TWENTY-SIX
Escape
I dressed quietly as I glanced at the clock. 00:04. Astrid was a beautiful mess as she slept on the bed. I'd continued to lay lightly over her, supporting most of my weight on elbows and knees as we kissed and touched, my hard cock inside her, until she drifted into sleep. I'd remained still, my face buried in her neck, enjoying her scent until I began to feel drowsy. With a final, lazy kiss on her neck, I'd slowly and carefully extracted myself from our embrace. She'd woken briefly as I pulled out of her, giving me the opportunity to make my goodbyes as we kissed and nuzzled again. She asked me to spend the night with her, and while normally I'd have been delighted to share her bed for the rest of the night, I made the excuse that Voice wanted me back in the compound, teasingly telling her he was afraid that if I spent the entire night with her, I might never return. She'd smiled and nodded sluggishly in understanding, but she was so groggy, I hoped she'd remember in the morning that I hadn't slipped away like a thief in the night.
I slowly opened the bedroom door, starting upon seeing the man standing in the hall. He stared at me with bored eyes. "Finished?" he asked, his tone so bland and neutral it was a condemnation in itself.
"Yes. You my escort?"
"This way," he said, jerking his head toward the stairs in way of answer.
I followed him down the steps and into the public area of the house. "Where's Mr. Garcia tonight?" I asked.
I didn't receive so much as a grunt as an answer. I followed him to the door, which he opened for me. The message couldn't be clearer.
Get out!
With a smile and a nod, I stepped outside, the guard following me. He beckoned with a hand, and an instant later, the headlamps of the Escalade popped on as the vehicle rumbled to life. We waited as the SUV slowly growled its way around the wide curving drive that fronted the house, and stopped in front of us.
"Thanks, Smilely," I said as I stepped away from him toward the idling Cadillac. "It's been a pleasure talking with you." The man said nothing, and I didn't bother looking behind me to see if he was glaring at me. As I approached, the Escalade's passenger door opened and the man stepped out, opened the rear door for me, and as I slid into the comfortable leather seat, shut it behind me.
"Have fun?" Valencia asked as I snapped my seatbelt.
"Yeah... I did. You?"
She snorted as the SUV surged away with a growl of its supercharged V8. "Yeah. Nothing I like better than sitting in a car for eight hours."
"You waited here the whole time?"
"No. We went into Córdoba for dinner. Then, about ten, we drove back into town to relieve ourselves."
"Sounds like fun. Did you sleep any?"
"Did you?"
I smiled. "No, but I was working."
"Yeah. I didn't either."
"Tired?" I asked.
"Not too tired. You?"
"No, not really."
She nodded slowly as she jerked her head ever so slightly at the front seat passenger. Holding her eyes, I nodded once. We rode in silence for five minutes or so before she reached over and touched me on the leg. I glanced at her. She again nodded at the front seat passenger as she slowly, and silently, drew her weapon from under her coat. We were in the middle of nowhere on a narrow, unmarked road, with no cars or houses around. If we were going to do this, now was the perfect time. I squirmed deeper into my seat and placed my hand on the seatbelt release as I nodded, waiting for her to make her move. I didn't want a warning indicator to appear on the dash before we were ready.
With her nod, Valencia and I popped our seatbelts at the same time. "Stop the car," she snarled as she leaned forward and reached around the headrest, her arm going around the driver's neck as she pressed her weapon against the base of his skull, locking herself in place in case he decided to get frisky with the wheel or brakes, and drive into the overgrown ditch or something, to try to shake her off. The passenger, stunned by Valencia's unexpected action, gave me the time I needed to reach around the seat. I grabbed his arms just below the elbows and hauled back to immobilize his arms and pin him to the seatback, digging my knees into the back of the front seat for extra leverage. "I said stop the fucking car," she snarled again, louder this time.
"What are you doing?" the driver cried, the vehicle slowing as he lifted his foot from the throttle.
"What I'm going to do is blow your fucking brains out if you don't stop this fucking car right the fuck now!"
The driver finally applied the brakes, the SUV grinding to a hard stop in the middle of the lane.
"Car off. Hand me the keys," Valencia ordered. The man complied, and she dropped the fob into her jacket pocket.
"Take his gun," I grunted as the passenger strained against me with snarls of effort. I had him securely locked down, but I couldn't do anything else with him.
"Weapon," she growled as she pressed the barrel of her weapon more firmly against the driver's skull. "Don't be stupid and you'll make it home to your wife and daughter."
The driver slowly withdrew his weapon, holding it between finger and thumb. Valencia took it and dropped it onto the floor at her feet. "Now his." The passenger became still as the driver reached into his coat and withdrew the weapon the same way.
"Voice is going to kill you for this," the passenger growled.
"He'll have to catch me first," she sneered as she took the gun and offered it to me.
I wasn't sure how to handle the handoff. After a moment of thought, I leaned forward so my lips were close to the passenger's ear. "I'm going to take your gun. If you so much as twitch when I released you, I'm going to shoot you in the back through the seat. Your friend there watched me shoot one day. Ask him if he'd risk it."
"No," the driver said quietly. "Don't do anything," he continued, his voice almost pleading. "I have a wife, and daughter, with another on the way."
"Voice will kill us!"
"Maybe," Valencia agreed. "Maybe not. Depends on how well you can persuade him there was nothing you could do." She paused a moment. "But I
will
kill you without a second though if I have to. Think about that."
After a long moment, the passenger nodded. I continued to hold his arms hard back, so he wouldn't know when I was planning to let him go. After perhaps thirty seconds, I released his elbows, seized the weapon from Valencia's hand, and quickly racked it to make sure it was charged as I pulled it to me, and then pressed it against the back of the front seat. A shell popped out of the weapon and fell to the floor.
"Smart man," Valencia growled. "Now, hands behind your heads." They complied. "Watch them," she said as she drew her weapon away from the driver, placed it in her holster, and pulled two long zip-ties from her jacket pocket. The first one went around the driver's wrists, the man hissing in discomfort as the plastic band buzzed tight. She handed me the other tie before drawing her weapon again. As she covered, I bound the passenger's wrists in the same manner. "Out of the car," she ordered as soon as I picked up my weapon.
Because our hands weren't bound, and we weren't wearing seatbelts, Valencia and I were much quicker out of the car. As we stood well back from the door, our weapons pointed at the side windows, the two men struggled a moment to release their belts and then slowly exited the car. It appeared they preferred to take their chances with Voice than Valencia. I didn't blame them.
"Phone," I demanded as Valencia did the same to the driver.
He moved but then held his tightly bound wrists up. "I can't reach it."
