A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(117)

“Oh, Lieutenant McCarthy, you are so naive. Those young girls you speak of? They weren’t worthy of the pity you give them. They were whores who brought filth to the streets of this country. They asked for what they got and I was more than happy to give it to them…”



“Whoa! A bunch of people just converged into whatever room this is to listen. This must be the staff quarters by the looks of it. Every person we have visual on just stopped in their tracks,” Austin informed him.

Brady held down the ‘talk’ button on the walkie-talkie so Austin and Cole could hear what the workers inside the palace heard. It didn’t take long for Fernandez to hang himself with his own rope.

Austin and Cole watched through the window pane as several people glanced back and forth between two men in their midst. The warriors outside the palace watched the transformation that took place inside: shock, grief, hurt, anger, and finally revenge. The emotions gripped not only the two who were most affected as they listened to Fernandez’s words, but everyone who surrounded them. These people who worked together for the most powerful man in their country, they were like family. They spoke of their kin often, asked for advice, attended birthdays and weddings. They felt each other’s joy; they suffered each other’s sorrow. But most importantly, especially at this moment, they all sought retribution for the wrongs done to their comrades.

It only took a few moments of silent communication for the employees who had worked tirelessly for Fernandez over the years to take action and for Brady to send up a silent prayer of thanks that their luck was finally turning around.

Brady quickly got up, slid open the door to the van, and jumped out. He stood by the opening and checked the clip in his gun to make sure it was loaded and added as many extra rounds as he could fit into the pockets of his flak jacket. He fastened the walkie-talkie to his belt and attached the tactical headset with wireless earpiece and throat mic. He let Austin know they were switching to wireless to enter the palace since it was the only way they’d be able to continue listening to what was going on inside.

Brady slammed the door to the van closed and crouch ran along the perimeter of the fence until he got to the north corner of the property where Austin and Cole were able to get over the fence undetected.

During his sprint the wireless ear bud crackled and filled with static off and on, and he could barely make out the conversation happening where Parker and Garrett were. He pressed the throat mic and spoke to Austin and Cole.

“The feed is spotty. What’s going on inside?”

Brady slid his gun into the holster of his jacket and easily climbed up and over the fence.

“It’s total chaos,” Cole replied. “People are running in and out of the room and it looks like a few are shouting orders. We need to get our asses in there. What’s your ETA?”

Brady jumped down to the palace grounds and raced across the lawn.

“Thirty seconds. I have visual on you.”

In the seconds it took for Brady to make it to Cole and Austin’s location up against one of the palace walls, all hell broke loose somewhere inside. The wireless mic roared to life with the sounds of gunfire and screams.





Chapter Twenty-Five



With eyes squeezed tightly closed and shoulders hunched to prepare for the bullets that were certain to tear through her flesh, Parker wondered momentarily if she’d been hit and died so quickly she hadn't felt any pain. She heard the firing of a gun and knew there was one pointed at her head just moments before it went off. She reasoned that all of the reports about death being painless were true. She felt nothing.

Parker slowly blinked her eyes into focus and wondered where the screams were coming from. If this was heaven, no one should be screaming. The room came into focus with the startling clarity of a flashlight being shined into the eyes of someone sleeping. One moment she was wondering if she was dead, and in the next she realized that she was very much alive.

And screaming very loudly.

In the stark reality of the quietness that now surrounded the basement, Parker realized the reason for her screams. To her left, Fernandez remained, standing tall and arrogant. Immediately next to him stood Milo, looking properly chastised from having his gun snatched and not being able to perform his job in the swift, efficient way that Fernandez demanded.

Directly in front of her, still on his knees, his eyes mirroring the pain that obviously clouded her features, Garrett held her face in his hands. He tried in vain to quiet her screams by forcing her to look him in the eyes instead of around the room at the monsters behind them.

The sounds that came from Parker were heart-wrenching and cut deep into Garrett’s soul. For one solitary second, his life flashed before his eyes when Fernandez gave the command. He prayed to a God he’d never spoken to before, asking him to keep Parker safe and to make sure she got out of this alive. He would give anything to make sure she was safe.

Now Garrett wished he would have had the foresight to also include her father in that silent plea for protection from all harm.

“Alejandro, do we have confirmation from our lovely nurse that all has been taken care of?”

The guard pressed his fingers to the earpiece he wore and listened for several seconds.

“Si, Senor. Juan was able to succeed in terminating Agent Parker. Unfortunately, he was immediately taken out by the forces that were supposed to be guarding Parker. Our nurse and everyone in the hospital are currently being evacuated,” Alejandro replied.