Contract to Kill (37 page)

Grangeland’s voice cut into his thoughts.
“Nathan, do you see that guy approaching the south end of the conveyor?”

“Yep, I’ve got him,”
he replied in a whisper
. “Don’t fire unless I’m blown. If I have to drop him, be ready to open up on Alisio’s group with as much firepower as you can lay down. You won’t hear my shot, but you’ll see the guy go down.”

Harv saw a linear dust cloud about two miles distant to the southwest and focused on the leading edge. “I’ve got something west of here. A vehicle is speeding north on that first road we crossed. It’s raising a huge dust cloud.”

“Is it an SUV?”
Nathan asked.

“No, it’s a compact.”

“Nathan, that gunman’s at the end of the conveyor; he’s about to get behind you.”

“Stand by, Grangeland. Harv, what’s that compact doing?”

“It’s still speeding along the road.”

Grangeland said,
“One of the gunmen is walking past the office and around the lake toward the zigzags. I think he’s going up to the top. He’s carrying a scoped rifle.”

“I’ve got eyes on him,”
Nathan said.
“Where’s the guy who approached the conveyor? Is he walking north behind it?”

“No, he stopped at the end and looked along its length. He’s walking back toward the others. Stay low, he’s still looking in your direction.”

“The compact stopped,” Harv said. “It’s turning around. Whoever’s driving nearly got stuck in the sand. The driver’s getting out.”

“Is it Mason?”
Nathan asked.

“I can’t tell at this distance, but he’s wearing desert camo with a rifle slung across his chest. I see a sidearm too. He’s making a sprint across the desert directly toward the rim.”

“Harv, change in plans. Start down toward section nine of the rim, but don’t lose eyes on that runner coming in from the west. We need to know where he sets up his SP. If we lose sight of him, we’re all in trouble.”

Harv nodded to himself. “I might lose him while I’m relocating.”

“Go slow and keep him in sight: that’s your priority.”

“No problem. I’m on it.”

“Grangeland, we’ve got two hostile forces converging on the rim. Alisio’s man will arrive at the top of section one where the switchbacks end. We’ll designate him as Lookout. Harv’s man is Runner. Unless Runner diverts to another location, he’ll arrive around section twenty-seven. Harv’s heading for section nine. Let us know when Lookout is thirty seconds from reaching the top, then give us a five-second warning.”

“Copy. He just started up the switchbacks.”

“Do you have eyes on Harv?”

“Negative. He dropped out of my line of sight when he moved down toward the rim.”

“Harv, best guess on Runner’s ETA to the rim?”

“Two minutes.”

“Grangeland?”

“Lookout’s going to arrive at the rim about the same time.”

“Harv, unless Lookout makes it to the top first, Runner will see him from section twenty-seven. Concur?”

“Affirm. The switchbacks are plainly visible from there, but it looks like Runner’s going to arrive closer to section twenty-four.”

“Let me know if he checks the ground at the fence where we arrived.”

“Our footprints?”

“Yep.”

Harv watched the guy continue across the desert, weaving his way through the bushes and cactus. Whoever it was, he wasn’t concerned about being seen.

Harv kept descending the rocky slope as fast as possible. Still, it felt painstakingly slow because he couldn’t go too fast without creating movement Runner would detect. He’d done this many times, and it never got easier. “I’ve lost eyes on the reservoir and the road paralleling the river.”

“Thirty seconds,”
Grangeland said.

Harv cut in. “Runner’s almost to the rim, and it’s . . . definitely . . . a woman.”

“Darla Lyons
,
”
Nathan said.
“We’re changing her designation to Lyons.”

“Lyons just went over the barbed wire. She’s approaching the rim in a crouch . . . She’s got two rifles, not one. One of them’s suppressed . . . Oh man, she’s packing some serious firepower. I’m seeing an M4 carbine with an M203 attached.”

“Grenade launcher,”
Nathan said for Grangeland.

“Shit! She’s sweeping toward me with field glasses.” Staying right where he was, Harv slowly took a knee. If he made a sudden movement, Lyons would see him for sure.

“Did she see you?”
Nathan asked.

