A Rookie Again
(The 6th, and last, Rookie Story)
By F.A. Behrend
Rated – F13
(Comments and critique welcome through the message board or directly to Fran at fabram@kc.rr.com)
Chapter 1Jake pressed the high-powered binoculars to his eyes and looked out from the observation post. A trail of dust rose up in the distance like a plume of smoke and he followed it as it came rapidly in his direction. “She is going to be pissed,” he said.
“Better pissed than dead.” Frank stood next to him with an identical pair of binoculars and watched the approaching dust cloud. He focused on the SUV at the point of the cloud and watched as the vehicle came skidding to a stop. “That’s it,” he said softly, “time to consider your options.”
“What made you decide on this particular training exercise?” Jake asked.
Frank put the binoculars down. “After that little rescue stunt you two pulled down in
“Don’t blame Cary,” Jake said, “I’m the one who got her involved. So how come I’m not out there with her?”
“Because you already know how to lose. You already know when it’s time to abandon a mission and save your own skin.”
Both men looked back at the dust cloud. “So,” said Jake, “what’s the set-up here?”
“Her assignment was to steal that SUV with a very large and very valuable cargo. She’s supposed to get the SUV to the other side of that stream down there. She’s got three cars on her tail so she can’t turn around and go back through town. The bridge over the stream is out and the water in the stream is too high for the SUV. Her only escape route is cut off. There is a culvert under the stream, but it’s too small for the SUV and the cargo is too heavy for her to carry. Her only option is to abandon the SUV and the cargo and take the culvert on foot. Once on the other side of the stream she’ll be in the clear, her pursuers are after the cargo, not her.”
“If she stays with the truck . . .”
“Game over.” Both men continued to watch as the scene before them played out.
Cary Montgomery skidded to a halt in the middle of the gravel road. She could see even from here that the bridge across the stream was out and the water was running high and fast. She gunned the engine of the big SUV in frustration and slammed the steering wheel with her fist. “Damn!” This was supposed to be a simple training exercise, a simple snatch and evade operation. Dust from the road swirled around the car and made her choke. She knew the pursuit cars were right behind her, and so she had only a few minutes, at most, to decide on a course of action. “Damnation!” she said again. “Think, Cary! Think!”
She forced herself to concentrate. What are my assets? No weapons. No communication. No backup. No chance. She gunned the engine again. But she did have the biggest V-8 Detroit made, and a suspension that would survive a moon landing. Damn you, Frank, she thought, this wasn’t just a snatch and drive training exercise. She smiled and slammed the vehicle into reverse.
“What the hell is she doing?” Frank wondered out loud as he watched the swirling dust cloud.
“Heading back to town?” Jake speculated.
“She can’t. She must know that would be suicide.” The SUV was in reverse now, tearing backwards down the road directly into the path of the pursuing vehicles. Frank continued to watch. “She should be out of the car by now. She should be in the culvert,” he said in disbelief. “What is she doing?”
Cary tugged at the seatbelt to make sure it was good and tight as the SUV slammed to a stop. She threw the shifter into first and floored it. Gravel spat out from the undercarriage and the truck slewed slightly sideways before the tires caught and the vehicle jerked forward, racing towards the busted bridge. She ran up through the gears gaining speed with every passing second. She gripped the steering wheel and held on, a look of grim determination on her face.
“Oh, shit!” Frank shouted as he watched the SUV break through the swirling dust cloud and tear down the road at an alarming rate of speed. “She’s headed for the bridge!”
“Can’t she see it’s out?” Jake watched as the SUV continued to gather speed and head directly for the wrecked bridge, in spite of the orange and white barriers and the flashing lights.
“She knows it’s out. She’s just not giving up. She’s going to try and jump the bridge!” Both men put down their binoculars and watched. At this distance they could hear nothing. The SUV tore up the road. The dust cloud swirled behind the big vehicle as it moved faster and faster toward the bridge. When she hit it, the orange and white barrier shattered and pieces flew silently through the air. Frank and Jake both took in a sharp breath and held it as the SUV went airborne. Time seemed to stand still as the big vehicle hung momentarily in the air, arching upward, sunlight flashing off the windows.
The trajectory was perfect. The truck reached the apex of its flight just as it crossed the center of the stream. The nose tipped down slightly. The front wheels hit the opposite bank and the suspension collapsed but it did not break. Dust sprang up again as the back tires hit. The rear end came out and the SUV skidded slightly, righted itself and tore down the road away from them. Frank could swear he saw Cary’s fist pump in the air.
It was another minute before either man could breathe. “Whoohoo!” Jake hollered and thumped Frank on the back. “She did it!”
“Yes,” Frank said quietly, “but she still doesn’t know how to lose.”
Chapter 2
“Hi, Mom.” Cary strolled slowly across the bedroom floor and pressed the phone against her shoulder as she walked.
“Hi, honey! Where have you been?” Her mother’s voice was warm and reassuring.
“
“
“No. It was an assignment. Well, sort of an assignment. My boss was in trouble and one of the other agents and I went down there to get him out.” She sat down on the edge of the bed.
“And did it go well?” Her mother’s voice was filled with concern.
“Yes, for the most part. I mean…we got him out and he’s OK…”
“And you’re OK.”
“Yes.”
“And I take it there’s a ‘but’ at the end of that.”
“Yes.” Cary took a deep breath.
“Did someone get hurt?” Her mother asked gently, “Did you get fired?”
“No, nothing like that. I did get my butt chewed out pretty good.” She smiled as she remembered the look on Donovan’s face when he found out she was involved in Jake’s rescue plan. “It’s just that after we got Frank back . . . he told me . . . he told me that he loved me.”
“Oh, my.” Static hissed across the line. “And how do you feel about him?”
“I just don’t know. So much has happened since I’ve been with the Bureau, and there were some things I had to do when I was in
“Well,” said her Mother, “take it slow. You’ve always used good judgment. You’ll know what to do.”
