Chapter 19 #2
Mateo had a smirk on his face, while his men pointed what looked like freaking machine guns at their heads.
Bree’s blood ran cold. She didn’t want to think about going through everything she had, yet still ending up in some jungle prison after all. But she also couldn’t let Smiley lose his life because of her either.
She’d surrender to Mateo. Give herself up, if he let Smiley live.
In the back of her mind, she knew that was never going to happen.
For some reason, the movie The Princess Bride flashed in her head.
When Buttercup had done what Bree was contemplating.
Gave herself up so Westley could live…except the bad guy instead had her love taken to an underground lair and tortured him to almost-death.
Very slowly, Smiley crouched slightly and tapped one of her legs. Assuming that meant he wanted her to get off his back, Bree slid off but stayed right behind him. She held on to his shirt with white knuckles.
“So…you’re the Navy SEAL who thinks you can take what’s mine,” Mateo said, that smirk still on his face, sounding like a man who was sure he’d won.
“Bree doesn’t belong to anyone, least of all you,” Smiley told him in a tone Bree had never heard from him before. It was full of derision and hate. She shivered.
“That’s where you’re wrong. I bought her fair and square.”
“You can’t buy human beings.”
“Wrong again,” Mateo said calmly.
It felt weird to be standing there having what looked on the surface like a civilized conversation. The street around them was suddenly empty, the civilians in the area had apparently been smart enough to get the hell out of what was obviously a volatile situation.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ll continue to do it for years to come. You can’t stop me. No one can.”
Smiley laughed. It wasn’t a humorous sound though. It was rough, harsh, and condescending. “You’re an idiot.”
Mateo’s eyes narrowed, his lips pressing together in irritation.
Bree wasn’t sure it was best to antagonize this guy, but as she’d said in the apartment, she trusted Smiley.
“By the way, your friend Rex told me to say hello,” Smiley continued, standing with his arms crossed over his chest, as if he didn’t have two automatic weapons pointed at his head and probably a contingent of more armed assholes racing down nine flights of stairs to join in the fun, even as he spoke.
Mateo straightened out of the fake relaxed pose he’d assumed.
“That’s right. I know you’ve heard of him. He was responsible for taking out del Rio. And now he’s got his sights on you. You fucked up, Castillo. Got yourself on his radar. And the only outcome is death and the end of your reign of terror.”
The man’s smirk was back. “Yes. I know Rex. And the boy he raised as his own? He is most likely my biological son.”
Bree nearly let a gasp escape. She’d heard about the child Rex’s wife had while she was in captivity. That boy was Mateo’s?
“How do you figure?”
Smiley was still outwardly relaxed, but Bree could feel how tense his muscles were under her hands.
“Del Rio let me have her as often as I wished. She was my favorite. I loved the fear in her eyes, even as she willingly spread her legs while I did whatever I wanted. With how many times I took her, there’s no way the brat wasn’t mine.
Your precious Rex is raising my child.” Mateo laughed.
An evil sound that made Bree shiver. “How do you think he’s going to feel when he hears? ”
“If you think you’ll even live long enough for your lies to make it back to him through your slimy underground network, you’re wrong.”
Mateo looked pissed now. And even…a little scared? It was nice to see, but it also worried Bree. For good reason.
His next words proved he was done with this little conversation.
“Kill him,” he ordered his men. “But she’s mine.”
The two men took a step forward.
Bree acted without thought, dashing around Smiley and standing in front of him with her arms outstretched. “No!” Her only thought that, since Mateo didn’t want her dead—at least not yet—she could guard Smiley with her own body.
But Smiley was having none of it. He shoved her to the side and ran toward the men with guns, all in the same motion.
It obviously surprised the two assholes, because they didn’t even manage to pull the triggers before Smiley was on them. He kicked the gun out of one man’s hands even as he punched the other guy in the face.
The fight was on. Smiley didn’t give either man a chance to grab hold of his weapon again. He was like a man possessed. Shifting his attention back and forth from one man to the next, not giving either an opportunity to get the upper hand.
