Resurrection Read online

  “You’re DEA,” the man spat.

  Colt snorted at that. “Not even close. As I was saying, I’ll tell you what I want to know. You answer my questions or I unload a few well-placed bullets into your body, then leave, guaranteeing you endure an agonizing, drawn-out death. Before you tell me to fuck off, listen. I know David Ramirez was holding a female American doctor captive. I also know his father died yesterday—right around the time their compound was attacked, and now the doctor is missing. I give zero fucks about her.” A complete lie. “I simply want to know who took her. You answer this, I’ll let you go. You’re not betraying your boss, you’re not betraying anyone. So you tell me what I want to know, and you live. I call that a win-win.”

  Lopez shuddered, shifting against the chair again as sweat streamed down his temples despite the even temperature. Most of these guys who worked for the cartel were weak and uneducated. They were brave when they were in a group, but alone they were all out for number one. Lopez was no different. He might have loyalty to the cartel, but that only went so far. These guys weren’t like the Russians—who were basically impossible to break. Those guys had a type of loyalty that Colt could respect.

  No, this guy would talk. Colt could see it. “What’s it gonna be?”

  “I tell you what you want to know, how do I know you won’t just kill me?”

  “You don’t know. But if you don’t talk, or attempt to lie to me, I’ll definitely kill you. And it will take a while. I have a gift for creating maximum pain.” His voice was as hard as his expression.

  His prisoner swallowed and gave a shaky nod. “Fine, fine. I wasn’t there, but I’ve been out on patrol trying to find out who took the doctor. David ordered all of us to find the bitch who blew up the compound. His guys took out her getaway helicopter but she must have had a backup plan. No one can find a trace of either woman.”

  Colt hid his surprise that it was a woman. Using multiple maps and what he knew of the surrounding area, he’d drawn a grid, trying to figure out how far Mary Grace could be. Which was how he’d ended up here. “What did the woman look like?”

  “No one knows.”

  He gritted his teeth, but the man shook his head quickly. “I’m serious. There were a few security feed images captured during their insane getaway. It was definitely a woman who was driving away with the doctor. But she had on a mask and NVGs. And according to the guys who were there, she was working alone. At least at the compound. She could’ve had backup but no one saw any until the chopper.”

  “You said the getaway helicopter was destroyed?” So whoever this mystery woman was had been working with someone. He could go from there and discover her identity. And discover it he would. He hadn’t come this far only to fail. Not when a woman he loved like a sister was out there alone in cartel territory.

  “Yeah. Our guys did it, but then the chopper crashed, taking out everyone. It was crazy.”

  “Who was the pilot?”

  The man swallowed again, looked down at the weapon still pressing against his crotch, before flicking his gaze back to Colt’s. “A nobody. Just some asshole, uh…Diego something. I don’t know his last name.”

  “Think really hard.” Colt kept his voice low, threatening. Right now he simply wanted to remind the guy who was in charge and get the truth.

  “Ah…I don’t know. I swear! He used to hang out at La Bahía down by the gulf, a few hours from here. Some gringo asshole who moved down here. There was another guy though. One of our guys found someone who’d been shot—not by us—who worked for Juan Perez. Not in the chopper but nearby. David recognized the guy, was pissed that one of Perez’s men had been in his territory. It doesn’t even make sense. It’s not like they’re rivals. Perez isn’t into our trade.”

  Colt frowned at the name. Juan Perez, a legitimate businessman to the public, was into a lot of illegal endeavors—not drugs—but he had no known beef with the Ramirez cartel. And Perez had once had a relationship with Skye. Not a sexual one, that was for damn sure, but he’d occasionally fed information to her. Colt locked up thoughts of her. Now was not the time to get distracted. “You’re sure?”

  “Yes, yes! Can you move that fucking gun away now?”

  Without moving a fraction, he asked, “What are Ramirez’s plans for the doctor?”

