Cristan reached under the cuff of his jeans and withdrew the blade strapped to his calf. Nicolas lunged, but age had slowed him. Cristan slashed his forearm, blocking the knife. Blood welled from Nicolas’s arm. But he didn’t give up. He circled, stabbing at Cristan’s midsection.
“Don’t make me kill you.” Cristan leaped backward to avoid the strike.
Nicolas stabbed again. “I taught you everything you know, and you betrayed me.”
“Never.” Cristan slashed downward, cutting his arm.
“Liar!” Nicolas shot in, his blade lunging at Cristan’s belly perilously close to his vital organs. Cristan jumped back, arcing his body away from the weapon. But he wasn’t quick enough. The point nicked his side with a hot sting. Blood welled, trickling in a warm, wet trail down his torso. The pain faded as adrenaline numbed the wound.
Cristan circled, dodging another strike. But Nicolas wasn’t as quick or as strong as he’d once been. Breathing heavily, he lunged again, the knife lashing out at Cristan’s face.
Cristan blocked the strike with a counterattack. He slashed downward. The blade of his knife sliced the older man’s forearm again. Cristan reversed his motion and stabbed the older man under the ribs. The blade sank into his abdominal muscles. Cristan yanked the blade free with a twisting motion. Nicolas dropped his weapon. Both hands went to the wound, but the blood couldn’t be staunched. His knees buckled. He fell forward, face-planting on the hardwood floor in a growing red puddle.
Breaths heaving, Cristan leaned on his thighs. Eva stirred, pushing her body up off the floor. She glanced at her gun. But there was no way she could reach it before Cristan reached her. And she knew it. Defeat slumped her shoulders.
He risked a glance at Lucia. She’d crawled across the floor to Sarah. Holding his daughter in a tight embrace, Sarah turned Lucia’s head away. “Don’t look.”
Cristan picked up the gun. He staggered to Nicolas’s side. His mentor wheezed. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
“It didn’t have to be this way,” Cristan said. Confusion, anger, and pain churned. “Why did you attack me?”
Nicolas’s next breath was a gurgle. His mouth moved as his lips formed the word, “traitor.”
The accusation was a fresh wound. Cristan would never have betrayed those he loved.
“No,” Cristan said. But it was too late. Nicolas’s body went lax. His head lolled, and his eyes glazed over. Cristan pointed the gun at Eva as he tossed a blanket from the sofa over the body.
“Sit,” he ordered. He grabbed a lamp from a table, severed the electrical cord with his knife, and used it to tie Eva’s hands behind her back. Keeping one eye on her, he dropped to his knees beside Lucia and Sarah and wrapped his arms around them both. Relief topped all the emotions roaring through his blood. They were alive. He kissed his daughter’s head, then leaned his temple against Sarah’s forehead, his love for both of them overwhelming in its intensity.
“We need to call the police,” Sarah said.
The door burst open, and a blond woman walked in. Three men followed her into the room. All four were armed with AK-47s.
“Isn’t this convenient? Everyone I want to kill in one room.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Sarah stared at the four armed people pointing guns at them. A bleached blond in her late forties stepped forward.
Were those machine guns? She’d never seen one up close. And who was this woman?
“Isn’t this cozy?” the blond woman said in a thick accent. She grinned at them, then her gaze shifted to Eva, who had managed to bring her legs through her arms and stand. Her hands were still bound, but now they were tied in front of her body.
“Thank you, Eva. You’ve made my job so much easier,” the blond said.
“Aline,” Eva breathed. “How did you find him?”
Aline? The Brazilian arms dealer? She was here too?
“I wasn’t looking for him.” Aline nodded at Cristan. “I followed you. You found Christopher for me.” She squinted at Lucia. “I know who you are.” Her smile widened. “I can’t believe how perfectly this day has turned out.”
“But I was dead,” Eva said.
Aline dipped her chin. “Oh, please. You’ll do anything to survive, and you’re too mean to die that easily. I was there that day. I wanted to see you die. You killed my son. I was going to spit on your dead body. I saw you leave in the helicopter. Though, you did a fine job of faking your death.”
