Page 72 of Volt
“Hold. Waiting for confirmation that target is present.”
I clench my jaw knowing it’s not going to take long for the sicarios to figure out something’s wrong.
“Come on, come on, get out of the SUV, you cocksucker,” I mutter.
And as if he heard my call, the back door of the third SUV in the lot opens and Emiliano Zavala steps out.
“Target acquired,” I call. “Target confirmed.”
“Nitro, hit it,” Doc calls.
“Affirmative. Fire in the hole.”
“Night vision off, y’all or you’ll go blind,” I call out.
I switch off my goggles, and there’s a brief moment where everything is perfectly silent and still. It’s as if the entire world drew in a breath and was holding it. And then all hell breaks loose. There is a flash that lights up the land like it’s high fucking noon, and then the sound of the explosion reaches us. After that, I hear a series of smaller explosions as Nitro detonates the ordinance he’d set up around the compound.
When my eyes adjust, I see the smoking ruin that was our compound. Not a building is left standing and there are fires everywhere. We’d set up a firebreak earlier today so we don’t have to worry much about the fire spreading to the forest land around us plus we have a fire detail standing by. I look at the compound and don’t see anybody. It’s like they evaporated in the explosion.
“Fire crews and security detail, move in,” Doc calls out over the comms.
I shimmy down the tree, and when I hit the ground, I take off running. It takes me a good five minutes to reach what’s left of our compound. When I come through the shattered ruin of our gate, I see the fire crews have the small blazes well in hand. Up close, I can see the mangled bodies of the sicarios strewn about. The air is saturated with the smell of smoke and death—two smells I know well from my time in Afghanistan.
All around me, the guys are hootin’ and hollerin’, celebrating our win. I’m not sure where we’re going to party tonight seeing how we just blew up our clubhouse. But hell, we’ll just party out here among the wreckage and the charred body parts of Emiliano Zavala and his merry band of murderous sicarios.
“Jesus,” Doc says as he steps up beside me. “I think Nitro went a little overboard.”
I laugh. “I think he just got a little overexcited about being able to blow something up.”
“Did you see that shit?” Adam asks, a goofy grin on his face. “It looked like one of those nuclear tests or something! Holy shit!”
I laugh. “Yeah, I saw it. Kind of hard to miss it.”
Cosmo stops and gives Doc a grin. “But did we really have to blow up the compound?”
“Necessary sacrifice,” he says. “But don’t worry, I got something better in mind.”
Cosmo claps him on the shoulder and walks off to join the celebration with the others. I look around again, amazed at the devastation. Nitro was thorough. It’s a good thing we got everything out of the clubhouse and the garage earlier. Emptied it all out knowing we wouldn’t have a better shot at getting Zavala out in the open.
Doc nods and gives me a smile. “Damn. It’s really over. I can’t believe it,” he said. “Your planning was impeccable, kid. Seriously. Prophet would be proud.”
A small smile touches my lips as I look around at the grounds. But then my gaze falls upon something that should be there and isn’t, and I freeze. The blood in my veins turns to ice, and my stomach lurches as the dawning horror spreads throughout my entire body.
“Goddammit,” I mutter.
“What is it?” Doc asks.
I point to the mangled wreckage of two black SUVs. “There should be a third. There was a third—the one Zavala was riding in. It’s gone.”
Doc looks from me to the empty spot then back to me again. “Are you sure it didn’t get vaporized in the explosion?”
I shake my head. “No, it would have been in at least a little better shape than the front two cars. But it’s gone entirely.”
The smile slips from Doc’s face and is replaced by an expression of rage. “Goddammit!”
My heart falls into the pit of my stomach.
Emiliano Zavala is still out there.
