Page 26 of Skull

Keep going, Walker. Don’t lose him.

She forced herself into a faster sprint. One more roof. One more jump. And the HVT, in her sights, running out of places to hide in this tangle of metal and concrete. If she had to tackle him to catch him, she would. Because failure wasn’t an option, and she was done playing defense.

At the ledge, she peered down. A narrow stack of crates led to a rickety balcony a few feet below. It was her only path forward. She swung over the edge, dropping onto the top crate. It gave an ominous groan but held. She hopped down to the balcony and spotted the HVT again, his red blob receding into the maze of the next cross street.

Walker clutched the rickety balcony railing and scanned the cramped shantytown below, heart hammering in her chest. The labyrinth of tin-roofed huts, makeshift stalls, and tangled alleys had swallowed Blade and his baddies moments ago. Her eyes caught a flicker of movement near a dimly lit intersection—her target. She recognized those three fast-moving red blobs just enough to spur her into a continued desperate chase.

She dropped down from the balcony, landing in a crouch on the hard-packed dirt. She ran full out, needing to catch up with the fleeing HVT, skidding down a slope in the rough road that made up a street in this tumbledown town. She was on the main road leading out of town, and the HVT blobs were running for an advantage.Vehicles.

Fuck!If they made it to them, that would be the end of this chase.

She came to a three-way junction when several of those red blobs who had been converging on her hit their axis. Five men flooded into the open area at the far end of the alley. Four more loomed behind her.

She was surrounded, and she cursed scornfully. She didn’t have time for this. She might be outnumbered and outmanned, but she had been in much stickier situations. Confident in her skills, she knew there was never a guarantee, but she was determined to go down fighting for Hazard and Leigh, giving no quarter, and risking her life for their sake.

“Ice, Strekoza is in trouble,”Skull’s voice came over the comm. The team was running full out a bit behind Skull and Bones.

“Where is she?” Iceman asked, and Skull gave him the coordinates.

“Boomer and GQ, go get her and rendezvous with us. We’re heading to the north. HVT is high tailing it out of town.”

“We’re on it, Ice,” Boomer said, confirming the location, while GQ mapped out a quick infiltration route, taking into account the compounded difficulty of navigating the labyrinth of the slum’s maze in order to get to Strekoza as quickly as possible. They peeled off from the main group, slipping down an alley that crossed over to the other side of the city.

Spying a cluster of red blobs, he and GQ switched direction and headed toward the group and a small square that looked like it was part of the town’s marketplace.

They increased their speed, coming onto a beleaguered Eva who was fighting for her life. These looked more like opportunists rather than part of the cartel, town residents who found it beneficial and probably profitable to capture an operative. The cartel would be generous for their assistance.

With his gut tight, Boomer watched the tall, slim blob retreat into a crouch behind some cover. As they approached her location, Boomer’s NVGs caught the flickering overhead lights, casting patchy illumination over the empty, closed booths, their tarps fluttering in the faint breeze. They scanned for her but couldn’t see her in the maze of corrugated metal stalls.

“Come out, come out, bitch. You can’t get away. So, drop your weapon and this will go easier on you,” he said in Spanish.

Through his goggles, Boomer noted her situation was bleak. There was nowhere for her to go, her escape routes were blocked by more armed men stealing in from all sides.

Eva’s voice came over the comms in a stream of words and static in a hushed urgency. “Trapped, need backup. HVT is getting away. Hummingbird is alone.” Her voice was calm, but Boomer, being a battle-tested SEAL, could detect the tension underlining her words.

Boomer replied. “No, she’s not. Skull and Bones are backing her up. Hang on. We’re almost there, Strekoza,” he said as gunfire erupted just ahead of them, increasing his pace as the men fanned out. The operative was clearly outnumbered. Coming up behind several hostiles, Boomer and GQ took them out as they rushed toward her location, and a couple of other combatants fell to Eva’s precise shots, then she moved low and fast away from the surefire retaliation, using the shadows and cluttered stalls for cover.

She was an impressive woman.

Moving in single file, GQ covering their rear, he and Boomer took out three men blocking their way, running into the square, and crouching behind stalls, and the hostiles shouted warnings that they had company.

The surviving tangos converged on Eva’s position, cornering her near a large wooden stall, a man rushing at her with a machete, and Boomer lost sight of him. “Cover me,” he said, as GQ positioned himself for overwatch, picking off anyone who was a threat to Boomer. Boomer rounded the stalls, firing unerringly at the combatants, while Eva grappled with the machete-wielding tango.

The man was too close to Eva for a shot, so Boomer dropped his rifle, the strap catching it and sending it against his side, and rushed toward the guy, pulling his combat knife. Before he could strike, Eva brought up a dark object in her hand, cracking the man hard against his temple, and he went down hard.

She lowered what he now saw was a blackjack, her weapon of choice and a very effective one in her capable hands. “Ah, the cavalry,” she said, her voice still tense, but with a layer of relief in it. “Let’s get out of here, and back to our HVT.”

“We have more company,” GQ said as he came up to them. “We’re trapped in a maze with all the rats.”

“This way,” Eva said, heading toward the back of the stall to a branching alley cutting away from the marketplace, debris thick with stacked crates, trash bags, and half-collapsed stalls. As they ran toward hopefully an exit, men spied them and started to chase. When they came to the end of the alley, more hostiles blocked their narrow exit.

“Up,” Boomer said to her, nodding toward a rickety ladder. She expelled her clip and frowned.

“Low on ammo.”

Boomer removed his sidearm and handed it to her. She tucked the suppressed gun into a holster at her side, then looked at them, concern in her expression—something he’d never seen on the cool, collected operative. “What about you two?”

“We’re going to take these guys out and cover your kick-ass butt. Now move,” he ordered.

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