At that moment the doorbell rang. Cary twitched the curtain aside and looked down into the parking lot of her building. Donovan’s car sat next to the dusty SUV. “I’ve got to go, Mom.”
She opened the door and Frank came in shaking his head. He looked her up and down and said with a sigh, “Are you OK?” She nodded. “Just what was that stunt back there? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” His voice took on a note of anger.
“Of course not! I did what the assignment called for.” She felt her own anger rising. They were back to square one. She just couldn’t seem to please this man. No matter what she did it turned out to be the wrong thing.
He walked to the window and looked out. “Cary,” he said quietly, “the assignment wasn’t to get that cargo out. That was a training exercise to see if you could make the decision to abandon the mission, to see if you would know when it was time to cut and run.”
“Oh.” She stood looking at his back and her anger suddenly boiled over. “Then why did you leave me with a way out?”
His shoulders began to shake and she suddenly realized that he was laughing. “Because nobody ever thought of jumping the bridge before.” He paused and turned around and looked at her, still chuckling. “You are without a doubt one of the most innovative agents I have ever trained, and I just do not know what the hell I am going to do with you.” He ran his hands through his hair and over his face. “And,” he said at last, “I owe you an apology.”
“A what?” She gaped at him.
“An apology. I’ve put you in a very difficult position, and for that I am supremely sorry. The things I said to you when I got back from
“So…” she hesitated, “you didn’t mean it when you said you loved me.” She wrapped her arms tightly around her body, uncertain if she was relieved or disappointed.
“Oh, I meant every word of it. It happens between agents; we work so closely in such stressful situations it’s almost unavoidable that we develop feelings for each other. But I should never have said anything to you. You’re pretty new at this business, and I should never have put you in that position. I should never have put you under that kind of pressure. It was completely unprofessional. You don’t need that kind of distraction and I’m sorry.”
“The question is, what do we do about it now?”
Frank smiled and shifted a little uncomfortably, “I know what I’d like to do, but it would be way out of bounds. I suppose it depends on how you feel.” He watched her carefully and held his breath. A part of him wanted to step across the room and take her in his arms. He wanted to hold her, to protect her, to keep that spark of innocence alive in her for just a little longer. He didn’t want to see her settle into the cynicism that was so common among experienced agents. But it was that cynicism that would keep her alive. That was the reason for the training exercise. She had to learn how much she was worth; she had to learn her own value. She had to learn how to preserve her own life, even if it meant abandoning a mission or even another agent. And as much as he wanted her to learn that lesson, he hated himself for having to teach it.
But he also wanted her to tell him that her private life was hers and hers alone and she had no interest in him beyond their work. She could, she should, tell him that she wasn’t interested in a relationship, and she should say it right now. And if she did, that would probably be for the best. Yes, he told himself, that would be best; she should just tell me to get lost. Then I can get over the way I feel about her and move on.
“How I feel? Boy . . . truth is . . . I just don’t know.”
Bad answer, he thought, please just tell me to leave. Please tell me you’re not interested.
She walked over to the window and stood next to him, close but not touching. They both looked out at the parking lot and the dusty SUV. Frank could feel the heat from her skin as they stood there in the sun and he swallowed hard and kept his hands rammed into his pockets. “I didn’t plan on having this conversation right now,” he said, “but we probably should.”
“You’re right, of course.” She paused and then continued, “Aside from my father, I don’t think I know another man on this planet who means as much to me as you do.”
Good, he thought, she’s comparing me to her father. That’s good. I can be a father figure. I shouldn’t be . . . I can’t be a lover.
“Since I’ve been with the Bureau, you’ve taught me more, shown me more, of what I can be than anyone I have ever known. I’ll always be grateful for that.”
Frank relaxed a little. Good, he thought, I can handle gratitude. Maybe they could both get through this without too much damage.
“But there’s something more . . .”
Shit! I could end up tanking both our careers with one misguided emotional outburst! He cursed himself. Damn this newfound candor, he thought, I should never have said a word about how I felt.
She turned to face him, turned those bright green eyes on him.
He swallowed hard and waited for her to speak. Her voice was very quiet and surprisingly calm. A small distant corner of his mind made note of it and smiled at her courage.
“The way I feel about you, I don’t know what it is; gratitude, admiration, respect, maybe even a little fear.” She smiled and he felt his heart tighten up in his chest. The sun came through the window and struck her hair, making waves of shimmering light. He wanted to reach out and touch it. He kept his hands in his pockets. “It might turn out to be love, and maybe someday we’ll find out if it is. But for now, it just can’t happen. I think we’re both adult enough to handle it, but if you want me to request a transfer, I will.” She waited for his answer.
He found his voice, “no. I don’t think a transfer will be necessary.” He felt a little dizzy. She could love him! It was the worst of all possible answers. It was the best of all possible answers. And a transfer was absolutely out of the question. He could not let her go until he taught her that one last lesson.
Chapter 3
Alex looked up from her desk. “You’ve been staring at that file for about an hour now. I don’t think it’s going to run away from you.”
Cary tossed the file on the desk and leaned back in her chair. It was her report on the
“Let who go?”
“Hector Reyes,” Cary said the name with disgust.
Alex signed deeply. “We can’t get him. No matter how many DEA or FBI agents he’s killed, he’s safe across the border in his own little kingdom.”
“I know. But if we could get him into this country, could we arrest him?”
“Well,” Alex replied, “we can connect him to the murder of Victor Campos, the DEA agent in Bisbee. We’ve got the slugs from Campos’ body, and we know they came from a gun registered to one of Reyes’ cronies. In fact, that gun has a couple of bodies on it. It’s a little thin, but if we got him back in this country, we might be able to convince a Mexican court to let us search his property, his bank records, the works. We could make a pretty good case against him for murder-for-hire.”
“Then why don’t we?”
