Chapter Nineteen
E yes wide, T alon looked at me like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “This is Summer Amherst.”
“Jesus fuck,” Ty muttered.
“No shit?” Thomas asked. “Fallon Amherst’s daughter?”
“Christ.” Mercy shook her head. “I thought she looked familiar.”
“Not just Fallon’s,” Talon added. “She’s Leo Amherst’s daughter too.” He shook his head. “Patrol’s gonna lose his shit.” Talon glanced at me. “You need to call him ASAP. Leo Amherst was one of Luna’s first clients.”
I didn’t reach for my phone. I didn’t speak. I didn’t move.
I was calculating.
I had no idea who the girl was, but I knew the names Fallon and Leo Amherst. The husband was the owner of the music industry’s largest record label, and his wife, twenty years his junior, was a supermodel. They were Miami’s it couple before a tabloid fodder divorce last year. None of which I cared about.
But a sex trafficker after their daughter was not only high profile, but high stakes, and now I was standing in the middle of it, and worse, I’d brought it to Mercy’s doorstep.
Fuck.
Fuck .
“Bullet,” the woman groaned. “Get it out.”
Talon and Mercy moved toward her, but I stepped between them and looked at the girl. “Tell me why Julio Estevez was after you and we’ll take care of the bullet.”
“It’s…” She coughed. “Complicated.”
I glanced at Ty.
Reading my intent, he grabbed Mercy’s medical kit from the SUV and reached for the lift gate. “No problem. We’ll dump you where he found you.” He started to close the hatch.
“ Wait ,” she rasped, barely holding a hand up.
“Start talking,” Ty demanded.
Shrinking away from Ty, she glanced at Talon, then me. “It’s… complicated.”
Talon smirked. “You’re two gunshot wounds past complicated, darlin’.”
The longer we stood out here, the higher our chance of drawing attention. “I’ll call Luna.” I pulled my phone out.
Summer reached for my arm. “Look, I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you.”
“ Jesus Christ ,” Mercy snapped at the blonde. “Open your fucking eyes. I don’t know what the hell happened but look around you. Preston got you away from armed sex traffickers, and now you’ve got four former Marines standing here all trying to help your sorry ass. Either tell them what the fuck the problem is or get the hell off my driveway. Not only are you wasting my time, you’re grating on my last nerve. I don’t give a shit who your daddy is. I’ll kick you out on your ass if you keep demanding our good graces without a fucking explanation.”
Talon chuckled and slapped my shoulder. “Goddamn, Trace. Got yourself a handful.”
Both Ty and I glared at Talon.
Talon held his hands up. “Nothin’ doin’, nothin’ doin’. Just sayin’.” He grinned.
Arms crossed, staring at Summer, a perplexed expression on his face, Thomas spoke up. “Are you really Fallon Amherst’s daughter?”
“ Jesus Christ ,” Ty and Mercy said in unison.
Stepping back, I dialed my boss.
André Luna answered on the first ring. “What’s up?”
I turned my back on everyone. “Complication.”
“I’m listening.”
“Summer Amherst.”
“ Jesucristo ,” Luna swore in Spanish. “I’m already not liking this.”
“I spotted her running from two armed men when I was doing recon.”
“You should’ve walked in the other direction.”
“I didn’t know who she was when they fired at her.”
“Dios mio, please tell me she didn’t get shot. Please fucking tell me this isn’t a part of the shit I’m hearing on the police scanners.”
“I can’t do that. Two GSWs, arm and back. Talerco’s here.” I considered not telling him the rest.
“And?”
“She was running from Julio Estevez’s men. I’m at Mercy Asher’s. Ty and Thomas are here as well.”
Luna let loose with a string of curse words in Spanish.
“Talerco said you’d want to know.” I didn’t need the job with André Luna. I didn’t need to work. But I respected Luna and the business he’d built. “He said Amherst was a client.”
“Fuck Leo Amherst right now. I need you to ask the chica if she’s a spotter for Estevez.” Alarm in his tone, Luna pressed it. “Right now, Vos. Ask her .”
I walked back to the SUV.
Talon was making a small incision on her lower left back as Mercy held her shoulders.
The phone still to my ear, I looked at the girl. “Are you spotter for Estevez?”
Five pairs of eyes settled on me, making the ink on the back of my neck itch.
The girl’s face fell. “Yes,” she answered, her voice hoarse from pain.
I didn’t have to ask if Luna heard.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck . Put Talerco on, now ,” Luna demanded.
“He’s removing the bullet. Putting you on speaker.” I hit the speaker button. “Talerco, Luna needs to speak to you.”
“What up, Patrol?” Talon shoved a latex-gloved finger into the hole he’d cut in the girl.
The girl jerked and cried out.
“The chica’s Estevez’s property, not merchandise. She’s chipped.”
“Motherfucker.” Talerco’s eyes closed for a second.
“All of you need to get the fuck out of there,” Luna warned. “Or get the chip out of her. Ask her where Estevez implanted it.”
Talon pulled a hollow point bullet out of the girl’s back. “Copy that.” He held his hand out to Mercy. “We’ll call you back.”
I hung up.
As if they had worked together before, their movements swift and coordinated, Mercy took the bullet in a piece of gauze from Talon then held out a pre-threaded suture. Talon took the suture, and quickly sewed the incision he’d made to get the bullet out with three stitches.
Panting through the pain, the girl looked from Talon to me. “He’s not cutting me open again.”
The distinct drone of motorcycles sounded in the distance.
I glanced at Ty, but he was already looking down the street.
“Is that what I think it is?” Talerco asked without looking up as he dressed first the fresh wound, then the entrance wound.
I listened. “Three, maybe four motorcycles,” I said to Ty. “Thirty seconds.”
Nodding, he pulled his 9mm from his belt holster and checked the magazine. “First we’re going to take them down, then I’m going to beat your ass for bringing this shit to my sister’s doorstep.”
“He didn’t bring anything here,” the girl defended me. “I did.”
The sound of the motorcycles grew louder.
I glanced between the Challenger, the Super Duty and the SUV before looking at Ty. “Triangulate. I’ll be point. Thomas secures the front of the house.”
“Fuck no,” Ty argued. “Mercy shoots better than the kid. You guard the house. I’ll take point.”
“Taking offense to that,” Thomas interjected. “I can shoot.” He pulled his own 9mm out. “Just tell me who we’re shooting at.”
“We need firepower in front.” My aim was better than Ty’s. “I’m point.”
Shaking his head but not going against my plan, Ty moved into position.
Talerco finished dressing the wound and pulled the girl out of the SUV, draping her arm over Mercy’s shoulder. “Take her inside, darlin’, and don’t come out till one of us comes for you.”
Mercy looked at me.
I’m sorry , I mouthed.
Chest heaving, expression furious, she didn’t respond. She shuffled the girl toward the house.
I stated the obvious. “We take out this round, there’ll be more.”
Talon retrieved a 9mm from his medical kit. “Not once I get her tracker out.”
“They have my sister’s address now,” Ty ground out.
Talon slapped Ty on the shoulder as he casually walked past him toward his position. “We’ll handle it.” He glanced at Thomas. “You really can’t shoot?”
Looking nervous as fuck, Thomas held his gun low and in front of him. “I got it, I got it. Aim and pull the trigger.”
Four motorcycles rounded the corner.
“Here we go.” Talon crouched behind the right front of the SUV. “ Showtime .”