Operation Date With Destiny (14 page)

Tupper saw her frown as she tried to piece together a plausible explanation for her
friend
’
s
disappearance. He had his own theory on it—but he knew she wasn
’
t going to like it. They were moving at too fast a pace to stop and discuss it now—they had a chopper inbound and they needed
to make it back to the village ASAP.

Del had dropped back to keep an eye on their rear and as they neared the village, Tupper began to feel more than a little uneasy. The sound of gunfire from behind forced them to stop and lower the stretcher
to
take up defensive positions.

“
We
’
ve got trouble comin
’
. Get your asses outta
’
there, I
’
ll be movin
’
fast in your direction in a few minutes,
”
Del
’
s voice came over the comms and the sound of gunfire echoed across the airwaves.

“
Get him into someplace safe—we
’
re gonna
’
have to fight our way outta
’
here,
”
Tupper said, getting ready to cover Del when he appeared.
“
Be ready to get to that chopper when it gets here.
”
He waited until he was sure Destiny was going to follow the stretcher before he turned his attention back to the task at hand.
“
Pete you
’
ll be comin
’
in hot,
”
Tupper call
ed
over the comms to warn the pilot.

“
Roger that. But is it too much to ask that just once it could be a nice, leisurely pick up…just sayin
.
’”

“
Where would the fun in that be, Pete?
”
Tate
’
s voice joined in the steady banter as bullets flew around their heads.

Destiny ran with Maloney and Tate towards the closest hut and placed the stretcher on the ground inside before taking up their rifles and moving back out to give Tupper a hand outside
.

“
Throw smoke when you
’
re ready—I
’
m almost on top of you,
”
Pete
’
s voice came over the comms.

“
Target marked by yellow smoke. Attack west of smoke, danger close,
”
Tate replied and Tupper sent a quick glance skyward as the sound of a chopper approached. Hopefully he
’
d spread a bit of
cover fire
and hold off the approaching enemy long enough for them to
reach it
.

“
Anyone else get the feeling something
’
s not quite right here?
”
Del asked, suddenly
.

“
I was hoping I was wrong,
”
Tupper
answered
.

It was almost as though these guys were playing with them—they
’
d stopped their advancement and were now seemingly, holding them in this position.

Tupper hit the button of his comms and called Destiny.
“
Everything okay over there?
”

“
Good to go—just say the word.
”
He knew she could hear the conversation over the comms, keeping track of what was happening
.

“
Keep your eyes open.
”
He didn
’
t know what it was but something was definitely off about this. Then Destiny called back.

“
I found Pon and his guys.
”

Tupper spun around and looked back across the village as a vehicle pulled up and the Cambodian and a group of men climbed out and began heading towards
Destiny
’
s position
. “
Sonofabitch
,
”
Tupper muttered, already moving towards the hut where Destiny
had been
left with the kid.

Chapter
Nine

Destiny was
just
relieved to
see that
Pon
was
alive and well. She got to her feet, and headed out to meet him
. As she stepped
from the hut, she heard
Johnny
’
s
voice in her ear telling her to
stop at the same time as she noticed the men coming towards her had
raise
d
their weapons
—her
hand instantly reach
ing
for
the
spare Glock
she kept strapped
against her back
.

“
You can drop your weapon, Miss Tre
’
ago,
”
A deep voice came from nearby and Destiny shifted her gaze from the armed men to a stocky built man with bad acne sca
r
ring who was climbing from the vehicle behind them. She knew who this was—Bart Rothman, Tre
’
ago
’
s head of security. She saw him hitch his head in the direction of the hut she
’
d just come out of and Pon stepped forward to herd her back inside.

“
Pon?
”
Destiny frowned in confusion.
“
What are you doing?
”

“
I
’
m sorry, Destiny,
”
the younger man shook his head and lowered his gaze, picking up her weapon she
’
d carefully lowered to the ground.

“
What the hell have you done?
”

“
He did what he was paid to do, Ms Tre
’
ago.
”

Destiny
’
s gaze snapped up at Rothman
’
s voice.
“
You
’
ve got the wrong person,
”
she snapped, hating the sound of the name she
’
d been trying to forget for years.

