Cut and Run 07 Touch & Geaux (30 page)

“He’s heading in. It’s a trap,” Ty said in Zane’s ear. “Everybody bug out.”

“Negative,” Zane said, and he followed the man into the cemetery.

“Dammit, Garrett, the others can’t cover you in there!” Ty shouted.

Zane nodded. He’d spent most of his time undercover alone; he was more used to taking these types of risks than Ty was. And he had every confidence that Ty’s sniper rifle would cover him just fine.

Zane trailed through the maze of tombs, following the directions Ty whispered in his ear. He headed to the back where Ty said the Protestant section would be. It was a grassy area, devoid of vaults and mostly clear. It took Zane many twists and turns, and several dead ends with Ty’s voice in his ear telling him which way to go, before he found it.

The agent was sitting on an iron bench, waiting for him. He was possibly the most Federal-looking FBI agent Zane had ever seen: black suit, loafers, sunglasses, and a thick black tie. He’d unbuttoned his jacket and his shoulder holster was partially visible, and his pants leg rode up to reveal his backup holster and weapon. A field agent he was not.

Zane sighed and stepped out of the row of tombs he’d cut through. The man straightened when he caught sight of Zane, and he stood, buttoning his jacket.

“Special Agent Howard?” Zane asked.

“That’s right. Are you Garrett?”

Zane nodded.

“Where’s your CI?”

“My CI?”

“You said you were bringing in a CI. A Tyler Beaumont.”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, he’s the one with that little red dot on your chest,” Zane said, pointing to Howard’s tie.

Howard looked down and jerked when he saw the laser sight dancing on his tie. His eyes were wide and scared when they met Zane’s. He reached for his gun, but his buttoned suit impeded him, so he brought his wrist to his mouth and ducked, as if that would save him from Ty’s sniper rifle.

“They’re onto us! They came armed!” he shouted to whoever was on the other end of his radio.

Zane cursed and turned to duck behind the nearest row of tombs. The telltale pops of a suppressed weapon echoed in the humidity. Marble chips flew as the rounds hit next to Zane’s head. He ducked and weaved left, covering his head. He could hear the others in his ear bud. None of them sounded panicked. In fact, Ty’s voice came over the frequency as calm as if he were ordering a sandwich at the local deli. Zane had heard more emotion from Ty as he watched a football game.

“Got five going over the northeast wall,” Ty said in Zane’s ear.

“Which one’s northeast?” Owen shouted.

“Not yours. Garrett’s hemmed in.”

“Aye aye, we’re going in,” Nick growled. More suppressed pops came from the wall, followed by the boom of Nick’s weapon.

“Five more through the main entrance,” Ty murmured. “These aren’t locals. Get out.”

Shots fired from the roof. Zane peered around the tomb to see Special Agent Howard scrabbling for cover. Bullets hit at his feet, kicking up earth and grass, making him dance back and forth. Ty was playing with him, pinning him down.

Tourists screamed in the distance. Horses whinnied. Sirens began to blare from the traffic station down the street. Zane lunged from his hiding spot and ran low, angling toward Howard, where he was trapped in the open by Ty’s covering fire. A bullet whizzed past his arm, so close it burned.

“Shit. Sorry,” Ty said in his ear.

“Watch it!” Zane snarled. He reached Howard and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, jerking him to his feet and pulling him toward the tombs. He saw Nick and Kelly scaling the gate on the back wall.

When he reached cover, Zane slammed Howard to the ground and held his gun to the man’s nose. He patted him down, taking all his weapons, his badge, and his car keys.

“Six, you got cops on your position in three,” Nick shouted.

Ty ignored the warning and fired more shots. Someone in the cemetery screamed.

“Two down. And a half. Seven live. Get your asses out of there!” Ty ordered. “Garrett, quit dancing with him and move!”

Zane didn’t release the man, instead gripping him hard by his collar and forcing him along with him.

“It’s too hot up here, I’m gone,” Ty said. “Clear out!”

Shots continued to echo through the cemetery, but the sniper rifle fell silent.

Zane craned his head to look up at the roof as he dragged Howard through the maze of vaults and tombs. Ty had finally abandoned his post, but Zane didn’t know how he planned to get out of that building now that all hell had broken loose.