Alex smiled. Cary was still so naive in so many ways. “Arresting him in this country is one thing. Trying to nab him on his home turf is something else entirely. The Federales won’t touch him. He’s too much of a local hero.”
“Damn.”
Alex leaned across the desk. “Cary,” she said quietly, “I know this one means a lot to you, but you have to let it go. We can’t get all the bad guys. You have to believe that Reyes’ time will come. We’ll get him. Eventually.”
“I know.” Cary put the folder in her “out” basket and turned to her computer.
Alex turned back to the pile of reports in front of her and shook her head. Rookie, she thought, she’ll learn.
An hour later, Cary hit the “print” button and stood up and stretched. She went to the printer and pulled off the three sheets as they came out, one at a time. She looked them over carefully, squared them up and put them in a clean folder. Then she took the folder and went up the stairs to Frank’s office.
She took a deep breath as she raised her hand and gave a brief tap on the partly opened door.
“Yes?” Frank covered the mouthpiece of the phone and looked up from his desk. When he saw her he motioned her in and pointed to a chair. Cary sat and waited while he finished his conversation. “What is it?” He asked as he cradled the instrument.
Even though his tone was friendly she still felt like she was a school kid in the principal’s office. “I’d like to run something past you.” She laid the folder on the desk. The conversation in her apartment was two weeks past and they were both walking on eggshells, but he was still the boss and she was still a rookie and that made her nervous as hell.
“What is this?”
“An operational plan to get Hector Reyes.”
He opened the folder, and frowned. He shook his head. “We can’t.”
“Why not?” She waited for him to jump down her throat.
He looked at the tense set of her shoulders and kept his tone reasonable. “For a number of reasons.” He listed them, “No money, no personnel, he is a foreign national living in a sovereign country, and most importantly, we don’t conduct operations for revenge.”
He expected her to protest his assumption of revenge, or to simply nod and leave the folder on his desk. She did neither. Instead she looked him square in the eye and presented her case. That little corner of his mind smiled again at her courage. “Look at the up side,” she began. “If we can take Reyes down we can disrupt the smuggling of illegal drugs and illegal immigrants in the entire southwest corner of this country. He has no obvious successor. If he’s out of the picture there will be a scramble to fill the power vacuum and we’ll have an opportunity to send in long-term undercover agents. The intel they could provide could bear fruit for years.”
“Good point,” he nodded.
She continued, cool and dispassionate, “And we wouldn’t be conducting an operation on foreign soil. Everything happens right here, well within the FBI’s jurisdiction. As far as personnel are concerned, we wouldn’t need any more players than we have right in this office. All we need is a couple of surveillance teams. The budget impact is minimal. I have friends in San Diego who own property there. They’re out of the country now, and I’m sure I can ask them to use their ranch. Reyes comes for a visit. We’ve got him.”
“And you’re the bait.”
She smiled, “I prefer the word ‘lure.’”
He studied her and she returned his gazed calmly. “Cary,” he began, “we all want to see Reyes in prison, but we can’t use the Bureau to exercise a personal vendetta.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?” She shot the question at him.
“It would be natural, after what he did to you in
“What happened in
“You’re sure about this?”
“Yes, absolutely. This has nothing to do with revenge. It has everything to do with justice.”
Frank picked up the folder and studied it. The plan was a good one, simple, well thought out and likely to produce excellent results. “You’re sure about this?” he asked again.
“Yes.”
“Have you thought about what it would be like to see Reyes again? About how you’ll react?” He watched her carefully. Her color seemed a little high and the pulse beat in her throat was tripping along at a fair rate of speed, but her hands were folded in her lap. On the whole she seemed completely calm and collected.
“Yes,” she said, “I’ve had a couple of sessions with the shrink and I’m fine with it.”
He studied her for another minute and then tossed the folder back to her. “Congratulations, rookie. You’ve just designed your first operational plan. Now go do it.”
Chapter 4
Hector Reyes looked up from his breakfast when the white-coated servant stepped out onto the veranda. “Yes?” His annoyance was plain.
“The gentleman from Bisbee has arrived, Senor.”
“Very well. Bring him to me.” He pushed the remains of his meal aside and waited, drumming his manicured fingers on the table. The loss of his informant in Bisbee was a slight setback, soon to be remedied.
The visitor wasted no time. He sat down across from Hector and said, “The new recruit seems to be reliable. He has already given us some information. I thought you would be interested in this.” He passed a folder across the table. The servant poured coffee. The visitor sat back and waited.
Hector opened the folder and raised an eyebrow. He extracted a single piece of paper and stood up. He carried the paper to the edge of the verandah to study it in the sunlight. The paper was a photocopy of a newspaper article. There was a picture, taken from a distance, grainy but distinct, and a headline that read, “Rookie FBI Agent Foils Bank Heist.” He scanned the article and studied the picture for a few minutes, struggling to keep his anger in check. There was no mistaking her. He remembered her, every detail of her body, her hair and her scent, even her fiery passion. “So,” he said at last, “This means that our other guest at the time was probably FBI.”
“Yes, without a doubt.”
Hector turned to his visitor, “our new recruit has done well. Give him something extra for this.” He waved the paper in the air and came back to the table to sit down. He put the paper back in the folder.
“What do you want me to do about this? If the FBI is investigating the operation here, we must take some action.”
“Yes, of course. We will divert shipments for the time being; send them through Yuma to San Diego. The border is still notoriously porous there.”
“But those facilities are not equipped to handle our volume, and the local authorities are unknown to us.”
“We will have to take that chance. We don’t know how badly our activities in Bisbee have been compromised. It should be just a temporary solution. When I have resolved this matter,” he laid his hand on the folder, “then we can resume normal operations.”
The visitor finished his coffee and stood up. He gave Hector a quick nod and turned on his heel and left.
