Personal Target: An Elite Ops Novel (27 page)

The sound of Leland’s voice became muffled, as if he was putting his hand over the receiver and speaking to someone else.
“Anna, I’ll help get the meds together for Zach in just a minute. Go ahead and get your things packed.”

The line went quiet. When Leland spoke again, his voice was calmer. “It’s gotten crazy. The evidence they have on Gavin looks so damn bad. I don’t believe it, but I’m not taking any chances with the cartels involved. I’m checking Anna and Zach into a hotel for a few days.”

Nick sped through the night. It was suddenly easier to talk this through than to chase the conflicting thoughts around in his head. “I think that’s an excellent idea. For all we know Gavin was set up. Ernesto wanted answers about his brother’s and sister’s deaths, and he wouldn’t have cared who he ruined in the process of getting them.”

Static over the phone buzzed. “Things are much more likely to get worse before they get better, aren’t they?” asked Leland. He was closer to Gavin than Nick was.

The evidence must have been fairly damning for Leland to be so shaken. Still, Nick was relieved to hear the man was moving his family to a hotel. He would bet money Leland wasn’t telling anyone at AEGIS where that hotel was, either. The people he cared about most were at too big a risk to ignore the possibility of what Gavin’s alleged betrayal could mean. Staying off the radar meant keeping everyone safe.

“You need to keep a low profile.” Leland voiced Nick’s own thoughts. “So, no showing up at the embassy in Algiers. I’m concerned they’d arrest you as soon as look at you. Then Jennifer Grayson will be completely on her own. I’m into the backdoor access with the AEGIS server now. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay on before the investigative team at the office notices and takes it down, but I’ll give you everything I can for as long as I can. Give me the ID for the tracker.”

Nick recited the first five numbers of the ID code for the device. He’d known losing his phone could strand him with no way to trace her, so he’d memorized the GPS bug’s opening identification sequence before slipping it into Jenny’s pocket at the Paleo-Niger camp. Kissing her in front of everyone on their arrival had seemed as good a way as any to establish their cover and to distract her from what his hands were really doing in her shorts pocket.

“I’ve got the GPS coordinates,” said Leland.

Nick scrambled for a pen in the console and wrote them on his arm as Leland read them. “Got it. I’ll contact you when I know more. Keep GPS text coordinates coming as long as you can. Perhaps every thirty minutes or so?”

“Will do,” said Leland. “Look, I know you don’t really like him, but Hosea Alvarez is in Africa. He’s still working with Ernesto Vega.”

“Hosea from Tenancingo?”

“That’s right. He called me the day before yesterday. Ernesto hired him to go with him to Africa. Do you want me to reach out to him? Hosea could help you.”

Nick wasn’t so sure the confidential informant would be much help. He was fairly certain Hosea wasn’t one of the dead men back by the oasis, but that didn’t mean Leland’s CI was still alive or could be trusted if he was. Hell, Hosea Alvarez could have been the shooter at the oasis for all Nick knew. But Hosea was the only resource in the country Nick had, and beggars couldn’t be choosers.

“Alright, Leland, call him. You really trust this guy, don’t you?” Immediately a text pinged on Nick’s “borrowed” phone with Alvarez’s contact information.

“I do,” said Leland. “He won’t sell you out. At least not till he shakes me down for money first.”

“Well, that’s just comforting as hell.” Nick smiled, feeling the tension loosen ever so slightly along his jaw.

“Seriously, Hosea has excellent contacts. Vega has had him setting up the cartel’s network over the northern portion of the continent, particularly East Africa, for the trafficking and smuggling. Hosea knows where all the players are.”

Okay, so maybe Hosea wasn’t the man who shot Vega. Still, Nick wasn’t entirely comfortable putting his and Jenny’s safety into a confidential informant’s hands, no matter what kind of recommendation Leland gave him. Right now it was a moot point, since Nick didn’t know where Jenny was or where Hosea was for that matter. And if push came to shove, there might be no other option but to trust the man.

“I realize this is not ideal,” said Leland. “Particularly with the cartel on your ass.”

“No shit, it’s not ideal. Quit trying to cheer me up. You sound like Gavin with his flair for the understatement.” Nick typed GPS coordinates into a map app that was already installed on the “borrowed” phone.

