Renegade Protector

by Nico Rosso

Her hips swayed slightly and her whole demeanor unlocked. She smiled at him with only her eyes. “It’s a cheesy song, but I love it.”

  Vincent rocked his shoulders up and down. “I’ve got mine.”

  Stephanie tilted her head from side to side. “Same.”

  “You guys are crazy.” Javier coiled and leaped to catch the top of the eight-foot wall. He hauled himself up and peered over the top for a moment before straddling it. He put his hand down. Ty gave him the shovel, which was tossed onto the other side. Then Stephanie grabbed Javier’s hand and he helped her up. Vincent took himself over the wall a few feet away. Once Stephanie had gone over, Mariana reached up for Javier. He pulled and she toed along the wall until she disappeared over the top. Javier offered Ty his hand with a smirk, but Ty waved it off and scaled the wall himself.

  He dropped down into thick mulch between ornamental trees. He found the shovel and moved beside Mariana. In front of them was a lower row of shrubs, then a wide lawn. A stone patio surrounded the house, complete with an outdoor kitchen larger than Ty’s apartment. The tall front door was flanked by even taller pillars. Steps swept down from the door to a large curved driveway bordered by a low wall that went all the way to the front gate. An SUV and two sedans were parked there, all dark, all looking as bulletproof as the car that had brought the men to Mariana’s house.

  Uplights made the mansion look even more imposing. They also revealed the silhouettes of the guards patrolling the front and close corner of the house. The men scanned into the dark around them, postures alert. Going after Innes outside the restaurant had worked. He’d called in the Seventh Syndicate.

  Ty caught the attention of his group with a wave, then pointed out a path that arced amid the landscaping toward the front of the house. The others nodded and he led the way. Mariana stuck close behind him, her hand on his hip. His heart thundered with the touch.

  The group crouched lower and lower until they huddled behind the four-foot wall that bordered the long driveway. Javier tapped Ty’s knee and whispered, “Before you all start making noise, let me do a little work. That dude on the right corner looks lonely and I’ll see if I can clear a path around back.”

  “We’ll start when we see him fall.” Ty patted his friend’s shoulder and Javier was off. From this vantage, the three guards in front of the house were in view, and a fourth man lingered just around the corner. Ty kept watch on him. None of the shrubs next to the driveway wall gave away a hint of Javier’s approach. After a few seconds, Javier’s shadow appeared behind the guard. He approached stealthily, raising his arms slowly, the nearer he came.

  Ty drew his pistol. Mariana quietly unzipped her backpack and pulled out the revolver. Ty told her, “We’re going to fix up your house.” Her smile was brief and tight.

  Javier struck, coiling his arms around the guard’s neck in an unbreakable choke hold. The guard made one attempt to slap at him, then went limp. Javier eased the man to the ground and melted into the shadows toward the back of the house.

  Ty took aim at one of the front-of-the-house guards and fired the first shot.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Mariana jumped as the crack of the gun ripped open the still night air. A guard fell to the ground, clutching his leg and yelling for the others. They fired wildly as they took cover behind the pillars and cars. More men came around the far corner of the house, guns drawn.

  Vincent and Stephanie rose just above the low wall, pistols out. Vincent sent a single shot streaking out. It clipped the base of a pillar, near a guard’s foot. The guard hurried for deeper cover. Stephanie fired in two-shot bursts that chipped into the steps and dinged off the cars. The damn cars were bulletproof again.

  The revolver weighed a ton, and with the short barrel, Mariana doubted she’d be able to hit what she aimed at. Return fire from the guards sent her back below the wall, heart pounding. The fight had just begun and it already seemed impossible.

  Ty popped up from behind the wall and answered their shots, then leaned back down next to her. Vincent remained cool, reporting, “One of them got into the SUV from the passenger side.”

  Stephanie fired another two shots before returning to safety behind the wall. “If they create rolling cover, they’ll get too close to hold off.”

  Mariana flinched when Ty patted her leg. He placed his hand gently there. “Shoot the SUV.”