Hector sat for a moment, still as a statue. So. She had betrayed him. She used him and distracted him from his business. It would not happen again. If, no when, he found her, she would pay for her treachery. Suddenly he swept his hand across the table, scattering the china across the tile patio. He stood up and called for his servant. “Clean this mess up,” he commanded when the man appeared. He went back inside the house, crushing broken pieces of china under his feet as he walked.
The government Gulfstream cruised quietly over the New Mexico desert. Frank slid into the seat next to Cary. She looked away from the window and smiled at him. “I was almost asleep,” she confessed.
“Glad to see you can be so relaxed. This is not the way I normally like to do things.”
“I know. There wasn’t much planning time. Reyes agreed to meet me at the ranch pretty quickly. We should be in good shape to do it in any case. The ranch is fairly isolated so we can secure the main compound quite easily.”
“I’d like to take him as soon as he crosses the border.”
“So would I, but it’s too public. Too many people could get in the way and he could slip away too quick. We need to get him isolated and the ranch is a perfect set-up.”
Frank looked at her quizzically, “we could pick him up on the road to the ranch. There are some fairly isolated stretches.”
She shook her head, “we talked about this. I know you’re just trying to protect me, and I don’t want you putting your feelings ahead of the job. We know he’ll bring at least one bodyguard with him, probably more. Ambushing him on the road is sure to lead to a firefight, and that can get people hurt. We want to take him alive.”
Frank shook his head and a look of concern washed over his face. “I’ve looked at Reyes’ profile. He has an ego the size of Montana. If he ever finds out who you are, he won’t rest until one of you is in the ground.”
“I know,” Cary nodded. “I had to use my real name when Jake and I went down to Mexico, but I think I’m safe for a limited operation. He really has no reason to suspect that I’m an agent. We parted on what I would call friendly terms.” Cary swallowed hard and pushed aside the memory of those last two days in Mexico, of Reyes’ hands on her body.
“Unless Reyes has another informant.”
“Like I said, it’s a limited operation and therefore a limited risk. All I have to do is get him out to the ranch.”
“Cary, you don’t have anything to prove.” He reached out and covered her hand with his.
“I know that too.” She gave him a sideways glance and smiled again. “So when are you going to stop referring to me as a rookie?”
He chuckled softly, “probably never.” He kept his hand in place and leaned his seat back.
Cary turned back to the window. The double layer of Plexiglas produced two reflections, one clear and colorful in the western sun, the other gray, hazy and blurred at the edges. Which one am I, she thought, the naive rookie, full of star-spangled hope, or the jaded professional ready to sell body and soul to get the job done. She sighed and pulled the window shade down and closed her eyes, content with the warmth of Frank’s hand covering hers.
Jake watched them from behind a file folder. He nudged Alex in the ribs and nodded to where Frank and Cary sat. “Well, well, well,” Alex whispered, “I was wondering when that was going to happen.” The jet continued south and west into the setting sun.
Chapter 5
Reyes arrived in a long black limousine. It came down the road towards the entrance gate and a thick beige dust cloud swirled up behind the big car. The windows were blacked out and Cary could not see how many occupants were in the vehicle. She leaned against the porch railing, relaxed and smiling. All she had to do was get him out of the car and into the house.
“I wish she’d let me put a wire on her,” Frank muttered softly. He and Jake were just inside the front door. As soon as Reyes stepped through, they had him. Cody and Alex were in the barn across the driveway, ready to deal with the limo driver and whoever else was in the car.
“Not with the outfit she’s wearing.” Jake smiled appreciatively.
Frank swallowed hard. Cary had chosen her clothes with care. For this operation she picked a pair of faded jeans and a silk blouse. She wore nothing under the blouse and there was no place to hide a wire, or a weapon.
The limo slowed to a halt and Cary strolled slowly over to the passenger’s side. She stood in the sun, about four feet from the door of the car and waited, her hands thrust casually in her back pockets. The slight breeze pressed the fabric of the blouse close to her skin.
The driver came around, opened the door and then stood next to it, almost at attention. Cary leaned forward and let the neckline of the blouse fall open. “Hector?” she said. She kept her voice bright and cheerful, full of expectation and promise.
“Yes, my dear.” He smiled at her from inside the car but made no move to exit.
“Why don’t you come inside? I can get you something cool to drink.”
“I think I would like to tour your property first,” he said.
“I had something else in mind,” she said and stepped closer to the open door, “that is, if you’re not tired from your journey.”
Frank and Jake watched from inside behind curtained windows. “No signal yet that he’s getting out of the car,” Frank said. “I don’t like her that close to the door. The driver’s between us. I can’t see what’s happening.”
“She’ll be fine,” Jake said quietly. “Reyes is bound to be a little skittish. Just let her do her job. Dressed like that, she’ll be hard for him to resist.”
Cary leaned down a little further and stepped a little closer to the open door. Hector reached out a hand and took hold of her wrist. His fingers were cool and dry against her skin. He nodded towards the mini-bar in the back seat. There was a bottle of champagne sticking out on an ice bucket. “I’m not at all tired,” he said with a smile, “and I have brought refreshments.”
Cary smiled and slipped inside the limo. “Well then,” she replied, “let’s go for a ride.” The driver closed the door behind her, went back to the front of the car, got in and pulled out of the compound.
“Damn it!” Frank fumed from inside the house. “That was not part of the plan!” He charged towards the front door.
Jake stepped into his path. “Take it easy. She’s ad-libbing. She’ll get him back here. This is just a little hitch. When she called him, she told him that she wanted his advice on the property. That’s probably what they’re doing now. They’ll drive around for a bit, and then come back here.”
Frank paced and tried to clear his head. “I don’t like her alone with him. She doesn’t have a wire or a weapon. We have no idea what’s happening in that limo. Damn!” It took him only a second to come to a decision. He clicked his com-link. “Alex?”
“Yes?”
