JET - Sanctuary (29 page)

“Hannah!” Jet whispered, entering the room. “It’s Mommy.”

Hannah didn’t seem to register the words, and Jet realized that she either couldn’t see at all in the darkness, or what she did see looked like an alien – Jet in a combat jacket, night vision goggles covering most of her face.

“Sweetheart, don’t be scared. It’s Mommy. I came for you.”

“Mama?” Hannah asked, her voice tentative.

Jet could see her looking around, so her first guess was correct – it was too dark for her daughter to see her. “I’m right here. Stay where you are. I’m wearing a special mask so I can see you. I’m coming to you right now, okay?”

Jet moved to her daughter and called out to Alejandro. “Keep an eye out. My daughter’s here.”

“Mama!” Hannah cried as Jet picked her up with her left arm, holding the rifle with her right hand.

“Oh, baby, I love you so much,” Jet said, her eyes welling with tears.

“Love you too.”

“It’s scary in the dark, huh?”

Hannah nodded.

“Was Matt here?”

Another nod.

“Do you know where he went?”

Hannah’s face scrunched as she struggled for a word. “Man come.”

“A man came for Matt?”

“Yeth.”

“How long ago, do you know? Just now, or a while ago?”

Hannah was confused by the question, having no concept of time. “Just now?” she said, sounding unsure.

Jet carried Hannah to the door. “You see anything else, Alejandro?”

“No. No movement. Looks like between the avalanche and the shooter you saw, everyone’s dead.”

“Crap. I think the gunman took Doug. Come on,” she said. “You remember Hannah, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

They bolted for the only SUV in sight that hadn’t been crushed by the falling rocks, an anthracite Ford Expedition. After glancing around to ensure they weren’t about to get shot, Jet strapped Hannah into the back seat. Alejandro was already in the passenger seat when she climbed behind the wheel. The keys were in the car, and she twisted the ignition. Relief flooded her when the big motor roared to life.

Jet pulled away, the Ford’s all-terrain tires throwing a shower of grit behind them, and she used the wipers to remove the film of dust that coated the windshield. “Hannah, I want you to scrunch down and make yourself as tiny as possible, okay? This is super important, do you understand?”

Hannah nodded. Jet was driving without headlights to buy them an edge over the waiting gunmen – without lights to aim at, all they’d be likely to see was a dark blur blowing by. She increased her speed until the tires began to lose their grip on the dirt. Alejandro rolled down his window and stuck his M4 out the window, watching for any shooters in front of them.

The gunfire, when it came, was haphazard and largely missed them, only a few rounds punching into the rear quarter panel as they tore past. Jet floored the gas pedal and focused on keeping the big SUV on the narrow dirt road as it careened around a bend, drifting as all four tires lost purchase. For an instant the vehicle seemed to be floating, skidding as if on ice, and then the tires gripped again just as they were nearing the edge where the mountain dropped down five stories into a ravine.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t see anything to shoot,” Alejandro said, rolling the window back up.

“No worries. Everybody okay?” She looked in the rearview mirror at where Hannah was still doing her best to make herself small. “You can sit up now, honey. All done.”

Hannah did so, and Jet’s heart broke when she saw that her little girl was crying again, but another part of her burned with rage.

Alejandro shifted next to her and spoke softly. “Uh-oh.”

Jet looked over at him.

Alejandro touched his side, and his hand came away with bright red blood. “I’m hit. Didn’t even feel it there for a few moments.”

“Where?” Jet said, concentrating on keeping them from running off the road.

“Nicked the inside of my arm. Bastard. Now it hurts…”

“Grazed or worse?”

“Grazed. I’ll live.”

They hit the bottom of the road, and she twisted the wheel left. Far down the mountain she could just make out brake lights.

“Hold on,” she said. “We’re going to set some records here.”

Alejandro nodded, and she flattened the accelerator to the floor.

~ ~ ~

Drago held the submachine gun he’d lifted from one of the dead gunmen on Matt as he followed the road down the pass, the vehicle leaning as he cut the curves too fast.

“Where are the diamonds?” Drago demanded again.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Then I’ll just kill you now and call it a day,” Drago said, slowing and leaning away so as to not get blood all over himself.

“Fine. They’re hidden in my car.”

“Which is where?”

