Hidden Prey

by Cheyenne McCray

  For one wild moment, Tori thought he would shoot her and be done with it.

  When Alejandro didn’t move, Diego shouted, “Go! Do as I tell you.”

  Tears rolled down Angelina’s face and she sobbed. “Grandfather, no.”

  Alejandro grabbed Angelina by her arm and jerked her toward the house.

  “Your American agents have done this.” Diego growled the words. “They will die tonight, as will you.”

  Landon ground his teeth and put a bullet into a man carrying a machine gun, taking him down. Landon and Dylan picked off as many of Diego’s men as they could amid all the commotion.

  Searching the crowd with his gaze, Landon’s sights found a familiar face.

  Diego Montego Jimenez. El Demonio.

  “Diego. By the tent.” Despite the pain in his shoulder, Landon kept his weapon trained on Diego. Landon narrowed his gaze as he saw the man controlling a woman in a yellow dress. “He’s holding a woman hostage.” Diego had his arm around her neck, his gun to her head.

  When Landon saw the woman’s face, his body went tense.

  Tori.

  Relief at seeing Tori alive hit him for one moment before fear for her life followed.

  “He has Tori.” Landon’s voice came out hard with fury.

  “Motherfucker,” Dylan snarled the words on catching sight of Diego too. “Got any ideas?”

  Diego met Landon’s gaze and pressed his gun barrel so hard against Tori’s head her neck bowed to the side. He could read the pain in her expression, but something other than the fear he’d expected to see.

  Landon saw anger in her eyes. Hot, hard anger.

  Good. He could work with anger, as long as she didn’t do anything that might put her in danger.

  Gunfire continued to erupt across the compound. With absolutely no fear in his expression, Diego pulled Tori with him toward Landon and Dylan.

  Landon never took his aim off Diego. Dylan continued to cover them, making sure none of Diego’s men got close.

  Diego’s gaze bore into Landon’s as he got within ten feet. The cartel leader spoke in perfect English. “I will put a bullet into her brain unless you lay your weapons down. Now.”

  Landon didn’t even twitch. “If you don’t let her go, I will kill you, Jimenez.”

  The man’s cold words, as harsh as an ice storm, came out in a snarl. “Do not try my patience.”

  Landon remained steady. “Don’t try mine.”

  * * *

  The hard bite of the gun barrel pressed into the side of Tori’s head. She winced involuntarily as it cut into her flesh when he dug it farther in. It stung and caused pain to shoot through her head but didn’t compare to the pain she felt in her chest and the rest of her aching body.

  She did her best not to let Diego see her injuries or show pain in her expression. She ground her teeth and tried to think of a way out of this. She was tired of being afraid and unable to defend herself—with the exception of the man she’d killed. She had to do something and not wait for Landon to be her knight in shining armor.

  Neither Diego nor Landon appeared to blink as Diego dug the gun into her head while Landon kept his weapon trained on Diego.

  Alejandro came into view and Tori caught her breath. Alejandro had Angelina at gunpoint.

  “What are you doing?” Diego sounded confused and furious when he saw his son with his granddaughter. “Why do you have a gun pointed at Angelina?”

  Alejandro’s evil smile made Tori think of devil spawn. “Tonight I will be rid of you and the spoiled little bitch.”

  “Mijo?” Diego’s grip on the gun pressed to Tori’s head faltered.

  She grasped both her hands together and swung them up. The gun flew out of Diego’s hand and she pushed away and ran toward Landon.

  Tori glanced over her shoulder in time to see a bullet hole appear in Diego’s forehead. The man slumped to the ground as Alejandro turned the gun on Angelina.

  “Grandfather!” Angelina screamed.

  Alejandro had just shot his father.

  “Behind me,” Landon shouted to Tori.

  Tori darted around Landon and behind the archway.

  * * *

  The moment after Alejandro shot Diego, Landon immediately turned his weapon on Alejandro. Landon wanted to shoot the bastard so badly he shook with it.

  Landon gripped his weapon tighter. “Let the girl go.”

