Deadly Promises (Tracers #2.5)(94)

A commotion behind him made him go still. Two men yelling, followed by silence. He crept closer to the sound and saw a man standing at the front of the convoy, an AK-47 raised and pointed at something.

And then Gage heard a familiar voice that chilled him to the bone.

KELSEY STARED AT the machine gun, willing her feet to move. She was pretty sure that’s what they’d said to her. Move, bitch! Or something equivalent in a language she didn’t understand.

But their body language was loud and clear. And three nasty-looking guns underscored their point: Move your ass or you’re dead right here.

Kelsey’s heart galloped as she turned and walked toward the blinding lights. When they’d blinked on suddenly, she’d been paralyzed, like an animal in the headlights. Yet an animal would have had a much better chance of sprinting to safety. Where had they come from? Kelsey hadn’t heard a motor, so they must have been parked there in the dark, not ten feet away from the ladder she’d climbed down looking for Gage.

The man behind her prodded her with his machine gun and she quickened her pace. Would they take her with them or would they execute her right here in this tunnel? She focused on her Ruger, now tucked into the tallest one’s waistband. He seemed like the leader and she wondered how quick his reflexes were. Kelsey’s fingers itched. If she snatched the gun back, what was the likelihood of getting three shots off before one of them managed to shoot her? About a hundred to one, she figured.

They passed the first truck. Kelsey glanced around for any sign of Gage or Blake or any of his agents. Were they down here or were they skulking around in Mexico?

They reached the back of the second truck and Kelsey saw that the cargo door was up. The leader let his machine gun dangle at his side as he grabbed Kelsey’s arm and shoved her roughly toward the opening.

“You! Go!”

She glanced at the metal drums, lined up like soldiers. Her throat went dry. “You… want me to climb in there?” she croaked.

She got her answer as three machine guns lifted and pointed at her face. She hefted herself up on the bumper and crawled into the truck. Three pairs of deadly cold eyes watched as she scrambled to her feet.

The leader reached up.

“Please. Let me just—”

A rusty squeak, then the metal door crashed down.



THE FIRST BOOM knocked Gage off his feet. He jumped up and made a lunge for the truck where they’d stashed Kelsey. Concrete rained down around him. Men shouted. Doors slammed shut and someone fired up an engine.

Gage reached the second truck as it roared to life. He grabbed the bumper and hauled himself up. Clinging to the side of the truck, he pulled out his SIG and fired two shots at the crappy padlock, then jerked loose the remaining scrap of metal. He hefted the door just as the truck sped forward. Kelsey careened into him and he caught her around the waist an instant before she tumbled off the back. She was lit up by the headlights of the truck behind him, and Gage knew they made a perfect target. Would the driver dare shoot into a van full of explosives?

A bullet pinged off the metal wall beside him. He grabbed Kelsey’s arm.

“Jump!”

He leaped from the truck, dragging her with him, then he hauled her out of the way and up against the tunnel wall. Dust and debris and truck exhaust swirled around them as he groped for the ladder they’d used last night. He spotted the telltale shaft of light coming down from the ceiling.

“Here!” she yelled, running for it.

“Go up!” Christ, he had to get her out of here. He boosted her up the ladder.

“But what about you?”

“Go!” He gave her one last shove, then dropped to the ground and fumbled with his pack. Thank God he hadn’t lost the detonator. He just hoped it wasn’t too late.

KELSEY POPPED UP like a groundhog and squinted at the blinding sunlight. She glanced back down the ladder. Where was Gage? She stumbled to her feet as a muffled boom rocked the earth beneath her. She landed on her hands and knees in the dirt, coughing and sputtering as a plume of dust billowed out from the hole.

“Gage!”

She reached for the hole. A tremendous weight landed on her back. Something cool and metal pressed into her neck.

“FBI! You’re under arrest!”

DUST FILLED GAGE’S lungs, his eyes. Wheezing and coughing, he yanked out a pair of zip-cuffs and wrenched back the arms of the man he’d just tackled to the ground.

“Truck one, driver down! Brewer, where are you?”

Gage recognized the voice of the bomb squad leader who had been on the radio with him just minutes ago. He must have come down the manhole.

“Driver two, cuffed and disarmed!” Gage shouted. “Where’s driver three?”

Pain ricocheted up his leg as his captive landed a kick. Gage jabbed him in the kidney, then secured his ankles and rolled him against the wall. Then he ran to help the bomb tech grab the third terrorist.

“He’s gone!” The bomb tech’s flashlight beam swept over the truck half-buried in rubble.

Gage checked the cab. Even through the still-swirling cloud of dust and smoke, he could see it was empty. One by one, they scoured each truck from top to bottom. Shit, where would he go? Both ends of the tunnel had been sealed off by bomb blasts.

“The ladder!” Gage jerked his SIG from its holster and dashed back toward the exit where he’d taken Kelsey. God, please don’t let this turn into a hostage crisis. He raced toward the faint band of light that shone down from the manhole, then took the rungs three at a time and erupted into the sunlight.