7. Jason
“Hands where we can see them!”
Watching the asshole kick Roni as she jumped up sent a spike of anger through me. If I hadn’t had so much self-control—he’d be dead right now.
The shouts came up from all sides now. I, however, was focused on the woman lying on the ground. My gaze was locked on Roni as she struggled to sit up. Julio grabbed her, pulling her to her feet, using her as a shield.
Disgusting piece of waste, hiding behind an innocent woman.
The knife he pressed to her throat had my heart leaping in my chest.
“I kill her.” His thick accent filled the void around us.
I held up a hand, stopping my guys from leaving the cover of the trees. I needed this asshole focused on me and no one else, not while he held her.
He may be part of the cartel. He may be some kind of awful person, but what he didn’t know: I was bigger, badder, and had a helluva lot more to fight for right now than he did.
“I can put a bullet between your eyes before your fingers twitch.” I spoke the truth. I’d been in this situation more times than I wanted to remember. Men holding women and children hostage, using them as shields to keep the soldiers from getting to them. It never worked out in their favor.
It did mean that sometimes innocents were hurt, and in a few cases killed, because I hadn’t reacted fast enough to the situation.
That was not going to happen here.
Not now.
I was getting her away from him.
“Jason?”
“Yeah, baby, it’s me. We’ve come to take you home.”
“The girls?—”
“Shut up! I leave this place.”
“I’m afraid not, hoss.” Bones stepped out of the tree line followed by Sliver and Vice, his Texas drawl all the more pronounced because of the anger burning through him. I understood that anger; it matched mine. We arced out in a circle, surrounding the small camp as we moved into the light so they could see us fully.
At our appearance, the other man—the minion—turned and started to run. He didn’t make it very far before a rock met the back of his head and he went down hard. Glancing back at Vice, he grinned evilly.
I wasn’t opposed to non-lethal means at this minute. At least the fucker felt it.
I turned back to the man holding a knife to my girl’s throat. She whimpered as the point dug into her flesh. The trickle of blood running down her porcelain skin signed his death warrant.
I’d played nice so far, but now, I. was. done. “You have exactly three seconds to release her, or I’ll give my men the go ahead to take their shots. Look down, asshole. Those red dots mean your death.”
With his slight hesitation, his hand relaxed and the knife came away from her neck. Roni made her move then. Her head came forward slightly and slammed back, hitting him across the crown of his nose. Blood gushed from the impact; his cry of pain matched hers as his hand came down. The knife embedded into her thigh before I could get to her.
I slammed into Julio, body-checking him, knocking us both to the ground. He may have been a bit bigger in mass, but I was trained by the best. It took less than a minute to get him under me. I pulled his head back and slammed it into the ground until he stopped moving. With him limp under me, I pulled out zip-ties and hogtied him. Just in case he decided to regain consciousness.
“Everyone is secure. Bones, get on the phone and call the Ranger station?—”
“It’s closed…my phone. C-call John M-mills. He’ll d-do the rest.” Roni was panting, her words stuttering as her hand reached for the knife.
She knew better!
“Fuck, no you don’t. We can’t pull that out. You hear me?” I said, wrapping a towel someone tossed at me around the knife. Her cry of pain had my need to kill that bastard rearing its ugly head. It hurt, but I had to secure it. Without proper care… I wasn’t chancing her bleeding out because we were stupid.
I pulled vet wrap from my cargo pants pocket and started wrapping it around the same space. This would hold it in place until we got her some help.
“Sarge, we’re coming down with the girls. If we dont, your kid may try to brain us again.”
“Copy that.” I shook my head. I was curious to know what she’d done to them. If it was any other situation, I’d find it humorous. Not today, not now.
Roni chose that moment to sway where she sat, falling over on her side. “Hey, don’t you dare. You stay with me, dammit! You’re going to be fine, you hear me?”
“I’m sorry…”
“None of this is your fault. Not one single fucking thing!” She nodded though she wasn’t really registering my words. I could see it in her eyes; the pain was taking over. She was going into shock. “Jumper, get that helo back here, pronto. She’s fading on me.”
“It’s five minutes out.”
“You guys go, we’ll stay back with this shit show,” Sliver said, Roni’s phone in his hand. He ended his call and passed the phone to Bones.
Vice nodded, motioning to Toto with his chin. “You go with Sarge, we got this, get her to the hospital.”
“Thanks, man.” I looked down at Roni. “Come on, baby. I’m getting you out of here.” I scooped her up, allowing her to lay against me.
“Daddy.”
I turned just in time for her to grab ahold of me. “Hey, princess. You did such a great job today. We have to move fast. Can y’all let the guys carry you out?”
