Break Me Open (26 page)

I looked at him, and he shrugged. What did I expect? He had no military training. No operational planning. It was me that had to get us in.

I heard a rattling - my hand shaking the radio against the fence. We had to move more than fast. It had to be now.

The idea popped in a fit of desperation. We couldn't sneak in. There was only one way to surprise them.

I crackled open the radio channel. "Spoke, I'm coming back. Watch for me."

"Come on," I said to Trig, and started to jog back to the car.

Trig had to sprint to keep up. "Wait what are we doing? Why are we going back?"

"We need a way in. Listen, all you need to do is distract them with that gun."

"Wait, what? How are you getting in?"

"The easy way. And take that off." I slapped the silencer.

I flat out sprinted across the parched earth. I didn't have much time left. If anyone happened to chance a look out here and see me it would just add to their confusion.

I hopped the fence and got back to the car and climbed into the back. Spoke looked at me through the rearview. "You got a plan?"

"Yeah, you're taking us in."

"What? They don't got guards?"

"Not that way." I sighted the house through the fence with my hands. "Straight through."

Spoke just snorted. "You want me to ram the house."

"That far corner room."

"There's fences in the way."

"Cyclone fencing. Just go fast." If the bases were held with cement it might not work, but ranch houses wouldn’t have it. I didn’t think they could have reinforced without attracting attention. In any case, it was the only real option.

Trig reached us, panting, and climbed into the front.

"We get there," I said. "We get Katie, Gyro and that Cartel asshole into this car, and we get the fuck out. Spoke you come in with me. Trig, remember what I said. Just keep em busy. Ok?"

"Yeah, got it," Spoke said. I gave his shoulder a pat. My hand came back quivering.

"Just gimme a minute," Trig said, panting.

"You'll have time on the way," I said. "Go now."

Spoke threw the car in reverse. We pulled back further off the road and onto the dirt a ways. He threw the car into first gear.

"Buckle up.”

We clicked our belts into place and the car lurched forward. We picked up speed slowly across the dirt and desert and then roared across the width of the road, soaring forward.

The outer fence loomed across our view and then with a clank and crash, we burned right through it. The posts tore straight out of the ground. A few punctures cracked the windshield, but we didn't lose much speed.

Our car charged across the long stretch of empty earth. It seemed to take forever in my spiked state. I could see the guards at the front gate slowly turn at the sound of our churning engine. They were raising arms, maybe weapons. Didn't matter. We were too far away, too fast, and too dark to see.

We charged through the second fence in a whir of dust and metal. We actually sheared part it off as we rammed through.

"Hit the corner," I said. "They're all sitting by the inside wall."

The ground before us lit up in a dazzle of light. I flicked down my shades. More lights were coming on inside the house. Movement. Shock. In the target room, the cartel man was rising, his mouth caught mid word.

The house loomed before us.

"Brace," I yelled, and then the world shook and erupted before me in slow motion.

Shards of wood floated through the air like a heavy rain. Spoke and Trig slung against their belts, floating forward in slow motion. The belts stopped them with a synchronized whoof and they slammed back into their seats. I patted their shoulder and screamed "Go," already smashing my way out.

Past the broken wall, the cartel man and Gyro backed out of their seats, arms rising. I could hear footsteps clomping down the hall.

"Trig, cover fire on the hall," I yelled, charging into the room.

His gun barked and pulsed the air with shot after shot. One of the chairs startled and I looked to see Katie's eyes go wide. Her mouth stayed shut though. Her eyes met mine and her mouth widened, curled up. She was smiling. Her entire look said,
What took so long?

God, I loved this girl.

But I charged right past her to Gyro. "Hey fuck face," I said, and landed my fist squarely onto his face, emphasizing my point.

He crumpled like paper. There was really no chance for him. Not with me like this. The Cartel guy looked ready to run, but I grabbed him and slammed him into the wall. I gathered each in an arm and pulled them toward the car. Spoke moved to help me. "In the trunk," I said handing him the squirming Cartel bigwig. "Both of them."

I tossed Gyro over my shoulder and hustled past Katie, giving her my hand. "Come on," I yelled, dragging her out. My hand nearly writhed with tremors between us. She saw and her eyes darkened on mine, but she held on tight.

"Trig, let's go," I yelled, staggering out of the hole in the wall. I popped the trunk and tossed Gyro in. Spoke followed and compelled the Cartel man to join him.

"When they find out -"

"Yeah yeah, shut the fuck up beaner," Spoke said, jamming the trunk shut.

Trig was displacing backwards, firing as he left. An empty clip lay on the floor where he'd dropped it.

"Start the car," I yelled to Spoke, and sprinted back into the room. Snaps filled the air around me. Sonic booms of the return fire passing my ears, amplified louder than they should be. I caught a brief glimpse of the hitmen advancing, grim-faced and firing semi autos. Before they could sight me, I grabbed the clip and ran out. Trig climbed into the seat as I slid into the back.

"What the hell, Ghost?"

"No evidence," I said. "That's how it’s done."

I started to tell Spoke to clear out, but he was already reversing. We separated from the house with a groan, and flew back towards the holes we'd made in the fences. Trig was firing out the window and bullets were cracking towards us, but everything felt so distant. The air felt so hot.

