Cindy Dees - Night Rescuer

“Her family still alive?”

“They were as of last night. Mother and father in their late sixties, younger brother in his mid-twenties. In good health and fully mobile.”

“Ahh yes, the wannabe drug dealer. And general screwup, Michael. We have quite a file on him.”

As he’d thought. The brother was the leak of Melina’s research to Huayar. He’d wring the kid’s neck when he caught up with him-

“Where are the hostages?” Hathaway asked, interrupting his furious train of thought.

“They were in that third building on the right yesterday, but they weren’t there when I took a peek an hour ago. I don’t know where they are now. I’d guess Huayar’s quarters on the left-that partially buried structure-or the meth lab on the far right.”

Hathaway asked sharply, “You’ve been down in the camp?”

“Yeah.”

“I’d ask if you have a death wish, but I already know the answer to that one. That place is way too active for operatives to penetrate safely.”

“I’ve been working outside the usual boundaries of safety a bit on this trip.”

Brady snorted. “We noticed. You’ve been a bear to track, dude.”

“We?” John asked hopefully. “Who’s here with you?”

“Bravo Squad.”

“All of it?” If so, that would mean a dozen Special Forces operatives were here, within striking range of Huayar and his men.

“All of it. Plus a few men from Charlie Squad, and Scottie, Stoner and Ripper from your Alpha Squad. Turns out you’re a popular guy. When the Scooby gang heard I was going to try to save you from yourself, I couldn’t stop them all from coming. It’s a bloody convention out here.”

“Hot damn,” John murmured in fervent relief.

Brady turned his attention to the camp below. “From the look of it, this still isn’t gonna be a walk in the park. Huayar’s got at least a hundred troops down there, and those are his elite guard. They’re tough, smart and armed to the teeth. Some of those guys are ex-Special Forces. Peruvian Army types. We trained them a few years back. They won’t be pushovers.”

John nodded, his exuberant relief tempered by the reality of the dangers still before them. But at least there was hope now. Plan B could go back onto the back burner for the moment. “Have you got any spare weapons I could lay my hands on?”

“I think we might be able to scare up a grenade launcher or two for you.”

John grinned over at his boss. “In case I haven’t mentioned it yet, damn, I’m glad to see you.”

“Likewise, old man. Likewise.”

Melina followed Huayar’s man across the camp to a building whose side walls were partially buried in mounds of dirt. She paused just inside, allowing her eyes to adjust to the dim light of a kerosene lamp sitting on a table off to one side of a narrow central room. After the bright campfire, it took a few seconds to see anything except darkness and that tiny flame of light.

Three shadows stepped away from the wall and materialized into armed, grim-looking men. She pulled back from the threat on their faces.

“What’s she doing here?” one of them growled over her shoulder at the guard behind her.

“The boss says to let her see the prisoners.”

The questioner nodded silently and jerked his head toward the back of the room. The first guard nodded and prodded her in the back with the tip of his rifle. Her head whipped around, and she glared at the guy until he actually took a step back from her. Score one for the weak little lady whom the men talked over as if she wasn’t there.

Prod-free, she headed for the closed door the guards indicated. They went back to lounging around the shadowed walls from whence they’d emerged. Creepy bunch.

As she reached the door, one of the guards stepped forward and inserted a key in a padlock holding the door firmly shut. It rattled loudly, and she heard shuffling noises from the other side. The panel swung open. The guard stared at her impassively, neither giving her permission to enter, nor preventing her.

Abrupt indecision filled her. She eyed that padlock. This could so easily be a trap. Tell the American chick she can see her family, and then lock her up with them. She’d be as helpless as her parents and brother. Although ultimately she was already Huayar’s prisoner. Lock or no lock, she couldn’t exactly stroll out of this camp and live more than a few minutes or hours. The ease with which Huayar’s men had found her before was clear proof of that.

She shrugged and stepped through the door.

“Melina!”

She rushed forward, embracing her mother almost as fiercely as her mother embraced her.

“What in the world are you doing here, child?” Her mother’s hands roamed over her face frantically, reassuring herself that Melina was really standing there in the flesh. Her father wrapped his arms around both of them, saying nothing, but clearly no less delighted to see her in his own quiet way. Her mother exclaimed, “Don’t tell me these men kidnapped you, too!”

“Not exactly, Mom. How are you? How are all of you?”

Her brother hung back in the shadows a moment longer, but then pasted on a smile and stepped forward. “Hey, Sis.”

“Hey, Mike. How are you?”

“Okay.”

He sounded cautious. Wary, even. She asked, “Have they hurt you? Fed you all right?”

Her brother shrugged. “It isn’t exactly the Ritz, but they haven’t treated us too badly.”

Her mother fussed over her, running her hands down Melina’s arms and squeezing her hands almost compulsively. “These boys have been polite, all things considered. They have a hard life out here. The Peruvian government has been hard on them.”

She snorted. Apparently, no one had told her mom what Huayar and his men did for a living. Just as well. No need to completely terrify the woman. She glanced over at her father. “How’s your heart holding up, dad? Any chest pains?” He’d had a mild heart attack a few years back, but had not had any recurrences. So far. The stress of being the prisoner of a vicious killer could do him in fast enough.

“I’m fine, honey. Ready to get out of here.”

She smiled gamely at him. “I’m working on it, Dad.”

Michael piped up. “What was all that hollering earlier? They told us they caught a bandit trying to rob them.”

She opened her mouth to tell the truth, but then glanced down at her mother’s naïvely blank face. No need to elaborate on the gory details. It would only upset her parents needlessly. She made eye contact with her brother, though, and they traded significant looks. His eyes darkened with comprehension. Fear followed closely on its heels in his black gaze. At least he understood the gravity of their situation.

“Have you come to take us home, honey?” her mother asked.

“I don’t think I’ll be going with you, but yes, I think Huayar is prepared to let you go.”

She caught a small movement out of the corner of her eye. Her brother had flinched. Dawning suspicion quickly turned into horror as she gazed across the room at him. Under the weight of her steady stare, guilt gradually bowed his shoulders. She was in front of him in two strides and had him by the shirt.

“You told, didn’t you?” she accused.

“I-uhh-”

“Melina! Turn your brother loose. We don’t act like that in this family!”

She reacted out of reflex to her mother’s berating tone and let Mike go. She took a step forward, though, and got right in her brother’s face. Under her breath so only he could hear, she snarled, “You told, didn’t you?”

“They were going to kill me, Sis. I had nothing else.”

“Why? How’d you get mixed up with people like this?”

“I needed cash. I just carried some stuff around. No big deal.”