  Now that David’s father was dead he’d be taking over the cartel. He shouldn’t have a reason to go after Mary Grace. Not unless he considered her a loose end for whatever reason, or if he thought she’d killed his father. Colt couldn’t see her killing anyone, but she’d been a captive and would have done anything to survive. If he knew one thing about human nature, it was that people surprised themselves when trying to stay alive. Still, he couldn’t see her killing a man dying of cancer. Her being on American soil wouldn’t matter to David Ramirez either, if he thought she’d killed Arturo. He’d send someone after her if he viewed her as a threat, or for vengeance. He’d have to save face and kill her if he thought she’d murdered his father.

  “How should I know? I saw that bitch once! She was inside the compound most of the time.”

  And Lopez wasn’t the kind of guy who got invited into the privacy of the Ramirez compound. He was just a low-level asshole. A nobody. But even he knew things. “Yet Ramirez has you and all his guys out looking for her and her rescuer.”

  “Well, yeah. He’s going to kill the other bitch once he hunts her down. I don’t know what he wants with the doctor. Who the hell cares?”

  Colt nodded once and withdrew his weapon from the guy’s crotch. Lopez let out a sigh of relief and that was when Colt struck out, slamming his fist against the guy’s jaw with a sharp, brutal punch. The prisoner didn’t have time to react, just took the force of the punch, his head lolling back as he lost consciousness.

  Wincing at the pain in his knuckles, Colt ignored it as he tucked his weapon away with his other hand.

  It was doubtful this guy would tell anyone he’d talked to Colt, because he would put a spotlight on himself if he did. And while he might deny that he’d said anything, David Ramirez wouldn’t believe it. Because Lopez had been tied up, at Colt’s mercy. And he was physically unharmed for the most part. They’d think he was a snitch. Nah, this guy wasn’t saying anything. But Colt was still leaving him tied up here. The asshole could get out of the bonds himself or die trying.

  Sliding his sunglasses over his eyes, Colt stepped out of the house, saw nothing but a patch of unplowed farmland.

  Pulling out his cell phone, he strode toward his stolen car. Over ten years old, not flashy, it had a good engine and helped him to blend in when on the road.

  Brooks picked up on the first ring, as if he’d been waiting. Colt got straight to it. “There’s been a—”

  “I’m with Mercer and Savage. We’re on our way to Corpus Christi.”

  Before he could ask what the hell was going on, and when Savage had gotten into town, there was a short rustling sound right before Mercer got on the line.

  “Mary Grace is alive. I spoke to her. She’s with an unknown woman who’s promised to bring her back to me. She was part of some government rescue team. They’re supposed to fly into Corpus Christi, which is why we’re headed that way.”

  Colt frowned. That was more information than he had on the rescuer. But there hadn’t been any sanctioned rescues that he was aware of. “What do you know about the woman?”

  “Almost literally nothing, except that she saved Mary Grace. I don’t even have her name. She wanted to just put Mary Grace on a plane but I made her promise to fly in with her. She said she would.”

  “How’s Mary Grace?” he asked.

  “She sounded good. In good spirits, at least. I want to be there right fucking now.”

  Yeah, Colt could imagine how helpless the guy felt. “I know.”

  “You should’ve told me you were going after her.”

  He slid into the driver’s seat and started the ignition, glad when it purred to life. He didn’t pull out of the driveway y
et though, not until he knew which direction he was headed. “We’ll agree to disagree. Do you know where they’re flying out of?” Colt figured it was doubtful, because if the woman was trained enough to get Mary Grace out of the Ramirez compound, she wasn’t going to be flying commercial.

  “No. I know nothing, not the time or the actual airport or…nothing. I’m assuming it’s private.”

  Yeah, no doubt. There were a few private airports in and around Corpus Christi too. “You got a phone number for her?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Text it to me. I’ll see what I can do with it.” Colt wouldn’t be able to use his resources at the CIA since he was most definitely not supposed to be in Mexico right now. His boss thought he was on vacation, so he’d be in a shitload of trouble if the higher-ups found out what he was up to. He’d gone completely off grid. And he didn’t care.