It would’ve been beautiful to watch, if Mateo hadn’t rushed forward and grabbed Bree.
She struggled against him, but her ribs still hurt like hell and she was no match physically for the taller, stronger man.
“You’ve been a pain in my ass!” Mateo hissed. “You’re going to regret defying me.”
“Fuck you!” she spat, fighting for all she was worth.
She wasn’t going to go with him willingly.
Broken or cracked ribs be damned. If she didn’t get away this time, she was as good as dead.
And the life she’d envisioned with Smiley would go up in a puff of smoke.
She’d never get to meet Addison or Maggie’s babies.
Wouldn’t get to see Julie or Fiona again.
Wouldn’t get to know Remi, Kelli, Wren, or Josie better.
Wouldn’t get to watch Yana and her brothers grow up.
Fuck that. She wasn’t ready to die. She’d fight for herself and for Smiley.
While she’d been standing behind him, she hadn’t just been cowering.
She’d tried to get the pistol out of the holster at the small of his back, but he’d felt what she was doing…
and had subtly stepped forward, clearly sending a message.
Which was probably smart; she’d never shot a gun before, and the last thing she wanted was anyone to overpower her and use the weapon against her or Smiley.
Besides, she didn’t want to take away his only weapon.
So, she’d done the next best thing.
The long-sleeve shirt Smiley had found for her was plenty big enough to hide the plastic knife she’d made while in that chicken truck. That seemed so long ago, but now, the makeshift weapon felt right in her hand.
She’d used it once to kill, she’d use it again if she had the chance.
Attempting to maneuver in a way that would allow her to plunge the knife into Castillo’s throat, like she’d done to the man back in Ensenada, Bree thrashed in his hold.
With a growl, Mateo shifted until his arm wrapped around her neck.
He wasn’t cutting off her air, but he definitely had better control of her now.
An anger so hot and fierce swept over Bree. No! This wasn’t how her and Smiley’s story ended. He was still fighting the other two men, and as she watched, one of them broke away and scrambled for the weapon that had been kicked out of his grasp.
He was on his hands and knees in the dirt, and had just grabbed the rifle when Bree made her move.
She swung the makeshift knife and stabbed Mateo as hard as she could in the arm wrapped around her neck. It wouldn’t kill him, but if she could make him let go long enough for her to run, that’s what she’d do. Smiley had found her once, he’d find her again.
Mateo let out a pained roar, which made Bree’s ears ring—and amazingly his arm dropped from around her neck.
When she tried to run, Bree’s legs collapsed under her. She fell to the dirt like a sack of potatoes. Even as her brain told her legs to get up, to run, gunshots echoed off the buildings surrounding them.
Horrified, Bree whipped her head up to see if Smiley was all right, but a heavy weight fell on top of her, making her surge forward, face-first onto the ground.
Grunting, she desperately tried to get out from under whatever or whoever had tackled her, with little success.
Meanwhile more shots rang out. It sounded like World War III was going on all around her.
A sob escaped. Smiley couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t be! If he was, she’d never forgive herself. He was the best thing that had ever happened to her—and she’d gotten him killed!
Suddenly things went eerily quiet. Bree was almost afraid to move. Maybe if she stayed really still, the assholes after her would think she was dead and they’d flee.
The weight on top of her was suddenly removed, and she was flipped onto her back. Blinking, Bree had trouble focusing on what she was seeing. Then strong arms lifted her, wrapping around her in a painful grip.
For a second, Bree thought she was being restrained by Mateo’s men—but after one inhalation, she knew the arms around her belonged to Smiley.
She latched onto him with more strength than she thought she had.
“Are you hurt? Fuck!”
She shook her head against him, then a thought occurred to her. The men from the apartment building… They had to get out of there!
Lifting her head to tell Smiley they had to run, she blinked in confusion. Her eye was still pretty swollen, but in the last few hours, she’d been able to see out of it a little. But she couldn’t be seeing what she thought she was.
