by Elle James
Tony dropped his gun, leaped to his feet and ran after El Patron. He hit him from behind in a flying tackle and brought him down so hard, he knocked the wind out of the man.
El Patron bucked and rolled over, throwing Tony off him. He scrambled to his feet and pulled a knife out of a scabbard at his waist. “Now, you will pay for the two years I spent in prison.” Patron snarled and lunged for Tony, swinging the knife at his gut.
Tony hopped backward, tripped over a branch and fell on his back.
El Patron dove after him, the knife coming down toward Tony’s heart.
He caught the man’s wrist in mid-air but strained to keep him from jabbing the blade into him.
They wrestled for control, rolling across the ground, grunting and straining.
Arms shaking with the effort, Tony twisted to the side and slammed El Patron’s hand against a tree trunk.
The knife fell free of Patron’s hand and dropped into the leaves.
When El Patron reached for it, Tony grabbed his arm and yanked it up between his shoulder blades, much as Lily had done to Michael’s father in front of the schoolhouse. When the cartel leader tried to shake him off, Tony pushed his arm higher until the man was crying out in pain.
“Where are my children and the woman who was with them?” Tony demanded.
Patron snorted. “I killed them, like I killed tu esposa.”
Deep red anger raged through Tony. If he’d had the gun in his hand, he would have put a bullet in the man’s head. Instead, he pushed his arm up higher. If he broke it, he didn’t care. The man was pure evil. “You lie,” he said, praying he was right.
The drug lord laughed, his laughter cutting off as Tony pushed his arm up higher. “Go. You will see. Están muertos.”
Hank’s voice came through the headset in Tony’s ear. “The camp is now under our control. Bring any prisoners in.” He paused, and then continued. “Tony, they weren’t in the tent or the hut. We haven’t found Lily or your children.”
Chuck approached Tony. “I’ll take him,” he said. “Go help the others find your family.”
Tony waited until Chuck had El Patron’s arm in his grip before he rose to his feet. He returned to where he’d left the handgun and picked it up from where he’d dropped it on the ground in his effort to capture El Patron.
When he turned back to Chuck, the older man had brought the cartel leader to his feet.
About to turn back toward the camp, Tony saw El Patron stumble and fall to the ground. The man reached out and grabbed the knife in the leaves, rolled over and stabbed at Chuck, hitting him in the calf.
Chuck reached for the man, but El Patron crab-walked out of Chuck’s range.
El Patron rose to his feet and cocked his arm to swing again.
Tony raised the handgun, beyond tired, beyond fed up, and shot the drug lord in the chest.
El Patron’s eyes widened. He dropped the knife, clutched his chest and looked toward Tony. Then he fell to his knees and toppled over, face-first on the ground.
“Are you all right, Chuck?” Tony asked.
He shook his head. “It’s just a flesh wound. Go find your family,” he said as he ripped his shirt over his head and tied it around his calf.
With his nemesis down and Chuck capable of taking care of himself, Tony ran toward the camp, praying with each step he’d find Robbie, Mari and Lily alive and well. He’d hold his son, kiss his daughter and tell Lily he loved her.
Please, God, let me have that chance.
He found Hank in the middle of the camp, talking with Taz, Boomer, Duke and Marcus. When Tony approached, they all turned to face him.
Hank held out his hand, the GPS location device in his palm, no green dots glowing through a cracked screen. “I must have broken it when I fought with one of Patron’s men.” He shoved the device in his pocket and looked around. “We’ve gone through every tent and the hut and didn’t find any sign that they’ve been here.”
“We know they were,” Tony said. “The beacons showed they were here.”
“Perhaps they were taken out before we arrived,” Marcus suggested.
Tony shook his head. This wasn’t happening. They hadn’t come this far for nothing. “We didn’t see another vehicle leave. They wouldn’t have taken them out on foot.” Tony left the men and went through the tents still standing. He didn’t know what he’d find, but he had to check for himself.
