Armed And Dangerous (The McKinnon Legends - The McKinnon American Men Book 2) (21 page)

There was no time at the moment as they were set and any second Mason was going to give the all-go. They were currently all on-point and in their assigned position, and once Mason gave the signal and Reese pulled the trigger, taking out the main breaker box to the power, there would be no turning back. For better or worse, Barbara was looking to be a part of this mission, whether Mason wanted her here or not.

“Cut the chatter,” Mason’s voice came softly over their ear pieces.

“Mason, friendly at your six. Repeat friendly at your six.” Dark Man felt it prudent to give Mason warning. Barbara was just feet from his location. He made a mental note to ask her the secret for her abilities. Mason was usually the one no other could sneak up on without finding a knife to their throat. She was right on his back and within striking distance.

“Copy,” Mason responded expecting to turn and see Robert.

It definitely wasn’t Robert.

“What the holy hell are you doing here?" Mason whispered. "Get your ass back to the camp and that is an order. I don’t need this, Barbara. We are about thirty seconds from going into what could be fierce exchange of firepower.”

She crouched beside him in the underbrush.

“Will you just shut up a minute and listen to me? I know we are running out of time probably even better than you do. So you had better make it fifteen seconds and not wait thirty, because we’re having company. Carmen is with the National Police. Redondo is on his way, and I’m sure by now they know I’m gone.”

“Christ,” he cursed softly under his breath. “Men, we’re having party-crashers. Nationals are onto us. We are switching to Plan B, repeat we are now in Plan B. Are we go for launch? Reese?” he asked softly into the headset.

“Ready.” Reese could not get this party started fast enough.

“Dark Man?” Mason asked, never taking his eyes off Barbara.

“Let’s do it.” Dark Man was ready and waiting.

One by one they were standing ready for his command.

Barbara touched his arm. “Mason, I’m here. Tell me what I can do to help.”

He stared intently at this incredibly competent, unbelievably intelligent, undeniably stubborn, and unflinchingly loyal woman. She would make one hell of a McKinnon wife.

He handed her a gun, butt first. “Don’t get yourself killed, stick to my six, and we go after the girl. Can you manage that?” he asked, helping her with her body armor. She may have taken five bullets in the past, but he was not about to let her take a single one tonight. Not on his watch.

She nodded loading a round into the chamber. “Ready.”

Mason pulled the ski mask down over his face looking at her one last time. Drawing in a strong solid breath, he wondered what the next six minutes of his life would hold. He never worried in the past about coming back alive. It was a given. Tonight felt different like there was just more at stake and way more to lose. He had two good reasons not to get his reckless ass in trouble: the kid and her.

“Game on,” she said with a smile.

Ready or not this was it, he thought.

“Go! Go! Go!” He pulled the proverbial trigger.

They went in for the kill just as the rain began to pour, making their loop video feed useless. What the security monitors were showing was not what was happening just outside the window. Barbara hoped more than ever that the girl managed to get the drug to Agent Vega to administer to the security watch. If not, she shrugged, this was going to be a very short night.

Reese took the first shot, hitting the transformer box just as a crack of thunder rolled and lightning filled the moonless night sky. It left the house in total darkness, sending the guards scrambling. Mason saw most of the men running to the warehouses in the back of the estate leaving the front completely unsecured.

“Rookies,” Mason mumbled as he made his way to the interior of the compound not believing their luck yet not looking at it too closely either. It made their job so much easier. He said a prayer of thanks for the favor, taking any lucky breaks he could get.

Tango, Sundown, and Fly Boy heard the generators kick on in the first warehouse just as they set the charges designed to take out the buildings containing the drug labs and processing facilities. The second and third warehouses were full of drugs and munitions ready for shipment. The timing was going to be very close. As long as the house remained dark for another ninety seconds, Barbara and Mason would be inside via the roof. They were taking a huge risk, but one that had to be done.