Leland laughed. “Stay in touch. And watch your six.”

“You do the same. I’ll keep you posted.” Nick disconnected the call and pressed down on the accelerator as he gathered his thoughts to formulate a plan. He had a full tank of gas and could drive for several hours if needed.

Examining the situation from every angle, he could think of only one way to do it. The idea was insanity, but he was going for it. The GPS location he’d plugged in pinged on the phone’s map. The two-and-a-half-ton truck carrying Jenny and the other women appeared to be headed straight for Constantine.

The ancient Algerian city was fifty miles inland from the Mediterranean and located on the Rhumel River in the mountains. Surrounded by bridges, Constantine was a stunning change from what one thought of as the usual African topography.

Ernesto had said that they had to be inside the city by seven
AM
. Something was definitely happening there.

He glanced down at the map, and his mind raced. What if he used the mess with the State Department, instead of avoiding them all together? The closest embassy to Constantine was in Algiers, over two hundred miles away. This might not even work. He stared ahead for a moment thinking through his options.

It wouldn’t help Gavin, but saving Jenny and the women on that truck was his primary concern. He’d use what he had. He googled the number for the U.S. Embassy on his “borrowed” phone and made the call.

T
HREE HOURS LATER,
as the truck rolled to a halt, Jennifer squeezed Sassy’s hand and that of the woman beside her, Maria. The other women around them started moaning in an eerie, keening wail. They all knew nothing good happened when the truck stopped.

“What’s going to happen to us?” asked Maria over the weeping. “Where are we?”

Sassy shook her head.

“I don’t know,” said Jennifer. The plastic cuffs dug into her wrists, and she was frightened—much more so than when she’d been in Tenancingo. Nick was dead or beyond being able to help her. If she thought about that too long, she’d completely shut down. But the reality was there was no one coming this time. She would have to help herself.

The women continued to keen as the back flap was opened, and light poured in. The truck was parked inside what appeared to be a warehouse. The two men who’d locked their chains earlier at the oasis stepped back up to unlock the women’s waists from the side panel of the truck, but they didn’t remove anyone’s zip ties.

“¡Venga, arranca!”
Get a move on! The man Jennifer had dubbed Body Odor stood glaring at them all. One of the other men addressed him as Juan and discussed the time frame they were dealing with.

The unchained women stood slowly. They’d been sitting for so long, it was impossible to move quickly. Maria, the woman chained next to Jennifer, shook with fear.

Jennifer had learned that she was from a farm in Venezuela and had been lured to what she thought was a good job in the city over a month ago. Maria had not been allowed to contact her family when she’d changed her mind about taking the new “job”; instead, she’d been assaulted. She couldn’t be more than fifteen.

Juan didn’t help the other men but continued to watch the women being unloaded, impatience obvious in his gaze. Maria moved too slowly for him. When he began to shout, the girl cowered and slipped to the ground.

He laughed at that and immediately pulled off his belt, snapping it like a whip. Jenny pulled at the chain around her own waist, anxious to help Maria get up, but she could only watch in horror. The young girl screamed as the leather struck her across the back.

At last, Jennifer was unlocked from her waist chains. She hurried to Maria’s side just as Juan swung the belt back to strike her again. Jennifer threw herself forward, covering Maria’s body with her own. The belt struck her instead. The sting was shocking, but the adrenaline rush it provoked dulled the pain.

Juan reached out to pry Jennifer away from the younger girl. He wasn’t smiling anymore. He cursed her in Spanish, spitting the words in her face with breath as foul as the rest of him. Maria scrambled forward and out of his way. His vehemence seemed extreme for what had happened.

“You’ll pay,” he shouted.

Sassy grabbed Jennifer’s other arm, pulling her away from him. But Juan shook his head and stared directly at Jennifer.

“No, you’re not going with the others. You’re staying with me.” He smiled and turned away, snapping the belt in the air again with a cracking
pop
.

“I don’t want to leave you,” whispered Sassy.

She clung to Jennifer’s cold fingers with her bound wrists, and they leaned into each other, giving a semblance of a hug, before they were pulled apart. Jennifer bit her lip to keep the tears at bay, even as fear flooded her system and threatened to paralyze her entire body.