  Mary Grace and Mercer might not be his blood, but that didn’t matter. They were family, and he would go to hell and back for his family.

  Knowing he was going to catch hell from the man he called next, he braced for it as he dialed the number from memory.

  “Yeah?” Gage Yates, one of his childhood friends—who’d also grown up with Mercer and Mary Grace—answered on the second ring. Gage worked for a private security firm handling most of their cybersecurity. Guy was a genius, and had been headhunted by the government on multiple occasions. But private paid better, and Gage lived in shades of gray—even if he had been in the Corps years ago.

  “It’s Colt.”

  “Hey, asshole. Hear you decided to go all rogue and not tell any of your friends that one of their best friends might be alive.”

  He winced at the raw anger in Gage’s voice, because it was warranted. “You want to do this now, or you want to help me track Mary Grace?”

  “What do you need?” His voice was all business now.

  “Got a phone number Mary Grace called Mercer from.”

  “Yeah, already got that from Brooks.”

  “You tracing it?”

  “Yeah. Thing’s bouncing all over the place. I can’t get a lock on it.” Frustration laced his voice.

  “You can’t?” Gage had been hacking since he was a teenager. When it came to computers, the man was a genius. There was a reason he’d been intel in the Corps, and that the NSA, CIA and other various government acronyms headhunted him on a consistent basis.

  “Damn it, no.”

  “I need you to run information on a man named Juan Perez.” Since the name was common enough, Colt gave him the man’s stats. “I don’t know that he’s involved directly, but one of his guys was found dead at the scene of the helicopter crash.” He was assuming Mercer had given Gage everything he’d told Colt, so didn’t bother explaining everything he knew. “I can’t see him going up against the cartel, but see if he’s got any properties in the area. Run a two hundred mile radius moving out from the Ramirez cartel’s province.” It was likely too big but he didn’t want to miss anything. “And see if there’s been any chatter about two women—”

  “Dude, already running that. Give me a sec…” Which turned into five minutes—while Colt sat there counting every second.

  He was used to having the Agency’s resources at his fingertips, being able to call for backup at the drop of a hat. He didn’t always get it, but there was almost always someone else on the other end of the line able to help him with information. And information was gold when out in the field like this.

  “All right. He—and by he, a shell corporation that I can trace back to Perez—owns a few properties in the region. Where are you at now?” When Colt told him, Gage let out a low whistle. “He owns a warehouse about fifteen miles from you. Not exactly urban, not rural either. Right on the outskirts of the next town over from you. The place is supposed to be for storing and shipping textile stuff. I’m texting you all the addresses though.”

  “Thanks. Look, I know all the local airports.” Both legal and the ones that were basically airstrips used for illegal drug running. “Can you do a search and see if there are any connections to Perez at any of them?” It was a long shot but he hadn’t been prepared for someone else to rescue Mary Grace. And since Perez had a connection to the mystery woman rescuer, he had to follow up on it.

  “On it now.”

  Colt knew he was asking a lot of Gage—who was most definitely working at his regular job right now. But he was going to ask even more. “I know this is a stupid question, but can I count on you for more backup if I need it?” Colt had other people he could call, assets mainly. Gage was the only person he could call who was truly a friend. Someone who wouldn’t expect a favor for the information he was giving.

  “Shut the fuck up. You better call. I’m available 24/7. And as soon as our girl is back, I’m heading to Corpus Christi too. But I’m here for you. All of you. I’ll text or call when I get a ping on Mary Grace’s phone.”

  Yeah, he should have expected nothing less. “Thank you. And I’m going to get her.” After disconnecting he read the incoming text from Gage, plugged the nearest address into his GPS map. It was a long shot, but if someone was on the run, hiding from the Ramirez cartel and looking to lie low before heading out of the country, maybe they were using one of Perez’s properties. The connection was there and he couldn’t afford to overlook it. And it was the only lead he had.

  Chapter 5

  —Sweet baby pandas.—

  “Do you need anything?” Skye asked quietly as she texted an asset—using one of her former aliases, which was a risk. But they needed yet another way out of the country because the makeshift airport they’d gone to had been crawling with Ramirez’s guys.

