Hunter was not happy. Things had gone very badly and very badly for everyone. He could not think of anyone who was better off from this fiasco. Fiasco? Debacle? Clusterfuck? Any of those phrases would do. Faybio and Leon were dead. That really pissed of Hunter. Personally, he thought Faybio was an ass, but he was part of the team and Hunter did not like losing any members of the team. Leon had been an old friend and Hunter genuinely mourned his loss. When all this settled down he would have to have a memorial for his old friend. Roy was out with a bullet through the shoulder and heavy blood loss.
Thanks to all the stupidity, Mark had a much diminished crew. Hunter, Bruce and Bligh had taken out one of the two snipers (Hunter cursed himself for missing them and letting one slip away) and two more of the cowboys with AK-47s. They all seemed like your basic low skilled mercs, great for anything simple, but not up to what he and Bruce and Bligh could do. How many had Roy taken out with the traps? Hunter counted four that the claymores got, they seemed like a slightly better run of muscle, but no one who would have scared Hunter on a normal day. The three who had gone into the truck and set off more of Roy's traps had been close to Mark, he recognized them from his recon of Mark's ranch.
So Mark had lost ten men and he had lost two plus another wounded. Really, was any reward worth that kind of cost? And now, more were going to need to die. After all that happened, he was probably going to need to kill Mark and probably Sam, too. He should do it just for revenge, but revenge was a no win situation, too. Hunter figured those eleven dead were revenge enough. No, he'd have to kill Mark to put an end to all of this.
He had sent Bruce and Bligh after Sam. Neither Sam nor Mark had been here. They had stayed far away, far enough to avoid being incriminated. That was in a court of law, Hunter knew enough that he did not need to prove it in court. Had Sam been there, this could have gone the other way. With better leadership Hunter could be dead right now. Individually, Sam was more than a match for either Bruce or Bligh, but together Hunter felt that they could hold their own. He had to admit, too, that he did not care for the idea of Elaine falling into his hands. He wasn't going to admit to any feelings, but she was a prize and Sam could do a lot of damage to her.
Hunter wished he had more help, but everyone close was dead or doing something else and he didn't have time to wait for reinforcements. He drove down the bumpy roads and somewhere he crossed the border while Roy lay unconscious in the back. There was a doctor in a town up ahead who would take care of Roy and, with a decent bribe, not ask any questions. If Roy could last that long, that was.
=========
Amanda was in the office with Sam and Mark when the call came in.
"Give me some good news," was how Mark answered. He listened. "What kind of problems?" Pause. "Is Roy dead?" Pause. "Wounded? Just wounded? Do we have him?" Pause. "No? He's hurt but you let him get away? Okay, give the rest of the story. How about Hunter?" Pause. "No? Leon?" Pause. "Okay, you got Leon and Faber. How many did we lose?" Pause, then angry yelling "What the fuck do you mean everyone but you? And the goods?" Pause, another scream "of course it was fucking booby trapped! Didn't you morons listen to anything I told you? Roy likes blowing people up! What part of 'Roy will have traps' didn't you assholes understand?" He sat back down and looked at Sam, who was taking all this in. "So, let me clarify this. Roy is hurt, but got away. Hunter, Bruce and Bligh got away. All the weapons are destroyed and of the eleven men I sent up there to take care of this, only you are left alive. Is that about it?" Pause. "It is? Good. Now, listen up, fuckwad. Either you get out there and kill someone useful or you are going to die. Got it?" Pause. "Good."
Mark turned to Sam. "Get me our best security around the ranch. You get out there and find him." He turned to Amanda, "and you. You wanted to get out and find me some slaves, do it now."
"Wait," Sam said and held up his hand. "Elaine is the key to this."
"Dammit, Sam," Mark shouted, "stop thinking with your prick and go kill Hunter!"
Sam looked at him patiently, waiting for his boss to regain his cool. It did not take long, Mark had remarkable control.
"Sorry, Sam," he apologized, "explain."
"Elaine is the key to this," Sam continued. "It's a well known fact that I want her. Hunter will try to find her because he thinks I will be after her. He'll use her as bait to get me. If we can get her first, especially without Hunter knowing, he'll come to her, we nail him."
Mark considered this for a moment. "And, of course, you get Elaine."
Sam shrugged. "One way or another, either you and I are going to die or I'm going to get Elaine. All of this would already be done of J.J. hadn't fucked this up."
J.J. had sent Sam a text message that simply said "she got away" then disappeared. Sam wanted to have a conversation with that piece of shit at a later time.