  Angelina visibly trembled, her face streaked with tears and black trails of mascara. “Alejandro, why? You killed Grandfather.”

  Alejandro kept his gun to the back of Angelina’s head. “It’s time for me to take over the family business, infant.”

  “Let her go.” Landon repeated the words slowly. “If you hurt her, you will die.” Landon intended to avenge Miguel’s death, but not at the expense of Tori’s life.

  “You are the one who will die.” Alejandro shouted out in Spanish to men who were approaching. “The Americans have killed our beloved El Demonio.”

  “Shit.” Dylan’s jaw looked tight as he and Landon kept their weapons trained on Alejandro while men with machine guns ran toward them.

  Just as the men started getting close, they began dropping, one by one.

  It took only a fraction of a moment to realize Joe’s team of special operatives must be taking down the men.

  Angelina sobbed. “Why are you doing this, Uncle?”

  “Because I can.” He smiled and petted Angelina’s hair.

  The young woman looked at her grandfather’s body. With fury on her face, she raised her foot and brought the high heel of her shoe down hard on Alejandro’s foot.

  He shouted in surprise and pain.

  She turned in his arms and rammed her knee into his groin.

  Alejandro cried out, releasing Angelina as his face crumpled with pain. Still, he raised his gun.

  Dylan dove for Angelina, driving her to the grass.

  At the same time Landon pulled his trigger, something hot and fierce penetrated his body just below his bulletproof vest.

  Alejandro slumped and fell forward.

  The unimaginable pain in his abdomen drove Landon to his knees.

  He toppled back and his head struck the archway. His vision blurred and his eyes started to roll back.

  “Landon!” Tori screamed. “Oh, God.” Then she kneeled beside him. “He’s bleeding, but I can’t tell where.”

  Dylan shouted for Joe’s men to call in the chopper and to stand watch while Dylan attended to Landon. Dylan ripped open Landon’s bulletproof vest and Tori pressed a piece of the yellow dress against his wound.

  Tori is getting good at this, he thought before he slipped into darkness.

  Chapter 30

  Tori sat in the hospital waiting room at Tucson Medical Center, her chest tight as doctors operated on Landon. The doctors had said Landon might not make it and terror had a tight grip on her. She couldn’t bear it if he died.

  The pain in Tori’s chest had nothing to do with her broken rib and everything to do with her feelings for Landon as she prayed for him. She’d fallen in love with him and she’d fallen hard.

  While the doctors worked on Landon, the hospital staff had insisted on going over Tori, taking X-rays and examining her. They’d treated the laceration on her scalp, bandaged her ribs, and had taken care of other injuries she had sustained.

  The whole time a nurse had patched up Tori, she had only been able to think about Landon and the need to get to him.

  After Landon had been shot, the men who had come to rescue Tori had grabbed her and taken her to a helicopter on the expansive lawn. A powerful draft from the rotors had sent the second tent flying.

  Dylan and another man had carried Landon while others had covered them with their weapons, taking out as many of Diego’s men as they could.

  Only one of Joe Black’s special ops team members had sustained a bullet wound before they’d escaped by helicopter, the Jimenez Cartel’s men still coming after them. Somehow Tori and the spec ops team
had managed to get off the ground with no one else on the team being shot.

  Tori had feared for Angelina’s life so the men had snatched her and taken her with them. The girl had stayed huddled next to Tori who had kept close to Landon in the helicopter. Angelina had never left Tori’s side, almost clinging to her.

  At the hospital, nurses had treated the young woman for shock and had given her a mild sedative. Angelina had been dazed from all that had happened in front of her—Alejandro shooting her grandfather, the same uncle having taken her hostage, then her uncle being killed.

  As soon as they had gotten into the helicopter, one of the men had taken what they’d called a sponge syringe and injected a special sponge into the bullet hole in Landon’s gut to expand and stop the bleeding.

