A WILD SHOT FLEW past our right side.
Pushing my legs to move faster, I veered left.
Two more shots flew overhead as I hit the edge of the parking lot and ducked behind a row of cars. I needed to find an older car to steal before either of us got shot, because I knew nothing about newer vehicles. Spotting an older two-door car with tinted windows, I kept us low as I sprinted two lanes down.
Gently setting her on the ground, I couldn’t think about her injuries right now. Swinging my rifle around, I used the stock to break the back window and reach in.
I yanked the driver door open. “Get in and get down.”
Without a word, she scrambled in. She tucked herself into the small front passenger seat and folded over, but not before I saw the cuts and bruises on the bottom of her feet.
Pushing down pure rage, I got in and yanked the ignition off. Shots sounded across the parking lot as I stripped the wires then connected them. The car started, and I pulled the door shut as I threw it in reverse.
“Where are we going?” Quiet, calm, there was nothing in her voice to indicate shock or panic.
I gunned the engine of the small car then spun the wheel as I got to the end of the row. “Airport.” Throwing it in drive, I floored it.
“Where are we?”
“Tamaulipas, Mexico.”
She turned in her seat to look at me. “You came all the way to Mexico to get me?”
I would have gone wherever I needed to go to get her. “Put your seat belt on.” I touched the communication device in my ear to turn it back on and heard gunfire. “Luna, we are out of the parking lot.”
“Copy th—” A loud burst of fire cut off his words. “Head to the airport.”
“On my way.” I drove through the eerily deserted streets feeding into the port and was about to turn off the communication device again when Tyler spoke.
“We’re compromised,” Tyler said over a loud engine noise. “We trailed strays and they caught up to us. Roark’s taking off. Stand by for pickup det—” Static blasted my ear. “Do you copy?”
“Jesucristo,” Luna swore before another round of fire.
Static warred with gunfire through the communication device. “…six hours,” Tyler said. “Do you copy? Roark can be back in six hours.”
“Negative,” Luna replied. “We don’t have enough ammo to hold position. Switching to plan B. Repeat, plan B. Anders, do you copy?”
I glanced in the rearview mirrors then answered in his dialect so there would be no miscommunication. “Copy.”
Gunfire erupted from Luna and Talon’s position as Talon let out a war cry. “Take that, you motherfuckers!”
The static hit a high pitch, and Tyler cut in. “Wheels up. Comm out.”
The static and the noise from the plane’s engine cut out only to be replaced by heavy breathing and muffled gunfire. “We’re right behind you, Anders. Use alternate route two. Repeat, route two. We’ll take route one and retrieve the SUV from the airport, then meet at location one.”
“Copy.” I swung the car around and headed north on the route Luna had made us all study in satellite images and on maps. We would be taking a highway that skirted the coast, but not until we were all in the same vehicle.
“Call if you run in to trouble, otherwise, see you in twenty.”
“Understood.” I checked the rearview mirrors again. No one was following us yet.
“Switching to cell,” Luna added. “Comm going off.”
“Copy.” The background noise cut out, and I removed the earpiece and pocketed it. I glanced at Emily as I wedged my rifle between our seats.
Sitting upright, her back ramrod straight, she stared straight ahead. “What’s going on?”
“We’re driving to the border crossing in Texas instead of flying to Miami.”
She glanced behind us. “Are they following us?”
Not that I had seen. “No.”
“How do I get across the border?”
I should have been relieved she was thinking straight and asking questions, but her body language and monotone were more than concerning me. “I have your passport.”
“Huh.” She did not take her eyes off the road.
I glanced at the dashboard to check the fuel gauge as she asked another monotone question.
“How far are we from Texas?”
“Four hours.” The image of her bruised back played in my head, and I fought to keep my anger in check.
“Do we have enough gas?”
I should have taken her hand. I should have asked her if she was all right. I should have pulled over and tended to her wounds, but I did none of it. She was clearly not okay, and death was too good for the man who had taken her.
My jaw ticked, and I turned the air conditioning up in the vehicle. “Yes, but we are not driving this vehicle all the way. We will meet with André and Talon and drive together.”