In spite of the pain, Barbara climbed the tree and dropped soundlessly down onto the roof just as she had the previous night. Only this time the rain made the terracotta tile roof extremely slick, and she lost her footing. Mason cringed as he watched her go down hard, slipping and sliding off the edge trying to catch a hand-hold. She dangled thirty feet above the ground by her finger tips until he could pull her back up. There was no time to breathe a sigh of relief. They were now squarely inside the kill zone and seconds were ticking off the clock.

There were approximately seventy-five seconds left before the detonations would begin to go off and they needed to be off the roof and onto terra firma by then. Otherwise, the explosions would illuminate their outline on the roof making them easy pickings, like ducks in a carnival shooting gallery.

She peered over the edge of the roofline into the third-story window. The security officer was passed out sitting in front of totally blank screens with the exception of the battery-powered laptop hooked up to a separate video feed. He was doing a little extra voyeur activity on the side.

She did a back roll off the roof and into the open window permanently silencing the guard just as she was trained to do. Even though she had no hesitation, she did not like it. His was still a life even if it was a worthless life. She had no time to ponder it.  Barbara reminded herself for the first time of what would probably be many that Jesse was more important.

Barbara stood frozen as she watched the laptop. It was painfully obvious one of Emilio’s men was raping some unfortunate woman in one of the rooms of the sprawling villa. He was completely oblivious to what was happening around him.

“Mason?” She whipped around to look at him.

Mason saw her gaze pleading with him to save the woman. We have to do something, her look was saying.

He shook his head. “Jesse is the target. She is all that matters.” He pulled her back to the window. “Come on, time is short.”

He felt the need to apologize, but there was no time for even that small comfort for her. If he managed to get the girl and them out alive, he would count his blessings here and now and ask for forgiveness for leaving the woman later.

Dropping down out of the third story window and onto the ledge of Jesse’s room, she understood that they must follow the plan. The little girl left her window open just as Barbara has instructed. Mason scrambled back up to the roof attaching the pulley and repelling lines.

“Jesse! Hurry and take my hand.” She helped her out and onto the ledge. “Don’t look down, Baby Girl. Just put your legs around my waist and your arms around my neck. I promise I would let you go.”

Mason hoisted them up.

“We have the Keepsake.” He notified the team that Jesse was now in their possession just as the first detonation rocked the compound.

“Shit,” Mason cursed. They were behind schedule.

As fast as was safely possible, they traversed the rooftop as explosions shook the complex. Sundown, Tango, and Fly Boy, all demolition experts, had managed to set the charges such that the ignitions would create a procession of explosions. If it all went to plan it would look like the lightning had started it all. The warehouses were being systemically destroyed in a chain reaction of chemical and weapons discharge. It brought out the remainder of Del Torres’s men who were trying to put out the fires to salvage any of the operation they could. Gunfire finally began to fill the night as Del Torres figured out what was really happening. He thought he was being taken over in a coup d'état.

He began to shoot his own men.

Thanks to Agent Vega, who managed to get the strike team weapons from Emilio’s inventory, the authorities would think it was an inside job. Emilio, mistaking the events, was helping the team along as he shot and killed his own men. The plan was working perfectly.

Reese, from his perch in the tree, spotted Emilio just before he pulled the trigger on Mason and Barbara as they ran across the roofline. He confirmed his kill. Carlos, was not among the dead as far as any one could confirm and there was no time to investigate further.

Mason fired on two men below them, killing them both before leaping across the gap between two buildings. Nimble as a cat, he landed totally balanced and turned gracefully to face the gap. The dance lessons his mother made them all take had paid off in spades over the years. Grace and balance were important in his line of work. Then again sometimes a dance was just a dance. This, however, was a dance of life and death.

“I’ll catch you, Jesse. Run and don’t look down,” he encouraged.

“Wait,” Barbara quickly took her body armor off and slipped onto the child. Mason cringed. Then turning Jesse back toward Mason, Barbara nudged her toward the edge. “Go, baby.”

