“No.” She was running toward the ATV. “But it’s a sport model, so we may not need a key.” She practically flew onto the seat and checked the console. Relief. “We’re good to go. Hop on!”
Blue flames shot from the open door.
Waldridge jumped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Kendra had already started the ATV and was gunning the engine. She pulled back on the throttle. The back wheels kicked up sand as the ATV bounded over a small dune and headed out into the open desert.
*
DYLE SHIELDED HIS FACE from the white-hot chemical fire that had completely enveloped the lab. The strong desert wind had sent the flames leaping totally out of control. His hands clenched in fury as he turned back to the two badly burned men who had been dragged out just before the entire building went up in flames.
One of the men, Aaron French, was clearly dead. His crispy face was a bloody scab only barely recognizable as a human being. Incredibly, the remnants of his handlebar mustache were still visible.
The other man, Dan Brill, wasn’t faring much better. He screamed in pain as Jaden and Nathan, the other security man, tried to peel off his black fatigues. He quieted only after he was injected with a heavy sedative.
Biers grimaced at the sight of the two charred men. “That could have been us, Dyle. For God’s sake, you know Waldridge is a chemical genius. Why wasn’t he more closely watched?”
“Are you criticizing me?” Dyle asked coldly. “Taken alone, none of those chemicals could have caused this chaos.”
Biers immediately backed down. “No, you’re right, of course. I’m just concerned.”
“And so you should be. We’ll get them back. All of my men are damn good in the desert. Jaden ran my security detail for me in Egypt.” He turned to the remaining security men, Jaden and Eric Nathan, who were approaching them. “Why aren’t you on the road? What do I pay you for?”
“We have two men down,” Jaden said. “French is gone, but Brill stands a chance. We need to get him to a hospital.”
“Later,” Dyle said. “Right now we have to catch Waldridge and the woman.”
“Brill is going to die if we don’t get him to a hospital now,” Nathan said.
Dyle looked down at the burned man, who was struggling to breathe. “He’s going to die anyway. You and I both know that. The nearest hospital is a hundred miles from here.”
“We have to try,” Nathan said. “I’m not leaving him. We’ve been through a lot of shit together.”
“You can try when you get back if he’s still alive.”
“That’s not the way we do things, sir.”
Dyle smothered his rage. He wanted to shoot the son of a bitch. But he had to work with these idiots. He had no one else at the moment. “Honorable. But two people have escaped on your watch, and they have to be retrieved.” Hell, let Jaden handle it. They were his men. He turned to Jaden. “What do you think?”
“I think Nathan is right. Nathan and Brill were buddies.” He looked down at the moaning man with no expression. “And compensation should be made for violating his feelings in the matter.” His gaze shifted to Dyle. “Considerable compensation.”
Whatever. Anything to get them moving. “Look, then suppose I give each of you a bonus of $50,000 when you bring them back.”
That got Nathan’s attention, Dyle noticed. Cash always did. “That’s a lot of money.” Nathan paused. “But you’re actually paying me to let him die.”
“He’ll die anyway. I’m paying you to keep the mission on track.”
“Fifty thousand apiece?” Jaden repeated.
He wanted to make certain his assistance in the matter was going to show a profit. Jaden never did anything without a paycheck. “Absolutely.”
Jaden turned to Nathan. “We’ve got to look out for ourselves. That’s a lot of money.”
“Time’s wasting,” Dyle said.
Jaden said to Nathan, “In the same situation, Brill would take the money and leave our asses. You know that.”
Nathan shrugged. “Okay. Maybe you’re right.”
Jaden turned to Dyle. “We’ll leave Brill and start tracking Waldridge, but this is a big area. We’ll need help. I want your okay to call down to Mexico for reinforcements from Koppel’s team to come up here to give us support.”
“No, how many times do I have to tell you, this mission is confidential.”
“It won’t be confidential if we can’t find Waldridge before they make it out of this desert.”
“We’ll probably find them before Koppel’s team can get up here to help.”
“Then you can send them back. But it will only take a few hours for Koppel to cross the border and get here. It will make the difference if we have trouble locating Waldridge and Michaels.”
“Are you telling me what to do?”
“I’m telling you I’m not losing that bonus if they manage to get away. I want help.” He shrugged. “Take it or leave it.”
Dyle muttered a curse. “I’ll take it. But if any of those men talk, I won’t be shy about taking a contract out on you, Jaden.”