“I know.”
A little sass was good. Alicia engaged a fourth pirate and sent him tumbling back down the hill. Pirates were now climbing to the apex of the hill in numbers — twelve and then twenty and then their leader crested the final rise. Russo was only twenty feet further back but was forced to pull up and take stock.
Pirates ranged around the top of the hill, pointing their weapons down. Their leader barged through them, causing at least two to drop their weapons and have to scramble around on the ground.
“Find me this treasure!” he bellowed.
Alicia picked her way around the obstacles, moving from tree to tree and using boulders to stay safe. The group came together in the lee of a rough rock ledge.
“What next?” Healey said with enthusiasm.
“They have the high ground,” Russo said, straight-laced and soldier-like.
“Grenades would be useful,” Alicia pointed out.
“Maybe Jensen has some,” Crouch said. “Otherwise it’s going to be tricky.”
Alicia laughed, eyeballing her weapons for damage and changing out the mags. “Conservative as ever, boss.”
“King of the Hill was never my forte,” he said. “But I say — when Jensen attacks, we attack.”
“Would a trained soldier attack that?” Russo motioned toward the rim of the hill guarded by a ring of men.
“It’s his ultimate goal in life.” Crouch shrugged. “And probably his last chance. He’ll attack.”
Caitlyn had been resting on her knees. Now she looked up. “How long before the cavalry arrive?”
“To save us?” Crouch pursed his lips. “There are several agencies working in the Caribbean at the moment, some mopping up after the recent Barbados fiasco. The authorities are on their way and, I hope, at least some of those teams.”
Alicia took the speech to mean I don’t know. Sometimes you just had to read between the lines. “Well, they sure as hell won’t talk the pirate boss down from there. You can’t reason with a man whose major problems have bigger problems of their own.”
Crouch eyed her. “True enough. Any ideas?”
“Yeah, let’s wait for Jensen to attack first.”
A hot sun burned down. Alicia sat with her back to the rocky lee, now able to see the trail of devastation and death that led up the hill. Some men still lived down there, crawling aimlessly. Others were too injured to move. Trees were broken and listing, and scrub was torn apart. Dust still swirled in the air above the paths they had all taken. A fitting aftermath for a crazed, deadly dash into the heart of danger. The Gold Team had engaged with it and executed it well — never in terrible danger and always thinking, always ahead. But the reckless, uncontrolled and ultimately uncaring bunch had made it to the top first and now held all the power. Go figure that life lesson. Her lips curled. Noises filtered through her consciousness. The aggressive protests and instructions from above. The disorganized shooting. The drug-fuelled laughter. Healey and Caitlyn having a whispered conversation. Russo clearing his throat.
She peered up toward the top of the hill, shielded by brush that hung over the ledge. The tree that stood up there by itself was a striking spectacle. Barren, twisted, and gray-white it warped upwards toward the skies, rising magnificent and distorted with misshapen branches and an array of twigs hanging down like broken fingers. It drew her eyes right to the top where the highest boughs appeared to have decided to stop growing, instead curling over and over to form a creepy, lifeless, hanging barrier that reminded her of hundreds of rolls of barbed wire tied together.
“That is one sick tree,” she commented.
“Morgan’s Fancy,” Crouch stated. “That’s what it should be called.”
“Don’t get your hopes up as well,” Alicia warned. “This island could be as much a washout as all the rest.”
“Has to be here.” Crouch thought he’d turned away before she saw the desperation in his eyes. “It has to be.”
Alicia turned her gaze over to where they thought Jensen had gone to ground. No signs of life existed over there, around the curve of the hill, but then none should. The self-made pirate would be making plans to attack the real modern pirates. She shook her head. Shit, it was becoming confusing.
The Crouch’s cell rang. Thinking it was their reinforcements he answered quickly. “Where are you?”
“Just around the corner actually,” Jensen’s voice came over the lowered loudspeaker.
Crouch started. “How do you have my number?”
“Is that really the issue here? C’mon, Michael. Now, my thinking is that we hit them both at the same time. We were trained by the same people so I know you feel the same.”
Alicia fought against accepting the reasonable tones and likening them to Drake. She couldn’t think that way now — the men were poles apart.
“You want to join forces?” Crouch was too shocked to think straight.
“No, no, don’t be a fool.” Jensen laughed. “I want to kill you all for trying so hard to wreck my chances of getting super-rich. But first, neither of us can get to that treasure with the band of idiots in the way. Am I right?”
“I hardly class you as any better.”
“Ooh, that hurt. So unnecessary. But I am right, Michael. You know it.”
Crouch took a look up the hill and then at his team. Alicia knew his decision long before it reached his face. The treasure’s influence was all over him.
“I’ll meet you at the tree,” Jensen said. “I’ll kill you there.”
Crouch checked his watch. “You ready in five?”
“Let’s make it seven. Oh, and as for your number… don’t forget I have contacts too.”
Alicia shook her head at the macho bullshit. She plucked the phone from Crouch’s hands. “Just be ready, asshole. We’ll go when we’re ready.”
She threw the object back to Crouch. Then she made sure the rest of the team were watching her.
“Nobody has to do this,” she said. “So don’t think you do. We can back out right now. After all, it’s only buried treasure and the cops are on their way. How far could any of them get?”
“He might rebury it. Sink it. He might have a hidden chopper. A sub—”
“Listen to yourself.” Alicia still hadn’t forgiven him and embraced the insubordination. “We will decide what is worth risking our lives for. Not you.”
Crouch held up both hands.
Russo looked uncomfortable. “We’ve come this far. Pirates are a ragtag bunch of clowns and jokers. And… we finally take down Jensen. I’m in.”
Healey looked to Caitlyn and then to Crouch, the two most important people in his life. “I guess Russo’s right. Jensen is the big factor here. If we lose him for any reason he could haunt our lives forever. Pop up anytime. I say take him out.”
Caitlyn understood the potential for a lifelong threat too. “They’re right, Alicia. Never leave an enemy at your back.”
She smiled at the words coming from the mouth of the researcher. “I love you all like family,” she said. “And respect your decisions, no matter how batshit crazy they are.” She gauged the top of the hill. “We ready?”
Russo steadied his rifle. “Ready.”
“Spread out,” Crouch said. “Don’t give them a target.”
Alicia felt like reminding him who they were, but bit it back. This wasn’t the time. She prepared herself mentally and then moved to the side, following the curve of the ledge around the hill. Then, without a word, she stepped out between it and the next tree and started firing. By the time her bullets reached the top of the hill she was sheltering again behind a thick trunk. Two pirates went down, writhing. Russo followed her lead, taking out two more. Healey went the other way with Caitlyn and felled another. Five seconds later gunfire erupted from the other side of the hill and the pirates started yelling.