Xander watched in the rearview mirror as the truck parked and four skeleton-masked men hopped out.Fuck. Members of the Villarreal Cartel. God, he was so sick of those fuckers. They began to approach, armed to the teeth, and Xander grabbed the gun Essie had found in the glove box.
“What do we do?” she whispered, sounding panicked.
“Get down,” he ordered.
“Estrella?” one of the narcos called. “Are you in there?”
Xander froze.
“We hear your brother is looking for you,” he continued. “We can escort you back.”
“In pieces,” one of them added. They cackled. “Come out, come out!”
Xander’s head swung toward her, and his stomach sank. “Estrella?”
Pieces began rapidly clicking in his head.No, no, no.Essie—the innocent little siren who blushed when he took his shirtoff and felt so fucking perfect in his arms—was Estrella María Fuentes Barrera?
Essie was José Barrera’s sister?
Sonofamotherfucker.
Shock pummeled through him, but he didn’t have time to deal with the chaos in his brain. He had narcos to kill, and his—and her—ass to save.
“Down,” he snapped again, then he climbed into the backseat. Cursing his bad decision to escort her to Manzanillo, he checked the number of bullets in the gun. Four—just enough. He shoved himself halfway out the open back window, propping his hip against it. Lifting the weapon, he fired off two quick, well-aimed shots, taking down two of the men. The remaining men dove for cover. Guess they hadn’t planned on the runaway sister of a drug lord having an armed escort.
Two left. No problem. The bigger problem was the woman crouched down on the floor of the passenger seat. José fucking Barrera’s sister.Goddammit.
Why did he feel so… betrayed? Like she’d broken their trust? Shredded it to pieces then shit all over it.
Get over it, Hawke.
Shoving his inconvenient feelings down, he ducked back into the car as a bullet whizzed by his head and dove back into the front seat. A fast and dirty plan formed in his head. He started the car and waited.
“Are they all dead?” Essie asked, sitting up straighter.
Xander ignored her, keeping his eyes on the rearview mirror. Waiting for the narcos to make their move.C’mon, fuckers. Let’s end this.
Impatience brewed in his blood. He’d always had a problem when it came to waiting things out. It’s how he’d wound up in that godforsaken cell for thirty-five days. He had a tendency tobe bold, reckless. To find himself in over his head. But he always found a way out and beat his opponents.
And this time would be no different.
If the cowards wouldn’t come to him, then he’d go to them.
Shoving the gear stick into reverse, he hit the gas and slammed his foot down on the pedal. Essie let out a surprised cry, bracing herself in the passenger footwell.
“What’re you doing?” she shouted. The car’s wheels spun, kicking up dust, and they shot backward. Because of the flat tire, the car bumped across the uneven road, and Xander gripped the steering wheel hard, trying to maintain control.
“Ending this,” he growled.
The Volkswagen slammed into the parked truck, sending it careening sideways. Xander threw his door open, stepped out and began to hunt. Two tangos. Two bullets.
Turns out, he didn’t even need them both.
Xander found one target lying on the ground, already dead. From the looks of it, he’d been hiding behind the truck and got knocked right out of his boots when it flew backward from the force of the collision.
The sound of running feet snagged his attention, and Xander turned to see the other narco racing away.Coward.Lifting his gun, Xander aimed and fired. The bullet hit the man in the back of his skull and down he went.
Stalking around the vehicle, he peered inside. No one was hiding in there and he spied a cell phone on the floor. Despite some dents from him running into it, the truck seemed like it would run fine.Good.They needed four reliable tires to get them the rest of the way to Manzanillo.
