Page 62 of Dangerous Liaisons

Chapter Forty-Six

Jesse reached for her gun as she leaped aside. Cole stepped into the doorway, his CR-21 firing on automatic in tandem with a scream of a demented poltergeist. She rolled, then sprang to her feet, the Glock level on the jeep. Obsidian Eyes lay unmoving on the ground. A dead man slumped across the steering wheel, and a third lay at the rear of the truck. The other was gone—behind the jeep, she guessed—along with the two Perez had left waiting. She sprinted for the side of the building. From her peripheral vision, she caught sight of the wide-eyed prisoner who had stared at her. He stood behind Cole.

“Cole!” she shouted, but he had already turned toward her.

Jesse fired two shots into the Jeep’s radiator and ducked behind the building. Gunfire spat from the west tower. Cole pointed his CR-21 at the tower and fired as he backed at a run toward her. The lone man in the tower stumbled forward, crashed through the wood railing, and plummeted to the asphalt. Shots whapped the cinderblock building beside her, and she dropped to a crouch, shielding her head from splintering concrete with her arms.

The gunfire abruptly shifted away from her, and Jesse nearly fell from her hiding place when she jerked aside to keep from being rammed by Cole as he rounded the building. She looked around the building again and glimpsed a short, dirty man lying on the asphalt, his body riddled by gunfire. Cole grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet.

“Let’s go!” he shouted, and dragged her alongside the building.

Jesse stumbled, then gained her feet. The jungle lay fifty meters ahead. Another scream split the air and Jesse realized the prisoners had decided now was a good time for a prison break.

“The east tower,” she panted.

Cole spun, facing the tower to the east, and open fired.

Twenty meters to go.

They zigzagged across the pavement. Shouts came from behind and bullets whizzed past. She pumped her legs faster. Cole pounded behind. Stones and shrapnel peppered her legs. The foliage shuttered and ripped with passing bullets. She and Cole lunged into the cover of the jungle. He faltered. Jesse jerked attention onto him, but he had regained his stride. A barrage of gunfire drowned out the men’s shouts as bullets ripped through the foliage around them. They dove into waist-high elephant ear.

Jesse tightened her grip on the Glock. “This way,” she hissed, and began crawling toward a large fig tree.

Cole crawled on his elbows alongside her, the CR-21 cradled in his arms. Branches snapped, and a man shouted for others to follow him. Tramping feet thrashed through ground cover. New gunfire broke out in the compound—American-made M16s. Jesse glanced at Cole. He held up a fist in a sign to halt. She dropped flat onto her stomach as he melted onto the ground beside her.

Leaves rustled up ahead and Jesse’s pulse jumped. An iguana shot from the bushes, racing away from them. She lowered her head onto her arm and willed her heart to slow. She startled when Cole dropped a heavy arm over her shoulders, but didn’t move.

A voice yelled, “Por aqui,” and their pursuers dodged left.

The thrashing of brush grew fainter and she turned her head and whispered, “Let’s go.” She started to push to her feet.

Cole didn’t move. She gave him a questioning look, then froze when he brushed hair from her face.

“You shouldn’t have come back for me. Too much of a risk.”

Warmth coiled inside her. Her pulse jumped into overdrive, and she mentally cursed. She was acting like a schoolgirl. “We’d better get going,” she croaked.

“Next time,” he said sternly, “if there’s a next time, don’t do it.”

She wanted to tear her gaze from his. Every team member knew you never left another behind. But that’s exactly what she had intended on doing—what she had done in Colombia.

“It’s done,” she said. “Nothing more to say.”

“One more thing. Thank you.” Cole ran a finger down her cheek.

She could get lost in those blue eyes. “No sweat. Now, if we don’t get out of here, neither of us will be any good to the other.”

His hand dropped away from her cheek and he pushed to his feet. Her heart jumped into her throat. Blood spotted the left leg of his fatigues.