F-Stop (29 page)

of a crime. Do what you can,” Delaware sighed. “I think the best thing on your end is to keep digging to see if you can identify which cartel we’re dealing with.”

“I’ll do my best.” Malone disconnected the call, rubbed his eyes and picked up the phone again to call his house. When his wife answered he said, “Hi, honey. I guess you’d better not wait up for me tonight.”

* * * * *

“The five million in bonds will be here at nine in the morning,” Pelley told the FBI agents gathered in his office. He’d just hung up from his latest conversation with the investment banker. “I’ll be ready for the drop.” He looked at Delaware. “Do not do anything to screw it up this time. I don’t care about anything except getting those people back.”

“You know once the bonds reach them, we won’t be able to trace what happens to them. We don’t even have any way to contact these people and find out how and when they’re releasing the hostages. They’ve made damn sure we couldn’t do that.” Pelley pushed back from the desk, rose and went to pour himself a cup of coffee from the urn he’d had set up on his sideboard. “At this point I don’t care. I just want this over and everyone back safely.” It was important that they believe he meant that.

He was already afraid he’d made too many slips. He’d lie through his teeth if he had to.

“And yourself out of the line of fire,” Delaware commented.

“Is that what you think?” Pelley sipped his coffee and looked at the agent over the rim. “That I just want to get the spotlight away from me?”

“I know you’re hiding something. I may not uncover it today or even tomorrow but just getting the hostages back won’t stop me digging. One way or another, I’ll find out your secret. Everyone’s secret. And identify the scum who set this up with the cartel to begin with.”

“Knock yourself out.” Pelley set his cup down. “I’m going to take a shower, then sack out on the couch. You and your people can try to find out where the Wrights are, or just sit around and watch my butt while I sleep.”

“Having a private suite of offices like this is pretty plush,” Delaware commented.

“I’ll bet you’d hate to give that up.”

Pelley stopped in midstride. “And why would I have to do that?”

“If it turns out you’re involved in this in any way, even if we can’t charge you with anything I’m willing to bet Eli Wright will kick your ass out of here before you can say

‘Who, me?’”

Pelley said nothing, just gave the agent back stare for stare and walked into the bathroom.

* * * * *

Mark drove the SUV right up to where the helicopter was parked, turned off the lights and let everyone out. The distant parking lot lights gave them enough illumination to unload everyone, slide open the door to the Black Hawk’s cabin and get everyone in except Mike and Ed.

“I’m going to tell the night manager we’re taking the bird out for a little shakedown,” Mike said. “Ed, you start the preflight.”

“The rest of us will get our gear together,” Dan told him.

“I’ll be back in a few.” He climbed back into the vehicle and drove off toward the terminal building.

Kat had held her tongue as long as she could. She’d been waiting for someone to make explanations when she and Faith returned from their shopping trip but as soon as they’d changed Dan hustled everyone down the back fire stairs to where he’d parked the SUV. Now her curiosity was about to explode.

“Okay, someone please tell me. Did those men who got off the elevator come to see you?”

The men stopped what they were doing and grinned at each other.

“Yeah, you could say so,” Troy said at last.

She looked at each of them, finding them in the dark of the interior. “Well?” she said at last. “Isn’t anyone going to tell us who they were? What they wanted?” Dan chuckled. “Nothing we haven’t endured before. The local FBI office sticking its nose in our business.”

Kat’s jaw dropped. “But how did they even know we were all here?”

“My guess is the agent in charge of the San Antonio office is hip deep in this and contacted the San Diego office to follow up here.”

“We’ve had some contact with Anthony Delaware,” Mark reminded her. “He’s shutting us out but I guarantee you he wants to know what we’re planning to do. I think these locals thought they could throw their badges around and get some information from us.”

Now it was Faith’s turn to laugh. “They sure don’t know you very well, do they?”

“No. Not even a little.”

“So how did you leave it with them?” Kat persisted. She was terrified someone would do something to screw this up.

“Very politely,” Dan answered. “And when we left the hotel I made sure they didn’t have eyes on us.”

