Alicia reached the slope to the side of the first jutting wedge of rock and scrambled down its length. Her eyes registered no surprise as a dozen men came into sight, clearly positioned and waiting for her. As one they raised their weapons, but Alicia had no intentions of being captured.
Ever.
Sliding down the last few feet, she plucked her handgun from its holster and picked off the first three men. She crashed into the next two, toppling them like skittles. Behind her Healey also opened fire, his bullets finding men that were firing themselves. His shots struck first, spinning their bodies and sending their bullets against the mountain or into the skies. Then he was also among them, making himself their priority as the rest of his team still came down the slope.
Alicia disarmed a man with a handlebar moustache before hurling him off the cliff edge. As her eyes flicked momentarily down she saw more men gathered on the ledge below. A quick count put the number at six but she couldn’t be sure. That left the rest of Coker’s crew and the man himself probably up top on board the choppers. Her team was well and truly boxed in.
Crouch was among them and struggling with a big merc whose face bore the tattoo of a dragon. Russo was torn between covering their rear and wanting to join the fray. So far nobody was following them down from the plateau above but it might only be a matter of time. On the other hand Coker could already be inside the treasure cave…
Russo grabbed Lex, jammed a pistol into his hand, and yelled, “Watch our backs!” Then raised his gun and took aim. A bullet slammed into the rocky outcrop at his side, another skipped along the channeled floor. Alicia threw a second man toward the valley below. Healey fought hand to hand with a stocky man with a bright red face. Crouch stumbled and went under his opponent, taking a heavy blow to the side of the head. Russo relieved him of his burden with one bullet and saved Healey from being knifed in the back with another. Then shock jolted him as a bullet struck his side, smashing like a hammer into the flak jacket he wore. He staggered, almost dropping his gun, but fought through the pain and surprise to regain his feet a moment later.
Looking up, the world had turned red.
Surprise hit him, followed by bewilderment and uncertainty. All this passed in less than a second and then it was the barely remembered feeling, the bursting, raging need to cause chaos, bringing it all into focus. This was a feeling he’d only experienced once before, years ago. It was the craze of a berserker falling over him; the turmoil of violent battle had suddenly become his best friend. Back then it had taken over, consumed his soul, winning the battlefield and saving most of his comrades but making a blight of the place he used to call his heart.
Not now. Not again. Whatever the circumstance he wouldn’t let it destroy him.
Bellowing with rage, an outlet, a red-hot steam vent, he pounded the ground like a man trying to bring down the mountain. Gradually, the red receded. Pure battle hatred ebbed away, leaving his gut and chest full of bile. At last his eyes cleared.
Lex was beside him, covering whilst he recuperated.
“Thanks, man.”
Lex grunted. Russo breathed hard. Alicia dropped a third man over the edge, this time making sure he fell among his climbing colleagues. The trick gained them precious minutes.
“Other side!” Crouch suddenly yelled.
Alicia saw it immediately. As they plowed their way through the mercs on this ledge and more scrambled up from below, the descent on the other side of the rock ledge, though steeper and more dangerous, was clear. Coker had positioned the majority of his men up top.
She engaged another merc, forcing his gun arm down and between his legs before head-butting under his chin, the force of her blow lifting him off his feet. Stepping in she hurled him over her shoulder, toppling a second man and the last that blocked her way to the other edge of the ledge. With cold indifference she placed bullets in the two men that otherwise would have had no compunctions in killing her.
Crouch materialized at her side. “Risky,” he said, looking down.
“My fucking middle name. And our only chance. Even then they’ll be right behind us.”
Alicia turned, beckoning the team over. Healey dealt with the last merc even as a bullet whizzed close to his skull, fired by the climbing enemy force.
“Quick!”
Alicia whirled and jumped through the air, landing hard amidst a pile of shale and rock dust, slipping and sliding down the steep slope. There was a good reason they hadn’t chosen this side of the mountain to ascend. Steeper, with a sheer drop to the left and strewn with sharp-edged bits of rock and potholes, debris and partly eroded edges, the way down was unjustifiably perilous. Alicia’s intent in sliding down first was to at least clear some of the dangerous rubble out of the way. She would trust in her own catlike instincts to stay on the path.
Down they slithered and slipped, not even Caitlyn or Cruz slowing them up; a team connected by more than a little esteem and a vast burning desire. Alicia gained the second ledge down and hit the rough slope again, kicking timeless elemental wreckage from her path. From above came more shouts and then a familiar voice blared down the mountain.
“Crouch! For God’s sake!”
Alicia paused, slowing. Peering over the top ledge was Greg Coker, his eyes squinting into the blinding sun.
“What the hell’s your deal, man?”
“Stop. We can talk.”
Crouch turned slowly, staring upward. “From what I hear, Greg, the best thing for you to do right now is step off that cliff.”
Coker looked momentarily shocked, then tried to wipe the expression off his face. He failed. “I could really use your help, Michael.” After a moment he seemed to realize how that sounded and added, “To find the treasure.”
Crouch seemed to think about Coker’s double meaning. “Then find a way to talk to me. But it sure as hell isn’t going to be through a bevy of dumb mercenaries.”
Coker’s expression softened as he appeared to absorb that. “Stop or die,” he said without missing a beat. “That’s what the man in charge wants me to tell you.”
The team continued downhill. Crouch answered for them. “Without us you’ll never find that treasure.”
“He’s willing to take the chance.”
Alicia snorted. “Yeah, that figures. Senseless, irresponsible silly crime lords. They’re all the fucking same.”
“It’s the power,” Cruz said at her back. “Being from Mexico I know a little about them. More than I’d like to.”
Crouch urged them on. To Coker he said, “It’s your choice, Greg, but at the moment you’re definitely playing for the wrong team.”
Coker’s face disappeared quickly, replaced by others and then the cliff edge above was bristling with guns. Alicia darted underneath the next outcropping, followed by the rest of her team, only Russo at the back having to dodge between bullets.
“For a big man you’re even slower than I’d imagined,” Alicia told him as he rolled at her feet.
Russo jumped up and dusted himself off. “Stop flirting, Myles. You ain’t my type.”
Alicia sputtered, momentarily dumbstruck. It wasn’t often a gibe caught her off-guard but Russo’s had done the trick. Before she could retort Russo and Healey were returning fire.
Crouch nodded. “Good. We need to remind them that it’s not worth their while to fire down this mountain side.”
A screaming body tumbled past their little refuge, arms and legs flailing. Alicia listened as a lull interrupted the clamor from above. “All right. Time to move.”
Again they ran, Healey and Russo covering their flight. It took all of Alicia’s concentration and skill to clear a path, stay safe and ignore the peril at her back as she descended the mountain.