Home Invasion - J. A. Johnstone [92]
“Do not concern yourself with that,” Garaldo snapped. “But I give you my word, those who cooperate will not be harmed.”
“That’s a damned lie,” Alex snapped. “I saw your men shoot down my officer.”
“Ah, you are the chief of police,” Garaldo said. Alex chided herself for giving away even that much information. “You and your officers are the only ones in this town who are still armed,” Garaldo went on. “You must understand that we will take no chances with you. Nothing must be allowed to interfere with our mission.”
“And what’s that?”
“Enough,” Garaldo replied in a harsh, impatienttone. “Throw out your weapon and surrender, Chief Bonner, or you will be ki—”
The leader of the invaders didn’t get to finish his threat. Tires squealed around a corner, and suddenly the street was filled with gun thunder once again.
CHAPTER 38
Alex ducked lower as bullets whipped through the air, whined off the pavement, and thudded into buildings and parked cars. She saw one of her own department’s police cars barreling toward her. J. P. Delgado had his left hand out the window, firing his service revolver, while his right hand suddenly spun the wheel. The patrol car slid to a stop only a few feet from Alex.
“Come on!” Delgado yelled through the open passenger side window.
Alex didn’t have to be invited twice. She didn’t take the time to open the door, either.
She just surged to her feet and dived headfirst through the open window.
She wound up with her face in Delgado’s lap, but under the circumstances neither of them had the time nor inclination to think about how awkward that was. Bullets continued to slam into the car as Delgado hauled the wheel around and tromped on the gas. The rear window starred under the impact of the slugs, then suddenly shattered, spraying glass through the interior of the car.
Alex pulled her legs in and levered herself up into a sitting position. Keeping her head low, she twisted in the seat and fired back through the broken window. A fierce surge of satisfaction went through her as she saw one of the men shooting at them double over and collapse.
“Got one of the bastards!” she said as her gun clicked on empty.
“Yep, but there’s still a bunch more of them,” Delgado said. He cranked the wheel again and sent the car careening around a corner into one of the side streets. For the time being, bullets quit smacking into it.
Alex had a spare magazine clipped to her belt. She shoved it into the automatic and asked, “How’d you happen to show up just in the nick of time? Did my radio call get out before they shut all the comms down?”
Delgado shook his head. “No, I didn’t hear a call. But I did hear the shots. I had a bad feeling about things and held off on the lights and siren until I got close enough to see what was going on.” He laughed humorlessly. “Which I still don’t know. Who are those men, Alex? Is the town really under attack?”
“That’s what it looks like. The guy I was talking to calls himself a general. Jose Luis Garaldo, he said his name was.”
“I know the name,” Delgado said. “He’s a general in the Mexican army, but he’s even more open than his fellow officers about the fact that he really works for the Rey del Sol cartel.”
“Navarre’s bunch.”
“Navarre was the lowest of the low. Garaldo is almost at the top, not much below Enrique Reynosa, the boss of the whole thing.”
Now that he reminded her of it, Alex recalled reading reports for the Border Patrol and the Drug Enforcement Agency about the Rey del Sol cartel, including mentions of its leader. Garaldo’s name was vaguely familiar, too.
“The town’s being taken over by a drug cartel?”
“Sounds like it,” Delgado said. “Were all the men you saw Hispanic?”
“Well … yeah. And they were yelling orders in Spanish.”
“God, I hate being related to those people,” Delgado said fervently. “People hear my name and see my brown skin, and they think I’m like those … those … people is too good a word for them. They’re animals.”
“Nobody who knows you feels that way, J. P.,” Alex said.
They had reached the edge of town. No one seemed