Kidnap and Ransom (19 page)

That galvanized her. Kelly’s right leg shot back. She launched it forward, putting all of her hip strength behind it. Her prosthetic foot was made of energy-storing carbon fiber capable of producing a hundred pounds of cubic pressure, all of which she now directed at Stefan’s torso.

She felt the reverberation of the kick in her hip. Stefan gasped and his hands released.

Kelly dropped to the ground coughing, her hands reflexively checking her neck. It felt raw, bruised, like she’d swallowed a razor blade. She stumbled backward, out of reach.

Stefan was writhing around, clutching his stomach. Kelly’s expression hardened. She lifted her leg again, from the hip the way Brandi had shown her in countless therapy sessions. Kelly brought the metal foot down hard on Stefan’s right knee. He yelped and drew it protectively toward his chest, then tried to roll away. She focused on his right hand. He jerked it away an instant before her foot connected.

Stefan’s face hardened. His hand snapped out, grabbing her ankle and pulling.

The sudden move knocked her off balance. Kelly stumbled and fell. He held fast. Kelly gritted her teeth as her stump twisted unnaturally in the prosthetic socket, straining against the pins.

“I see you’ve undergone some changes, Agent Jones,” Stefan spat. “Tough couple of years?”

Something inside Kelly snapped. All the rage and frustration she’d kept bottled up for months surged to the surface. Her other leg swung around, delivering a solid blow to Stefan’s jaw. His head shot back. She used the momentum to roll to her stomach, then lashed out with a donkey kick to his nose. There was a satisfying crunch, and the pressure on her prosthesis

Kelly scrambled to her feet. Stefan clutched his nose and struggled to stand, growling at her in Danish.

She couldn’t see her gun, but spotted a length of rusty rebar ten feet away. Kelly lunged toward it, hearing him right behind her. She reached out, snatched it up and whirled back around. She didn’t have time to aim, so the first blow glanced off his shoulder. Kelly hopped back, getting a few feet between them. Stefan faced her in a wrestler’s stance, hands loose by his sides, knees slightly bent. His nose canted to the left, bright red blood flowed from it down into his mouth. He didn’t seem to notice.

Kelly kept her elbow close to her side. The danger of wielding a weapon against a stronger opponent was that he could rip it away and turn it against her. She had to land some crushing blows without getting close enough for him to seize the advantage.

It hurt to breathe, as if his hands were still wrapped around her throat. Her stump throbbed, and her vision was slightly blurry. Kelly blinked to clear it. Stefan feinted forward, and she dodged left. The motion sent another stab of pain shooting up her spine. She gritted her teeth and wiped a bead of sweat from her eye.

Stefan was smiling again. It was the same look he’d given her the last time they’d faced off, nearly three years earlier. He’d come close to killing her that night. She still had nightmares about it from time to time.

He feinted again. Kelly swept the rebar in an arc, but he dodged back quickly and it grazed his knuckle.

Stefan cocked his head to the side. “Before I kill you, I’m curious to hear how you found me.” That same voice, heavy with a Danish accent, overly formal.

“I was already here. Finding you was a bonus.” It hurt to talk, but she wanted to keep him off balance. Kelly watched his eyes closely, waiting for them to indicate that he was about to strike again.

“Vacationing in Mexico City?” His eyebrows shot up. “Couldn’t afford Cancún on a government salary? That’s a shame. I hope you enjoyed yourself.”

“It was great,” Kelly said. “It’ll be even better once I arrest you.”

He barked a laugh. “You always had a certain charm, Agent Jones. It almost makes me forget that, thanks to you, I nearly died in a river.”

“I was hoping you had.”

“Yes, well. Sorry to disappoint.” He lunged again. Kelly anticipated the move this time. She brought the rebar down hard on his forearm. He groaned, and she seized the opportunity to crack him across the kidneys. Stefan dropped to one knee.

Kelly danced back again, momentarily forgetting the pain in her leg. “I should probably mention I don’t officially work for the FBI anymore.”

Stefan opened his mouth to respond, then shifted his gaze to something past her shoulder. Kelly wasn’t about to fall for that stunt. She lifted the rebar, preparing to slam it across his forehead.

At the sound of voices behind her, Kelly froze. She couldn’t understand what they were saying, but it belatedly occurred to her that Stefan was the local here. It was possible he’d managed to recruit newrotégés willing to step in and save him.

