Hush by Cherry Adair Read Free Book Online Page B

y—”
    â€œBarbie, unless you have a death wish, a secret skill, or a SAM hidden in a pocket, go back there and make yourself inconspicuous.” Zak didn’t wait to see if she did what he ordered. He moved into position beside the sealed doors as the van shuddered to a stop.
    Zak counted off. One … two … three … four …
    A metallic scrape …
    The doors were flung open, letting in a flood ofwhite-hot sunlight and exposing three armed guerrillas who stood in a row, blocking their way. With wild cries, Zak and Gideon leaped from the back of the van like unexpected ninja jack-in-the-boxes.
    Zak took down the two on the left, Gid the guy on the right. It wasn’t neat, and it wasn’t finessed, but the element of surprise was damned effective. Zak knocked out the taller guy, who was wearing a blue bandana. The second man, shorter and stockier, was the guy who’d held him down for the knockout blow back at the hotel. A bonus.
    As they scrabbled in the long grass, the guy struggled against the twisted strap of his Uzi and kicked and shouted invectives as Zak beat the shit out of him. Zak staggered to his feet, the guy’s camo shirtfront clutched in his fist. The guerrilla was still yelling, still struggling to untangle himself from the webbed strap slung diagonally across his body. Zak grabbed the son of a bitch around his bull neck and brought up his knee in a swift move that broke his nose with a satisfying crunch. It was a twofer. The man fell into the long grass unconscious.
    He and Gideon shot each other a grin, then split up to go around the van to see who else they had to deal with.
    â€œShit.” Zak stopped dead in his tracks, his way blocked by the butch commando guerrilla from the hotel.
    â€œSí.” She looked Zak up and down; her unpleasant smile didn’t reach her black eyes. “On your knees.”
    Since he’d seen how accurate she was with the H & K when she’d blown a man’s head off point-blank in the hotel room, he sank to his knees.
    The vividly green vegetation, mostly grasses, closed around his thighs and came almost to his waist. The ground was spongy and damp, and smelled swampy.
    On the other side of the van, his brother’s loud curse was abruptly cut off, and the sound of a scuffle followed. Seconds later, Gideon was herded around the front of the van, Uzis pointed at his spine, ahead of two more guys dressed in camo.
    â€œLoida—”
    â€œÂ¡Héctor! Joder chamo, que tonto eres.” Clearly not happy that her man had used her name, the woman cursed him fluidly in rapid Spanish as he brought Gideon to stand beside a kneeling Zak.
    Apologetically the man mumbled, “Lo siento, lo siento, lo siento.” Shoving Gideon to his knees, he sent a nervous glance in the direction of his leader and asked tentatively, “Piñero?”
    â€œÂ¡Húevon!” Loida Piñero slugged him in the jaw with her elbow for using her either of her names, knocking the hulking guy on his ass. He got up, giving her a hot look.
    She pointed the business end of the Heckler & Koch at him. “¡Ya basta!”
    He put up a hand, still nursing his jaw. “Sí, jefa, sí.”
    As they said in the local vernacular, she was the “goat who pissed the most.” The boss. Clearly the one in charge, clearly the one whom the men had been waiting for at the hotel, and just as clearly the one they were all afraid of. She’d taken out the man attacking Acadia without a moment’s hesitation, without a blink. She looked like onescary dude, with a bandolier of bullets slashing across her flat chest, a wicked-looking KA-BAR knife in the scarred scabbard strapped to her thigh, and an H & K G3K assault rifle held like an extension of her arm.
    As Héctor used the side of the van to pull himself to his feet, the woman glanced coldly at the men watching from the sidelines. They too were armed to the teeth. She