Targeted (Firebrand Book 1) Read online

  “What?”

  “It was a smell, a horrible stench that hung over the area. I’d been around enough dead bodies on the battlefield that I knew it was the smell of death. I just didn’t know where it was coming from. I took some of the police officers with me, and we worked our way around through the forest until we were at the back of their camp, and that’s when I saw the source of the odor.”

  He stopped as if he couldn’t go on, and Lainey squeezed his hand. “What was it?”

  His nostrils flared as if he was reliving the moment. His eyes blazed with anger, and he gritted his teeth. “There were stacks of rotting corpses all across the back of the camp. I could see arms and legs and heads all tangled together in one big mass of human decay. I thought I’d seen horrible things before, but it was nothing like what I saw that night. And there were tiny hands sticking out, and I knew they belonged to children.”

  Lainey squeezed his hand tighter and blinked back her tears. “Oh, Ash, how horrible.”

  “Yeah, but it got worse. The local police that were with me went berserk when they saw that. They charged through the back door of the building that the cartel had been emptying, and without waiting, they began to shoot everybody inside. I later counted twenty men they killed before I could calm things down. The bad thing was that those killed weren’t part of the cartel. They were men who’d been kidnapped from a bus and brought there. The cartel members had run out of the building when the police burst in, but they’d left their prisoners with guns taped to their hands, tape over their mouths, and ski masks over their faces.”

  Lainey’s eyes grew wide. “They were decoys so the cartel members could make their escape?”

  “Yes. Of course when the cartel members ran out of the building, our men on the front attacked. By the time I got the situation inside the building under control and joined our men outside, it was almost over. Several of the cartel members had escaped, and I saw one running for a car that sat at the edge of the camp. I took off after him and yelled for him to stop. Just as he got to the car, he turned and aimed his gun at me. I shot him, and he dropped to the ground. He raised his gun once more, and I shot again. Then he lay still. I had killed him.”

  His shoulders drooped, and he looked at her as if he was asking for forgiveness. She frowned. “But Ash, he was trying to kill you.”

  He nodded. “I know. But that raid has haunted me ever since. I let things get out of control. I should have done something to save those innocent men who died, and I should have gotten my men there earlier.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Because we found out later that they had hijacked a bus that morning, and they left the camp with all the women and children they’d kidnapped that day right before we arrived. If I’d gotten there even fifteen minutes earlier, I could have saved them. We never found them.”

  “Oh, Ash, I. . .”

  He kept talking as if he hadn’t even heard her. “At night when I close my eyes, I still see those rotting corpses, and I remember what the faces of the men with tape over their mouths looked like when I pulled their ski masks off. I wonder where those lost women and children are and what their lives are like. And I remember how Eduardo Diaz’s son looked when I killed him.”

  Lainey’s eyes grew large. “It was Eduardo Diaz’s son you killed?”

  Ash swallowed. “Yes. Knowing the connections that man has, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that he knows Max is my son and that he had me brought back here so I could see my son die just as his did.”

  Lainey didn’t say anything for a moment as she digested all that Ash had just told her. After a moment she sat up in bed and swung her legs over the side so that they sat facing each other. “Do you blame yourself for what happened that night, Ash?”

  He nodded. “I was the leader. Reese and Colt have told me over and over that it wasn’t my fault, but it was. I didn’t save the innocent ones, and now I’ve put you and Max in danger.”

  He let his chin dip against his chest, and he stared down at the floor. She put her fingers under his chin and tilted his head up until he stared at her. “Do you remember right after you came home you told me that Firebrand had done a lot of good things that allowed Max and me to live in a free country in the lifestyle we chose?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I think I was angry at you when I said it.”

  She smiled. “We’ve had quite a few heated arguments since you’ve been back because neither one of us has been able to put past conflicts behind us. But you need to think of this mission in the same way that you’ve looked at others.”

  “And how do I do that?”

  “Well,” she said, “for starters think about the people in that area of Mexico. You helped close down the cartel there, and now they can be happy knowing that the danger that surrounded them is gone. And people traveling on the highways don’t have to be afraid of being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Just think of all the people you did save. Not the tragic losses that occurred. You set out to stop evil, and you did.”

  His eyes searched her face. “You don’t hate me because I’ve put you and Max in danger?”

  She shook her head and cupped the side of his face with her hand. He closed his eyes and sighed as she caressed his cheek. “I don’t hate you, Ash.” They sat without speaking for a moment as she continued to stroke his cheek. “Do you remember when we first met I told you I didn’t think you could ever know someone until you saw what was hidden in the inner parts of their soul?”

  He nodded. “Yes. It was that day in the trailside shelter when we met in the rain.”

  “For the first time I think you finally let me see what’s inside that hardened shell you’ve kept around you for so long. Thank you for giving me a glimpse of how you really think and feel.”

  “And thank you for not hating me.” He took a deep breath and stared into her eyes. “But there’s more.”

