God has to deprive us of some of the things we thought we wanted most so he can make way for the things that we can’t live without.
I really hoped after all of the shit I’d done and gone through to save Emmery that she thought I was the one.
Forty-five minutes later, the vehicle came to a halt in an open grassy field. Off to the left of the clearing was a large black helicopter. The rotor blades were stationary and longer than both Suburbans put together. The private rental helicopter was even outfitted with a machine gun.
Leery, I looked on as everyone climbed out and began throwing their gear in the cabin of the helicopter.
“B, hurry up,” Drew called out to me from the flank of the massive machine.
Trotting over to Rosa and Barrett, I tossed my bag into the back area, although I wasn’t sure it would stay there once we took off. The doors on both side of the cabin were wide open and from the looks of it, they were leaving them that way.
“See y’all back here soon,” Kai hollered then climbed into the front seat of the SUV.
“Good luck,” Rosa wished the rest of the crew.
Adrenaline started coursing through my veins, making me hyperaware and jumpy as I buckled my seatbelt. I could feel the electric current run along my arms, up my neck and through my hair. My breathing became tighter and shallow as I pulled my handguns out and checked then re-checked the magazine. The automatic rifle was on the floor at my feet, ready to go as well.
“Vest,” Jaxon said, tossing me a Kevlar vest. “Put it on. I’m not comin’ home and tellin’ Lei I let you get yourself shot. She’d bust my balls.”
“Right,” I agreed, unbuckling and slipping the camo vest over my head and tightening down the thick Velcro straps on the overlapping sides.
Fuck, what had I gotten all of us into? We looked like we were prepared to go to war.
You are, a nagging little voice reminded me. And with a Venezuelan drug cartel, no less.
“Kaci,” Drew called over the speakerphone. “Double check the satellite for heat signatures. Make sure everyone is still there and there are no snipers waiting in the wings.”
“Jax, check in with Marco,” Kai said from the driver’s seat. “See how close he was able to get on foot.”
“On it,” Jax replied, pulling out his phone.
“Two minutes out. We are still a go. Looks like they are all standing around closer together except three off to the side by the vehicles,” Kaci informed us over the speakers in the car.
“Plan is to go in, guns drawn, but do not fire unless fired upon. I want to try to be diplomatic until we have a reason not to be,” Jaxon laid out. “I’ll do all the talking.”
“Not a chance,” I objected immediately as I felt the hair on my neck stand on end. “I handle business transactions every day and can negotiate our way out of this.”
“This isn’t a boardroom deal, Brody. This is a hostage rescue. Set aside your pride and ego for two fucking minutes and let me do this my way so we don’t get anyone killed,” Jaxon barked, not backing down.
“I swear to God, I will shoot you myself if you fuck this up, you hear me?”
“Both of you knock it off, you sound like Kaci and Ridge bickering like an old married couple. Kiss and make up, all of you,” Joselyn shouted through the speakers. “Jesus, y’all are like a bunch of children I didn’t even push out but I have to deal with.”
“Pulling up. We go on foot from here. Everyone knows where they are going?” Kai asked as he killed the engine. “We go in silent.”
“Marco is just a few yards ahead, near a cluster of palm trees. He’s waiting. Let’s get a move on,” Jax said, strapping on his throat mic then tossing one at me.
I really wished they would have gone over some of this equipment a little more. Watching the others, I figured out how to strap it on properly and connect it to my radio.
“Move out,” Kai whispered over the coms.
Kai and Jaxon took the lead while Jace and Bear pulled up the flanks as we fanned out, meeting up with Marco along the way. Slipping through the forest, we approached the two vehicles, a navy sedan and a black stretched limousine, that were on a wide stretch of road with a large shed on one side. It wasn’t a large clearing, but the two cars were able to park next to each other just to the right of the shed without blocking the access road.
“I count eleven. Any more out there?” Jaxon breathed.
A collective no was returned.