They agreed and quick as lightning, Bones had Kenzie up in a bear hug. The others followed, scooping up the girls and taking off through the trees.
“Move, move. Move. Helo incoming.”
I hustled through the trees and underbrush, following the same path we’d come in on. The flashlights bobbing around us allowed enough light to keep us from falling on our faces.
When the helo landed, everyone loaded in. I held Roni against me while Kenzie curled into my side. We couldn’t talk with the wind and noise, but there would be time. Thanks to her quick thinking and Roni’s actions, I would have all the time I needed with my little girl.
“We’re flying straight to Baylor; there are doctors on standby.”
“Thanks, Jumper. I owe you, man.”
“No, you don’t, asshole. Family is family forever. We’ve always got your six.”
“She’s just got a few cuts and abrasions. The stitches in her arm will need to come out in seven to ten days. I’d suggest going to her regular doctor if anything changes with the way she is feeling. If there is any redness or swelling, go in immediately.”
I nodded, still reeling from everything that had happened tonight.
“Yes, ma’am, thank you. We’ll follow up with the pediatrician on base.” I watched my daughter. Her frown grew more and more as she watched the nurse wrap her arm.
“Now, young lady,” the doctor got her to look up and smiled when she did, “I need you to make sure you keep your arm clean and dry. No submerging the stitches. You can shower, but keep it quick and let that bandaging stay on when you do, then change it out.”
“Kenz, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t go swimming until they come out?”
I leaned down to kiss her temple, chuckling to myself. Of course that was what she was worried about. “It’s ten days, kid. Just be glad it’s not something worse. We’ll find other things to do, okay?”
“Okay.”
“You were a lucky girl,” the doctor stated, smiling down at her. “The time will fly by, you’ll see.”
“Can I go see Roni?”
“As soon as she is out of surgery and recovering. I promise.” I hugged her to my chest, closing my eyes as a wave of emotions slammed into me like a tidal wave. The what-if’s were weighing heavy on me. I knew she was safe. She wasn’t hurt badly. She was scared, but the possibilities seemed to be having a damn party in my head.
I could have lost everything today—I wouldn’t have survived if that had happened. I owed someone a few Hail Mary’s or a week of tithing or—something. I’d give them whatever they wanted to keep her safe.
“Daddy…”
I looked down and realized I was squeezing her too hard. Shit! Get a grip, asshole! “I’m sorry, princess.”
“It’s okay. But I need to breathe to live, ya know.”
“Yes, Miss Smarty Pants. I know.”
“Jason, Bree and Gwen’s parents are here. The girls are doing okay and being released,” Bones called through the curtain.
“Bree was hurt,” Kenz huffed. “I let her fall. I didn’t mean it.”
“She has a small fracture. A few weeks in a cast and she’ll be right as rain, kiddo. I swear it,” Bones reassured her.
I gave her a little squeeze. “You wanna come say goodbye, then we can go check on Cora?”
“Yes.”
We walked out, and while the girls clung to each other, I tried to reassure their parents that everything was going to be okay. I wasn’t sure I’d done a good job, but it was the best I had in me. Once I had the full story, maybe I could piece this night together and have it make sense.
No matter what I said or did, these girls would live with the memory of what had happened out there. They could work through it, we would help out in any way we could, but it’s a childhood memory that would make them rethink their future adventures. And I hated every second of it. Kids should be able to go out and camp, live their little lives in peace.
Danger and despair should never darken their doorsteps and yet, fate said hold my beer and gave us all a new set of emotional trauma.
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I let out a long sigh. It took less than a minute to find Cora. There was a nurse holding her ankle still while the doctor, a burly man, wiped a nasty gash on her foot. Then the needle came out and the tears started in earnest.
“Just a quick pinch, okay. On three.” The doctor said it in a low voice, his kind eyes watching Cora.
Kenzie laid across the bed, lying on top of her, hugging her best friend.
“Don’t look and it’ll go fast. That’s what I did.” Kenzie showed Cora the wrap on her forearm. “I got stitches…I can’t go swimming now. It’s a bummer.”
Falling on rocks sucks no matter your age, and my poor kid had six stitches for her efforts.
“I think you got lucky, sweetheart. That cut seems to be the worst of your injuries.” The nurse gave her calf a gentle squeeze.
“We’ll give it a few minutes to let the lidocaine kick in. Then we’ll clean it out and stitch it up.” The doctor pulled off his gloves and moved to the computer on the table. A few minutes later, he and the nurse were working on Cora’s foot. She flinched a few times, and Kenzie was there to comfort her.
