Page 105 of Honor ’N’ Duty

“I heard gunshots. Are you—”

“I’m fine,” Kade managed, though his head was pounding like a rock concert. “Rosa?” He looked over her shoulder to Jamie’s truck.

“She’s okay. She’s asleep. They must have drugged her to keep her quiet.”

He closed his eyes and exhaled a serious breath of relief. When he opened them, he caught the glistening sunlight in the wetness on both her cheeks. He wanted to catch her up in his arms, to hold her and never let go again, but she hadn’t made any move to come closer.

True, he’d stolen evidence. True, he’d told her he’d get Rosa back. But he’d failed her when she’d needed him most. The distance between them now was hers to close.

The passenger door to Jamie’s vehicle opened. Cecelia Colon got out and looked at her son’s prostrate form. He was still out cold, handcuffed on his belly. The blood had stopped gushing from his nose where Kade had pummeled him, but his face was smeared with it, and his arm was a bloody mess from where Smoke’s teeth had punctured his flesh.

Kade hadn’t liked the idea of bringing a civilian into this mess, but Cecelia had given him no choice. When she’d called, she refused to give him the location of the cabin unless he took her with him. It had been a guess on her part that Colon would take Laia and Rosa there. Turned out the place was in Cecelia’s father’s name and still was. That was why it hadn’t shown up on any property searches they’d run for Colon. When Laia’s phone had pinged on I-80 heading westbound, it seemed like Cecelia had been right.

Colon groaned, then tried to roll over, a distinct impossibility, given that one of Deck’s size-twelve shit-kickers was planted firmly on his back.

“May I talk to him?” Cecelia asked calmly as she looked at Kade from watery eyes.

He nodded, then watched her go to Colon and start to kneel beside him. When she struggled to maintain her balance, Kade rushed over and held out his arm for her to lean on. She gave him a grateful look, then knelt beside her son. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him.

Fernando Colon was one of the most dangerous criminals on the planet, but his mother was a good woman, and Kade’s heart went out to her. She’d known something like this was coming. Either Colon would wind up in handcuffs…or dead. Which brought up another problem.

Laia and Rosa were safe. For now. But Colon was still alive. In or out of prison, Kade knew firsthand how the long arm of Fernando Colon could reach out and do deadly damage. The man would still have enough contacts outside prison, ready and willing to do his bidding.

Making it that much more tempting to stomp his boot on the guy’s neck and crush his trachea. Maybe he should have let Jamie drill him full of lead after all. But Cecelia had other plans. The real reason he’d brought her with him.

They’d struck a deal.

As Colon regained consciousness, she leaned down to brush the hair from his brow. Given the circumstances, the gesture was so gentle, loving.

“Nando,” she said.

Colon blinked. “Mama?” He blinked again, as if not believing his mother was truly there.

“Si, Nando.” The look she gave her son was so sad, so utterly filled with despair.

“You told them?” Realization dawned in Colon’s widening eyes. “You told them where to find me?”

“Yes.” Cecelia nodded, wiping at some of the blood on her son’s face as if he were a small boy who’d fallen off his bike and cut himself.

“Why, Mama? Why?”

Cecelia’s chest heaved. “For your entire life, I’ve turned a blind eye to what you were doing. Because I loved you, and still do. I can’t look away any longer. You kidnapped a child. You would have killed her and her mother. I couldn’t allow that. I have to accept what you’ve become, and you have to accept what’s coming to you.”

“To me?” Colon asked incredulously. “What about Papi? His own department abandoned him. The job killed him, and when it did, the state police abandoned us, too. All I did was take what he taught me and turn it into an empire. That was justice.”

“No, Nando.” Cecelia exhaled heavily, her shoulders sagging. “Your father would never have approved of the things you’ve done. I don’t approve.”

Colon glared up at Kade. “I’ll kill you. I’ll fucking kill you, just like your brother.” Spittle mixed with blood ran down his chin. “There’s no place you can hide that I can’t reach.”

“This has to stop now!” Cecelia screamed. She slapped his face, her hand coming away with her son’s blood on her palm. “I forbid it! You will not hurt this man.” She pointed first to Kade, then swung her arm to Laia. “And you will not hurt that woman or her daughter. If you do, you will never see me again. I will never visit you in prison. Ever.”

Colon’s lips began trembling. Tears leaked from his eyes. “No, Mama. Please, don’t say that. I can’t lose you.”

Cecelia stroked a lock of hair from Colon’s eyes. “And I can’t lose you. But you must promise me. Promise me you will not harm these people, and you won’t order anyone else to harm them, either.”

Reluctantly, he nodded.

Her hand stilled. “Say it. Speak the words. On your father’s memory, say you swear it.”