“Very well. Stay put. I’m sending a Seahawk to pick you up. It will be there shortly. Talk soon.”
A gentle knock on the sedan window startled Triggs. Anna Garcia stood there, Hunt right behind her. Triggs turned off the car and opened the door with her good arm.
“Follow me,” Anna said, holding the door for her. “Do you need help?”
Triggs shook her head. “I’m all right.”
It took everything she had to climb out of the car. Peering back at the driver’s seat, she was surprised at the amount of blood she had left behind. The seat was soaked with it. A strange sensation enveloped her, and then she felt herself spinning and falling.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Palm Cay Marina
New Providence, Commonwealth of the Bahamas
Hunt and Anna stood outside the town house, their feet in the cool sand, watching the dark ocean meet with the night sky. The air was dead calm; no breeze swayed the palm trees in passing; there was only the noise of waves crashing gently on the shore. The calm before the storm. Looking at the stars, Hunt wondered where Charlie Henican was at that moment. He doubted Henican was in a good place.
“You remember Simon and Emma are scheduled to fly in tomorrow, right?” Anna asked.
Hunt smiled at the thought of his best friend and his wife. “Cost me fifty bucks to fill the fridge with Simon’s favorite Bahamian brew. I remember all right.”
Simon Carter had been his second-in-command when Hunt had been in charge of one of the DEA’s rapid response teams—or RRTs. Not only had they kicked down hundreds of doors together; Carter had risked his life and given up his career to accompany Hunt to Mexico to rescue Leila and Sophia when they’d been kidnapped by a cartel. More recently, Carter had accompanied Hunt to South America to retrieve vital intelligence left behind by a murdered DEA agent. That intelligence had been crucial in removing the president of Venezuela and his top lieutenant from power and stopping the spread of a dangerous drug that had killed Leila’s boyfriend. The mission had been a complete success.
Well, thought Hunt. Almost a complete success. Carter had lost the top of his left pinkie during a firefight.
“Will you ask him to come with you?” Anna asked.
“Not this time,” Hunt replied. “One of us needs to stay behind in case the DEA decides to call, you know?”
“You sure it doesn’t have anything to do with what happened tonight?”
“Maybe a little,” Hunt replied honestly, reaching for Anna’s hand.
It’s true that he would have loved Carter to come with him to look for Henican. But with what had happened to Triggs, Hunt wasn’t convinced that leaving Anna alone in the Bahamas was the right call. She’d have a full house to contend with between Leila’s mom, Jasmine; her husband, Chris; Simon and Emma; and the girls. He felt better having someone with Simon’s skill set watching over all of them.
Anna leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek while grabbing his arm. He felt himself being pulled toward her. His lips met hers, and for a moment he forgot everything but the two of them.
Their moment was brief.
He heard the helicopter before he saw it. The roar of the engines was deafening. It took a while for the gray helicopter to appear out of the night as it descended toward the beach, its rotors slapping the night air. A Seahawk was a twin-turboshaft-engine, multimission helicopter used by the United States Navy. The chopper was similar to a Black Hawk but had been adapted with a folding main rotor and a hinged tail in order to reduce its footprint aboard warships.
The downdraft rippling across the sand forced Hunt to shield his eyes with his forearm. The rhythmic beat of the blades pulsed in his ears. Memories of his last mission and the terrible helicopter crash he’d been in flashed through his mind. It made him think of Henican again, and his muscles tensed. Years ago with the DEA, he’d traveled to a Turkish prison to interrogate a prisoner. The overpacked facility had had an insufficient number of windows to let in clean air, and hundreds of flies had swamped the sleeping area where eighty men had shared a room designed to accommodate only twenty-five. Torture and other kinds of prisoner abuse had been rampant. He needed to get to Turkey now. His friend’s life depended on it.
Before the blades came to a stop, four heavily armed men jumped out of the side door. Three men took position around the helicopter while a single sailor jogged toward Hunt.
“Mr. Hunt?” He was tall and clean shaven, but his eyes betrayed his true self. The man was a warfighter.
“In the flesh,” Hunt said, shaking the man’s extended hand.
He introduced himself to Hunt and Anna as a senior chief with the United States Navy.
“Nice to meet you,” Anna said, then added for Hunt’s benefit, “I’ll go check on the girls.”
“Follow me, Senior,” Hunt told him. “I’ll take you to her.”
As the men walked toward Keith and Marguerite’s townhome, Hunt could see lights being turned on inside some of his neighbors’ houses. Some had even ventured out onto their back decks to check out what the commotion was all about. Sophia and Leila were among the curious. It was hard to believe they’d be high school juniors this year. Every day, he admired the resilience they’d shown after their kidnapping. Hunt waved at the girls. He didn’t blame them for their curiosity. He would have done exactly the same at their age. It wasn’t every day that a big United States Navy helicopter landed in your backyard.
Keith and Marguerite had managed to stabilize Triggs, but she needed to get to a hospital. She insisted Hunt accompany her on the Seahawk rather than flying out the next day as he’d planned. It irked Hunt and reminded him why he didn’t like working with Triggs. She was a bully, and there was nothing he disliked more than a bully. Then he remembered what she had been through and chastised himself for being such an asshole. It was normal for Triggs to be on edge. She had just witnessed her son getting killed.
Anna, Leila, and Sophia were waiting for him by the terrace. Anna had his go bag in her hand. Sophia was the first to give him a hug.
“Thanks for everything, Pierce,” Anna’s niece said, kissing him on the cheek. “How long will you be gone for?”
“Can’t say for sure, I’m afraid. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” the teenager replied. “People need you. I get that.”
Leila came to him next and wrapped her arms tightly around him and hung on. Hunt buried his face in his daughter’s hair. Not long ago, she’d had to grieve over her boyfriend’s death. She’d been through so much these last couple of years, and he was proud of her strength.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Hunt said. “I promise.”
“Don’t worry, Dad. I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. Just be careful, okay?”
“You know I will.”
“By the way, can I Instagram this?” Leila nodded at the helicopter, a twinkle in her eyes. “It’s kind of cool.”
Hunt stared back at her, wondering if she was serious. Her mouth turned up just slightly at the edges.
“Good one, monkey,” he said, giving Leila one last hug. “I love you.”
Anna handed him his go bag, and then she kissed him passionately. No words were necessary. After a few moments, she gently pushed him away.