When Brent ended the call, his cell rang. She glanced at his phone with him and saw that Colt was on the line. Adriana was glad she sat close enough to Brent that she could hear the conversations in the quiet room.
“Heard from Major Vance. We have yet another lead on Carmen. We need to check all of them out, which means more Rangers gone to check and that will spread us thin.”
“So what’s the plan?” Brent spoke into his cell and watched Adriana, reassurance in his gaze.
“With the security detail in place at the safe house, once Adriana is there with Rosa, we’ll team up to follow the leads. You’re with me. Wrap it up there and get Adriana to the house. We can question those men later.”
Brent explained they were waiting on Ford to pick them up. He ended the call and huffed out his frustration.
“What about Rio?” she asked. “Have you given up on finding him?”
Because she would never be safe until he was incarcerated.
He grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Of course not, but we can’t forget about one of our own who’s in trouble. I just need to get you to the safe house. One thing at a time.”
“Getting me there is turning out to be harder than we thought. They must have been watching us this whole time. Knew that I was at the hospital with Inez.” A shiver ran over her.
He squeezed her to him and rubbed her arm to send the shivers away. Adriana had thought she would never sit so close to him or hold his hand again, considering the way he’d acted at the hospital.
She heard the Chevy’s approach. Brent stood and held his hand out. She took it and got to her feet to join him. He never let on that his recent gunshot wound slowed him in the least. It seemed nothing could stop Ranger Brent McCord. She admired this man too much for her own good.
As he led her through the door, Adriana suddenly stopped and Brent lingered in the doorway with her.
“Thank you, Brent McCord. Thank you for keeping us safe. If you hadn’t been there when that bomb went off, Rio’s men would have us all by now, I’m sure of it.”
His face twisted. “It never should have happened. We let them get through our defenses.”
“I’m safe with you. I trust you, but I understand why you want to go into Mexico. Why you want to go away from me.”
He angled his head. “You do?”
“Yes. It’s because of this thing between us. You think it’s wrong. You can’t let yourself love, and even if you could, you can’t be with me, the sister of the leader of a drug cartel.”
The truth of her words reflected in his gaze. She’d held on to hope that he would dispute her. Would she ever stop wishing and hoping for the impossible? When she started to move from the door, he held her there, his hands resting on her waist.
He glanced up, then back at her with a half smile. “There’s no mistletoe here, like at the house.”
“No...” What was he getting at?
He drew in a breath.
“Your friend is probably wondering where we are,” she reminded him.
“Probably.” His cell rang. He glanced at it and laughed. Answered it. “Be there in a minute.”
Jammed it back in his pocket. “Now, where were we?”
“I’m not sure.” But she thought she had an idea. “But you mentioned the mistletoe. Inez put it there to trick us.”
He lifted her hand up to his lips and kissed it. “I shouldn’t do this.”
Oh, but I want you to... “We shouldn’t do this.”
But she inched her chin up higher, closer. The thought of what it would be like to kiss Ranger Brent McCord had never left her thoughts since they’d first stood under that mistletoe. If she were completely honest with herself, she had long wondered what it would be like to kiss this man. “We wouldn’t want to disappoint Inez.”
And Brent met her halfway, pressing his lips to hers, in a tender, gentle kiss that told Adriana all she needed to know.
They were meant for each other but could never be together.
TWELVE
What am I doing?
Brent shoved away the guilt and allowed himself this one moment in time with Adriana—a woman he’d dreamed of kissing for the last two years. He’d only been this close to her in his dreams. He shouldn’t be this close to her now.
But he had a feeling this would be his last chance. And he couldn’t let it pass him by.
Gunfire echoed outside, and he tore his lips away. Heart pounding, he tugged her behind him and out of the hallway.
“Oh, no, Brent. What about Ford?”
“Shh,” he whispered in her ear.
He didn’t like this. Brent called Ford and it went to voice mail.
“Call me!” He left a message. Dragging Adriana with him, he moved to the window and carefully looked outside.
Saw nothing.
God, please help us. Please keep Ford safe and help us escape. Help me keep Adriana safe. Why was this turning out to be the most difficult mission of his life?
“What are we going to do?”
“We have to get out of here.” They should already have been gone by now. Once again, he’d let the way Adriana affected him cloud his judgment. Still, had they gone outside believing they were safe, they could have been ambushed and killed.
“I think we should stay and hide until it’s over. Until backup gets here. The police must know about the gunfire,” she said.
It was one thing to hide in the building and let Ford lead those men away from them, and quite another to be stuck inside and have Garcia’s men closing in. And he had no doubt the men were sent by Garcia, who obviously had cartel operatives in Texas already.
“They might be occupied with the others, and it might take too long. If we stay in this building, we’re going to get trapped. Come on.”
He led her out of the room and down the hall to the stairs. Brent quietly opened the door and checked the stairwell. Empty. Together they bounded down the steps. When they reached the exit on the first floor, he eased it open. He poked his head out and saw nothing in either direction.