“I want you and Cody to get in the farm truck and follow them. Stay behind them but keep them in sight. Don’t move too fast. I want it to look like you’re just out there on some kind of chore.”
“We’re on the way.” Alex clicked off.
Frank turned to the topographic map of the ranch that was spread out on the coffee table in the living room. His com-link clicked. “Yes?”
It was Alex. “We’re following them north of the main buildings. They’ve left the road and turned on to a gravel track.”
“Stay with them.” Frank studied the map and turned to Jake. “If they stick to the track it will bring them to the south end of this little canyon. I don’t want to wait until they come back here. Reyes has something in mind, I’m sure of it. If we follow the creek bed in the Bronco we can intercept them at the north end of the canyon. We can take Reyes there.” He stabbed his finger at the map and he and Jake sprinted for the Bronco hidden in the barn.
Chapter 6
Hector leaned forward and took the champagne bottle from the bucket.
”A little celebration, my dear.”
Cary took the glass when he handed it to her and forced herself to smile. The interior of the big car was cool and she shivered slightly. “And what are we celebrating?”
“Our new collaboration.” He said. They bounced over the rutted ground.
Cary laughed and the laughter released the tension that gripped her. She felt herself settle into her role once more. She sipped the champagne. “But Hector, I’m sure we would be more comfortable back at the house. I don’t understand the sudden rush to see some dried up sagebrush.” She spoke softly and looked up into his eyes. It was like looking into nothing. In the dim light his eyes had taken on a glow, like the eyes of a predator about to spring. The wine left a bitter taste in her mouth and she put the glass down. Hector slid across the seat and put his arm around her. He reached up and stroked her breast. His hand was cold and Cary had to suppress a shudder. “We would be more comfortable back at the house,” she murmured.
She reached up to stroke his face and he slapped her hand away. She pulled away in surprise, but Hector pinned her to the seat with his hand wrapped around her throat. “Bitch!” he growled at her. “You think you can betray me!” He tightened his grip and Cary began to see black spots swim across her vision as she choked for breath. The limo gave a sudden lurch and the driver shouted a curse in Spanish. Hector’s head snapped around towards the back window. Through the billowing dust cloud he could make out a battered pick-up truck following them across the dry ruts of the streambed.
He relaxed his grip and Cary gulped air but she could not squirm away from him. He leaned over her. “It appears your FBI friends are following us. I will have a little surprise for them. You get to watch them die, and then I take you back with me and teach you what happens to those who betray Hector Reyes.” He shouted orders in Spanish and the limo picked up speed.
Cary fought the panic that seized her. Alex and Cody must be in the pick-up. Frank and Jake couldn’t be far behind. She had to buy some time, and she had to find out what kind of surprise Hector had in mind. She straightened up as best she could with Hector’s hand still around her throat. “It’s me you want,” she said, “I know a lot about operations in this area. Let them alone and I’ll tell you everything.”
He smiled at her and laughed. It was an empty sound that was lost in the luxurious interior of the limo. “Oh,” he said softly, “you will tell me everything in any case, have no concern about that.”
The big vehicle jolted over the ruts and rocks in the dry streambed. Clearly the car was not designed for this kind of travel, and Hector and the driver both cursed in Spanish. As the car bounced and lurched over the rough, uneven terrain, Hector lost his grip on Cary’s throat. She slid away from him to the opposite side of the seat and grabbed the door handle. Hector reached for her and bellowed like a wounded bull when she jammed her foot into his groin.
The limo suddenly slammed to a halt with the driver’s side front wheel perched precariously on a huge bolder. Steam hissed from the radiator and the driver sat slumped over the wheel. A star pattern of broken glass showed where his head had struck the windshield. Cary grappled for the door handle and wrenched it open. She slid out onto the ground with Reyes on top of her. He caught her by her hair and pulled her to her feet. Dust and silence settled around them.
Chapter 7
“Talk to me Alex! Where are they?” Frank hollered into the mike.
“They’re still ahead of us. I can’t quite see the limo. There’s too much dust. They picked up speed, so I think they spotted us. Don’t worry, Frank. The terrain is too rough. Reyes can’t get away.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of. If he’s out of options, he just might kill Cary. Hang back a bit. If he thinks he’s in the clear, Jake and I can take him from this end of the canyon.”
After the cool dark shelter of the limo, the sun glared hot off the rocks and sweat pricked out on Hector’s face. Cary glanced over his shoulder. The driver hadn’t moved. The limo was tilted at a steep angle and the door hung open. Next to the door, lying on the ground in a tumble of gravel and stones was Hector’s gun. It must have been on the seat beside him, and it must have slid out when she forced the door open. He was unarmed.
Before she could react, he spun her around and pointed to the ridgeline above them. “There!” he said. His voice held a note of triumph.
Against the bright hot glare of the sun, Cary could make out a silhouette. Someone was standing on the ridge and that someone was balancing a long dark tube on his shoulder. Bile suddenly rose up in her throat. It was a rocket-propelled grenade, aimed directly at the pickup. Its operator fiddled with the controls. Hector laughed, “Now you will see . . .”
Cary brought her elbow back directly into Hector’s stomach. The air went out of him and his grip on her loosened just a fraction. She dove for the gun on the ground next to the limo. If she could get to it, if she could take out the grenade launcher, Alex and Cody would be safe.
She almost made it. She scrabbled in the dirt and slipped on the loose gravel. The gun was just out of her reach. Hector’s hand fastened around her ankle with a grip like iron. She kicked and tore loose and struggled to her feet. Then the RPG hit and the truck went up an enormous fireball.
She rolled over and over down into the streambed. She came to a halt with a thump against a boulder. When she got to her feet she saw Hector leaning against the limo and clawing among the rocks. He came up with the gun and took aim at her and fired. Cary dived behind the boulder and the picked herself up and began to run for her life up through the rock-strewn canyon.
“God Almighty! What was that?” Frank screamed into the mike.