“
Oh no—
Destiny
. I must say you
’
ve grown up since the last time I met you,
but I
’
d remember that face anywhere,
”
he said and she hated the way his eyes slowly roamed over her body.

Yeah—she remembered him. He
’
d obviously worked his way up through her father
’
s ranks over the years though
,
if he were the king pin left in charge of running Tre
’
ago
’
s drug empire. At fifteen he
’
d made himself very well known to her…

“
I have a message from your father.
He
’
s not happy Destiny.
He
’
d hoped he
’
d gotten his message across that he was serious…apparently he wasn
’
t making himself clear enough? I suggest you stop creating more headaches for me, and sign the papers.
”
He pulled out an envelope and thrust it against Pon
’
s chest to give to her.

Destiny
’
s gaze went back to her old friend and she glared at him, ignoring Rothman completely.
“
Why would you do this? And after all they
’
ve done to you and your family?
”
It hurt—a lot, to
realize
someone you trusted completely
,
had just sold you out to the enemy.

Inside her ear she heard the men as they edged closer to the hut and felt a small measure of comfort that she wasn
’
t alone—but in reality she may as well have been
,
they were stuck out there
,
hemmed in by the advancing party from the Jungle and cut off from coming to her rescue by Pon
’
s men at the front.

“
Enough of the chit
chat. I
’
m going to make this simple—sign the papers or I kill your brother,
”
he said withdrawing a syringe and squatting down beside the stretcher.

“
Tupper
’
s on the move. If he can get a clear shot from over near the school yard—he
’
ll take out the guy in the doorway. Be ready to move on his count,
”
Del
’
s voice spoke over the comms and Destiny forced herself not to glance across at the school house
in an automatic reflex
. They couldn
’
t hear what was going on inside the hut—and she couldn
’
t reply or it would give away the fact she was still wearing her comm
unication
s gear, but she could hear them—and they had a plan. All she had to do was keep this asshole busy talking for a little bit longer.

“
Like you
’
re going to just let us walk away from here,
”
she snapped back, trying to buy them some time.

“
Take a look around—you
’
re out numbered, and as we speak you
r
hired guns are being pinned down and won
’
t come to your rescue, so what choice do you have? Surely holding out for your
father
’
s
money isn
’
t worth losing more lives?
”

“
It
’
s never been about the money,
”
Destiny growled in a low, furious tone.

“
Of course it is. Now just sign the papers.
”

Oh God if only it were that damn easy!
She felt like screaming,
damn it, think
!

“
I
’
m almost in positio
n, darlin
’
. Just keep him talkin
’
,
”
Johnny
’
s
voice sounded in her earpiece and she felt a warm sensation begin to spread through her body at his voice.

“
Fine! Give me the papers.
”

She watched as Rothman hitched his head in Pon
’
s direction and immediately, Pon
extended
the envelope
across to her.

She tried to catch her old
friend
’
s
eye, but he refused to look at her, instead keeping his gaze lowered on the envelope in his hand. Destiny felt a sad, gaping hole open inside her as she wordlessly took the paperwork
from him
.

Pon moved to cross the room and st
ood
back near the man guarding the doorway
and Destiny
’
s
heart skipped a beat.
“
Pon,
”
she called, making him pause.
“
I…need a pen.
”
She tried not to allow her sigh of relief escape when he walked away from the door. She was aware that
Johnny
would need a clear shot if he were going to take the other guy out—she made sure she wasn
’
t in the way—but she wasn
’
t prepared to sacrifice Pon—no matter how betrayed she was feeling at the moment
.

“
Get ready,
”
Tupper
’
s voice came across the comms and everything suddenly felt as though it were moving in slow motion. She looked up from the papers in her hand and her gaze locked onto the blonde
haired man holding the needle near her baby
brother
’
s
arm.
The sound of the shot echoed inside her head and from the corner of her eye she saw the guard
in the doorway
falling, seconds before she launched herself across at Rothman.