I took her hand and nodded. “You squeeze as hard and as much as you need to. Okay?”
“O-okay…”
It took them less than five minutes to get her wound cleaned and stitched up. Eight stitches later, she was recouping from a meltdown, and I was ready to have one of my own.
“All she needs to do is follow up with the family doctor and have those removed in ten to twelve days.”
“Thank you,” I said, rubbing my temples.
The doctor left, and I looked at the girls. “They’re going to be okay,” the nurse said, squeezing my forearm. Her grandmotherly appearance, kind smile, and understanding eyes did a lot to ease the unease in me.
Cora was not my child, but that didn’t matter at this moment. I was going to treat her just like she was. I’d sit here until I could take her and Kenz home. They could comfort one another, then when Roni came home, things would be changing. No more of this pussy-footing around. She was mine, had been mine, and it was time to make sure she understood what that meant.
“You okay, Ranger?”
I met her gaze again and nodded. “Yes, no, but I will be. Thank you.”
“Girls, if it’s okay with your dad, would you like some ice cream?”
“Chocolate?” Cora asked, rubbing her face free of tears.
The nurse looked at me, and I nodded. “They can have whatever they want.”
“I’ll call the cafeteria and get some brought up.”
“Thank you,” we all responded.
Chuckling, I sat on the end of Cora’s bed. These girls and Roni were giving me gray hairs. I could feel them popping up everywhere.
“Can you girls tell me what happened? At the camp before you called me?”
They sat, side by side, holding hands.
“We had been cleaning the fish Roni caught.”
“They were supper,” Cora cut in.
“Yeah. I got guts on me and so did Cora, so Roni sent us to wash up. I was getting my shorts on when I heard a man talking. We were up the hill a bit, so I couldn’t hear them. You know, it wasn’t close enough to hear.”
“We watched them from the showers,” Cora added.
“They acted as if they were walking away.”
“They did though. Just not for good.” Cora’s frown had me reaching for their joined hands. I covered them with mine.
“One, the big ugly one, came back around and grabbed Roni.” Her cheeks pinked as she leaned in and whispered, “They had a fight, and she…she hit him in his no-no spot.”
She kicked out her leg to show me what she meant.
I blinked, but before I could respond, a bark of laughter came from the doorway. “You mean she kicked him in the balls, princess?”
“Uncle Bobby…” She covered her face and giggled.
“Serves him right.”
“Knock, knock.”
I looked up to see Roland coming in the door.
“Mind if I come in? I thought you would like a familiar face. The others went out to the park.”
I nodded, reaching out to shake his hand.
“You said Ms. Nash hit the man. Is that when you called your dad?”
She nodded. “She did, as the phone rang. I thought she was going to be okay, but…” she wiped at her face, “The other man came around the tent with a gun…” Both girls shuddered and clung to each other.
“Where were the other girls? If you and Cora were on the hill?”
“Bree and Gwen were in the tent. Roni told them to run.”
“So you were separated… How did they get up on the hill with you?” I asked. I had a feeling I knew, and it was breaking something inside of me. My kid put herself in the middle of things to save her friends.
“Kenzie ran to the back down the hill; they didn’t see her,” Cora explained.
“Yeah, I used my pocket knife to cut it so they could get out and helped them up to the rock. It was the only place to hide.”
“I’m so proud of you both. You got away, helped the others get to safety. I just hate that you had to go through any of it.”
“Ranger Mills will need to talk to them tomorrow. Can we make that happen?” Rivera asked.
“Bree and Gwen’s parents have a card with my number. We can coordinate it,” I offered.
“We’ll tell the truth, nothing but the truth, so help us God,” Kenzie said, raising her right hand.
“Yeah, baby, just tell the truth.”
“It’s looking like there will be some FBI and ATF involvement as well.”
“All right, sweethearts,” the nurse came back in, cups of chocolate ice cream in hand, “as promised.”
“Thank you.”
When Alvarez left, I rubbed the back of my neck.
“I wanna see Aunt Roni.”
“Me too!”
“I know, girls, we will. She’s going to be okay, you know that, right?”
“She’s too stubborn not to be, right, Daddy?”
I chuckled. “Yeah, Kenz. That’s it.”
“I’m going to tell her you said that.”
“I’m telling on you for taking her cookie last night.”
“Hey, you two, settle down now. That’s enough.”
A few minutes later, the nurse came back in with the discharge papers for both girls, and we were free.
I carried Cora on my back while Kenzie walked beside me, and we went to the surgical waiting area. I needed to find out about Roni. I wouldn’t rest until I knew how she was.