CHAPTER 48
THE
leaves and branches would have covered Jones completely, if not for the small gap near his eyes. It was the only spot that he risked showing, for it gave him his only view of the world. And if his mission was to be a success, Jones needed to know when someone was coming.
The shadow lurking in the distance told him that somebody was.
As he waited, Jones wrapped his fingers around the polymer handle of his gun, readying himself for action. If possible, he would eliminate the target from his current hiding place. If necessary, Jones was prepared to do it on the move. It was the first thing he learned with the MANIACs. Be ready for
anything
.
Jones watched as the shape moved closer, slipping past the tall trees with a graceful stride, using the darkness of the woods to his advantage. The lack of moonlight made things difficult, but in time Jones learned to distinguish his target from his surroundings. He wore black clothes, black leather boots, and a mask. A gun dangled from his right hand.
A grin appeared on Jones’s face.
The more guards he killed, the better. It would make things easier when they rescued Ariane and the other prisoners. So far, by his count, he had been a part of twenty deaths—thirteen in the ambush, six more on the boat, at least one at the armory—and the number would continue to grow. Hell, number twenty-one was currently approaching.
Without making a sound, Jones shifted his weight slightly, sticking the barrel of his gun through his thick bed of camouflage. He would fire when he had a clean shot and not a second before. No sense wasting a bullet on a maybe.
“Come to Papa,” Jones whispered. “Take another step. Come on. Come on!”
His target finally came into view, no more than fifteen feet in front of him.
But before Jones had a chance to squeeze the trigger, the man whistled softly—a sound that had a meaning only to Jones. This man wasn’t a guard. It was Payne.
“Jon,” he called softly.
Covered in dark mud from the swamp, Payne glanced around, hunting for the source of the sound. He was supposed to rendezvous with Jones in this part of the woods, but his friend’s concealment techniques made him undetectable. There was no way he would find Jones unless he accidentally stepped on him.
“Ollyollyoxenfree.”
A large chunk of the forest’s floor moved as Jones climbed to his knees. To Payne, it looked like an elevator rising from the Earth’s core.
“You’re lucky you whistled. I was going to try to kill you for the second time today.”
Payne shrugged. It seemed like everyone was trying to kill him. “Actually, you’re the lucky one. If you’d killed me, you’d have to fly coach on the way home.”
“Good point. How’d the boat mission go?”
“Just like you planned. I took out the remaining guards without any problems and got the boatload of slaves off the island.”
“That’s great, isn’t it?” Jones studied Payne’s face and could tell he wasn’t happy. “What’s wrong? We just saved several lives. You should be thrilled.”
“Not only did we save several lives, but we knew one of the survivors.”
Jones’s eyes widened with surprise. “Ariane was on the boat?”
Payne shook his head. “The Posse kidnapped her entire family. Her brother-in-law, Robbie, was one of the captives on board.”
“What?” He had met Ariane’s family on several occasions. “Was Tonya on the boat, too?”
“No. They still have her somewhere, and if you remember, she’s pregnant.” Payne paused as he thought about the situation. He knew Tonya was very close to her due date. “That is, if all this trauma hasn’t brought on childbirth.”
Jones could tell his buddy was hurting—it might be a future nephew or niece that he was talking about—so he tried to get Payne’s mind back on the mission. “What did you learn about the others?”
“Not much, but something strange is going on. That boat was filled with families. Moms, dads, kids. These weren’t strangers picked at random. These groups were chosen on purpose.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know.”
“And where were they taking them?”
“I don’t know that, either.”
Jones forced a chuckle. “Shit, you don’t know too much, do you?”
“I guess not,” Payne admitted. “But I do know this. If ten of the captives were on the verge of leaving this place, then there’s a good chance that the second group will be leaving shortly.”
“If that happens, our odds of finding them goes down significantly.”
“You got that right.” Payne checked the ammo in his Glock. “So tell me, Mr. Jones, you’re the brilliant military strategist. What do you recommend we do?”
“That’s easy. Let’s go save some people.”
HOLMES
and Greene were ready to enter Ariane’s room when Jackson’s voice emerged from Holmes’s radio. They had left Jackson five minutes before, and he was already calling.
“What the hell do you want now?” Holmes barked.
“Well, hello to you, too!” Jackson replied. “Sorry to disturb you, but we just heard a bunch of gunshots by the western dock.”
“Damn!” Greene cursed. “They’re going after the boat!” In the back of his mind, he was glad that he’d left his babysitting job when he did. He didn’t want to face Payne and Jones until the odds were more in his favor. “We have to stop these guys before they ruin everything.”
“How do we do that?” Holmes demanded. He had the most military experience of any of them, but he was clueless when it came to Payne and Jones. They were playing in a different league. “You know these guys better than I do. Do they have any flaws that we can exploit?”
Without speaking, Greene pointed to the door in front of him. As far as he knew, their only weakness lay inside the room.
Holmes considered the information, then pushed the button on his radio. “Harris, we’re coming out with the two girls. In the meantime, gather up all the guards and arm them with the best weapons we have. As soon as I get outside, we’re gonna storm the dock.”
“You got it!” Jackson’s voice was a mixture of excitement and concern. “I’ll see ya soon.”
Greene raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Do you think an all-out attack is gonna work on these guys? Won’t they see us coming a mile away?”
“Definitely, but that’s exactly what I want. I’ll have our guys make as much noise as possible, and I guarantee that Payne and Jones will try to slip through a crack and come to the house.” Holmes pointed to the door. “If she means as much to them as you say, they’re just killing time until we leave the home front open. As soon as we make a move, they’ll seize the opportunity.”
Greene nodded in agreement. The plan made perfect sense. “So, while the guards are in the weeds, what are we gonna do with her?”
