Hunted (27 page)

“Or he might be planning to leave by boat to meet up with them offshore,” Tuck suggested. He ran a hand over his hair. “I don’t see him traveling by car from this point. Not when he knows someone might have spotted it and not when he’s got at least one hostage with him. He knows how we’ll track him so he’ll be avoiding any CCTVs he can.”

Oh god, please let Zoe still be alive. He didn’t think he could take it if he found out she was dead. The light she’d kindled within him would go out and what was left of his heart would shrivel up and die. If he could go back and do things differently, he’d have told her how he felt about her this morning.

Putting that out of his mind, Clay studied the image on screen. He agreed that Ruiz escaping by vehicle was unlikely at this point. They had to find a good entry point that would provide cover and allow for stealth.

There was only one road they could use to access the location. The surrounding area was heavily wooded with Cyprus groves and while the thick underbrush would provide good cover, it would also slow them down if they wanted to remain invisible or if they had to break cover and chase Ruiz down. And he would be watching all the land approaches.

“Gonna have to be the water,” he said to the others. Ruiz would expect any water approach to be by boat. But he wouldn’t expect what Clay had in mind.

The guys all looked at him. “Go on,” Tuck said.

He pointed to the screen where a finger of land jutted out into the bayou. “This is a good jumping off point. We can access it on foot from the road and still avoid detection. Looks like it’s about…”

He calculated the distance to the shore where the cabin sat using the legend at the bottom of the screen. “An eighth of a mile or so from there to the target. The water’s murky but we don’t need to stay under for long and it’s shallow there so we won’t need tanks. He’ll be listening for boats or helos and watching the road, not expecting us to come out of the water.”

Evers and Vance nodded, staring at the screen. Blackwell glanced at him, his teeth flashing white against his dark skin as he smiled. “I like the way you think, frogman.”

Clay turned his attention to Tuck, who was still looking at the image on screen, and waited for an answer. Finally his team leader nodded. “All right, agreed. But you’ll take point.”

No problem. “Absolutely.” They were all trained to operate in the water, day or night, but as a former SEAL, nobody was better than him in the water and Tuck was humble enough to acknowledge it. Just one of the reasons why he was the best damn team leader they could have asked for. Though with all the years he’d spent in SF then Delta, he was probably the closest to Clay in skill and experience with working in the water.

For the next hour they hammered out the rest of the plan and all its contingencies before running the final version past DeLuca. The CO listened carefully, asked a few questions and offered a few suggestions. Ultimately the final say on how this went down was Tuck’s call, and everyone in the room knew it. Clay would be point man, Tuck would follow him, then everyone else and this time Evers would bring up the rear.

They called in the DEA Fast Team members, who would be responsible for overwatch and be ready to intercept any suspicious vehicles or boats approaching the cabin. The Coast Guard was placed on alert and was moving two ships into the area offshore to provide additional security.

Finally, when they’d analyzed the entire op and plan to death and had nothing more to add, Tuck glanced up and looked around the table at everyone. “All right, so that’s it. Any questions?”

Clay shook his head, impatient to get moving. No one else had anything further to add.

“Okay, I’ll start taking care of the details and get the paperwork ready. The rest of you go get your gear together,” Tuck told them. The DEA guys filed out to brief their own people.

Clay turned and exited the room, heading down the hall to grab more of their equipment where they’d stashed their gear in another office. Halfway there he saw Celida and Travers step into the hall from an office at the end. She looked up, saw him, and smiled in a feral way that made the hair on the back of Clay’s neck stand up and his heart rate elevate. She had something.

“Go tell the guys and get ready,” she said. “Ruiz is there.”

Yes.
He glanced at his watch, saw it was only a few minutes after eight. They had just under six hours before the supposed pick up, wherever that was supposed to happen. More than enough time for them to carry out the op before Ruiz ever got around to leaving.

He looked back up at Celida, the sudden leap of hope a painful pressure in his lungs. “What about Zoe?”

Her smile faded. “We don’t know yet. Not about her or Leticia. But until I hear differently, I’m saying they’re both alive and with him.”