  The tone of his voice sent fear racing through her, and she swallowed hard. “What is it?”

  “Eduardo Diaz has been located in Mexico City, and there’s a Task Force getting ready to raid his safe house. I’m going to Mexico so I can be with the assault team when they go in.”

  Her heart pounded as if it was going to burst through her chest, and she sat up straight in the bed. “No!” she said. “I don’t want you to do that. You’ve retired from that lifestyle. Let the authorities take care of it.”

  He wrapped both his hands around hers and sighed as his thumb caressed her knuckles. “Lainey, I’m a soldier. I may not be in active service anymore, but I’ll always be a soldier. And this is what I do. I hunt down the bad guys and try to make the world a little safer for the people living in it. I have to go to Mexico, and I have to try to stop Diaz.”

  She started to withdraw her hand, but the pleading look in his eyes pierced her heart. This was the root of the problem between her and Ash. He loved the adventure of the life he’d chosen, but she’d been afraid for his safety. While she had looked at his choices as a way of rejecting her, he had wanted her to see the driving force that made him want to rid the world of those who would threaten the safety and security of millions of people. He’d done that for years, completing missions for which he’d never receive recognition. But in his eyes his greatest reward had been knowing he’d done his job well.

  She smiled and nodded. “Then go to Mexico. But I’m warning you, Ash DeHan, you’d better come back to me this time or I’ll come looking for you.”

  He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it. “Lainey,” he whispered, “I’ve missed you so much. All these years I never forgot you.”

  “I didn’t forget you either, Ash.”

  He stared at her for a moment before he reached for her and wrapped her in his arms. She closed her eyes as he drew her to him and cradled her against his body. She could feel the beat of his heart as she rested her cheek against his chest. “Lainey, I want to come home,” he whispered. “Really come home and be a father to Max and see if we
can find our way back to each other. I want it more than anything, but if you don’t, tell me now.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she drew back and stared at him before she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Welcome home, Ash.”

  He closed his eyes and pulled her to him until their foreheads touched. “I love you, Lainey,” he whispered.

  “I never quit loving you, Ash.”

  Then his lips met hers in a kiss that set her pulse to racing. For the first time in years she felt alive. There were problems to be faced, not the least of which was Eduardo Diaz. But for this moment in time, she wanted to bask in the glow of sweet reunion for a few minutes until Ash had to leave for a mission that was the most personal of all he’d ever undertaken.

  She closed her eyes and mentally breathed a prayer to God. “Watch over him, and please bring him back to me.”

  <><><>

  Twenty-four hours later Ash sat in the back of a commercial van in a middle class neighborhood of Mexico City. Even though the temperature outside was in the low 80s, it felt twenty degrees higher inside the cramped quarters. Sweat ran down his face, and he blinked at the salty sting it produced in his eyes. Chris White of the DEA who sat facing him from the opposite bench along the van’s side wiped at his forehead and then slid his hand down the front of his combat vest.

  Ash had no idea how many times through the years he had sat and waited just like this for a raid to begin. Patience was the name of the game at this point, and nothing could be rushed. He leaned back in his seat and tried to concentrate on the two reasons he was here—Lainey and Max.

  His eyes drifted shut for a moment, and he blinked and shook his head. He had managed to get a little sleep on the plane on the way to Mexico, but from the moment he’d met up with Chris at the airport it had been nonstop planning on the raid that was about to take place. There would be time for sleeping when Diaz was in custody.

  In an effort to keep from becoming drowsy, he concentrated on everything he’d learned since arriving. He’d seen pictures of the safe house around the corner from where their driver had parked, and he focused on the plan for entering the nondescript house that looked like several others that lined the street.

  The plan called for Mexican Marines to approach the house from behind and surround it on three sides. When they were in place, command would signal for the attack, and he and Chris would follow six other Marines into the house and help subdue the occupants. The goal was to take Diaz alive, but the consensus seemed to be that he would never allow himself to be taken alive.

  The soldiers who would lead the way into the house waited in another van in front of them. Ash had met them earlier at the operations center, and he’d been impressed. They were highly skilled at what they did, and he had told several of them he’d like to see them bring their expertise to the Firebrand Training Center. They’d thanked him but assured him that right now their goal was to rid Mexico of drug lords like Eduardo Diaz and make it safer for the people who lived there.

  Suddenly Ash was jerked from his thoughts as Chris raised his hand to the tactical communications headset attached to his helmet and frowned. Adrenalin surged through Ash’s body, and he tensed as Chris concentrated on what he was hearing. The expression on Chris’s face told Ash they would soon be on the move. He reached up and raised the Mandarin collar of his tactical vest into the up position like it was always worn in combat, then tightened the strap on his helmet. His fingers curled around his rifle. He was ready.

  After a few minutes Chris relaxed and lowered his arm. “That was a communication from command center. Our guys from Homeland Security and the FBI are there with representatives from the Prosecutor General of the Republic which is like our FBI. They’re our battle command on this raid, and they’re listening in real time back at headquarters.”

