Shiva (62 page)

If Davidson had taken a shot, they would have honed in on him, leaving him no room for escape
,
until the sniper himself took the kill shot.

Davidson
brought his rifle up and prepared
for the move. There was no point in staying here. He could give no tactical support, at least not for long. Besides
,
the chances that Brandt would come out into the hot zone were nil.

Straddling a branch, Davidson pulled out his sat phone. Perhaps Bunny and the others had an idea of what in the hell was going on in the church. He popped the battery back in and dialed the number Bunny had provided him.

It rang and rang. No one picked up.

Davidson checked the battery level, the number he
’
d
dialed
,
and the connectivity. All showed ready to rock and roll. He dialed again. Still
,
no answer.

Fantastic. They were in a ghost town. Brandt and the others were AWOL
,
and now Bunny wasn
’
t answering.

No wonder Levont loved working with this team.

* * *

Bunny stared at the phone as the light blinked out.

“
You couldn
’
t answer it,
”
Emily comforted.
“
Not until we know more.
”

Still
,
it killed Bunny to ignore Davidson. The man she knew and the man who would betray everyone just didn
’
t jibe. She knew he
’
d done it before, to tragic consequences
,
but that was
before
. Not now. Now he took responsibility for his action
s
and was making amends.

“
Yeah, um
…
new problem,
”
Stark said
as
an
other
alarm went off.

“
Do we really need auditory prompts?
”
Prenner asked
,
wincing at the sound.

Stark ignored him.
“
Whether it is Davidson or not, someone has given our hacker some serious intel. They must have been watching Madrid and back
-
traced my patch into the cameras.
”

“
What
exactly
does that mean?
”
Bunny asked
,
knowing without the word
exactly
in her question the tech would meander off into computer speak for five minutes before returning to his point.

“
My first firewall has been breached,
”
Stark hurried on,
“
b
ut I
’
ve got nine others. We
’
ve got to figure out the leak
,
though
,
or I give us half a day max before they worm their way in.
”

No one spoke. If the enemy could compromise this pristine computer system so quickly
,
what chance did they have anywhere else?

A loud buzz filled the attic.

“
Another breach?
”
Prenner asked
,
tilting his head to the side while plugging his ears.

“
No, duh,
”
Stark answered.
“
That
’
s facial recognition.
”

Quickly
,
he scanned the screens, pulling up a series of photos showing Brandt, Rebecca
,
and Levont pushing their way through a large crowd.

“
Where is everyone else?
”
Emily asked to no one in particular.

Bunny
’
s heart fluttered thinking what could have happened in that stone church
. What could still be happening?

“
Wait,
”
Stark announced
,
“
I
’
ve got Lopez.
”

He showed the corporal nearly flying down the road in a stolen car, speeding back toward the church
,
only to slam on his brakes and do a U-turn in the middle of the intersection.

“
That was two and a half minutes ago.
”

None of this made any sense. How had Brandt and the others gotten all the way to the heart of Cuellar from the church? Where was Talli? Where was Davidson?

They watched the flickering, disjointed footage of Brandt play across the screen. Suddenly
,
he stopped and it looked like asked to borrow someone
’
s phone. Almost immediately
,
another buzz emanated from the speakers.

“
He
’
s using the text drop box,
”
Stark stated.
“
They must really be in trouble.
”

Bunny looked to Emily
,
whose frown echoed Stark
’
s statement.
“
It is a dummy text account we have set up for emergency contact. It is only supposed to be used in the most exigent of circumstances since it leaves both them and us open to exposure.
”

Well, given everything that had happened, it was no wonder Brandt was willing to risk it.

Stark read aloud as the text showed up on the screen.
“
Vanderwalt has Vakasa and not in the good way. Disciples on tail. Talli traitor.
”

Not
Davidson. Davidson hadn
’
t betrayed them or anyone. Bunny
’
s pulse
p
ounded against her ears.
“
Yes!
”
s
he shouted.
“
In your face!
”
she said
,
pointing to Prenner
,
who seemed almost disappointed it wasn
’
t the sniper.
“
I
told
you
it wasn
’
t Davidson
.
”

“
Vanderwalt?
”
Emily said
,
her voice sounding distracted and tinged in pain.

