Chapter 28
Emma
Iscreamed for more than ten minutes, but the music from the front of the car thumped all the way into the trunk. He had turned the radio up to cover me. I laid on my back and tried kicking at the lid of the trunk, but it didn’t budge.
Blind panic threatened to close my throat, but I remembered the trunks were built with safety pulls. Taking a breath, I forced myself to be calm, to think rationally, and I started feeling for anything that might be a ripcord.
I ran my hands over the top of the lid and along the seams and came up empty.
The safety had been removed from this trunk.
They aren’t stupid, I thought. They’re not going to let someone just escape.
What next then? If I kept trying to come up with a way to escape, I wouldn’t have time to panic.
If I gave in to anxiety and fear, I would die: Lili had told me that too.
I could try and pop out the back lights, see if I could signal a car that way. But the reality of trying to peel back the lining to get to the lights was damn near impossible. I needed a sharp implement or something to tear at the fabric.
But if I had something sharp, then I could just attack the man when he opened the trunk back up.
The car made a turn, and I slid to one side of the trunk.
The road was getting rougher now; that felt like a bad sign.
We went over a bump, and my head smacked into the trunk’s lid.
Damnit. I was going to end up with a concussion this way, and then, where would I be?
There was nothing that I could find in the dark that I would be able to use as a weapon. It was just me, and considering the man’s size, I was vastly outmatched. My best option was to run as far and as fast as I possibly could.
I would have to take him by surprise, as soon as he opened the trunk, and I couldn’t falter. I couldn’t let fear trip me up, or I would be dead. I was sure of that. This wasn’t a ransom; this was the thing that Angel told me would start a war.
The car was driving over gravel now; the trunk was filled with crunching as the whole car rocked and dipped. My stomach cramped, and my mouth filled with saliva. I didn’t want to throw up back here; the smell would only make things worse.
When the car slowed to a stop, my heart started to gallop in my chest. Now or never, I thought. I had to get out as fast as I could and get running. I swallowed the spit in my mouth and pulled my knees up so that I could have the leverage to spring out of the trunk.
I heard the driver’s side door open and listened for the approaching footsteps. Every muscle in my body was tight, ready, and when the trunk lid began to open, I didn’t wait. I shot myself up, forcing the lid open with my hands, and it swung into my abductor’s face with a sickening crack.
I heard the man groan, but I didn’t stop to see what I’d done.
Instead, as soon as my feet touched the spongy ground, I started running as hard and as fast as I could.
Everywhere around me was green, and when I veered off the path into the thick of trees, I stepped in water that came up to my knees.
Fuck, did he bring me to the Everglades?
Trying to keep my eyes out for alligators or snakes, I kept pushing forward, sloshing water up to my knees and thighs, coating me in muck. The deeper it got, the slower I went; I didn’t want to slip beneath the surface of the water fully, but I couldn’t turn around either.
I heard a pop, and then a bullet whizzed over my head.
I didn’t look back; it didn’t take a genius to know that the man had recovered enough to come after me.
I pushed on, happy when the water level began to slack off, and I was able to go faster.
If I could scale a tree, I could hide even better, but there was no way I was hauling myself more than thirty feet in the air. I would be trapped if he found me.
Instead, I dove into a bush, hissing as thorns tore at the skin on my arms and face.
Once I was fairly sure that I couldn’t be seen, I stopped and got as low to the ground as I possibly could.
I could hear heavy footsteps now, and I squeezed myself down even more.
“I’m going to find you,” the man called out.
“If you come out now, I’ll make it painless, but if you keep running, I’m going to take my time with you. ”
I was shivering before I could get a hold of myself, and I squeezed my fists so that my nails sank into the flesh of my palms. He was getting closer, and as hidden as I was, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t find me.
I glanced down and saw a sizable stick that looked sharp next to my foot.
I picked it up, gripping it so hard that my knuckles turned white.
It wouldn’t do much against his gun, but if I could take him by surprise, I would have a chance.
Angel
We found the car abandoned on a road marked “National Park Workers Only.” The trunk and the driver’s side door were open, but there wasn’t any blood that I could see. Omar frowned and leaned into the trunk. “What’s wrong?”
He pulled out the St. Christopher’s medal; its chain had been broken. “Is this what you’ve been tracking?” he asked.
