Defending Morgan (Mountain Mercenaries #3)(13)
Thinking about her old life was extremely depressing, and Morgan forced herself to turn her attention back to her current situation. She was hidden, yes, but that didn’t mean she was safe. All it would take was one person in cahoots with her jailers and she’d be right back where she came from . . . or worse. Money made the world go round, and it also made desperate people even more desperate.
“Please hurry,” she whispered almost tonelessly.
Chapter Five
Arrow silently slunk between two run-down buildings, sticking to the shadows and going undetected by the two men standing nearby. In the twenty minutes since he’d left Morgan, he’d counted fifteen men lurking around the streets and alleys with no discernable purpose, other than possibly being on the lookout for them.
He’d overheard a few conversations too. Around half the men thought that Morgan was long gone and they were on a wild-goose chase, and the other half were convinced the puta was still in the area and was just hiding.
The latter made him nervous, because the last thing he wanted was for the men to start a concentrated search. She was well hidden, but when it came to desperate men, there was no such thing as completely hidden. He knew from his time in the Marines, and from working for the Mountain Mercenaries, that no plan was one hundred percent foolproof. He wasn’t willing to risk Morgan’s life to find out.
He’d scoped out the lay of the land; it was time to put his plan into motion.
Arrow had briefly touched base with Black and Ball throughout the day. They’d gotten out of the poor area of the city where Nina and Morgan had been kept. They were in a hotel on the other side of the bay, where cruise ships typically docked. It wasn’t exactly an economically rich area, but it was night and day compared to where he and Morgan had spent their time hiding.
Rex had been in touch as well, and he and Meat were working on the logistics to get Morgan out of the country. The plan was for Arrow and Morgan to meet up with his teammates tonight, but if that wasn’t possible, they’d reserved a room for Mr. and Mrs. Coldwater at a midlevel motel. Their cover would be that they were newlyweds. It would give them an excuse not to leave the room and to wait for Rex to do his thing. Arrow hadn’t told Morgan the details, hoping they’d be able to join his teammates and Nina.
Apparently Nina wasn’t doing well. While Black and Ball were being as gentle as possible, the child was traumatized and kept crying for Morgan. Arrow was determined to do whatever he could to reunite Morgan with Nina . . . for both their sakes.
Arrow smiled, remembering one of his conversations with Morgan earlier that day. They’d been lying under the debris in the building, and after Morgan had mentioned how miserable the heat was, he’d pulled out a small folding hand fan. She’d looked at him incredulously and jokingly asked what in the world else he had in his pockets. He had laughed it off but managed to give her another protein bar, a pair of nail clippers when she’d lamented about the shape of her fingernails, and had even unearthed an extra shoelace to replace the broken one in her shoe.
The truth of the matter was, he had all sorts of goodies in his pockets. Items he’d learned over the years could be invaluable during a mission. As well as food, water purification tablets, needle and thread—which could be used to sew both fabric and human flesh, if necessary—and a stash of cash just in case, he also had things he could use to both kill and maim, as well as to distract.
It took another twenty minutes for Arrow to put everything in place, but when he was finished, he felt satisfied that he’d done what he could to give him and Morgan a window of opportunity to get the hell out of this part of the city undetected.
Crouching down between two buildings, Arrow waited for the first detonator to go off.
When it did, he was pleased to see the two men lurking nearby take off running toward the sound.
As he made his way back toward Morgan, he heard the other explosions he’d set. They went off right on time, hopefully leading the assholes away from his and Morgan’s escape route.
The second he entered the alley where he’d left Morgan, he could feel his body relaxing. He could see the mound of trash looked exactly as he’d left it earlier. Crouching, he whispered, “Morgan? It’s me, Arrow. It’s time to go.”
He brushed off the fish heads and bones and picked up the box he’d put around her head. She peered up at him, her pupils huge in her face and the dark alley.
“Come on, beautiful. Time to go.”
She awkwardly scooted out from under the debris, and when he brushed his fingers against hers, she grabbed hold of his hand as if she’d never let go.
Just then, a louder boom sounded to the west. That was the last explosion he’d rigged, and hopefully the one that would take all attention off where they might be as the thugs tried to figure out what was going on. Arrow had chosen the placements for the explosions carefully. He wasn’t opposed to killing, if it had to be done, but there was no way he was going to hurt someone indiscriminately. He’d used a bit of C-4 next to abandoned buildings, making sure there weren’t any squatters inside, and had used a timer to set them.
They should hopefully bring the police and fire department, and draw the attention of anyone looking for Morgan.
“I take it that’s your handiwork?” Morgan asked.
He could hear the fright, and relief, in her words. He’d been gone longer than he’d planned, but it had been necessary. He’d had to set the small flashbangs and explosions a bit farther out than he’d initially assumed. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, beautiful. I was just out for a nightly stroll.”