He held her gaze, every muscle in his body taut, ready for action. Craving the chance to get Zoe and take down Ruiz. Clay wanted that fucker to pay for what he’d done. “If she’s there, we’re bringing her out.”

Celida nodded, her eyes filled with gratitude. “I know.”

Without another word, Clay turned on his heel and rushed back to tell the others it was time to lock and load. He was bringing Zoe home today.

****

Zoe’s eyes snapped open in the darkness when she heard Carlos’s raised voice coming from the bedroom down the hall, where he’d disappeared with Leticia what seemed like hours ago.

The bedroom door flung open with a crash.

Zoe tensed and scrambled to a sitting position, her heart thundering in her ears. But he didn’t come for her. She could hear him moving around the kitchen, muttering to himself as he paced on the linoleum floor. He was clearly agitated and frustrated. Things between him and Leticia must not be going well, although what had he expected?

He stalked out of the room and Zoe braced herself to sit there and listen to Leticia scream or cry. It was quiet for a few minutes, then Carlos’s voice rose and Leticia’s along with it. She flinched when Carlos’s bellow of rage echoed down the hall. Something smashed against the bedroom wall, shattered.

Carlos yelled again, his voice becoming more distinct when he exited the room into the hallway. “You’re going to fucking talk to me before we get on that boat!” he shouted. Leticia shot something back and Carlos lost it. “Yeah? Well, let’s see if you don’t change your mind after this,” he threatened.

This time when his footsteps sounded on the linoleum, Zoe knew he was coming for her. There was nothing in the closet for her to defend herself with, she’d already checked long ago. She crouched there in the dark, weight settled on the balls of her feet, bound hands in front of her, fingers curved like claws. Ready to spring.

The lock turned.

He swung open the door, a huge shadow against the dim light, and Zoe attacked.

Launching up with every bit of strength in her shaky legs, she lunged and went for his eyes with her fingers. Carlos yelped in surprise and staggered back a step when she hit him full force with her body, one hand flashing up to grab her wrist. But she’d managed to get him in the eye with her fingers.

Snarling with rage, he threw her off him. Zoe hit the floor on her side, her ribs and elbow taking the brunt of the impact. She winced, forced herself to quickly get to her feet and darted for the front door, the only exit.

A hand reached out, caught the ends of her hair as she ran. His fingers slid through it, just missing her. Zoe focused on the door handle at the end of the hall, vaguely aware of Leticia behind them, screaming at Carlos to stop.

It was going to cost her precious seconds to get the door open but it was the only way out. She had to get out. Instinctively she knew if he caught her this time, she would die.

The blood roared in her ears with every step, hope and desperation flooding her. She threw out a hand, grasped the lock. Turned it. Gripped the doorknob. Turned, yanked.

It started to open. She caught a breath of briny air as it whooshed open, had taken a step outside when he caught her from behind in a flying tackle. They flew through the air over the short set of wooden steps and landed on the damp, muddy grass with a bone-jarring thud, his weight atop her knocking the air out of her lungs.

Unable to breathe, she flailed as he wrenched her to her feet with a cruel grip around her throat and whirled her to face him. Her hands locked around his wrist as he squeezed, doubling the choking sensation. In the dimness outside his eyes were black pits, burning with rage.

Leticia stumbled through the door, still screaming at him, but froze and went silent when he withdrew his pistol and put it to the center of Zoe’s forehead. And God help her, for just a split second that shamed and shocked her, Zoe found herself wishing he’d just pull the fucking trigger and get it over with.

The mere thought snapped her back to reality. She was a fighter. She wasn’t going to be a lamb to the slaughter.

“No!” Leticia cried, her voice shrill. Zoe could see both her hands and feet were bound. “You promised!”

“I told you whether she lives depended on your behavior, and I’ve fucking had enough of her. So you can stand there and watch her die the way enemies of my Mexican friends do, and know it’s your fault.”

Zoe’s knees turned to jelly. She hung in his powerful grip and shuddered, closing her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see him anymore. Instead she thought of Clay, of Tuck and Celida, her parents and how hard it would be for them when they found out what had happened to her.

