“Say your goodbyes, mi amigos,” the guard named Alejandro stated as he pushed his gun against Garrett’s head.
“Make it fast,” the other guard added as he pushed his gun against the side of Parker’s head.
Hope slowly dwindled out of Garrett. He could incapacitate one guard, most likely two if luck was on his side, but never three. Milo was still a loose cannon, and Garrett had no idea what his old friend would do if Garrett chose to fight back right now. Having a weapon would make it easier but having Parker free from her bindings would make it perfect. There was too much uncertainty with the situation as it stood. He would never take a risk with Parker’s life or stray bullets headed in her direction, but he couldn’t just sit there and do nothing. He wouldn’t let these men slaughter them like animals. Neither he nor Parker were helpless. They both knew how to fight; they both were trained in getting out of situations like this. He just needed a plan. Parker would beat him up if she knew he was hesitant to do something that would put her in harm’s way. She would tell him she did this for a living and to stop coddling her.
“I’m ready if you are,” Garrett told Parker conspiratorially as he wiped another tear off of her cheek. He tipped his head forward and let his forehead rest against hers. To the guards, they looked like two lovers saying goodbye. Garrett kept her face in his hands and willed her to understand the real meaning of his words. He was ready to try and get them out of there, with her help.
Garrett watched the fight drain out of her slowly while they were held captive. After hearing her father killed over the phone and then unleashing her anger at Fernandez, her eyes glazed over and he knew she was in shock. Too much had happened down in that basement, and he feared that even if she did survive, she’d never be the same again. He pulled his head back so he could see her eyes better, and it worried him that she seemed to be staring right through him.
“I’m ready if you are,” he told her again, more firmly this time.
Garrett’s whispered statement finally got through to her. His words put a spark back into Parker’s eyes, and he knew she finally understood. She lifted her chin and clenched her jaw with renewed determination.
“Remember on the flight here how surprised you were when I told you what I did for a living?” Parker asked in him.
Garrett nodded his head, unsure where she was going with this.
“Remember the story I told you and how you couldn’t keep your eyes off of my cleavage?” she asked, her voice suddenly raising an octave and turning sultry.
Parker breathed heavily, the force of the motion pushing her breasts out from the edges of the torn shirt that hung off of her.
Garrett wondered momentarily if she had lost her mind, when suddenly, the memory of their conversation on the plane burst forth.
Parker had confidently reached up and popped open the first three buttons of her shirt until her cleavage and the edges of her red lace bra were visible. Garrett's eyes immediately flew to her exposed skin, watching her chest heave with every breath she took, her breasts straining against the thin lace fabric covering them.
"Distract man number one long enough to disarm him," she had said softly as she removed her hand from inside his coat, carefully palming the .45 caliber she slid from his shoulder holster while his eyes were otherwise occupied. With a straight face she had mimed the action of shooting him in the chest.
Garrett’s heart sped up as he replayed that moment in his mind. He knew without a doubt that the two guards behind him would be staring straight at Parker’s chest right this very moment. The perfect distraction. If he had more time, he’d kiss her and tell her how much he loved her for being so brilliant.
Parker shook her hair away from her face, the action forcing her shirt to open even further and making one arm fall completely off of her shoulder and pooling around her elbow. Everyone in the room now had a clear view of the smooth, taut, naked skin of her stomach, and if they were staring hard enough, which Garrett knew they would be, they’d see the rose colored circles of her nipples peeking through the lace of her bra. Parker angled her body slightly to the right, which gave the room full of men a better view of what she had on display, and it gave Garrett a clear view of where her arms came together behind the wooden beam. He watched as rivulets of blood dripped off of her fingers into a puddle on the floor directly below them. Only then did he realize that the small tremors that shook her body weren’t from fear or nerves, but from the effort she was making to pull her hand through one of the handcuffs. Garrett knew if her thumb was broken, her hand would easily slide through the metal. He looked up into her eyes with a questioning look.
Break it, she mouthed silently.
“That is enough. Time is up,” one of the guards stated as he cocked his gun close to Parker’s ear.
