CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The helo flew fast and low to the ground and swung side to side as Lucas followed the curves of the river.
As soon as they neutralized Rios and Ortega, Viking and Calliope came down from their perches.
She was great with traumatized kids, and the big man had a gentle nature—when he wasn’t taking out bad guys, of course.
So Cole decided they would stay at the mobile home with the girls.
Some deputies from the sheriff’s department were already on their way out there.
The rest of the team hauled ass the two-plus miles back to the helo and took off as fast as Lucas could get it in the air.
Eddie pulled his phone from his pocket to call Mark and saw that he had a voicemail message. From Lucia. He tapped the screen and listened.
“I’m pretty sure Munoz is here.” She was whispering and talking almost too fast to understand. “I think Mark is …” It sounded like she was holding back tears. “I haven’t seen Josh, and Isabella—”
The message ended abruptly.
Eddie immediately tried to call her back, but it went straight to her voicemail.
He’d already tried to reach Mark and Josh on the way to the helo, but neither one of them answered.
“Munoz is at the cabin.” He shared Lucia’s voicemail with the others.
“We’ll be there in ten,” Lucas said.
Each minute ticked by like an eternity.
He stared down at the tumultuous water as it rushed by beneath them. Dark thoughts filled his mind, and a killing rage began to roil in his gut at the thought of Lucia and Isabella on the run from that psychopath.
His teammates—accustomed to the fun-loving, lighthearted Eddie—gave him space and didn’t bother trying to calm him with empty, meaningless reassurances that everything would be okay.
They knew better.
“Five minutes to touchdown.” Lucas slowed the chopper and hovered over a clearing next to the river, about a half mile from the cabin.
Their arrival would be noticed, but there was no time for stealth.
The skids had barely settled onto the rocky ground when Cole swung open his door and the side door rolled open. Everyone piled out and started running along the riverbank toward the cabin. Lucas would secure the chopper, then join them.
Eddie was at the front of the group. Their boot steps thundered over the smooth river rocks lining the edge of the water, and the dock came into view. They all skidded to a stop and used it for cover.
Cole pointed to Boone and Hawk, and they took off to the right to circle around that side. Cole and Eddie continued down the riverbank to just beyond the cabin and would circle back.
They heard someone staggering down the porch stairs, then footsteps heading around to the back of the cabin. Unfortunately, they couldn’t see who it was.
Eddie and Cole hurried over to Mark’s truck, crouched down behind it, and leaned out enough to see the steps. There was no one there. The front door was open, and a figure lay on the ground at the side of the house closest to them.
Cole tapped Eddie and pointed to the cabin, then pointed at himself and to the body. They did a silent three-two-one countdown and bolted out from behind the truck.
Eddie ran to the cabin, and Cole headed toward the body.
Eddie crept up the steps and stood to the side of the open front door. He risked a quick peek inside and saw Mark lying motionless on the floor. He lifted his pistol to his chest, swung into the room, and held his gun out as he checked the room.
He knelt down next to Mark and noticed a hole in his shirt and blood on his thigh. He put his finger to the side of his neck and blew out a breath when he felt a slow pulse.
“Coming in,” Cole announced in his earpiece, just before he walked through the door. “Body was Martín.” He dipped his chin toward Mark. “How is he?”
“He’s alive.” Eddie ripped open his shirt and noticed the dent in the center of his brother-in-law’s body armor.
Thank God, it had done its job. He did not want to be responsible for the death of his sister’s husband and his good friend.
Cole saw his bloody thigh and stomped over to the bucket of firewood next to the stove. He dug through it and pulled out a thin stick. He yanked the string from Mark’s boots, created a tourniquet, and tightened it around his thigh to help slow the bleeding.
Eddie rushed down the hallway and saw that the bedroom door was open.
The doorframe was all fucked up, and hunks of wood were scattered all over the floor.
The bed had been slept in, but the room was empty, and the closet door was in the same condition as the other one.
He checked the nightstand and saw that the gun and flashlight were gone.
“Shit.” He charged into the front room. “You got him?”
“Yeah, go get your girls.” Cole tapped his earpiece. “Luna, we need an ambulance at the cabin.”
“I’m on it.” Keys clicked in the background.
