Piranha Assignment (34 page)

This time it was Herrera who jumped away. Morgan stood up, but more slowly than before. He stepped back, then quickly forward again. Herrera had backed him against the bog. He could not afford to get stuck.

Time was running out. Morgan's right eye was badly puffed out, his side hurt like hell and the angry welts on his throat would become bruises if he lived long enough.

More importantly, he was running out of energy. It looked like Herrera never got tired, but the smallest finger on his right hand was hanging at an odd angle. If Morgan was going to make a move, it must be now. Herrera was bracing for another attack.

“No more second chances,” Herrera roared, lips flecked with spittle.

“Right.” Morgan took a short step into a spinning back kick.

Felicity's heart tried to leap into her throat when she saw that Morgan was not moving as fast as before. Herrera moved forward, inside the kick, and Morgan's heel only grazed his side. Herrera's arm whipped out, almost too fast to see.

Suddenly, he had Morgan in a rigid head lock. Herrera's
right arm was so big it hid Morgan's entire face. He grinned triumphantly. One quick twist and he would break Morgan's neck.

Somehow, Felicity knew the time had come. With a prayer for true aim, she fired her stone weapon.

Morgan ignored the reflexive urge to protect his neck and put everything he had into his left fist. The stone's sharp edge smacked into Herrera's right shoulder just an instant before Morgan's fist hit the back of his knee. The rock was the perfect distraction, triggering that arm to loosen the headlock. And the knee gave.

Morgan reached up to grab the back of Herrera's shirt collar with his left hand, as he grabbed Herrera's knee with his right. One hard wrench and the Cuban's right foot lifted up.

For one endless split instant Herrera hung in mid-air, horizontal, with nothing to brace against and no hope for leverage.

Morgan's right knee was in the soft earth. Life seemed to grind into slow motion. Herrera just had time to realize he was in trouble. Then the human beast that was Rodrigo Herrera dropped like a dead weight onto Morgan's left knee. With a crack like angry lightning, the small of his back curved around Morgan's leg.

That sound seemed to drain the last of Morgan's energy. With leaden arms he rolled Herrera off him like a side of beef and pitched forward to the ground. He cried out in shock when one arm sank to its elbow. The bog was partially quicksand.

With his right hand, Morgan gently pushed. His hand sank an inch. He yanked it free, and his left arm slid down almost to his shoulder. His chin brushed the sandy mud and he tasted the slime beneath him. The earth sucked at his
arm like some perverse, oversexed lover. An image of a dying boar entered his mind. He forced it out immediately.

When he felt a tug on his ankles he consciously relaxed as much as possible. Slowly he slid backward. His arm was pulling free with a suckling baby sound. Finally there was solid turf he could push against with his right hand. He sat back on his heels, covered with sand and mud and cold sweat. Felicity fell on him, hugging him and kissing all over his mud caked face. Words came gushing out.

“Oh God I thought he was going to top you and you got up and then he had your head and you beat him, you actually beat him and then I thought you were dead and I grabbed your feet and thank God you're alive.” A breath. “I couldn't stand to lose you after all that.”

A maddened bull ape's roar made them both jump. No, it was Herrera. Struggling had taken him farther away from solid ground than Morgan had been. The ground had swallowed him but for his head and arms. For three seconds Morgan considered his next action. He could not reach Herrera and why should he care? Then his gut took over and he did not try to reason with his feelings. If he had killed Herrera that would be one thing. But trapped there, with a broken back…

“No way to die,” Morgan said aloud. “Get me my wet suit pants.”

While he waited, Morgan watched Herrera's eyes. No thinking was going on in there. Just a desperate struggle for survival. He thrashed around like a trapped animal. And maybe, that was exactly what he was.

Felicity handed Morgan the rubber pants. He held the cuffs, putting the rest over his shoulder. Then he knelt at the hidden pool's very edge and, like a fisherman, cast his rubber life line toward his enemy.