He found nothing.
When he ducked into the hut, he closed his eyes to let them adjust to the darkness. Was that the lingering scent of roses he could smell? He sniffed the air. Yes, it was the scent of roses. He opened his eyes and looked around at the empty space. A little bit of daylight shone down from the ceiling where a corrugated tin panel had been displaced, leaving a gap in the roof.
A gap large enough for a small woman to get through.
Tony laughed and ran out of the building.
“What did you find?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” he said as he rounded the building and ran to the back. There in the dirt, he found three sets of footprints.
Marcus ran up behind him.
Tony turned to his friend and grabbed his arms. “She got them out. Lily got them out!” He turned and ran into the jungle. “Lily! Robbie! Mari!”
The others who weren’t guarding prisoners joined them, spreading out in a line, all calling out as they moved through the trees, bushes and vines.
Tony’s excitement began to fade as they moved deeper into the jungle. They had to be out there. “Lily! Robbie! Mari!”
Then he heard it, the sound that made his heart sing.
“Tony?” came a wavering cry.
“Lily! Where are you?”
“Papi,” Robbie’s voice sounded in the shadows.
Lily appeared in the distance, weaving through the vines and brush, Mari in her arms and Robbie at her side.
Tony ran to them, calling out, “I found them,” to the others still on their headsets.
When he reached them, he wrapped his arms around all three and held them until his heartbeat slowed and he could talk past the lump in his throat. “He told me he’d killed you,” Tony whispered in Lily’s ear.
“El Patron?” Lily looked past him toward the camp, her brow furrowing. “Did you catch him?”
“He won’t bother us ever again,” Tony said.
Lily captured his gaze. “Is he…?”
Tony nodded. “Dead.”
Lily wrapped her free arm around his neck and hugged him tight. “Thank God,” she said. “Thank God.”
Tony kissed her cheek, her eyes, her lips and then kissed Mari’s cheek and the top of Robbie’s head. “I’ve never been happier to see anyone in my life.” He bent and picked up Robbie then turned with Lily and Mari to head back to the camp,
Hank, Marcus, Boomer, Taz, Duke and Chuck gathered around them, all expressing their relief that they were all okay and their amazement that Lily had managed to get the kids out of the hut and hidden in the jungle.
Marcus hiked back to get the SUV, while Tony used his satellite phone to call the authorities to come collect the remaining members of El Patron’s drug ring.
Hank, Marcus, Boomer and Taz remained behind to guard the prisoners until the authorities could get there and to answer their questions.
Duke loaded the weapons into the SUV and helped Chuck into the front passenger seat, while Tony settled Robbie and Mari in the back row of seats and helped Lily up into the middle seats. He slid in beside her and closed the door, a euphoric sense of relief washing over him.
In the back seat, Mari fell asleep on the way back. Robbie yawned and rubbed his eyes. “If the bad guys aren’t going to bother us anymore, does that mean we can stay and go fishing again?” His voice faded as he closed his eyes.
“If you want to stay the rest of the summer, you can,” Tony said.
Robbie opened his eyes and smiled. “I want to catch a bigger fish.”
“I guess that means you wan
t to stay.”
Robbie nodded and closed his eyes, a smile on his face.
Tony turned to Lily. “I’ll completely understand if you want to go back to Texas, after all that’s happened.”
She reached for his hand. “I want to stay with you, if you want me to.”
He lifted her hand to his lips. “I want that more than you can ever know. Please, stay.”
She nodded. “I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.” Lily leaned against his shoulder, and they held hands all the way back to the hotel.
Once there, they all showered and changed into nice clothes and went down to dinner.
Marcus, Hank and the rest of the Brotherhood Protectors team arrived halfway through the meal and joined them. Afterward, Tony took his family to the nightclub where they danced until Mari laid down in the middle of the dance floor and fell asleep.
