Chase checked through the binoculars again and spotted the headlights of a vehicle on the road, climbing up the hill from far below.He trained the lenses on it.When it switched back, he could tell it was a cargo truck.“We need to get moving.Hank and his team are on their way up now and will be here soon.We need to be ready when they arrive.I anticipate no more than ten minutes.”
“Let’s do this,” Trevor said.
Carson grinned in the dusk, his teeth flashing white in the darkening gloom.“God, I missed this.”
“Just don’t do anything to put yourself or others at any more risk than we’ll already have,” Chase warned.“Our number one goal is to get Alana out alive.”
Carson gave a mock salute.“Gotcha.”
“Will do,” Trevor said.
“Operation Save Alana,” Gina said.“But, boy, I want to kick some Delgado ass while we’re at it.”
“We might get our chance,” Chase said.“Let’s just make sure he doesn’t end up kicking ours or Alana’s first.”
Chapter11
Alana madeit outside the kitchen only to find herself in a driveway that led around the side of the sprawling house.Dusk was settling in around the house, but the stars had yet to make their appearance in the sky to light her path.She clung to the shadows of the mansion, though the white stucco would probably silhouette her body against it.She bent low and moved close to the bushes and small trees planted close to the building.
Her heart hammered in her chest, but she couldn’t let fear rule her.She’d come this far; she wouldn’t let them recapture her and take her back to Delgado.He might grow tired of dealing with her and kill her outright.Without her, he wouldn’t have a bargaining chip to lure Chase to his assignation at La Casa Loca.Then again, Chase wouldn’t know she was dead and would show up anyway.He wouldn’t give up on her if he thought there was any chance of saving her from Delgado.
No, she had to stay alive, get the hell off the compound and find her way back to Cabo San Lucas to stop Chase from showing up at midnight.
As she approached a corner, she heard men’s voices.She dropped to her haunches beside a yucca plant and froze.
A shout sounded behind her, and a man burst through the door of the kitchen she’d come out of moments before.
Alana swore beneath her breath.She recognized the man she’d hit over the head with the bucket and locked in the cell below.She shrank lower in the shadows and prayed he wouldn’t see her.
Two other men rounded the corner she’d almost gone around and ran toward the shouting man.They spoke in rapid Spanish.
While they were occupied, Alana crawled behind the yucca plant on her hands and knees to the corner of the building, took a deep breath and slipped around it.Then she scrambled to her feet and ran for the compound wall.Her pulse beat so hard against her eardrums she could barely hear anything else.She made it to the wall, and no one was shouting.No footsteps sounded behind her.But there was nothing to climb to get over the top.She moved amongst the bushes along the wall until she reached a trellis covered in bougainvillea vines and blossoms.
Heart pounding and breathing ragged, she dug her feet into the trellis and climbed, her hands and face scraped by the branches.After she’d made it only four feet up the trellis, hands gripped her around her hips and jerked her from her perch and back to the ground.
Alana dropped to her hands and knees, rolled onto her back and leveled a kick at the man’s groin.
He cursed in Spanish and doubled over, giving Alana time to crab-crawl backward.She flipped over and launched herself away from the man, only to run headfirst into another.This one caught her around her middle and crushed her against him, pinning her arms to her sides.She couldn’t get enough leverage to kick him hard, and she couldn’t wiggle her way free.He held onto her so tightly that she could barely breathe.
The man spoke in Spanish to someone else and then carried her, kicking and writhing, to the front of the house, where he tossed her to the ground.
Alana rolled and sprang to her feet, ready to run.One glance around made her freeze in place.
Lights shone down on her from the corners of the house.Four men pointed rifles at her, their fingers on the triggers, ready to shoot.
Raul Delgado emerged from the house and descended the steps to where she stood, a handgun pointed at her chest.“Go.Run for it.I have no use for you.You have caused enough trouble.”
“You want me to run so you can shoot me in the back.”She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.“If you’re going to shoot me, do it now.I want you to look into the eyes of the woman you’re about to kill.”
Delgado’s eyes narrowed.He raised his handgun, pointing it at Alana’s face.“It would be a shame to destroy such a pretty face.”He lowered the weapon, and his lips curled into a sneer.“I have much better use for one like you.”He nodded toward the man closest to him.“Tie her up and put her in my bedroom.And when I’m done with you,” he leaned close to Alana’s face and sneered, “my men can have you to do with as they will.”
Alana’s stomach roiled.These men were animals.She’d die before she let one of them rape her—especially Delgado.As the man approached her, she bunched her muscles, ready to fight with every last breath.
Chase and Trevorpositioned themselves at one side of the compound while Carson and Gina worked their way around to the back.Up until they were within a couple of yards of the compound, Chase had kept an eye on the guard on the roof.That man’s attention seemed to be on the front of the house and the road leading up to the compound.The truck headlights were within a quarter mile of the gate and closing fast.
Chase’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket.He pulled it out, cupped his hands around the screen and read the text.
Carson: Ready