  “It’s bulletproof.” Her rifle fired the same bullets as this revolver, and they hadn’t stopped the car at her house.

  “I know.” He squeezed her leg. “But we still need to announce that you’re here.”

  Cracks rang out from Vincent’s and Stephanie’s guns. Ty added a couple of rounds toward the front of the house, as well. Mariana took a deep breath and rose up from cover, the revolver in both hands. She extended it out and saw the guard positioning himself in the driver’s seat of the SUV. The cock of the revolver’s hammer tightened her whole body. She took aim and pulled the trigger.

  The pistol bucked hard in her hands and boomed louder than any of the others. The bullet tore through the air and smashed into the SUV’s driver’s-side door. The guard inside flinched, even though the bullet didn’t make it through the armoring. For a moment all the guns were silent and the report of hers echoed off the hills.

  “Another.” Ty was still at her side. “Then we move.” He pointed along the same path Javier used to get around the house.

  A couple of tentative shots came from the guards, but they flew wild into the night. The man in the SUV had recovered his wits and was going through the motions of starting it up. She lined up her sights again, this time slowing down the process for more accuracy. When she fired, she was ready for the recoil, though it still jarred her. The blast shook the area. This bullet smacked the driver’s-side window, creating a web of cracks, though not breaking through. The impact was enough to send the guard scurrying out the passenger side as he abandoned the SUV.

  “Nice one,” Stephanie whispered, impressed.

  Ty picked up the shovel and crouched to move. “Keep them busy,” he told Vincent and Stephanie, then led Mariana along the edge of the shrubs toward the side of the house. The firing back and forth resumed at the front. None of the bullets were aimed at Mariana and Ty, and her confidence grew that they remained hidden.

  They passed the unconscious guard whom Javier had taken out. Large windows on this side of the house revealed a huge dark dining room, complete with a heavy table and chairs, and a modern chandelier that looked like an explosion of glass. Lights deeper in the house showed hallways and doorways, but she couldn’t see any people.

  Ty put out a hand and she froze. He pointed to the far corner of the house, where another guard lay on the ground. This one actually snored, body slumped and head leaning against the wall. More of Javier’s work, she presumed. But that man was nowhere to be seen. Ty waved her forward again and they rounded the corner to the back of the house. Stepping wide to examine the roofline, she spotted a plumbing vent to the left of a wide balcony with French doors. Dim lights shone in those windows, but all she could see was the coved ceiling.

  Ty leaned close to her ear. “I think we can get up those stones on the side.” Chunky rocks ran from the ground floor to up next to the balcony. He held out his palm for her to wait, then ventured closer to the house. The shadows swallowed him.

  A footstep crunched in the mulch to her right. Cold shock washed up her back. There was no way Ty could’ve come around to that side without her seeing him. She raised the pistol just as a guard emerged between two shrubs. He caught sight of her and started to swing his gun up before freezing. He stared at her gun and she hoped he couldn’t tell how much it was shaking in her hand. She’d seen what the bullets did to the armored SUV and didn’t want to know what that would mean to the human body.

  “Don’t,” she commanded low through clenched teeth.

  The guard seemed to be thin
king about it, poised between decisions. Just as he started to act, Ty rose up behind him and swung the flat of the shovel hard into the back of the guard’s head. The man spun and fell to the dirt, out cold. Relief shuddered through her.

  “Sweet.” She nearly jerked the pistol in the direction of the whisper, but recognized Javier’s voice in time. He stepped out of the shadows. “I was trying to get around behind that guy.” He put his hand out for Ty, curling his fingers impatiently. Ty tossed him the shovel and Javier started toward the front of the house. “Stop making out and get on up there.” The shadows reabsorbed him.

  Gunfire continued at the front of the house. She approached the house and saw that the stones on the wall would make for good handholds. Putting the pistol in the backpack, she started the ascent. Ty followed close behind. Her muscles savored the exertion and she was soon level with the wide balcony. She peeked over the rail to see a bedroom with grand-scaled modern furniture. Someone stepped across a doorway on the far side of the room, but no one was paying attention to the balcony. She crept over the rail and made space for Ty to join her.