They said their goodnights to the men who’d helped rescue them and retired to the penthouse where Tony and Lily tucked in two very tired, but happy children, kissing them both goodnight.
Robbie looked up at Lily, his eyes drooping heavily. “Are you going to marry my Papi?”
Lily smiled down at Robbie. “I don’t know, Robbie.”
Tony stepped up behind Lily and slid an arm around her waist. “Would you like that?”
Robbie nodded his head. “Then I wouldn’t have to call her Miss Grayson or Auntie Lily.” He yawned and turned on his side. “I’d call her mama.”
Lily shot a glance at Tony.
He pressed a finger to her lips, took her hand and led her out of the room.
Once they were in the living room, she turned toward him. “I didn’t prompt him to say that. I know how much you loved your wife, and I’d never presume to take her place.”
Again, Tony pressed a finger to her mouth. Then he replaced it with his lips. “I loved Marisol with all my heart. She was a dear wife and a good mother.”
Lily nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m so sorry you lost her.”
“I am too.” Tony stared down into her eyes. “But she would have wanted me to keep on living, to fall in love and help my children grow and mature in the best manner possible. She’d want me to remarry. And she’d have wanted her children to have whoever I chose to love her children as much as she did.”
“I love Robbie and Mari,” Lily said.
Tony smiled. “You’ve proven that again and again. You’ve even risked your own life to save theirs. And you straightened me out when I fell down on the job of being a good father to them.”
“I only did what I thought was right.” She sighed. “I can be bossy.”
“In a good way,” he said and pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose.
“So, where do we go from here?” she asked.
“I know what I want,” Tony said. “But we’ve only known each other for a short time. I want to give you more time to know what you want.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his. “I don’t need more time. When I know what I want, I don’t wait to make up my mind.” She looked up at him, her eyes shining and her cheeks glowing. “I want you.”
“I want you more.” Tony swept her up in his arms, carried her to his bedroom, and closed the door.
Chapter 14
Two months later…
“Are you ready for school to start tomorrow?” Nash asked as he sat on the porch swing at the Grayson Ranch with Phoebe, his finance, beside him.
Lily leaned her back against Tony’s chest, a smile on her face and warmth swelling her heart. “I’m ready. Robbie and Mari helped me decorate my room with some of the things we brought back from Costa Rica. We even hung the pictures we had blown up of the yellowfin tuna Robbie caught that was bigger than him. He was so proud of that fish.”
Robbie and Mari played in the yard with a beach ball they’d brought back from their summer in Manuel Antonio.
“Any recurring nightmares from their ordeal with the drug cartel?” Kinsey asked. She sat in Beckett’s lap, in one of the half dozen rocking chairs that lined the porch.
Lily shook her head. “After the first week, they were fine. Knowing El Patron couldn’t come after them, ever again, seemed to help. They look forward to spending part of the Christmas vacation there and every summer.” She chuckled. “Robbie wants to be a boat captain like Marcus when he grows up, and Mari wants to be a mermaid.”
“Have you two set a wedding date?” Lola asked. She and Daniel manned the grill, cooking the steaks and chicken breasts for the last family gathering before summer officially ended, and the school year began
“Well…actually,” Lily smiled slyly and turned to Tony. “You want to tell them?”
Tony chuckled. “I don’t want to get shot at my first Grayson family gathering. Maybe it would be better coming from you.” He kissed her lips and raised his eyebrows.
“Coward,” she muttered then reached into her pocket and pulled out her rings and slipped them onto her left hand. Then she held up her hand for all to see, a grin spreading across her face. “Tony and I couldn’t wait. We got married in Costa Rica a week ago yesterday. You’re looking at Mr. and Mrs. Antonio Delossantos.”
Through all the congratulations and well wishes, the steaks were overcooked, and the chicken turned to rubber.
Lily didn’t care. She had her family around her, and the loves of her life were now a part of that family. She hadn’t thought life could be any better, but it could, as she’d learned that morning in the bathroom.
