"Am I the only one who thinks this is a crazy idea?" asked MacFarland.
Moreno grimly gripped the steering wheel of his SUV. His men followed in a second vehicle. "No, Señor, I think we both agree with you. But what can we do? If we don't stop the young man, he will get killed. The least he will do is make our rescue more difficult."
Delgado laughed. "Isn't this the way you like to solve things, Mac? No plan, no back-up. Guns blazing and you going in like Rambo."
MacFarland frowned in her direction. When he had been in Albania, he had been assigned to evacuate her and other foreigners from Tirana. Delgado had refused, claiming that her job was to report the news. After the evacuation, he had stayed on to protect the Embassy, and he had considerably more contact with her, usually not in an official capacity. On more than one occasion, he was reacting to situations Delgado had gotten them into because of her absurd sense of adventure and reckless desire to get the story.
"I've changed since then," he said tersely.
"I've called my men and asked them to meet us at the cartel house," said Moreno. "Let us hope that they get there in time to keep us from getting killed."
“Or at least retrieve our bodies,” laughed Delgado.
MacFarland sat back, his shoulders slumped and his mood clouded. He did not expect Moreno's men to be there, and even if they were, he had no idea how dependable they would be. Did he really dare to put Calida Delgado's life in danger like this? Try as he might, he couldn't think of a way to stop her. Once she made up her mind, she was unstoppable.
Sort of just like Pierson was.
Except Cynthia Pierson was trained. He knew he could trust her to take care of herself, even watch his back for him. He wasn't sure he could depend on Calida Delgado to do that. He glanced at Moreno. Despite the man's experience, he was only a desk cop, a prosecutor, really. An old man. Actually, seven old men. Could MacFarland depend on them? He shook his head and tried not to think about what was going to happen.
"Are you alright, Mac?" asked Delgado.
He looked up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just trying to figure out how we're going to get inside the compound."
Moreno glanced in the rear view mirror. "I have the chain and grappling hook in the back," he said. "We stick with our original plan?"
"My men and I will create a disturbance in the front of the house, while you pull down the wall," suggested Moreno.
MacFarland nodded in agreement.
"You and your men take the front," he told Moreno. He took a guess that Delgado had been inside the house before. "Calida knows the layout of the house. If she goes in the back with me, she will be able to locate where they are holding the hostages." He was waiting for Calida to contradict him, but she merely nodded. Moreno reluctantly agreed to the plan.
Moreno drove past the house and went around the street corner until he came to the alley. They drove up the alley towards the back of the house. He parked the SUV just past the house.
"Help me with this chain and hook," he said to MacFarland. MacFarland examined the back wall of the compound. Sure enough, there was a huge crack in the wall, presumably from the earthquake. It certainly didn't look like it would take much to bring the wall down. In fact, MacFarland was reluctant to stand near the wall even now. It looked like a strong wind would knock it over.
Delgado stared at the wall. "It is made out of volcanic rock," she stated. "The wall is quite sturdy. Maybe the truck will not be strong enough to pull it down."
As MacFarland hooked the chain up to the SUV, Moreno swung the grappling hook around in a circle, then let it fly up towards the top of the wall. It sailed over, and when he pulled on it, the hooks caught on the top side of the wall. Moreno carefully examined the chain stretching between the wall and the rear of the SUV.
"I sure hope this works," he muttered. He put his arm on MacFarland's shoulder. "When you hear me and my men start shooting, gun the engine. The wall should break right at that crack."
“And if it doesn’t?”
Moreno shrugged. “Just keep driving, amigo.”
Delgado stood on the other side of the cracked section of the wall. MacFarland got into the truck and turned on the engine, then waited as he listened for any sign of Moreno's diversion.
When it came, it was not hard to tell what was going on. It sounded like a full scale invasion. How could Moreno be shooting that many rounds? MacFarland didn't have time to think about the diversion. He put the SUV into drive and surged forward, feeling the tires spin against the gravel and dirt of the alley.
Suddenly the vehicle exploded forward, as the wall came crashing into the alley. He stopped the car, leaving the engine running, and hurried back towards the gaping breach in the wall. Delgado had rushed to the vehicle and was unhooking the chain they had used to pull on the grappling hook.
"Let's go," said MacFarland, as he climbed over the low remaining section of wall. The sound of gunfire was much louder, a lot of gunfire, convincing MacFarland that every member of the cartel gang was in the front of the house shooting at Moreno and his group of geriatics.
Delgado raced towards the rear door of the house, waving at MacFarland to follow her. "There is a secure room at the back of the house," she said. "It has bars on the window. If Jack Mason is in here, he will be in that room."
MacFarland urged her to lead on, and he followed, watching for any sign the cartel members discovered them.
Delgado indicated a heavy steel door.
"It only locks from the outside," said Delgado as she twisted the doorknob open. They stepped quickly into the darkened room, then closed the door behind them. Delgado reached out and switched on a light.
The room itself was practically bare of furnishings, except for two chairs in the center of the room, facing away from each other. Jack and Doug Mason were tied and blindfolded, sitting on the chairs.
"Oh, man, is that you Mac?”?" said Doug Mason, as soon as Delgado got the gag off his mouth. "I knew you would come!"
MacFarland finally cut through all of the ropes restraining Jack Mason. Mason pulled off his gag. "Who are you? Did you pay the ransom?" he demanded. "What’s all that shooting? It sounds like a war zone!"
It did sound like there was a war waging, which only increased MacFarland's sense of urgency. "Is Leslie here?" he asked.
Jack Mason’s face collapsed into a baffled frown.
"I don't know," he said. "I haven't heard her, but I haven't been out of this room either. We have to find her."
At that moment, the door burst open and one of the cartel men looked in. His expression turned to surprise when he saw Delgado and MacFarland releasing the prisoners. As he raised his gun to shoot, MacFarland pulled his gun out and shot three times. The man crumpled to the ground.
MacFarland turned back to Jack Mason, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to a standing position. "We have to get away from here."
"If we don't get out now," said Delgado, her voice tight with desperation, "we're not going to get out of here at all!"
MacFarland pushed Jack Mason towards the door, then tugged on Doug's arm. "Let's go, to the right, then out the door."
Delgado took the lead, and as MacFarland continued to shove the Mason brothers in front of him, they moved quickly towards the back door. Two men appeared at one end of the hall, each of them carrying semi-automatic rifles. Without hesitation, MacFarland shot at both men, forcing them to retreat back out of sight. As the four of them hurried across the back yard towards the demolished wall, gunshots exploded into the ground behind them.
"Quickly, over the wall," yelled MacFarland, twisting around to shoot at the back of the house. Delgado was the first to scramble over the low wall. She pulled Doug after her. Jack scrambled after them. As soon as MacFarland was sure they had gotten into the alley, he dove over the remnants of the wall, then cautiously peered back at the house. As a man emerged from the back door, MacFarland shot the remainder of his clip, then sprinted towards the SUV. Delgado was already in the driver's seat, waiting impatiently for him to arrive. Doug was in the front seat, Jack in the back seat. MacFarland jumped into the back beside Jack.
"We have to check on Moreno," she shouted.
"I know, drive!" he yelled, just as several cartel men started to climb over the wall. All of them were heavily armed. "Go!"
Bullets pinged against the back of the SUV as Delgado gunned it down the alley and swerved around the corner.