“I’ll be okay,” she lied, hating the way her voice shook. “They’ll bring me later.”

Sassy’s blue eyes filled with tears, but she nodded and smiled with tremulous lips. What they would do between now and later was the part Jennifer didn’t want to consider.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Saturday morning

Constantine, Algeria

A
FTER DRIVING A
circuit around the secluded building, Nick rolled to a stop beside a Dumpster and used it to hide the Mercedes as best he could. Leland had kept up the GPS texts from Jennifer’s bug over the past three hours. The last two texts had held the same coordinates, so it stood to reason that Jenny was here.

The warehouse appeared abandoned. It was located just outside the city of Constantine. If this worked, and especially if it didn’t, Nick would need that car again. The hangar-like structure had two huge openings on opposite ends of the building, almost like vastly oversized garage doors. A side entrance near the Dumpster stood wide open.

That didn’t look good.

Before he exited the vehicle, Nick checked the semiautomatic rifle one last time. He’d found a tactical knife in the center console earlier and clipped the serrated folding blade onto his jeans. Creeping toward the side door, he slipped the MP5 over his shoulder.

When he neared the warehouse, a scream rent the air. He fought the urge to rush inside. He wouldn’t do anyone any good if he got himself shot before he entered the building.

Instead, he crept through the side entrance. Even with the two openings at each end, the air was stifling. Almost immediately sweat began to roll down his back and forehead, blurring his vision further as he studied the warehouse layout.

The two-and-a-half-ton truck was parked in the middle of the space, several hundred feet away. Women were being unloaded from the canvas-topped vehicle and shuffled into a different, hard-sided truck, like a moving van but smaller.

Two women were sprawled on the floor.
And Christ, one of them was Jenny
. He recognized her hair immediately. He was so far away that he could only watch in seething rage as the man who’d driven the truck, Juan Santos, struck her with a belt.

Sliding behind a row of shelving, he balled his fists and swallowed hard against the nausea. He had to be patient, even if his plan included tearing Juan apart.

The man hit Jenny once, then Sassy was there. The two women hugged each other as best they could with their hands bound together in front of them. Another man pulled them apart, leaving Jenny with Juan. Juan immediately shoved her into the back of the canvas-sided truck, where Nick could no longer see her.

Juan stood at the tailgate and watched as Sassy and the women were loaded into the other vehicle. The women weren’t chained at the waist this time, but they were all still cuffed with the zip ties. One of the other two men closed the back of the new truck, and the second man climbed into the driver’s seat waiting for his partner to finish securing the door. Soon after, the truck rolled out of the back exit, leaving Juan and Jenny behind.

Nick watched in agonized frustration. There was no GPS on the hard-sided vehicle. He’d never find those women again if he didn’t follow that truck. He had to make a decision now. But there really was no decision.

He couldn’t leave Jenny. Not here, not ever.

He waited to move forward, staying out of Juan’s line of sight as the man climbed into the back of the canvas-sided truck and moved to the back, toward Jenny. As much as Nick wanted to, he couldn’t shoot the son of a bitch before he knew where those other women were being taken. His one chance for finding them lay in keeping Juan alive, at least for a little while.

Nick hurried toward the truck as quietly as possible. Juan was too caught up in what he was doing to notice. That was a good thing because there was a lot a ground to cover. The sound of a zipper lowering echoed in the empty warehouse and gave Nick an adrenaline spike that roared through his veins like molten lava.

“No!” Jenny’s voice sounded panicked.

When Nick heard her scream, he rushed the back of the truck. By the time he reached it, she was in a corner. Her T-shirt had been ripped open, and Juan loomed over her with his pants loosened, twisting her hands viciously above her head in those damn zip ties.

Nick took aim on the man’s back. “Stop, or I’ll shoot.”

Juan froze, still holding Jenny’s fingers at what had to be a painful angle.

“Let her go, and turn around,” Nick ordered. “And don’t give me a reason to pull this trigger. God knows I want to.”

Juan dropped Jenny’s wrist, but before he could turn toward Nick, Jenny slammed her knee into the man’s groin. The high, wheezing noise he made sounded like a balloon deflating. Cupping himself and doubling over, Juan shuffled around to face Nick and his MP5.