“I love you. Don’t snub nose me,” Parker told him with a wink.
“Don't be so dramatic. The safety is on. At least I didn’t grab the loaded Beretta Jetfire in your ankle holster or the back-up .357 snubnosed revolver in mine."
Garrett only had one second to contemplate the craziness of this plan, and one second was all he needed. He ran his hands quickly down the sides of Parker’s arms and wrapped his arms around her. In one swift motion, he grabbed her left hand, the one she wouldn’t need to shoot with, whispered an apology in her ear, and the slammed her hand against the wooden beam. The snap of her thumb as it broke sounded like a gunshot in Garrett’s mind when he knew it was probably nothing more than a whisper of noise.
Garrett’s hand quickly slid into Parker’s pant leg and found her backup gun in her holster. He whipped it out and spun around, firing a round into the shoulder of the guard directly behind him before he even knew what happened. The guard’s gun went off as his arm flew out to the side but Garrett paid no attention to where it landed since he knew Parker was safely behind him.
Parker ignored the screaming pain that radiated from her thumb all the way up her arm as she pulled her hand free, letting the cuffs hang loosely and dangle from her other wrist. She jumped up onto her feet and kicked her leg up high, knocking the gun out of her guard’s hand. The gun skidded to a stop against the far wall and for a moment, she and the guard stood still, staring each other down. They both took off, diving across the room for the gun at the same time. She heard scuffling and grunts from behind her, but couldn’t allow herself to worry about Garrett when she had her own fight to handle. She needed to trust that he could handle himself.
Garrett couldn’t believe the guard he’d shot wouldn’t stay down. A bullet to the shoulder and two punches to the face hadn’t slowed him one bit. Garrett had him pinned to the ground as he straddled his hips and wrestled for control of the gun the man clutched to his chest. He just wouldn’t give up. Garrett threw a punch to the guard’s injured shoulder and with a howl of pain, the man’s grip on the gun finally abated. Garrett yanked it from him and got up off of the man, holding the gun straight at him as the guard held onto his injured shoulder, the blood seeping between his fingers.
Parker dove to the floor, sliding across on her stomach and reaching the gun before her guard did, but that didn’t mean he was giving up. As soon as her good hand wrapped around the grip of the gun, he flew into her from behind, knocking her down and slamming her head into the hard concrete of the floor. She saw stars and had to swallow back nausea, but she never let go of the gun as the man let his full weight push her into the floor and keep her where she was.
Parker flung her hand that held the gun back and smashed it into the man’s face, a splatter of blood against her cheek and a scream letting her know she’d broken his nose. The man’s hands flew up to cradle his shattered nose, and Parker took that opportunity to buck him off of her and scramble out from under him.
The guard Garrett shot had more fight and determination to live than anyone he’d ever seen before. As Garrett started backing away, the man bolted up and came at him head first. The guard’s head slammed into Garrett’s stomach and his momentum pushed them across the room until Garrett’s back slammed into the wall and the gun flew out of his hands. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Parker get up from under her guard, relieved to see the man bent over on the ground with blood pouring out of his face from between his hands.
No one paid any attention to Milo as he stood by the door watching the action. From the shouts and footsteps that echoed through the palace above, Milo knew it would only be a matter of time before it escalated. He needed to get out of there and to his waiting father. He raised his gun in an effort to make that happen quickly.
With guns drawn, Brady, Austin, and Cole burst through the front door of the palace. No one paid any attention to the three men in tactical gear as they walked further into the front entryway. Men and women scrambled around, some grabbing their things to flee from the fight they knew would erupt, others arming themselves with weapons in preparation for what was to come. After sweeping the first ten rooms they came to and not finding Garrett or Parker, Austin grabbed the arm of the next person to walk by them.
“Where are the Americans being held?” he asked the woman who was hastily pulling her coat on.
She spoke no English, but she knew what the word “Americans” meant and she wasn’t about to cross the three angry-looking men who held weapons pointed at her. She pointed down towards the floor and muttered, “Sótano,” before rushing past them and out the front door.
