Page 69 of Echoes and Oaths
Just then, the first SUV came into view. Jinx glanced over in the darkness, but he could see the dark silhouette of a mounted gunner already aiming for the trees where they most logically would be.
“Wait for it …” Z whispered.
The vehicle hit the buried charge.
The jungle lit up in a white-hot flash. The SUV lifted off the ground, tires blown skyward, flames spitting from beneath its chassis as it flipped into a tree and exploded again on impact. The gunner never had a chance to scream.
“That’s one,” Z growled.
Another vehicle swerved hard, trying to break formation. It didn’t make it far before a second explosion sent it sideways into a ditch, flames licking the canopy.
“That’s two.”
Bullets sprayed into the jungle as the third SUV’s gunner opened up in panic, shredding trees and sending birds screeching into the sky.
Jinx returned fire from behind a fallen log, hisshots precise and controlled. The gunner dropped with a sharp cry.
More shouting. Another vehicle barreled through the smoke. “Time for the tree charge,” Z said.
A massive tree trunk rigged with explosives snapped in half and crashed down directly onto the SUV's hood, smashing it like a tin can. The front axle crumpled like a paper cup, and the roof became one with the floorboard.
“Three and four,” Z said with satisfaction, slapping Jinx’s shoulder. “God, I love my job.”
Jinx didn’t reply. His eyes were already on the move while he scanned and calculated his surroundings. “They’ll send a drone,” he said. “We’ve got five minutes before air surveillance pins us.”
“Already planned for that, too,” Z said, pulling a small drone jammer from his pack and tossing it to Jinx. “Here. Don’t push that until we need it, though. It'll cook their signal just long enough to get to out of the way.”
They moved again, pushing deeper into the jungle.
Behind them, the trail was lit with fire and wreckage. The responding enemy was in ruin. What few guards were still breathing were probably too busy screaming, bleeding, or running for cover.
“You good?” Z asked, side-eyeing Jinx as they ran.
“Better than I’ve been in years.”
“Yeah?” Z grinned and panted, “Kinda sounded like you meant that.”
“I do,” Jinx said, eyes narrowing as they reached the next cover point. They vanished into the jungle, the night behind them still burning. Jinx and Z moved fast, dodging thorny vines and ducking under hanging moss. The thick, humid air stuck to their skin, oily and annoying.
"You boys made a mess," Brando’s voice crackled over comms, dry as ever. "Looks like a war zone from up here."
Jinx ducked a branch that about brained him and asked, "How bad’s the spread?"
"Half the compound’s gone. You clipped their communications tower. Good thinking, by the way. You’ve got a dozen survivors scattered through the jungle. Some look like they’re regrouping. Others … not so much."
Z laughed under his breath. "You’re welcome."
"Extraction?" Jinx asked, glancing up at the moonlit canopy.
"Confirmed," Brando replied. "A Guardian bird is already in Venezuelan airspace. You’ve got a clean zone about four klicks southeast of your position.Look for the old hydroelectric clearing with big stone culverts, collapsed fencing, one rusted-out generator box. Touchdown in twenty minutes. You need to be there in fifteen."
Jinx swore softly and picked up the pace.
"They’re deploying a UAV," Brando added. "Give me sixty seconds, I’ll feed you a window to fire the jammer and blind it before it’s overhead."
"Copy," Jinx said. He panted, hard and even as they bounded over a rocky ledge slick with moss. He slid down the other side, boots digging in.
Z landed beside him with a thump, grinning like a lunatic. "So … want to do this again next weekend?"