“And just so you know, not only am I now a married woman, Tony, Robbie, Mari and I are expecting a baby next spring.”
Tony’s eyes widened, and his jaw dropped before snapping shut again. “Are you serious?”
“You didn’t tell him first?” Her brother Rider shook his head. “That’s pretty low. If my woman was pregnant, I’d want to be the first to know.”
His fiancé, Salina, leaned close to him and whispered into his ear.
“What?” Rider exclaimed. “You are?”
“I wanted to surprise you tonight,” she grinned. “But I couldn’t wait. We’re going to have a baby next spring as well.” She patted her belly. “Thank goodness I’ll graduate from PA school in December.”
“That means we have a wedding to plan for Salina and Rider between now and then,” Kinsey said and gave a teasing glare toward Lily and Tony. “Since the baby of the family didn’t give us the chance to make a fuss over her nuptials.”
After all the hugs made their rounds, Lily settled on the porch steps beside Tony and slipped her arm through his. “Think Robbie and Mari will be all right having a little brother or sister?”
“I know they will. Robbie is already so good with Mari. He’ll be a natural with a little brother.”
“Or another little sister,” Lily said.
“And Mari will love that she won’t be the littlest member of the family. She already thinks she’s big stuff since she’s starting kindergarten this fall.”
“And to think,” Tony said. “This all started because a feisty teacher impressed a crusty old grouch with her Krav Maga skills enough to hire her to protect his children.”
“Don’t be so flippant,” Lily said. “Robbie is getting really good at some of the moves I’ve been teaching him. And Mari’s going to be a real ball buster.”
“Good,” Tony said. “I don’t want any man taking advantage of my little girl.”
A pager buzzed. Then another and another. Lily’s brothers and Daniel all looked down at the ones they carried.
“Guess our steaks are going to have to wait.” Beckett kissed Kinsey and took off toward his truck.
“Duty calls. Joe Sarly’s barn is on fire,” Chance said and chucked his girl, Kate, beneath the chin. “See ya, darlin’.”
She snorted. “You’re not leaving without me and Bacchus.” She whistled and Bacchus, her trained Belgian Malinois, came running. They left in Chance’s truck, followed by Nash, Rider and Daniel.
>
Lily cocked an eyebrow toward her husband. “I suppose you’ll be joining the volunteer firefighters next.”
He nodded. “I’ve been thinking about it.”
“I was considering it myself,” Lily said. “Until I discovered I’m pregnant.”
“I guess your service to the county will have to wait until after we have our baby.” Tony hugged her tight, grinning. “We’re having a baby.”
Lily’s heart swelled with all the love she had for the man she’d married. “I love you, Mr. Delossantos.”
“I love you more, Mrs. Delossantos.”
SOLDIER’S DUTY
IRON HORSE LEGACY BOOK #1
Elle James
New York Times Bestselling Author
Chapter 1
“As you all know, William Reed escaped from a prison transport yesterday.” Sheriff Barron stood in front of a group of men and women who’d gathered around him at the side of the highway in the foothills of the Crazy Mountains on a blustery cold day in early April.
He continued, “We have security camera footage showing him stealing a car from a convenience store in Bozeman. The license plate of the vehicle he stole matches the license plate of the vehicle behind me.” Sheriff Barron turned to the side and waved toward a vehicle half-hidden in the brush behind him. “The state police are on their way, and they’re also sending a helicopter from Bozeman. But they aren’t as familiar with the mountainous terrain as you are, and the weather might keep them from using the chopper. That’s why I’ve asked you to bring your horses and ATVs. All of you know these mountains better than anyone. And you are the select group of people I trust most to handle this situation.”
James McKinnon tugged up the collar of his coat around his chin to keep a blast of wintery wind from snaking down his neck. He listened silently as the sheriff explained why they were there. With each breath James took, he blew out a little cloud of steam.
Rucker, his bay gelding, pawed at the ground impatiently.