More gunfire resounded outside. Good. That meant Ford and possibly other law enforcement officers were around to engage Garcia’s men. That they’d come for Adriana in this small town should terrify her.
It terrified him.
“This way.” He led her down the hallway to the back of the building, then hung a right. They could sneak out into the same alley, through the same broken window they’d climbed through. Brent assisted Adriana through the opening. He felt more exposed than ever in this alley, but somehow Garcia’s men had figured out Brent and Adriana were hiding in the building. That was probably because Ford had stopped next to it and waited to pick them up. They’d made the wrong assumption, believing that the police had nabbed all the men when they’d taken the van. Someone else had been in the mix. Someone they’d missed.
Would he ever get ahead and stay ahead in this?
Angry voices shouted from both ends of the alley. Looking back through the window, he saw someone inside the warehouse they’d just exited. Someone searching for them.
Not good. Not good at all.
They had no choice but to keep going.
At the corner, the edge of the building, he pressed his back against the wall, Adriana next to him. He held his weapon up. Sweat beaded on his back and forehead, despite the chill of this winter day.
Brent slowly peered around the corner.
“I’m scared,” she whispered.
He barely heard her whisper and wasn’t sure if she’d meant for him to hear. He squeezed her hand. And stepped around the corner. Together they walked hand in hand, like a couple just out enjoying the day, except nobody was on the street now because of the gunfire. People had taken cover. Law enforcement was on the way. They h
ad to be.
He heard the sirens in the distance.
Too Far. Much too far.
A vehicle turned the corner. An old beat-up sedan. It sped up and headed right for them. More of Garcia’s gun-wielding men. They should have received intel that this many men were already here in Texas or would be coming across the border into Texas for Adriana.
He shoved her behind a parked car, returning fire as he took cover, too.
“They’re tearing up this town to prevent you from taking me to the safe house. He knows he’ll never get a better chance to get his hands on me.”
Footfalls sounded behind them. Brent turned in time to receive a fist to his face, then a gun to his temple.
The henchman gripped Adriana’s arm so hard she cried out as he yelled in Spanish. Brent understood every terrifying word. “Garcia finally has his sister back now.”
The man yanked her along with him as he ran to the car. Adriana fought, but it was no use. Her screams cut through Brent like a dull knife. He chased them.
Sirens grew louder. The police were only a block or two away. But that was still too far.
“No!” Brent yelled and finally tackled the man, smashing against him as they both fell hard on the asphalt. Pain shot through his body and burned like fire across his gunshot wound. Brent ignored the pain and pounded the man’s face into the road. Then he stood up to run after Adriana.
Someone from the vehicle shot at Brent. A force slammed into his chest, knocking him onto his back as his breath whooshed from him.
Adriana screamed as they threw her into the car and sped away.
Brent couldn’t breathe, much less move.
He heard the familiar sound of a truck’s loud muffler and exhaust resounding like a hot rod. That gave him hope. The noisy truck sounded louder, closer, than the sirens that sounded like they were growing distant.
A hand gripped his as Ford’s face filled his vision. Helped him up. “You okay, buddy?”
“Alive.” Only because of his body armor. “They took her.”
“Then let’s go get her back.” Brent appreciated Ford’s positive can-do words. They couldn’t afford to think any differently now.
Ford started for the driver’s side.
“Let me drive.” The pressure in his chest ached, but he was going to drive.
“You sure?”
“Positive.” He’d let the fury and rage coursing through his veins forge the way. He tore off his damaged vest, and though it hurt like a firestorm had rained down on him, he ignored the pain, shifted into Drive like a maniac and floored it.
“I don’t know what the law enforcement in this town was after, going in the other direction, but they’d better be heading after these guys in the Impala now. We cannot lose sight of them or let them take Adriana.”
Hurt her.
Brent couldn’t recall ever facing a more determined criminal element.
Ford got on his cell and informed the local police they were in pursuit. Apparently, after arresting the shooters in the van, the police had been called away for gunshots heard in another part of town. Brent shared a brief glance with Ford. Had it been a calculated distraction to pull the police away? The way these men had swarmed into this town in pursuit of Adriana, they might very well intend to break their friends out of jail.
The Impala raced down the highway and Brent followed in the truck. He floored it, swerving around slower traffic at breakneck speed and receiving blaring horns for his efforts. The Chevy truck inched closer, gaining on the men speeding along the highway. Before long, Texas State Troopers appeared on the road in pursuit, as well.
Except Brent was closer. The men in the Impala fired their automatic weapons, shattering the Chevy’s windshield. Cold air filled the cab, but Brent ignored the pain it triggered in his chest, the chill reaching to his bones, and focused on getting Adriana.
God, help me!
He could see her in the back seat of the vehicle in front of him. The wind had whipped up her crazy curly hair. She turned to glance at him, and the pleading in her expression could undo him.