The little girl did exactly as instructed, leaping the gap as gracefully as a gymnast performing a floor exercise.

He motioned to Barbara. “Come on, hurry!”

She shook her head. “Get her to safety. I’ve got to find another way.”

Mason could see the darker red on her pants. Her wound was open again. She was in for a rough night, and if they separated at this juncture, it might be an even harder night for him.

She saw his hesitation. “Go! The good of the one, Mason! She is the target.” She flung his words back at him.

He watched in horror as she turned around and headed back without so much as a glance. What other choice did he have except get the girl to safety? He had to live to fight another day because it might mean he had to get Barbara out of harm's way. He would come back for her if he could safely do so without getting caught.

Otherwise, he would be forced to trust her to find her own way back to the camp. She had found them on her own without any help. He had to trust she could find her way back again. He was no good to her dead, and she was a professional, trained in the procedures of covert operations. He prayed she would fall back on her training to know if she got separated from the others, she would know to go back to the last point of safety. For her it would mean the base camp and completely in the opposite direction from the others. They were heading for the rendezvous point and then on to the safe house. That rendezvous position would be impossible for her to reach without support even if she knew where to go. Thinking that she would be back in Dallas by this point, Barbara had not been briefed.

The mistake was his to own. He tucked it back as a lesson learned.

The power was still off in the house and the flames were rising, spreading to the main house courtesy of the shifting winds. There was pursuit as Mason carried Jesse, running full-tilt across the lushly landscaped terrain. Most of the men inside the compound were already dead, but those still alive were now heading around to the front and away from the flames. From the rooftop Barbara took three more out in quick succession, covering Mason and Jesse right up to the place Josh and Robert were waiting.

Mason kissed Jesse, gave her a hug, and then quickly pushed her into Josh’s waiting arms. “Take her and go. Don’t look back until you hit Dallas city limits.”

“I can never thank you enough.” Josh pumped his hand once before he and Robert took off into the night.

Mason prayed they made the extraction point before Redondo got there. It would be the most logical point for him to look first. If the captain did look there before Robert and Josh pulled anchor, then the fact that Robert and Josh were unknown players just might prove to be the only saving grace.

The downfall would be that they had entered the country illegally, Jesse had not. She would show as having entered with her mother, who was nowhere to be found. Once outside of Panamanian territorial waters and into international seas, they would be safe and homefree. It was still a huge gamble. It was necessary, but still risky.

Relieved of the girl, Mason needed to find Barbara. She was the only one without a radio. She was exposed, having no body armor since she put it on the child, and she was only armed with one gun with a seven-shot clip, six of which she had already used covering him and Jesse on their trek to meet Robert and Josh. However, Barbara was the only one unaccounted for in their group, and he never left a man behind.

Agent Vega was dead, having seen the man himself. Tango managed to get his body out of the compound. They may or may not be able to get his body back to the United States, but they had to try. It was a risk they all ran when they stepped foot on foreign soil. He just prayed Barbara would not suffer Vega’s same fate and possibly die alone in the Panamanian jungle.

Not if he still had breath in his body, he vowed.

Captain Redondo was about a mile from the villa when he saw the ball of fire glowing in the night sky. His hunch was spot on for this could not be coincidental. His convoy sped on to the gates of the estate.

Without hesitation, they crashed through just as the last of Mason’s team was agilely heading over the walls, melting soundlessly back into the jungle and leaving only a single trace that they had been there at all.

That trace was Barbara and she was still inside the house.

She was not about to leave without trying to save the woman inside who was being held hostage. There was no time for what she was attempting, but she had to try. She heard the police crash the gates. Running the halls of the second and then third floors, she followed the cries for help through the smoke and fire. That fire was making quick progress at an alarming speed through the villa in spite of the rain. Trying the knob, she found the door locked. Kicking it in, Barbara pulled her gun, swept the room, and found it empty except for the woman huddled in the corner.