Chapter 31
31
Q uiet and deadly, Cruz walked up and looked down at Javier with the same disgust Alejandro felt.
“You better tell him where she is. I can’t stop him from killing when he’s like this,” he said.
“I’m not telling you anything!” Javier exclaimed.
He sounded like a petulant child, scooting backward on the carpet as Alejandro stalked him with slow steps.
“I’m going to count to three, and you better give me an answer.” He released the safety on his gun and pointed the muzzle at Javier.
“You’re not going to kill me. If you kill me, you’ll never find out where she is.”
Alejandro bared his teeth like a jackal. “I don’t plan to kill you. I will just put holes in you until you tell me what I need to know. Let’s do another countdown. One.”
The other man’s eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Two.”
“Wait a minute, wait—” His voice shook.
“Three.” Alejandro pulled the trigger and released a round into Javier’s shin.
He let out a high-pitched scream and clutched his injured limb as his face contorted in agony.
“Let’s try this again.” Alejandro’s voice was calm and measured. “I’m going to count to three, and if you do not tell me where she is, I’m going to put another hole in you.”
“Okay, okay, wait, wait?—”
“One.”
“Wait!” Javier screeched, not at all sounding like the in-control wealthy businessman from their previous conversation. He gulped. “I don’t know where she is.”
Alejandro cocked his head in disbelief. “What do you mean you don’t know where she is?”
“I have an idea, but I don’t know exactly where. I had my men take care of her.”
“Where. Is. She?” Alejandro’s patience was wearing thin. He was itching to put a bullet in this man’s head, and the only reason he hadn’t was because he needed to find Camila.
“If you killed all my security, then finding her will be a tad bit difficult.”
“Still playing games, Reyes?”
“I’m not.” Sweat broke out on his upper lip and blood from the wound soaked through his pants.
“If I have to search every room in this house, I will.”
“That’s the thing—she’s not in a room. She’s not in the house.”
“Then where is she?” Alejandro yelled.
“Tell him!” Kathleen screamed.
Javier smirked. “I had them bury her. In a box. She’s probably already dead. She’s been down there three, maybe four hours already.”
“What did you say?” Alejandro asked.
The billionaire looked up with blatant defiance. “They buried her.”
Cruz’s body stilled, and Alejandro’s blood ran cold. Maybe he had misunderstood. “Where?” He didn’t recognize the choked sound of his own voice.
“Somewhere on the back of the property. They buried her alive.”
Alejandro’s knees almost gave way.
Buried her alive. Buried her alive. The words repeated in his head like a torturous echo.
He stormed over to Javier, who shrunk back like the coward he was. Alejandro shoved the muzzle of the gun to the middle of his forehead, his finger itching to squeeze the trigger.
“Where is she, you son of a bitch? Where on the property? Where ?” he roared.
“I-I don’t know exactly. If you killed all my men, that’s all I can tell you.”
“Is everyone dead?” Cruz asked.
“We took out all the security. Inside and outside,” Alissa said.
The world was spinning out of control. This couldn’t be happening. Being good at their job had actually backfired.
“Raheem, how good is that drone at detecting heat below the surface?” Alejandro asked.
“Negative. It’s not that type of drone. But I can send it over the property to search for areas where the earth looks disturbed.”
“Do it,” Alejandro said.
“Done.”
Alejandro turned to Javier. “You better pray she lives, or I’m going to take my time torturing you until you’ll wish you were dead.” He shot Javier in the thigh.
He cried out and rolled onto his side, clutching his wounded leg.
“I’m going to find her,” Alejandro said to Cruz.
“Go. I’ll take care of these two.”
Alejandro sprinted out the door and dashed toward the staircase. He didn’t want to waste another second.
Alejandro needed a shovel, so he was on his way to get a shovel. He burst into the garden shed and pulled one off the wall.
“I’m coming with you.” Hossam blocked the doorway. He had removed his mask.
“Then you’ll need this.” Alejandro tossed him the shovel and grabbed a second one off the wall.
“Raheem, what do you have?” he asked, racing toward the back of the property.
“I’m looking. Nothing yet.”
“Give me something.” His voice sounded strained, and the pain in his chest hurt something awful, as if someone had crushed his heart under the heel of a boot. Fear was eating him alive. He couldn’t lose Camila.
With the drone overhead, he and Hossam moved across the uneven terrain, searching in the dim light for unusual patches of earth on the property.
Suddenly, Mouse ran up. She had a flashlight with her, and without a word, she joined the search. Time slowed to a crawl. Several times, Alejandro went over an area twice to make sure he didn’t miss the possibility of finding Camila. Each time he was crushed by almost debilitating disappointment.
“I see something! On the other side of the mound, fifty feet in front of you,” Raheem said.
A possibility!
The three of them raced over the top of the mound, Alejandro’s heart bumping against his chest. He had to get to her in time. It couldn’t be too late.
On the other side, he skidded to a stop.
