Chapter 30

Nyx felt the energy of the camp change. Something was happening. Her legs shook as she pushed to her feet and went to the window. Nothing she saw outside told her anything, but none of the men were lolling around anymore. Even the dudes who guarded her hut appeared to be more alert.

Her first thought was Case. Had he come back for her?

That was only one option. There were others. Government troops could be in the area, illegal miners or loggers could have stumbled into the camp, or some random fisherman could have pulled up to the dock. The possibilities were legion.

But it could be Case.

She went to the table, dug out the papers she'd taken from Vargas, the ones written by Diego Ramos, folded them, and stowed them in a pocket. If it was Case, she didn't want to leave without them.

The door swung open, startling her. One of her guards stood there. "You," he ordered. "Come with me."

Or maybe the vibe in camp had changed because they weren't giving Case until sundown. Maybe they planned to gang rape her now and get a jump on the evening festivities. Her hesitation earned her a glare.

"Mueve tu trasero," her guard said, his voice harsh.

Nyx took a deep breath and followed orders. She cleared her expression, wanting to appear stoic. Let them guess what she was thinking. Let them guess whether she was scared. They didn't need to know. She climbed down the ladder from the hut to the ground slowly, trying to buy time, but a guard grabbed her arm and pulled her down the final step.

He didn't release her, and she stumbled as he dragged her along with him. Wherever he was taking her, the man was in a hurry. Nyx was as tall as he was, but her legs felt rubbery and she had a difficult time keeping up with him.

After a couple of moments, she realized he was bringing her to the dock. Were they moving her to a different camp?

As they rounded the curve and cleared the trees, Nyx nearly grinned with relief. He might be wearing a baseball cap over that tousled blond hair of his, but she'd recognize him anywhere. Case. She wiped her delight off her face. Maybe it wouldn't make any difference, but she didn't want to chance her expressions giving something away that would help the raiders. Or inadvertently hinder Case.

A man stood beside him. He was the same height as Case and had a similar build, but the guy had short brown hair and tattoos, although she couldn't make out what they were from this distance. A third man sat in a boat. This one had shaggy hair that was dark, dark brown and he was big. Even though he was seated, she could tell he was tall and his shoulders were broad and muscular. Case had brought some of his team with him. Hopefully, he had more men in the area, surrounding the camp.

All three Special Forces soldiers were armed, and she was sure they had light armor on under their fatigue shirts. Not that it would stop an automatic rifle round, but at least it would protect them from a pistol shot. The problem was that in addition to handguns, all of Ramirez's men were carrying SCARs with a few AK74s tossed in to break up the monotony.

She didn't have much time to take it in before she was handed off to one of Ramirez's personal guards. He didn't treat her gently either, jerking her up to where the colonel stood.

"As you can plainly see," Ramirez said to Case, "she is unharmed. I'll look at the weapons now."

Case frowned, probably because she was being manhandled. "Not so fast." He turned to her, his gaze intent. "How are you doing, Fireball? Are you all right?"

Nyx nodded. "I'm okay," she said, her voice was thick, but the obvious concern for her on his face, in his tone made it clear it wasn't an act he was putting on for Ramirez. She really meant something to him.

She needed to stop mooning over Case. This situation was precarious. She could make it more dangerous than it needed to be if she didn't pay attention.

"She says she is fine," Ramirez said. "I'll have my men take the crate from your boat."

Shaking his head, Case said, "First we negotiate."

"Negotiate what? The price of the weapon? How you leave with your fiancée?"

Something in the way Ramirez spoke had the hair on her nape standing on end. She'd spent enough time with the colonel over the past few days to realize he was angry. Nyx had also overheard enough to understand the man lashed out first and thought about the repercussions later. She tried to think of some way to alert Case, but she didn't know what kind of gesture she could make so that he'd understand.

"Yes to both."

Boats were still going by on the river, but the people steering them were moving farther away from this bank. Would someone report there were men in camo gear standing around with assault rifles? Or would they simply reach their destination and forget about it? In Puerto Jardin, it could go either way.