Herrera roared, eyes blazing with madness. He struggled
to his left, reaching away from Morgan's offered aid, toward the edge of the bog. His right hand clutched the grass covered ground. He had time to laugh insanely once before that piece of earth tore loose in his hand. His head went under. Huge, muscled arms snapped violently back and forth.

“Why in the name of God do they call it quicksand?” Felicity asked. “It's so very slow.”

Out of some emotion neither of them could name, Morgan and Felicity watched until Herrera was completely gone. Then they turned away from the death, starting the long walk back to reality.

Before they reached the tree line, reality came looking for them. Felicity's head whipped skyward in response to the “chuf-chuf' sound above. The cloud marbled sky cracked open and a tiny shape dropped from it, slowly swelling until it became a recognizable form.

“American?” Felicity asked, watching the helicopter falling toward them.

“Yep.”

“Navy?” she asked, unsure of its markings.

“Coast Guard. Dolphin, I think.”

“Think they're looking for us?” she asked. Morgan's answer was lost in a backwash sandstorm as the whirlybird's runners touched down. The sound died with the engines, and Chuck Barton charged like a madman across the shifting terrain to sweep Felicity up in his arms and spin her around. Then two other uniformed Coast Guardsmen helped them into the copter.

“Are you all right?” Felicity asked Chuck as they got strapped in, she and Chuck behind the pilots, Morgan behind them.

“Me? Sure. Nothing like coming out of a drugged stupor with your hair full of moss and bugs. How about you?”

“We got eaten by a Piranha,” Morgan said, “but he spit us out.”

“You escaped her?”

“We sank her,” Felicity said proudly. She shook her tangled hair at Morgan triumphantly, but her smile dropped when he coughed, and held his ribs.

“Think I need a little first aid,” Morgan said. “Glad to see you again, anyway. What happened to you?”

“I hiked out of Bastidas' compound and hitched a ride to Panama City,” Chuck said, while one of the copter crew checked Morgan's bruised ribs. “Didn't have to kill anybody this time. Got to the embassy and guess who was there.”

“Mark Roberts, mother hen,” Morgan said as the technician began taping his ribs.

“On the nose. He'd already checked out some of the employees and something smelled. When I told him the real story he got on to the military. We went out to the compound with jeeps full of guns but by the time we landed, the place was deserted. I was frantic. I figured he iced you guys and dumped you in the sea.”

“Mark didn't?” Felicity asked as the thirty-nine foot main rotor blades above them began to spin.

“Who knows. All he wanted to know was, where's the sub. Of course, there's no finding the sub once it's in the water.”

“I think Mark knew if he found the Piranha he'd find us,” Morgan said. The copter began to vibrate, rattling him painfully. Crewmen gave them each a headset.

“You know, he said something like, you guys would find a way to signal us or something. I mean, no offense, but nobody thought you'd sink the sub.”

“Neither did we,” Felicity chuckled, rubbing Chuck's chest. “But it's good to know he had some faith.”

“Now me, I just knew you were alive somewhere. That's why I got on the Coast Guard copter. We combed the area until dark, and went out again at first light. I just wanted to find you.” Barton ended his remark with a kiss.

The helicopter began to lift off, and Morgan stared down, watching the ground move slowly away. “So what happens to the Piranha project.”

“Well, that depends on whether the Navy can find her,” Barton said. “Bastidas didn't leave any notes anyone can find, but they think if they find The Piranha, they can reverse engineer her and recover the fusion technology. Me, I don't think so.”

“They won't find her,” Morgan said into the distance. “They don't want to.” He was thinking of the eighty or so dead bodies inside, wondering if they would visit him in his dreams.

“Hey, will you cheer up,” Felicity said, shaking Morgan's leg. She looked like a drowned rat, but the glow on her face said the bad time was over for her.

“Red, the case was a shambles from beginning to end. What have I got to cheer up about?”

