Page 19 of Wick
Using the light, I scour the area around the helicopter, looking for a clue as to what direction Vayda and her team may have gone.
"Over here," Riggs calls out.
When I make it to where Riggs is standing with his flashlight pointed at the ground, I take in the tracks in the dirt leading north towards the mangrove of fruit trees. Following the small road, it leads us to a rundown shack, which we also find to be empty. "Boot prints everywhere."
"You thinkin' they hunkered down here before someone found them—before they were ambushed?" I ask.
Scott nods. "Had to have been. The chopper was empty. And someone was here. Look." He points to the ground. "Tire tracks. If they hadn't been taken, Vayda and the guys would have found a way to contact me by now. The only other scenario is Cortez has them."
"Fuck," I hiss.
"The way I see it," Scott continues, "we have two options here. One, we wait until my backup comes."
I interrupt him. "How long until they get here?"
"Two hours, maybe more."
"Fuck no. I'm not waitin' that long."
"Figured, you’d say that. So, my second option is, the three of us go in guns blazin' and kill every motherfucker who stands in our way and get my team back."
"Option two is the only motherfuckin' one I'm willing to accept," I say vehemently.
"You heard my brother, Scott," Riggs clutches my shoulder. "Let's kill the bastards and bring our family home."
Once we make our way back through the cornfield, we come upon a heavily wooded area and some steep foothills. Not taking any chances, we enter the tree line, keeping off the road leading us to Cortez's compound.
Sometime later, the three of us are lying flat on our bellies just beyond the tree line on the backside of Cortez's house. Looking through my night vision goggles, I case the layout around the compound. Riggs and Scott do the same. "We got one at the back entrance, two on the roof."
"I just clocked one at three o'clock headed east," Riggs whispers.
Swinging my head in that direction, I catch sight of a man making his way toward what looks like a barn. What's odd is the barb wire fence that surrounds the structure. "How much you want to bet they don't keep stock in there."
"It's not." Scott chimes in. "My intel says that is where Cortez keeps the women."
"You have any information on the layout of this place?" I look to Scott.
"I do. The house is six thousand square feet. When you enter the back entrance there," Scott points straight ahead. "You will be entering the kitchen. To your left is the dining room, and to your right, a study. Once you exit the kitchen, you will walk into the great room. To the left of the great room is a hallway with three bedrooms. To the right is the front entrance of the home and a staircase that leads to two more bedrooms upstairs. Cortez sleeps in the master suite upstairs. My intel also told me that when Cortez had the house built, he also had a two thousand square foot basement built underneath the home. The basement access is through a door between the two bedrooms on the main level. Rumors are he recently had a tunnel built under the house as well, but I can't confirm that bit of intel."
Crawling backwards away from the tree line, I retrieve my pack that is propped against a tree and begin readying myself. Silently Riggs and Scott do the same.
I'm just about to ask the guys our game plan for breaching the house when a shot rings out. I duck behind a tree as a bullet whizzes past my head. "Fuck. We've been made."
To my left, Riggs has taken cover as well, while to my right, Scott has dropped to the ground and has his rifle pressed against his shoulder and his eye on the scope. He fires off two shots. "I'll cover you two. Go!" With Riggs at my back, we take off in the direction of the house the same time four men come charging at us out of nowhere. Aiming, I fire a shot into the head of one man, the same time Riggs takes out another. Just as the other two men raise their weapons, their bodies jerk backward as blood spills from their chest. Scott's voice comes through my earpiece. "Eliminated. I lost two targets on the roof. They ducked out of sight."
"Copy."
When we reach the back entrance, I test the door handle to find it unlocked. Before opening the door, I throw up my arm and give Riggs the signal to cover me. He nods. With my gun aimed, I enter the home. Knowing time is of the essence, I quickly and quietly make my way through the kitchen until we come upon a hallway. It's also where Riggs and I come upon the door that Scott said leads to the basement. My gut churns at what we may find down there, but I look to Riggs and nod. "Cover my six." As soon as I open the basement door, a man appears at the base of the stairs. Finding my mark, I put a bullet in him before he has a chance to blink; his lifeless body slumps to the floor. When I clear the last step, I'm shocked at what I find. Thor and Cowboy shackled to the wall by their wrists. Cowboy currently has a man's head in a vise-like grip between his thighs. "It's about time you fuckers showed up." Cowboy releases his hold on the guy, who falls to the floor dead.
Riggs rushes past me to retrieve the key to the shackles off the dead guy while I crouch down to the cold concrete floor to assess Preacher, or who I assume is Preacher. It's hard to tell with the shape his face is in. The first thing I do: check for a pulse and breathe a sigh of relief when I find one.
Looking over my shoulder, I scour the basement looking for Vayda.
"She's not here," Cowboy informs just as Riggs removes the metal from his wrists, and he makes his way to Preacher's side. "One of Cortez's men took her a few hours ago."
"Fuck," I hiss.
Suddenly, the ground shakes from an earth-shattering explosion at the same time Scott makes his appearance from the bottom of the basement stairs. He doesn't stop to ask questions or even take the time to absorb seeing his team member lying on the floor nearly lifeless. "Backup has arrived. Dawson, you, and LeBlanc find Wilder. I'm going to get them out of here," Scott says as he hauls Preacher's unconscious body over his shoulder in a fireman's hold, while Cowboy helps Thor from his binds. "I caught sight of Cortez fleeing the compound in a jeep. I have one of my men on him. There was no sight of Wilder with him. That means she must still be on the premises."
