Damian (The Caine Brothers #3) by Margaret Madigan

little spark of pride swelled in his chest.
    West spoke to the squad. “This floor’s clear. Ewing says he’s cleared the first floor. Squads three, four, and five are holding our path to the LZ and managing wounded. We just need to thread the needle, boys. Let’s go.”
    West radioed for pickup, trigging a round of hooahs as they moved out, keeping Elena in the middle of the group.
    They hauled ass downstairs and through the foyer, where they met Ewing’s men. They all circled around to the back of the house, through the kitchen—careful to hop over the dead bodies. Ewing’s guys threw open the back door and out hurried across the porch before spilling down onto the ground and heading toward the landing strip.
    Looked like they’d make it.
    Until Ewing’s men made it out into the open and a hail of gunfire erupted from the jungle to the south.
    West and most of Damian’s squad had just stepped off the porch, including Damian and Elena, who brought up the rear.
    “Fuck,” Damian said, grabbing Elena by the arm and running back up the porch steps and into the house.
    A fresh wave of guerillas swarmed out of the woods like ninja shadows in the dark, cutting them off from the rest of the men.
    “Jesus. How many men does Ramos have?” Damian asked.
    “Too many,” Elena said.
    “C’mon.”
    Damian clutched her hand and hurried through the kitchen—hopping over the dead—and back into the foyer. At the front door Damian squatted down and motioned for Elena to do the same.
    He spoke into the comm. “West. We got cut off by hostiles. I’m going to attempt to get her to the secondary extraction site. I’ll radio when we get there. Over.”
    “Roger. Out.”
    “What if they’re out front, too?” she asked.
    “Then we’ll need a plan C.”
    “Let’s just go with plan C.”
    “Why?”
    “A couple of reasons. First, Ramos took off when things got messy. It’s likely he went to meet my father in Cartagena and I’m worried that now he’ll be really pissed about this rescue effort and kill my dad.”
    “That doesn’t change our immediate situation. We can’t do anything about it until we get out of here.”
    “True. But once we’re out, I have to go to Cartagena to try to stop him.”
    “We’ll be way behind him, you know.”
    “How about you radio your team and send them after Ramos and dad?”
    Damian ground his teeth together to keep from saying something particularly insensitive. The mission didn’t include chasing after a drug lord to keep him from killing a senator. The mission was Elena-specific. “If I don’t?”
    “I’ll head to Cartagena myself. I can’t leave the country without knowing.”
    If Elena took off after her father, he’d follow. He’d never let her face Ramos alone, spy or not. That meant the rest of the team would end up shifting mission parameters anyway. “Fine.” He clicked the radio again. “West. I’ve got a hiccup. Over.”
    “What is it, Caine? Over.”
    “Elena’s concerned Ramos has gone to Cartagena to kill her father as revenge for our rescue. She wants the rest of the team to go after him. Over.”
    Damian recognized a grasp at patience in the long pause before West’s response. “Elena is the mission. Over.”
    “That’s what I told her, but she’ll go after him if we don’t. Over.”
    Damian imagined West’s expletives as he slammed a fist into something, but he sounded composed when he came back. “I’ll have to clear the change in mission with command. I imagine saving a senator’s life will make it easier to swallow. Over.”
    “We’ll head to the secondary extraction site and radio for additional instructions. Over.”
    “Roger. Out.”
    Damian turned to Elena and asked, “Satisfied?”
    “Thank you,” she said.
    He’d expected sarcasm. Her sincerity took him by surprise, requiring him to turn on a dime. He cleared his throat and asked, “So what’s the other reason we should go with plan C?”
    “Do you want to open this