Page 14 of Raider Unleashed

She bit her lip and swallowed. “My unit was on a stake-out, watching this warehouse. We knew guns were coming in, a big shipment and we knew that the son of a bitch running the op was going to be there to oversee the deal. There had been some issues and he wanted to reassure the buyers that everything would run smoothly. At least that’s what our guy on the inside said. He was one of the buyers. He’d raised a fuss since the last deal had gone south so the Snake was going to be there, and we were finally going to be able to put a face on this guy.”

She glanced down at the table and then back at Raider. “They were late. Our guy was there with the buyer but no guns and no shot caller. It didn’t help that Assistant Director Fielding was there. I have no idea why he thought it was a good idea for him to be in on the raid but there was not much anyone could do about it. Added pressure on everyone you know? Anyway, the buyers were thinking of leaving when a van arrived. They drove directly into the warehouse, and we lost visual.”

She stopped talking again and Raider’s stomach sank to his knees. He knew what was coming. “My partner, Marta, and I infiltrated the warehouse to try to get a visual. We were hiding behind some pallets and trying to establish a line of sight when shots were fired. I went left to another set of pallets and peeked around. The van’s back door was open and the shooter was hunkered down with an assault weapon. The buyers and our guy didn’t stand a chance.

“The van door closed, and they started out. I stood up and fired until I was empty. Marta did the same thing except someone started shooting back from somewhere inside the warehouse. I took cover behind the pallets again and made my way towards Marta. I was about twenty feet away when I saw her. She was crouched down behind a stack of lumber. This guy came out of nowhere. He was wearing a jacket with a hoodie underneath like the dockworkers do and he had the hood up.He stood in front of Marta and said, ‘Tell your people to stop harassing me or I’m gonna kill you all one by one.’ Then he shot her in the stomach. The sleeve of his jacket rode up a couple of inches and I saw the snake tattoo.”

She swallowed hard again. “There was nothing I could do since I was out of ammo so I just held Marta until help arrived. They were there so fast, but not fast enough. She died in my arms.” Piper finally met Raider’s gaze straight on. “I want him, Raider. I want his fucking head on a platter. He killed Marta. He needs to go down.”

Raider cursed up a storm in his head. This had been a fool’s errand from the beginning. Remembered hurt and pain were etched in his ex-wife’s face and her expression made his chest tighten even more. He moved involuntarily, like he wanted to go over and hug her. Tell her it was all going to be okay. That they’d get this Snake and that would make it all better, but the truth was, it wouldn’t.

He stayed put between the beds. “Nothing will bring Marta back and you getting yourself killed won’t fix it either. I know you know this so why did you get on the plane?”

“It’s my fault Marta is dead. I said we should try and get a visual on the inside of the warehouse. If we’d stayed outside, Marta would still be alive.”

And there it was. The real reason Piper got on the airplane. It was still unlike her though. He couldn’t shake his belief that there was still a missing piece of the puzzle. Why did she push to go into the warehouse in the first place? “You don’t know that,” he said finally. “Did Marta fight you on going in?”

Piper shook her head. “No, she was game. Marta was always up for anything.”

“Then she knew what she was getting into and the only one responsible for her death was the guy who shot her.” A thought hit him and he froze. “You’re not on suspension, are you?” Jesus,did the ATF decide she was responsible? They’d investigate for sure in that situation.

“No. They said what we’d done was within the parameters of the op. There was no way we could’ve known there was a shooter inside the warehouse. We had it under surveillance and somehow he got by us. They’re still investigating that part.”

Piper ran a hand over her face and Raider instantly felt his groin tighten. He’d always been a sucker for a woman in trouble, but Piper was another class all together. She was so strong in her own right that when she showed vulnerability it was like someone turned up the wattage on his protective instincts by a thousand percent. She was still his kryptonite. He still wanted her so badly his balls ached.

“Alright. Okay. What happened to the other explosives guy,” Raider instructed as he quietly searched the drawers.

“Vardis. That’s the only name I knew him by. He apparently had asthma. The ash seemed to trigger some kind of attack that his inhaler couldn’t control. His breathing got really labored. Last night when we were leaving the store and I bumped into you, Vardis was in the van semi-conscious. When we left, Denlo made me drive into the rainforest area until I couldn’t go any further and then he and Wells and Baker carried Vardis into the woods. I have no idea what they did with him. They came back maybe fifteen minutes later without him, and we left.”

Raider nodded. “Do you know where you were?”

Piper hesitated. “Sort of? I can guess an area. If I had a map, I might be able to find it or at least narrow it down but at this point…” she shrugged.

Raider bent down and pulled a cell out of his boot.

“Seriously? You might have mentioned that,” Piper chided.

He ignored her comment as he walked over and turned on the TV. Then he powered up the cell and strode into the bathroom. The window was on the small side and they mighthave been able to get out except some asswipe had nailed it shut. Opening it would make a lot of noise which would alert Denlo. He put the option on the back burner. He’d found nothing else in the room that would be useful but at least he had the knife in his boot.

He punched in a number. “Kian,” Raider said softly as the other man answered.

“Dude, I heard you ran into your ex. Tough break and just when I was starting to like the Big Island,” his friend commented.

“Yeah,” Raider said as he ran a hand through his hair. “Listen, I need you to do something. There’s a guy in the rainforest and he needs medical help. I’m not even sure he’s alive but you gotta go find him.”

“Shit man, what the hell does Piper have you mixed up in?”

“It’s a long story and I can’t talk much.”

Kian whistled. “That bad? Do you need us to pull you out?”

Raider stared at Piper. He wanted her to get out, to be safe but he knew if he blew this op now she’d just go put herself into some other wild situation that would be just as bad or worse, and he might not be there to help her. He gritted his teeth. “Not just yet.”

“Raider, man, are you sure? Your head’s not so good around that woman. Me and Waylen can come save your ass like we always do.”

“Funny.” Raider shook his head. Even now Kian was giving him a hard time. “I just need you to find the guy.”

“Seriously,” Kian said, “if you need help or whatnot, just say the word. I don’t like that she’s got you mixed up on something we don’t know shit about.”

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