Shattered Lies (Web of Lies #3)(75)

“Let’s go,” Dalton said as she as Lizzy turned their body cams on. Dalton and Grant slipped into the tunnel. Grant felt Valeria’s hand tap his shoulder letting him know she had his back. Grant looked at Dalton and then to the lights. The tunnel had electricity.

“There could be cameras,” Grant whispered.

Dalton nodded and halted the group with a quick hand signal. He reached up and inspected the wiring. He pulled out his knife, and with a quick slice the lights went out. Grant lowered his night-vision goggles and felt Valeria’s tap again. She was ready. He tapped Dalton and they were off.

The tunnel smelled of earth and was noticeably cooler than outside. The walls were reinforced with wood as thin wires connected the exposed bulbs that hung along the wall by nails. What was more interesting were the metal railroad tracks down the middle of the tunnel. It was probably used to move heavy amounts of drugs into the US. When he looked back, he noticed Janet aiming her camera at them. Valeria was three feet behind him, and Lizzy was similarly behind Dalton. Both had their weapons drawn.

Grant looked ahead. They moved quickly and quietly farther down the tunnel. The tunnel seemed to go on and on before it began to widen. Railroad carts were off to the side. A forklift was ready to be used. Shovels, crates, and old pallets were stacked against the wall. Ten yards ahead of them was a door that matched the door on the outside of the mountain.

The tunnel was over half a mile long and let out on the other side of the border. The distance lined up with the cell tower he saw from the mountains on the US side. Grant motioned for the women to take cover behind the forklift as he and Dalton got to work with the explosives. Explosive breaching wasn’t the first thing they wanted to do. It was dangerous, and it took knowing the precise amount of C4 to use. Too little and the door wouldn’t open, but Manuel would know they were there. Too much and the whole tunnel could collapse on them.

Dalton and Grant fell to the ground and set up the detonating cord, blasting caps, and C4 along a wooden lath. Grant used his teeth to tear the specialized tape to bind everything together. Carefully, they lifted it to the door. As Dalton held it, Grant taped it to the metal. Lizzy, Valeria, and Janet pushed a heavy railway cart to the right of door. Grant wanted to yell at them for not staying put, but he knew exactly what they were doing, and it was the right call. Grant stepped back behind the nearby forklift to the left of the door and felt Valeria grab his arm behind him as Dalton primed the det cord and lit it. Dalton headed for the rail cart feet from the door where Lizzy and Janet stood pressed against the wall.

Instead of hiding, they readied their weapons. They looked down briefly as the C4 exploded and then they charged forward. The rush of battle filled Grant as he and Dalton raced through the opening with guns raised.





30





Valeria pushed past the smoke and saw they were in a storage area. Drugs wrapped in bricks were packed five feet high on pallets. On the far side of the square underground room, a door was thrown open.

Dalton shot and a man dropped, revealing a set of stairs. Valeria could hear the footsteps above as people reacted to the explosion. Lizzy and Val took cover behind a pallet of heroin five feet from the door as Dalton and Grant took each side of the door.

Dalton looked to Grant, who gave a nod and then went low. He fired as Dalton tossed a flash grenade up the stairs. The men flattened themselves against the wall, covered their ears, and closed their eyes. Valeria did the same as she felt the sound from the grenade shake her body like a clap of thunder. She took a deep breath and pushed aside the nerves. She used the fear to propel herself up the stairs behind Dalton and Grant.

They were pinned at the top of the stairs. Dalton was low and Grant was high as they fired into the main part of the living area. The ceilings were low, only seven or eight feet, but it was above ground. The solar panels were essentially the roof. The floor was polished cement and there was a large black leather sectional couch, a polished table in a white kitchen, and behind that were closed doors, probably leading to bedrooms.

Valeria looked around. There was a window behind them, but too high up for her to reach from the stair landing. If Manuel had any sense, he’d be trying an escape, and she couldn’t let that happen. Valeria turned among the smoke and smell of gunfire and shot out the window.

“Lizzy, help me up!”

Lizzy looked toward the window and back to Valeria and cupped her hands.

“What are you doing?” Grant yelled.

“Clearing the outside. I’ll come around in through the back and trap them.”

Before Grant could argue, Valeria put her foot in Lizzy’s hand and was boosted up and out of the window. The morning sun was beginning to rise as the dark dampness of the tunnel seemed far away.

Valeria whirled at the sound behind her and saw Janet drop to the ground next to her. Janet didn’t say anything, just continued scanning the area. Four cars were lined up to their right near the front door of the compound. Valeria closed her eyes and focused on the sounds between the bullets. The sound of glass shattering told her Manuel was coming right to her.

Valeria ran crouched over to the nearest car. She opened the gas tank and tore a strip off her shirt. She stuffed it down into the gas tank and then lit the end dangling out. There was no way she’d let Manuel escape.

“Come on,” she whispered to Janet as they both ran to the front door of the house. The house was painted desert tan with only small narrow windows above her head. No wonder they had trouble seeing it.