Austin looked towards Brady questioningly, “Basement?”
Brady nodded in response.
“This is out of hand,” muttered Cole as they crouch-walked through the first hallway they came to, opening and closing doors in search for the one that would take them downstairs. “I counted at least twenty armed men rushing from room to room. They don’t even give a rat’s ass that we’re here. They looked right at us and kept on moving. How the hell are we going to reason with them to get Garrett and Parker out of here alive?”
Brady did a quick sweep of the room he just entered and backed out, shutting the door behind him.
“Well, the good news is they probably want to burn Fernandez at the stake. Let’s hope we can convince them that we’ll allow it without contacting the authorities as long as they let us get our team out of here,” Brady said as they continued down the hall.
“We’re not seriously going to let them torture and maim the guy are we?” Austin asked as he brought his weapon back up in front of him to sweep a room across the hall from Brady. “I mean, it would give me nothing but pleasure to watch the guy’s toenails get plucked from his feet and his balls cut off, but I’m guessing that would be morally and ethically wrong considering we work for the United States Government.”
“No, we definitely aren’t going to let them tar and feather him. But that doesn’t mean we can’t give them the illusion that we will. At this point I’m willing to try anything to get everyone out of here without any bullet holes in them,” Brady replied.
The men noticed a room at the end of the hall where several people were coming and going. As they made their way closer, they realized a meeting of sorts was taking place with two men standing on a table giving orders.
The team holstered their weapons and walked slowly into the room with their hands in the air in a symbol of peace. If they wanted these people who were riddled with rage and vengeance to listen to them, they had to pretend like they were one of them and completely on their side.
“STOP!” Milo screamed as he aimed his gun in the general area of the two fighting couples.
Alejandro, with his head buried in Garrett’s gut while Garrett pummeled the man’s back with his fists stopped struggling at the sound of Milo’s yell.
Felipe, with his hands still covering his broken and bloody nose, stopped his forward movement towards Parker, who stood with the recovered weapon pointed at his head.
All eyes were now on Milo, and he smiled to himself in satisfaction. He liked that people would stop what they were doing to listen to him. He wished his father would have stuck around to see the respect he was being given right now. Unfortunately, he could hear the distant beat of helicopter blades and knew that his father’s ride would be there shortly. His father hadn’t been lying when he said he had a prior engagement. He knew his father would wait for him as long as he could. Things were closing in on them and they needed to get out of the country fast if they were going to make it out alive.
“What is the matter with you?” Felipe asked angrily. “Don’t just stand there! Shoot them!” he shouted, gesturing towards Garrett and Parker. “No wonder your father thinks you are worthless. You allowed a woman to outsmart you and bring a gun in here right under your nose! Did you even think to search her? What if she’d shot the President, you stupid idiota!”
Milo shifted his body, turned his gun on Felipe, and fired before the man could utter one more insult. The right side of his face exploded in a bloody mess before the man slumped to the ground. He wasn’t about to let some lowlife guard disgrace him in his father’s home.
Next, he turned his gun on Parker and had a small moment of regret that it had come to this. She looked up from the dead body sprawled at her feet and her eyes grew wide with shock. He pulled the trigger and enjoyed a moment of satisfaction at hearing an anguished shout from his former best friend on the opposite side of the room.
Parker didn’t have time to think, only react. It took her one heartbeat to pull herself out of the daze and realize Milo was going to kill her if she didn’t move. The gun went off at the same time her feet left the floor and she dove away from its trajectory. She landed roughly on her shoulder a few feet away, sliding a few more feet until she slammed into the wall where Garrett had been standing. She could hear him yelling and cursing, but it all sounded like it was coming from underwater. His voice sounded far away and muffled. She raised herself up on her elbow and a burning pain shot through her side. She ignored the burn and shook her head to try and clear it. She glanced over and saw Garrett on top of Milo, pummeling him with his fists. Her backup gun that Garrett must have dropped at some point laid a few feet away from her.