  Inside the room Innes argued with another man she couldn’t identify with his back turned to her. There were two others, who looked like guards. The man with Innes turned and her pulse raced faster. Ty coiled next to her. It was Charlie Dennis.

  Ty reached into her backpack and handed her the pistol. He whispered, “Shoot between the door handle and the lock.”

  She crept to the center of the balcony and readied the gun. After a glance to Ty, who nodded, his own pistol out, she cocked and fired. The blast shattered wood and slammed the French doors open. Innes and Charlie Dennis tumbled against each other to get out of the way. One guard ducked.

  The other guard swung up a submachine gun and fired at Mariana.

  * * *

  THE BARREL OF the submachine gun spit fire. Ty had no other thought than to get Mariana out of the way. He threw himself into her and they crashed to the floor. Bullets tugged at the shoulder and arm of Ty’s jacket. If he was hit, he didn’t feel it. He didn’t care.

  Keeping his body in front of hers, he fired wildly back at the guard. The man scrambled to the side. Mariana extended her pistol from behind Ty and let out a single booming round. Drywall dust exploded from a large hole in the wall. The guard reeled backward and shifted his aim toward her again. Ty fired two rounds into the man before the guard could get a shot off.

  Ty rose to standing just as the other guard was collecting himself. This man already had his pistol drawn and tried to run for cover in the huge bathroom off to the left of the bedroom. Ty chased him with bullets until one hit him in the side. He landed on the ground hard, dropping the gun and holding the wound.

  Innes, eyes crazed and full of fear, dived for the submachine gun on the ground. Mariana scrambled to it first and kicked it under the bed. Innes reared up, but he was too close to her. She slammed the heel of her boot into his collarbone. He shrieked with the crack and curled into a defensive ball.

  Charlie Dennis’s face was red with fury. He reached into his jacket as Ty turned his gun on him. Charlie’s pistol just cleared its holster when Ty shot him in the shoulder. He staggered back into a wall and the gun clattered to the floor. Ty rushed him, kicking the gun aside and driving his forearm just under Charlie’s chin.

  Ty hissed, “She is never to be touched.” He pressed harder into Charlie. “Ever.”

  Mariana approached, eyes deadly calm. Relief washed over him at seeing her unhurt. Her voice was even, cold steel like a stiletto through the ribs. “Anything the Seventh Syndicate reaches into my county will get cut off. Do you understand?”

  “Answer her.” Ty balled his fist into Charlie’s jacket. The syndicate man grimaced, veins showing on his flushed forehead. “Answer her.”

  Charlie wheezed. “I understand.”

  Ty yanked him off the wall and held up the groaning man. “There are more of us. We’re watching you. FBI’s looking at your ‘charities.’ Your bosses will know that you put everyone in the spotlight. I’ll see any move you make. Your business here is done.” He tossed Charlie onto the ground with Innes, who whimpered, but did not move. With the room quiet, the sound of gunfire could be heard again in the front of the house. Ty shared a quick look with Mariana, both agreeing it was time to get the hell out of there.

  She cautiously swung open the door to the bedroom suite. He saw the area was clear and hurried onto a broad landing at the top of a large staircase. A huge foyer reached up both floors. On the far end was the front door. Ty could see a guard taking cover behind a pillar outside through a window next to the door.

  He and Mariana rushed down the stairs. Once he hit the bottom, he fired through the window. The surprised guard was hit in the arm. He twisted against the pillar until he gathered his feet and ran away. He must’ve taken anyone else still standing with him, because when Ty got the front door open, the area was completely abandoned.

  Venturing out, he kept his senses on alert. A guard popped up to his left. He and Mariana dived for cover at the edge of the stairs. A clang rang out and the guard collapsed. Javier stood behind him with the shovel. He waved Ty and Mariana forward. “We done?”

  “They’re done,” Ty answered. He and Mariana joined up with Javier and they all hurried along the driveway wall until they reached Vincent and Stephanie’s position.