Ramirez's voice was sharp, jerking her gaze from the water and back to him. "Enough of this. Felipe, Lorenzo, get the crate."

The two men moved to follow orders but stopped when Case and his buddy brought up their pistols. Ramirez's small army of guards responded, aiming assault rifles.

"I can kill you and take the weapons," Ramirez said it conversationally, but Nyx could see the man vibrating with fury.

"You kill me, you get one crate. A handful of the rifles. If you want more, you need me alive."

Nyx tensed. Case may have only brought one crate of the weapon, but Ramirez might not need more. If he sold the high-tech weapon to the Russians or the Chinese, he could make a fortune and they wouldn't care if there were only half a dozen rifles. They'd want it to reverse engineer. She knew firsthand there was at least one Russian oligarch interested. Maybe he'd be satisfied with a few, too.

She couldn't figure out how to convey this to Case either, and frustration welled. She didn't want him overplaying his hand, thinking he was safe because he was the supposed conduit to the weapon. He wasn't safe. What was on the boat might be all Ramirez needed.

"Lorenzo," Ramirez said, "get the crate."

Case and his friend clearly weren't about to let the raiders get to the boat and the guns. Ramirez must have thought the same thing. Nyx saw him make a small gesture. It was almost imperceptible. An instant later, she heard the small snick of a magazine being seated in an assault rifle.

"Ca—" Nyx didn't get to finish his name. A hand went over her mouth, choking off the sound. She didn't fight. Instead, she let her gaze sweep the area, searching for the gunman. She found him, locked, loaded, and ready.

Shit! He had a bead on Case's head, and that baseball cap wasn't stopping anything.

The shooter was waiting for another signal.

Nyx tried to bite the hand over her mouth, but she still didn't struggle. It would distract Case. He couldn't afford to focus on her.

Where the hell was the rest of the team? Why weren't they watching out for Case and the other two?

Ramirez waggled his hand.

Noooo!

A red-haired man seemed to appear out of nowhere. Nyx hadn't seen him.

He brought up his rifle, aimed at the sniper, and fired, taking out the shooter. The man was hit, but as he went down, he squeezed the trigger. The shot was wide, missing Case.

Nyx started to relax, but before she could manage so much as a deep breath, all hell broke loose. Raiders were shooting. Men were shooting back, including Case and his friend.

And her? She was standing in the middle of a firefight.

Case wanted to get to Nyx. He wanted her behind cover. But she stood close enough to Ramirez that she wasn't under direct fire. If he went toward her, that would change.

But fuck, all it took was one ricochet, one bad shot.

A bullet hit the ground near him, and Case swallowed a curse. Nyx was okay for now. He better worry about his own ass.

Baggs took cover behind a building on the pier, but it wasn't going to stop much. The corrugated metal listed dangerously. Rusty had a stand of trees off to Case's right, and Ski moved the boat out into the river. He was within range, but the rebels weren't bothering with him.

Case timed his movement to when his teammates were firing at the enemy, working his way toward the metal structure Baggs was using.

Keeping his eyes on Nyx, he returned fire.

She'd crouched, trying to stay low to offer a smaller target. Damn, he wanted her at his side. He wanted her on that boat.

And he was pinned down.

The gunfire slowed and became more sporadic. They weren't out of the woods yet. Case was pretty sure the enemy was moving. Some would be trying to locate Pruitt, BD, Cordy, and Oz. The others would be taking fresh positions.

More advantageous positions.

Ski would watch the river. The rebels wouldn't be able to hop in boats upstream and come up on their backs. That was their only vulnerability from behind.

Unless they had men positioned on the other side of the river. Ski would watch for that, too.

Case tried to ease around the far side of the building. A few well-placed shots aborted the attempt. More gunfire in the distance. At least one of his teammates was returning fire.

"I can't get to her," Case said quietly to Baggs.

"I know, dude."