Kat knew to keep quiet after that as the men began their preparations. Mike returned, parking the SUV close to the nearby hangar, and climbed into the cockpit with Ed. Everyone went about their work silently. She watched as they shrugged into vests made of black webbing and canvas straps, with loops and holders that they started filling with items she couldn’t begin to recognize. The only thing familiar to her were the grenades.

Dan happened to look up at that moment and she knew he saw the unasked question in her eyes.

“Just in case,” he told her. “We like to be prepared for everything and anything.” They polished wicked-looking knives and slid them into sheaths strapped to their thighs. Formidable guns were wiped down and checked and clicks echoed in the cabin as magazines were slid into place, with extras shoved into appropriate spaces on their vests. From a canvas duffel bag Troy removed strange-looking mask-like items.

“Night-vision goggles,” he told Kat when he saw her watching him. “Gives us the edge no matter how dark it is.”

None of the other items they handed around were familiar to her either. Then Mark touched her arm and Faith’s and motioned for them to push themselves a little away from the others.

He pulled a handgun from the canvas bag and handed it to Faith, explaining to Kat it was a Ruger. Not that she had all that much knowledge about different manufacturers. Faith took the gun from Mark, and Kat noticed she handled it with confidence.

“Faith’s shot this one a number of times,” Mark explained, “so she’ll be comfortable with it.”

“Mark made me practice with this one at the range,” she told Kat. “He insisted I get my license to carry concealed.” She winked. “I discovered I really enjoyed it.” He took it back from her for a moment, pulled a clip from the grip, checked it and slammed it back into place. “Okay. It’s fully loaded and ready to shoot.” Did they expect her to handle a gun too?

“Nothing to it,” Mark said, reading her expression. He took a familiar-looking handgun from another bag. “I know this has to be familiar to you, from television if nothing else. It’s the all-purpose, easily recognized Smith & Wesson .38. It’s called a wheel gun, because instead of a clip, like semi-automatics, the chambers for the bullets are in a round setup like a wheel. Like this.” He flipped open the “wheel”, showed her how the bullets were loaded into each chamber, shut the gun and handed it to her grip first.

She took the gun gingerly but with determination, setting her grip the way Mark showed her.

“Ever fire one before?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I actually have read firearms manuals for a research project I did but I never actually fired a gun.”

“Nothing to it. Hold it like this.” He moved her fingers again to the correct grip, holding the gun with her right hand and bracing that hand with her left. “This is just a precaution. You probably won’t have to use it at all. If there’s trouble Ed will just lift off.

But just in case something happens, all you have to do is point and shoot. The gun will do the rest, I promise.”

She swallowed. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. And aim for the crotch. The gun kicks upward, so you’ll be sure to get him in the chest or even the head.” He smiled at her again. “I have faith in you, Kat.

You look like someone who could do whatever she had to.” She nodded. “If it means saving my sister, you bet.”

“All right, ladies,” Mark said. “I need to get the rest of our stuff ready. Remember.

Fingers off the trigger unless you’re ready to shoot.”

In another few minutes Mike turned his head and told them liftoff would be in sixty seconds. The engines began to whine, then the rotors overhead turned, slapping at the air in a movement much smoother than Kat would have expected. They lifted off the ground, slid sideways in the air and headed out into the night sky.

She sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning her back against the wall of the cabin. As the men continued with their preparations, she felt Faith’s hand slide into hers and squeeze it gently.

“Everything will be fine,” she mouthed, words drowned out by the noise.

Kat dredged up a smile and nodded. And began to pray.

* * * * *

Javier’s disposable phone rang as he left the city limits of Los Angeles. Without even looking he knew who it would be and his stomach twisted into a knot. He didn’t want to have this conversation.

He flipped open the phone. “
Si.”

“Any activity?” Nando asked.

Javier swallowed twice. “I have had to leave the terminal. The manager sent me on an errand.”

The silence at the other end of the connection was more ominous than any screaming and yelling would have been.

“You left,” Nando said finally, his words uninflected.

“I couldn’t help it,” he cried. “I tried to get out of it but he insisted.”

