Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98561 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
I spun to face JD. “We’ve got to get Gabriel out of there!”
He frowned. “What’s the matter?”
I realized I was the only one of us who’d seen him without his bandana. “That officer: that’s the guy who kidnapped us, the guy who was running the camp!”
24
GABRIEL
The officer introduced himself as Major Zamora, head of a unit based at this base. He didn’t specify what sort of unit but something in the way he held himself, and the fancy assault rifle he carried, screamed Special Ops. When I’d explained our situation, he nodded towards the jungle. “And your friends, and the doctors you rescued?” he asked. “Out there?” He scanned the tree line. “Please, tell them to come out. We won’t shoot.”
I nodded, smiled, and turned to signal the others to come out of the trees. But then I frowned. They were already coming out, and Olivia was right out in front, running and waving her arms. “Get out!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “Get out!”
Major Zamora’s smile disappeared. He unslung his assault rifle and brought it up to point at me. Oh crap. I was unarmed and defenseless. I winced and waited to die.
Bullets kicked up dirt right at our feet. Zamora and the gate guards dived for cover. The team was advancing, firing, and JD was waving for me to get out of there.
I bolted over to them, and together, we retreated back into the cover of the trees. I grabbed Olivia’s hand and then we were off and running, back into the jungle. We ran until we couldn't run anymore.
I collapsed against a tree, feeling like I was going to burst a lung. The others weren’t doing much better. “Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?” I panted.
“The cartel guys who kidnapped the doctors,” panted JD, “weren’t cartel. They were these guys. Soldiers, dressed up to look like cartel members. The guy you were just talking to, with the silver in his hair?”
“Major Zamora,” I told him.
“He was the guy running the camp!”
I groaned. When they’d interrogated me, he’d stayed in the shadows and he’d had that damn bandana over his mouth, but I still felt like an idiot for not recognizing him. My clever plan had taken us right to the lion’s den. If Olivia hadn’t warned us, we would have handed ourselves over to the very people we’d been running from. “That’s why they were so well-organized, at the camp. They weren’t cartel thugs: they were fucking Ecuadorean Special Ops!”
Danny was bent over, huffing for air. “Explains why there weren’t any drugs in the camp.”
“And why they’ve got radar,” managed JD between pants.
“It’s a false flag operation,” said Bradan. “Kidnap the doctors, blame it on the cartel.”
“But why?” asked Olivia.
No one had an answer. Cal said he’d check our tail and loped off into the trees. However far we ran, that guy never seemed to get tired.
“If the military’s in on it,” said JD, “that means someone in the government’s in on it. That’s why they wouldn’t go in to rescue the doctors. That’s why they wouldn’t let the US help. They were behind it all along.” He looked at me. “What the hell have we walked into?”
I shook my head. “Whatever it is, they don’t want any witnesses.”
Colton’s voice was grim. “So what you’re saying is…” He ticked points off on his fingers. “The guys hunting us aren’t cartel thugs, they’re a fully trained Special Ops group. We’re hundreds of miles from civilization with no goddamn ride. We’ve got no food, no water,” —he nodded at Marcos—”one injured, and we’re in the middle of some deep state, deep throat, black ops conspiracy shit we don’t even fucking understand.” He looked around: no one argued. “This job’s FUBAR,” he muttered.
I caught Olivia’s eye and gave her a weak smile. “...up beyond all recognition,” I translated.
At that moment, Cal jogged out of the trees. “We need to move. Soldiers: a lot of them, one click back.”
JD spread out the map again. “There are more military bases here, here and here. We’ve got to figure they’ll send reinforcements. The only way we can go is this way, through the jungle.”
“For how long?” asked Bradan quietly. “We can’t stay ahead of them forever.”
JD looked at him. “You got a better plan, I’m listening. But if we don’t move now, they’ll box us in.”
I nodded to myself, thinking. Then I heard myself say something I never thought I’d say. “JD’s right. We don’t have time to debate it. We’ve got to go.”
JD looked at me in surprise. I gave him a quick nod of respect. I was starting to realize that this was what JD was good at: making quick decisions under pressure, even when all the options were lousy. We had to trust him, or we were screwed.