Yeah, he knew. They both knew. Nyx was a bargaining chip.

Almost as soon as he had that thought, one of Ramirez's personal guards went to her, grabbed her by the arm, and hauled her upright.

The good news was she had more protection. She was in the middle of the guard. That was also the bad news. She was in the middle of the guard. Unreachable.

For now.

His team would be working their way in from the rainforest. Working to reach them. A round of gunfire, closer than the previous bursts, told Case he was right. He needed to keep Nyx safe long enough for them to reach the dock area.

Case squeezed off a few rounds, making the dude trying to sneak down the ramp to the dock think twice.

How many men were in the camp?

He knew they moved around, did things during the day, including prowl around Trujillo. The rebels had multiple locations. Would they send out an SOS to their other satellites? Or would they assume they could fight off Case and a few of his mercenary friends without reinforcements?

If they did summon additional troops, how long would it take them to arrive?

Movement to his right. He fired a couple rounds in that direction.

When he could spare a glance, Case saw Nyx was gone. He took a step forward, but Baggs stopped him.

"She's okay. She's behind that hut on the left. Ramirez and a couple of his men are with her."

It was one of the clusters of huts that made the location look like a typical village.

"What if they move her?"

"They're not risking it. Our team is closing in. They have nowhere to go."

The gunfire was getting nearer on all sides, but Ramirez was arrogant. Would that be enough for him to play it safe? The area in front of the dock was cleared out.

"Let's get up that ramp to the bank while they're occupied," Case said.

Baggs nodded.

There was a wooden walkway after they got off the ramp, but they avoided it and the noise it would make. Case headed for the hut where his teammate said Nyx was being held.

More gunfire. His team was in the encampment now and closing in fast.

The next shots were almost on top of them.

Case signaled he was going to go around the right of the hut. Baggs nodded, but before he could implement his plan, Ramirez came around the building with Nyx. When he saw Case and Baggs, the colonel pulled Nyx in front of him. His arm went around her chest, pinning her to his body.

His pistol went to her temple.

Case kept his gaze away from Nyx. If he looked at her, he'd be distracted by her fear. She had to be terrified. He couldn't afford to lose focus.

"You will stand aside. I am going to my boat," Ramirez ordered.

Rusty appeared. After an exchange of hand signals, he and Baggs went around the hut, leaving Case to deal with the colonel.

"You're done, Colonel. Hand her over and surrender."

The sneer was all the answer Case got. He stood in place, blocking Ramirez's route to the boats. The disabled boats, but he didn't know that.

"I can shoot you and walk over your dead body."

Baggs, Rusty, Oz, and Cordy came around the building. With hand gestures, they told Case they had the situation contained. That left Ramirez to deal with.

"Not too smart," Case said. "My friends are behind you. You point that pistol at me and they're taking you out."

"How about this? If you do not get out of my way, I'll shoot your woman."

Case raised his brows. "You lose her as your shield, and you're dead a split second later. That's a promise."

Frustration filled the man's eyes. "If anyone makes a move against me, I will take her with me to hell. Am I understood?"

He nodded once. They couldn't move on him from behind. It would be too easy for Ramirez to squeeze the trigger as he went down. Case couldn't move on him from the front, and even attempting a sniper strike from a distance endangered Nyx. Same reasoning. He could squeeze off a shot as he fell.

Nyx waved her fingers, the motion capturing his attention.

When she knew he was watching, she held out all her fingers. After a moment, she closed her thumb, and then her forefinger.

Shit, she was planning something. Case didn't know what, but he got ready.

When the final finger went down, Nyx lifted both her feet.

Ramirez was unprepared to support her entire weight. She hit the ground.

The shot was clear. Case took it.

The colonel fell.

His first inclination was to head straight to Nyx, but he kicked the pistol away from Ramirez and checked for a pulse. There was none. "Ramirez is down," he announced.

At last, Case went to his Fireball. Kneeling in front of her, he wrapped his arms around her and held on tightly.