17. Dax
DAX
Now it was my turn to give him a surprised look. “What was with the drugs and weapon?”
“I knew I was going to need to take out guards if I got caught, and the drugs were to knock Mom out. She hates small places, and I was going to put her in the food cart to roll her right out the back entrance,” Alvaro explained as he sat up and swung his feet over the edge of the bed.
“This place isn’t safe. Franco is going to hunt her down… she knows too much.”
“You can’t take her from here, Alvaro. She needs help, and she’s finally getting the treatment that’s been needed for a long time,” Cam argued. “If you love your mother, then leave her here. Dr. Lowe is one of the best and does whatever it takes for her patients.”
Alvaro shoved to his feet with a frustrated growl. “You’re not listening to me. Franco is looking for her, and if I can get in this place, then so can he. It’s not as secure as they make you think it is.”
My gaze caught Cam’s, and I lifted a brow in question. Did we believe this kid was telling the truth? Was he really here to protect her?
Just as he was about to say something else, the door opened, and Nate stood there with the restraints in hand. “I found the—”
His body jerked twice, eyes going wide with fear, then he dropped to his knees before falling forward.
Two bullet wounds bloomed with blood against the white fabric of his uniform.
Diving out of the way, Cam and I positioned ourselves near the door now propped open by Nate’s body.
The gun was tucked into the back of his pants, so I just needed to get to it without getting shot myself, preferably.
“Franco,” Alvaro whispered, diving out of the way of the door to plaster himself against the wall and sank to the floor. “We’re all going to die.”
“Cheerful one, isn’t he,” I muttered as I squatted.
Peering around the edge of the door, I heard the shuffling of feet and didn’t know if it was friend or foe. Seeing as Nate was now bleeding out on the floor, I was going to go with foe. Glancing once more, seeing the hall was clear for the moment, I snatched the gun from Nate and tossed it to Cam.
“Keep Alvaro alive, Cam. When we save his ass and his mother’s, I’m betting he’ll be more than happy to tell us anything we want to know,” I instructed as I slipped Nate’s keycard from the lanyard on his belt.
“What are you going to be doing?” Cam demanded.
I simply looked at him over my shoulder, holding his gaze. “You know what I’m going to do.”
“Fuck,” he swore. “They’re going to kill me for letting you do this.”
“What other option do we have? We need both of them, plus this is bringing Franco right to us. You wanna know what I think? I think Franco is just batshit crazy enough to try and slip a bomb into our hotel room.” The moment I said it, I knew I was right, and the expression on Cam’s face told me he knew it too.
“You better be fucking safe, beautiful. I don’t want to have to climb down into hell and drag you back, but I will,” Cam vowed.
My face softened. “I love you too, Cam.”
Before I could second-guess my choice, I flopped out of the door like a dead body to get a better look at what was happening.
Three men were going door to door looking in the rooms. It didn’t take a genius to know who they were looking for, and thankfully, they were heading the wrong way.
I spotted the food cart still sitting here in the hall, the only scrap of cover in the whole goddamn hall.
If I were even going to have a chance, it would be now while they still had about ten rooms to look at before they came back in this direction.
Lifting a hand, I made grabby fingers at Cam, hoping he’d know what I meant. He clasped my hand, yanked me up to my feet, and caught me up in a fierce, quick kiss. Then he slipped me the butterfly knife. “Give them hell.”
With one more kiss, I was out the door, crouched low, moving as fast as I could to the food cart. I dove and rolled the last foot like I was gunning for the winning home base.
“Hey,” someone shouted. “What the fuck was that?”
“What? I didn’t see anything,” another guy said. “We made sure it would be clear, and the only people should be the loonies locked in their rooms.”
There was the sound of a scuffle and the thwack of fist meeting flesh. “Don’t you fucking call my mother a loony.”
“Sorry, boss, I didn’t mean it about her. You know I love your mother. She’s always been real good to me and my brothers, even if we weren’t her real kids,” a voice whined at an irritating high pitch.
God, didn’t that man have any balls? Seriously, it’s embarrassing.
“Damn fucking right, my mother didn’t have to give any of you bastards the time of day when Dad dropped you all in her lap. Took care of you, even though some whore birthed you.”