“I might know one thing,” Barton shouted over the whine of the helicopter engines. “A lady named Claudette flew in this morning and she's waiting for you in Panama City.”

The Payback Assignment

Morgan Stark, a black mercenary soldier, is stranded in the Central American nation of Belize after a raid goes wrong. Felicity O'Brien, an Irish jewel thief, is stranded in the jungle south of Mexico after doing a job for an American client.

When these two meet, they learn they've been double-crossed by the same man: Adrian Seagrave, a ruthless businessman maintaining his respectability by having others do his dirty work.

Morgan and Felicity become friends and partners while following their common enemy's trail. They become even closer when they find they share a peculiar psychic link, allowing them to sense danger approaching themselves, or each other.

But their extrasensory abilities and fighting skills are tested to their limits against Seagrave's soldiers-for-hire and Monk, his giant simian bodyguard. A series of battles from California to New York lead to a final confrontation with Seagrave's army of hired killers in a skyscraper engulfed by flames.

The Orion Assignment

Retired jewel thief Felicity O'Brien travels to her native Ireland to defend her uncle's Catholic parish. With her is her partner, Morgan Stark, a retired mercenary soldier. The job looks easy until they meet Ian O'Ryan, an IRA terrorist who believes he is the reincarnation of Orion the ancient hunter. He is determined to keep the violence alive in Ireland and to spread it throughout the island.

To avoid bullets, bombs and beatings, Morgan and Felicity rely on a special gift, a psychic link that alerts them to danger. But against O'Ryan they face danger from an entire army of enemies.

Trying to separate patriotic mercenaries from heartless terrorists leads them to a sniper mission on the rocky Irish coast, a deadly high speed motorcycle race in Belgium, and a final confrontation on an island off the coast of France where Morgan could die by slow torture if Felicity doesn't find him in time.

The Troubleshooter

A Washington attorney buys an apartment building in the heart of the city, but then finds the building occupied by drug dealers, and is unable to empty the building for use by paying residents. No one seems willing or able to take on this challenge until the lawyer meets Hannibal Jones. Hannibal finds himself facing off against a local crime boss and his powerful, mob-connected father.

Blood and Bone

An eighteen-year-old boy lies dying of leukemia. Kyle's only hope is a bone marrow transplant, but no one in his family can supply it. His last chance lies in finding his father, who disappeared before Kyle was born. His family has nowhere to turn until they learn of a troubleshooter named Hannibal Jones. His search for the missing man leads Hannibal down a twisting path of deception, conspiracy, greed and murder, but with each step the danger grows.

Collateral Damage

Bea Collins is certain her fiancée wouldn't just leave without telling her. Troubleshooter Hannibal Jones is skeptical until the missing fiancée turns up dazed, confused and holding a knife over a dead body. To find this killer Hannibal will travel to Germany, Vegas and through Dean's past, which includes the murder of Dean's father, his first childhood crush and brings Hannibal face to face with Dean's convicted mother.

Damaged Goods

The death of Anita Cooper's father crushed her dreams of a better life. Then a hard man named Rod Mantooth stole her innocence and her father's legacy, a secret that could have rebuilt her life was lost until she encountered another hard man - the professional troubleshooter named Hannibal Jones. Like a rolling mass of icy fury, Hannibal follows a trail of corrupted human debris leading to Rod Mantooth and a final showdown in the icy waters of the Atlantic.

Russian Roulette

Washington D.C.'s professional troubleshooter, Hannibal Jones, is enraged when he is forced to take a case at gunpoint. His client is a Russian assassin who will kill Hannibal's beloved, Cindy Santiago, if Hannibal refuses to help him. With no choice, Hannibal agrees to investigate the smooth, wealthy Algerian who has stolen the heart of the woman his new client loves. As Hannibal peels the Algerian's history like an onion, each layer reveals a false identity. But in a dramatic final shootout on Roosevelt Island, side-by-side with his murderous client, Hannibal learns the truth about all the players in this deadly drama.