Search and Destroy by JT Sawyer (top non fiction books of all time .TXT) 📗

rear doors, seeing that Viper had built up the interior like a mini camper complete with a bed, small sink, cooler and batteries connected to a solar panel on the roof.

“You been a road rat all this time?”

“I don’t like staying in hotels when I travel, so it’s my home on wheels, and since my contract working as a firearms instructor at the Farm is up, I figured a trip to the coast for a few months was in order.” She opened the side doors then climbed up halfway to untie the surfboard and remove it from the roof rack.

“You gonna tell me where we’re headed?” he said.

She grabbed a plastic bucket filled with dehydrated meals and placed it in the van then closed the doors. “That’s up to you, Cal. I hadn’t thought beyond savin’ your ass back there.”

“Sounds like you.” He rubbed his aching shoulder. “I’ve got a few flash drives with intel on a ranch I have to look over, then I need to get the hell away from the East Coast. I’m done here. Everything I cared about and tried to build is gone now.”

She paused, glancing over at him. “It shoulda been different, Cal. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“So, seriously, where are we going from here?”

He knew the woman was as obstinate and bull-headed as he was. It was why they clashed so much when he first became team leader of their SD unit. He sure didn’t mind being with a friend, especially one as trusted as her. And he had to admit, he welcomed the help. He was worn out and could only keep up his vigilance for so long.

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “How much gas you got?”

“Enough to get us a few hours away from here.”

“I think it’ll take more than that to get us to Texas.”

“The desert… You missing being in the sandbox after all this time back in the States?”

“Hardly. The last piece of the puzzle is a ranch in the western part of the state.”

She grinned. “Three or more days on the road… I’ve got a better idea. My family has a place north of Atlanta. It’s a little cottage that’s not being used right now. We could hole up there for a bit and you can fill me in on what you’re thinking. You look like you could use some rest anyway.”

He just wanted to keep pushing forward and finish what he started, but he knew she was right. His tank was nearly depleted, and the next leg of his personal vendetta was going to take considerable planning and a clear head.

“Alright, but after that, we go our own ways.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.” She shook her head. “How about I let you know if I’m going to stick it out with you when that time comes.”

He nodded at the driver’s side. “Just get in and let’s go already.”

She grinned, falling back into a familiar routine between them. “Aye, aye, boss-man.”

46

Diamond T Ranch, West Texas

The dry and windy conditions accentuated the crow’s feet around Carlos Montoya’s eyes as he stood on the second-story porch of a converted barn, watching Roth’s private jet landing on the airstrip to the north. With twelve more of his mercenaries from Colombia arriving, he’d be able to further fortify the ranch in preparation for the storm he knew was coming.

Shepard better have an army to take down this place.

With Landis and Rourke dead, he knew that the next logical step was for the former agency operator to strike at the heart of Roth’s empire, either here or in Houston at the corporate headquarters.

Roth’s personal bodyguard was handling the security at the Houston location while Montoya, with his decades of experience running guerilla operations in remote regions, was better suited to preparing the rural property. Out of the 64,000-acre spread, only around 1,200 acres near the main road were developed, with Roth’s spacious estate occupying the center stage around a spring lined with ancient cottonwoods while the rest of the outbuildings, barns and living quarters fanned out in a half-arc beneath the mesa.

The ranch foreman, Blake Weisman, walked past with a young mare tethered by the reins. The barrel-chested man paused beneath the porch, glancing up at Montoya. “Just keep your guys away from my stables and we won’t have no problems, you got it?”

Montoya gave an almost imperceptible nod. Most of the three-dozen cowboys who worked under Blake were out on roundup in the hinterlands to the east and wouldn’t be back for another week. Blake and two other cowboys remained on site to handle the day-to-day feeding of the horses and livestock while preparing the cattle chutes and eighteen-wheelers for the coming horde of cows that they’d be loading up for the trip to the slaughterhouses in East Texas.

Montoya knew that Blake was an iron-tough man from working in the elements his entire life, but he was no killer, which was why Roth had sanctioned bringing in more of Montoya’s mercs. Some of them would be posted as snipers on the nearby rooftops while the rest would be staked out in and around the main house.

Roth already had an enviable perimeter security system around the main living compound and cameras on the buildings, so even a jackrabbit would have a hard time crossing the property without being flagged.

Montoya trotted down the wooden steps, walking towards the small hangar near the landing strip as the jet came to a standstill. Now, he just hoped Shepard would rear his head in the coming days so he could wrap up his contract with Roth and Hunley and be on his way back home to Cartagena.

47

Viper did all the driving to Atlanta while Cal got in a few hours of sleep on the bed in back. When she needed to rest, she pulled into the parking lot of a truck stop or up alongside other appliance vans after hours at big-box stores where her