“At a hotel in San Felipe.”

“Ah. And how many diamonds are we talking? What’s the value?”

“I don’t know. Maybe ten, twenty million?”

“That’s a big difference,” Drago observed.

“I have no way of knowing exactly how much. That’s all I’ve got left. But it’s a lot.” Matt appraised him. “Enough so that if we split them, no matter what you’re being paid, it’ll be ten or twenty times as much. We go our separate ways, you retire rich, and it’s all good.”

Drago grinned. “Wouldn’t that be nice?” His eyes narrowed as he slowed and pulled over at the turnout where he’d left his rental car.

“Why are we stopping?”

“Change of vehicles. You’ll want to be on your best behavior, because I’ll gladly shoot pieces off you if you aren’t. It doesn’t much matter to me whether we do it that way or not. Understand?”

“I do. Look, think about the diamonds for a second. You’re a freelancer, aren’t you?” Drago didn’t respond, so Matt continued. “Which means you don’t know the whole story. What did they tell you?”

“You stole the wrong person’s diamonds.”

“Not exactly. I was running ops for the CIA in Thailand. The diamonds were payment for heroin that was bound for the U.S. I decided I didn’t want to work for drug traffickers, so I took them and disappeared. You’re being used by a faction in the CIA, which means once you’re done, there’s nowhere in the world you’ll be safe. They can’t afford to have you around, so one night you’ll be offed, and you’ll never know when or where.”

“Says you.”

“That’s how they do things. You serve your purpose and they wipe you. The only way you stand a chance is with enough money to vanish forever, without leaving any trail. The diamonds will more than do that. Think about it. Anywhere in the world, a new life. Never having to worry.”

“Nice pitch, but wrong guy.” Drago rolled to a stop next to his car. “Open your door and get out, slowly, and put your hands on the car, where I can see them.”

Matt held up the cast. “In case I have a Tommy gun in this?”

“I’m glad you’ve kept your sense of humor. Now do it, and if you make a move I don’t like, I’ll put a bullet in you.”

Matt nodded and eased out of the SUV, Drago’s weapon trained on him, and put both hands on the roof of the car. Drago opened his door and was out in a second, the submachine gun unwavering in his hand. He neared Matt and tilted his head for a moment, listening. The only sound was the rushing river winding its way at the bottom of the ravine far below, and his breathing.

Except.

He closed his eyes for a moment.
There.
The thrum and high whine of tires from up the hill. He opened his eyes and glanced at the road – no lights. Which was impossible. It was almost pitch black out, with only occasional flashes of moonlight between the clouds.

And yet now he could hear it drawing closer. Tires on asphalt coming fast and a big motor. A V-8, by the sound of it.

Drago hissed at Matt. “Stay where you are or you’re dead, do you understand?”

“I’m dead anyway, aren’t I?”

“You want to be dead right this second or live a while longer?”

Matt didn’t answer, which Drago interpreted as a vote for life. He moved to the opposite side of the SUV and waited for whatever was coming at him to show itself on the bend. It looked like a hundred yards, maybe a little more, before the vehicle would come into view, which was fairly close to the limit of the submachine gun’s effective range.

He saw a glint of something in the night and then could just make out the big SUV bearing down on him. Drago forced himself to wait, counting one second, then another, and then fired a long burst at the vehicle, hoping to hit it. Contrary to movies, hitting a moving target was difficult, much less at relatively long range with a weapon whose accuracy was unknown, and so his strategy was to spray enough lead in the vehicle’s general vicinity that at least a few of the rounds might hit it.

His luck had run out. The big truck kept coming, and he had to make a lightning decision: shoot it out in the road or run for cover and draw his pursuers after him.

Drago glanced down the ravine – it wasn’t particularly steep, and there was plentiful scrub and trees he could use as cover. Staying up on the road would mean a swift exchange, with him the likely loser. He’d grabbed the submachine gun out of convenience as he’d pushed Matt by one of the dead gunmen, and he hadn’t stopped to get extra magazines, which meant that he only had whatever rounds were still in the gun, and his pistol, which wouldn’t do much good in an open shootout – but could work in the brush if he could ambush his hunters.

Drago spun and snarled at Matt. “Get going. Now. Over the side.” He motioned with the submachine gun.

