Chapter 12
They rode back to the hotel in Carson’s SUV, with Trevor driving since Carson was on the mission to deliver Delgado to his contact, who would take him back to the States to stand trial for a number of crimes.
Hopefully, he’d be locked in jail for the rest of his life, without any access to his cartel.
A shiver snaked down Alana’s spine. What if Carson had been too cocky about being able to handle the cartel kingpin? What if some of Delgado’s men were, at that moment, waiting for Carson and Delgado to show up at the airport?
Seated beside Chase in the back seat of the SUV, Alana leaned into the man who was her husband, at least for now. Gina had called shotgun in the front passenger seat, where she helped Trevor navigate the dark roads out of the hills and back to Cabo San Lucas.
“Will you hear from Carson once he transfers Delgado into his contact’s custody?” Alana asked.
Chase took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“He’ll notify us as soon as he hands off Delgado.
” When his cell phone vibrated in his pants pocket, he pulled it out and stared down at the screen.
“Speak of the devil. Carson just texted that he made the hand-off. Delgado is on a plane headed for California, where he’ll be met by the U.S.
Marshals. His contact will text Carson when they complete that hand-off.
” Chase slipped an arm around Alana’s shoulders.
“Delgado is officially out of the picture.”
“Hooyah!” Trevor called out. “Now, we can get on with our vacation. Lana doesn’t need any more stress than she’s suffered already. We don’t want that baby coming any sooner than its regularly scheduled time.” Trevor’s gaze reflected in the rearview mirror. “Is Carson meeting us back at the hotel?”
“Not right away,” Gina said, her brow puckering. “He wanted to check on the men they’re releasing into enemy cartel territory before he comes back.”
Trevor shot a glance toward Gina. “In the Ferrari?”
Gina shrugged. “Apparently, the man likes a little drama.”
“Then he picked the right girl,” Alana said with a smile.
Gina’s lips twisted. “What do you mean? I’m low to no drama.”
Alana snorted. “You’re one kick ass female, which makes you all drama. I’m not sure I could’ve charged into a cartel compound like you did.”
“You were doing a damned fine job of trying to escape,” Chase said.
“If you recall,” she said, “I didn’t quite make it.”
Chase brought her hand to his lips. “You were holding your own.”
“Long enough for us to get there,” Gina added.
“Thankfully, you did get there, along with Hank’s team.” Alana frowned. “Do you really think the rest of the cartel will leave us alone?”
“Hard to say,” Chase’s brow dipped. “I’ve heard of occasions when a cartel leader is murdered, and all hell breaks loose between opposing cartels, all vying for territory.”
“Thanks, man,” Trevor said, his lips pressing into a tight line. “Makes me want to pack up my pregnant wife and leave as soon as possible.”
“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Gina said.
Trevor cocked an eyebrow in Gina’s direction. “So sure you’d bet my wife and child’s lives on it?”
“I’d hate to leave when we’ve barely begun our vacation,” Gina said.
Alana hated to leave when she hadn’t had enough time to get to know the man she’d married on a drinking binge.
“We need time to figure out our legal situation,” Alana said, not wanting to call it an annulment.
Not when she might not want to annul her insane wedding to the man sitting beside her.
If they left now, she’d be on her way back to Hawaii, and Chase would head for Montana and his new job with Hank Patterson’s Brotherhood Protectors. They’d never see each other again.
As her heart squeezed hard in her chest, her fingers tightened in his.
Alana couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel and maybe spend some alone time with the man.
When they pulled into the parking lot beside the hotel, she remembered why that would not be possible.
Her father was there, waiting anxiously for her.
He’d likely want to pack her up and take her back to Hawaii, out of harm’s way.
She couldn’t let him do that. Not when she hadn’t figured out what to do about a marriage that never should have happened and a husband she was beginning to realize was everything she could have wished for.
First thing she’d do once she got past her father was get a shower.
She’d have to borrow more of Gina’s clothes.
Then she’d think about food. They hadn’t eaten dinner, and her stomach was rumbling in protest. After the basics, she’d think about how somewhere in the past few chaotic hours, she’d stopped thinking of Chase as a stranger and now thought of him as her husband.
Chase’s cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and frowned down at the screen. “Fuck,” he said. “We’ve got a problem.”
“What?” Alana leaned over in an attempt to read the text message.