Bunny calmed herself
. Davidson might be free and clear, but some serious stuff had gone down.

“
Talli
must be the one feeding the Disciples information.
”

“
Guys,
”
Stark announced
,
“
w
e
’
ve got a bigger problem than that.
”

Really? Because Talli and Vanderwalt teaming up together to kidnap Vakasa seemed like a pretty big problem.

Then Bunny looked up at the mosaic of snapshots tracking Brandt.

“
Is that Frellan?
”
s
he asked.

“
Yep,
”
Stark confirmed, then scanned to the left.
“
A
nd there
’
s Monnie and Benedicto
.
”

The trio
was
making their way through the crowd in the direction of Brandt. Stark split the screen
,
showing Vanderwalt, Talli
,
and Vakasa moving toward the east side of town, away from Brandt. The Disciples
,
though, they were heading straight for the remnants of Brandt
’
s te
a
m.

“
Except
,
that isn
’
t the problem I was talking about,
”
Stark corrected, bringing up a completely new screen.

Bunny took a step back. No. No, that couldn
’
t be.

But as Stark opened up the search criteria
,
giving them a panorama of Cuellar
’
s town center, not only could it be. It
was
and it was happening right now.

“
Text him back,
”
Bunny urged. They had to warn Brandt.

“
He
’
s moved on,
”
Stark said
,
bringing up the latest images.

Everyone sucked in a breath as Brandt helped Rebecca over the boards that lined the street.

“
They
’
re never going to make it,
”
Prenner said.

* * *

The crowd booed as Brandt hopped the barricade. The Spanish took their celebrations a bit too seriously. Even Lopez
,
though, in the car across the alley
,
was waving his hands in the air
,
yelling something.

Then Levont swiveled sharply.
“
Bull, he
’
s saying
bull
.
”

Fuck.
Brandt didn
’
t wait for clarification. If Lopez said bull, he meant
bull
. Then a cheer went up from around the corner and the sound of stampeding hoofbeats followed. They couldn
’
t get over the other side or back
over their side in time. Not as a bull, with
three
-
foot long horns
,
came charging at them.

Levont must have figured out the same thing
,
as he sprinted down the street, away from the enraged bull. Rebecca and Brandt followed, but there was no way they could outrun a pissed
-
off bull. Then Levont, moving way to
o
agilely for such a big man
, parkoured
his way against the barricade, got enough momentum to hit the side of a store
’
s fa
c
ade
,
and then launched himself onto a fabric awning.

He la
y
flat against the material, shoving his hand down.
“
To me!
”

Running
at
full speed, Brandt urged Rebecca to the side.
“
Jump!
”

And Rebecca did, hitting the barricade with her feet, giving her enough height for Levont to catch her by one hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the point man use Rebecca
’
s momentum to swing her up onto the awning. The fabric ripped from their weight, but she was safely out of the bull
’
s path.

Unfortunately
,
Brandt could not say the same thing for himself.

He could feel the damn bull
’
s hot breath on his back. The beast was way too close for Brandt t
o try Levont
’
s stunt. And he hated
to admit
but he was
too
old
to try it. And too injured. Instead
,
he just hauled ass down the street
,
trying to keep at least a few inches between himself and the bull.

Brandt had seen too many news clips of people trying to escape by running to the side. That was how you got gored. Of course
,
trying to outrun a bull was the way you got trampled.

But wait. What if he…
?

Without giving it any more thought, Brandt veered to the side. The bull took the bait and lunged toward the wall. Only
,
Brandt wasn
’
t there. Brandt
had
tossed himself to the center of the road. The tip of the bull
’
s horns narrowly missed Brandt
’
s shoulder and he got one good hoof to the hip, but then the bull was off, running his t
wo tons of weight down the road, scrap
ing
the barricade with his horns.