Another minute of running and a mound of huge, black round edged rocks formed the start of a steep hillside. Kenzie was already two levels up and now turned, rifle in hand. Everyone dove left and right, rolling for cover.
“Not alive,” Drake heard the woman’s words forced out through intense stress. “Never alive.”
He understood a moment later it wasn’t true. Bullets slammed all around. If Kenzie really wanted to die she could take her own life. The Amazon offered many ways. He peered around a green cluster to see Alicia making her way up the side of the boulder mass, unseen by Kenzie.
One chance.
He fired, keeping Kenzie’s attention riveted firmly below.
Alicia slipped between rocks, fleet of foot and as fast as a cat. Soon, she had reached a higher elevation than Kenzie and signaled to the rest of the team.
Drake took point. “Give up now!” he shouted. “And we’ll take you back alive.”
Kenzie emptied a mag in answer.
Dahl fired back, then shouted. “Look above. You’re covered. You’re finished.”
Kenzie growled, locking eyes with Alicia, then appearing to quickly decide that the rest of the team at least wouldn’t fire on her. She leapt off the rock, hit the jungle floor and rolled, coming up several feet from Dahl’s position and snarling.
“You want me? Take me down, if you can.”
Dahl deflected blows as he retreated. Kenzie kicked at his midriff, sending him over a log. Drake leapt in from one side, and Kinimaka from another. Suddenly Kenzie was reaching to her back and then the katana was in her hands, swinging left to right and glinting like the murderous eyes of a madman. All eyes swiveled as Alicia skidded to a stop only yards away.
“Don’t…” she began.
Then Kenzie whirled the blade left and right, her movements an orchestrated dance as her arms swayed and her body rolled. Drake evaded fast but still saw a rip appear in his sleeve and a line of blood open up across the top of his arm. Kinimaka saw his Glock whirl through the air, knocked form his hand. Terrified, the Hawaiian wasted a valuable moment checking that his hand was still attached to his wrist, and then Kenzie’s blade pushed at his throat.
“Walk away,” she hissed. “Or he dies.”
Alicia pressed the barrel of her gun against the back of Kenzie’s neck. “Drop the sword,” she said. “Or lose the head.”
Drake rose slowly. Dahl emerged from the undergrowth, covered in mulch. The Yorkshireman unleashed the first of many. “Not having your best day, are you pal?”
Dahl merely growled and then brushed himself down. “She’s not going to kill anyone. She wants to live.”
Kenzie’s mouth became a thin, hard line. Kinimaka’s eyes betrayed just how close to puncturing his neck she was.
Drake didn’t move. “If you shoot her right in the head she should be brain dead before she could force the point of that blade home.”
Alicia sidestepped so that Kinimaka was out of her line of fire. “Close your eyes, Mano. Oh, and your mouth. Don’t wanna be swallowing anything too nasty.”
Kenzie tensed. “You are really calling my bluff? Damn.”
The katana swung away from the Hawaiian, arcing around as Kenzie spun and aimed at Alicia’s midriff. It flashed by with a millimeter of clearance as Alicia, alert and wily as ever, stepped beyond range. Drake watched in frustration as the point returned to Mano’s throat.
“Mate,” he said. “That was your chance to move.”
“I realize that now.” Kinimaka nodded then winced as the steel cut a little deeper.
Dahl stepped forward and tried his luck. “Can we talk about this?”
“Yeah,” Drake said. “He’d like to see your swing again. For that matter I’d like to see it again too. Maybe take a few photos.”
Kenzie blinked a little despairingly. “Shit, if you were both my men I’d have shot you by now.”
Alicia couldn’t hide a grin. “The gun is pointed at your head. Otherwise…”
Now the woman dropped her eyes. “They work for you?”
“They do as they’re told,” Alicia said with a straight face. “When they’re told to.”
Kenzie eyed Dahl. “I bet.”
“We can talk more about that,” Alicia said. “When you put the bloody katana down.”
“And my terms of surrender?”
Dahl took that one. “You live. You stick with us until we can safely remove you from the bazaar. You play along.”
Drake didn’t like it, but saw the Swede’s reasoning. The bazaar was entering its final stages. They couldn’t risk not capturing their primary targets by hauling Kenzie to the boat. Like it or not this was their very last chance.
Kenzie appeared to weigh her options. “I choose to fight then. I have nothing to lose.”
“You’re looking to die?” Alicia snarled. “Then put the blade down and let me shoot you in the head.”
A heavy stillness descended, a blanket that spread the entire scale of the human conscience. Alicia looked ready to commit murder whereas Dahl held both hands out in a placating manner. Kenzie simply walked her body around whilst holding the blade tip in place to stare Alicia right in the eyes.
“You’re gonna shoot me right here? Then do it. Leave no enemies at your back, eh?”
Alicia stared. “You said it.”
She fired.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Kenzie, battle-hardened, jaded, cynical and dangerous as she was, flinched when the gun went off. She recoiled even further when the bullet, traveling at 2500 feet per second, flashed across the side of her skull, leaving a blood trail in its wake. Kinimaka turned as Kenzie dropped the sword in shock and then stared, open-mouthed, at Alicia, nothing but a mixture of hatred and respect in her eyes.
“Fucking bitch. I’ll pay you back for that one day.”
Alicia shrugged. “But not today. Makes you look more appealing anyway.”
“It does?”
“A bit of character does a lot for a stupid face.”
Dahl moved in, but this time Kinimaka retained his wits and was already scooping up the long, single-edged sword. The Swede’s eyes were a little crazy as he took the shoulder-holster from Kenzie and then motioned toward Kinimaka.
“I’ll take the sword.”
Drake sighed. “Shit, you’re crazier than she is.”
Kenzie flicked a glance at them. “He is? I knew we shared something. Or perhaps we will do later.”
Drake laughed. “Now, don’t hurt my feelings, love. I guess you like ’em dumb, huh?”
Alicia glowered.
Kenzie almost smiled. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
Of course, Dahl hadn’t heard the conversation, so enamored was he of his new weapon. He made a show of sheathing the sword and then re-joined planet earth. “So? What’s next?”
“Back to camp.” Kinimaka rubbed his throat a little daintily. “It’s getting dark and the revels will have started already. Hayden will be hopping up and down.”
Drake eyed the jungle. “Let’s make it quick and cautious. I don’t think Ramses’ guards will venture so far away from camp, but they just might.”
“Unlikely,” Kenzie put in. “This area of the Amazon is a hive for the drug and gun running cartels. That’s why I chose the abandoned base. Honestly, it’s almost expected that there will be trouble around here.”
Alicia prodded her with the gun. “Honestly? From you? I think you need to take the soap outta your dirty mouth and start again.”
“Like I said — you’ll get yours.”
“Oh, I hope so.”
Drake made a point of taking charge of Kenzie, separating the two women. They vacated the boulder mound area and made their way back to Kenzie’s camp, where the bus still shouldered and tearing metal emitted screeching sounds. Past that, they returned to the vicinity of the bazaar and the place they had first entered the jungle.