“Stand by . . . ”

“Harv, talk to me. Her carbine can punch a silver dollar at three hundred yards. Are you blown?”

“No. She’s focusing on Lookout.”

“Does Lyons have a radio?”

“Not that I can see. All I see are her rifles and a sidearm. I don’t see anything else clipped to her belt besides some mag holsters. She’s got a small backpack and waist pack. If she’s got an earpiece wire, it’s tucked tight behind her ear.”

“Keep her in sight at all costs, even if you have to blow your cover and drop her.”

“Understood. She’s on the move again, heading north toward section one.” Harv studied her movements, evaluating her tactics and looking for any kind of discernable pattern or repetition. So far, she seemed to be a capable adversary. Her only mistake was assuming no one else was up here, and Harv intended to make her pay for it. “She’s working her way along the barbed wire and not making any attempt to be stealthy. If she’d seen me, she wouldn’t be doing that. She just blew through the area where we crossed the fence. She didn’t see our prints.”

“Lookout is five seconds from the rim,”
Grangeland said.

“Lyons stopped running. She’s looking for an SP. I think she’s gonna nail Lookout when he reaches the top.”

“If Alisio’s men have radios, they’ll know Lookout’s gone silent, even if they don’t hear Lyons’s rifle. Grangeland, I need you on that peak above you to the south. Head up the mountainside and get eyes on the Imperial Reservoir and the road following the river. We need to know if Mason’s got other vehicles in the area. Go slowly. Lyons is eleven hundred yards away, but she could still detect quick movement at that distance.”

“It will take me several minutes to get up there,”
she said.

“Understood; get going.”

“If I circle the mountain to the east and maintain the same elevation, I’ll be able to see the reservoir and road paralleling the river from there. That will be faster and make me less visible from Lyons’s position.”

“Stand by. Harv, after you drop down to section nine, will you be able to see if anyone else uses that north-south track we crossed?”

“No. The low angle will screen it from view, but I’ll be able to see a dust cloud.”

“When will you reach the rim?”

“At least three minutes. There’s no way I can advance quickly. I’m in Lyons’s peripheral vision. I have eyes on Lookout now; he’s at the top.”

“Grangeland, proceed due east and maintain current elevation. I’m okay down here until Harv arrives at the rim. Harv, what’s Lyons doing?”

“She’s sitting in a cross-legged position, lined up on Lookout.”

“Harv, you’re cleared to take her down if I hear her rifle report down here. Alisio’s men will hear it too, and all hell will break loose.”

“Copy that, cleared to shoot . . . Lookout’s bent over. He’s gassed from the hike up there. Lyons is still lined up on him, but she hasn’t fired. He just pulled a radio. He’s talking on it and looking down into the pit. Okay, he just put it away. He’s scanning the rim with field glasses.”

“Will he see Lyons?”

“No way.”

“If you have to drop Lyons, things will escalate quickly, so make a beeline to the closest part of the rim after you shoot. Grangeland, hold position for the next thirty seconds and be ready to double-time back to your SP. I might need your firepower with that M1A. Copy?”

“Copy. Holding position.”

“Once the shooting starts, Alisio and his men could bolt,” Harv said. “They might be racing out of that pit in a big hurry. If they leave, Mason will likely follow them, and we could lose him. Should I disable their vehicles?”

“Take down live targets first, then go for their vehicles if it looks like they’re making a run for it. Once the shooting starts, they’ll probably take cover in the buildings. I doubt those SUVs are armored.”

“That pins them down. They—”

Grangeland cut in.
“Two more cars are coming up the access road.”

“Will they see you?”

“I don’t know, but I’m out in the open.”

“Are their headlights on?”

“Yes.”

“What’s in your immediate area?”

“Just some rocks, but they aren’t big enough to hide behind.”

“I want you to drop right where you are and curl into a ball. Don’t make any sudden movements at all and don’t look at the headlights.”

“Shit!”

Harv knew what was coming next; he’d heard it many times—Nathan’s cool and composed tone in the face of a potential disaster.

