The door panel was not substantial enough to offer reliable cover, so Hicks scurried around to the back of the car, his progress prompting yet another volley. The windshield took the brunt of it and, already weakened, chunks of glass broke loose and crashed into the cabin. Hicks’s phone was still in there, but there was no way that he was going to be able to get to it.

He was penned in.

90

The gunfire was loud, the reports echoing off the buildings and sending a roosting toucanet up into the air in panic. Chase watched as the unconscious woman and then Milton were bundled into the back of the van. The second captive—Chase didn’t recognise her—was struggling with the masked woman who was next to her. It looked as if she was being pushed toward the back of the van, too, and that she really didn’t want to go.

Chase opened the door and got out of the car, then reached back inside for the Marlin. It was already prepared to fire: magazine tube loaded, .45-70 cartridge in the chamber, hammer cocked, safety off.

He raised it, pressed it against his shoulder, and squinted down the iron sight to aim.

He pulled the trigger, absorbed the recoil, and immediately cycled the lever to put another cartridge into the chamber.

* * *

Ellie’s hands had been secured behind her back, and now the woman who had done it grabbed her, wrapping her arms around her and trying to manhandle her toward the van. Ellie struggled, trying to free herself. She was a fed. She knew what would happen if she was delivered to the cartel. They had already killed the US ambassador. An FBI agent would be small potatoes by comparison.

Milton and La Bruja were already in the back of the vehicle when the shot crashed into the side of the Chevrolet. The boom that followed was big and ominous, suggesting that someone was firing large-calibre rounds their way.

“Incoming!” the woman next to Ellie yelled.

Ellie turned her head in the direction of the junction and saw a man with a long gun aiming it in their direction. The man fired again and the windshield of the van was punctured in the middle, the corresponding deep boom following in short order, peeling off the buildings on either side of them.

Her captor was distracted. Ellie took her chance and shoved the back of her head in the direction of the woman’s face. She made a solid connection, the impact rattling her jaw and her teeth clashing together. The woman behind her grunted with pain and loosened her grip. Ellie butted her again and, this time, the woman let her go.