  Vincent popped up, unruffled. “Injuries?” Stephanie appeared ready to go to a cocktail party. Everyone took a moment to assess themselves and shook their heads at his question. As a group, they moved back to the side wall and climbed their way off Innes’s property.

  No one spoke on the way back to their cars. Javier placed the shovel back in the bed of Mariana’s truck and dusted off his hands. Ty, Vincent and Stephanie holstered their guns. Mariana placed hers in the backpack. Everyone removed their bulletproof vests and piled them in the back of Vincent’s SUV. The clock was ticking. They had to scatter. Ty took a moment to stand before his friends. “Thank you.”

  Vincent extended his hand. “That’s what we’re here for.” Ty shook it.

  “All of us.” Stephanie gave Ty and Mariana a nod.

  “Anytime and every time.” Javier held up a peace sign and strode away. Vincent and Stephanie went to their cars.

  Ty held out his palm to Mariana. “Let me take you home.” She gave him her keys, and her hand rested on his. Slow heat moved between them, an antidote to the fear and violence they’d just lived through. The touch released, the warmth remained in him. Routine movements like getting into the truck and starting it helped bring his pulse down. Mariana stowed her backpack and sat heavy next to him. Her expression was blank as she stared ahead.

  Vincent and the others pulled out and Ty brought up the rear. They all scattered once they hit the neighborhood streets. Ty took the truck onto the highway. In the distance where they’d just been, police lights raced and made the trees dance in red and blue.

  Mariana’s voice rasped, “Will they identify us?”

  “Not with just their word against ours, and it would only shine a light on how they’d been targeting you in the first place.”

  “We did enough to stop them?”

  He remembered the broken look in Charlie Dennis’s face. “We showed we can touch them whenever we want. And now the syndicate knows they’re being looked at by us, and the FBI. Cockroaches like that hate the light. They’ll stay away.”

  She turned forward and sank deeper into the seat. Slow and deliberate, she took her hair out of the ponytail and ran her fingers through it. It was hard to keep his eyes on the road as she did. All he wanted was that sensation of her silky hair and the sound of her slow, rhythmic breath next to him.

  The late hour swept most of the traffic from the highway. Suburbs and dark hills swept past. Semitrucks roamed like prehistoric beasts. Ty navigated through it all, the only constant the road in front of t
hem in the headlights.

  Mariana stared ahead. “I can’t believe this night.”

  “You stood up and stopped them.” Awe filled him. “Just like your ancestors.”

  “Your people, too.” She looked at him. The weariness cleared from her eyes, where a new light shone. “Frontier Justice needs a home. We’ll do it where it all started, at my place.”

  “We can find another spot.” The idea of using the orchard had always appealed to him, but not the way things had gone down between him and Mariana. “The last thing I want to do is impose that on you.”

  “I’m choosing it,” she declared. Her hand rested on his leg. “And I want you there, too. In my house. In my life.”

  The old fear he’d felt at commitments other than to his work didn’t race in to clamp down his throat. This was what he wanted. Mariana. It felt like he breathed for the first time, an unknown weight lifted from his chest. “You have me,” he told her. He placed his hand on hers and they drove that way for miles.

  They approached her town, the air smelling of the earth and the sea. Ty had grown to know the local routes. More calm came with the familiar landscape. When he turned up the long road toward Mariana’s orchard and saw the clean lines of the hills behind it, his heart sped. Yes, he could live here. With her.

  Halfway up that road, two cars pulled in behind them with their headlights off. Ty’s awareness sharpened and any calm burned away in a new rush of adrenaline. Mariana tensed next to him and twisted to look out the rear window. “One of them is a police car.” Her voice was tight.

  Ty passed the fence line border of her property and slowed the truck. Mariana pulled out her phone and dialed. “Are you on duty, Pete?” After a moment, she said, “You’d better get up to my property...Thanks...Stay on the line.”

  The cars behind kept pace. Ty angled the pickup across the road, blocking the path to her house, and stopped. He left the motor running and stepped out. Mariana came around from the passenger side, pulling on her backpack. He saw her put her phone on speaker and place it on the edge of the bed of the truck just behind them, so it could hear everything.