Читать книгу Operation: Midnight Guardian - Linda Castillo - Страница 9

Dawn broke with a monochromatic sky and the tinkle of sleet against the ground. In the distance thunder rumbled menacingly. The hopelessness of her situation pressed down on Mattie like a lead weight as she made her way down the rugged trail. The last thing she wanted to do was get on that chopper and be transported to prison, but she knew if she tried to make a run for it, the man who’d apprehended her would stop her.

Mattie Logan, you are hereby sentenced to life in prison.

The words echoed until she thought she would scream with the injustice of them. But what could she do? Run? Convince this hard-nosed man she was innocent? Neither option seemed realistic.

“This is Delta Ringo One to Eagle. Do you read?”

Her captor’s voice drew her from her reverie. Mattie turned to see him speak into his radio.

“That’s affirm, Delta.” A voice crackled on the other end.

“I’ve got the package.”

“Roger that.”

“What’s your twenty on the rendezvous?”

“Coordinates two five three point one. What’s your ETA?”

The man punched numbers into a small device. “Ten minutes.”

It was the first time she’d had the chance to study him. He was lean and tall with an expression that told her he was serious about what he did. Wearing faded jeans, high-end hiking boots and a flannel shirt over a turtleneck, he didn’t look like any cop she’d ever seen. There was something dangerous about him that had nothing to do with some badge or even the semiautomatic pistol strapped to his hip. Something unpredictable that warned her not to cross him. But Mattie knew if she wanted to clear her name, crossing him was a calculated risk she was going to have to take.

“Be advised we have heavy weather coming in,” the voice barked from the radio.

“Time frame?”

“Front’s here, Delta. Get your butt in gear.”

“Roger that.” Frowning, he shoved the radio and hand-held device into his backpack and shot her with a dark look. “You heard the man, blondie. Let’s pick up the pace.”

For a crazy instant she considered making a run for it. Now that her hands were free, she would be able to run unencumbered. With a storm approaching, maybe her captor would be forced to return to the chopper without her. She envisioned herself barreling down the ravine to her left. If she could reach the stream…

“Don’t even think about it.”

Mattie glanced at him. Fifteen feet separated them. Not much of a head start, but suddenly she knew this moment would probably be her last chance for escape.

“I can’t go back,” she said.

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I know you don’t believe me, but I’m innocent. I swear on my life. All I need is the chance to prove it.”

“You’re not going to get the chance out here in the middle of nowhere.”

It’s now or never…

Mattie broke into a sprint toward the stream at the base of the ravine. She crashed through the brush, veered left to avoid a stand of sapling pines. She could hear his occasional curse behind her as his heavy boots pounded the ground. She ran as she had never run before, hurdling over fallen logs and rocks the size of basketballs. Her only thought was that if he caught her, her life would be over.

The next thing she knew, his strong arms were wrapped around her from behind. She screamed as he dragged her down. She fell hard on her stomach, twisted and lashed out with both feet.

He grunted when her heel caught his chin. She saw his head snap back, caught a glimpse of his angry eyes and a slash of blood where her heel had cut him.

“Stop resisting!” he growled.

But Mattie was fighting for her life. She’d been locked up for four months like an animal for an unspeakable crime she hadn’t committed. Her only hope of salvaging her life was escape. She’d decided a long time ago that she would rather die than spend the rest of her life in a cage.

But he was incredibly strong. An animal sound tore from her throat as he pinned her to the ground. He was sitting on her abdomen, his hands manacling her wrists above her head.

“Pull yourself together,” he snapped.

“I’m not going with you,” Mattie panted.

“You don’t have a say in the matter.”

Helplessness and impotent rage burned through her. To her horror, tears welled. Humiliated, Mattie tried to turn away, but he held her flat.

“You’ve left me no choice but to cuff you,” he said.

Mattie hated the cuffs; they made her feel like a criminal. He snapped the nylon restraints into place—in front—which made them marginally more comfortable.

He rose and helped her to her feet. “If you have a beef with the verdict, you’ve got to handle it through the courts. Not out here. There’s a dangerous storm on the way and four killers who will stop at nothing to get whatever secrets you have locked inside your head. Do you understand?”

“What I understand,” she said in a trembling voice, “is that neither justice nor my life means anything to you.”

He studied her as if she were a puzzle missing a vital piece, then he motioned toward the trail. “When we get to the chopper I’ll clean up that cut on your temple.”

The cut was so inconsequential when her life was destroyed that Mattie choked back a hysterical laugh. “Like that’s going to make everything all better.”

