Beneath the Fire (A Guardians Novella)

by Victoria Paige

  That was strange. She would have thought that he would have called her by now because she’d reached San Diego over eight hours ago. It was a grueling trip to Monterrey and she was bone tired. She wondered if she should call him, but it was almost midnight on the East Coast. Apparently, he didn’t miss her that much, she thought fretfully. An odd thought crossed her mind. Had he gotten tired of pursuing her? Had she taken him too much for granted and now that she was out of sight, she could easily be out of mind? Now is not the time to analyze this, Luce, she berated herself, but she couldn’t shake off the tight pang in her heart.

  Quickly freshening up, she dressed in shorts and a tank top to meet the group. There were three other men Leo worked with. Two of them looked to be in their thirties and appeared quite brutish. They weren’t tall, but they were packed solid with bulky muscle. The other guy was younger and looked to be Leo’s age. Unlike her lanky brother though, this guy reminded her of Felipe with tattoos snaking up his arms and disappearing into his wife-beater shirt.

  Some of the men were drinking beer, the others tequila. There were a variety of small plates of food on the table.

  “Hey Luce, Eva, these are our guys,” Leo said. “That’s Freddy, Anton, and over here is Mikey.” Mikey was the younger guy.

  “You girls are loca,” Anton murmured as he took a swig of his beer.

  “Welcome to the party,” Freddy said as he raised a shot glass to them before tossing back the tequila. “Ready to rock, tomorrow night?”

  Leo shook his head in amusement before he reached into his pocket and took out his car keys. He tossed them to Lucy. “Not a scratch on it, little sister.”

  ***

  Nathan was furious. He was also scared. Scared for Lucy. Scared of the grim possibility that he could lose her. If she were in front of him right now he would either throttle her or fuck her. He didn’t know which feeling was stronger at the moment. He wanted to strangle her for obvious reasons, but the need to fuck her hard stemmed from a far more primal and baser instinct.

  Brett McCord’s revelation sent the whole mission into a tailspin. Lucy and her brother had picked the best person for the job because even if Brett came across as a total dickhead, he knew his stuff. Jack McCord’s brother had been on the FBI’s watch list for a couple of years because of his uncanny and unfailing ability to hack into anything. The man was brilliant. How he met Leo was an odd story. Environmentalists were protesting the gas-guzzling muscle cars used in a drag races. Brett had been among the protesters and Leo nearly ran him over with his car. They ended up being friends, met in chatrooms, and argued about political and economic issues. Eventually, their late night chats turned serious and this crazy plan was hatched. Brett said he had never accepted a dime for all the work he had done, he just wanted to help the girls gain their freedom.

  “This is fucked up, Pierce,” Nathan told Maia. “This thing is going down tomorrow night. I should have gotten my ass out there yesterday.”

  “We need to coordinate with the FBI to get a sting operation going,” Maia argued.

  “It’ll be too late!” Nathan said, his voice rising. “Look, I accept full responsibility for missing all the signs. I should have taken myself out of the assignment when my emotions got involved—”

  “This is not a blame game, Stark. Brett covered their tracks well. You suspected something was up, you followed protocol, but Brett was one step ahead of us the entire time.”

  “I should have pressed her harder for the truth about her whereabouts that night. Maybe if I confronted her, she would have told me. But I didn’t because I was hiding something myself, and I didn’t think our relationship would survive the deceit if all came to light too early. I fucked this up. And now...” Nathan broke off raggedly, taking a deep breath before saying, “She’s off doing something stupid! I could strangle her.”

  “You were under directive not to break cover,” Maia reminded him.

  “I don’t give a damn about my cover if revealing the truth about myself would keep her safe,” Nathan stated gruffly.

  “Look, I’ll see what I can do,” Maia said quietly.

  “I’m not waiting on committee, Pierce.” Nathan said grimly. “Take me off the case, fire me. I’m going after her. Right now.”

  Maia sighed. “Somehow I knew you would say that. Well, I’m not letting you go alone.”

  Nathan stared at Maia. “What do you mean?”

  “How fast can you get packed and ready?”

  They were packed and in the air in under two hours. Maia was going to catch serious flak from Viktor and her fiancé, Jack McCord, for this because they left without informing either of them. They did corral Tim into making arrangements for a chartered flight out of Dulles using MDI’s account. Jack owned McCord Defense Industries (MDI), a premiere advanced weapons contractor of the DoD. Nathan smirked at the possible repercussions from this—his mentor was one hell of a rule breaker. Apparently, getting engaged had not broken her stride one single bit.

  Tim was writing up the report for the FBI and AGS and would send it in a few hours to give them a head start. So, hopefully, when all was said and done, and in case they would have the minions of the Braga Cartel after them, they would have backup.

  Their best option was to get into Mexico via the Laredo, Texas border. From there it would be an eight hour drive into Tampico. Fuck, they would be cutting it close. Best to catch some shut-eye on the six hour flight to Texas. Pierce had already called in some favors to get an SUV ready and serviced for their use and had their clearance processed to get them into Mexico while carrying some military-style weapons and artillery.

  “I guess I won’t be getting invited to your wedding,” Nathan said as their plane began to taxi down the runway.

  “You’re right,” Maia quipped. “You probably won’t”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Their two vans and Dodge Charger were parked between other cars some distance away from the front gate of the mansion where the girls were being held. This area in Tampico was a diverse neighborhood. Big mansions with looming walls sat among smaller homes and squatter areas—a glaring example of Mexico’s social stratification. The rich were extremely rich, and the poor were extremely poor, the middle-class were starting to flourish, but unless crime could be kept under control the momentum was tenuous at best.

