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The expression on the head of the Colombian cartel turns livid. His face flushes red at Stone’s words and I can see the vein in his neck throbbing. Things are about to take a bad turn as my eyes focus on the men standing between me and Ryder. Flickers of red dots start zeroing in on their heads as the commotion in the hall turns mute.

Juan José must feel the shift in the air as he looks around. In an instant he wraps an arm around Ryder from behind, then puts his gun up to my son’s temple.

“You have nowhere to go,” Stone snarls as I take a step forward, growling at his movement.

“You can kill me but not before I finish the boy off,” Juan José states. “I have nothing left.”

My gun is trained on the center of his sweaty forehead as I blur my son’s face out of the picture and zone in on my prey. There is no world where both my son and Remi aren’t a part of it.

“Don’t do this Juan José,” Stone seethes. “Give us Ryder and you’ll walk.”

Stone’s lying through his teeth. There is no way out of this situation where this drug lord walks out of here.

“Let me have the boy and my drugs or I’ll kill him,” Juan José tries to negotiate.

“No,” Stone says with finality and my muscles lock tighter under my skin.

Juan José’s eyes narrow as he realizes he’s not going to get what he wants. I never take my eyes off Ryder, as his eyes are pleading with me for help.

I’ve got you, I mouth, hoping it’ll bring a little comfort to him.

“So be it,” Juan José spews and starts to shift.

Drop, I mouth milliseconds before Stone yells out, “Dead Road!”

The sound of glass breaking and the bang from the bullets leaving the barrel of guns deafen me. The soldiers sink to the ground like knocked over bowling pins before they have a chance to fire their weapons. I’m on the move stepping on dead bodies as I jolt forward.

One thing that is drilled into us by our Prez is that if you don’t have a clear clean shot when an innocent life is on the line, we don’t take it. I’m just hoping that everyone who took a shot remembered that.

“Ryder!” I yell out and toss two dead men to the side.

“Dad,” a breathless voice says from under the dead weight.

The thump against my chest lets me know that my heart has started working again. Wrenching him up, I fold my son into my arms. I’ve never been so relieved in my life besides finding out that Remi was alive after she’d gone missing from her grandparent’s house. I set him down, patting his shoulders and arms searching for any signs that he could be hurt.

“You, okay?” I ask even though I know he’ll probably never be after all of this shit.

“I’m good,” he says, then throws himself at me. I hold onto him so tight I might break his ribs.

“Is Mom okay?” he asks.

I pull back slightly, “She’s safe and waiting for us⁠—”

“REAPER!” I hear and turn to see Juan José aiming a gun right at Ryder.

I don’t have time to use my gun so I curve my frame around my son to shield him. The sound of a bullet leaving the barrel of a gun rings out in the room. A hot burning pain spears through me and I’m pitched forward. Ryder’s yell echoes in my ear and I look down to see blood staining his shirt. We both fall as I try to find my footing over the piles of dead cartel soldiers. Wetness trails down my skin from the hole in my shoulder unprotected from the bulletproof vest.

In my periphery I watch Havoc race over to where Juan José is lying on the office floor bleeding from an open wound.

“Let me look at you,” I say to Ryder. “Where does it hurt?”

He has a hand on his upper right arm, blood leaking from between his fingers. The beating of my heart is so loud I can feel it in my ears.

“I’m fine,” he tries to tell me as Brass comes over. He’s putting on a brave face but I can tell from the tremble in his voice he’s scared.

“Hey bud, let me check you,” Brass says as we sit him propped up against the big guy.

Brass pulls out a white cloth from one of his pockets and removes Ryder’s hand from his arm. Blood starts to run down towards his elbow as Brass cleans up the area to get a good look at the wound.