Until there was the sound of car doors on the ground below, making us all stiffen and draw our weapons.
“Couldn’t see who it was,” Seth said, shaking his head as he looked out the window. “Black SUV. That’s all I got.”
Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Two sets, maybe three. Not in any kind of rush, and definitely not trying to be quiet.
“Knock knock,” A’s voice sounded a second before he pushed open the door, coming in behind a bloodied man he was holding by the back of his collar.
“The fuck is this?” I asked, eyeing the other man who stayed back in the hall, face expressionless.
“Heard there was some trouble ‘round here. Kind of trouble that had lil’ mama getting snatched up, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I said, stomach tensing.
A nodded his head a couple times as he pursed his lips in an expression that, for him, seemed like anger.
“Tell ‘em,” A demanded, yanking back the collar of the man in front of him. “Said fucking tell ‘em,” Andres barked in a cold, alarmingly calm tone just a second before he slammed his foot into the back of the man’s leg, making him go down on one knee.
“Oh, that’s right. You can’t,” A said, smirking in such an evil way that I felt a chill move through me. “Cut that wagging fucking tongue out back at home,” he added, looking over at us. “See, me, I don’t like it when my men start talking shit about my fucking business, you know what I mean?” A asked.
“A…” I said, shaking my head.
“Well, I heard the news,” A said, looking at me. “And it got me thinking about the timing. Which got me thinking about our little meeting. Not all these fucks,” he said, waving toward his two men, “have been with me from the jump. Some came on board more recently. Seems like I put a little too much trust in ‘em. But, see, I got eyes and ears everywhere. So all I had to do was roll back some footage. And guess who I heard talking my shit—and your shit—to Raúl’s cousin?”
“You mother fucker,” I hissed.
“So, me and Al here, we had a little talk,” A said. “And in that talking, heard the plan to snatch lil’ mama in a truck that would meet up at a private landing strip where Raúl would be waiting.”
“Which one?” I asked, reaching for my phone.
“That one over behind the middle school,” Andres said.
It happened before I could even wrap my head around it.
One second, A was just standing there.
The next, he had a gun against the temple of his man.
Then he pulled the trigger.
And blood and brain matter splattered against the wall just a second before the man’s dead body hit the floor.
“Shit, man,” A said, wincing as he ran a hand up the blood on the wall. “Sorry about the mess. It was looking real nice in here. Well, no worries. I’ll have my crew in to clean up and take out the trash,” he told me, actually stepping on the body of the dead man on his way back toward the door. “Go get lil’ mama, yeah?” he said.
And then he was gone.
“I like him,” Dezi declared, getting a snort out of Voss who usually hated him.
I barely waited long enough for A and his men to get out of the way before I was charging down the steps.
Everyone else fell in behind me.
No one stopped to formulate a plan.
We didn’t even stop to ask Fallon if we could handle this.
Dezi and I were motivated by our affection for Abigail, Seth likely by guilt, and Voss, well, he was probably just excited for some action.
The airstrip wasn’t far, maybe ten minutes outside of Navesink Bank.
We probably should have pulled off somewhere and snuck up, taken them by surprise. We had Seth, after all. He could take a shot from damn near everywhere. But I wasn’t thinking clearly enough for that.
All I could think about was Abigail.
And the promises I’d given her.
Ones that I hadn’t been able to keep.
I couldn’t imagine the fear that must have been coursing through her as hands reached out to grab her, as she watched her guards get picked off.
And I knew Abigail. She would worry just as much about them as she did about herself. She would blame herself for putting them in that situation.
I just hoped to hell she didn’t let her mind go too dark, that she somehow convinced herself that she deserved whatever was coming to her because of the innocent people who’d gotten hurt along the way.
She needed to fight.
She needed to hold on just until I could get to her.
“Fuck!” I screamed as I jumped off my bike at the landing strip, finding the plane that was supposed to be there gone.
Along with Raúl.
And, likely, Abigail.
I wasn’t an idiot.
I knew that if I didn’t catch her before she got back to Mexico, that there was no way to protect her from the violence and pain that would come from that man’s hands.
“Hey, yo,” Voss called, letting out a whistle that had me turning to the side to find him pointing toward the line of trees. “Moving truck,” he added as we all started over. “Explain that,” he added, pulling the door up more to reveal the body in the back.
He was shot twice. Once in the abdomen, and then once in his chest.
“That’s the one who took her,” Seth confirmed, nodding.
“Yeah, but then why’s he dead?” Voss asked, moving around toward the front of the truck. “Eh, maybe he was cleaning house,” he declared, grabbing the driver’s side door, and pulling it open.
Another body spilled out.
“If he was contracting out and didn’t want shit tracing back to him,” Dezi said, shrugging.
“Fuck,” I hissed, turning on my heel away from the truck, walking down the tarmac, my hands raking through my hair, trying to think of a single way this didn’t end with all of us—including Abigail—dead.
It would have been one thing if I’d needed to go down to Mexico without him knowing I was even after him. But now? Now, that would not be possible. Eyes would be everywhere, looking for someone like me. If not me in particular. I didn’t know exactly how much information A’s guy had offered over.
If he’d given names, though…
Shit.
Andi and Niro.
Dezi likely already knew he had to be on the lookout, but I had to make sure Niro was keeping Andi safe.
With that in mind, I picked up to call.
“Fallon called,” Niro said.
“If he pointed us out…” I started.
“Yeah,” Niro said with a sigh.
“Sorry I dragged you into this.”
“Don’t apologize. I’d have dragged you in if this situation was reversed. You got a plan?”
“Not yet,” I admitted.
“It would be a death mission to go down there right now.”
It would.
“What other choice do I have?” I asked, exhaling hard.
“You could have Hailstorm set up a mission.”
That could take days.
I had no idea what kind of damage could be getting done to Abigail for days.
That wasn’t an option.
“I know,” Niro said, reading my thoughts. “Keep us posted,” he added, then ended the call.