He returned to the basement to find her on her feet and waiting for him. “The streets are clear.”
“What are you going to do with your gear? You can’t go out like that.”
No, he couldn’t.
He unstrapped his chest rig and body armor and dropped them to the floor and then unbuttoned his ACU shirt, stripping down to his T-shirt. “How is that?”
She looked him over. “Lots of guys wear camo, so I suppose the pants are fine.”
He shoved his military gear into his backpack.
“If they search you, they’ll find that stuff.”
“That’s a risk I have to take.” He broke down his M4 and crammed it inside the backpack, too.
“We have one advantage,” Sister Maria said. “They don’t know we’re still here in Venezuela. They think everyone was on that helicopter. They won’t be looking for us.”
He didn’t want to scare her, but he was pretty certain there’d been witnesses to last night’s drama in the street. “Let’s hope not.”
He checked his pistol and slid it into its concealed holster inside his pocket.
Somewhere above them, a door opened and closed.
“Time to go.” He led her up the stairs and out into the cool of morning, guiding her around the corner and away from the warehouse.
“Where are we going exactly?” she whispered.
“Colombia.”
* * *
Luis Rafael Sánchez Mantillawanted someone to pay. He got up from his chair by the pool and walked back toward the veranda to pour himself a drink, phone to his ear. “How did the fucking gringos know where the hostages were? Someone in my organization betrayed me.”
Luis had gotten the humiliating news first thing this morning and had shouted himself hoarse, cursing at the inept bastards who worked for him. He’d been bested by US commandos, who had invaded his country, killed his men, and escaped with his hostages while their government pretended to negotiate a ransom.
Malparidos! Mamagüevos! Bastards! Cocksuckers!
Ten million US dollars gone and shit on his face.
The president, his cocksucker of a brother-in-law, would hear of this, and he would laugh at Luis. He would call him stupid for taking hostages and trying to squeeze the US government. But this wasn’t Luis’ fault. He was surrounded by fucking idiots.
“There are some who saw the nun,Jefe. Pitón let her go outside. People saw her buying things at a market and recognized her.”
What had Pitón been thinking when he’d abducted the Sister in the first place? That hadn’t been part of the plan. Then the stupid bastard had let her walk in the streets?
If Pitón weren’t already dead, Luis would’ve had him torn to pieces.
“But there is more, Don Luis.”
“Out with it, Mono.” Luis held his phone against his ear with his shoulder and poured himself a glass of whiskey.
“Pitón’s body was found in the street, not in the warehouse. Some people who live nearby saw him running away with the nun. A commando chased him and killed him just before we arrived. Thanks to us, the soldier didn’t make it back inside the warehouse. He didn’t make it onto that helicopter. He took the nun and hid in one of the buildings.”
Luis set the bottle aside, drink forgotten. “Are you certain?”
“Sí, Jefe. We searched the building and found a door to the maintenance room that had been broken open. There was no one there, but he is here in the city somewhere.”
This…