Hard Target: Elite Ops - Book One (27 page)

The door opened behind them. He didn’t turn around, but he smiled when he heard Risa ask, “Are we late for the party?”

Leland didn’t visibly acknowledge the relief he felt at recognizing her voice. He still had to stall till Zach and Anna were safely in the car.

“You’d have taken this woman’s life to save your wife’s,” Leland called to Rivera. “You said her life was as precious to you as your own.”

“Get in,” he heard Nick tell Zach. Backing to the vehicle, Leland felt hands on his shoulder.

“I’ve got him in range,” Nick spoke under his breath. “Almost there.”

Leland eased backward, still taking care to keep Anna in front of them as Marissa pulled Zach into the back of the Hummer.

Rivera kept talking, obviously desperate to keep Anna there. “Of course, I would have taken her life. I see what you’re doing, Agent Hollis. But it won’t work. Even with your friends here, I will find you. You still have to get out of the city.”

Nick moved to stand beside him with an AK-47 in his hands pointed at Rivera and his men. “Move. I’ve got you both covered.”

Leland pulled back with Anna in front of him, glancing once over his shoulder. Zach was in the backseat, glaring at him with undisguised malevolence. Risa was hanging onto the boy’s arm to keep him from coming after Leland.

“Okay, Anna. We’re getting in.”

He tugged her with him, his arm around her waist, her ass flush against his groin, and the underside of her breast brushing against his wrist. Even with Nick covering them Leland wasn’t turning his back from Rivera. He guided Anna along with him until he felt the seat hit his own butt.

Only then did he lower the .38 from her chest. Ducking, he jerked her backward into his lap in the vehicle. Another man Leland had never seen before was driving.

He was glancing back toward Rivera when it happened. Someone blinked. Leland would never know who shot first, but it wasn’t him and it wasn’t Nick.

For a moment he was reminded of the night at the Coltons, except no babies were screaming. It was just the explosive
thump-thump-thump
of guns firing and the smell of gunpowder as all hell broke loose.

Nick was outside the vehicle when the barrage began. Leland pulled Anna over his own legs and boot to the seat beside him so he was shielding her body with his. The slap of a bullet by his head had Leland pushing Anna down hard into the floorboard. Marissa already had Zach down there and was back up on the seat returning fire. Nick seemed to be holding his own with the automatic weapon behind that other empty SUV, but he couldn’t do it alone.

“Risa, whatever happens, y’all get the hell out of here,” said Leland.

“Drive, Hollywood, go!” shouted Nick.

Marissa looked like she wanted to argue, but another bullet shattered the passenger glass and hit the headrest beside the driver. She nodded.

“Do not wait for us,” Leland said. “You’ve got to get out of here before someone gets shot.” He leaped from the car with the .38 Special. His feet hit the ground as Nick fell. Leland crouched and scrambled to get to the downed man.

Nick was already bleeding profusely. “What the hell?” he growled. “You were in the damn car and almost gone.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t.” Leland looked at Nick’s chest wound and took a deep breath. “I’m not leaving anyone behind.”

Anna screamed his name at the same time Leland hollered at Marissa. “Go, go, go!”

Nick pushed his AK-47 into Leland’s hands and pulled the Sig Sauer from his waistband as the Hummer sped off. The empty SUV was now their only cover.

“Jesus, this isn’t good.” Nick’s lips were white with pain.

“It’s gonna be okay,” said Leland. “The keys to that SUV are in the ignition.”

He used the assault rifle to lay down a blanket of bullets along the entryway. Most of Rivera’s men had ducked for cover when the shooting started, but two hadn’t been quick enough, their bodies sprawled on the steps. If Leland could get Nick into the SUV they might be able to get out of here.

It should have been easy, but Rivera would be calling in reinforcements from other parts of the compound at any time. Leland was surprised that they weren’t here already.

He had to get Nick inside that vehicle and get away, or they were going to die in Tomas Rivera’s driveway.

Leland pulled at Nick. “Can you get up?”

“Yeah, think so.” But his face had gone gray and the 9mm went slack in his hand. Nick was hit twice that Leland could see.

Rivera called from the steps and the men stopped shooting. “Don’t take this personally, Agent Hollis, but we’re going to kill you now, you and your friend. And we’ll find the woman. This city belongs to me. There’s no place they can hide.”