  “Did they say how long it’s going to be before we go in?”

  Chris shook his head. “No, they were just checking in. They’ve been waiting until the questioning of some men who were taken into custody last night was completed. They said it won’t be long now, though.”

  “You say they arrested some of Diaz’s men last night?”

  Chris nodded. “They’ve been gathering information from wire taps, bank information, surveillance, and other sources for weeks. Last night they conducted a series of raids on several of Diaz’s safe houses. They confiscated automatic weapons and several tons of cocaine and crystal meth. To their surprise, one of Diaz’s lieutenants wanted to talk in hopes of getting a better prison sentence. This is the house where he said Diaz is staying since he got back from America a few days ago.”

  “Lucky for us he did,” Ash said.

  “Yeah, we might. . .” Chris stopped in mid-sentence and frowned. “It looks like it’s about to happen. The guys have the house surrounded on three sides, and we’re about to take the front.”

  He had no sooner quit talking than the van surged forward, throwing Ash against the side of the vehicle. He grasped the edge of the seat as they careened around the corner and came to a screeching halt in front of the house.

  Ash was up and pushing through the back door before the driver had stopped the van. He jumped to the ground and heard Chris right behind him. The other van had stopped in front of them, and the Marines in full combat uniform piled from the back and headed toward the front door of the house.

  Chris and Ash raised their rifles, followed the group up the sidewalk to the porch, and waited for two of the leaders who were supposed to kick in the front door. One of the men raised his leg and landed a kick just below the door knob. The door didn’t budge. He tried again and again with no success before another soldier stepped up and landed a blow in the same place. A quick stream of Spanish erupted from the men’s mouths. Ash knew just enough of the language to realize why the door didn’t collapse under the assault. Eduardo Diaz had planned for this moment. The front door to his safe house was reinforced with steel and designed to withstand forced entry.

  One of the Marines turned, ran to the van, and was back in minutes with a small battering ram designed for two men to operate. One of his fellow offices grabbed the second set of handles on the bar, and together they began to pound at the front door.

  No one spoke as the men hammered blow after blow at the spot where the first Marines had struck. After several minutes they passed their task to two others. The sound of the battering ram striking the door pounded in Ash’s head like a drum beating, and he took several deep breaths in hopes of quelling the uneasiness growing inside him. There was no way Diaz could be unaware of the surprise attack at this point, not with the banging at his front door.

  He turned to Chris. “Diaz and whoever’s with him know we’re here. This delay is giving them time to study their options. There’s no telling what kind of fire power the first guys through those doors are going to face when they finally get it open.”

  Chris nodded in agreement. “I don’t think I told you that at one of the safe houses last night they discovered a rocket launcher. I only hope they don’t have one of those inside.”

  Ash’s stomach clenched at the thought of what devastation that could cause on their small group, but he knew there was no other option than to finish what they’d begun with this raid. He glanced at the door again, but it still hadn’t moved.

  Just when Ash didn’t think he could stand the sound of the pounding any longer, a splintering sound filled the air, and the door sagged on its hinges. He glanced down at his watch. It had taken ten minutes to get in that door, and now they had to face whatever was on the other side. He raised his rifle and waited for the first shots.

  Only an eerie silence greeted them.

  Slowly the leaders of the Marines stepped past the door that now was nothing more than a beat-up piece of scrap metal and moved stealthily into the entrance. Ash and Chris brought up the rear. Ash’s every sense heightened to high alert at the expectation of sudden gunfire, but only the sound of their soft footsteps echoed through the quiet ho
use.

  Ash swept his rifle from side to side as he moved with the six soldiers down a hallway that led to a large room at the back of the house. When they stepped into what looked like a den, Ash spotted the kitchen toward the right, and three men turned that way. He followed the three who moved into a hallway to the left.

  Right away he saw that this was where the bedrooms were located, two on the left and one on the right. Discarded clothes littered the floors in the three rooms and the mattresses of the unmade beds. A pair of men’s shoes sat beside one of the beds looking as if they’d been deserted when their owner made his hasty departure.

  But how could they have gotten away? The house was surrounded. They had to be here somewhere. Ash gripped his rifle tighter and eased toward the closed door of a room at the end of the hallway. With his right hand gripping his rifle, he reached out and slowly turned the doorknob with his left hand. A creaking sound drifted up as the door slowly swung open. He caught a glimpse of a vanity and realized this was the bathroom.

  He pressed the toe of his boot against the door and pushed until it opened all the way and bumped against the wall. Satisfied that the room was empty, he stepped inside and stopped in surprise, unable to believe what he saw. He shook off his momentary disbelief and yelled at the top of his lungs. “En aqui!”

  Chris White, followed by several Marines, ran into the room and skidded to a halt. Chris’s eyes bulged in shock at the sight of the bathtub tilted up by a hydraulic lift and the entrance to a hidden tunnel underneath that led to the sewers.