There was more gunfire from the back of the cemetery. Zane couldn’t tell if Sidewinder was chasing the unfriendlies or if they were now being chased. Agent Howard fell to his knees, whimpering and tugging at Zane’s hand.

“Get up!” Zane shouted. He yanked him hard, slamming him against the crumbling exposed brick of an ancient vault. He shoved his gun under Howard’s chin. “Who’d you call?”

Howard began blubbering. Zane could barely make out his words. He yanked the ear bud from his ear to be rid of the chatter and shoved the gun harder against Howard’s neck. “Shut your damn mouth.”

Howard’s sniveling cut off with a gulp. “Please don’t kill me,” he whispered. “I have a family.”

Zane bared his teeth. “I don’t care. Who did you call?”

“Police commander. Gaudet.”

“This isn’t cop firepower; who else is involved?”

“He—he said he had help. Someone new in town.”

“Names.”

Howard jerked his head from side to side. He was trembling. “Spanish. I don’t know.”

“Colombian?”

“I don’t know! Please God, don’t hurt me.”

Zane released him. He peered over the vault. The gunfire continued. He stuck the ear bud back in, only to be greeted by garbled shouts and echoes of shots.

He stepped away from Howard and pointed the gun at the man’s leg.

“Oh, God no!”

“This is your final lesson in loyalty,” Zane growled. He put a bullet in the man’s kneecap and darted away.

“Where the hell did they get all this firepower?” Nick shouted as he and Kelly ducked behind a large marble vault. Bullets thwapped into the ground around them, ricocheting off marble and stone. Nick’s face was bleeding and he could feel a shard of something stuck just below his eye. His sunglasses had probably saved his vision.

“Not cops!” Ty yelled through the static in Nick’s ear. He was breathing hard, probably running.

“Cartel hitters,” Zane hissed. “Howard said Gaudet called them in.”

“So wait, the cartel and the cops are working together?” Owen asked. “How’s that fair?”

“Does it matter?” Kelly shouted. “Sound the retreat, baby, let’s get our happy asses out of here!” He reached to Nick’s face and yanked the piece of shrapnel out. Nick cussed him up and down and held his hand to the wound.

Owen’s voice came through. “Six?”

Ty’s response was barely audible.

“Rabbit hole,” Kelly muttered at Nick’s side. He was reloading his gun, crouched as low as he could get. If Ty’d gone down the rabbit hole, there was no one to offer cover fire.

“Get the hell out of here,” Zane ordered. “Everybody out!”

“Should’ve put a guard on the roost,” Digger said. “Goddamn you Liam Bell!”

Nick couldn’t make out where any of the others were. They’d been outnumbered and overpowered, chased into the maze of tombs within the cemetery. It encompassed an entire block, filled with crumbling sidewalks, winding alleyways too small to fit a grown man through, and towering stonework that abruptly cut off pathways and created kill boxes with no escape. Without Ty in the sniper’s roost to cover them or give them enemy positions, they were in the dark.

“I’m almost at the front entrance,” Zane said on the ear bud. “Make your way here, I’ll cover you.”

Nick patted Kelly’s knee, pointing toward the direction of the main entrance. Kelly nodded and they both darted off down the closest lane.

Shots chased them.

“Free drinks! Fireworks!” Ty shouted at the top of his lungs. His signal was stronger, meaning he’d escaped the Basin Street building somehow. Nick snorted. Ty and the cockroaches. He could imagine him running into a crowd of Easter Sunday churchgoers, tourists, and parade marchers, trying to create a distraction and lure people out of harm’s way. “Free drinks inside!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw a man climb on top of a touring van parked on a side street. He crouched on the roof and tossed something into the cemetery. An earsplitting boom and a flash followed. As he and Kelly darted between tombs and dodged bullets and shrapnel, Nick got a closer look at the man. Liam Bell.

“Oh shit,” he hissed.

“Is he on our side?” Kelly called.

“I don’t care! Run!”

Smoke began to billow from the back of the cemetery. Liam tossed two more canisters, closer to their own position. Nick and Kelly skidded to a stop. Nick covered his ears and squeezed his eyes closed as the flashbangs went off.

