Chapter 4 #2
Utterly shocked—no one in her entire life had ever carried her like this—Reese wrapped her arm around Gus’s neck as he stuck her legs out the window.
“Turn and face the building when you get out there. Use your feet against the gutter to slow your descent.”
“OhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGod,” Reese muttered as she clung to the windowsill.
She was about to tell Gus there was no way she could do this when she heard a loud bang from inside the apartment.
Whoever was at the front door had obviously broken it down, and if she didn’t get her shit together, there was a huge chance Gus would be hurt…
or worse. He didn’t have a gun and it was likely whoever had kicked in the door did.
Moving faster than she thought possible, Reese turned so she was facing the building and forced herself to loosen her death grip on the windowsill. She felt Tiny’s hand on her calf and it gave her the courage to grab hold of the gutter and slowly let her body slide downward.
She didn’t dare look up or down, so she felt more than saw Gus above her. Letting out a sigh of relief that he was out of the apartment, she continued her descent. It wasn’t too far to the ground, since they were only on the second floor.
She heard a shout above her head—and that was all she needed to move faster. Loosening her hold, she slid down the gutter like her life depended on it. And when she heard more loud, angry shouting in Spanish, she thought it just might.
Before her feet touched the ground, Tiny was grabbing her around the waist and pushing her in front of him, away from the building. “Go!” he said urgently.
“Gus!” she protested.
“I’m here.”
Reese had never felt so relieved to hear someone’s voice before. Then it was his hand on her back, urging her to run.
She had so many questions…what did they find in Angelo’s room, who were the men who’d broken into the apartment, where were they going, where was Woody…but now wasn’t the time.
When a loud crack of gunfire echoed around them, Gus urged her to run faster.
Reese wasn’t a runner. She hadn’t lied about that. But at the moment, she felt as if she could give any Olympic champion a literal run for their money. There was something about someone shooting at her that gave her the needed motivation to move her ass.
She, Tiny, and Gus ran around buildings, across streets, and even across a wooded park.
But Gus wouldn’t let her slow down, and now that they were out of immediate danger—she hadn’t heard any more gunshots behind her—she realized she was breathing like the out-of-shape, overweight thirty-four-year-old that she was, whose only exercise consisted of walking to and from her car a few times per day.
“Just a little farther,” Gus told her, sounding disgustingly not breathless at all.
Saving her breath, Reese nodded. The last thing she wanted was to slow these men down. If something happened to them, she’d never forgive herself. They were here because of her. Because she’d come down here looking for her brother on her own.
She should’ve asked for help. Instead, she thought she’d waltz down to Colombia and find him within hours. For a smart woman, she’d been incredibly stupid. Her brother’s friends were special forces. She so should’ve called one of them.
But it was too late now. She’d made her bed and now she had to lie in it. She ignored the stitch in her side and how the soup she’d eaten earlier was threatening to come up. She needed to deal with whatever was happening as best she could and not be a liability.
But that was easier said than done. Especially when it felt as if she couldn’t get any oxygen into her lungs.
“We’ll stop here for a moment,” Gus said, and Reese had never been so glad to hear six words in all her life. She leaned against the side of the building they’d stopped next to and bent over, doing her best to catch her breath while Tiny and Gus talked above her.
“What now?” Tiny asked. “We could circle back around to get our rental car.”
“I’m thinking they’ve probably already clocked it.”
“Yeah. And if they’re who we think they are, they’ll already know who we are—and why we’re here.”
Reese straightened. “Who are they?” she asked as evenly as she could. She saw Tiny and Gus share a look. “Please don’t lie to me,” she pleaded. “I’m guessing since we went out a freaking window and people were shooting at us, they aren’t exactly the neighborhood welcome party.”
Gus stepped into her personal space and Reese looked up at him. “Best we can tell without knowing for certain, they’re cartel.”
Reese forced herself not to react outwardly. She wanted to be tough and strong. But inside she was freaking the fuck out. “Like, a drug cartel?” she asked.
Gus’s lips twitched, but then he got serious. “Yeah.”
Reese swallowed hard. “Okay. Now what?”
Gus stared at her for a long moment with a look she couldn’t interpret.
“What?”
“You aren’t freaking out?” Gus asked.
“Would it help if I did?”
“No.”
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll freak out later. Once we find Woody and Isabella and her brother and get the hell out of here.”
“Right. So…I’m guessing they’ll know who we are, and since we rented a room in the same hotel where you’ve been staying, it’s not going to take them long to figure out that we’re with the same woman who visited the apartment a couple days ago.”
“So it’s not safe to go back there right now.”
“Exactly,” Gus said.
“Then what’s the plan?”
“I’m thinking we go and get Woody and the others,” Tiny said from next to them.