Leland ignored the taunt and opened the back door to shove Nick inside. He was slamming it shut when he felt a searing pain along the top of his left shoulder.

Shit.

He was saved from being knocked on his ass only because he was hanging onto the backseat door handle with his right hand.

Reaching for the driver’s side door, he had moments before that adrenaline rush would be overridden by the agony of a gunshot wound. He pulled himself into the front seat and ducked as the glass shattered in the passenger-side window. Bullets slapped the upholstery beside him.

Cranking the engine, he thanked God when it caught on the first try and he floored it. “Which way do I turn at the drive?” He called over his shoulder to Nick.

“Left,” came the mumbled reply.

Mashing the accelerator to the floor, he sped down the driveway.

“The airstrip’s about three miles outside Boca del Río.” Nick didn’t sound good. Certainly not like he could fly them anywhere.

Leland would try and iron that particular wrinkle out after they were safely off Rivera’s property. Speeding down the drive he followed the signs for Boca del Río and worried about the lack of sound coming from the back seat.

“What’s going on back there?”

“Oh, just lying here bleeding. What the hell do you think I’m doing?”

“Jeez, I thought SEALS were tough.”

“Screw you, Hollis.”

Okay, so Nick sounded testy. If he felt good enough to be hostile, that was probably a good thing. Leland wanted to keep him talking, but he also needed to concentrate on speeding over the potholed road, putting as much distance between them and the Rivera compound as possible.

After a couple of minutes he tried again. “Nick, talk to me.”

“Don’t want to talk. I’ve been shot, dammit. This hurts like a bitch.”

Leland glanced over his shoulder and nodded but was secretly shocked at the amount of blood streaming down the seat. “Okay, crybaby, give me your phone. I’ve got to call Risa.”

He didn’t get a response, but when he reached over the backseat Nick handed him a cell phone covered with blood. Leland wiped the screen on his pants leg before speaking. “We gotta get you to a doctor and find the others.”

“I pulled up the number,” whispered Nick.

Leland glanced down and touched the screen. Risa answered on the first ring.

“It’s Leland. Got to find a doctor for Nick. He’s bad.”

She didn’t hesitate. “Where are you?”

“Driving through Antón Lizardo, headed for Boca del Río.”

“We’re just a few minutes ahead of you. Gavin has a contact in Antón Lizardo. Give me a minute to get the address.”

He heard Marissa speaking, then a deeper male voice, then Risa instructing Anna to hand a bag over the seat.

Anna. Would she ever trust him again? He’d taken Zach away from the compound and the transplant. He’d held a gun to her head.

A pedestrian stepped into the street and Leland swerved, the front wheels of the SUV skidded onto the dirt shoulder then bumped back up to the cobbled road. He couldn’t think about his problems with Anna just now. He’d get himself or someone else killed.

“Okay. Bryan knows someone there, too. One of our old contacts.” Marissa rattled off an address. “I’m shooting it to Nick’s phone.”

The phone in Leland’s hand
dinged
with an incoming text. It was a map. “Got it. I’ll meet you there.”

Chapter Thirty

L
ELAND WOVE THROUGH
the dirty streets of Antón Lizardo. The houses crowded each other in varying shades of faded gray. A few pieces of clothing hung on the occasional clothesline. Lonely flowerpots dotted the bleak faces of otherwise ramshackle buildings. Few people were on the streets despite the hour. It was as if residents knew they were safer indoors.

Leland found the building Risa had indicated and parked the non-descript but shiny SUV out front. Large sun-bleached doors that most likely led into a courtyard were shut tight. His shoulder throbbed now, and he was hyper aware of the blood running down his arm and dripping onto his seat.

He wondered briefly if Rivera’s SUV was LoJacked and prayed it wasn’t or they were SOL. Most drug dealers didn’t use GPS-type preventatives in their cars because the technology could be used by authorities to track the criminals themselves instead. Glancing back at Nick confirmed that he didn’t have time for hiding the car.

Besides, who in their right mind would steal a car from a cartel leader when it was obvious who it belonged to? He’d noticed the license plate in the drive, before all hell had broken loose. It was personalized as “Rivera3.”

Leland got out and had his hand raised to knock on one of the faded doors when it opened. A surprisingly young man answered. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, he glanced over Leland’s shoulder to the large SUV.