  She’d seen through her binos that her pilot was fine and none of Ramirez’s men had been holding a weapon on him, so she assumed they’d just stopped at it because, hello, it was a freaking airport. Of course they’d check it out. They’d be morons not to. And from what she knew of Ramirez, he’d likely leave someone behind to watch the place. She could easily move in and kill a guard, but that would mean her pilot would become a target so she couldn’t do that.

  “I’m good.” Mary Grace paced back and forth, stress vibes rolling off her in practically tangible waves.

  “You should sit or something.” Mary Grace hadn’t stopped pacing since they’d arrived at the empty warehouse.

  Instead of remaining out in the open they were in a boarded-up office on the second floor. Streams of light broke through the slats of the hastily nailed-in boards. A cheap desk was covered in a thick layer of dust and the metal filing cabinets were rusted out, but Skye had cleaned up one of the metal chairs so Mary Grace could sit.

  “You think walking is bad for me and the baby?” Mary Grace lifted an eyebrow, faint amusement in her gaze.

  Skye shrugged, a little defensively. “I know zero about pregnancy. I think you should be sitting or something though.” Slight terror had invaded her veins when Mary Grace had told her she was pregnant on their drive here. She’d only told Skye because she’d gotten sick earlier and admitted it was because of morning sickness. Skye didn’t understand the term “morning sickness” because it seemed like Mary Grace got it all the time.

  “Well I’m the doctor. I’m good.”

  “If you say so.” Skye eyed her carefully before looking at her phone again.

  “I do. So what’s the deal? We getting out of here soon?”

  “Just waiting on a return call from a guy.”

  “A guy? Care to elaborate?” Mary Grace asked politely.

  Skye wasn’t used to answering to anyone, and especially not to a civilian, but she understood the other woman’s need for information. The doctor was holding up incredibly well for all she’d been through. Had to respect that. “A guy who knows a guy who might be able to get us out of here through other means.” And if he didn’t return her text in a timely manner she’d reach out to her Border Patrol friend. Which she didn’t want to do, but to get Mary Grace out of here, anything went right
now. She’d inadvertently gotten one of Perez’s guys killed, so Skye wasn’t going to him—even if she was using one of his warehouses as a hideout.

  “So…what should I call you?” Mary Grace asked.

  “Raven is fine.” Skye moved to the nearest window and peered through one of the slats. A few prostitutes lingered on the street as well as their pimp and a drug dealer, but she didn’t see anything else out of the ordinary.

  “You like the bird?”

  She glanced over to find the doctor was finally sitting down. “What?”

  “Well I know Raven isn’t your real name.”

  She lifted a shoulder. “Oh, I like X-Men. Raven is Mystique’s given name.”

  The doctor laughed slightly. “I thought she was a villain.”

  “She’s complicated.” Glancing out the window again, Skye frowned when she spotted an SUV pulling up to the curb out front. Could be nothing, but it was a nice, new vehicle. The kind that tended to stick out in this region of Mexico. It often signaled a narco. Not always, but the chances were good.

  “People usually are.”

  “Yeah, sometimes.” But most of the time the people she dealt with were predictable, greedy assholes. Of course, those weren’t the people she fought for, made sacrifices for.

  “David Ramirez said he was going to let me go. At first I didn’t believe him, but he discovered I was pregnant. I think he at least thought he’d let me go. I don’t know if he would have.”

  “Maybe.” Skye looked at the woman again. She might be keeping it together, but there were circles under her dark eyes. “He’ll likely want you dead now. Because he’ll assume you killed his father.”

  “I know.” She rubbed a hand over the back of her neck.

  “I might know a way to convince him otherwise. I’ll need your records and a vial of the blood you took.”

  The doctor’s eyes widened. “You can’t mean to meet with him.”

  Skye didn’t answer, just looked out the window again to see a prostitute getting inside the SUV. Okay, not a threat.