Page 44 of Clay

“Who the fuck did you hire, bitch?” he growled in her ear.

She laughed, just laughed. Because the man looking at her over his weapon thirty feet away was her future, and from the look in his eyes, he’d finally figured it out.

Hamilton moved his hand from her hair and to the cuffs, dragging her backward, into the mine shaft.

It went dark quickly, as they moved deeper into the tunnels, and she stumbled, going to her knees. He yanked her up with a curse and pulled them further into the deep.

~

Fuck, fuck, fuck, Clay thought as he and Cali sprinted the thirty feet to the mine entrance. The fact Harrison had moved up to the mine shaft from the valley floor had been strategically sound, basically putting Tate out of commission. But he was still in place, and LVMPD and their backup was roaring in right now.

He looked at Cali and she nodded, reaching into the slimline backpacks they’d donned that hadn’t been visible to Hamilton, and withdrew night vision goggles. He did the same and slipped them on. They moved into the mine shaft as the light began to fade behind them. Now they’d have the advantage. Thank God for Tate and his toys.

They followed Hamilton and Ivy into the stygian darkness based on the sound of their movements. Every second Hamilton held her hostage was a second too long. Anxiety cramped his gutfor a quick second before he pushed it down. None of them were trained for this sort of operation, none of them had been special forces except Warren. They’d been the best of the best at their respective fields, but damn, this was such new territory, and Ivy’s life was at risk.

Cali swung around him, took point. Just in case his ankle gave out. Which burned, but she was, simply, more agile than he was. If Hamilton started blindly shooting, they were both going to take lead anyway, regardless of their body armor.

Even with the NVG’s the darkness around them seemed absolute, stifling.

Cali reached back, tapped his arm twice. Up ahead, Hamilton had stopped, was lying in wait.

Clay ranged up beside Cali, noted the slight bend in the shaft to their left, the absolute blackness of a descending shaft to their right.

Hamilton wasn’t an idiot. If they hadn’t had the NVGs, would they have blindly stepped into an abyss? And how did Hamilton even know about it?

Which meant he was likely wearing NVGs, or something like them.

“You flyboys are smarter than I thought you’d be,” Hamilton said, his voice reasonable now, where it’d been hysterical with rage before. Everything in Clay went on alert. Damn. Hamilton had just realized he had absolutely nothing to lose.

“The way I see it, we’ve got a few options here,” Hamilton continued, still as agreeable as spring sunshine. “I shoot all three of you and take my chances with who you left on the outside. But that’d be dumb, because the locals are out there. Maybe even the FBI. So that’s a big fat no to option one unless it’s a last resort. Option two, you call your contact down there and get me a hostage negotiator.”

Clay cocked his head. Did Hamilton actually think he warranted this much attention? Taking Ivy had been dumb, probably one of the stupidest things he could have done.

“All right,” Clay said. “But I want to know that Ivy is okay. For all we know, you gagged her and threw her down a mine shaft.”

Even as he said the words his stomach soured, but he wasn’t wrong.

Hamilton barked out a laugh. “Nice visual, ace.”

They heard a rustling sound and Ivy’s voice echoed a bit against the rock walls. “I’m fine, though you got the gag part right,” she said with enough disgust in her tone that even Clay felt it this far away.

“Keep your trap shut and I’ll leave it out,” Hamilton replied. “Now get me a negotiator, flyboy.”

Clay wondered if that was the only derogatory term the man had ever heard for someone in the Air Force. With the amount of disdain attached to it, he certainly didn’t have the best opinion of their service.

He did as Hamilton asked, putting his phone on speaker. Dev picked up. “Hostage negotiator is inbound,” he said, his voice clipped. “Best we can do is the phone while she’s enroute.”

Hamilton had no reason to know they’d already put the pieces in place, that the negotiator was actually sitting at the bottom of the mountain with Jordan and LVMPD, waiting for just this instance.

“Color me impressed,” Hamilton said. “How did you find these guys?” he asked, obviously addressing Ivy.

“Ladies room stall,” she replied, her tone full of snark.

Clay heard her cry out as Hamilton struck her. He surged forward, held back by Cali’s restraining arm.

“He’s baiting you,” she hissed in his ear, seconds before Dev said the same thing via their earpieces.

Hamilton’s phone rang, and he answered. “I want a chopper. There’s enough room for it to land near the top of the mountain, where some heavy equipment used to be. I’m taking this bitch with me until we cross into Mexico, then I’ll let her go. You have twenty minutes.”

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