Chapter 9

For the next hour, the drive was more or less uneventful. Taylor knew the mercs were out there and hoped they would run into them before they got to Valencia. Even if the locals weren’t bought off, getting into a gunfight in their city would cause the locals to come down hard, which would make getting on a plane difficult.

Taylor was on a straightaway just past a curve, with another one coming up ahead, when Bonnie said, “Shit.”

“What?” Taylor asked, looking in the rearview mirror.

Behind them and closing quickly was a dark-colored SUV. It could be nothing, as those types of vehicles were ubiquitous across the world, but Taylor wasn’t willing to bet his life on it, especially with how fast the SUV was coming up on them.

Taylor mashed the accelerator, wishing they had managed to steal something with a little more pep than the small sedan they’d grabbed. It began to pick up speed, but not as quickly as the SUV was gaining on them. Bonnie already had her weapon in her hand, but they weren’t going to be able to do fancy maneuvers like they did in Caracas to lose them. This was a single four-lane road cut through the jungle, with dense trees on either side. There was nowhere really to go.

Things got worse as they went around the curve ahead of them.

In the center of the road was a large truck, turned to block all four lanes, with its engine cover opened like it was broken down and one tire off on the back.

“It’s a trap,” Bonnie said.

“No shit.”

Taylor wouldn’t have trusted any vehicle blocking the road, but especially one with both engine trouble and a rear flat tire, while a strange SUV barreled up behind him. The mercs might as well have sent invitations letting them know to save the date for an ambush. Not that it was a terrible plan. The truck was well positioned and they’d picked a point with very thick tree cover on either side, giving hardly any room to do anything but flip around, and they’d have the SUV there to stop them.

Unfortunately for the mercs, hardly any room was not the same thing as no room.

“Hold on,” Taylor said, slowing slightly as he slid the car off the edge of the road onto the short embankment that led into the trees, aiming for the narrow space between the truck and the edge of the road. The tires kicked up dirt and gravel as he pushed the accelerator again, trying to squeeze through the gap.

He could hear Bonnie suck in a breath. It really was going to be a tight fit. At least if he was wrong, he wouldn’t be around to know about it.

Thankfully, he hit the spot just right, blasting past the truck through the tiny open space. Unfortunately, the mercs were just smart enough to have thought of that, too.

“Down,” Bonnie shouted, ducking her head down below the level of the window.

Taylor reacted before his brain caught up, which saved his life as he heard a machine gun open fire and bullets slammed into their car, shattering the windows and stitching across the panels. Most penetrated, but the shooter hadn’t thought through his position. He was by the trees, which put him on an upward angle, causing the bullets to punch through the door and up into the ceiling or slam into parts under the chassis and not penetrate.

Unfortunately, one of those parts shot up from below was the engine.

Black smoke began to billow out from under the hood and into the car itself, along with making a grinding sound. The vehicle began to slow as the car started to shed its momentum now that the engine was dead, even as more bullets ripped into the trunk. Worse, one of the tires exploded, causing the metal rim to dig into the dirt and gravel, slowing them even faster.

“Hold on,” Taylor said again as he turned the wheel hard and sent them plunging down the embankment. He saw the spot he wanted. A small section that didn’t have trees so much as thick undergrowth, which the car now tore into. That clear spot didn’t last for long and they smashed into a tree a few feet behind it, but between the gravel, the blown tire, the diagonal path, and the undergrowth, they’d shed just enough speed to keep the impact from being fatal.

They also didn’t hit it head-on, but more like glanced off of it, ripping the front headlight apart, then bounced off a tree on the other side, before hitting a third tree.

It hurt like hell, the seatbelt cutting into him hard as he was jostled from side to side and the airbag smashed into his face. For a second, Taylor was stunned, the world ringing, until Bonnie started clawing at him.

“We have to get out of here,” she screamed as she slashed the airbag away with a knife and cut his seatbelt straps.

“Go. Go,” Taylor said, pushing the words out as he regained his senses and his breath. “I’m right behind you.” Bonnie didn’t hesitate or look back as she bolted from the vehicle, disappearing into the trees. Taylor pulled himself out of the seat and followed after her, crawling out of the passenger door, since the driver’s side was wedged against a tree, and diving out of the car before taking cover behind a tree trunk.

His thigh hurt like hell from smashing it into the steering wheel and he was going to have a hell of a bruise. After taking another moment to get a hold of himself, Taylor started to move in the direction Bonnie had gone and was now about a hundred feet ahead of him, just visible through the thick trees. He’d only made it a few steps when a hail of bullets sent him scrambling for cover again, rolling behind another tree, the whizzing of bullets only inches above him.

Taylor looked in Bonnie’s direction, who apparently hadn’t been noticed yet. She made a quick few hand signals that said she was going to move around and flank their attackers. She didn’t wait for him to respond, just turned and disappeared completely, going further into the trees.

Taylor hoped she had good luck because they had him pinned down. He began to crawl through the underbrush, keeping very low and using every bit of cover he could to move away from where he’d been hiding as bullets began to tear into the clump of trees he’d been using for cover.

He could kind of see the muzzle flashes but the coverage made it hard to actually see where the shooters were. He crawled in an arc as the fire died down, probably because they needed to see if he was actually there before they burned through all the ammo they had on them.

Through a gap in the foliage, Taylor spotted one of them. They’d spread out, most likely looking for him, which was stupid but worked for Taylor. He waited, steadying his breathing, then fired. The mercenary dropped, a clean headshot taking him out of the fight.

Taylor moved immediately, knowing his position was compromised. As expected, more gunfire erupted, with the shots tearing through where he’d been the moment before, seeking him out.

He was close to another one of them, who was helpfully giving away his position as he blazed away at where he hoped Taylor would be. He couldn’t see the entire man, from his position chest down on the forest floor, but he could see enough of him. Again, Taylor took aim and squeezed off a shot, this time catching the man in the leg, the bullet hitting smack in the middle of the largest part of the thigh. The guy dropped instantly, his eyes locking on Taylor for a moment before Taylor made sure that he would never look at anyone ever again.

Taylor started to roll away but was forced to pull himself up as close to a nearby tree as possible as gunfire cut through where he was sitting. The second shot had been one too many and he hadn’t moved away fast enough. Bullets tore into the thick tree that was the only thing standing between Taylor and death.

He had a rough idea where the shooters were and waited, hoping they continued to be as tactically stupid as they had been up to this point. Sure enough, one fell silent, and then the other, the tell-tale sound of a magazine sliding out of the weapon audible now that the gunfire had ceased.

Had they been smart, they would have rotated firing, so one of them could keep sending bullets downrange as the other swapped mags. Thankfully, they weren’t that smart.

Taylor popped up as one of them started to rack the bolt on his rifle. He didn’t have time to aim and only caught the man’s shoulder, sending him spinning. It wasn’t going to kill him, but maybe it would take him out of the fight for a bit. Instead of finishing his reload and pinning Taylor again, his friend wasted valuable seconds looking at his fallen comrade.