At first there was only static and then Alex’s voice came through. “That was an RPG!”
“What’s your status?!”
“We’re OK. We spotted the shooter up on the ridgeline just before he fired and we were able to roll out of the truck. Cody’s a little scratched. The truck is toast. Reyes must have an army hidden in these hills.”
“Any sign of Cary?”
“We saw the limo smack into a boulder just before all hell broke loose. Reyes and Cary must be on foot.”
“Communication?”
“Nothing long range. The radio went up with the truck.”
“OK.” Frank thought quickly. “You two stay put. Let Reyes and his boys think they got you. Jake and I will move down from the north end of the canyon.”
“We’ll take cover where we are and block the south end of the canyon. Frank, get out of the Bronco,” Alex replied over the mike, “without a dust trail they won’t be able to spot you.”
“Exactly.”
Reyes stood up and watched her run. He raised an arm, an almost lazy gesture, and six more silhouettes appeared above and behind him on the ridgeline. They were dressed in military-style fatigues and they carried automatic weapons. They advanced quickly, fanned out along the streambed and began their pursuit. One of the men approached Hector and handed him a high-powered rifle. He took it with a smile and stroked the shiny wood-grained stock. “Now we hunt,” he said.
Cary stopped within a clump of scrub pine to catch her breath. The sun beat down. Her throat was already raw from the heat and the dust. She paused for only a moment. She would have to keep moving. She concentrated, trying to remember the lay of the land. Her ears were still ringing from the explosion. She shook her head and scanned the area. The streambed was strewn with boulders, washed down from the hills over eons of flash floods. They would provide good cover. She began to move, going north, hiding among the rocks when she could, and running across open ground when she could not.
There was no telling how many men Reyes had hidden out here, and the movement over the rocky terrain kept her from thinking about Alex and Cody back in the truck. Her plan had gone horribly wrong and now perhaps two of her friends had paid for her hubris with their lives.
Frank and Jake moved through the rough terrain, staying low, dodging from one set of boulders to another. So far, they appeared to be alone in the desert landscape. “We can’t be too far from them,” Jake said.
“Half a mile, no more.” The look on Frank’s face was grim. Focus on the mission, he told himself, just focus on the mission. “If Reyes still has her, he knows Alex and Cody were at the far end of the canyon. He might assume that’s where all the reinforcements are, so he’ll move this way. If Cary has managed to get away from him, she could move either south or north. If she goes south, she’ll find Alex. If she moves north, she’ll find us.”
“Let’s just hope she finds us before Hector finds her. If that was an RPG that hit the truck, then he’s got friends out here somewhere.”
“And alternate transportation. From what Alex said, the limo is toast. He’s got to have another ride out of here, and it has to be fast. He needs to get out of the country quick.”
Suddenly Frank stopped and gave Jake a hand signal to keep low and make no noise. A large dark bird rose from a scrub pine with a noisy cry and flap of wings, startled by movement within the quiet canyon. Frank pointed. There she was, running quickly along the streambed, coming directly toward them. And Hector and his hunting party were right behind her.
Chapter 8
Frank watched through high-powered binoculars. Apparently Hector hadn’t spotted Cary. If he and Jake gave covering fire, it would pinpoint both her position and theirs and then Hector would close in and finish them off. He held his breath and waited and prayed.
“What now?” Jake whispered.
“We wait. If they spot her, we open up and take as many of them as we can. They’ll take cover as soon as we fire. She has the best chance if we just sit tight.”
Jake scanned the terrain. “We’re out-gunned,” he said, “They’ve got long barreled rifles. We’re out-numbered and they’re wearing body armor. Reyes brought an army with him.”
“This means we’ve got a leak. He knew this was a set-up and he came prepared.”
“I wonder how many others he’s got out here with him.”
“I’m guessing it’s just this one team. He couldn’t risk assembling a larger force and getting them into this country. I don’t think the border is that porous. His transport must be hidden out here in the hills somewhere. He must be planning on a quick get away.”
For Cary, it was beginning to seem like a bad dream. Her feet felt like they were stuck in cement, and her throat was dry. She moved as fast as she could, concentrating on making as little noise as possible and keeping under cover as best she could. The heat poured down into the canyon and the dry air was very still. When the bird took off from the brush her heart almost stopped, and she willed herself to keep moving. If she could keep Hector occupied in chasing her, it would give Frank and Jake more time to locate her and find Alex and Cody as well, if there was anything left of them. She swallowed down the bile that suddenly rose in her throat.
The fireball from the truck had been enormous. Certainly it would be spotted. Certainly Frank and Jake were out here somewhere. She wanted to sit down, to rest, to find some shade in the scrub brush and simply stop running. No, she told herself firmly, this was not the end. While there was breath in her body, while she still had the energy and the will to move, she would keep going. She would see to it that Hector Reyes was brought to justice for all the pain he had caused. She would see this through to the end. She still had options. She wasn’t dead yet.
The cover at the bottom of the canyon was beginning to thin out. She moved closer to the sidewall and began to scramble as best she could up toward the rim. Once she was over the top, she would have a better view of the landscape and perhaps a chance at escape.
She came within reach of the ridgeline and just had time to peer over the edge into the valley beyond when a hail of gunfire from the streambed forced her back under cover. Hector’s voice rang out in the bright sunshine, “You can stop running now, my dear. You have no hope of escape.” His voice echoed through the quiet canyon and bounced off the rocks. It had an almost musical quality, as though he were speaking to a child. He gestured grandly at the little army that stood around him in the dry streambed, his rifle poised against his shoulder. He sounded almost merry, like a man out for an afternoon enjoying his favorite sport.
Frank took aim at Hector from behind a boulder but Jake touched his shoulder and whispered, “Not yet. Hector’s not in range and they don’t know we’re here. Cary’s got some cover. She’s OK right where she is. We can’t afford to give away our position. Wait until they get closer.”