“Walters?” Leland asked.

“AEGIS?” The man studied Leland as he asked the single word question.

Leland nodded. “Got a man badly wounded.”

“You don’t exactly have a scratch.” Walters stared pointedly at Leland’s arm, which was now dripping large spots of blood onto the faded sidewalk. Still, it was nothing compared to the puddle Nick was lying in on the back seat.

“Let’s get him inside.” Walters opened the two doors, revealing a courtyard and several cages filled with barking dogs.
Pull your vehicle in here
, he urged. “No LoJack, right?”

Leland smiled grimly as the doctor’s thoughts echoed his own. “For Rivera? Highly doubtful.”

Walters nodded then stared when the unusually colored Hummer pulled up behind Leland’s SUV. He waved both cars inside the courtyard. Leland was out of his vehicle immediately as Walters opened the back door to get Nick.

Anna and Zach scurried out of the backseat and closed the courtyard doors, hiding them from any passersby. He wanted to talk to Anna, but now wasn’t the time. The driver who Nick had called “Hollywood” introduced himself as Bryan Fisher. He and Risa stood together on either side of Walters, ready to help slide Nick off the backseat.

With his shoulder injury, Leland wasn’t able to really help much with the lifting. Fisher and Walters moved Nick carefully to a small surgery area. Blood-soaked and pale, he appeared unconscious. Under Walters’s direction Marissa moved a small stainless-steel table in place for them to put Nick down.

Leland and Fisher moved out of the way, and Fisher picked up a huge wad of sterile gauze. “Let’s do something about this till Walters can get to you.”

“I’m fine to wait for the doctor—”

“Ah, come on, man. Don’t be a pussy. Besides, he’s gonna be a while.” Fisher slipped on a pair of gloves.

Leland nodded, not terribly enthusiastic about the prospect.

“Don’t worry, I’ve had some training. Let’s find a place to sit you down.” Fisher gathered more supplies, and they picked out a spot in the corner.

He’d obviously spent quite a bit of time here. Weighing in at 225 and built like a tank, the other AEGIS employee appeared to be ex-military, except for his longish dark blond hair and five o’clock shadow. Taller than Leland, he had a boyishly handsome face and didn’t look over thirty until you saw his clear gray eyes.

The expression was vaguely familiar and disconcerting, like the eyes of an old man in a younger man’s face. Fisher looked as if he’d seen too much ugliness in the world and was weary of it. The combination of those eyes and his build sent a big
don’t mess with me vibe
to anyone who was paying attention. Leland figured most of Gavin’s employees gave that kind of impression. It would be fairly useful in their line of work.

“How did you get involved in this?” Leland settled his hips against a stainless-steel counter along the wall as Fisher helped him slide his shirt off.

“Was on my way back from another job when Gavin asked me to meet Risa and Nick. Glad I was available. Looks like I’m going to be flying us home, as Nick’s indisposed.”

“Yeah. That being the case, I’m real happy you’re here, even if you don’t know what you’re doing with my shoulder.”

Fisher snorted a laugh and kept working, but his eyes didn’t look quite so sad. “Glad I was in the area.”

“Nick called you ‘Hollywood.’”

Fisher shook his head. “Long story.” One he obviously didn’t care to discuss.

Hissing in a breath, Leland gritted his teeth as Fisher applied disinfectant to his shoulder wound then pressed down with gauze to staunch the bleeding.

Damn. It hurt.

He tried concentrating on what they were doing to Nick instead of what was happening to his own gunshot wound. The table Nick lay on was unnaturally short and looked as if it had been made for a child, particularly when Walters and Marissa arranged his body on the flat surface. Risa pulled another table over to support his lower legs.

“You do realize this is a vet clinic?” Walters asked.

Risa cracked-up. “That’s more appropriate than you realize.”

Leland smiled. Now the size of everything made sense.

A woman appeared at the door wearing a robe and nothing else.

“This is Angelina, my assistant,” explained Walters.

Without bothering to step out of their line of sight, Angelina slid out of her robe and stepped into green scrubs. Leland was so surprised at her lack of modesty, he didn’t even turn his head until she was almost dressed in the scrubs.

Fisher seemed equally frozen in place but only raised an eyebrow. “Don’t mind us,” he muttered, pressing down again on Leland’s shoulder.