Page 60 of Dangerous Liaisons

Chapter Forty-Five

Jesse and Cole got the camouflage pants off the guard and onto Cole. Perez’s suit coat followed. Despite the fact Cole would look out of place wearing only the coat, both men’s shirts were too blood soaked to do anything but attract insects and predators. The guard’s boots were too small, and Cole had to settle for Perez’s deck shoes.

Jesse retrieved the Glock’s clip from Perez’s pocket, verified it was fully loaded minus one round, and slid it home inside the handle. She gave Cole a once over. He still looked like hell.

“You going to be all right?”

“Never better,” he replied, and she thought he meant it. “What’s out there?”

“Two towers, one to the east,” she pointed to the left corner of the building near the door, “one to the west.” She pointed to the right corner. “Two guards are outside.”

“I bet each one of them has one of these.” He raised the CR-21.

“You got it.”

“We need a diversion.” Cole bent to grab the knife in Perez's hand.

Jesse tightened her grip on the Glock, then relaxed when he wiped the blade on Perez’s pant-leg and stuffed it in his waistband. He crossed to the guard who had accompanied them, bent, and searched his pockets. A jingle of metal, Cole’s fingers disappeared into a pocket, and reappeared with keys.

“Come on.” He straightened and started toward the door.

Jesse followed. Four paces and she bumped into him when he stopped in front of the second cell down from his. He had to try four keys before finding the right one. He handed her the CR-21. She stuffed the Glock in her waistband at the small of her back. Cole swung open the solid cell door, revealing a man about fifty years old huddled in the far corner. He looked as if he hadn’t bathed in years, his clothes were near tatters, and his hair and beard resembled something that had climbed out of the black lagoon.

“My God,” she whispered. “I’d forgotten about these poor souls.”

Cole stepped into the cell. “Vamanoos, amigo.”

The man stared up at him, eyes wide like a hunted animal. Cole extended a hand. The man stared for another instant, then something flickered in his eyes and he swung a hand into Cole’s. Cole pulled him to his feet. The old man stumbled, then caught himself, and stepped from the cell probably for the first time since he'd been imprisoned there.

“Keep him covered.” Cole gave the man a nudge down the hall, away from the front door. “We’ll herd them all to the far end, then we all make a break for it.”

“They don’t stand a chance. Perez’s men will mow them down.”

“Jess, they’re worse than dead if we leave them here.”

She scanned the remaining cells. They had solid doors with only a small window at the top. What crimes had these men committed to warrant such retribution? She shuddered. If Perez hadn’t brought her here, she might have left Cole to languish in this God forsaken hole. That would have been far worse than his fate in the village. For the first time in her life, she wanted to drop off the face of the earth.

Cole stopped at the next cell. He was trying the fourth key as Jesse cast a glance at the front door. “How long do you think they’ll stay out there?”

“I don’t know,” Cole replied as the fifth key clicked the lock open. He looked at her. “How did you get him to bring you here?”

Her pulse skipped a beat. “That’s a long story.”

Cole pulled a young man from the cell. He looked forty, but Jesse guessed him to be in his twenties. Cole nodded for him to join the other man down the hall toward the old man, and moved to the next cell.

“Are all the cells filled?” she asked.

He paused. “Good question.” He looked through the window into the cell. “This one’s empty.” Cole hurried to the next one and looked through the window. “This one, too.”

The next cell held a prisoner and, while Cole searched for the right key, Jesse herded the prisoners back while inspecting the remaining cells. Two cells down from Cole, she came face to face with a man who stared though the little window like a wide-eyed animal. She stumbled back a step, but kept going until she’d inspected the remaining five cells.

“Two more,” she said.

“Good,” Cole replied

Two minutes later, they had unlocked the last cell and five prisoners huddled against the far wall.

Jesse looked at Cole. “Now what?”