Ghostwalker 09 - Ruthless Game

designed to destroy, took out the unprotected undercarriage of the truck. The truck popped into the air and came down on its side. One man was flung from the back and landed hard, not moving. The one strapped to the roof hung facedown and made a slight effort to move. The driver and passenger both were stil alive, one screaming relentlessly.
    Three of Whitney’s men popped up with automatic weapons, firing indiscriminately, hosing down al four men. Instantly, Kane zoomed in on their positions. With the distance he had on the weapon, he was able to fire into their nest without difficulty. The third shooter returned fire from the safety of his blind, so Kane swung his attention onto him and sent a couple of presents his way. The explosions rocked the earth and silenced the weapons.

    “Kane!”
    Rose’s voice turned his attention back to their chosen path. He came around immediately to center his weapon ahead of them, blazing a trail down an impossibly steep incline. Boulders and large shrubs gave way to trees and thick undergrowth. She took it slowly, aware that the remaining vehicles chasing them, although four-wheel drive, were much lighter and il -equipped to traverse such a difficult route. It wouldn’t do much good to soften the trail up with heavy weapon fire. They’d committed to the sharp drop, and they had to trust the vehicle to take them down into the depths of the canyon.
    Several grenades struck the ground around them, blowing part of the land away just feet from the Humvee. The Hummer shook with the force of the explosions and careened violently, sliding for a heart-stopping moment before the tires gripped solid ground again. A flurry of activity in the narrow val ey below revealed a smal force of men waiting for them. They’d disrupted Whitney’s plans, startling his men. The barricades hastily put in place to stop them had been bypassed by taking the steep route. Whitney’s men rushed to regroup and cut them off.
    The Humvee hit the bottom, bouncing hard into the nearly dry creek bed, and jolted over the heavy rocks, away from Whitney’s soldiers. The sound of machine guns was loud and mini explosions erupted al around them, so that for a time the world was gray and black with the debris and smoke surrounding them.
    Behind them, one of the cartel’s trucks rol ed, smashing everything in its path. Smal saplings splintered and cracked. The truck uprooted shrubs and plants, sending them, along with smal er rocks, tumbling down the slope, creating a mini avalanche. The rol ing truck landed hard, upside down, wheels spinning nearly on top of the Hummer.
    The boom resounded through the narrow gorge. Sebastian woke with a cry, and Kane put a calming hand on the boy.
    “Is he al right?” Rose demanded, staring straight ahead, trying to maneuver through the rocks and boulders in the creek bed.
    “He’s fine, just a little shaken up, aren’t you, buddy?” Kane crooned.
    “We’re jerking him al over the place,” she said, worried.
    “We’ve got him tucked in tight. He’s barely moving,” Kane soothed her. “Do you hear your mommy, Sebastian? She isn’t worried about the gunfire, just you.”
    “We’re taking a lot of gunfire,” Rose said unnecessarily, “but they aren’t hitting anything. Just around us.”
    Which made it damn difficult to drive. Whitney’s men were aiming in front of them, blasting away, pitting the creek bed and throwing more debris into the air so that rocks hit the sides and roof of the Humvee.
    “They want you alive, honey, so they can’t exactly blast the Hummer. They have to stop us, not kil us. Wel , not kil you. Apparently I’m disposable.”
    Rose drove up the side of the shal ow creek to avoid a huge crater and then back down into the hel fire. Kane steadied the joystick, swinging the M2
    .50-caliber around until he had the two-man team tearing up the creek bed in his sights. He sent off three rounds and swung the weapon back to protect their flank as one of the cartel’s lighter jeeps fel in behind him.
    He hesitated. The jeep was drawing fire from Whitney’s men. The second vehicle, a red jeep, turned tail and was making its way back up the steep slope. For a moment it looked as if the red jeep would make it, putting on a burst of speed, but then it stal ed, stopping. The passenger bailed out, diving as far as he could from the jeep and scrambling for cover, stil clutching his rifle. In slow motion the jeep flipped, slamming into the ground, rol