Matt raised his hands over his head, his cast gleaming white, and nodded. “Okay. Where?”

Drago jabbed with the weapon at a gap in the dense bushes by the edge of the turnout. “There.”

~ ~ ~

Jet swerved as bullets punched into the hood and windshield. Hannah screamed and ducked down again in the back seat. Jet avoided locking up the brakes and putting the SUV into a skid by downshifting and allowing the motor to slow it.

“Can you shoot?” she yelled at Alejandro.

He brought his weapon up and rolled the window down again. “I’m not hurt that badly. But good luck hitting anything while we’re moving.”

Jet caught a better look at the turnoff as she steadied the SUV. “Hold off. That’s Doug leaning against the car. See the cast?”

“You’re right. What do you want to do?”

They watched as the gunman moved to Matt and then disappeared.

“Don’t shoot,” Jet warned.

The engine was making an ominous clanking. Jet cursed – one of the bullets had hit something and done real damage. She could still see through the windshield – the bullets that had drilled through it had done so in the center, leaving neat holes without much starring around them. But there was no telling how long the motor would keep running.

“I’m going after them. Looks like he’s making a run for it. With the NV goggles, that’s advantage, me,” she said.

“Unless he’s got a night scope on his weapon.”

Jet’s jaw muscles clenched as she ground her teeth. “I’ll take my chances.”

“Park behind them.”

Jet coasted to a stop on the cusp of gravel, and steam hissed from beneath the hood. She shut off the ignition, and the clanking stopped.

“Sounds like the rounds bent something. Maybe the fan or a pulley. They definitely hit the radiator,” Alejandro whispered.

“That doesn’t matter. Stay with Hannah.”

Alejandro shook his head. “You can’t do this alone.”

“You’re wounded.”

“I’m grazed. But you go one-on-one with this guy, your chances of walking away drop significantly. He took out the gunmen at the camp and started an avalanche, for Christ’s sake. This isn’t some Verdugo stooge.”

“What about Hannah?”

“You’re not going to be much good to her dead. Lock the car up. She’ll be fine for a few minutes on her own.”

“No.”

Alejandro exhaled noisily. “Think. We’re running out of time. Why did he run for the brush? Either to escape or to draw us in. If the former, we got his ass. If the latter, if we spread out, his odds of nailing either one of us go way down.”

Jet checked her magazine and scowled as she eyed Hannah in the mirror. She didn’t want to leave her alone, but Alejandro was right. With two of them, they had a better chance.

“Damn. Okay.” Jet spoke to Hannah. “Honey, I’ll be right back, okay? You’ll be safe here. Stay in the car, all right, sweetheart? I’ll lock it so nobody can get you.”

Hannah’s eyes looked panicked, but she nodded.

“And be quiet, okay? No matter what, stay down inside the car, stay quiet, and Mommy will be back for you before you know it.”

~ ~ ~

Matt crashed through the brush, making as much noise as possible without being obvious, taking care to stumble regularly, slowing their progress as much as he could. Drago prodded him along impatiently, and they heard a clatter from up at the turnoff.

“What’s your plan? We can’t outrun anyone,” Matt said.

“One more noise and I’ll drill you,” Drago warned, his murmured threat all the more ominous for how flat his tone was.

Matt didn’t want to test him. His captor was clearly as lethal as they came. If it was Jet behind them, she’d need every bit of luck she could summon, because Matt had watched this guy gun down three of Bastian’s crew without blinking after killing the two men guarding the storeroom entrance. He had the demeanor of a true sociopath and was more than good, and Matt had seen enough to realize that whoever was following them had their work cut out for them.

~ ~ ~

The hiss from the radiator sounded like a freight train as Jet jogged to the gap in the vegetation. Alejandro trailed her, a length of cord cinched around his left arm to slow the bleeding, his M4 gripped in his right. At the edge of the turnout she stopped and listened, her ears straining for any hint of movement, and she heard crashing from halfway down the hill. She eased herself over the side and followed the trail down the slope.

When she arrived at a small clearing, she studied her surroundings and then whispered to Alejandro, “It looks like they’re headed down to the river. You can see where the grass is flattened. I’m going to take the trail they took, and you take the other one. With any luck you’ll come up behind them. If you get a clear shot, don’t hesitate – take him down.”