Crossfire Christmas. Julie Miller

of running feet, pinpointing the locations of the two remaining assailants as they tried to flank him. He ignored the throbbing burn in his leg and fought to calm his labored breathing so the clouds of stress and exertion in the open warehouse’s wintry air wouldn’t give his position away. He figured he had about two minutes—three if he was lucky—to find a way out of this mess.

      The desk agent who’d met him in this run-down auto-parts warehouse near the Missouri River to try to help him reestablish his undercover persona hadn’t been so lucky. He’d wager most of the car parts in this place weren’t legal, and that Tommy Delvecchio had never been in the middle of a real firefight before. Stupid kid must not have been wearing his flak vest, judging by the size of that puddle of blood pooling beneath him.

      If Delvecchio had been one of Nash’s operatives, he’d have trained him better than that. Hell. If he’d been one of Nash’s undercover operatives, he’d probably still be dead. Just like the other embedded agents whose covers had been blown.

      Glancing over at the still figure crumpled on the floor between storage racks, Nash felt his gut twist with anger and remorse. “Damn it, Tommy. Told you I didn’t need backup.” All he’d asked for was cash and a new ID to be sent to a PO box. He hadn’t needed a personal delivery. He hadn’t wanted the kid to come all the way to K.C. “You should have stayed at the office.”

      You can’t risk hiding out for more than forty-eight hours, boss. And you said you can’t trust anyone in the field. You need someone who isn’t part of the Graciela-Vargas turf war to do this for you. Nash could imagine Agent Delvecchio rising to attention beside his computer, eager to get on the next flight to KCI and prove himself. I’m not a field agent. They don’t know me. I can help.

      Smart kid. Good logic. Still dead. Just like Torres and Richter back in Harlingen and Houston. Nash’s team was another man down, he had no ID on the traitor who’d marked them as cops, and he was on his own in this nightmare.

      Pushing aside the distracting emotions that could get him killed, too, Nash quickly evaluated his options. The stinging smell of sulfur in the air told him the three shooters—down to two now—had used up a lot of their bullets coming after him and Delvecchio. But that didn’t give him the advantage it should have.

      He kicked out the magazine from his Smith & Wesson and checked his own ammo supply before reloading the clip. Three bullets left. The rest of the ammunition and backup weaponry he needed were in the go bag lying on the floor beside Delvecchio. The only chance of a getaway was his truck, parked a good thirty yards from his position. And as far as he could tell, there were still two of Berto Graciela’s thugs in the warehouse with him.

      Unless these were Santiago Vargas’s men. Vargas had been loyal to Berto’s older brother, Diego. Ever since Diego’s death two years earlier, the two had been vying for power within the organization. What did a few cops mean to either of them? Just collateral damage in a war to control a drug-trafficking pipeline that funneled cocaine, pot and an assortment of designer concoctions across the border—or straight into the U.S. at import traffic hubs like Houston, K.C. and Chicago.

      But Nash’s team had been making progress. They’d fed the DEA precious intel, helping the agency shut down some key distribution centers. Now Nash and his men were dying.

      How had they found him here in Kansas City? Who had found him? He was over ten hours away from his last encounter with Graciela’s men in Houston. Had they followed the kid? If so, how had they connected computer geek Thomas Delvecchio to him? Was there a hidden tracking device on his Ford F-250 he’d missed? Unlikely. He’d gone over the thing with a fine-tooth comb at a truck stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the last time he’d checked in with his captain in the Houston office and made the arrangements with Delvecchio.

      There had to be a leak somewhere in the system. One of the DEA’s confidential informants wasn’t keeping things so confidential. Torres or Richter had let something slip in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or worst-case scenario? One of Graciela’s or Vargas’s men had infiltrated the Houston office and Nash’s men were at the mercy of a double agent.

      That had to be the answer. A team didn’t lose three agents in a week unless someone was leaking inside information.

      “You’re outnumbered, Señor Nash!” one of the thugs taunted, his accent rolling his Rs and making the gibe sound like a joke instead of a promise of death. “You are the mouse and we are the gatos. When you come out of your hole, we’ll be waiting to pounce.”

      So at least one man had taken up position near the open garage door.

      Time to stop speculating about who had betrayed him and deal with the threat at hand. Nash craned his neck to peer through a stack of sports car bumpers to gauge the distance and amount of open ground he’d have to cover before reaching his truck.

      On a good day, he could do it in a matter of seconds. But this was far from a good day. And he didn’t have a location on the second shooter.

      Time to go old school.

      After slipping off the black felt Stetson that the years had shaped so perfectly to his head, he kissed the crown and set it on the shelf beside him, nudging it into clear view near the end of the row. Then he pushed to his feet and pulled down the pile of bumpers, creating a noisy diversion while he ducked into the next aisle and ran for his truck.

      Boom. His hat flew off the shelf, giving him a twenty on Thug Three. The angle of that last shot told Nash the man was running parallel through the stacks with him.

      Well, running was a relative term. Thug Three was an overweight man who moved with the grace of a lumbering buffalo, while Nash was hobbled by the wound on his leg.

      But Nash was still faster.

      Sorry, kid. I owe you one. He scooped up the heavy nylon go bag from the floor beside Delvecchio and limped toward the open garage area with a galloping gait. Twenty yards. Fifteen. He could feel the blood running down his leg and filling his left boot. Thank God the shot hadn’t taken out his knee or ankle.

      Ten yards.

      The damp wind and flakes of blowing snow pelted his face as he broke into the open garage area.

      Ah, hell.

      Thug Two stepped out from behind a rolling toolbox and shot at him. Either the guy had piss-poor aim or Nash was lurching on his gimpy leg more than he thought. One bullet smacked into the side of the truck bed, punching a hole through the black metal. The second shot went wide and shattered the driver’s-side window.

      Nash raised his gun and squeezed the trigger.

      Thug Two didn’t get off a third shot.

      Nash swore when Thug Three stumbled out from shelves near the dead body by the garage door. Couldn’t a guy catch a break? Nash swept the broken glass off his seat, tossed the bag into the truck and climbed in behind the wheel. The big man silhouetted against the sunny glare of the snow outside was panting hard. But he wasn’t relying on perfect aim to stop Nash. He pulled out a second handgun and fired both in a smoky barrage of sparks and firepower.

      Nash started the engine and stuck his left hand out the broken window. Bracing his wrist on the mirror to steady his aim, he pulled the trigger. With a flurry of Spanish curses, Thug Three dropped one of his weapons and shook his fingers. Lucky shot. Nash must have hit the gun and stung his hand.

      But two shots and he was done. No way could he reach his bag on the floorboards across the truck and reload in time. Dropping the gun into his lap, Nash shifted the truck into Drive. He’d only irritated Thug Three. The big man clasped both hands around his remaining weapon and fired.

      Nash stomped on the accelerator. A bullet smacked the windshield on the passenger side, splintering the glass into a web of cracks. The wheels spun until they found traction on the smooth concrete. A second bullet took out his side mirror. The truck lurched forward and barreled toward the exit. A third bullet found the open window and ripped through his left shoulder, spinning downward through the muscle, oblivious to the protective vest he wore.