“Let’s move in,” Kai asserted. “Turn ear pieces down.”
“Guns in neutral position as we go in. No aiming. We’re the good guys,” Jaxon reminded all of us.
As we got closer, I could see Emmery in her wheelchair. She was smiling and seemed genuinely at ease with the older gentleman. She was still in the blue skirt and white top from earlier today. The large Hispanic guy, Manuel, was still hulking over her like some sort of guard dog.
Alejandra and Richard were both also there standing next to Manuel, as was Diego Santos and another Caucasian male who was a little younger than Manuel. Everyone seemed to be happy and enjoying this little family reunion until the oldest male raised his right hand and made some kind of twirling motion.
Behind him, one of the three bodyguards pulled a gun and fired a single round into the younger white guy. He fell backward, stiff as a board but light as a feather onto the ground that was covered by fallen green banana leaves.
We all started to rush in until Kai threw up a hand, halting our forward progress.
“Wait,” he muttered softly.
We watched on as Emmery screamed hysterically until her mother pushed her wheelchair over toward the limousine, stroking her hair, trying to calm her. Manuel didn’t seem phased or at all bothered by the killing.
I needed to get to Emmery. Get her away from her crazy bitch of a mother. “Fuck this, I’m going in.”
Chapter Twenty-six
~Emmery~
When my mother introduced me to Tio Juan Carlos, he was not at all what I pictured in my mind. I pictured a frail old man in failing health, who was skin and bones. Juan Carlos is nothing of the sort. Sure he was older, but he was the same size and build as my father. He had salt-and-pepper hair that was slicked back, leathery skin that reminded me of a worn handbag and he wore a half-buttoned shirt that prominently displayed his thick grey and black chest hair. He clearly had spent more time in the sun than a lifeguard.
When he greeted me, his face warmed with pride as he took my hand and kissed my knuckles, announcing that I was the most beautiful great-niece he had ever seen. I was pretty sure I was the only great-niece he had, but I knew better than to be rude.
He introduced the three younger men that came with him as my cousins, Carlos, Luis and Javier, but I had a feeling they were not cousins. Like, it was something people say so they don’t have to explain the friendship or level of trust. They were respectful and quiet while they waited, not once chiming in. I was pretty sure they were the hired muscle.
We talked for a while, in the clearing across from the little shed, about my education and love of horses, which seemed to be something my uncle and I had in common. He told me all about the large ranch he had with more than twenty horses and invited me to go riding with him once I healed.
He seemed normal. He did and said things that a normal uncle would do.
Until Manuel stepped forward and shared the experience of our car ride from the airfield to the marina. Freddy immediately called us both liars and starting ranting about how Manny wanted his job.
“I do not like liars. Or thieves. But what I hate more than that, is a man who tries to harm mi familia. Don’t you agree, Richard?” Tio Juan Carlos asked my father with a rather challenging expression.
Before my father could say a word, my great-uncle shook his head slightly then fluttered his hand in the air in a small circle. In response, Carlos jerked a pistol out of the side holster under his left arm, aimed and shot Freddy right between his soulless grey eyes.
I didn’t realize I was screaming until my mother rushed to my side. She shushed me then carted me off in the wheelchair, pushing me between the two vehicles. As she pushed, the front wheels hit a thick root in the damp jungle floor that sent me sliding to the end of the wheelchair, teetering on the edge of my seat. Gripping the arms, I managed to keep myself from falling.
“It’s okay,” she recited. “You’re okay. Everything is fine.”
“How can you say that?” I blubbered. “He shot him in the face.” I looked down and saw the tiny flecks of blood on the side of my skirt. Panic set in as my eyes continued their path up and saw the blood on my arm. With my right hand, I swiped the side of my face and pulled back blood-smeared fingers. “Oh God, his blood is all over me. Mom, his blood is on my face. Get it off. Get it off me.”
Grabbing the clean side of the skirt, I pulled it to my face and rubbed the cotton back and forth, trying like mad to get the splattered blood off my face.
