Page 25 of Bad Decisions

Me: You take care too. And I’ll see you soon.

Dropping my cell again, I jump up. “I’ll grab us more wine while you pick a movie.”

“Oh, it’s definitely going to be Pretty Woman.”

“Again?” I groan.

A light chuckle comes from the living room. “Don’t pretend you don’t love that movie almost as much as me.”

She’s right, I do, and a feel-good romance will suit my mood exactly.

Chapter twelve

Will

Putrid mud oozes through my T-shirt and onto my chest, mingling with the sweat that coats my entire body. I’m lying prone on the jungle floor, so hidden in the shadows and leafy undergrowth that someone would have to be standing beside me to notice my presence. And that’s the point as we wait for darkness to fully envelop the building and us, another layer of camouflage.

More rivers of perspiration trickle from my forehead down my cheeks and drip to the earth beneath my chin. The heat is suffocating, but my discomfort is nothing compared to what the woman in the rudimentary wooden shack just beyond the tree line must be experiencing. She’s twenty-six, the same age as Jewel, and that hits hard. An American diplomat’s daughter, who was captured at gunpoint four days ago. That’s a long time to be in the hands of these bastards, who are not known for their hospitality.

The Huistas, a Guatemalan gang that’s been linked to the Sinaloa Cartel for decades, are almost as notorious and feared in the key territories they control as their Mexican drug-trafficking partners. This area ranks up there as one of the most dangerous places in the world, and it’s not somewhere we want to be hanging around. We need to be in and out, with the girl safe before they even realize we’re here.

Too much time has already been wasted on the necessary planning and intelligence gathering to find out where they were hiding her. But now that we know and she’s within feet of our current positions, the most dangerous part of our mission is underway.

Ben, Parker, and I, along with a small group of trusted operatives who’ll provide backup, are ready. We’ve meticulously prepared for all scenarios, but what remains the unknown factor in all those plans is how she’ll react when she sees us. Stealth and surprise are the keys to our getting in and out as quickly as possible. And if that doesn’t work, then our array of weapons and years of experience will guarantee success.

Movement at the front of the building has me tightening my grip on the M4A1 carbine braced against my shoulder, and I sharpen my focus through the night-vision sight. The two guards at the front door have lowered their rifles to take a cigarette break. The red glow of the tips is the only outside light.

“Go time,” Parker announces through my earpiece.

It’s the signal for Ben to enter the building through the back window. His earlier surveillance confirmed the location of the woman in a separate side room tied to a steel-framed bed, and another guard sitting at a wooden table just beyond the open doorway.

A tense five minutes later, a tinny version of Ben’s voice comes through my earpiece. “I have her. Fall back.”

Slowly and quietly, I retreat in a backward crawl, the sounds of the jungle masking my progress. And when I’m able to stand unseen behind the cover of trees, I pull my night-vision goggles down and set off at a blinding pace to our agreed extraction point. But I only make it about twenty feet before all hell breaks loose in a barrage of gunfire.

Fuck!

“Need an assist over here.” Parker’s voice is calm but firm through my earpiece, and I pivot toward the sound of bullets pinging off trees. A cacophony of squawks and squeals from the local bird and animal life fills the night air.

Parker directs me to him, and I’m soon standing shoulder to shoulder with him, returning fire. It’s no more than ten long minutes before Ben shouts, “All clear.”

He’s got our victim to safety, and now it’s our turn to get the hell out of there. It’s clear these guys aren’t professionals as they shoot wildly into the thick jungle, hoping to hit us, but more likely to take out each other. We dodge our way to safety from tree to tree, trying to confuse them further and draw them away from Ben and the girl.

I’m just ducking behind another large trunk when something clips my shoulder. These assholes are fucking dangerous in their incompetence. I line up the culprit in my sights and return the favor with a bullet to his arm. He falls to the ground, screaming like a baby, and a brief smile pulls at my mouth. I’ll leave it to the locals to deal with him.

“Fuck, there’s a new extraction point,” Ben growls in my ear, and soon after, he’s reeling off the coordinates.

It’s a couple of days’ hike away, through thick, mountainous jungle. And there’s no guarantee it won’t change again. But I don’t waste my time dwelling on the tough journey ahead because, right now, we need to be putting as much distance as possible between us and the fuckers who want to see us dead. Or, for that matter, the local authorities, who will have some serious questions about why we’re even in their country. We don’t need to be arriving back in the States under the cloud of a diplomatic storm.

With my night-vision goggles firmly in place, I follow Parker at a fast clip through the forest, ignoring the sharp branches that grab at my camouflage clothing and the burn from my pack rubbing against the flesh wound on my shoulder.

Chapter thirteen

Jewel

Nothing!

There’s been nothing for weeks. No messages. No calls. Absolutely nothing.