“Lady, I’m just doing my job the best way I know how. If you’re as smart as your file claims you are, you’ll make it easier on both of us and cooperate.”

“I will play no role in the ruination of my life.”

“You should have thought about that before you got involved with those thugs.” He jammed his thumb in the direction from which they’d come. “If those bastards get their hands on you, you will find out the true meaning of brutality.”

“I’d rather die than spend the rest of my life in prison.”

“Keep it up and you’ll get your wish.” He looked at his watch. “Now let’s move out.”

He set a grueling pace as they trekked toward the pick-up location. Mattie felt as if she were walking toward the firing squad. She couldn’t believe she’d blown her only chance of escape.

Within minutes, the Whop! Whop! Whop! of the chopper’s rotor blades rent the air. Through the trees she spotted the large craft perched on a rocky ridge in a clearing. The fuselage was yellow with black lettering.

They were twenty yards away when a man in khaki pants and a parka opened the chopper’s hatch and stepped out. “About damn time,” he said, his eyes going from her captor to her and lingering.

Mattie looked away, wondering if this would be the last time she saw trees, the last time she breathed in mountain air and freedom.

“She give you any problems?” the man asked.

Her captor gave her a measuring look. “None I couldn’t handle.”

“Get her in the chopper. Pilot’s RTG. Let’s see if we can beat this cold front.”

Her captor took her arm and led her toward the chopper. She was about to step inside when a gunshot stopped her dead in her tracks. She spun to see the man in khakis crumple to the ground.

“Holy hell! Rusty!”

Her captor went for his weapon, but he wasn’t fast enough. A third man in a flight suit emerged from the chopper leveling a deadly looking weapon at her captor’s chest.

“Drop the gun, Cutter, or I swear you’ll join him.”

THERE WAS NOTHING Sean Cutter hated more than a traitor. That deep-seated hatred boiled inside him as he stared at the CIA chopper pilot he’d known and trusted for the better part of his professional life.

“What the hell are you doing, Meeks?”

“What do you think?” Grimacing, the pilot jumped from the chopper to the ground, his eyes flashing from Cutter to Mattie.

“I think you’re selling your soul,” Cutter said.

“What can I say? They pay better than Uncle Sam.” Meeks crossed to Mattie and licked his lips. She cringed when he ran a fingertip from her chin, down her neck to her shoulder. “I don’t know why The Jaguar wants you so badly, but he made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“How much?” Cutter asked.

“A million and change.”

“Generous.”

“I thought so. A hell of a lot more than a CIA pilot will ever see in his lifetime.”

“Too bad you won’t live to spend it.” Cutter edged closer, but Meeks smiled and set his finger against the trigger. “Don’t get any closer, Sean. You know I’ll put a bullet in you.”

Cutter glanced down at the man lying on the ground in a widening pool of blood. “Evidently you don’t have any qualms about taking out one of your own.”

“Not one of my own. I’m a free agent now.”

“You’re a coward and a traitor.”

The pilot smiled. “But very rich.”

“So tell me, Meeks. How does this work? You kill two federal agents and deliver a DOD scientist to a terrorist group? You think they’re really going to pay you?”

“I’ve already got half of it.”

“And you think the CIA is going to walk away and let you live happily ever after?”

“I’ll be able to afford to get lost anywhere in the world.”

“There’s no place remote enough on this earth that will keep the CIA from finding you.”

“Unless they think I’m dead.” His eyes flicked to the pistol at Sean’s hip. “Give me your weapon, GPS unit and radio.”

When Cutter hesitated, the other man pulled back the slide on the weapon. “Do it or I’ll take out your kneecaps first.”

Hoping to buy time, Cutter pulled the radio and GPS unit from his belt and tossed both to the ground.

Meeks stepped forward and crushed the radio beneath his boot. “The gun, too, Cutter. Stop wasting my time.”

Relinquishing his weapon was the one thing Cutter would not do. He knew Meeks was going to kill him, then deliver this scientist to a dangerous terrorist cell. If he wanted to prevent both of those things from happening he was going to have to make a move.

Putting his hand on his weapon, he stepped closer. “You son of a bitch.”

Cutter’s nerves jigged when the other man shifted the gun to his chest. “Nice and slow. The gun. Now.”

Cutter went for his weapon, brought up the muzzle. But he wasn’t fast enough. The other man fired. The bullet struck him in the chest like a baseball bat slamming in a homerun. The breath left his lungs in a sound that was half roar, half curse. He reeled backward, lost his footing. The next thing he knew his back hit the ground. Pain radiated through his chest. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Dizziness descended like a fast-acting narcotic.

