“We’ll deal with that when the time comes.”
“We’re telling him about it, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“If Raven’s been skimming, it’s possible this is his private loot.”
“That’s a boatload of skimming. Either way, we don’t—”
Estefan’s voice cut in. “It’s all quiet at the barracks. No one’s home.”
“Double-time back here. There’s something you need to see.”
“On my way.”
Estefan arrived half a minute later and walked over to the safe. “You’re kidding me.” Estefan picked up an ingot. “These are one-kilo bars. Each one is worth about $50,000. This is a major score!”
“We’ve only got two backpacks and they’re pretty full, but if we split it evenly, we’ll be okay. I think we can handle adding…” He worked the calculator again. “About twenty-eight pounds of gold each. Can you manage that, Harv?”
“I bet I could.” Harv nodded toward Bean. “What about him?”
Bean’s makeshift bandages were fairly soaked, but they weren’t dripping.
“He’s not in danger of bleeding out. We’ll deal with him later after we get this gold squared away.”
“And her?” Harv asked, loading their packs with the ingots.
“Please don’t tie me up with them,” Antonia said, genuine terror in her voice.
Nathan grabbed her wrist, took her outside, and lowered his voice. “I have no reason to trust you, but you have every reason to trust us. Do you doubt we could’ve easily killed you tonight?”
“No.”
Nathan pulled his knife and cut the tether binding her ankles. “You need to choose sides right now, Antonia. I don’t know what kind of a person you are, but if you stay on your current path, it won’t have a happy ending. I hope you don’t dismiss what I’m about to say as patronizing or condescending, because it isn’t meant to be. All the things you think are important — money, power, material possessions — none of them will make you happy. There’s no correlation between wealth and happiness. Absolutely none. It’s one of society’s biggest lies. You may not fully understand what I’m saying right now, but if you live long enough, someday you will.” Nathan put a hand on his chest. “True happiness comes from helping others who are less fortunate than you. It comes from doing the right thing. Nothing else works.”
“What happened to you? In the office, I saw scars under your face paint.”
“Life happened to me.”
“You’re not from around here.”
Nathan didn’t respond.
She hugged herself. “There’s nothing left for me here.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You just haven’t figured it out yet.” In the amber light spilling out of the office, Nathan watched her face. She was so incredibly beautiful. Perhaps she could find inner beauty as well.
Antonia lowered her voice. “Raven always keeps two men with him. They’re like bodyguards or something. I guess not always, just when he comes up for business stuff.”
“We’ll keep that in mind,” Nathan said. “Why’d you share it?”
She shrugged.
Estefan and Harv joined them.
“I’ll be right back,” Nathan said. He went inside the office and told Bean in no uncertain terms to leave Antonia and her family alone or he’d come back and put Bean in a wheelchair.
They all looked to the south at the same time.
A helicopter’s thumping echoed through the valley, then went silent.
“Shit,” Harv said.
“Antonia,” said Nathan, “I need the truth, right now. Does Raven fly helicopters?”
She nodded.
“Does that sound like the helicopter you always hear?”
“Yes.”
“We’re out in the open, people,” said Estefan.
They ran over to the office’s porch.
The helicopter’s drone returned, louder this time.
“You’re all dead now!” White yelled from inside the office. “You hear me? He’s gonna kill every one of you stupid fucks!”
Estefan slipped past Harv into the office and hurried over to White.
White cringed when Estefan pulled Harv’s suppressed Sig from his waist.
“Estefan, no!” Nathan yelled.
Nathan watched Estefan point the pistol at White and activate the laser. A crimson dot marked the top of White’s head. Time seemed to slow as Estefan held the man’s life in his hands.
“It’s not who we are,” Nathan said.
Estefan swung the weapon like a hammer, delivering a haymaker. The man slumped sideways against Bean’s wounded arms. Bean whipped his head back and forth in agony.
“Pull him off,” Nathan said. “Harv, kill the lights.”
The helicopter’s drone tripled when it entered the south end of the valley.
Rather than slow down and drop in altitude, the helicopter screamed over their heads at five hundred feet. Completely dark with no beacons or landing lights, it banked hard to the left, sweeping across the valley to the west. If Raven intended to land, he wasn’t doing so at the helipad.
On the lower slopes of the mountains, Nathan saw a few residential lights come on.
He aimed his rifle for a look but had a hard time acquiring the helo. He took his eye out of the scope and looked down the length of his barrel, lining up on the sound as best he could, but he still couldn’t find it.
“Harv, track for me.”
Harv moved in behind and placed a hand on his back. They’d done this before, many times. “Move left and up a hair, a little more…”
“I have it,” Nathan said. “Looks like a Bell. Six or eight seats.”
In the NV image of his scope, Nathan didn’t see anyone in the left seat, but there were men facing each other in the rear compartment.
“How many?” Harv asked.
“At least four in the back, but no one’s in front with Raven.”
“He doesn’t like anyone sitting next to him,” Antonia offered.
Harv said, “If he’s wearing goggles, we’re visible right now.”
“Shit, I didn’t think of that.” He lowered his rifle.
The Bell kept going south.
“He’s descending,” Harv said. “Hear him cut power?”
“Yeah.”
The sound changed again as Raven reapplied power.
“He’s going to land at the south end of town,” said Nathan, “probably west of the bridge in the open field where the power lines aren’t a factor.”
“He’s on the ground,” Harv said. “He just throttled down to an idle.”
“How do you guys know all of that?” Estefan asked.
Nathan said, “We’re both pilots. Shh.”
A few seconds later, they all heard it — a sudden increase in power, followed by the growing whoop-whoop-whoop of blade slap.
“He’s in the takeoff curve,” Nathan said. “Heading straight for us.”
Harv nodded. “It’s a good bet he just unloaded some of his men.”
The helicopter roared over their position and continued north without changing direction.
“He’s going for the open-pit mines to bracket us in this valley. Harv, you stay with Estefan and engage the men coming up from the south.”
Nathan took off in a dead run for the road.
“Wait!” Harv yelled.
Nathan stopped and turned, counting precious seconds. “If Raven gets eyes on us first, we’re all dead. I need you and Estefan to cover my six.”
“Damn it. Take the TI.” Harv shucked his pack.
Nathan shook his head and resumed running. “Keep it,” he yelled back, “I’ll be okay.”
Harv’s voice boomed through his ear speaker. “I want your word you won’t do anything heroic or reckless up there.”
“You have my word. Shoot to kill from now on, Harv. Anyone carrying a weapon is fair game.”