Part 27 (1/2)
David followed Carlos down the breezeway, breaking off when they reached Alpha. He sprinted across the corridor, bullets following him into a dark vending machine vestibule, where he crouched and peeked around the cinder-block wall, spotting two men advancing down the sidewalk between the parking lot and the rooms. He fired at the first gunman, striking him twice in the chest and dropping him to the concrete.
The second gunman emptied his rifle in David's direction and tried to take cover behind one of the metal beams supporting the upper-level walkway. Unfortunately for him, the beam didn't completely s.h.i.+eld his body. David's first bullet, an instinctive center-ma.s.s shot, ricocheted off the thick steel beam protecting part of the man's torso, but his second struck the man in the shoulder, spinning him into the open, where David's third and fourth shots knocked him onto his back.
”Clear to the north!” said David.
”Lots of hostiles east!” said Alpha. ”Moving!”
More men appeared at the far end of the parking lot, headed toward the north end of the motel. David held his fire while Alpha exited the breezeway, then squeezed off a few shots at the distant targets.
”David! Get to the SUV. Backseat,” yelled Carlos from Alpha's previous position covering the east.
David bolted from the snack room, heading diagonally across the sidewalk for the SUV. Alpha was crouched next to the open driver's side door, firing east toward a gas station service center. When David reached the parking lot pavement, Alpha slid into the driver's seat and pulled his door shut. David opened the rear driver's side door and instinctively took over for Alpha, firing at targets of opportunity to the east.
”Get in!” yelled Alpha, revving the SUV's engine.
David slid into the backseat, closing the door and turning in his seat to continue firing at the approaching cartel soldiers. One of the front car doors opened and slammed shut.
”Let's go!” yelled Carlos, and the vehicle lurched into reverse.
Several metallic clunks echoed through the cabin.
”Motherf.u.c.k!” yelled Carlos.
When David looked over his shoulder, he found multiple holes had been punched through the roof. Carlos aimed his compact rifle upward and created twice as many holes before blood spurted from the top of his shoulder, streaking the partially cracked winds.h.i.+eld. Sticking the barrel of his rifle out of his window as Alpha threw the steering wheel left to point the vehicle straight at Mariposa Boulevard, David was ready when the SUV screeched to a halt with his weapon aligned with the walkway directly in front of room 204. He fired a quick burst at the only head visible, seeing it snap back from the impact of the bullets.
Tires screeching, the SUV launched forward and raced through the parking lot.
”Contact. Right side!” yelled Alpha.
Carlos responded slowly, blood still gus.h.i.+ng from his collarbone area. Given the bullet's angle of entry from above, his wound could easily be fatal without immediate treatment. David moved to the opposite side of the rear bench seat and stuck his barrel through the window slit, searching for the target Alpha had called out and finding him, sprinting from the service station to a thick palm tree at the edge of the parking lot. Both Carlos and David fired short bursts into the man's chest, crumbling him to the pavement.
David continued firing at anything that moved to their right, while Carlos s.h.i.+fted his aim through the partially missing winds.h.i.+eld.
”Contact. Dead ahead,” said Carlos, firing the rest of his magazine. ”Reloading.”
A torrent of hollow metallic thumps and sharp cracks reverberated inside the SUV as the front and right sides of the vehicle absorbed and deflected dozens of bullets. A warm stream of bright red blood sprayed across the back of David's neck, drawing his attention to the front seat. Carlos's head tilted left at an odd angle, blood pumping out of the right side of his neck. Alpha was crouched forward in the driver's seat, the front lip of his helmet pressed against the top of the steering wheel. A half dozen or more cartel gunmen ran wildly through the bushes ahead of them, firing on full automatic.
”Turning left!” said Alpha.
David quickly changed rifle magazines and readied for the turn, while Alpha grabbed Carlos's rifle with one hand and jammed the barrel through the pa.s.senger side window. When both rifles were in position, Alpha eased the SUV into a shallow arc, putting the mob on David's side of the car. They worked the rifles back and forth, firing short burst after short burst into the gunmen. Caught in the open, less than thirty feet away from the SUV, the cartel group was obliterated by the 6.8-millimeter broadside.