Through the haze of pain Cutter was aware of the pilot pointing the weapon at the woman. “Get in the chopper, bitch.”

Cutter felt himself fading in and out of consciousness. But there was no way he could let Meeks fly out with Mattie Logan in tow. She was a walking time bomb. If The Jaguar got his hands on her, the world would pay a terrible price.

He tried to sit up, but searing pain sent him back down. He tried to draw a breath, succeeded only in making an undignified sound. Damn. He hadn’t wanted things to end this way…

He was wondering how the situation could get any worse when four men wielding semiautomatic rifles stormed the clearing.

SHE WAS GOING TO DIE. If not by the hand of the pilot, then certainly by one of the gunmen. Two minutes ago her biggest concern had been clearing her name. Now, at the mercy of five brutal killers, she figured she’d be lucky to walk away in one piece.

Mattie couldn’t take her eyes off the man called Cutter as he lay on the ground a few feet away. A crimson stain the size of a saucer bloomed on his shirt. She hadn’t wanted to go back with him, but she certainly hadn’t wanted to see him shot down like an animal.

She stood frozen, her heart pounding wildly as the four men verged on the pilot. The leader of the group was a thin man of average height. His coal-black hair was swept back from a high forehead. Eyes the color of midnight swept from the man on the ground, to Mattie.

“I see you are a man of your word,” he said to the pilot.

“Signed, sealed and delivered,” the pilot replied.

The man’s black eyes swept down the front of her. “You are not what I expected.”

“I don’t know anything,” she blurted.

Sick amusement danced in his eyes. “What you know remains to be seen, doesn’t it?”

She jolted when he raised his hand and brushed her jaw with his knuckle. “It makes no difference to me if you are a woman or a man. One way or another, you will tell me everything you know about the final phase of EDNA or I will hurt you in ways you could never imagine.”

She believed him. And suddenly she was very sorry the man who’d come to take her back was lying on the ground, dying.

The terrorist motioned toward the fallen agent. “What happened?”

“He made a move.” The pilot shrugged. “I had to take him out.”

“I told you I wanted him alive. Sean Cutter and I have unfinished business.”

“He didn’t give me a choice.”

The other man’s expression darkened, but he said nothing.

The pilot glanced toward dark clouds roiling on the horizon. “Look, there’s a storm moving in. Pay me that last half of the money and I’ll drop you and your associates wherever you need to go. But we’ve got to move now or else risk getting stranded on this godforsaken mountain.”

For the first time Mattie realized that in the last few minutes the wind had picked up. Snow mixed with sleet was swirling around the treetops. A thin layer already covered the ground.

She knew these men were going to kill her. The ringleader had all but promised to torture her for information about EDNA. Once they got what they wanted from her, she would be expendable. A chill that had nothing to do with the cold snaked through her at the thought of the horrors she faced in the coming hours….

“Get in the chopper,” the ringleader said to his men.

“I can take you as far as Canada,” the pilot said as they started toward the hatch.

“Excellent,” the terrorist said. “Let’s go.”

As the pilot stepped into the craft, the terrorist raised his handgun and fired a single shot. Blood spattered the yellow fuselage. The pilot pitched forward and landed on the ground with a thud.

“That’s for killing Sean Cutter,” the terrorist muttered.

Horror and disbelief pummeled her like fists. Another man dead. All because these men wanted the plans for the final phase of EDNA….

She wondered how long she would hold up under torture. She wondered how terrible it would be. And in that instant she decided there was no way she could let them take her alive.

“Fire!”

Mattie glanced toward the chopper to see black smoke billowing from its fuselage. Surprised shouts erupted all around her. The men scrambled from the craft. “Grab the extinguisher!” one of them shouted.

“Watch the woman!”

“The fire is coming from the engine! Quickly, put it out!”

Run!

The flight instinct kicked in with a vengeance. Refusing to think of repercussions, she spun away from the chopper and literally ran for her life.

She darted across the clearing to the forest, her feet barely seeming to touch the ground. She scrambled over the trunk of a fallen tree, through brush that tore at her slacks. She knew they would catch her; there was no way she could elude four men with guns. But terror and adrenaline were driving her, not logic.

Shouts erupted as she fled. She heard her pursuers behind her, following her, breaking through brush. Praying for a miracle, she glanced over her shoulder toward the place where the man called Cutter had fallen.

But he was gone.