Mia flipped the spotlight’s switch at the helm station, and the light went off. Not wasting time, Mia moved to the cockpit door and opened it. As she emerged onto the deck, she immediately spotted a short Guardia Civil officer standing near the bow, his eyes on the now extinguished spotlight. He turned toward her and was about to yell a warning to his colleagues when Mia’s pistol barked twice. Her two rounds shattered the man’s mouth, and he crumpled backward.
Eighteen.
Mia pivoted to her right before the officer even hit the deck. A female officer was on theVeloce’s aft deck, holding a shotgun across her chest. Another uniformed figure stood beside her, slightly to her right. Mia’s brain registered both as threats and noted their black bulletproof vests.
Mia squeezed the trigger again, sending two rounds at the woman. The first grazed the officer’s right temple, but the second hit an inch to the right of her nose. Blood sprayed, and the officer went down.
Nineteen.
Though the suppressor attached to her pistol somewhat quieted her shots, it didn’t completely silence them. The other figure, a good-looking man with a closely trimmed beard, must have heard them because he turned around, his hand reaching for the pistol holstered at his right hip. Behind him, stood a tall woman with black hair.
Verena Kaine.
Fearing overpenetration or a miss, Mia hesitated to go for a headshot. She lowered her aim and squeezed the trigger once just as the officer managed to pull his weapon free. Her round struck him high on the chest, just above his light body armor. The officer dropped his pistol and stumbled backward and to his left into one of the cockpit’s chairs, disappearing fromMia’s view. She moved forward and jumped onto the swim platform of the Azimut and raced up the four steps leading to the main deck.
The first person she saw was Justin Burton, theVeloce’s skipper. She remembered his name and face from the mission brief Operations had sent her. Burton was frozen in place with his hands raised to his side. But Verena Kaine, who had jumped away from Mia’s line of fire, was another story.
That woman isn’t giving up.
Kaine dove for the pistol the male officer had dropped. Since the gun lay far closer to Mia than to her, it was a reckless, desperate move.
But it certainly shows courage,Mia thought as she stepped forward and kicked the pistol away, sending it sliding across the deck and out of Verena’s reach.
Then Mia adjusted her aim and fired one round into her target’s forehead.
Twenty.
Chapter Twenty-Three
One Mile South of Cabrera Island
Mallorca, Spain
Verena’s eyes followed the pistol as it skittered across the teak deck.
Shit. I’m dead.
She raised her gaze, bracing for the muzzle of a pistol pointed at her head, but the woman wasn’t aiming at her. Her gun was pointed at the wounded Guardia Civil officer slumped into one of the cockpit chairs. The woman pulled the trigger, and the back of the officer’s head blew open, spattering the deck with brain, blood, and bones.
“How many more?” the woman asked.
Verena hesitated. Was she a friend or foe? If the woman had meant to kill her, she’d already be dead.
“Two more,” she replied. “They’re inside, searching the cabin. One has a sidearm and a compact submachine gun, the other only a pistol.”
The woman nodded. “Wait here. I shouldn’t be long.”
Mia ejected her partially spent magazine and inserted a fresh one. She then hunched to pick up the pistol she had kicked away and tossed it overboard. She did the same with the female officer’s shotgun and pistol. Shedidn’t think Burton would attempt anything, but there was no sense leaving potential threats lying around, was there?
He’s a fucking coward,she thought, glancing at theVeloce’s skipper.
Burton hadn’t moved. He stood rooted to the deck, wide-eyed, with his hands still raised. He hadn’t gone for a weapon when he had the chance.
Pathetic.
She was about to step past him, then changed her mind, disgusted by his lack of action. She shot him point blank in the side of his head, her round entering through his left ear, and he collapsed without a sound.
Twenty-one.