“Mm-hm.”
I did not know what her response meant, and I did not question it. Ignoring traffic rules at empty intersections and skirting around vehicles at others, I sped toward the motel that was the meet-up location. Leaning forward, I removed the handgun at my back. Making sure the safety was on, I placed it within easy reach in a cupholder between us.
“Is that one mine?”
I glanced at her, but her expression gave nothing away. “Do you know how to shoot?”
“Point and pull the trigger.”
There was more to it than that. I rephrased my question. “Have you ever shot a gun?” I checked the rearview mirrors again. Still nothing.
“No.”
Cars were backed up at an intersection ahead, forcing me to slow down. If I thought it would not draw attention, I would have bypassed the traffic and driven on the side of the road. Instead, I considered her answer as I slowed to a stop. The males on the compound were taught to shoot from an early age, but no female was ever allowed a gun.
I made a decision. “I will teach you.”
She made a noncommittal sound that was neither yes nor no.
Easing through the intersection, I pulled my cell phone out and turned it on.
The movement caught her attention. She glanced at the phone. “Does my family know about…?” She trailed off.
“Yes.” I did not offer her the phone. I would have her call once we were safely across the border.
Her hands twisted in her lap. “How much do they know?”
“That you were taken.” I could not ask if she was forced against her will. I could not hear the answer right now. I would turn the vehicle around and kill them all.
She looked out the side window and her voice got quiet. “He was going to sell me.”
My jaw ticked. “I know.” I wanted to pull the trigger all over again.
She shrank in on herself, crossing her arms defensively over her abdomen.
I gripped the steering wheel tighter. I had never taken the Lord’s name in vain, but right now I wanted to curse a God who would take a woman who smiled like my angel and put her in the hands of violence.
Inhaling, I could no longer ignore the extent of her injuries. I needed to know if she would be okay for four hours until I got her safely over the border. Choosing my words, I lowered my voice. “Your injuries, I need to know if—”
“Yes,” she snapped. “Yes, I’m still a virgin.” She spit the last word out like poison. “That’s why that asshole took me. That’s why I was his victim. Because I’m a fucking virgin.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “And he could sell that.” She thumped her fist against her chest. “Sell me.”
Panting, she valiantly fought tears, but a different kind of floodgate opened. “But he didn’t get to do that because you killed him. So here I am, in a stolen car in Mexico with filth and grime and the blood of dead men on me. Literally on me. I’ve tasted death and survived being locked in a cargo container like an animal. I escaped rape, and I escaped being sold to the highest bidder before being turned into a prostitute, or worse, a drugged-out prostitute. So yay me. Or yay you, because you rescued me, and it’s a damn good thing I didn’t jump over the side of the ship when I had a chance, because then who would you have rescued? You would’ve come all this way and for what?”
She answered her own question. “The other girls. You could have rescued them. They were younger, so that would have been good because they were really young and one kept crying in the container. I was only trying to reassure her, but apparently we weren’t supposed to talk, and they heard me talking, so I was separated from the rest and kicked around for having a mouth and daring to call those pieces of shit assholes, because that’s what they were, fucking assholes. And I’d do it all over again because it got the asshole who took me out of the container away from the other girls. I would have endured whatever I had to if it meant that little girl didn’t get sold. But I didn’t have to endure it, because the moment he forced me down, that asshole Javier magically appeared and shot the wannabe rapist in the head. That’s why I’m covered in blood spray, or maybe it’s from when you blew off Javier’s head, but who cares, it’s their vile, disgusting blood and not mine.” She paused to suck in a breath. “So that’s what happened. Any other questions?”
They had not violated her.
Air filled my lungs.
If life was measured in gratitude, in that moment, mine was complete. I saw the blood spray on her skin. I saw the discoloring of her face, the bruising, her matted hair. I smelled the scent of a body gone too long without bathing. I smelled the stench of another man on her. I heard the fragile grasp on sanity in her voice.
None of it mattered.
None of it compared to the breath going in and out of her lungs.
None of it took away from the sound of her heartbeat.
No words, I reached for her hand.