Eddie flew out of the cabin, took the steps two at a time, and went around to the back.
He darted around trees and branches and made his way around a large boulder.
He stopped when he spotted a pair of legs sticking out across the path.
He raised his pistol and slowed his steps until he realized it was Josh.
He ran to him, skidded to a stop, and dropped to his knees.
He pressed a finger to the side of his neck, and Josh’s legs began to shuffle and shift on the dirt. His head rolled to one side, and when he tried to sit up, Eddie saw a giant gash on his temple.
“Stay down.” He put a hand on each of his shoulders and gently pressed him back down to the ground.
“Munoz … that … way.” He raised his arm and pointed a shaky finger in the direction of the clearing behind the cabin, then his arm dropped back to the ground. “Go.”
“Are you sure?” Eddie set a hand on his shoulder.
“Go.” He coughed, pressed his hand to his stomach, and grimaced.
Eddie shoved up off the ground and started running toward the place he’d told Lucia to hide.
“Found Josh.” He vaulted over a downed tree, then told them where he was. “I’m headed to find Lucia.”
“Hawk, go with him,” Cole said. “Boone, find Josh.”
They both acknowledged his instructions.
A few minutes later, Hawk appeared next to him.
“Shit!” Eddie didn’t even have time to lift his weapon.
“Sorry.” Growing up on the reservation and learning to track from his grandpa had given Hawk some serious skills.
They ran through the patch of trees, and Eddie pulled him to a stop at the edge of the first large clearing.
“See that rock formation?” He pointed. “That’s where we’re headed.”
Eddie started to move, and Hawk stopped him with an arm across his chest and became deadly still. He lowered his arm, closed his eyes, and tilted his nose into the air. His nostrils flared wide a few times, and then he opened his eyes and scanned the entire area.
“He is close,” he whispered in that mystical way of his. “I can smell his cologne.” He turned to him. “Go to Lucia and Isabella. I will take care of Munoz.”
Eddie wanted to protest. He wanted to scream that he should be the one to end the man. But Lucia and Isabella mattered more than seeking vengeance against Munoz.
“Be careful,” he said.
“You, too.” Hawk crouched down and took off to the left, looking like a man who knew exactly where he was going.
Eddie glanced around, then headed across the clearing at a quick pace.
He darted into the trees and kept running until he got to the part with the dense brush and thorny bushes.
Something grabbed his attention, and he bent down and noticed a piece of dark fabric with a couple of stars on it.
He immediately recognized it as a piece of Isabella’s little sweatpants.
They had come this way.
Encouraged they’d made it this far, he continued until he saw the rock formation. All he had to do was navigate this last, small clearing.
Confident Hawk would take care of Munoz, he started running in a serpentine pattern across the open space and didn’t stop until he was no longer exposed.
Leaves crunched beneath footsteps, and a twig snapped nearby.
Lucia’s entire body stiffened. Isabella heard it, too, and buried her face against her bunny’s soft fur.
“I know you are back there.” A man with a Hispanic accent taunted Lucia and Isabella. “Either you come out, or I am coming in.”
She didn’t respond. Didn’t even breathe.
A moment later, there was a scraping and scratching sound, like someone was climbing the boulder pile. A couple of small rocks bounced and clattered down and landed in the open space in front of them.
The space wasn’t deep enough to keep them from being seen.
So Lucia quietly shifted Isabella as far back into the space as possible, then positioned herself in front of her, closer to the opening.
She picked up the gun from where she’d set it next to her, made sure her grip was solid, and used her thumb to cock back the hammer with a solid click.
All she had to do was squeeze the trigger.
A pair of legs with dress shoes appeared at the top of the pile and—
Eddie pressed his back against the large rock and quietly worked his way around to the other side.
He glanced around the rock and spotted Rodrigo Munoz.
He was at the top of the boulder mound leading to where he’d instructed Lucia to hide.
He was wearing a sport coat with torn lapels that hung by a thread, slacks that were muddy and ripped up, and his dress shirt had blood all over the front.
His face looked pretty messed up, and his typically neat-as-a-pin hair was all over the place.
His fancy dress shoes were not suited to climbing, but somehow he’d managed to make it to the top.