As I was having my meltdown, I heard my father and great-uncle start to argue and turned my head.
“You think I am going to let some gringo take my business?” Juan Carlos shouted at my father. “Did you think I would not know? That my sobrina would not tell me what you have been doing to her?”
“Now, wait just one fucking second old man,” my father started then glanced over at Manny and Diego then to my mother and me. “You needed an heir and she refused. She couldn’t run this fucking business even half as well as I could. I could do it better than you. Hell, I have.”
Manny looked over to me and nodded his head once. I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say or what he was trying to tell me to do. As hard as it was for me to believe, I was worried about my father.
“Dad,” I hollered, silently pleading with him to be quiet.
“No. I have been taking over your territory piece by piece in the states and your man Diego has been helping me the whole way,” my father boasted arrogantly like he was bulletproof.
In my head, I kept screaming at him to shut up. Was he trying to get himself killed? Did he not just see Juan Carlos shoot Freddy for threatening me?
Before I had a second to grasp what was unfolding in front of us, bullets started flying. My mother dumped me out of the wheelchair onto the forest floor, covered in yellow-tinged banana leaves, mud and twigs. She threw her body over mine.
From the ground, I turned my head to the side and I watched my father shooting at Juan Carlos and his men, who were returning fire. A bullet found my father as he ran backward toward my great-uncle’s car next to us. Diego had also pulled his gun and was firing at my uncle’s men, hitting and incapacitating Luis.
I screamed for my dad as I saw him fall to the ground. Crimson seeped through the side of his white shirt while he turned over and tried to crawl away from the danger. As he reached the safety of the car, the bullets ceased firing but groans could be heard.
I couldn’t really see anyone other than Luis, who was still lying in the dirt road, bleeding to death. I could see feet to the left, under the navy blue Lexus. Looking further down, near the trunk, I could sort of see my father lying on the ground, holding his side.
Juan Carlos, Javier and Carlos ran toward the shed but I lost them in the chaos. I wasn’t sure if they were hurt, but right now I only cared about getting to my father. Yes, he was a horrible human being, but he was still my dad.
“Dad,” I called out to him. “Are you okay?”
“Ali, keep her over there,” he told my mother.
She held me down as I tried to crawl to him. “No, mija. It’s not safe. You can’t trust him,” she sobbed.
He was dying. All I could think about was the fact that he was dying and she wouldn’t let me go to him.
“Let me go,” I yelled at her, trying to push her off of me. “I can help him.”
“Mamita, stay there,” Manny hollered from somewhere to my right. “You can’t save him. No one can.”
Pow.
A single bullet was fired.
Mother wrapped her arms around me again as I shrieked and flailed to get to my dad. On the other side of the car, where there were once feet, now lay a body. Diego’s.
“Emmery,” someone called, his voice frantic and filled with fear.
Instantly, I stopped thrashing about and froze. Brody?
“Emmery, stay down… We’re coming out of the woods, hold your fire. We don’t want any trouble,” another deep gruff voice boomed and echoed around us.
“Walk out with your weapons down and we will not shoot,” a voice that I believed to be my uncle told them.
“Varela, we don’t want you. We’re here for the girl. We just want to get Emmery out of here. Then you can do whatever you need to do,” a different voice, not as deep as the first one, shouted back at my uncle. “We are gonna walk over to the vehicle and get Emmery then we will leave. No questions asked.”
Oh God, he really did come for me. He’s going to get me out of here.
My dad began to cough and sputter.
“Mom, I have to go to him,” I begged.
“Mija, no,” she objected but I pushed her off of me and crawled on my belly, dragging my bad leg behind me, past the rear tire, around the back of the car then over to my father who was now leaning up against the black rubber of the back passenger tire. Blood soaked his shirt and coagulated in a small pool next to him, sitting on top of the mud like oil and water.