Reese jerked. She’d almost forgotten he was there. With Gus so close to her, and watching her so carefully, she’d only been aware of him.
Tiny held up a slip of paper.
“What’s that?”
“It was inside a box with the drugs we found in Angelo’s room.”
“He had drugs in his room?” Reese asked.
“Yeah,” Tiny said grimly.
“That can’t be good,” she said, which felt like a total understatement.
“Where is it?” Gus asked his friend.
Tiny nodded at the cell phone he’d been using to look up the address. “In the woods outside Bogotá.”
“How far outside?” Gus asked.
“About thirty miles east of the city.”
Reese’s belly rolled.
“Shit. We need transportation,” Gus said.
“And I’m thinking maybe a call to Tex to find out what we’re walking into would be good too,” Tiny said.
“Although we don’t want to give them much time to prepare for our arrival,” Gus countered. “So it wouldn’t be smart to wait until tomorrow.”
Reese’s head swiveled back and forth as the men discussed their next steps.
“Where are we gonna get a car?” Tiny asked.
Gus pressed his lips together in thought.
“What about that one?” Reese blurted as she pointed toward a beat-up old pickup truck parked in an alley across the street.
Both men’s heads swiveled toward her.
She pushed down her embarrassment at what she was about to admit. “I mean, I’m sure you guys can do it too…but those older models are fairly easy to hotwire. We could leave some money or something in its place.”
“You know how to hotwire a car?” Tiny asked incredulously.
She shrugged and nodded.
“Marry me,” he joked.
Reese grinned.
Gus frowned. “I don’t know.”
“How else are we gonna get there?” Tiny asked.
“You were right, we need to get out there and see what’s up before anyone has time to regroup.
You know as well as I do that those guys at the apartment aren’t going to be content to just let us walk away.
They’re going to want to know why we were there and what we want.
And it’s likely the drugs are connected to Woody’s disappearance. ”
“You think the brother is dealing?” Gus asked.
“No clue. But around here, being part of the cartel is considered a good safety net. And having someone like Isabella to translate for them would be a boon.”
“How do you think Woody’s involved?” she asked.
“Bad timing?” Tiny said with a shrug. “I don’t know. But we don’t have any other leads at the moment. If we get to this address and there’s nothing there, or Woody and the others aren’t anywhere to be seen, we can come back to Bogotá and keep looking.”
Gus looked down at Reese, then back at his friend.
“If you leave me at the hotel, those men could come and grab me,” she said.
“Try to get information out of me about you two.” She wasn’t trying to be dramatic or manipulative.
She was genuinely worried about being on her own now.
“If you weren’t with me, there’s no way I could’ve gotten out of that apartment.
I’m safer with you two than on my own. I promise I’ll leave the shooting and lurking about to you two.
I’ll stay where you put me—but please let me come with you. ”
Gus looked at his friend.
“It’s up to you,” Tiny said.
Gus sighed and looked back at her. “If something happens to you, Woody will never forgive me,” he said.
“Nothing’s going to happen to me when I’m with you.” Reese wasn’t a fortune teller. She had no idea what would happen in the future, but one thing she did know, without a single doubt, was that she believed her words one hundred percent.
“All right. But if I tell you to do something, you do it. Immediately. Without question. Understand?”
Reese quickly nodded.
“I’m going to regret this,” Gus said more to himself than to her, but he looked both ways up and down the street. There wasn’t anyone around.
“Come on. Let’s do this. You can show off your hotwiring skills,” he told her.
“And you’ll leave some money in place of the car?” she asked as the three of them quickly walked across the street and ducked into the alley.
“You’ve got a soft heart,” Gus murmured, turning away from the truck to make sure no one approached.
Reese shrugged as she leaned into the driver’s side to get to work on the truck.
“Not saying that’s a bad thing, just an observation,” Gus said. “And yes, I’ll leave some pesos. It won’t be enough to cover the cost of the truck, but if this thing even runs I’d be surprised.”
In seconds, Reese had the engine started, and Gus stared at her with admiration. “That was fast.”
“I’m that good,” she couldn’t help but brag.
Gus and Tiny chuckled.
“Scoot into the middle,” Tiny said. “I’m driving.”
Reese wanted to protest, but she’d promised Gus she would do what they asked without questioning them.
So she moved to the center of the seat and soon she was sandwiched between the two huge men.
Tiny backed out of the alley and Reese held her breath until they were well away from where they’d stolen the truck.
“Call Tex,” Tiny ordered. “See what he can find out about where we’re going. The more info we have, the better off we’ll be.”
Reese stayed quiet as they headed east out of the city. She had no idea what they were driving into, but she prayed it would lead to Woody.