Page 25 of Hazard

All these heel-dragging ploys were for one purpose only. Give Hazard and his team time to catch up to them. If there was one thing she was certain of, it was that. Unless they had perished in their own ambush, they would be coming for her and Anna.

“He’s right. You do talk too much. Shut the hell up,” Anna said a little stronger.

Oh, she was good. Of course, she was. She was a CIA operative. “Why don’t you make me, bitch.” Leigh shoved Anna, who lifted her chin, anger flashing in her eyes. Whoa, that was impressive.

The men around them traded looks, murmuring softly to each other in Spanish, some laughing, and Leigh was disgusted. Even these animals couldn’t stop their excitement around a legitimate cat fight. Well, a nicely staged, time-consuming cat fight.

“I’m in charge here,” she said and pushed Leigh back.

The men separated and started to make a circle. How stupid could they be? Did they honestly think two professional women with the kind of jobs they had would lose their temper at each other when all they really had against these men was each other?

Unbelievable. But it bought them time, adding more life to the other side of the death equation. Neither she nor Anna had anything to lose here.

“If you’d been better at your job, we wouldn’t be in this situation,” she said, then turned on her heel.

Anna let out a shriek and grabbed a handful of her hair. Damn, the girl wasn’t totally playacting, but she guessed it had to look real.

Anna pulled and Leigh turned around and shoved her so hard she fell. She came up swinging. A wild roundhouse punch that Leigh was too slow to duck. It connected with her jaw and pain exploded all the nerve endings, sending the inside of her lip against her teeth. She tasted blood.

She awkwardly blocked another wild swing and ducked another one, stumbling backward. Anna jumped at her, and they grappled.

The men around them cheered, eyes wide with excitement. Leigh pushed Anna away, ducked a couple more times, but missed the next one as it connected with her eye. She reeled backward.

Then there was a roar in the background, something between fury and a war cry as a man came barreling into the circle. He’d come out of nowhere, and he was cursing and yelling in Spanish as their captors’ excitement immediately turned to fear.

She was still trying to fend off Anna’s attack. There was no patience or quarter in his eyes. He grabbed Leigh by the hair and around her waist, hauling her back. She struggled and her elbow slammed into his nose. Everyone froze. With a curse, he turned her around and hit her for real, a stinging slap against her cheek that sent her to the wet ground, the pain exploding right into her bruised eye. Then he was hauling her up and binding her wrists in front of her. Another man was also binding Anna’s, but there was satisfaction in her eyes.

After about fifteen minutes, she whined until they let her go to the bathroom behind some brush, even untying her hands. After that, she begged for water until they finally stopped and let her drink.

Their leader was looking at her shrewdly. The men called him Marco. “There is no one coming for you, gringa. No one.” He smiled, but she didn’t care that he had figured out her ploy. She knew differently. She felt it in her bones. Hazard and his team were coming. It was just a matter of time, and she hoped that time wouldn’t run out.

Finally, they came to a mass of green, and her mouth dried up. Oh, God. The hum of the jungle sizzled with snaps and chirps. She stopped in her tracks, but someone pushed her on.

Her mind reeled with the stories she’d heard on the plane, and her heart beat hard, more adrenaline slipping through her veins.

A scrap of cloud scudded across the sliver of moon. A sultry breeze whispered through the branches of the heavy trees. A chill raced over Leigh’s flesh, and she stared into the darkness, seeing nothing, but sensing…a presence. The sensation lingered like a dark, intent gaze, and the hair rose on the back of her neck. It was as if it was alive. Ancient, mysterious, primal.

They were taking them into the Darien Gap.

8

Hazard’s brothers and remaining CNP came out of the warehouse at a run, shooting and advancing into the fire, taking out cartel members on his right flank, reducing Breakneck’s vigilance on that side. It was the nature of the trapped beast to fight with extreme violence to the very end because they had nothing to lose but their lives. Nothing was more dangerous when that beast was trained, armed, and a precision fighting force that had a bond stronger than even blooded family. Size and strength didn’t matter, only duty, honor, mission, and the brotherhood.

SEALs never gave up.

SEALs were never out of the fight.

SEALs didn’t understand or accept the threat of physical violence or pain being used against them. It only strengthened their resolve.

The team had a state of mind that neither accepted defeat, nor ran in the face of overwhelming odds. Not during any war they participated in and certainly not in this filthy war on drugs. They weren’t here for the cartel because they distributed drugs, that was the DEA’s mission. The team was here because these men had murdered fellow Americans in cold blood on American soil.

They were here to let these men and the world know that wasn’t going to go unpunished.

It wasn’t arrogance or ego, nothing but an unwavering belief in themselves, and part of the internal drive that got them through training and times when the odds were stacked against them. Unfortunately, it was also what haunted them when teammates fell.

As he continued to shoot, he wasn’t afraid—no, the only fear he had wasn’t of dying, it was of letting his brothers down, of letting down those people at TOC who were most likely fighting for their own lives, and his defenseless, mouthy beauty. That wasn’t supposed to happen. They were never supposed to be in that kind of danger. While he breathed, he would never, ever be incapacitated enough to do that. If he was breathing, he was going to fight.

A ricochet caught him on the upper arm, the sting registering. He shook off the pain and didn’t hesitate in firing. They were in dire shape. Rounds were incoming from everywhere, and the enemy had caught them by surprise, but the thought of giving up never crossed his mind. He stayed on point until they were out of this goatfuck.

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