He swung his legs over the other side, ready to climb down, when Eddie showed himself.
“Rodrigo!”
Munoz spun his weapon in Eddie’s direction, lost his balance, and fell over the top of the rocks and right down where Lucia and Isabella were hiding.
“Rodrigo!” That was Eddie’s voice!
Before Lucia knew what was happening, Rodrigo Munoz dropped to his feet in front of them and fell on his ass. He hopped up, turned around, and spotted her first, then Isabella. He was only a few feet away. So close, she could see the asshole smile when he lifted his gun and pointed it toward them.
Lucia reacted—she squeezed the trigger and kept squeezing it.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
His body jolted with each bullet that ripped through him, then he teetered, fell face-first onto the ground, and his gun flew from his hand.
“NOOOO!”
Was that really Eddie?
Her ears were ringing, and his voice sounded like it was coming from far away.
She kept her gun pointed at Munoz and moved away from where Isabella was tucked away. She stared down at the man she’d just killed and dropped the hand holding the gun to her side.
Eddie started scrambling up the boulders.
Hawk bolted from the nearby tree line and joined him. They made it up and over the pile of rocks and jumped the last few feet to land on the dirt.
Lucia stood on the far side of the space, staring down at Munoz lying motionless on the ground in front of her. Her arm hung loosely at her side, the pistol still in her hand.
Hawk leaned down and pressed a finger to the side of Munoz’s neck. He straightened, looked at Eddie, and shook his head.
Who would’ve thought Lucia would be the person who ended the Munoz family’s lineage?
“Eddie!” Isabella scrambled out and ran to him, crying, her face wet with tears.
He knelt down and hugged her, keeping an eye on Lucia the whole time.
“The … bad man had … had … a … a gun.” Isabella struggled to speak between sobs. “Mom … sh-sh-shot … h-h-him.”
“It’s okay. The bad man can’t hurt you.” He looked up at his teammate.
“Come on, kiddo. Let’s get you out of here.” Hawk came over to them, held out his arms, and she climbed right into them. “Eddie will take care of your mom.”
Hawk shifted her to his back, and she held on as he carried her up and over the boulder pile.
Eddie stepped over Munoz’s lifeless body, keeping his voice soft, calm, and nonthreatening.
“It’s okay, baby. He can’t hurt you or Isabella.”
Her eyes remained fixed on Munoz—like she couldn’t hear Eddie.
She was obviously in shock, and for good reason.
Not wanting to startle her, he approached her like a baby deer.
“I’m here now. You’re safe.” He extricated the gun from her tight grip and tucked it into his waistband. He pulled her into his arms and just … held her. “I’ve got you.”
Lucia recognized the feel of Eddie’s body against her, and the warmth of his embrace slowly seeped into her and chased away the dark cloud of death hovering over them.
She lifted her arms, wrapped them around him, and held him, as if he was the only thing keeping her from falling into a dark, bottomless abyss.
Only then did Lucia begin to cry.
She cried for her daughter’s innocence that had been ripped away by being chased and forced to hide, then having to watch her mother kill someone. She cried for Mark and Josh and the girls who were torn away from their families because of the animal lying dead at her feet.
When her legs threatened to give out, Eddie held her tighter, determined not to let her fall. Eventually, the dark cloud of negative emotion passed. She sniffled and lifted her head from Eddie’s shoulder.
“I knew you’d find us.” She’d been as sure of that as she was of her love for him.
“Always.” He skimmed her hair back from her face.
“He was going to shoot Isabella.”
“I’m glad you killed him first.” His jaw rippled, and he kept his arm wrapped firmly around her shoulder as he led her over to the pile of rocks.
In her heart, no one would ever, ever compare to this man. His love for her was empowering and made her feel like the single most important thing in his world. And Lucia felt the exact same way about him.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Hawk’s voice came from the other side of the rocks, “but there’s a little girl over here who’s pretty anxious to see you guys.”
“Let’s go get our girl.” Eddie helped Lucia start her climb up the boulders. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Lucia was a giving, kind, and loving woman, and she should’ve never been put in a position where she had to kill someone.
But she’d had no choice—she’d done what was necessary to protect herself and her child.
Eddie would help her understand and accept that and would see to it that she was never placed in that position again.