Frank nodded and swallowed hard. “Right,” he whispered. His heart was hammering in his chest. Silence settled over the canyon; the only sound was the dry rustle of the sagebrush in the hot breeze. Seconds ticked by. Hector’s men began to move up towards Cary’s position. Steady, he told himself, wait until they’re close enough.
Cary crouched behind a skinny little pine tree, her foot braced against a rock in the steep canyon wall. She watched the men close in. She gave a push. Her plan was to vault over the ridgeline, but the rocks at her feet were loose and they gave way, sending her slithering down the slope.
She tumbled over the rocks, thumped her shoulder into a boulder and fell straight into Frank’s arms. He held her, grinned at her, kissed her soundly on the lips and said, “Let’s get out of here.”
“Alex?” She gasped, “Cody? Are they OK? Did they get out of the truck in time?”
Frank nodded and the three of them began to move away from the advancing force and back in the direction of the parked Bronco. “Yes,” he said, “but we need to get back and radio for additional help. Hector’s got some kind of escape plan and I don’t want him skating out of here.”
“I know,” she replied and then the three of them ran.
The air was suddenly filled with a hail of gunfire as Hector’s troops rained destruction down on the three fleeing agents. Bullets bounced off rocks and kicked up puffs of dust and splinters of granite. Suddenly Frank went down, blood pouring from a wound in his leg. Jake grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and dragged him behind a boulder. Cary picked up Frank’s gun and peered around the boulder. Hector’s men were continuing to advance up the canyon towards them. “How bad is it?” She asked.
“Bad enough.” Jake finished tightening his belt around Frank’s leg.
Frank grunted through gritted teeth. “OK,” he said after taking a breath, “here’s what’s going to happen. “I’ll stay here and give you covering fire. You two make a dash for the Bronco. Leave me as many extra clips as you can.”
“No.” Cary’s voice was firm.
“This is not a debate. This is an order.” Frank straightened up to a sitting position with his back against the rock.
“No,” Cary repeated, “we’re getting out of here. All of us.”
Frank shook his head. “You two need to get to the Bronco and radio for backup. That’s our best plan. I can hold Hector’s people here while you make a break for it.”
“No,” Cary said again. She ripped the sleeve off her blouse and pressed it over the wound. The thin fabric was soaked through with blood almost immediately. “We’re not leaving you here. Hector will not hesitate to kill you and you’re not mobile enough to get away from him.”
“Cary,” Frank’s voice was quiet in the heat-soaked canyon, “this is exactly what I’ve been trying to teach you. Trust me. I don’t have a death wish. It’s a simple calculation. If you leave now, we all stand a good chance of getting out of this alive. You radio for help . . .”
Cary didn’t let him finish. “Help is a good thirty minutes out. You know that as well as I do. You’ll never last that long against Hector’s forces.”
Jake peered around the boulder. Hector and his men were getting close. “We have to go now, Cary. Frank knows what he’s talking about.”
Cary looked at Jake. “We’re getting out of here. That way.” She jerked her head in the direction of the ridgeline, just above them. “How far can you carry him?”
Jake blinked at her. “A fair distance,” he said, “but not all the way back to the Bronco. What have you got in mind?”
“Just get him up over the ridge and then run like hell. I’ll be right behind you. You’ll see what I mean,” she finished with a grin.
“Wait,” Frank said, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Saving your butt. Again.” Cary took aim around the edge of the boulder. There was a time, she thought, when even the thought of engaging in gunfire shook her to the bone. Now, she held the weapon with hands that did not shake, and the blood in her veins ran as cool as lake water. The band of men was closer now, so she took careful aim and picked off the closest one with a headshot. The others scattered behind rocks while Hector roared out his anger and instructed them to open fire. A volley of shots rang out.
“Now!” Cary said. Jake hoisted Frank to his shoulder and took off up the steep hill. Cary followed, giving covering fire as they went. Within seconds they were over the top and stumbling down the valley.
It was a helicopter, an ancient Huey, a relic of the Vietnam War, dusty and rusted but beautiful nonetheless. It was unattended, surrounded by ammo boxes and the crates that contained the RPG’s Cary had seen earlier.
“Holy shit!” Frank cried when he saw it.
“Hector’s transportation,” Cary said, “I saw it when I managed to get a glimpse over the ridgeline.”
They were beginning to see their pursuers, dark outlines just over the top of the canyon wall. Jake dumped Frank into the chopper and cried out, “We need to get this thing off the ground, now!”
Cary jumped into the pilot’s seat. “It will take me a few minutes to get it warmed up. Can you hold them off?”
Jake opened an ammo box and filled his pockets with grenades. “With what they’ve left here, I can hold off the marines!”
“You can actually fly this thing?” Frank sounded dubious as he pushed himself to a sitting position behind the fifty-caliber machine gun that was sticking out of the side of the ancient aircraft.
Cary flipped switches and put on a set of headphones. “After the bank heist, I thought it might be a useful skill.” Her voice was calm, her motions deliberate, and Frank stared at her in amazement. The motor sputtered and the overhead rotors lurched and then stopped.
“A little help here, Frank?” Jake cocked his head at the ridgeline and tossed two grenades as far as he could throw them. Hector’s men were coming down the slope, moving cautiously, and they scattered when the grenades hit.
They could see Hector, shouting frantic orders, silhouetted on the ridgeline. Frank swiveled the gun towards him. Hector stopped shouting and ducked back under cover.
Cary continued to set switches and once more she pushed the starter. The engine coughed again and then caught and the rotors began to turn, slowly at first, and then faster and faster, kicking up a cloud of dust around the chopper.
They lurched into the air and immediately banked hard away from the ridge and out over the hot dry landscape. They could see Hector and his men, the few who were still alive, swarming over the ground and then Cary turned the helicopter and headed south.
Jake gave Frank a high five and hooted, “Some rookie!”
