Page 43 of Dangerous Liaisons

Chapter Thirty-Two

Jesse jerked her gaze to the guard standing in the doorway as the balcony door struck the wall with a crash. She reached for her weapon. The guard’s eyes widened in the instant before he swung an AK-47 in her direction. She ducked and rolled. Cole fired. She rebounded to her feet, Beretta aimed at the doorway. The guard went down, but another filled his place. She fired and the second man crumpled against the doorjamb.

“Go!” Cole shouted, and backed up a step.

Jesse sprinted toward the door. A shot fired and the sniffer flew from her hand. Her wrist wrenched from the blow. Pain raced up her arm. Cole fired three shots into the hallway as cover. A bullet whizzed past her ear as she dove onto the balcony.

“Move!” she shouted, and leaped to her feet.

She bounded four paces and vaulted the rail. A second of weightlessness, then impact with the ground, and she rolled. Cole landed beside her. Shouts sounded overhead as she sprang to her feet. A guard appeared at the balcony railing. She shot twice at him, saw him topple over the railing, and sprinted toward the trees. Cole fired twice. A single, wide search beam split the darkness above them.

Booted feet pounded pavement amid shouts of “Hondole, amigos, Vamanoos!” as they headed across the open grounds.

Jesse pumped her legs faster. Ahead, the floodlight illuminated the west wall and raced along the perimeter. If they went over the wall where the light had already passed, they’d make it. Outside lights lit the hacienda like a refinery.

The spotlight swung onto the ground on an intercept. Fear twisted her belly. A machinegun erupted from the north side of the hacienda. Jesse glanced left. Armed men poured from a doorway. She tore her attention from the men and back onto the spotlight. Two seconds until intercept. They would never make the wall under the cover of darkness.

“Amanda,” she choked.

A hand unexpectedly seized her arm, and yanked her back against a hard body as the beam of light cut across the grass in front of them. Jesse registered Cole’s warmth an instant before he shoved her forward and sprinted for the wall. She stumbled, then righted herself, spurred on by the rat-a-tat-tat of AK-47 fire ripping the ground to the right.

Light sliced into the darkness on the wall ahead of where the gunfire had hit. She and Cole made the wall and slammed their weapons home. Cole threw his shoulder against the wall, cupping his hands. Jesse stepped into his intertwined fingers in simultaneous motion with his shove upward. She caught the wall and pulled herself up despite the pain in her wrist. Cole leaped up, grabbed the ledge, and pulled himself to the top. They dropped side-by-side to the ground outside the compound.

Jesse scanned the area. No guards outside the wall. Yet. Over the shouts from the compound, the creak of the west gate warned her they only had seconds to reach their vehicle. She raced forward, Cole alongside. A moment later, they plunged into the jungle. Only thin light from the moon penetrated the canopy. Jesse slowed, reaching out to Cole as she pulled a compass from her vest. She pressed the light button.

“Turn right,” she ordered, and veered in that direction.

They had put thirty meters between them and the compound when the howl of dogs rolled through the jungle.

“Damn,” Jesse hissed.

“Move,” Cole ordered.

The barking became abruptly louder and she knew the dogs had cleared the compound walls. She and Cole covered another twenty meters. If they didn’t reach the Harvester soon, the dogs would catch them. She glanced at Cole. His arms worked at his sides, but she could tell he was holding back.

“Go on ahead,” she panted.

They burst through a line of elephant’s ear.

He kept pace with her.

“Cole.”

“I won’t leave you,” he said without turning his head.

“Start the Harvester,” she ordered. “I’ll be ten seconds behind.”

He didn’t reply.

She’d be damned if the remaining team member got himself killed on her account.