“Sorry we didn’t have more time to catch up. Lovely seeing you again.” He sneered. Then he gained his feet and started running.

It took Kelly a second to recover from the unexpected move. She started after him, her go-kit bouncing against her back as she ran. She only got ten feet before a familiar sound brought her skidding to a stop.

The bullet shredded the top of a plastic bag a foot to her right, sending up a puff of white confetti. Kelly slowly raised her hands and turned to face the new threat.

Two men in black uniforms, black baseball caps and Kevlar vests stood about twenty feet away. Both had automatics leveled at her chest.

“Now you show up?” Kelly said. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” One of them shouted at her in Spanish. “No hablo!” She chanced a glance back over her shoulder. Stefan had vanished. At the realization that he’d gotten away again, her shoulders slumped. Suddenly she was bone-tired. Kelly swayed, a move that made the already skittish cops even more agitated.

Kelly didn’t care. She carefully lowered herself to the ground, perching on her backpack. One of the cops approached slowly, keeping his gun trained on her, asking what sounded like the same question over and over again.

“He got away,” she said dully, running her hands through her hair, mindless of the filth coating them. “I can’t believe you let him get away.”

The other cop had disappeared into Stefan’s shanty. He stumbled back into view a minute later, bent over and vomited. The two federales engaged in a few minutes of animated conversation, then shifted their attention back to her. Kelly couldn’t understand what they were saying, but she didn’t like the look on their faces. She’d seen it before, the universal expression of cops facing down a really bad guy. “Soy policía,” she attempted.

It didn’t seem to make a difference. One leveled his rifle at her chest while the other approached her. He wrenched Kelly to her feet, twisting her arm painfully behind her. She struggled against him, suddenly panicked. Every terrible thing Syd had said about the Mexican police force rushed into her mind. They committed kidnappings, extortion, car theft, burglary, even rape.

“What the hell?” Kelly demanded, trying to keep the fear from her voice.

He forced her to the threshold of the shack. When she saw what was inside, Kelly’s stomach turned and she nearly threw up.

Lying in a coagulating pool of blood on a pile of rags was the body of a young boy, or what was left of him. All the skin had been stripped from his body. Long pieces of it hung from a clothesline draped across the room.

“This wasn’t me,” Kelly gasped, fighting for air. “It was him, the man I was fighting…”

They either didn’t understand or didn’t care. A pair of handcuffs slapped down on her wrists, and they led her away.

“Well, goddamn.” Brown’s face split in a grin. “If it isn’t Mark Riley.”

Mark didn’t return the smile. When he and Decker had first spotted the Tyr unit, they’d fallen back to discuss their options. Not knowing who to trust, they’d decided their best move was to observe from a distance. When Brown split off from the rest of the group, it presented them with the perfect opportunity to get some questions answered. With that in mind, he kept the LMT’s barrel aimed at Brown’s chest.

Brown’s smile faded. “You got some sort of Stockholm Syndrome, Riley? We work for the same people.”

“Someone ratted us out.” Decker materialized beside Delano. “Zetas were waiting when we showed up.”

Brown’s eyes narrowed. “Well, it sure as hell wasn’t me.”

“You and Calderon are buddies, right?” Mark cocked his head to the side. “Funny that you weren’t in charge of this snatch and grab.”

“Smiley’s decision, not mine.” Brown grunted. “Hell, I wanted to come. He said I was still needed on the Colombia job.”

“He’s with you,” Mark said. “Why?”

“Dunno. Thought that was kind of strange myself.” Brown eyed him. “We got Sock back there, too.”

“Wysocki? How the hell did he get away?”

“Said he left Kaplan and Flores and went for some food. When he came back, they were gone.”

“But he decided not to wait for us?” Decker said.

“Yeah, that struck me as kind of strange, too. Plus he showed up without a scratch on him,” Brown replied.

“That son of a bitch.” Decker spat on the ground.

“Kaplan’s dead,” Mark said. “We found his body when we got back.”

“Sorry to hear that. We worked together a few times, he was a good man.” Brown shook his head. “This has turned into one giant clusterfuck, that’s for damn sure.”

“Why’d you take Sock along?” Mark asked.

“Figured it was the only way to keep an eye on him. Listen, we’re both navy men. You mind lowering that weapon?”