Inch by inch, Cristan shifted his position until his body blocked Sarah and Lucia.
“Christopher, stop moving,” Aline said without moving her eyes. “Get the child,” she ordered her men. One walked forward and grabbed Lucia’s arm.
“No,” Lucia cried. The girl sagged, resisting with her body weight. Sarah and Cristan both reached for her.
“Ah ah ah.” Aline shifted her aim to Lucia. “No one else moves.”
Sarah froze. Inside her still body, her heart raced as she scrambled for a plan.
Next to her, Cristan’s body trembled with rage. The tendons in his neck bulged.
“Grab him,” Aline ordered.
The remaining two men took Cristan’s arms, heaved him to his feet, and dragged him backward to the other side of the room and held him between them by his biceps.
The third man shoved Lucia in front of Aline. The teen fell to her knees. Her face lifted. Tears streaked her cheeks, and terror widened her eyes until they were completely rimmed in white. Her breaths came in short pants.
“I knew if I followed you long enough, you’d lead me to your child. I can’t think of a more appropriate punishment than to take your only child from you the same way you took mine.”
“You killed my whole family. Isn’t that enough?” Eva cried.
“No.” Aline pursed her lips. “Tell me? How does it feel to be betrayed by the one who is supposed to have your back?”
From across the room, Eva’s body trembled.
Aline pointed the gun at Lucia’s chest. “Isn’t this how you shot my son? Two bullets dead center in his chest. Isn’t that your calling card, Eva?”
Fear accelerated Sarah’s pulse. This woman was going to shoot Lucia. Her eyes glowed with the hungry desire to kill.
“I have waited a long time to avenge my son’s death.” She settled the weapon on her shoulder. Her finger curled around the trigger. “He was barely a man. He had his whole life ahead of him.”
Raising her bound fists overhead like a club, Eva dove at Aline.
Sarah launched her body at Lucia, tackling the child to the floor as the gunshot rang in the room. She covered the teen’s head with one arm. The other refused to move. A burning sensation exploded in her shoulder.
“No!” Cristan simultaneously back-fisted each man in the groin. Bending forward in pain, they released his upper arms. He grabbed a machine gun and struck its owner in the head with the butt, then swung around to shoot the other man in the chest. Backing up, he fired a three-shot burst into the second man’s chest, and continued his spin to kill the last man.
The door stood open. Eva and Aline were both gone.
Terror clutched Cristan’s heart as he knelt next to Sarah and Lucia. Sarah was on top, her body shielding his daughter. A dark-red stain spread across her back and arm. He slid her off of Lucia. His daughter’s eyes were glassy, her breathing quick and shallow.
He pressed a hand to her throat. Her pulse beat a rapid tattoo against his fingertips. He ran his hands over her body. “Are you shot?”
She shook her head and swallowed. “Sarah.”
At the sound of her name, Sarah stirred. She rolled to her side. “Ow.”
“It’s OK.” He searched Sarah’s body for more wounds but found none. He snatched his knife from the floor and used it to slit her sweatshirt down the back. A single shot had struck her high on the shoulder. He tore her T-s
hirt, and she flinched. The bullet had grazed her deltoid muscle. He staunched the bleeding with a piece of the torn shirt.
Lucia knelt next to him. “How badly is she hurt?”
Sarah’s eyes dimmed with pain.
“It’s bleeding heavily, but the wound is shallow. She should be all right.” Cristan leaned closer. “This is going to hurt.”
Her eyes closed and her mouth tightened. Cristan applied pressure to the wound, and she groaned. Her wound didn’t appear life threatening, but he would rather take a bullet in his own body than listen to her sounds of pain.
“We need to call for help,” he said to Lucia. “My phone had no service. Can you see if the landline works?”
“No need. The calvary is here.” Sean jogged through the open door.
“You’re a little late,” Cristan said, relief sweeping through him.
“The directions sucked.” Sean checked each of the downed men then dropped to a knee beside Sarah. “Ambulance is on the way.” He checked Lucia’s eyes. “Are you all right?”
She nodded, leaning on Cristan’s shoulder.
