Out of the Shadows (Falcon) (6 page)

Fr
om his bag, Brody removed a .357 Magnum. He handed it to her. “Take this.”

Kate
glanced at him. A frown drew her brows together as she tilted her head, but she took the weapon. “Who should I shoot? You?”

His hand clasped her arm.
“This is hard for me to say, but I’m sorry, Kate. I should’ve never dragged you into this. I realize I may be walking into a trap, but with a little luck, I might survive. You won’t.”

He
removed the night-vision goggles and slipped the apparatus onto her face. Bravely she held out the gun. “I can back you up,” she said.

“No.
I want you to go. Stay hidden until Jake comes tomorrow night. Then get on that plane and go back to your life.” Brody pulled her against his chest and squeezed. His chin rested on her head, and he inhaled. After all they’d been through, she still smelled of flowers and sunlight. The curves of her small frame surprised him. “I had no right to take you.”

He bent down and captured her mouth. She tasted so sweet he thought he was in a candy store. On its own accord, his tongue slipped into her mouth and he deepened the kiss. With no resi
stance from Kate, she leaned against his chest and he struggled to breathe. She whimpered and his insides went up in flames. For the first time in his life he wanted a woman so badly he’d almost be willing to die for an hour alone with the CIA agent.

Brody broke the kiss.

“You’re right, but now I’m here.” She touched his chest with her delicate hand. “Maybe together...”

He shoved her long blond hair behind her ears and cupped her cheek.
“I’ll risk my life, but not yours.”

He released her and motioned her back the way they’d c
ome.

She hes
itated. “Why are you doing this, Brody?”

He looked away, unable to face her
. “Five years ago I was a prisoner in Iraq. For sixty-one days I was tortured, beaten, humiliated and starved. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst part was having no hope. Knowing that no one with half a brain would come into the middle of an Al Qaeda camp and get me.” He glanced at her. “A.J. came.”

“Brody...”

He inwardly smiled at the big goggles and the bad- ass gun in her hand. She looked more like Tweety Bird going after Sylvester than an experienced CIA agent. Especially decked out in a T-shirt and bikini panties.

“Brody.”

“Have a nice life, Kate. And I’m sorry for all I’ve put you through.”

He
left her and trotted across the road. He took the Glock out of his waistband, and pushed aside a thin curtain used as a door. Dim light sliced the darkness like a slit in a tent.

Two men sat at a scarr
ed wooden table. Between them sat a bottle of cheap tequila and a burning lantern. In the darkened corner of the room, a woman stood holding a young child.

“You Manuel?” He asked the guy closest to the door.

The man looked up, his eyes wide, his fingers trembling on table. “Sí, I am Manuel.” He stood, knocking the chair backwards. “Do you have the money?”

Brody reached in his back pocket and threw an envelop
e on the table. Several hundred-dollar bills slid across the table. “Half now, the rest when I get what I came for.”

The man practically drooled on
the money. Impoverished didn’t begin to describe the small village. Brody guessed the man had never seen so much cash at one time. His shaking hand slowly moved toward the package but stopped.

Manuel
looked at the man whose face remained hidden by the brim of his hat. “You bring the girl?” Manuel asked Brody.

“She had a date
. Couldn’t make it.”

Manuel
snatched up the money and walked toward the door. Brody put his hand on the man’s chest, stopping him. “Where is Chavez?”

He replied by motioning with his eyes.
Brody’s gaze moved to the stranger seated at the table. He hadn’t moved since Brody’s arrival. Nor had he looked up.

Brody walked closer and saw the man
had a small caliber gun in his lap. He guessed this guy was here to make sure nothing stupid happened to his fellow villagers.

Or did he have another agenda?

“Who’s that?” Brody asked.

Sweat poured
off Manuel in long unbroken lines. His eyes searched wildly, looking for a place to run. Where could he go?

That imagin
ary spider tip-toed up his spine and Brody knew something wasn’t right. All hell was about to break loose.

Kate
Stone stumbled inside and steadied herself before saying, “Hello, Oscar.

CHAPTER SIX

Ka
te almost fainted at the sight of the man she hated more than anyone in the world. He’d robbed her of a normal life. Nothing had been the same since she’d escaped from his hold.

He’d hurt her,
and then he’d stripped her sensibilities naked and rendered her a melted glob of torn and ragged emotions. The time she’d spent with him had ripped out her soul, and left her uncertain about her career as a CIA agent.

While Kate feared few men, and fewer situ
ations, Oscar Chavez was deadly and dangerous.

For years she prayed every day that she’d never see him again. That a miracle would happen and the earth would be rid of his poison. That he could no longer hurt people and destroy lives.

With Oscar, it wasn’t about killing...it was about demoralizing and corrupting everything and everyone. For him there were no innocents, no boundaries, and not a hint of honor. He only knew how to corrupt.

Yet here he sat
, dangerous as ever.

He stood and knocked the weapon from Brody’s hand as e
asily as he would a stolen lollipop from a four-year-old.

They didn’t stand a chance.

Before the Falcon agent could get his bearing, ten men walked into the small circle of light, each one armed with an automatic weapon.

“I’m glad you save
d me the trouble of coming to you. Did you bring the agent you’ve been holding?” Brody asked.

F
amiliar laughter scratched over her skin like steel wool, and she shivered. Just the memory of what Oscar was capable of closed off her mind and sent her brain to a safe place where she couldn’t feel pain.

“You are quite the fool.” Oscar
was a few inches shorter than the agent, but Oscar was stockier. Brody had a swimmer’s body. Long, corded, and fast. Maybe Brody didn’t have Oscar’s strength, but certainly he would have greater speed and agility.