“It’s Carson,” Chase said. “He said he ran into one of the members of the cartel they turned loose. He said that once they’d learned more about Alana Neal and that her father, Dwayne Neal, was rich and in the country, Delgado decided he could kidnap Alana and demand ransom for her.
He’d meet with Chase, dispatch him and collect a million dollars for the girl.
He sent his second in command with a team to keep an eye on Dwayne Neal and take him if things didn’t go according to plan. ”
Alana froze. “That means, they could be here.”
Chase nodded, his gaze going to the hotel and the grounds surrounding it. “By now, they have to have heard about Delgado.”
“My father could be in danger.” Alana reached for the door handle before Trevor had brought the vehicle to a complete stop. She shoved open the door.
Before she could jump out, Chase grabbed her arm.
He had his phone to his ear. “Hank, Dwayne Neal might be in trouble. Delgado’s second in command might attempt to take him, if they haven’t already.
” He glanced toward the road leading into the hotel grounds.
“Take the front entrance. Trevor, Gina and I will take the back. Alana will be with us.”
Trevor turned the SUV sideways in the driveway that led around to the back of the building, effectively blocking any other vehicle from coming through. He shoved the SUV into park and flung open his door.
Alana shook Chase’s hand off his arm.
Chase reached behind his seat for the AR-15 rifle he’d stowed there. Trevor and Gina gathered their weapons and dropped to the ground.
Hank’s SUV, filled with the men he’d brought with him from Montana, blew past the side of the hotel and skidded to a halt at the front entrance.
Chase, Alana, Trevor and Gina made their way around the side of the big hotel to the back service entrance, where a large black SUV was backed up at an angle, engine running as if to say, We won’t be here long.
Two men carrying military-grade rifles burst through the back door into the dull yellow light glowing over the loading dock.
Following them were two more men, gripping the arms of a man between them.
He wore khaki trousers, a linen blazer and had a black sack pulled over his head.
His hands were bound behind his back, and he wasn’t going willingly.
“Let me go.” The man dug his heels in and twisted in an attempt to shake free of the hands holding him. “You won’t get away with this.”
Alana gasped. “Daddy. Oh, dear God. That’s my father.” She lunged forward.
Chase’s arm shot out, grabbed her arm and yanked her to the ground behind a border of bushes. She tried to rise, but he held her still.
“Stay down,” he ordered quietly. “Promise me you’ll stay here.”
Alana frowned at the men dragging her father forward.
Chase cupped her cheek. “Promise.”
She didn’t want to promise when every instinct made her want to rush those men and pummel them into the ground for trying to kidnap her father.
Trevor and Gina dropped down beside them, peering through the bushes at the men manhandling Alana’s father.
“We can’t let them take him,” Alana whispered.
“Agreed.” Chase pulled out his cell phone and sent a text. “I notified Hank.”
“We can’t wait. They’re going to load him up,” Trevor said.
The cartel men shoved her father toward the SUV. One of the leading armed men opened the back door.
“I need to get closer,” Chase said. “Cover me.”
Trevor poked his rifle barrel through a gap in the bushes and nodded. “Got your six.”
Chase took off. Hunkering low, he followed the line of bushes to the end, his rifle at the ready.
When they jerked her father roughly toward the open door of the vehicle, the older man dug in his heels. “I’m not going with you. You can’t make me go.” He threw himself backward, landing hard on the pavement, using his weight to anchor him to the ground.
“Daddy, get down!” Alana yelled. “Stay down!”
Her father rolled to the side, away from the men and pressed himself flat against the pavement.
The men holding the rifles turned toward the sound of Alana’s voice and raised their weapons.
Standing in the light over the loading dock, they probably couldn’t see where Alana, Trevor and Gina lay in the dark behind the bushes.
Still, Alana lay as flat to the ground as she could get and watched as Chase came at the men from a different direction than the one they were staring at.
When he was close enough to get in a clear shot, he dropped to one knee and raised his rifle to his shoulder.
One of the men turned his raised rifle toward Chase.
Alana sucked in a breath and prayed.
The crack of a shot being fired sounded next to Alana.
The man aiming at Chase dropped to the ground, his weapon clattering against the ground.
Chase fired, taking out the other man whose weapon was aimed in Alana’s direction.
One of the men who’d been dragging Alana’s father lurched for the driver’s door.