David pulled his weapon inside the vehicle and aimed over the backseat through the rear lift gate window, witnessing the impact of their mobile firing squad. The gunmen lay in a motionless, tangled heap of bloodied bodies behind them.
He started to pull another magazine from his vest when Alpha yelled, ”Contact. Left! North face of the motel!”
With no time to reload, and the clear plastic side of the inserted magazine indicating fewer than five rounds remaining, David flipped the selector switch to semiautomatic and searched through the window for targets. He located three men cl.u.s.tered together, firing wildly at the second SUV in the abandoned lot west of the motel. David's first bullet missed, striking the wall above one gunman's head and drawing their attention-and bullets. As rounds smacked the gla.s.s and thudded into the door frame protecting him, he switched the rifle to automatic and waited for the car to pull even with the group.
”What the f.u.c.k are you waiting for?” yelled Alpha.
He pressed the trigger, hitting the closest gunman in the sternum with the last bullets in his magazine and sending the man standing behind him careening back against the wall. The second man bounced to the concrete, and the first fell on top of him.
”Oh,” said Alpha. ”That.”
David's armor-piercing bullets had easily sliced through both men. As the remaining gunman ran for the east side of the building, David reloaded for the next round of threats.
Alpha drove across the back parking lot, barreling through a row of low bushes to pull into formation twenty feet behind the SUV carrying the Fishers. David switched sides, ready to blast away at any vehicles or gunmen in their way. The SUV in front of them skidded into a high-speed turn on Mariposa, its wheels quickly gripping the pavement and catapulting them west on the four-lane road. Alpha followed, fishtailing their truck before regaining full control.
Once the SUV steadied on Mariposa, David checked the road behind them. A few armed men stood in the middle of the road firing at them-rapidly shrinking away.
”Clear in back,” said David.
”We're far from clear,” said Alpha. ”Check Carlos.”
He didn't have to spend more than a few seconds a.s.sessing the operative's condition. The bullet that had entered through the right side of his neck had punched a hole straight through the back, likely severing his spinal cord. Blood pumped weakly through the entry wound, his heart fading. David didn't think the hemostatic bandages or bullet plugs would make a difference at this point, but gave it a try-the least he could do for someone willing to step into harm's way on his behalf. David started to open the individual first aid kit pouch attached to the side of his tactical vest.
”Forget it,” said Alpha. ”He's gone.”
There was no point in arguing. Even if they could slow the bleeding, which he seriously doubted, Carlos would die long before they could reach a medical facility capable of treating his wounds.
”I'll pull him in back,” said David.
”No. Hand me his seat belt. He's better off strapped in the front seat.”
”Keep him from flying around in a crash?”
David pulled the seat belt latch across Carlos's body until Alpha could reach it.
”That and he's one more layer between you and a bullet,” said Alpha, clicking the seat belt into place.
”What's the plan?”
”Simple as it gets. You watch the back. I got the front.”
David knelt on the rear bench seat, nesting his rifle against the headrest. Still nothing behind them. ”I meant the bigger plan,” he said. ”You didn't stumble on us by accident.”
”The bigger plan is getting you somewhere safe,” said Alpha. ”And no, it wasn't an accident. We've been following you since Mexicali with a tracking beacon. Jose wasn't confident in your ability to survive on your own. Turns out he was right.”
A yellow pickup truck with oversize tires swerved onto the road several intersections behind them, followed by three or four sedans.
”We have company,” said David. ”What's the more immediate plan?”
Alpha craned his head back to look, muttering a curse and leaning on the gas. ”Drive north on Interstate 19 and try to reach Jose before the cartel reaches us.”
”How far away is he?”
”A little over thirty minutes. And I expect we'll run into a roadblock or two ahead. This should be fun.”