Outside the Pérez Estate
4:10 A.M.
“The whole place is a house of cards, ready to come down. Heads up, people.” Over his com unit, Garrett warned his men as they walked through the fallen stone wall at the entrance to the hacienda. They’d split into three-man teams and spread out, making tougher targets.
“Anyone who finds Martini One, sing out.”
When the UAV had stopped firing, Garrett and his men breached the perimeter and went hunting for survivors. Most of Pérez’s men had split, running for the foothills. And there had been only the occasional skirmish between his men and those still hiding within the walls of the estate.
The UAV flew wide circles around the vast property. Soon, the drone would have to leave. Once Mexican authorities detected the battle, they’d have to evade capture. The longer they were there, the greater the chance of them getting caught, but Garrett hadn’t found Kinkaid or Alexa yet. No matter how one-sided the attack might have been, any victory would be tainted if Jackson and Alexa had been killed in the assault.
And if he didn’t have enough to worry about, what Alexa had told him about Donovan Cross had disturbed him. What was Cross up to? And who was backing him for the number one slot? One man couldn’t do it alone. He had no doubt that Cross had help, but how far would Garrett have to go to protect his back? Returning to his old life, as head of the Sentinels, might be dangerous, especially when he had no idea who had supported Cross in his apparent attempt at a takeover. Someone within the Sentinels had made it easy.
“Found something. Over here.” The voice of Hank Lewis came over his earbud, a much needed distraction from the conspiracies filling his head. When Garrett looked for Hank, he saw him waving in the glow of the burning hacienda. By the time he got to him, Hank was kneeling near a large pile of rubble, holding something in his hand.
“Found Martini One’s com unit.” Hank held the gear up toward the light and showed it to Garrett. “She didn’t respond because she couldn’t.”
Finding her com link didn’t mean she was alive. Her body could be under the pile of stones at their feet, but since they hadn’t secured the compound, Garrett couldn’t divert his men into a rescue mission for one agent. As he saw it, he had only one option.
“Put a team on this spot,” he told Hank. “Have them trade off. Two men dig through this pile and one stands guard. Call out if they . . . find her.”
“Will do, sir.”
Garrett didn’t want to think that Alexa was dead. She was a force of nature, a strong, intelligent woman who was a borderline adrenaline junkie. She thrived in his world, living on the razor’s edge of danger. Imagining her dying before he had taken his last breath was something he couldn’t handle. Even though he gave his order to Hank, it pained him to pretend he could conduct business as usual.
Loving her had been the reason he’d let her go. Neither of them had functioned in their jobs the way they should have. When the success of the mission should have been top priority, they each layered on the added complication of caring what happened to the other. They took unnecessary risks to protect one another, real over-the-top stuff like her risking her career and her life to come looking for him in Mexico.
So when Garrett had seen an opportunity to end it, he had let her find him with another woman, someone who didn’t matter and could remain discreet. Although it had killed him to hurt Alexa that way, he had seen the writing on the wall and knew it was in her best interest to dump him so she could find a better man.
Quitting Alexa was the hardest thing he had ever done. And he’d failed at it. Now it would take all his concentration to focus on the rest of his mission, when all he wanted to do was find her.
But from the look on Hank’s face, the man had more bad news.
“My communications guy just got a call from our handler,” Hank interrupted his misery. “He’s picking up chatter with the local police. They know we’re here, and they’re coming out to investigate. We’ve run out of time, sir.”
Garrett stared across the compound. The Sentinels had survived for as long as they had because of their secrecy. He wouldn’t break that code.
He knew what he had to do, but he didn’t have to like it.
Before the last missile blew apart the main residence, Alexa had zeroed in on the prison cell she had seen from the outside. One corridor, partially belowground, had fit her memory of its location. But after the blast, the destruction had been devastating. Whole sections of the roof had collapsed, and flames lit the night sky. Clouds of dust made it hard to breathe, but she pressed on, aiming her MP-5 into every dark corner. With slow, deliberate steps, she made her way through the debris.
When she heard a moan ahead, and the sound of footsteps echoing down what remained of the stone hallway, she moved faster.
She peered through the dust and smoke and saw movement. The faint silhouette of a man caught her eye. She wanted to yell out, but she had no idea if the man was Kinkaid or the enemy.
The man she had seen hadn’t been alone. Another wounded man was with him. With his back to her, the big man hobbled and needed help to walk. When Alexa got close enough to take aim, she shouted.
“Stop, or I’ll shoot.”
One man looked over his shoulder, the one helping the wounded guy, but neither of them slowed down. And when they disappeared around a corner, she’d lost sight of them.
“Damn it,” she cursed under her breath.
But before she could chase them down, something caught her eye. When she crossed the threshold of the only chamber down that corridor—a room that had a massive door splintered by the blast and fallen rock at the entrance that blocked the way in—she saw a light.
A flickering flame burned through the debris. And eclipsing the fire was a barred window that had been cracked from its casing. The metal bars cut the light and were exactly what she had seen from outside. Gut instinct told her this cell was the one she had come to find.
“Kinkaid . . . you in there?” She took a risk and called out his name, but no one answered. While she kept her eye on the corridor where the men had vanished, she leaned closer to peer through the pile of rock.
Nothing moved inside.
“Jackson. Talk to me. Please.” She yelled louder this time, but still, she heard nothing.
Alexa stood back from the cell and stared at the cave-in. Something made her stay. She couldn’t explain it, but to move the boulders that blocked the door didn’t make sense if there were no signs of life inside. She grimaced and shook her head as she held her assault rifle. She had the two men to follow. They were real. They should have been her target, but something kept her rooted where she was.
“Kinkaid. Give me a reason. Please!”
When her plea echoed in the room without a response and nothing else to show for it, Alexa reluctantly made up her mind to leave. She turned, but stopped when she heard it. The sound barely registered with her, and yet she knew she’d heard something.
A choking cough.
“Jackson, is that you? Come on. Answer me.”
“Please . . . h-help him. I don’t know what to do.”
A girl’s voice gripped Alexa by the throat. When she heard it, she didn’t hesitate. She slung her weapon on her shoulder and dug into the rocks and debris blocking the splintered door.
“Hold on. I’m coming,” Alexa cried out as she worked.
Sweat that had beaded on her skin now ran down her arms and back. It stung her eyes, but she kept working. And without gloves, the shards of rock cut her hands, and dust clotted the wounds.
“Is he alive? Please tell me,” she begged the girl. And while she shoved at the door that hung off a hinge, she listened for any signs of life inside. When no answer came, Alexa worked harder. A minute later, she heard the weak voice again. The girl answered her, but Alexa didn’t like what she heard.
“I don’t know. I don’t think h-he’s breathing. Pl-please hurry. There’s blood.”
A slow rage burned under Alexa’s skin. She hadn’t come this close to Kinkaid to let him die. With her hands bleeding and raw, she strained to move the wall of stone that stood between them.
“Hang on, Jackson. Please . . . for once in your life, do as I tell you.”