“Demon.” A hushed voice came from near the door. “Patch him up. Quick. The leader is leaving.”
Steel.
Demon helped Triumph sit up. “Are you nauseous? Headache? Bleeding from anywhere?”
“No. Yes. No. Don’t worry about me. Just get Glennon. I’ll follow.”
“Do you know who the guy all in black is?”
“Cesar. Glennon said he’s Guillermo’s right-hand man, come to collect us.”
The voice from the door muttered, “He must have come in after I left. I didn’t recognize him.” More candidly, he spoke again, and it took Triumph a minute to realize he was talking to someone over a radio. “Copy that. Not sure exactly what we’re going to be walking into, so be ready. We’re just waiting for the target to get out of sight, then we’re heading out of unit three and into unit four to collect Little Spy.”
The waiting was killing him. “Do you know how long I was out?”
“We arrived just as she was being taken next door. That’s been about twenty minutes.”
Neither man would look him in the eye. “What did he do to her?”
The man at the door seemed to go extra rigid.
Demon answered gruffly, “Doesn’t matter as long as she’s still alive. Remember that when you see her.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, I care, but… Yes, all that matters is she’s alive.”
He grunted. “We’re good here, Steel,” he said to his partner.
“Wait!” The two men looked at him. “There are two women here. A couple of kids. Just… so you’re aware.”
Both men nodded at him, then focused their attention on opening the door and slipping out into the darkness. Silently, they made it the few feet to the next hut and plastered themselves to the side of the building. They could hear the two men inside through the window, but the words were low. After confirming that Cesar was still across the way, Demon pulled the door open, allowing Steel to slink through.
Two tiny puffs of air sounded, and Triumph was hot on Demon’s heels through the entryway to get to Glennon.
He swallowed tightly. He was sure what he saw could have been much worse, but he didn’t want to think about it.
“Glennon,” he whispered in anguish.
He rushed over to her side, Demon right behind him. Her chest rose and fell, but she was out cold.
Quickly, the medic did a pat-down of her body, looking for any wounds or broken bones. “Can you carry her for a little bit?” Demon asked.
“Yes.”
His entire body felt like he’d been hit by a bus, but he would do whatever needed to be done. There was no way he was holding these men back or letting Glennon down.
Steel finished taking pictures and fingerprints of the men he’d felled on entry, then came up along the other side of her unconscious form on the ground. “She’s small, but she’s deadweight. If she slows you down, give her to me. No shame. I can carry her and shoot at the same time if I have to.”
Triumph scooped up Glennon’s body and, as gently as he could, put her over his shoulder. Demon helped wrap her around his neck in a fireman’s carry, and once she was secure, they were out the door and down the path.
“How long do you think we have before he realizes she’s gone?” Triumph asked.
“Minutes, tops. We’re not going too far though. You afraid of heights?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Well, that wasn’t cryptic at all. Where the hell were they going? The hill they’d come down earlier was the tallest one for several miles.