Fuck. “Yes.” I held out my hand, and Omar put the medal into my palm. I squeezed it for a moment, and then slid it into my pocket. Once it was repaired, I would put it back on Emma’s neck where it belonged. If you aren’t too late, my mind hissed at me, kicking my ass into gear.
I left my gun with Lili, but Omar was prepared.
He’d taken the Sig Sauer semi-automatic from the glove box and handed it to me; it was a little small for my liking, but it would do the job.
He had his own Smith he would need to come after us.
Another shot was fired, and this time, it was in our direction.
Luckily, whoever it was sucked at long distance shots because it went over both of our heads.
We pushed through the brush, and I saw a hulking figure in the distance.
He was beating his arms into the bushes and brambles, searching; when he glanced over his shoulder and saw us, he aimed.
“Shoulder or head?” Omar asked.
“Shoulder,” I said. “I have questions.” Omar grunted in agreement, and then he squeezed down on the trigger.
The man screamed, and his shoulder erupted in red.
He struggled to raise his gun again, but Omar had destroyed his upper arm.
The gleaming white bone shone in the sunshine.
If it were possible for him to walk out of here, he’d never use the arm again.
Not that it mattered because there was no way we were letting him leave.
“Emma!” I called as Omar trained the gun on the man. “Em—!” A bush thirty feet up rustled, and then she climbed out into the open.
She was covered in mud from head to toe, and her clothes were soaked and torn, but she had never looked more beautiful than she did right then. “Angel?” Her voice was hoarse and still so full of fear.
I breathed out her name. I could see her shoulders trembling; I had to hold her.
I climbed through the brush and over a fallen tree and swept her into my arms, groaning when I felt her body press against mine.
“Mi esposa,” I murmured over and over. She clutched at me, we were both shaking now, and I realized belatedly that she was sobbing.
I tipped her face up to mine, examining the scratches on her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose.
For the first time in my entire life, I felt my eyes burn with tears, and I didn’t care if Omar or Emma saw.
“I’m sorry,” I said, kissing the scratch on her nose.
A tear fell. “I’m so sorry.” My lips touched her cheek.
Another tear. “I’m sorry for locking you away, for putting you in danger. ”
Emma shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she rasped, looping her arms around my neck and burying her face against my collarbone. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the baby. I should have come to you –-”
The baby. I hadn’t thought about it once; all I had worried about was getting Emma back. “Is it —” A tremor ran through me. “Are you okay?” My hand touched her still-flat belly. “Is the baby –?”
Emma touched my hand. “So far, we’re fine, okay?”
“We’ll make a doctor’s appointment with the best OB in the city,” I promised. “I want to make sure you both are healthy.”
“I hate to interrupt,” Omar said, “but if you want to interrogate this guy, you’d better do it soon. I think I nicked something important. He’s turning gray.”
Emma went still against me, and I hugged her tighter. “You don’t have to go over there,” I said. “You can stay here while I go ask my questions.”
She considered it, but then shook her head. “I don’t want to be alone,” she said.
I didn’t particularly want to let her go either, so I didn’t argue. Instead, with my arm around her waist, we tramped back over the greenery to where Omar had his gun trained on the man who’d brought Emma out here to kill her.
Omar was right: the man was turning an ashy gray from the blood loss. A substantial amount had puddled under him. He stared up at me, chest heaving in an effort to breathe. He seemed vaguely familiar, like I had seen him somewhere before. “Who do you work for?” I asked.
“Vete a la mierda,” he panted.
I aimed the Sig Saur at his other shoulder and pulled the trigger. Meat and bone exploded outward, and he howled in agony. “Let’s try that again,” I suggested calmly. “Who do you work for?”
The man gritted his teeth; his breath was coming out in short, pained pants now. “Luis…Rojas…”
I pulled the trigger again, and the back of the man’s head blew out, staining the grass with blood and heavier, meatier things. Emma gagged beside me and held onto me tighter. “Padre is working with Luis to get rid of Emma,” Omar said. “That doesn’t make sense.”
But it did because I had embarrassed Padre when I refused to work with Luis; he had approved the agreement to make peace and to refuse his order was a slight against him. “Let’s dump him and get out of here,” I said.
Omar glanced at Emma. “Take her back to the car,” he said. “I can handle this.”
“Ready to go home?”
She hesitated for only a second before agreeing. “Please get me out of here.”