“Where’s Mike?” Cristan asked.
Sean removed his jacket and wrapped it around Lucia’s shoulders. “Outside. He caught some crazy-ass blond chick with a machine gun running toward the woods.”
“You caught Aline,” Cristan said.
“If that’s her name. Mike’s got the bitch outside.” Sean glanced at Lucia. “Sorry.”
“Was there another woman? One with long, dark hair?” Lucia asked.
Sean tilted his head. “No. Should there be?”
Eva had escaped.
It was morning before Cristan could bring Sarah and Lucia home from the ER. Sarah leaned on him as he half carried her to the guest bedroom of his house.
“I can only stay tonight,” she said. “The girls will need me tomorrow.”
“Mm.” Cristan made a noncommittal noise. He would keep her here as long as he could. Her girls were welcome too. “Do you need a pill?”
“Yes.” Sarah eased onto the bed. “Normally, I don’t like pain medications. But I have no desire to be stoic right now.”
“Nor should you be.” He crouched and removed her socks.
A shiver ripped through her. Her feet were freezing. He rubbed them between his palms and wrapped his hand around her toes. Dry clothes and warm blankets in the ER clearly hadn’t been enough. “Let’s get you under the covers.”
She curled on her side. Rachel had brought yoga pants and a sweater to the hospital. Sarah’s shoulder had been stitched. She and Lucia had been treated for hypothermia and released. Cristan had even submitted to a dozen stitches in his side where Nicolas’s knife had landed.
“Do you need anything, Sarah?” Lucia said from the doorway. She’d changed into pink, plaid flannel pajamas that made her seem younger than thirteen. His heart and stomach somersaulted. If it hadn’t been for Sarah, he might have lost his child last night. He wanted to gather them both close and never let them go.
“Would you fetch her a glass of water?” Cristan asked. With a nod, Lucia left.
“I meant it when I said I was going home tomorrow.” Sarah nestled into the pillow. Her face relaxed as he tucked her in.
“We’ll talk about that tomorrow.” Cristan planted a kiss on her forehead. “I almost lost you last night. I won’t let that happen again. Eva is still out there. I won’t take my eyes off you or Lucia again until she’s caught.”
“Do you really think she’ll be back?”
“She doesn’t like to leave business unfinished.” He tugged the comforter up over her shoulder. “If she comes back, I’ll be waiting for her.” He couldn’t imagine she’d still be in the area any more than he could picture the authorities finding her. Eva was a most resourceful woman. “But I doubt she’d come back with all the police presence.” There was a patrol car parked in the driveway. Eva had waited twelve years. She was obviously very patient. If the police didn’t catch her, and Cristan wasn’t hopeful, he might have to reconsider the promise he’d made Mike earlier.
“You’re not tempted to go after her?”
“I admit I thought about it.” He grimaced. “Mike and Sean talked me out of it.” The pair had something planned. He was sure of it. But there was a statewide manhunt in progress. The FBI had been called in, plus other agencies with equally impressive acronyms. Cristan couldn’t add anything of value to that amount of manpower. And he might trust Mike not to betray him, but he didn’t trust anyone to protect the ones he loved. If Eva did show up, Cristan would be here to deal with her.
“You don’t sound happy about that.”
“I believe Mike has something up his sleeve.”
“You can trust Mike.”
“I hope so.” Cristan had placed all his bets with the cop, something he couldn’t have done a week ago. This week had been full of firsts. He smoothed a hair off Sarah’s forehead.
The police had found a GPS device hidden in the fender of Cristan’s Mercedes. The device had allowed Eva to track his movements without taking the risk of being seen.
He still couldn’t believe that Eva thought he’d betrayed her. He would never have left her unless he thought she was dead, and the fact that she’d so easily been convinced he was a traitor was a fresh wound as painful as the row of stitches across his ribs.
Lucia returned with a glass of water. “It’s room temperature. I didn’t think you’d want it to be cold.”
“Good thinking. Thank you.” Sarah lifted her torso and swallowed two pain pills.
“Do you need anything else?” Lucia asked. Her eyes were haunted and her face pale. Despite the youth in her features, her eyes looked as if she’d become an adult in the course of one night.