“Listen up, Grangeland. Drop down and slowly form a ball. Please do it right now. Their headlights actually help you. Drivers and passengers tend to look at the cone of light in front of them. You’re at least six hundred feet away from the road, well beyond their visual range. That road is also bumpy and rutted. Their heads are jarring around. They can’t focus well. Those vehicles are going to pass harmlessly beneath you
.
”

She didn’t respond, and Harv knew she was probably holding her breath.

“Breathe, Grangeland,”
Nathan said.
“You’re invisible up there.”

“I’m okay, thanks. I’m just not used to this kind of thing. Okay, I’m curled into a ball. I guess I just became a big rock.”

“That’s exactly what you are. I wish you could see Alisio. He looks like a caricature from a comic book. He’s as clichéd as they get. Mustache, goatee, gold everywhere, white fedora—the works. I hope he gives me an excuse to kill him. A fashion asshole of this magnitude shouldn’t be allowed to reproduce himself.”

“Hey, I’ve got dibs on him,”
she said.

“Now
that’s
the Grangeland I know and love.”

Harv smiled at their exchange. Lyons must’ve heard the crunch of gravel from the arriving vehicles. She kept glancing toward the pit, but never took her eyes off Lookout for more than a few seconds.

“They’re passing below me, just like you said they would.”

“Copy that,”
Nathan said.
“Good work.”

So far, Lyons hadn’t fired. If Grangeland’s new arrivals were the South Koreans, then Lookout would be expected to make contact with the others to warn them. A lack of a warning radio call would likely raise suspicion. Suppressed rifle or not, Harv thought Lyons wouldn’t shoot Lookout until after the new vehicles arrived in the pit.

“Grangeland, we still need to get your eyes on the road paralleling the river. The next vehicles to arrive are likely to be Mason and Hahn, and their headlights will probably be dark.”

“I’ll be watching for them,”
she said.

“Use your thermal imager. It’ll work well in this growing twilight. Any vehicle on that road will be a bright object. Harv and I will handle the action in the pit, but be ready to beat feet back to your SP on my mark. Harv, what’s Lyons doing? Is she still lined up on Lookout?”

“Affirm, but I think she’s waiting to nail him until the other vehicles arrive.”

“Agreed. Can Lookout see the arriving vehicles from section one of the rim?”

“No, not until they get closer to the pit, but he should be able to hear their tires and see the glow from their headlights.”

“Grangeland, what are those new vehicles doing? Did either of them stop?”

“Negative, they just went through the barbed wire gate. Shit, I hear more vehicles coming!”

CHAPTER 35

Special Agent Mary Grangeland didn’t feel so special. What she felt was an upwelling of anxiety, bordering on panic.

She quickly looked around her but saw nothing taller than a shoe box.

Not again
. . .

Nathan’s voice prompted her to get moving.
“Grangeland, that’s probably Mason and Hahn. Find solid cover immediately! Do it now!”

Her best bet was a trio of large boulders a hundred feet uphill. If she could reach them before the vehicles turned onto the access road, she might be okay.

“There’s a spot above me.”

“Balls-out sprint. Get your ass moving! If that’s our bad guys, they’ll have night-vision or thermal-weapon sights.”

Abandoning all stealth, she slung the Springfield over her shoulder and scrambled up the steep mountainside toward the boulders. At least she couldn’t be seen from Lyons’s position. From the urgency in Nathan’s voice, he believed the newcomers were Mason and Hahn. And if they got eyes on her, she’d have a firefight on her hands while her backup was several minutes away. A lot could happen in several minutes. Like death . . .

She focused on the ground directly in front of her and drove her legs. If ever she needed a burst of energy, this was it. She couldn’t tune out the radio chatter, but she couldn’t let it distract her either.

“Harv, you’re on Lyons. If she shoots Alisio’s man with the suppressed rifle and it doesn’t alert everyone, don’t fire, and stay with her no matter what. She may relocate.”

Despite her desperate situation and her lack of a ghillie suit, Grangeland found the experience strangely exhilarating. Part fear, part excitement, she imagined blue mixing with red to form a beautiful purple—her favorite color. She used the visual to stay focused and calm and to avoid tripping in the minefield of rocks, cacti, and spiked plants. Falling now would be a disaster. A face-plant into one of the many cactus patches would definitely ruin her evening.