Page 5 of Morgue
I settled her closer before checking my gun once more. I’d already done so, but not only had we just killed everyone in the rat trap where we found these women, but we were in Mexican territory. We’d taken women the Cartel saw as their property. If it was discovered before we were safely away, we’d be in a fight all the way back to Evansville.
“How are the others?”
Stitches shook his head. “One won’t make it. One will be touch and go. Dorothy and the other two should be fine physically unless there’s internal damage I can’t see. One of them got hit in the head pretty hard, but she’s responding appropriately. At least for now.”
“They drugged too?”
“Yeah. Either they weren’t dosed as hard, or they’ve been dosed so often they’re becoming resistant. They’re a little woozy but not as much as Dorothy. I doubt she’s been here as long as the others. Not as banged up either.”
The Humvee continued to speed over the rough terrain, the wind and rain pounding the vehicle mercilessly. I glanced down at the sleeping woman against me. She was battered, beaten, and filthy as hell. But I’d never seen a more striking female. I wasn’t too proud to admit I loved the way she trusted me, even knowing I was a killer. Maybe Stitches was right. Maybe she felt safe because I was a killer.
The Humvee skidded to a halt with a jolt. “Fuck.” I moved to the back of the enclosure and looked out the window. The rain was coming down too hard for me to see if we’d picked up a tail, but we weren’t being shot at.
“We’re here.” Clutch threw the vehicle in park and got out, slamming the door behind him. I followed out the back, hurrying around the truck to cover Clutch. He headed toward a battered hangar where Deke was supposed to be waiting for us. He was on loan from Bones MC in Kentucky. While I didn’t like depending on someone outside the Tzars for our extraction, Sting vouched for this guy, so I’d give him the benefit of the doubt. Supposedly, there wasn’t any kind of aircraft the bastard couldn’t fly.
I trotted to catch up with Clutch. The hangar wasn’t much more than an oversized carport. The sides came down about halfway from the top to the ground, but it was rusted out in places and did little to protect the chopper Deke had brought for the extraction. The man stood just under the canopy next to the UH-1Y Venom helicopter we were supposed to exfiltrate with. Fucking big-ass bird to hide. The military aircraft was owned by ExFil, the paramilitary organization owned by a guy named Cain who used to be the president of Bones MC. Cain did work for the governments of several different countries, including the US, when the CIA didn’t or couldn’t get involved. I had to hand it to them. They had some grade A shit at their disposal. I might not like depending on anyone other than my club, but my estimation of Bones went up several notches.
“If we’re gonna have to wait for a break in the weather, you might want to be ready for a fight.” Clutch wiped his face with his arm as he stepped underneath the walls of the hangar. “We got most of them, but I can’t be sure we got everyone. And if we missed even one, they’ll send reinforcements.”
“Get everyone on board,” Deke said. “We’ll leave in ten minutes.”
“You sure the weather will cooperate? I’d prefer the danger I can control to sitting in a tin can that could be blown out of the sky like a fuckin’ gnat by this storm.”
Deke ignored him and climbed inside the bird without a backward glance.
“You heard the man,” I said, turning back to the Humvee. I wanted to get everyone on board as quickly as possible, so we’d be good to go the second Deke was ready to leave.
I went to the back of the Humvee and opened the door. Two of the women flinched and shied away. Dorothy was still asleep where I’d left her. The other two didn’t move.
“It’s all right. We’re getting you guys out of here.” Stitches tried to soothe the women, but they didn’t look like they were buying it. They glanced at each other before climbing out of the truck and heading toward the hangar when Brick urged them on. Then Brick picked up one of the unconscious women while Deacon got the other. Stitches started to pick up Dorothy, but I shoved my way past him.
“I got her.” I didn’t want the other man touching her any more than he had to. That was something I was going to have to work out later. Right now, I was going on adrenaline and instinct. And everything inside me was screaming that this girl was mine to save. Mine to protect.
I picked her up, moving us to the back of the vehicle and out the door. It was difficult given I couldn’t stand all the way up, but at least there was room to move around.
Once out of the Humvee, I curled myself around Dorothy as best I could to protect her from the sting of the rain, but it didn’t matter much. I was soaked. Seconds later she was soaked. She gasped and opened her eyes groggily but didn’t say anything.
The Venom rolled out from the hangar. The only reason the big son of a bitch fit in the fucking toy hangar was because the blades folded back behind her. Looked like someone had made some modifications because Venoms didn’t typically have landing gear. Bet that voided the warranty good and proper.
By the time we’d all climbed aboard, Deke was rolling through a preflight checklist and talking to someone on the radio. Brick passed out helmets for everyone. Not only were they there for protection, but it would allow us to communicate over the noise.
“Ready for takeoff when you give the word.” I didn’t think Deke was talking to any of us.
“Ten minutes.” I assumed that was the intel guy at Bones. I couldn’t remember his name, and didn’t much care. “There’ll be a small break in the storm. Not a lot, but the wind should be at a more manageable level.”
“Roger, Data. Keeping an eye on it here too.” Deke was flipping switches and checking a satellite radar of the area and beyond, likely looking at the same information. I ground my teeth and adjusted my hold on Dorothy. She was still passed out, having not opened her eyes since I’d first picked her up.
Something didn’t feel right. There was an itch between my shoulder blades that always meant trouble. Granted, the idea of taking off in this weather was a daunting prospect, but I’d been in worse situations.
“Uh, guys?” That was Wylde, the Tzars’ intel guy and all-around pain in the ass. But he was our pain in the ass and the man was fucking smart. I expected he’d be monitoring shit, but him interrupting in the middle of an operation meant my instincts had been right. Things were about to go sideways.
“What the fuck are you doing on this frequency?” Deke sounded distracted rather than upset despite his words.
“Backin’ y’all up. Also, I hacked into a couple of… uh… things. Y’all got company on the way. So, you don’t have ten minutes.”
“Fuckin’ hell.” I slid Dorothy off me and put a restraint harness on her in case Deke had to take off before I could get back to her. All of us readied our weapons, looking around us for the first sign of trouble.
“Two vehicles coming from the south. One from the west. Unsure how many meanies are in each truck, but I’m betting they didn’t come light. After that it gets bad.”