“And where did he send you,
pendejo
?”

Javier swallowed again. “To Los Angeles. To pick up a part.” More deafening silence.

“Call me the instant you return to the airfield and let me know if either Phoenix aircraft is missing.
El Jefe
will not be pleased by this.”

“Tell him…tell him…” Javier stammered around for the right words, not finding any. He knew he was in deep shit.

“I’ll tell him that if this falls apart he can lay the blame on you.” And just like that, the call was over.

If Javier felt sick on the remainder of the drive to the airfield, he felt worse when he arrived there and discovered that the shiny new Black Hawk was nowhere to be seen.

* * * * *

They were all linked to a comm system allowing them to talk to each other if necessary. Ed would do the flying so Mike could join the others in the rescue attempt.

The men were doing last-minute checks on their gear when Ed turned slightly in his seat and held up five fingers.

“Got it,” Dan said and spoke into his throat mic. “Five minutes to insertion, guys.

Get it ready.”

The men each acknowledged the message and began preparation. Kat noticed they moved like a well-oiled machine, probably from years of practice together. They slipped on their NVGs and crouched by the open door. Dan double-checked the knots in the rappelling rope fastened to rings bolted to the floor and they all pulled on padded gloves.

Mike had explained to Kat that what they would be doing was called fast-roping, sliding down the rope to the drop point, which was much faster than any other method.

The key word here was speed.

Dan watched Kat trying to emulate Faith, who was sitting next to her, not saying a word, projecting an air of calm. He smiled and gave her a thumbs-up.

Then they were over the insertion point and Ed took them in as low as he could.

One by one the men fast-roped down to the ground, signaling safe landing to those above before pulling their guns to the ready position. Immediately they crouched low in the tall waving stalks of marijuana, heads swiveling right and left as they headed in the direction of the hut.

They moved along slowly but steadily, stopping now and then to check for any movement around them. Eventually they came to the copse of trees they’d seen in the aerial shots and finally, there was the hut. It was just as Kat had described it, mud-colored adobe surrounded by dirt and scraggly trees.

Dan was in the lead, using hand signals to guide the others. He moved slowly to the edge of the clearing, eyes looking in all directions. The absence of any guards was the first thing he noticed. Rick moved up next to him, looked around and then looked at Dan, shrugging his shoulders. He too wondered at the situation.

Dan and Mike moved around to the front from one side, Rick and Troy from the other, Mark covering them from the rear. Reaching the front first, Dan put his hands on the bar holding the door closed. The others covered him, ready for a maneuver they’d done far too many times.

Dan counted down with his fingers. Three, two, one.

He slammed the bar back, yanked open the door…and stopped. The others nearly ran into him before they could stop their forward motion. Five stunned pairs of eyes studied every inch of the room.

It was empty.

* * * * *

Faith was still sitting in the same position, head leaning back, eyes closed, when she heard Mark’s voice in her head.

You there, babe?

She was instantly alert.
Yes. Is everyone all right?

We’re fine but we’ve got a little problem.

Oh no! What is it? What kind of problem? Is someone hurt? Did you run into guards?

None of that. Faith, the hostages aren’t here. They’ve been moved.

Faith tried not to show any reaction, with Kat sitting so close to her.

Any idea where they’ve gone?

No. Not a sniff. We’ll talk about it when we get back to the helicopter. Tell Ed we’re on our
way.

Okay.

Rising carefully, Faith moved up to the cockpit and tapped Ed on the shoulder. He nodded and leaned his head closer to her. She put her lips right up against his ear.

“They’re on the way back. Empty-handed. The hostages have been moved.” She was glad Ed showed no reaction, knowing Kat’s eyes were glued to the two of them. He nodded and made some adjustments to his instruments.

“What is it?” Kat asked as soon as Faith was beside her again. “Did Mark send you a telepathic message?”

“Yes, he did.” She took one of Kat’s hands in both of hers. “There’s no way to say this except straight out. The hostages are gone. The hut is empty.” For a moment she thought Kat would pass out but the woman took a deep breath and somehow steadied herself.