Holmes grinned sadistically. “We’ll use her to set a trap of our own.”
CHAPTER 49
JUST
as Holmes had expected, Payne and Jones could hear the guards approaching, but it wasn’t because of their military training. All it took was a good set of ears, for the African guards did everything in their power to make as much noise as possible. They’d been told to drive Payne and Jones toward the dock site, where they’d eventually be trapped against the water. Their technique might’ve been successful if they were hunting a man-eater or some other type of game. But Payne and Jones were far more intelligent than a lion. Much more dangerous, too.
“Uh-oh,” Jones joked. “I think somebody’s coming.”
Using the night as their ally, the ex-MANIACs slipped past the squadron of guards without difficulty. They had the opportunity to kill a few men if they had wanted to, but they decided the risk wasn’t worth it. They figured it was probably better if the guards continued their search in the woods while they crept unnoticed toward the main house. No sense rattling their cage if they didn’t have to.
Once the duo reached the edge of the plantation house grounds, Jones asked Payne to stop. He had something on his mind, and he needed to voice it before it was too late.
“You realize, of course, that there’s a very good chance that this is a setup.”
“Yep.”
“And if Ariane is inside, she’s probably surrounded by armed guards.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“And there’s a pretty good chance that we’ll get killed doing this.”
Payne frowned. “You think so?”
“No, but I wanted to make sure you were listening. You tend to block me out sometimes.”
“What was that?”
Jones laughed. “Okay, let’s do this.”
The two men hustled to the nearest cabin and used it as temporary shelter. Then, by repeating the process several times, they slowly made their way up the row of cabins until they found themselves crouching near the blackened remains of Jones’s blast site.
“Now what?” Payne asked.
From this point on, he knew their cover was limited. With the exception of a few oak trees covered in Spanish moss, there was nothing between their current position and the house.
“Front door or back?”
Jones studied the outside of the plantation house and shrugged. He’d never been inside the white-pillared mansion and had no idea what kind of security it had. Everything from here on out would be blind luck.
“It’s your girlfriend, you decide.”
Payne didn’t even bother to reply as he made his way toward the rear of the house. Jones stayed close behind, scouting for potential trouble as he did. When they reached the back of the structure, they noticed something that made their choice a good one. Bennie Blount was sticking his head out of a downstairs window, trying to get their attention.
“Pssst,” he called. “Over here!”
The duo raised their weapons in unison, then hustled over to Blount.
“What the hell are you doing?” Payne demanded.
“I was waiting for you. I watched your approach behind the cabins and saw you pause by the burned shed. That’s when I realized you were coming to the house.”
Payne and Jones looked at each other, puzzled. Something didn’t seem right about Blount, but they couldn’t figure out what it was.
“How’d you see us from that far away?” Jones wondered. “It’s pretty dark out here, and you’re in the back of the house.”
“Security cameras. The Plantation has them everywhere.”
“Cameras?” Payne’s interest was piqued. He realized that they could be quite useful if he used them properly. “Where are they?”
“All over. I can’t tell you where, though, because they’re very well concealed. I wouldn’t have even known about them if I didn’t break into the security office to hunt for you guys. That’s when I saw all of the monitors.”
Payne glanced at Jones and grimaced. Something was wrong, definitely wrong. He could sense it. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it was there, like a word on the tip of his tongue. Jones noticed it, too, and he showed his displeasure by frowning. Something was up.
“Gentlemen,” Blount said, grinning, “is something amiss? You seem strangely distressed by our conversation. Perhaps it was something I said?”
Finally, both men figured it out. Blount was no longer talking in the backwater language of a buckwheat. He was using the proper diction of a scholar instead.
“What the . . . ?” Payne couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You sneaky son of a bitch!”
“Now, don’t be goin’ on like that about my mama. She ain’t no bitch, I tell ya!”
Jones’s mouth fell wide open. He’d been completely fooled by Blount’s act. As he stood there staring at the dreadlocked servant, he couldn’t help but feel foolish. “The Academy Award for Best Actor in a Criminal Conspiracy goes to—”
Payne cut him off. They didn’t have time for humor at the moment.
“Bennie, or whatever the hell your name is, look me in the eyes and tell me which side of this war you’re on.” Payne raised his gun and put it under Blount’s chin. “I ain’t shittin’ you. Tell me right now, or you’ll die like the rest of the Posse.”
Jones laughed to himself. “You best tell him, Master Bennie. He ain’t bluffin’ none.”
Blount responded in perfect English. “I’m with you guys, I swear! I’m not part of the Posse. I’ve just been biding my time and gathering information. I swear to God!”
“Information for what?” Payne demanded, pressing the gun deeper into Blount’s throat.
“Tells him, Bennie! Master Payne gots himself a nasty temper and an itchy trigga finga. And that ain’t no good combination.”
Blount shuddered as Jones’s words sank in. “I’ve been gathering information for the authorities. I’m trying to get this place shut down, but I can’t do it in both continents without the proof to back it up. No one will listen to me until then.”
“What do you mean,
both continents
?”
“The Plantation isn’t just a torture site. It’s a lot more complicated than that.” Blount tried to swallow, but the gun pressed against his throat made it difficult. “This is business, big business! The Posse has ties all over the world, and if I want to shut everything down, I have to learn the names of the other people. That’s the only way to do it properly. Get everybody at once.”
Payne looked into Blount’s eyes, and he appeared to be sincere. But in this case,
appeared
was the operative word. For the longest time, Blount had appeared to be an uneducated country boy, and Payne had trusted him completely. Now Blount appeared to be telling the truth a second time, and he was asking Payne to believe him again. But how could he? Blount was such an incredible actor there was no way Payne could separate his bullshit from reality.