Crouched next to her and Smiley was Blink. And at his side was MacGyver.
“She’s got blood on her. Where did he get you, honey?” Blink asked gently.
This felt surreal. Bree was confused. She tried to look down at herself, but Smiley wasn’t relaxing his grip.
“Smiley, ease up, man, we need to check her out,” Kevlar ordered.
Ever so slowly, his grip around her loosened, and Bree leaned back far enough not to look at herself, but to check Smiley for injuries. “Did you get shot?” she asked.
“No. You?”
She shook her head.
“Is this what I think it is?” Preacher asked, holding up the plastic knife Bree had used on Mateo. When she glanced to the side, she saw Mateo Castillo lying still in the dirt, a large puddle of blood forming around him and a hole in the center of his forehead.
“I felt you taking it out of my holster,” Smiley said, bringing her attention back to him.
“Good job on distracting him,” Safe added.
Looking over her shoulder at him, she saw the men Smiley had been fighting lying on the ground, bullet holes in their heads as well. “What…how?” she stammered.
“Twenty-two minutes and forty seconds,” Kevlar said. “Not thirty minutes…my bad. Was never very good at estimations.”
It finally sank in. Kevlar and his team had arrived at just the right moment. She didn’t know how, didn’t really care. They probably heard Mateo’s goon yelling at them or something.
“Hate to interrupt, but we need to scoot,” Flash said. “The natives are getting restless.”
The men Mateo had sent after them exited the apartment building, but after taking one look at their dead boss on the ground, and the armed men standing around him—now with guns at the ready—they took off for the other end of the alley. Probably back to their truck.
But the civilians were curious too. Now that bullets had stopped flying, locals were coming out from wherever they’d holed up to see what was going on.
Preacher and Kevlar took hold of Smiley’s arms and, in one fluid motion, pulled him to his feet, with Bree still in his arms.
She let out a small squeak of surprise, but Smiley shushed her. “I’ve got you.”
And he did. Smiley had her. That’s all she needed to know.
Her aches and pains returned with a vengeance, and all she could do was close her eyes and relax into Smiley’s arms when he adjusted his grip and put an arm under her legs, cradling her.
He walked them, surrounded by his team, toward an SUV parked haphazardly against the curb a block away.
It was a miracle no one had stolen it in the short time it had been sitting there.
It was a tight fit, but Bree didn’t care. Mateo was dead. She was free.
A lightness came over her then, a feeling of having her entire life ahead of her. It was both scary and exciting at the same time.
“We can go back to the motel, or we can go straight to the airport,” Kevlar said.
Bree lifted her head and looked into Smiley’s eyes.
“Airport,” they said at the same time.
She grinned, and the look of love he gave her was so intense it felt as if they were the only two people on the planet.
“We don’t have your bag,” Preacher warned. “We left in too big a hurry to grab it.”
“Don’t need anything in there. I’ve got everything I need right here,” Smiley said, not breaking eye contact with Bree.
“Oh, but what about you guys?” she asked, reluctantly looking away from Smiley. “Do you have your stuff?”
“Nope,” Preacher answered. “Don’t care though. I’m guessing all our crap is infested with bedbugs anyway. Let the people who work at that piece-of-shit motel have it.”
“We’ll return the car and the weapons to the man we borrowed them from. We have our identification—yours and Bree’s included, Smiley,” Kevlar said. “I, for one, will be glad to get home.”
“I’m sure Julie and Fiona will be anxious to see you,” Safe added.
“As will the rest of the girls,” MacGyver added.
Bree desperately wanted a shower. And a huge bowl of mac and cheese.
And a gallon of water. Maybe a painkiller.
But she’d get all that and more soon enough.
Other than Smiley being unharmed, her biggest wish at that moment was to go home.
To the apartment in Riverton that felt more like a home than any place she’d ever lived…
simply because she shared it with the man she loved.
Closing her eyes, she relaxed against Smiley once more as Blink drove them toward freedom.