“ Jesús Cristo .” He stared in disbelief at the barely noticeable patch of disturbed dirt. Javier’s men had done such a good job of blending the grave with the rest of the area, it was very possible they would have missed this spot.
“Well…?” Raheem asked.
“I think this is it,” Alejandro replied.
He and Hossam immediately started digging. If those bastards put her six feet under, digging her out could take at least four hours. They’d have to work in shifts.
Over and over, Alejandro shoved the blade into the earth and heaved dirt to the side. After a while, his chest hurt with the effort, and sweat glistened on his skin despite the cool night air drifting over him.
Still, he dug deeper, pausing for a second to wipe the sweat from his brow before continuing to scoop and toss dirt. The landscape around them was eerily silent. All he heard was the cut of the shovels each time they sliced through the soil, and the subsequent grunt he and Hossam made as they lifted them out.
When Hossam paused to take a breather, Mouse took his place but Alejandro continued working. His muscles ached, yet he couldn’t stop. His woman was down there, and he had to save her. He hoped she had enough air to last the number of hours she had been buried, but so much could go wrong. If the box was buried deep, the weight of the dirt could cause the box to buckle and collapse on top of her. Or if she panicked and started hyperventilating, she’d lose oxygen faster and go into cardiac arrest.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Cruz, Alissa, and Raheem approach. All three had removed their balaclavas and moved like shadows in their all black outfits.
“Do you need a break?” Cruz asked.
Panting, Mouse looked up. “I do.”
Cruz took her place and hopped in the hole with Alejandro.
“Alejandro?” Raheem asked.
“No.”
He didn’t know how long he’d been digging. An hour? An hour and a half? Didn’t matter. He was not going to stop.
The blade of his shovel hit something hard and unyielding. He and Cruz exchanged a look. The hole was not as deep as he thought. Energized by a surge of adrenaline, Alejandro shoveled faster, tossing the dirt into heaping, messy piles.
“ Ya voy. Ya voy , Xochitl,” he whispered.
When they uncovered a simple wooden box, Alejandro dropped to his knees and frantically scraped off the dirt with his bare hands.
Mouse shined the light over the cover. It was nailed shut, with one nail on each side.
Cruz climbed out of the hole, and Alejandro braced his feet in the dirt on either side. He hovered above the makeshift coffin and pulled. It didn’t budge. He pulled again, groaning, his muscles bunching as they tightened under the strain. The lid gave a little.
He let go and then pulled again, yanking harder, using as much power as he could.
“Come on,” Mouse whispered.
A crackling sound filled the air as Alejandro tore the lid from the box. He released a roar of triumph, yanked the top all the way off, and pitched it to the side. Then he stared down in dismay at the love of his life. Eyes closed, body still.
He lifted her from the wooden box and climbed out of the hole with her in his arms. He carefully placed her on the ground and checked her pulse. It was faint. He placed his ear to her nose. She wasn’t breathing. She was unconscious, unresponsive, on the verge of death after being deprived of oxygen.
He began rescue breathing to force air into her lungs. Alissa took off running, but Alejandro barely registered that she’d left. The others remained in place, supportive in their silence. Lifting Camila’s chin, he tilted back her head to open her airway. Pinching her nose closed, he covered her lips with his, and then blew into her mouth, at the same time checking to see if her chest rose.
It did!
Mouse let out a gasp. She saw the movement too.
He blew in another breath, taking his time and careful not to be too forceful. Every five seconds, he breathed into her mouth.
Suddenly, she started coughing and took huge gulps of air as her lungs worked again. Her breaths were fast and harsh. Her eyes fluttered open. He saw the confusion and disorientation in her expression.
Murmurs of relief went up from his colleagues.
“I’m here, querida ,” he whispered, watching her carefully.
“Ale…?” her voice sounded weak, and she coughed again.
Alejandro cradled her against his chest. “It’s okay. I have you. I have you.” His voice was thick, and tears of relief sprang to his eyes.
“Wh-what happened...?”
She was disoriented, her brain filled with fog.
“We are going to the hospital.” Alejandro stood and lifted her in his arms. Her limbs hung loosely. She took a ragged breath as he climbed over the mound with the others right behind them.
He was thinking about taking one of Javier’s cars when Alissa pulled up in a silver Lexus. Thank goodness she’d had the forethought to get one of his vehicles from the garage.
She hopped out. “This was the only one I could find the keys for.” She opened the passenger side door, and Alejandro gently placed Camila in the seat and strapped her in.
“Thank you,” Alejandro said.
“Good luck!” Mouse called, as Alejandro jumped in the car.
“Hurry!” Alissa added.
He pulled away, gunning toward the city. He knew his friends would take care of Reyes and Kathleen. His responsibility was to the woman beside him.
“Hang on, Camila.”
“Ale…”
He took her hand.. “I have you. I have you.”
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d said a real prayer, but he did now, and pressed the accelerator to the floor.