Page 37 of Vaquero
Fire flashed again and no one was left standing when the room broom finished sweeping.
“Looks like he found the folks you came to save. Look at the hill behind your friend, Meg. You see that?” Charlie growled and fired again. “God, how fuckin’ many guards did Oz hide in that son of a bitchin’ tunnel?”
She saw them then, all those kidnapped villagers on the steep dirt path behind Julio. A steady flood of men, women, and children, some carrying others. Many children were secured to adults’ backs or shoulders.
“He saved them,” she said, straining to see Pepe in that fleeing line of survivors. But they were too far away. She couldn’t make out faces.
“You might want to save his ass then, too,” Charlie quipped, his eyes still fastened to his scope. “These guys just keep coming. You’ve got two warheads left. Think you can send one into that tunnel without killing your boyfriend?”
Yes, I can,Meg thought determinedly even as she replied, “He’s not my boyfriend.”
Steadier now and with calm conviction, she cast the expended launch tube in her hand aside, grabbed another, and loaded the rocket. This time she knew precisely what she was doing.
Everything went smoothly. She sighted her target in the launch reticle. Only this time, she was saving Julio’s life. That damned man would probably walk straight into death tonight if she didn’t put an end to Oz’s guys. What a crazy, brave, wonderful, hell of an idiot Julio was.
“Not tonight, Agent Juarez,” she breathed as she snugged her deadly weapon into the crook of her neck. “You owe me another kiss.” With the taste of his mouth in mind, she fired the warhead without a single twinge of conscience. And…WHOOSH!
It never wavered, just flew straight into the yawing mouth of Oz’s tunnel. Straight into the stream of armed guards. When the warhead exploded, it was deep inside the tunnel. A brilliant blast of orange fire, brimstone, and twisted bodies belched out of the tunnel and into the already burning pit. Finally. The last of Oz’s army had fallen.
“Way to go, Duncan!” Charlie cheered over the sizzling din.
“Thank God, I didn’t kill him,” Meg breathed as she let the expended tube drop and pulled another into position. She’d done it. She’d saved Julio’s life. The ground hadn’t even quivered, but the immediate shockwave from her blast had knocked him to his ass. Climbing to his feet, he turned toward her.
Even as far apart as they were, she felt his eyes zero hungrily in on hers. Meg lowered the second launch tube and waved, straining to see him more clearly. She wanted so much to run to him. To kiss the hell out of that badass warrior. Her badass warrior.
But the sudden updraft of a chopper overhead incited a whirlwind of dirt, dust, and leaves, blinding her. Ducking her head, she cupped one hand to her eyes. Where was he? One minute, she’d thought he might’ve smiled at her. But the next—
“What the hell?” she yelled at Charlie as she pointed to the sky. “Your guys?”
“We’ve got to leave, Meg. Now,” Charlie yelled, his arm a manacle around her waist, while he carried her to what he thought was safety.
“I can’t just leave him,” she yelled over the roar of the rotor’s blades. “That’s Julio Juarez. He’s one of Senator Sullivan’s agents. He came here to save me.”
Charlie shook his head. “No, babe. I came to save you. He came to end Zapata. Looks like both our jobs are done. Move it.”
“No way!” Meg elbowed out of Charlie’s tight grip. “I don’t leave anyone behind, Jorgensen, and neither do you. We have to go get him!”
Charlie glared down at her, his eyes dark, and his jaw set. “He’s gone, Duncan. See for yourself.”
Disbelieving, Meg peered past Charlie’s big bicep. He was right. Julio wasn’t standing where she’d last seen him. He wasn’t standing anywhere. How could he just walk away? He’d seen her. She’d felt his eyes on her. Hadn’t she?
“He can’t be gone,” she muttered, even as her eyes declared there was no Julio to be seen.
“Brazilian army will be here soon, kiddo,” Charlie urged. “Let’s get out of here. If your boyfriend’s one of Sullivan’s agents, he’ll be okay. Trust me. This is what guys like him do for a living. They strike hard and fast. They end the bad guys. Then they disappear. He belongs to the shadows. Let him go.”
“But…” Her heart fluttered like the wings of a gut-shot dove plummeting to earth. “But I haven’t found Pepe yet. And I won’t, I can’t just walk away and leave Julio!”
“He means something to you?” Charlie asked as he hefted her up backward into the Blackhawk’s open side door.
“Yes,” she breathed, sitting on the edge of never seeing Julio again, her eyes still frantically searching the trail where the last of Oz’s now-freed slaves walked away. He had to be there with them. That’s why he couldn’t run to her. He was still on the job.Wasn’t he?
Some of the people fleeing kept looking over their shoulders as if they expected to be followed. They looked fearful. Desperate. Pepe had to be with them.Didn’t he?If not, where could he be? How would she ever find him?
Meg kept hoping Julio would jump up from somewhere. Maybe turn back and wave at her, just to let her know he’d seen her. That he cared. But no one jumped to their feet and no one waved. There wasn’t a man or child in the group marching away that resembled him or Pepe. They were so, so thin. Ragged.
Charlie tossed his gear on board, then pulled himself up beside her. He joked with one of the operators, then made sure Meg was strapped securely into a safety harness. Like the macho guy he was and would always be, Charlie snaked one arm around her shoulders when the bird lifted off. Another hurricane of dust and dirt billowed around them. But even as hard as Meg looked for Julio, even as often as she quartered the scene below, there was no sign of him.
This time, he really was gone.
So was Pepe...
