Recovery Force. Don Pendleton

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СКАЧАТЬ open. Not to mention the half-dozen or so rounds that stitched him across the chest.

      The quintet of young women were still seated on the sidewalk or hiding behind whatever solid object they'd been able to find when the shooting started. Bolan collected them quickly and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the truck.

      “Get in back,” he commanded them.

      “No way, mister!” one of the young, frightened girls screamed and she began to sputter a flurry of curses. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

      The others, who had started to comply, now hesitated and Bolan knew he had to act quickly. He lowered the MP-5 and raised one hand. “Look, I’m not here to hurt any of you. I’m here to bring you where it’s safe. I’m here to take you home.”

      “I ain’t got no home!” the girl said in a shaky tone.

      “Okay,” Bolan said. “Then I’ll take you wherever you want to go, wherever you feel safe. But you can’t tell me that’s here. These men have abused you. All of you. And those days are over for you.”

      “Oh, yeah?” one of the other girls said. “And what’re you expecting in return?”

      Bolan kept his voice low. “Nothing. I just want to get you out of here. These are bad men and eventually bad things would have happened to you. I’m giving you a second chance. You can trust me or you can take the risk you’ll be right back in a situation like this. Or worse, when their friends come looking for witnesses.”

      That seemed to convince all but one of them and Bolan made one last, desperate plea, but the girl chose to turn and run. He noted it odd how fast she could run with heels on but then pressed his lips together, shook his head and went to assist the girls into the cab. Once everyone was in, he got behind the wheel and drove away.

      “THAT’S YOUR IDEA OF gathering intelligence?”

      Bolan shifted the pay-phone receiver to his other ear. “I told you it could get ugly, Hall.”

      “Is that what you’re calling it? Ugly?” Hall sighed. “I’ve got a whole mess of bodies on my hands and very few answers. I told you before, Cooper, the politicos are breathing down my neck from the special ops chief up to the mayor. You know a representative from the governor’s office showed up here this morning, for crissakes? I thought we had an agreement.”

      “We did,” Bolan replied. “And I’m sticking to it.”

      “How so?”

      “I noticed you mentioned the dead bodies but not the four live ones sitting in your jail cell.”

      “You mean those four who lawyered up? What good are they going to be?”

      Bolan clucked his tongue. “I can’t control what happens inside your house, Hall. So far I’ve delivered just what I promised—don’t try to back out.”

      For a long time Hall didn’t say anything to that. Bolan hated having to bottom-line the cop but he didn’t have time for games. The fact remained he’d held up his end of the bargain and he was going to need Hall’s support.

      “You realize what you’re asking me to do? You want me to look the other way while you start a war right here.”

      “I’m trying to prevent a war, not start one,” Bolan reminded him. “The Los Negros aren’t going to just roll over any more than Los Zetas did in Nuevo Laredo. And you can bet Hector Casco’s burning up the phone lines right now trying to figure out what happened. That kind of traffic is sure to give you more leads. I know you have at least a few of their operating locations under surveillance.”

      Hall chuckled. “Well I’ll be…”

      “What?”

      “I’d sure like to know where you get your information,” Hall said. “You obviously knew almost as much about our ops as I did. And you’re such an enigmatic bastard you don’t have any record. It’s like you don’t exist, Cooper. No fingerprints, no driver’s license and no financial records.”

      “You checked on me.”

      “Can you blame me?”

      “No, I would have done the same.”

      “So what do you have up your sleeve next? Run a tank through the Sinaloa cartel’s headquarters?”

      “Nothing quite so dramatic,” Bolan replied. “As I said, I figure Casco will be making inquiries and he’ll probably be working up some sort of retaliation.”

      “You want him to assume that Los Zetas did the hit.”

      “Exactly. That’s why I took the girls off the streets, too.”

      “What about the one that got away?”

      “I’m hoping she’ll go underground,” Bolan said as a grim lump formed in his gut.

      “If she tries to contact others inside Los Negros and gives up what actually happened, your plan might fall apart.”

      “If she contacts them she’ll only end up dead, which unfortunately could be the very best to hope for. Casco won’t take this lying down. I believe he’ll respond and he’ll do it quickly. He can’t afford not to.”

      “And how’s that going to help us?” Hall asked.

      “Wherever Casco hits Los Zetas, he’s going to make noise doing it. That’s going to draw attention and when it goes down I’m going to be one of the first to hear about it.”

      “How do you know that?”

      “I can’t tell you that,” Bolan said.

      The tone in Hall’s voice betrayed he wasn’t happy with Bolan’s response. “A relationship like ours is built on trust, Cooper. We got nothing else going for us.”

      “I can’t tell you, so let’s leave it alone. What I can tell you is that when I do hear about Casco’s retaliation, it will come from the same place I heard your men were walking into a trap at that raid.”

      “Well, that particular bit of information saved my life and those of about six good men. I guess it’ll have to be enough—but only for now.”

      “I understand the position you’re in, Hall. I have a suggestion for you if you’d like to hear it.”

      “Shoot.”

      “Call the Department of Justice in Washington. Ask to talk to a guy named Brognola. Just explain your situation and ask him what he might be able to do to get some of the heat off your back. I can promise your troubles will abate by sundown.”

      “Brognola, huh?”

      “Yeah.”

      Hall sighed again. “Okay, I’ll give that a shot.”

      “As soon as I have something for you, I’ll call back.”

      Bolan disconnected the call, СКАЧАТЬ