“Would you mind sleeping in here with me?” Sarah asked. “I don’t think I want to be alone.”
She knew exactly how Lucia felt. Could he find a better woman? No. Not in this lifetime.
“Me either.” Lucia smiled as she rounded the bed and got in on the other side.
“Don’t worry.” Cristan carried an upholstered chair into the room and set it by the nightstand. “I’m not leaving either one of you alone.”
“Troy is out there too,” Sarah mumbled in a sleepy voice.
Cristan knew exactly how he’d deal with her ex if he dared show up anywhere near Sarah.
Troy was still on the loose, and Eva had escaped. But they’d deal with that tomorrow. They were all alive, and that’s all that mattered.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Late the next night, Cristan nursed a cup of coffee. Sarah and Lucia slept upstairs. He’d talked Sarah out of leaving just yet. Though he had taken her to see her girls at Sean’s house. Hugging her kids and pretending to be fine had taken its toll. When they’d returned, she’d taken a pill and gone directly to bed. Lucia went with her. His daughter couldn’t sleep unless she was with one of them.
He rubbed his aching eyelids. Not sleeping was taking its toll on him as well. He could only survive on coffee for a short period of time. Sean had come to the house that morning and kept watch so he could get a few hours of sleep. Mike was tied up trying to find Troy and Eva.
A sound out back roused him. He jumped to his feet and went to the window, peering around the frame. A figure stood ten feet from the patio door.
Eva.
She held her hands at shoulder height, palms facing him, in a traditional pose of surrender. Meeting his gaze through the glass, she slowly lowered her hands and removed her jacket. Tossing it over a patio chair, she lifted the hem of her fitted T-shirt and pivoted in a slow circle. Then she raised each pant leg of her jeans. No weapons.
Shocked, but also curious, Cristan pulled a Glock from the wine rack. Covering her, he opened the door. A quick visual sweep revealed an empty patio and yard. Below, the river flowed in a black r
ibbon. No moonlight tonight to brighten its surface.
He closed the door behind him. “What do you want?”
“To say good-bye.”
“I could call the policeman sitting out front.”
“You could,” she said.
“You didn’t kill him, did you?” Cristan searched his heart for any sign of the love he once felt for this woman but found none. She was a stranger.
“No.”
“Good,” Cristan said. “He’s a good man. Now why are you here? And why shouldn’t I kill you right now?”
She tilted her head, as if unable to make sense of his statement. “I wanted to set things right between us before I left. To tell you what happened that day.”
“I’m listening.”
With a leaden heart, Eva tucked her purse under her arm and left the apartment. Closing the door felt final. She leaned against the corridor wall for a moment. Though she’d be seeing Christopher and Luciana again shortly, it would be for their last meeting for an unforeseen length of time. If her plan came to fruition, she’d never return to the apartment. Christopher would think her dead, and she didn’t know how long it would be before it would be safe for her to contact him.
Her plan had to work. She was losing him. He was slipping away from her. She felt his absence in the pit of her belly. Luciana’s birth had changed everything. Eva knew with absolute certainty that he loved her, but there had always been an aloofness about him, a part of him she could never touch. The only time she’d seen him truly engaged was with his child. When Luciana had taken her first breath, Christopher had come to life. And he wanted to make a new one—far away from the danger that hovered over the Vargas family every moment of every day.
For him, the decision was simple. They should disappear. As an orphan, Christopher’s only blood relative was the child.
But for Eva . . .
How could she turn her back on her family?
The thought of leaving everything behind and starting new was both exciting and terrifying. She couldn’t simply ask to be released from her obligations. It wasn’t possible for a Vargas to walk away. Her father would see her wish to exit the family as a betrayal. The Vargas business had provided for her since the moment of her birth. Franco had always been an attentive father, but losing her mother to violence had hardened him, made him even more determined to best their number one enemy, Aline Barba. Any softness her father had possessed had died with his wife’s kidnapping and murder. Although he lacked proof, he was sure Aline had been behind the crime. The desire for revenge had darkened his soul.
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