Everything was gone.
My men. My army. Our exit. All engulfed in towering flames that licked the sky.
The perimeter I’d walked to ensure myself of my family’s safety had been destroyed, the armada tasked to guard it now scattered across the lawn in charred chunks. But what I couldn’t take my eyes off of was personal. More personal than the death of my men. More personal than the destruction of my sister’s wedding.
My personal helicopter as well as the two medical choppers were nothing but two monstrous balls of fire and black smoke.
“I guess now we know where the explosion came from.”
“Shut the fuck up, Vergara,” Mateo growled.
“Fuck!” Tilting my chin toward the burning sky, I swore my oath to the barely conscious woman cradled in my arms. “I’m going to kill Dante Santiago so slowly that every generation to come will hear his screams. I’ll take everything that motherfucker holds sacred.”
As I lowered my chin, my chest heaving with rage, fear, and adrenaline, I saw Mateo’s forehead wrinkle as he nodded over my shoulder. “You can start with that.”
Seven pairs of eyes turned and watched while two of Santiago’s three Bell Ranger 407s burned like kerosene-soaked kindling.
Two of three.
“Why would he blow up his own choppers?”
Niko’s question didn’t surprise me. I wondered the same thing myself. Nothing made sense right now, and now those goddamn colors were starting to swirl in front of my face again.
These new pieces didn’t fit in the Santiago puzzle, but I didn’t have time to put together a new one. My only concern was Eden and our child. Once I knew they would be okay, I’d take care of everything else.
And anyone else.
“Go.”
One word was all it took.
Mateo and Cristiano carried a still unconscious Brody toward the remaining Ranger as Adriana followed behind. Niko supported Ava who, although limping from a gunshot wound, refused to be carried anywhere. Leighton and the still mute doctor walked silently beside me as I carried my wife in my arms, my chest burning from my own gunshot wound, but giving zero fucks.
However, as we approached the helicopter, I spoke one man’s name. “Mateo.” That’s all that needed to be said. In silence, Niko took his place supporting Brody, and my second-in-command appeared by my side, his arms out and waiting.
I trusted no one, especially with my wife. However, after the shitshow with Santiago and whatever the fuck just happened back there, I was leading this charge.
Whatever happened, it was my call. My demands. My gun.
But I couldn’t do it holding Eden. So as carefully as possible, I placed her in his arms and pulled my gun from its holster. Once inside the cabin, it took less than ten seconds to locate the pilot crouched on his knees inside the cockpit with his forehead resting on his thighs and his hands behind his head like he was in a goddamn tornado drill.
Too easy.
I pressed my gun against the back of his head. “Start this thing.”
The man’s back heaved as he cried. “But Señor Santiago…”
“Is not fucking here. Now start it, or I’ll blow your brains all over this piece of shit. Your choice.”
Still, this asshole argued with me. On his knees. Crying. With his forehead on the damn floor. “I cannot betray Señor Santiago. You don’t understand…”
“Get up.” When he just sat there blowing snot all over the floor, I cracked the grip of my gun against his skull. “I said get up!” It must have jogged something loose in his head because this time, the pendejo got up and walked toward the door, my gun still pressed against the back of his head. As he stood at the threshold, I glanced over his shoulder at Niko. “Can you fly a Ranger?”
He shrugged. “I can fly a Cessna.”
“Good enough for me.” I pulled the trigger and watched as the pilot nosedived onto the concrete below.
No one flinched.
After Brody and Eden were inside the cabin, and Adriana and Ava climbed in, I motioned with my gun for Dr. Vidal to follow. Wisely, the fucker kept his mouth shut. I assumed it had something to do with seeing the pilot’s head explode, but I didn’t give a shit. As Niko boarded and manned the central control unit inside the cockpit, Cristiano, Mateo and Leighton backed away, the latter two promising to follow in their car and meet us at Médica Sur in a few hours.
The inside cabin remained deathly quiet as Niko muttered to himself in Russian, flipping switches until he’d activated the main rotor.
At the familiar whomp-whomp of the blade, I grabbed Eden’s hand. “Stay with me, Cereza. Do you hear me?”
Her response was a shattered groan.
“Gaheris, get this piece of shit in the air. Now!”
The words were barely out of my mouth when everything shifted, rocking us backward then forward before lifting off the ground. Eden let out another weak scream, and I fought the urge to toss another pilot face down onto the concrete.
“Is Harcourt still breathing?” I called over my shoulder, clenching my teeth at Adriana’s muffled cry. It was a shitty turn of phrase, but I didn’t have the time or patience to worry about hurting anyone’s feelings right now.
“It’s shallow, but he’s still with us,” she answered.
The relief spreading through my chest surprised me. Fucker better not die on my sister.
My temporary calm was interrupted by a sound from below. The combined noise from the main and tail rotor was loud as fuck, but I swore I heard shouting, and then something that sounded a lot like bullets.
Son of a bitch! What now?
Still holding onto Eden’s hand, I stretched forward as far as I could and looked out the window to see Dante Santiago and what was left of his men come barreling toward us, guns pulled and ammo flying.
I’d only known the man less than twelve hours, but I’d never seen him that pissed.
Good.
It went against everything I knew, but I couldn’t stop myself. I shoved my whole face in the window and held his stare. That fucker saw me. He stared right back, a dark smile curving across his mouth. It wasn’t out of amusement. It was an acknowledgment.
With his men all around him and mine surrounding me, the actual bullets that flew between us didn’t matter. It was the silent one just fired that started the war.
“Val!” The strain in Eden’s voice ripped me away from the gravity of what just happened and brought me back to her side.
“I’m here, Cereza.” Only minutes had passed since we carried her out of the courtyard, but it felt like days. It was her heart that beat inside my chest and every time it slowed, a piece of me died. I refused to entertain the thought of not making it to Médica Sur in time. I wouldn’t lose her. I didn’t lose. A Carrera didn’t fucking lose.
“Val,” she whispered again. “It’s bad, Val. It hurts.” The last word still rested on her lips when she let out a scream that both sputtered blood from her mouth and tore curses from mine.
“I thought I told you to make it stop!” I roared, aiming my gun down Eden’s body at the doctor’s face.
From his kneeling position between her legs, he shook his head. “I can’t, señor. The baby is coming. There is nothing I can do but deliver.”