Ignoring Leticia’s pleas, Carlos muscled her around. Her eyes popped open when he grabbed something crinkly and she saw the edge of the olive drab tarp in his hand. He yanked it off, exposing the machinery beneath and it took a moment for her to realize what it was. When she did, her blood iced up.

A wood chipper.

He was going to shoot her and put her body through a fucking wood chipper.

Fuck that. She’d fucking shove him through it first.

“Gators will be out soon to clean up the mess you’ll make, and they’re hungriest at night,” he taunted as he threw the tarp aside.

Something snapped inside her. A strange, high-pitched sound came from her throat.

She was raw instinct, more animal than human as she turned on him. Her teeth closed around a chunk of flesh on the side of his neck, her hands gripping his throat.

She bit down hard. Blood spurted into her mouth. His howl of pain shattered the night.

A fist caught her in the side of the face. The blow stunned her but she didn’t let go, sinking her teeth deep until they met with a clack, her thumbs digging as hard as they could into his windpipe.

Another blow, this one to the side of her head, and strong enough to send her reeling. She hit the ground and spat out the piece of flesh she’d ripped from him, gagging on the iron taste of warm blood as she rolled to her hands and knees and lurched to her feet.

Run. Run!

Terror and the will to survive drove her onward on a wild dash for the trees. He was right behind her, bellowing his rage as he gave chase.

Can’t stop. Won’t stop
.

The muscles in her thighs burned. She darted left, narrowly avoiding the arm he threw at her. Her bare feet slipped on the muddy ground. It cost her everything.

Carlos slammed into her, an arm locked around her throat, choking the life from her. She clawed at his arms, nails raking his skin.

No air.

Her lungs began to burn, her eyes bulging from the pressure.

“What the hell’s going on over there?” a male voice bellowed from somewhere off in the distance to the left. The faint beam of a flashlight flickered at them through the trees.

Carlos froze, the crook of his arm still around her throat but the lethal pressure had eased.

“Who’s there?” the man called out, sounding all kinds of suspicious and pissed off.

“Fucking
hell
,” Carlos muttered to himself. He seemed to hesitate for a second.

“Help! Help us!” Leticia screamed from the porch. “Call the cops, he’s got me and another woman held prisoner—”

The rest of what she was going to say was cut off when Carlos raised his pistol and fired one shot in Leticia’s direction. She yelped when the bullet slammed into the side of the cabin, feet from where she stood, then dove for cover behind a pile of wood.

That muscled arm fell away from Zoe’s throat. She dropped to the grass, her starved lungs sucking in a breath of air. Before she even realized what was happening Carlos was dragging her back to the cabin. He threw her inside and went back to grab Leticia, hauling her up the steps by the hair. He was back before Zoe could stagger to her feet. This time he opened a trap door in the floor and stuffed both of them in what had to be a cellar.

There was just enough room for her to kneel. Zoe immediately got to her knees and banged on the trap door with her bound fists, the wooden rectangle outlined by a pale line of light from above. It was cold and damp down here, smelled of mildew and mold. The darkness surrounded her, disorienting in its completeness.

Leticia scrambled to her knees and shuffled over to her. “Oh my god, Zoe, are you all right?”

No, she wasn’t all right. She was shaking all over, her stomach heaving. If that man hadn’t called out and interrupted Carlos, she’d be dead right now. A shudder ripped through her. Leticia slipped her arms around her, awkward because of her bound hands. “H-have to g-get out,” she rasped.

“I know,” Leticia whispered. “I’m hoping that guy will call the cops.”

Zoe prayed she was right. But maybe that Gill guy had turned on him and alerted authorities already. The FBI and cops would be out searching for them. “Wh-where’s Carlos?”

“Don’t know. I think he’s gone to make sure the guy didn’t get close enough to see anything.”

“H-help me br-break the lock,” she gritted out through chattering teeth. She wasn’t sure what he’d barricaded it with, but they had to find a way to get out.

Leticia lifted her arms off her and turned around, a tight fit in the cramped space.

“Kick it,” Zoe whispered. “
Now
.” Together they kicked the door, right at the edge that had closed last, where that line of light was. Pain shot through her heels, up her legs, but she ignored it. They had to escape. While Carlos was outside. There would be no second chance.