"What? I'm awake. Are the SEALs here?"

"No, I need to ask you some questions. Come out to Joaquin's desk." David helped the man as he stumbled. He showed him the two pictures. "Which one are you talking to? Which man is making all of the demands?"

"They both are. It's always a three-way conversation."

Got it!

"Bernardo. Now I need you to go back to that annex building and talk to only Salazar through the bullhorn."

"But Molina won't like that. They are both in charge."

"You're going to ignore Molina. You're only going to talk to Salazar. We're going to start some infighting. I want you to say you can only talk to one leader, and you know that Salazar is the one with power."

"Why did you choose Salazar?" Bernardo asked.

"Because it was Molina's man who assaulted the woman. I'm hoping Salazar's gang is better than Molina's."

"They're both animals. It's a bad bet," Joaquin said.

David knew it was true. But it was the only thing he had to go on.

His phone rang. He didn't recognize the number, and he assumed it must be someone on one of the manhunts.

He listened.

No.

It wasn't true.

It couldn't be true. David sank against the desk.

"Calm down." He needed the man, no, the boy, to calm down.

"They killed them. They killed them all. They're dead." He was crying so hard it was difficult to understand him. "They butchered them." A deep rock of dread hit the pit of his stomach.

"Who's dead?"

"My papa. My uncle." Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. David put the phone on speaker. "Where? Where are you? Are you safe?"

"They called me. They told me to run. We were in the mountains. I hid in a cave with my cousin."

"Who are you? What's your name?"

"Juan."

Too many damn Juans. "Juan who?"

"Juan Hernandez, sir."

"I need you to calm down. Take a deep breath. You and your cousin, are you safe?"

"I think so," came the trembling reply.

"When were your uncle and father killed?"

"They called two hours ago. My cousin went and found their bodies. The other three men were dead too. They were cut up. Why would they do that?"

To make a fucking point. The fuckers were trying to scare the prison guards. Try to get them to stop tracking them.

David put the phone on mute. "Joaquin, can you get them tracked on GPS?"

Joaquin shook his head.

"Why the hell not?"

"Only have the team leader's phones set up to track one another." Damn it! David took the phone off mute.

"Juan, can you tell us where you are?" David kept his voice calm. Reassuring.

"We're two hours from the prison. In the mountains. Can you come and get us?"

David put the phone on mute.

"How old are these kids?" he asked Joaquin.

"Eighteen, same as Manuel," Joaquin explained.

Yeah, but they'd just seen their parents butchered. Now they were scared kids.

David turned to Bernardo. "Call the other team that's out in the countryside, see if they can pick them up. Even if they can't, tell them to be on the lookout for these butchers."

"I have them on the phone right now," Bernardo said, holding up his cell phone.

David thrust his phone to Joaquin. "Talk to the boys. Keep them calm."

He grabbed the phone from Bernardo and quickly told the team leader the situation.

"We're at least twenty to thirty kilometers in the other direction," the man explained. "The roads are a mess with the earthquake damage. It'll take us hours to get to the kids, especially up in the mountains."

Dammit!

"Well make your way there anyway," David ordered the team leader. "We need to stop those killers."

"We're on it," the man answered, then he hung up.

David turned back to Joaquin and motioned for him to mute the phone again. After he had muted the phone with Juan, David asked, "Who do we have at the prison that could get the kids?"

"Nobody good," Joaquin admitted.

Dammit! Think Sloane. They needed to get to those kids.

"I have an idea." He'd read their files, and they were good. "Riggs and Harrison."

"They're prisoners," Joaquin protested. David gave him a hard look. "Fine, you're right David, but it'll be better if the lieutenant governor calls Luis and suggests it."

"He's not going to suggest a goddamn thing. He's going to call Luis and tell him those two be armed and released. Then they're to be sent out with whatever useless fuck there is who knows the area. Do you hear me?"

"Agreed."

He turned to Bernardo. But it was Carmen who spoke up. She held up her cell phone. "I have the acting warden on the phone. Governor, he's waiting for your instructions." God love the woman.

It was dej vu all over again, here he was at the airport with Carlos and the bus. But he wasn't going to be seeing the love of his life, he was going to see steely-eyed professionals who would hopefully save people he had come to know and respect.

Love?

He watched as the plane taxied, and realized that was exactly the right word. Love. He loved Sarah Kyle.

He watched as the men walked down the steps. Warriors. Nothing escaped their gaze. Carlos squirmed under their scrutiny.

The man who came forward carried the mantle of leadership and had a definite air of confidence.

"Captain Sloane?"

"Lieutenant Tyler?" David asked.

"Grayson Tyler. Call me Gray. Let me introduce you to my men." He pointed to the big man who stood beside him. Hell, they were all big men. He had piercing blue eyes that could look right into your heart. "This is my second-in-command, Senior Chief Aiden O'Malley, he's our medic."

"The giant beside him is Jack Preston." Jack nodded. "To the left of him, is Griffin Porter. Then you have Dalton Sullivan and Dexter Evans."

"I'll brief you on the bus." Gray nodded. They all climbed aboard with their duffels. As soon as they got on board, they checked their weapons.

"If you give us one more hour, I think we can get some of the targets eliminated. These are gang members, and right now there is infighting at the hospital."

"Explain," Gray demanded.

"The two leaders are Salazar and Molinas. They hate each other. They've been working together because they want off the island. All of their demands have been made with both of them on the same phone line. It's clear they don't trust one another. The lieutenant governor has been demanding to talk only to Salazar for the last three hours, saying that he knows he's the leader. We don't have listening equipment, but our man on the bell tower, who can see into the hospital, says they've come to blows."

"That's good." Gray nodded in appreciation. "What are your expectations?"

"We expect Salazar's men to make a move on Molina's men. That should result in fewer men for you to have to eliminate."

"Excellent."

"What about the hostages?" Aiden asked.

"They are scattered in different rooms around the hospital. We don't have all of them accounted for," David admitted.

"Dammit," Aiden O'Malley muttered.

"It sounds like you've done a good job. Who have you been working with, the local police force?"

"The police force is corrupt. He has very few men. He has done almost everything on his own," Carlos piped up from the driver's seat.

"Is this true?" Gray asked.

"Unfortunately, it is. You won't have a lot of people to rely on. The few good men we do have are securing the perimeter of the hospital. We're using locals for the manhunt."

Gray must have heard something in David's voice.

"What? What happened?"

"We still have thirty-three prisoners at large, and they just butchered five men who were in a search party.

"Fuck," the big guy named Jack said quietly.

"How many men do you have searching for these escaped prisoners?" Gray asked.

"I don't know anymore," David admitted. "After the attack, some of the men have abandoned the search. After the hospital situation is handled, I can get back to managing the manhunt."

The truck lurched as they ran over rubble.

"How did you get involved again?" Gray asked.

"I got here the day of the earthquake. I'm an MP. Two Army NCO's were charged by the corrupt police force for assault. I was here to find out what the hell was going on."

"Our lieutenant governor appointed him the Chief of Police for Las Flores."

"You're a member of the United States Army, right?" Gray asked raising his eyebrow.

"Tell me about it. It's a long fucking story, and I pray to God we can drink a whole hell of a lot and laugh as I tell you about it."

"So do I, captain. So do I."

8.