While Oscar had on a white suit, Brody wore a black tee, camouflage cargo pants, and heavy boots. Her enemy was dark and treacherous with his black hair and smoldering eyes. Brody was almost blond, with hazel eyes surrounded by lashes that any woman would envy. Those pretty eyes were also smart, cunning. Falcon agents had a hard-earned reputation. But would it be enough?

Oscar wore his hair slicked back, straight to his shoulders. Bro
dy’s had a little curl to it, and one strand hung across his forehead, to shave years off his age.

Chavez sneered at Brody.
“You bring me what I want and you think I will surrender the trespasser and walk away?”

“You will if you’re smart.”

“I’m a very intelligent man. I can assure you of that. A man does not get to where I am by being a fool.”

Brody looked away and spat. He met Oscar’s gaze boldly. “Anyone without a soul can get where you’re at Chavez, and only a fool thinks otherwise.”

Quick as a rattlesnake, Oscar backhanded Brody. Kate jumped forward to help only to learn a man held a gun to her back.

Even as hard as Chavez
slapped him, Brody remained on his feet. Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth, and he wiped it away. Then he struck out and slammed Oscar in the face with a punch so powerful it dropped the shorter man to the floor.

The gunmen stepped forward, waiting for the order to shoot. Instead, the man behind Brody slammed the butt of his weapon against the agent’s head. He dropped to the
packed-dirt floor.

“Look,” she said, holding out her hand. “I’ll
go with you if you let this man go.”

Oscar rose and looked at her with a well-fed hatred. “You’ll come with me regardless.”

“I know you’re bitter, but give the guy what he came for. He brought me here. That’s something you couldn’t accomplish.”

Oscar stood over Brody
, a gun pointed at the downed agent. Kate waited. “You kill him, and you might have more trouble than you can defend against.”

“I have an agent in custody
, and no one can take him from me.”

“Yet.” She reminded him. “You’ve heard how powerful Falcon is
, or the agent you’re holding would be dead. Even you know not to taunt a giant.”

“I will not kill him, but you go.”

“What about the agent he came for?”

“No.”

Kate pointed to Brody’s unconscious body. “Look at this man, Oscar. Look hard. Without his friend he won’t go away. One of you will die.”

“Yes, that is true. It will be him.”

As she recoiled, he grabbed her by the hair and pulled her hard against his body. The wet kisses on her neck were like scorpions crawling on her skin. His tongue lathed the side of her face, and Kate curled her lips. She inwardly fought the compulsion to run. Instead she prayed she wouldn’t vomit.

“You and I have a lot of time to make up for.”

She maintained eye contact with him regardless of the cost. Her nostrils flared. She had to get away from the madman or die. Right now, death seemed her best option. “This isn’t going to be easy for either of us.”

“I don’t care.” He snarled and said, “As long as
you
hurt the most.”

With that, he fisted her hair and dragged her to a waiting car. She fought him, but he was too strong and she ended up being pulled caveman style. Her heels left twin tracks in the dust
. He opened the door of the vehicle and shoved her into the back seat. A man waited with a long-bladed knife.

Kate sat up and stared out the rear window at Brody’s crumpled body in the doorway of the house. Odds were since he hadn’t been shot, the locals would take his valuables and
then either kill him outright or take him to a remote area in the desert and let nature do the job.

Kate had spent two years near this region.
The villagers were common, hardworking people who were ruled by ruthless men like Oscar Chavez. They were powerless to do anything. They had no weapons, no money and little food. If Oscar gave the order to kill the gringo, Brody didn’t stand a chance.

It had taken her months to infiltrate Oscar’s
compound, La Hacienda, but only weeks for him to rape and practically kill her. She’d managed to escape, but it had come at a high price. And she would never forget the sacrifice so many people had made to make her extraction possible.

Brody.

She raised her fingers and traced her lips, remembering the kiss they’d shared. A kiss like none other she’d experienced. When he kissed her, she knew he meant it with every fiber of his being. Regretfully, she’d never see him again. Chances were, neither one of them would leave here.

***

Oscar Chavez loved to drive. It was one of the few things that relieved his stress and helped him calm down. Also, he liked the power of a vehicle at his command. He had a man on each side of Kate, or as she had once claimed,
Maria Vargas
. A single person sat in the passenger side of the Mercedes they’d carefully concealed from the Falcon agent.

Since the day she left, he’d planned what he would do to
Kate Stone, CIA Agent,
once he got his hands on her
.
That bitch would die a very slow death. And to think, he’d thought he loved her. He’d offered her the world and she’d spat in his face. He would see how defiant she was when he’d finished with her. Oh yes, he would see.

The Falcon agent.

He hated that fucking company and every man who worked for Frank Hamilton. They had come to his country and killed many of his men, destroyed his ships, and robbed him of millions. Now he had one of them as a prisoner and a plan to destroy them.

And they sent
only one man and the woman he’d been trying to find for years. Such fools. He’d ordered the villagers to kill the agent. They needed to be reminded what happened to anyone who defied him. Later his men would return, cut up the body, and send the pieces to Dallas, Texas, in care of Frank Hamilton.

“I think we should have brought the gringo with us.” Angel Diaz said softly in Spanish. “If anything happens to the agent we have, we can always use another Falcon agent to take his place.”

Oscar looked at the man in the passenger side of the car. Angel was the smartest and most cunning of all his lieutenants. And they’d grown up together. His loyalty was complete and unquestioning.