Focus, man. Focus!
Then she looked at him again and he saw something much different.
Determination.
Adriana had found her strength again. The same strength that had risked death to save him that day. The same strength that had propelled her to flee her brother. Two of the men were focused on firing their weapons at Brent and Ford. They weren’t watching their captive.
Adriana hurled herself forward at the driver.
The Impala swerved, fishtailed, then went completely out of control.
It flipped. Over and over and over.
“No!”
* * *
She would never let them take her to Rio. She’d rather die.
The world spun around her. Knowing what she’d planned could be fatal, she’d wrapped the seat belt around her arm. Now she wasn’t sure that had been the best of ideas, but it kept her body from being tossed from the car. Instead, she slammed from the seat to the roof as it rolled. The impact forced the breath from her lungs as she bounced back and forth. Seat. Cab. Seat. Cab. Her arm felt as if it were being ripped from her body. Screams erupted around her. Men’s screams mingled with her own.
Then all was still. Seconds ticked by before her head stopped spinning.
Quiet had taken the place of gunfire and the foul language spewing from the beasts who’d abducted her.
Adriana was somehow folded down on the floorboard of the front seat, her arm no longer secured by the seat belt. She presumed the man who’d been sitting here had flown out the window. Nausea roiled as she blinked her eyes open. A hawk screeched from the sky like nothing had happened. Like it was just a normal day.
The driver, the man she’d accosted, was pressed into the steering wheel, blood on his face.
She had blood on her.
Was it hers?
Voices spoke in the distance, growing louder. But they were voices of worry and concern. Not voices of hate and anger. Not bloodthirsty voices.
Relief rushed through her. She could float from that relief. Except she was pinned in this position, somehow. She realized she couldn’t easily crawl up from the floorboard, given the way the seat and the dash were awkwardly pushed together. In fact, she couldn’t move at all.
“Tanya!” Fear and desperation edged Brent’s tone.
The sound of it comforted her, washed away the dread. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and somehow even that hurt. Just to cry made her ache all over, the pain of the ordeal finally registering in her mind.
“Tanya, are you okay?” A hand reached through the open window.
“Yes,” she squeaked out. “Yes!” Louder this time. “But...but I’m stuck in here. Please...please get me out.”
Adriana wanted to sob. But she was absolutely tired of crying. Tired of being weak. She’d made it this far, survived this far. Her brother’s men had come all the way into Texas to drag her back to Mexico. She’d never come so close to being taken back, to torture and certain death. And now she was glad she’d risked everything to prevent that from happening.
“Hang in there. I’m going to get you out.”
Sirens resounded. Other voices. Other law officers. The State Troopers. An ambulance, perhaps for Rio’s men—the ones who had survived.
Brent and Ford argued with another man.
“Jaws of Life,” a man said. “We’ll have to cut her out.”
Brent got close to her again and stretched his arm out to touch her. By his pinched expression she could tell the effort hurt him. He grabbed her hand. “I’m here, honey. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. You’re going to be all right. Please, just stay calm. Are you sure you’re not hurt?”
“I don’t thin
k anything’s broken. I’m not bleeding. Bruised maybe. Pinned for certain.” She couldn’t help herself. She smiled and cried at the same time. “I saw him shoot you. I saw you fall.”
“My body armor, honey. It saved me.”
If only she could wipe her face, wipe the tears away, but her other hand was stuck, and she absolutely wasn’t going to let go of Brent’s hand. “I know, I know. But at the time, I thought he’d killed you.”
“But he didn’t kill me. I’m here, right here with you.”
Her teeth chattered. “I’m cold.”
“I’ll take care of it, honey.”
He had never called her honey before, but she liked hearing it. If only for this moment in time. She reminded herself that they could never be together.
“Shock,” someone behind Brent said. “Blanket. We need a blanket!”
A few minutes passed and finally a blanket was shoved through the window and over her, but Brent never let go of her hand. He had to be seriously hurting by now.
“Okay, honey, they’re going to cut you out now. So you know I don’t want to let you go, but I’m going to let go of your hand just for a minute.”
For the first time since the wreck, panic set in. Brent had been her lifeline. “No, no, no, no...”
Brent argued with two other men, his words vehement.
“Okay, honey, I’ve worked it out with them. I’m right here with you. I won’t let go unless I have to for maybe a few seconds while they cut around me, okay?”
Adriana nodded. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed. She’d survived.
Thank You, Jesucristo.
“Inez, tell me about Inez.”
“She’s fine,” Brent assured her. “She’s good. We’re moving her to another facility. It’ll be harder for you to go and see her, but she’ll be more protected. After what went down today, we can’t take the risk of her being targeted. Preparations to move her are already under way.”
A warm feeling settled in her stomach. “Thank you,” she whispered, uncertain if he could hear her. “And Rosa?”
Texas Christmas Defender Page 13
