Search and Destroy Read Online Free PDF Page B

you.” Danny continued to wipe detritus from her face. He checked the large gauze pad he’d placed below her chest. Crimson dots now decorated the bandage, but the bleeding had definitely slowed.
    “The man came at me, I ran, he shot me in the leg. But I fell backwards over the edge of the outcrop. I must have fallen about twenty or thirty feet down the hill. I ended up wedged under the trunk of an old tree. I don’t think they could see me from the top.”
    A thought barraged its way to the front of her mind. “We need to go back there. Maybe Greg or Bruce is still alive!”
    Danny shook his head sadly. “Andrea, if those men were as professional as you’re saying, there isn’t much chance that they’re still alive up there.”
    Andrea curled up into a ball, sobs racking her frame. She felt Danny place a light blanket over her. She closed her eyes.
    * * *
    Clay turned his head from the road as Danny slipped into the passenger seat beside him. The two-lane blacktop stretched out into the darkness ahead of them. Clay held the large RV at a steady fifty miles per hour. He could have coaxed more speed from the vehicle but saw no sense in the risk involved. The large Winnebago, his “road-blocker”, was built for slow and steady transit, definitely not for speed. On most trips he enjoyed the looks of other frustrated drivers as they finally passed the bulk of his bus, usually ready to give him the finger. Then they would see the battle-scarred face staring back at them, grinning; the finger usually went back to their steering wheel as they sped away.
    Tonight there were no other motorists as far as the eye could see.
    “How far to the next town?” Danny asked, tapping keys on Clay’s cell phone. After the fourth unsuccessful attempt he let the handset drop into the inset cup-holder in the arm of his seat.
    Clay shrugged. “About thirty miles, I reckon.”
    An occasional sob issued from the rear of the RV, but Andrea’s grief was muted by the rumble of the engine and the echo of the tyres on the asphalt.
    The two brothers glanced again at one another. Neither smiled, but Clay felt something akin to a ripple of excitement. “I guess we’re on the roller-coaster again, little bro.”
    Danny nodded. “And I didn’t even buy a ticket.”

7
    The Iridium 9600 satellite phone buzzed on the mahogany desk only once before the deeply tanned hand snatched it up. “Is it done?” No preamble, no pleasantries.
    “Two targets down.”
    “Two?”
    “Yes sir, one of the targets is still in play.”
    “Which one?”
    “The woman.”
    “Are you telling me that the main target is still out there?”
    “Sir—”
    “Tell me that you at least recovered the package!” The anger in the voice was not reduced by distance.
    A deep breath sounded over the airways. “No sir, the package is still in play at this time.”
    “I was assured that your team could handle this, no sweat.”
    “They can sir, it’s just a matter of time. The woman is injured. One of my men tagged her, but she fell over the edge of a steep incline and—”
    “Well get your lazy arse down the
steep incline
and make sure she’s taken. Make her talk. We need that package secure. Now get it done.”
    “As I say, it’s only a matter of time. I’ve got operators sweeping the area as we speak.”
    “Good, call me as soon as it’s confirmed.”
    * * *
    The man known to his team as “Matthew” folded down the stubby aerial of his satellite phone and slipped it into a pouch on his chest webbing. Under his breath he muttered, “Limey asshole.”
    The four-man team had only been together for the past seven weeks, but in that short time Matthew had realised that the less he told them and the more he barked, the better they operated.
    “All report,” he grunted into the walkie-talkie affixed to the front of his chest webbing.
    “Mark… nuttin’ yet.”
    “Luke, negative.”
    “John… I’ve got a dead dog and a bike wheel but no