Clearly, that was Franco, and Alvaro wasn’t kidding his brother sounded unhinged. Wait, was he saying these idiots with him were his half-brothers? Well, fuck, the whole family’s come to deal with Mommy dearest.
“Franco, you know this is real fucked-up, right? Taking out your mom like this is fucked-up.”
“Do you know what would happen to her if Marco got his hands on her? He called me, told me to get her and bring her home back to Mexico. He didn’t want his widowed little sister to be all alone in her grieving,” Franco said in a mocking tone. “You know what the piece of shit is going to do?”
Glancing through the small crack where one of the doors attached to the food cart, I saw the two men shake their heads.
Franco stood in front of them, using his gun’s silencer to poke them in the chest. “He’d pretend to be the loving brother, act like he cared and all that shit, then he would drug her drink with something to loosen her tongue and interrogate her about everything she knows.
When he makes sure there are no more loose ends, he’ll slit her throat and toss her out on the trash heap. ”
Taking a step back from the two of them, he swept back his curly, shoulder-length hair out of his face. “The merciful thing to do is just put a bullet through her brain. Quick, painless, and then she’s free.”
While the guy might have a few screws loose in the head, he was really trying to do right by his mom. That being said, I was still going to fuck his shit up. Mariana deserved a fresh start, and I was going to do my damndest to make sure it happened.
“Well, she’s not on this end, so she’d got to be that way,” one of the half-brothers pointed. “Do you think they have any snacks in that food cart? I’m fucking hungry.”
“You’re always fucking hungry,” Franco snapped as he strode down the hall toward me.
Twisting around so my back was to them, I took a deep, calming breath.
My options were to use the cart as a battering ram and slam it into one, maybe two of them at the same time.
This would help to throw them into chaos.
Otherwise, I could stay hidden and grab one as they passed, using them as a shield while they shot at me.
“I’m gonna check really quick,” a voice said, far closer to me than I realized.
Plan body-shield it is.
The cart was pulled to the right as the half-brother bent to look inside. He hadn’t really registered that I was in the cart until my knee hit his nose, sending him shooting back. “Ah goddamn, that fucking hurt,” he cried out as he landed on his ass.
“Bubba, what the hell?” his brother yelled as he rushed over.
Seeing a prime opportunity to use both tactics, I grabbed the metal food cart and swung it as hard as I could into Bubba’s brother.
The hit was solid, taking him down like a rock right on his brother.
He dropped his gun, and it went skittering across the tile floor.
I moved to go after it when the distinct feel of a metal gun muzzle touched the back of my head.
“Don’t move,” Franco threatened. “Who the fuck are you?”
Not bothering to look behind me, I answered, “Just the loony you let out when you killed the guard coming to my room. Figured I should make a run for it.”
The moron shifted, so I knew he was looking behind him to the open door, giving me a chance to make my move.
Twisting as fast as I could, I grabbed the gun, thrust his arm in the air, and punched him low and hard right in the gut.
With an oomph, he doubled over, allowing me to help him right along to my knee that was waiting for him.
Hearing the crack of his nose, I shoved him to the side, snatching his gun out of his hand.
The other two idiots got to their feet just in time for me to raise the gun and shoot the fuckers in the head.
Franco groaned at my feet, clutching his nose looking like he might cry. When he tried to get up, I kicked him in the gut, flopping him on his back then slammed my boot on his chest. This got him to pop his eyes open and look at me.
“Hi,” I greeted with a smile I’m sure had more teeth than was reassuring. “Were you the one who tried to blow me and my husbands up?”
Franco tried to glare at me and shove my boot off him, but Cam appeared and stomped down on his arm. “No touching and answer the question.”
Alvaro was standing a few feet away watching what was happening, eyes wide with fear. He truly was scared shitless of his brother, and the poor kid had to live with the psycho.
“Hey,” I called, drawing his attention. I tossed over the keycard, and I jerked my head down the hall. “Go check on your mom.”
With a jerky nod, he was off, giving us a wide berth as he moved.
“Alvi,” Franco snarled. “If you think you can keep her from Uncle Marco, you’re mistaken. He’ll hunt you both down for this.”
“’Scuse me,” I said, tapping Franco’s cheek with the silencer. “Can I have your attention for just a second?” When he focused on me again, I continued, “Thank you, this won’t take long. I just need you to answer one question for me.”
“I’m not telling you shit,” he spat.