Mark hesitated a moment, then dropped the barrel down. Decker kept his up. At a glance from Brown, he shrugged and said, “I’m a marine. That navy shit doesn’t fly with me.”

In the canopy above them, the sudden rustle of birds taking flight. They all froze, then Mark waved for everyone to follow him farther into the undergrowth. There was a small clearing in front of a giant ceiba tree. Brown settled down on one of the enormous roots, using it as an ad hoc bench. “Damn, I’m tired. Ran around all last night trying to find this place. You know your brother’s here?”

After a second, Mark nodded.

Brown squinted up at him. “He seemed dead set on getting you home. Yet here you are.”

“N leave a man behind,” Mark responded. “We think Flores is in there.”

Brown nodded. “I know it’s not company policy, but I’d have done the same. Any good intel yet?”

Decker and Mark exchanged a glance. After a pause, Mark begrudgingly acknowledged, “We did some recon, but couldn’t figure out a way in.”

“It’s tight, all right,” Brown agreed. “And you don’t exactly look native. We’re going to send in Valencia.”

“That’s a good choice,” Decker said. “I worked with him in Ecuador.”

“Yeah, so. We figure he’ll get a bead on Calderon, see if he can locate Flores, too. Then we get them the hell out of this taco stand.”

“You got fifteen guys, not including Smiley,” Mark said.

“Oh, we’re not including him. Men only.” Brown grinned. “I’m sending him back to town to wait this out.”

“And I wouldn’t take Sock if I were you.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. Especially now.”

“So that’s fourteen of you against a small army,” Decker noted.

“Well, we got a little inside info you’re probably not privy to.” Brown smirked. “Seeing as how you don’t trust us anymore.”

“What kind of information?”

“We should probably come to some sort of arrangement first,” Brown said. “I could use more manpower and equipment, and thanks to your baby brother, you’ve got access to it.”

“In exchange for what?” Decker asked.

“Am I wrong, or don’t you two technically still work for me?” Brown’s eyes narrowed. Decker raised the barrel of his gun again. “Right now, I’m only interested in saving my own ass.”

“You two could have headed north, crossed the border by now. You came here to try to complete the mission, right?”

“Mostly to save Flores. Calderon would have been a bonus.”

“If you did some recon, you already know there’s no way you’re getting anyone out alone,” Brown said. “I don’t trust Sock or Smiley any more than you do. But this is my operation. You decide to trust me, we can help each other.”

Mark thought it over. Brown was right, even if Syd and Jake came up with some sort of genius plan, it was unlikely they’d even get so far as infiltrating the camp. And without knowing where Flores was being held, they might as well just pack up and leave. “Fine,” he finally said. “But I want Sock handled.”

“Trust me.” Brown grinned again. “It will be a pleasure.”

Jake paced back and forth in the motel room. He’d spent the past few hours futilely attempting to get some sleep. Maltz and Kane had pulled out a few h earlier, headed back to Mexico City for heavier artillery. Syd was in her room, ostensibly trying to catch a nap in their down time. There hadn’t been any more news from his brother. For the moment, he had nothing to do except beat himself up for betraying Kelly.

He fell back on the bed, going over it again. What the hell had he been thinking? Even if Kelly weren’t in the picture, sleeping with his business partner counted as the dumbest thing he’d ever done, and he’d done some insanely stupid things in his life. The fact that he’d cheated on Kelly when she was at such a low point made it even worse. He’d never cheated on anyone before—hell, this was the first time he’d been in something that qualified as a real relationship. And he’d just blown it. Typical.

Jake watched a cockroach wander across the ceiling. The dark stains that mottled the stucco occasionally camouflaged its small body, then it reappeared. The truth was, he was lousy at every type of relationship. He and Mark had been best friends growing up, and now they weren’t even on speaking terms. He had lots of acquaintances, mostly guys he could grab a beer with. But people he could actually talk to? For the past few years, there had only been Kelly. He wondered how the hell that happened. He was in his mid-forties, and for all intents and purposes, he was utterly alone.

In retrospect, the falling out with his brother marked the beginning. Their father took off when they were kids; aside from sending crappy Christmas presents, he was completely out of their lives. Their mom got a job as a secretary at the local army base and worked her ass off for twenty years, doing her best to give them a good life. Not that they’d appreciated it at the time. He and Mark had given her more than a few gray hairs. Still, the four of them had been close, a tightly knit unit.