thought.