  Once they had reached the hospital, the new technology had been explained to her. The FDA hadn’t approved it yet, but Joe Black’s company, Black Sky International, had gotten hold of the device filled with small sponges that sealed up gun wounds like Fix-a-Flat. A radiopaque X on each tiny sponge made sure the doctors could find them once they started working on the patient.

  The sponge had kept Landon from bleeding out and losing his life.

  And now Tori waited, not knowing if Landon would live or die.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. God, please, let him live.

  The doctor and nurses had finished patching up Tori and had left her with Angelina to clean up and dress. The nurses had provided scrubs for Tori and Angelina to put on so they didn’t have to wear the torn yellow and pink dresses covered with dirt and blood. Angelina and Tori had both cleaned up and combed their hair the best they could.

  Just as Tori had finished dressing in the scrubs she’d been given and Angelina had come out of the private bathroom wearing hers, a tiny elderly woman had walked into the hospital room. She’d worn all black with the exception of a white lace mantilla and had looked even older than Landon’s grandmother.

  An eerie sensation had washed over Tori, a feeling not unlike déjà vu.

  Angelina had looked nervous and had backed up against the hospital bed and sat on the edge.

  “Do I know you?” Tori had asked the elder woman.

  “I would like to rest my legs,” the woman had said in a strong Hispanic accent.

  “Of course.” Tori had pulled up one of the chairs in the hospital room for the woman. She’d thought she’d been able to hear the woman’s joints creak as she’d sunk down onto the chair.

  “Bring it closer.” The woman had gestured to another chair in the room. “And sit.”

  Tori had done as the woman had instructed and sat facing her.

  “I am Juanita.” The elderly woman had looked at Angelina, who had still been sitting on the bed. “You have grown to be a lovely young woman, Angelina.”

  A surprised look had crossed Angelina’s face. Before Tori had been able to ask Juanita any questions, the woman had reached out and had taken Tori’s hands in hers. “We will pray for your man.”

  Juanita had closed her eyes, her cold, bird-like hands holding Tori’s. Something about the woman had given Tori a sense of peace and she’d closed her own eyes.

  For a long moment, Tori had prayed with Juanita.

  After several minutes, Tori had raised her lashes. Angelina had watched with wide eyes.

  “He told you the truth.” Juanita had studied Tori. “Now it is up to the will of God.” To Angelina, the old woman had said, “These are good people. You will be welcomed and loved here. You belong.”

  Tori’s thoughts had spun and she’d seen Angelina look just as confused.

  “What do you mean?” Angelina had asked.

  “My sweet one, I am your great-grandmother. With your father’s death, your custody is my responsibility.” Juanita had held Angelina’s gaze. “I am old and I will soon die. I want you to be with people who will love you and keep you safe.” She narrowed her gaze. “Safe from your father’s brothers who are as bad, if not worse, than Alejandro.”

  Angelina’s face paled. “They would hurt me?”

  Juanita gave a grave nod. “Child, now that your father, my son, is no longer here, you would have no one to protect you in Mexico.”

  The woman turned her gaze back to meet Tori’s. “I will have my people contact you and we will arrange for you to adopt my darling great-granddaughter.”

  Tori’s mind whirled and she couldn’t quite wrap it around the idea of adopting Angelina. She would love the girl with everything she had, but it was a new thought she needed to digest.

  Juanita stood and Angelina and Tori did as well. Juanita kissed Angelina on each cheek then patted one cheek with her hand.

  She turned and rested her hand on Tori’s arm. “Thank you.”

  Both Tori and Angelina remained speechless as they watched the elderly woman slowly make her way out of the room.

  Angelina and Tori looked at each other, both still at a loss for words.

  Everything felt as if it had come to a standstill once the woman had prayed with Tori.

  Neither spoke as they’d stepped outside the hospital room and all that happened continued to pass by in a blur.

  Tori and Angelina sat in the waiting room now. Tori started biting one of her nails as she waited for the doctor to return to give an update on Landon’s condition.