I fell back on the seat, letting the car rattle me where it would.

Katie's beautiful round face dawned over me like the sun. Her eyes were wide, and her palm caressed my cheek.

"Oh god, Ghost," she said. "We don't have meds."

"It's ok," I said, as fireworks seemed to explode around me. "You're ok."

"You found me. How did you find me?"

I wanted to laugh. Of course I'd found her. I had to find her. There was no other way. I must have said something funny cause her face looked even more concerned.

I realized there was still work to be done. I needed to tell her.

"Just go back," I said, feeling how strange my lips moved. "Go back to where we were. Then you'll be ok."

Feeling utterly relieved and completely spent, I sank into darkness.

I squeezed Ghost's hand to mine as we rattled off onto the road. He had a pulse, strong but slow, and his chest moved. There was no other sign of life.

Our tires squealed and I glanced around. The lights of the ranch looked alarmingly far away, like some distant galaxy I'd been abducted too. It couldn't have been five minutes, but already it felt an eternity away. There should have been blazons of light from cars chasing us, but either they never came or we were driving away too fast. Spoke was tearing us out toward the highway without lights and he was damn good.

Trig looked back, still bouncing with adrenaline. He stopped dead when he saw Ghost lying on my lap.

"Shit, is he hit?

"No," I said. "It's his spiking."

"What do we do?"

They were looking at me for advice? "Take him to a hospital, I guess."

What was it he'd mumbled? Go back to where we started? Gilsner, maybe? Yeah, that was safest, get us far away from here. But that interpretation seemed oddly poetic for Ghost, and as much depth as I’d seen in him, I hadn’t seen that. I stroked his chin, alarmingly cold now. I draped my jacket around him, then took Trig’s and added it on top.

A couple thunks came from behind the seat, and a muffled voice called out. "You are fucking with the wrong man." It started to swear in Spanish. Apparently the cartel wasn't quite out.

Then it hit me. We couldn't just go drop these guys off at the FBI and expect to walk away. They had to be found.

Go back to where you started.

"We have to go back to that parking lot," I said. "Where I lost my phone."

"What?" Spoke said, but he got it straight away. "Ah right. Where the feds expects you to be."

His sense of direction was good too. Before long we were cruising down the highway. Even without a chase, it was a tense ride back. The car looked like a movie prop, with spiderwebs all across the front shield and the night leaking in from outside through a couple dozen bullet holes. It was a testament to the shocking speed of the attack that they had managed to get us all out alive.

Ghost's plan, I was sure.

I stroked Ghost's fuzz of hair.
It’s my turn now, don't worry.

We crept back behind the shopping center, and found roughly the spot we were parked. Spoke opened the trunk and found the cartel guy trying to worm around over Gyro's knocked out form. Spoke knocked him out with another punch, and then we searched them both for phones. I grinned as I found a backup sewn into the cartel man's jacket and took it out before we shut the trunk.

Let him feel helpless for once.

There were still a couple cars parked here. Spoke hotwired one and they dragged Ghost to its backseat. Once the engine was in gear, I borrowed Spoke's burner and called in the local police.

"Yeah, hi, there's this car here, with someone yelling in the trunk. I want to go help them, but there's bullet holes all over the car and I'm afraid there might be someone dangerous inside. "

I hung up before the woman could answer and pulled out the battery for good measure.

"Home?" Spoke asked.

"What about your bikes?" I asked.

"We'll pick em up later. Ghost comes number one."

Maybe not everyone in the Wraiths were soldiers but these guys were really brothers in arms. "Ok."

The ride back took a lifetime. We had to drive below the speed limit to make sure we weren’t pulled over by state patrol and caught. I kept an eye out for signs on approaching hospitals in case Ghost's vitals took a turn for the worse, but he lay as still as he normally did in life. No tremors, no anything. His breath came shallow and steady. I still felt pretty awful. A coma wasn't much better than death.

I wanted to cuddle up into him. I wanted to kiss him and thank him, and punch him uselessly a few times.
Why did you spike so hard? Why did you do this for me?

The question was pointless. If I could I would have done the same for him.

When we finally passed through Phoenix and caught a sign for Gilsner, the first of the tension released. Exhaustion threatened to overwhelm me, but I stayed strong for Ghost. My mind swam with memories and of things that never happened. Nights with Ghost, days laughing with my parents, fights with Sandy. The sadness of losing them. The idea of losing Ghost. The past mingled with the unformed future. Questions popped like bubbles in my head.

I remembered one, and asked Trig. "How did you guys even find me?"

Trig grumbled as if I had waked him up. "Your scent. Ghost followed your scent."

Huh.

We rolled into town at almost midnight, and went straight to the ER at Santa Maria. Trig jumped out and helped me lug Ghost out of the car. A couple orderlies rushed out, paused frowning when they saw our jackets then came up anyway.

"OD?" one asked pushing Ghost into a wheelchair.

"Shock, I think." I said. "He's in a coma."

The other eyed my tattoo. "You see what did this to him?"

Oh, I had seen a ton of stuff, but I shook my head. The guy rolled his eyes. He'd probably heard denials a 100 times over. We tried to follow, but he waved us off.