They wasted precious seconds trying to shake off the concussive blast. Nick could hear screams of pain and anger. He peeked around the corner of the tomb that shielded them, only to come face-to-face with a man who was doing the same thing. Nick rolled away as the man brought his gun up and fired.

“Go!” he yelled, pushing at Kelly’s arm.

They sprinted down the lane, catching glimpses through the narrow alleys of two men racing down the opposite lane. When they reached a widened intersection, Nick raised his weapon, preparing to fire as their pursuers rounded the corner.

But Zane was there, flattened against the tomb wall, knives in his hands. When the two assassins reached the corner of the tomb, he stepped out and swept a hand across one man’s neck. Blood spurted as Zane turned gracefully and shoved a knife into the other man’s side. He jerked it up, under the body armor, under the ribs. He stepped back, covered in blood as both men fell to the ground, dead or dying.

Nick and Kelly gaped at him as he twirled both knives over his fingers and shoved them back into their sheaths.

“Nice,” Kelly grunted.

Zane shrugged and bent to gather the weapons off the dead bodies. He pointed toward the entrance, a mere ten yards away.

Nick and Kelly stayed low and close, watching each other’s backs as Zane brought up the rear, scurrying from tomb to tomb for cover. Owen and Digger appeared from the other side. The smoke bombs Liam had thrown seemed to have bought them enough time to clear the cemetery. Owen and Digger darted out, then took up posts behind the walls to cover their last few yards.

Nick was almost to the open gate when something thumped into him from behind. The report of the shot reached his ears a split-second later. He was thrown forward. More bullets hit the walls around him.

“He’s hit, he’s hit!” Owen cried, the voice coming both from nearby and inside Nick’s ear. “Doc!”

“Who’s hit?” Ty asked, voice suddenly panicked.

No one answered him.

Nick pushed at the ground, but the weight on top of him was too much. He turned his head. Kelly had fallen into him when the bullet hit. Owen fell to his knees beside Nick’s face. They lifted Kelly off him and Nick pushed up, scrabbling the rest of the way out of the cemetery.

They hit open ground and ran, rushing into traffic on Rampart Street. Nick and Zane fell back to cover them as Owen and Digger carried Kelly between them. They faltered in the large grassy median and took cover behind a horse and carriage that had been abandoned by its driver.

Crowds of people were running to and fro, panicked and confused.

“Who’s hit?” Ty demanded, his voice breaking.

“We’re in the median,” Zane said, breathless. “Kelly’s down.”

“Doc,” Digger said as he put a hand on Kelly’s face.

Kelly coughed and took in a loud, shivering breath. Owen knelt, cradling Kelly’s head. Nick fell to his knees beside him and began trying to find the wound through all the blood.

Zane remained standing, keeping guard and watching out of the corner of his eye.

Mere seconds passed before Ty joined them. He dove to the ground beside Kelly, jostling Nick as he tried to cut away the bloody clothing. “Where’s he hit?”

“I don’t know, I can’t find it,” Nick stuttered.

“Doc, stay with me now,” Digger pleaded. He patted Kelly’s cheek. Kelly’s eyes fluttered open. They all leaned over him. Digger sounded like a frightened child. “What do we do, Doc?”

Kelly tried to speak. Blood began to trickle out of the side of his mouth.

Ty grabbed Owen’s shirt and shook him. “Get a car.”

Owen nodded and pushed up, darting into traffic to commandeer a vehicle. They were mere blocks from the hospital. Zane fired into the cemetery, keeping their opponents at bay.

Kelly struggled to take another breath, but it only produced more blood. Digger held onto his hand. Nick’s fingers trembled as he searched for an exit wound.

Ty leaned over and ran a bloody hand through Kelly’s hair. “Steady now,” he whispered.

Kelly nodded and closed his eyes.

Zane shot at the cemetery again. Return fire hit the carriage, and the horse panicked, pulling away and taking their cover with it.

Ty and Nick moved together, their backs to the cemetery so their bodies shielded Kelly’s. Ty’s voice shook as he whispered, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil—”