  Dylan had contacted Landon’s mother and father, who’d called Landon’s three sisters. One of his sisters lived close and within thirty minutes she and Landon’s parents arrived in a flurry. When Dylan introduced Tori to Landon’s family, Mrs. Walker gave Tori a hug, clearly seeing how distraught she was.

  Mr. Walker left to get Grandma Teresa and when she arrived, the old woman went straight to Tori and started questioning her in her no-nonsense tone. Tori didn’t mind. It took her mind off the possibility of Landon actually dying.

  As they waited, Tori held Angelina’s hand tightly, letting her know she wasn’t alone. Tori didn’t know what the future held for the fifteen-year-old, but she’d do everything in her power to keep her from being sent back to her great-uncles who would now be running the family business.

  Juanita’s words came back to Tori. ‘These are good people. You will be welcomed and loved here. You belong.’

  Special Agent Sofia Aguilar had been transported to Tucson Medical Center after the cartel’s attack. She had graduated from ICU to a private room, her prognosis good. Some of the other agents and staff hadn’t fared as well. The explosion at the DHS office had been a tragedy all the way around.

  It had also been big, big news, with stations around the world televising the aftermath.

  Tori had heard Dylan speaking to another agent. The feds would come down hard on every aspect of the cartel’s business.

  All of DHS in the southwest would be involved, with agents brought in immediately. Arrest warrants would be issued, the cartel’s men tailed, and business disrupted. DHS would give the cartel’s business as much grief as possible.

  This was war.

  Tori leaned her head back against the waiting room wall. God, when would they find out about Landon?

  Angelina had fallen asleep, her head on Tori’s shoulder, when the doctor finally appeared. Tori refused to think the worst, but it hovered at the back of her mind.

  “We were able to resuscitate Landon after he died on the operating room table.” The doctor looked tired and spoke to them as a group.

  Tori’s heart nearly stopped and Landon’s mother sucked in her breath. Landon had died on the operating table?

  “He is now in a stable condition.” A huge, shuddering breath of relief made Tori weak as the doctor spoke.

  While the doctor continued talking, Tori held on to the fact that Landon remained stable. She knew the doctor was covering his ass by not giving them an absolute, “He will make it.” Tori knew with all her heart that Landon would survive.

  But dear God, Landon had died on the operating room table before being resuscitated.

  The doctor allowed Landon
to have a few visitors. His parents went in first with Grandma Teresa. When Mrs. Walker came out, her eyes were bleary as if she’d fought off crying, but she smiled. “He’s going to be all right.”

  Tori went next, after Angelina agreed to stay with Mrs. Walker. The girl looked fearful but let the motherly woman sit next to her. Dylan had taken Mrs. Walker aside earlier, so likely he’d told her about Angelina.

  When Tori entered the room, her chest ached even more to see Landon hooked up to monitors, his tanned skin unusually pale.

  He saw her and smiled. “Hi, honey.”

  Her heart flipped over to hear his voice. “It’s good to see you.”

  She couldn’t have been happier than to see him alive. Thank God.

  She moved to the side of hospital bed and took his hand in hers before she sat in the chair next to the bed.

  His fingers were warm when he squeezed hers. “How are you feeling, Tori?”

  “The better question is how are you feeling?” She rested her other hand on his good shoulder. “You scared me.”

  “Then we’re even.” His expression turned serious. “When you were taken, I nearly lost my mind.”

  She thought about how much she loved him as his gaze held hers.

  “I have something I want to tell you,” she said at the same time he said, “There’s something I need to say.”

  The looked at each other and laughed. Landon coughed and winced, the movement clearly hurting.

  His voice croaked a little from the aftereffects of the cough. “Ladies first.”

  “I wanted to—” She took a deep breath. She could do this. “I love you, Landon. I know it’s too soon, but I just…I just needed to let you know.”

  A warm smile eased over his face. “Honey, that’s exactly what I planned to tell you. I love you.”

  Her breath caught. “You do?”

  He slowly stroked her hand with his thumb. “I think I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you running up the hill.”

  Tears made her sight blur and she had to blink them away. “It feels as though I’ve loved you forever.”