“Don’t get too cocky just yet,” Cary hollered over the roar of the engine.
“Why?” Frank asked. A huge grin covered his face in spite of the bullet in his leg.
“This is actually my first solo, and I’ve never landed one of these.”
Chapter 9
It wasn’t as difficult as she thought it would be. They bumped to the ground at the south end of the canyon, where the wreck of the farm truck still smoldered in the dry air, sending a column of thick black smoke up to stain the pale blue sky. Jake found Cody and Alex holed up in the rocks while Cary kept the engine running. It was a milk run then; a call to the DEA, a team dispatched to round up what was left of Hector’s forces, and then a touchdown, smooth as silk, on a hospital roof.
Frank sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the bandage on his leg. Jake had gone to find him a new pair of pants and Cary was de-briefing the local DEA and FBI. A nurse came in and smiled and left a dinner tray but he merely glanced at the food. Cary had done it again. This was the second time she had saved his life. It was beginning to look like a habit. He smiled and slipped gingerly off the edge of the bed and hopped to the window, with the ragged remains of his trousers flapping around his ankle.
On the whole, the pain wasn’t bad. A few stitches closed an ugly wound, added one more scar to the tally. Well, he thought, maybe I’m the one who needs an attitude adjustment; maybe I’m the one who gives up too easily.
He always thought of himself as a hard man, a man who had no attachments, who needed no one in his life, whose job would not permit such a luxury. Then he met Cary. Then the trip to Mexico happened. Before they had gone to
In
And Cary. Cary most of all. He told her that he loved her and she held the door open for him and confessed that there was room for him in her life. He stood by the window in the hospital room let the setting sun soak into his very soul; melt through the brick wall he had built around his life and his heart.
He smiled and added one more thing to his to-do list. Life. He would cling to it. Hope. He would not abandon it. And somehow they would make it work.
There was a small noise behind him and a stiff little cough. He turned to find the local SAC holding up a pair of sweats. “Agent Shaw said you needed these. Should you be up?” Alan Keyes asked.
“I’m fine.” Frank hopped back over to the bed and took the offered pants. “It looked a lot worse than it really was. Thanks for these.”
“Well. Your team did a fine job. We’ve got Reyes, who isn’t talking, and three of his people, who are singing like birds. Your Agent Montgomery is quite a remarkable young woman. She put together an operation and executed it with what I can only call stunning results.”
“Yes, she did.”
“To say nothing of the fact that she pulled your bacon out of the fire.”
Frank grinned and finished struggling into the pants. “Again.”
“Well, yes. This makes what I have to say somewhat difficult.”
Frank looked up, suddenly alarmed, “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“We have a visitor,” Keyes said and went to the door of the room and opened it.
A tall man stepped in. He was whippet-thin, with a gaunt face and cold blue eyes beneath a full head of white hair. He was dressed impeccably in a dark blue suit with a thin chalk stripe, a muted ruby tie and polished black wing tips. He extended his hand. “Agent Donovan, let me introduce myself. I’m Jeffrey Farrington, with the CIA.”
“CIA?”
“Yes. And I’m afraid I’ve come to poach on your territory.”
“I don’t understand.” Frank kept his voice non-committal, but a certain small fear began to gnaw at his stomach, a vicious worm of doubt. What, he asked himself, was the CIA doing here?
Farrington went to the window and looked out at the setting sun. “For some little time now we’ve had our eyes on one of your people.”
“You think one of my people is . . . what?” Frank tried hard, without much success, to keep hostility from creeping into his voice.
“Oh, nothing nefarious, I assure you. It’s simply that one of your people has shown considerable promise in field operations. We arrived here in San Diego just a short time ago, merely to observe, don’t you see.” Farrington turned around and smiled at Frank. “We’ve decided to tender an offer.”
“Tender an offer to whom?” Frank already knew the answer, but he had to hear someone say it out loud.
“Miss Montgomery, of course. I’m here to discuss her transfer to CIA field operations.”
“Out of the question,” Frank snapped, “we need her right where she is.”
There was a small sound from across the room at the door. Cary stepped in. “Don’t you think that should be my decision?” Frank turned to face her; a thousand questions flashed through his mind, a thousand answers failed him. Cary looked at Farrington. “Jeffrey, could we have a moment?” she asked.
“Of course,” he replied. Keyes and Farrington shuffled quietly out of the room. When they were gone she went to Frank’s side and took his hand. “I’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“You might have told me!”
She smiled, “but then I would have to kill you.”
The small joke defused his shock and he sat on the edge of the bed, still holding her hand. “Are you sure about this? You’d be out of the country for months at a time. It would mean separation from your Mom, your family . . .”
“And from you,” she finished for him.
“Does that mean so much to you?”
“It means the world to me. I want you in my life. I love you, Frank Donovan.” She put her hand up to stroke his face. “But we can’t be together as long as you’re the boss and I’m the rookie. If I accept the transfer, then I get everything I want, with limits of course. There are always limits. I won’t see you as often as I’d like, and the separations will be hell. I just need to know if you think we can make a weird relationship like that work.” She held her breath.
“I don’t know if I can stand not seeing you everyday, not knowing what kind of danger you might be in, not being there to rescue you when you need someone. But, we’d be idiots not to try.” He pulled her close and held her for a few minutes. “When do they want you?”
“Two weeks. I report to the ‘farm’ in Langley in two weeks. And it seems that, lately at any rate, I’m the one who’s been pulling your ass out of the fire.” She rested her head against his chest and listened to the solid thump of his heart.
“You know what this means,” he asked.
“No. What?”
“You’re back to being a rookie again.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “I guess so.”
“Just don’t barf on Farrington’s shoes. He doesn’t look like the kind who could take it.”
“You know what else it means?”
Now it was Frank’s turn to look puzzled. “No. What?”
“We only have two weeks.”
He smiled at her in the quiet room and drew her to the bed. “Then we better get started.”
The End