Aztec Gold

THIRTY TWO

Crouch flung his body straight at Coker, risking a bullet to save the man from himself. Crouch impacted hard, knocking Coker to the ground, but the trigger was squeezed and the gun went off with a resounding explosion.

The bullet flew over Coker’s head, slamming into a tree three feet to Caitlyn’s left. The shock on her face was clear, the evasion much too late. Crouch wrestled with Coker across the sidewalk, the two men rolling down the high curb and into the road.

“Leave… leave me,” Coker choked out.

“Tell me.” Crouch fought for the gun hand. “Tell me how we can help.”

“If I die—” Coker grated. “My family will live.”

“No.” Crouch brought all his weight to bear on the gun and took a punch to his exposed ribs. “They won’t. A man like that will kill them anyway for his own pleasure. For revenge. Either that or he’ll enslave them.”

Coker’s eyes, glazed with pain, suddenly cleared and fixed hard onto Crouch’s. “What?”

“You know him, Greg. What do you think?”

Coker relaxed, letting the gun drop to the floor. Alicia kicked it away with her foot and drew the men’s attention to the sound of approaching sirens.

“Your call, Crouch,” she said. “Run or explain. To the cops. But I’ll say this — dead mercs, guns, knives, British operatives and lost treasure ain’t gonna explain itself overnight. So unless you have some mega-influential suit we don’t know about… ”

Crouch pulled Coker to his feet. “I do as a matter of fact. One of the biggest suits in the world. But I only have one favor due and this situation doesn’t warrant calling it in just yet.”

“Wow.” Alicia blinked. “Must be some favor.”

“Oh, he’s some guy.”

Lex was groaning as Cruz dragged him to his feet. The sirens grew ever closer. Caitlyn and Cruz ran to the backpacks, both of them struggling to heave one onto their backs, while Russo heaved the suitcase up. Lex steadied himself against the palm tree, staring forlornly at the dented bike.

“We ready?” Crouch scanned the area.

“Where we headed?” Russo asked.

“Back toward the Strip,” Crouch said. “We’ll lose ourselves in the crowds.”

Alicia wiped blood from her face. “Is that wise? Doesn’t Vegas have more cameras than Canon?”

“It’s not the cameras that’ll track us, it’s the men behind them. And we’re better than them. Also, somebody clearly got to the authorities earlier today. So handing over all this treasure — that worries me most of all.”

Alicia accepted their boss’s judgment. Lex stared wistfully at the Kawasaki. With the backpacks secure and the team’s weapons retrieved, Crouch grabbed Coker and urged him into the foliage. “Everyone, move.”

“You have to let me go,” Coker groaned. “I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to them. If I’m caught—”

“We’ll send men to protect your family. My next call’s to the FBI.”

“But I could work for you from the inside.”

“Greg, you’re not thinking this through. By now, your South African crime lord — Solomon was his name I believe — knows you failed. The delivery team had to have had protocols and at least one of those would have covered transfer of the treasures to the white van. If you go back to him he will kill you.”

“And so will his men,” Alicia added.

Coker forced his eyes closed and put his head back. “Jesus, I just can’t stand the idea of them being watched. One time, I received a video tape of my daughter searching for her favorite pair of boots. One day later I found them sat outside my apartment, a thousand miles away, with a note reading: ‘do as we say or next time it will be her head’. They have up-to-date pictures, video, recordings. It’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. How the hell do you guard against something like that?”

“Normal people can’t. Even normal soldiers can’t. Fortunately, we’re now in a position to take their surveillance apart. Maybe we’ll get something on this Solomon in the process.”

“One thing escapes me,” Caitlyn put in as they double-timed it back up Buccaneer. By the sound of it the cops were already approaching the battle site. To her right Lex hadn’t wasted time in grabbing the green bike and was now wheeling it along rather gently. “Why did they choose you? I mean. One man out of thousands. Why you?”

Coker made a face of resignation. “Solomon is nothing if he’s not a bottom feeder. The man thrives off people’s weaknesses. Mine — gambling. I ran up a bad debt when I was over working in SA, couldn’t get out from under it. Solomon bought the debt and suddenly I was working for him. You name it he’s into it. Anything that involves gambling with humans or animals. Dog racing and fighting. Underground drag racing. Mixed martial arts where they battle to the death. Word has it that he even staged his own mini-Olympics once where the top two teams received money and mansions and the bottom three were executed. He sells the recordings through an underground network. I think he fancies himself as a modern style Roman emperor.”

Alicia whistled. “Screwball.”

“And that’s not the half of it.”

Crouch’s phone rang. A brief glance at the screen showed him it was Healey. “Oh good,” he said, answering. “I was just about to call you. We’re—”

“Boss,” Healey said in a quiet voice.

Crouch stopped in mid-stride. The stress in Healey’s voice bled through the connection as clearly as if it throbbed through a vital vein.

“They’ve got me, sir. The damn bastards got me.”

Crouch gripped the handset hard. “Explain yourself. What the hell do you mean—”

Another voice came on the line, its tones throaty and deep, its inflection murderous. “What he means is that he’s now a guest of mine. And will remain so until my treasures are returned.”

Crouch held his breath. “He better not be harmed, Solomon.”

By now the rest of the team were crowding around, Russo and Caitlyn drip white and Alicia gritting her teeth.

“Everything’s intact, more or less. For now. Your next move will determine if he stays that way.”

Crouch held the handset away from his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut until they hurt. As if dozens of cops, dead mercenaries, and stolen treasure wasn’t enough. How could an operation that had started out so simple end up consisting of so many complications?

“All, right,” he said, seeing a way out of it. “We know you’re at the Venetian Hotel. How about the lobby in ten minutes?”

Solomon laughed. “Do you think I am so stupid?”

Caitlyn had recovered from her shock enough to unzip her backpack and take out the team’s master tracking device. She switched it on.

Crouch took his time. “So where would you like to make the exchange, Mr. Solomon?”

“South Africaaaaa.” Solomon drew out the last letter with a guttural slur. “Two days. You find us. I’m sure you have the means. Oh, and be sure to inform Mr. Coker that his wife and daughter will be dead within the hour.”

Crouch cursed as the line died. Coker gripped his arm. “Dammit, Michael! Call the FBI!”

Caitlyn held out the tracking device. “They’re already in the air.” Tears fell off the ragged edges of every syllable.

Crouch looked back toward the road. Flashing lights could be seen through the trees. “Bollocks,” he said. “It looks like I’m going to have to call in that special favor after all.”

“And Healey?” Russo demanded. “What happens to Zack?”

“What the hell do you think?” Alicia growled. “We go save the youngster’s ass and kill the assholes that dared to take him.”