“Dad, I’m here,” I said as I reached him and pulled myself up to sitting. “We need to get you to a doctor.” I refused to acknowledge how bad the wound was. Untucking his shirt, I saw a single gunshot wound to his left side.
My stomach rolled and I held back a dry heave. Blood seeped heavily from a dime-size hole just below his left pec.
“I’m sorry…Emm…ery,” my father managed to utter with tears in his eyes.
Just as I was about to tell him that he would be okay, he grabbed my hand and started gasping for air.
“Someone help him,” I screamed. Looking around, I could see men converging on us from different directions out of the jungle. “Please, help me.”
The men were dressed in army fatigues and two ran over toward me. As the first one got closer, I could see through my tear-filled haze that it was Brody. He slid to a stop in front of me.
“Brody, please help him,” I begged and pleaded even though I knew he couldn’t do anything for him. He wasn’t a doctor.
“Jax, Kai, I need some help here,” he yelled out as more people descended on the small roadside clearing. “Em, I need to get you out of here. They will help him, but we have to go. Now.”
He scooped me up and started back the way they had come in. Just as we were a few feet away from the car, I started to freak out.
“No, my dad. I have to save him. Put me down,” I demanded, writhing in Brody’s arms to no avail. His strength far exceeded mine. “Let me save him. Please,” I sobbed hysterically.
“Don’t put her down,” my mother shouted. “Get her out of here.”
The men who were helping my dad stood and shook their heads slightly then approached Diego, who was down on the ground.
“Nooooo,” I wailed and slammed my fist into Brody’s chest until he stood me up on my good leg and held me against his chest.
“He’s gone, Em. I’m so sorry, baby. He’s gone.”
Sobs wracked my body as I screamed. “Let me go. He needs me.”
“Emmery, baby.” My mom ran over to me. “He’s gone. He wouldn’t want you to see him like that. We need to leave.”
“No,” I bawled. Mom had wrapped her arms around me and tried her best to comfort me, stroking my hair.
“Baby, let your friends get you out of here,” Mom told me.<
br />
“Listen to your mother, sweetheart. We need to roll. Now. We don’t want any more trouble,” Drew, Brody’s friend, told me.
“Stop right there.” My great-uncle and his men came out from the far side of the shed. “No one is leaving.”
“We don’t want any problems.” A large Samoan man dressed in the same camouflage uniform stepped forward and directly in front of Brody and me. “We just came for my man’s girl. We will leave you to your business.”
Sandwiched between my mother and Brody, I had to crook my neck in order to see my father’s lifeless body lying on the ground, covered in blood like some kind of animal. He turned out to be a monster, but he was still my dad and he didn’t deserve to die like this.
My great-uncle or one of his men had shot and killed my father. In my mind, I understood the reason. Treachery and thievery. But in my heart, I would never be able to comprehend it. They could have just…just—I didn’t know, but they shouldn’t have killed him.
“Mamita,” Manny called for me as he came out from the jungle. “Get out of here. Remember what I told you. Go.”
“I can’t leave him, Manny. He’s…my dad,” I managed to say between the horrible spasms from crying so hard. I could barely catch my breath from the racking sobs.
“Mamita, he’s gone. That man was not your father anymore. He was the devil come back to life,” Manny said, walking right up to me, passing Juan Carlos, Javier and Carlos. The brute of a man that was standing in front of Brody moved slightly, allowing Manny to pass. Brody wasn’t as inviting. He stepped in his path, even though Manny was three times his size.
“That’s close enough,” Brody growled through gritted teeth.
“It’s okay,” I told Brody. “I don’t think Manny will hurt me.”
Glancing over his shoulder at me then back to Manny, Brody crossed his arms over his chest, never holstering his pistol. “This is the same man that was sent to shoot up your horses to get you thrown out of showing. He also threatened you and your friends. Then he wrecked Jane’s car, causing you to crash and almost killing both of you in the process. So you’ll have to forgive me for not wanting him to get close to you.”
His Redemption Page 23