  Lucy slouched low in her brother’s car, peering over the door to keep an eye out for trouble. Eva was left behind in Monterrey to prepare for triage just in case some of them got hurt. The whole plan was going down this moment. The mansion was of new construction, with the latest innovations in home design. The walls were high, the gates were solid steel. There was a guard at the gate who recognized Leo and his friends and let them in, thinking that they wanted to hang out at the pool. After all, her brother had been there recently and was related to the owner of the house.

  The women were in the east section of the mansion. Their rooms were outfitted with electronic locks and surveillance cameras. There was no way to break into the house unless they had sophisticated equipment so they had to be let in willingly and unfortunately, recorded on surveillance. Leo knew after this assignment, he needed to disappear. Lucy thought that maybe now he would consider living in the US with her, although given what was about to go down, even the US would be too close to Mexico to escape their father’s wrath.

  After another nail-biting half-hour, Lucy felt her heart thump wildly in her chest when she heard the sounds of gunfire and shouting. Suddenly there was screaming. Lots of screaming. Oh god, the girls! Against her better judgment, Lucy exited the car just as the gate opened and several girls spilled out. Some were in cotton pajamas, others were in thin robes. Luckily, Eva had remembered to buy clothes for them.

  Lucy guided the first four women to the waiting vans. Mikey assisted the remaining women.

  “I told you to stay in the fucking car!” Leo bellowed at her when he saw Lucy.

  “Oh my god, what happened?” Lucy asked fearfully.

/>   “We need to get out of here,” Leo said shortly. “You have your radio on you?”

  “Yes.”

  “The neighbors will be calling the cops,” Leo told her. “Anton and Freddy are tying up the guards.”

  “Who’s going with me?”

  “Wait for Anton and Freddy. Mikey and I will get a head start because the vans are slower. They should be out any minute.”

  “OK.”

  “Do not stop for anything, you hear me?” Leo said sternly.

  “OK.”

  “Come here,” Leo said gruffly as he hugged her. “Take care, chiquita.”

  “Go.”

  Lucy watched her brother drive one of the vans away, tires squealing. She got into the car and started the powerful engine. Spectators were starting to trickle out of their houses. Shit. A few minutes later, and to her relief, Freddy and Anton came charging out yelling, “Let’s get out of here!” Both jumped into the car and before the door was fully shut, Lucy burned rubber and got the heck out of Dodge.

  Ten minutes later, Leo’s voice came urgently over the radio. “Road block! Fuck! Lucy, take the second route.”

  Lucy’s heart jumped to her chest as she took the first right that led to the alternate escape route. The men in her car were cursing in rapid-fire Spanish. The two vans flew right in front of her and she had to swerve to avoid them.

  “Jesus, Leo,” Lucy shouted. “You nearly hit me.”

  “Keep driving! They’re right on our tail!”

  Shit. Shit. Shit. Lucy checked her rear view mirror and saw a police jeep careening into the corner before correcting and coming after them.

  “Damn, how did they find us so quickly?” Freddy muttered.

  The neighbors. Lucy had noticed some of them walking curiously by their parked vehicles earlier.

  “Fuck!” Leo shouted. “Back up! Back up!”

  “We can’t they’re also behind us!” But Lucy put the car in reverse anyway and started driving backwards. “Hang on tight, guys,” she said as she craned her neck to maneuver the car. Thankfully the street was mostly empty and the cars that realized what she was doing, swung away to avoid her and she did the same. She shot past the pursuing police, did a 180 with the Charger and started driving forward in the other direction.

  “Damn, girl! You’re good!” Anton shouted with glee.

  Lucy glanced in her rear-view mirror to check where Leo was. He and Mikey managed to get past their tail. But now they had two jeeps after them. Suddenly, they heard what sounded like a gunshot and the first jeep in pursuit lost control and flipped, taking the second jeep with it.

  “What the... did you do that Leo?” Lucy yelled in surprise. What a break!

  “Fuck no! Their tire blew or whatever the fuck that was,” Leo answered.

  “Watch out Lucy!” Freddy screamed.

  Too late, Lucy saw two SUVs crossing in front of them, she quickly downshifted, floored the gas and rapidly turned the wheel to avoid the SUVs, the back of her car kissing the side of the blocking vehicle. She saw the ditch too late and wasn’t able to correct her car before they shot into it. She heard the vans squeal to a stop beside her.

  “Are you guys OK?” Leo shouted.

  “We’re fine,” Lucy yelled back. But now they had a problem. “Get out of here, Leo!”

  “You guys OK?” she asked Anton and Freddy belatedly. The two men grunted their response. At the angle the car was tilted, it was better to get out from the window but before she was able to lift herself up, someone started demanding in Spanish for them to surrender. Lucy crouched back down and listened.

  “Give up now and turn the women over,” a chillingly familiar voice said.

  She heard a car door slam and Leo’s voice. “No, Papa. We’re taking them with us.”

  “Leo, I suspected you were up to something. How could you betray me like this?”

  They continued to speak in Spanish. Hurtful and accusatory words were thrown at each other. Unable to stand it anymore, Lucy pulled herself out through the window. Anton and Freddy followed her.

  “What? Lucy?” her father said hoarsely. “You dragged your sister into this?”

  “I volunteered, Papa.”

  “Why?”

  “Why? You ask why?” Lucy said angrily. She could feel all her resentment boiling to the surface. “Imagine if it was me being sold to that life, how would you feel, huh, Papa? Those women have families, they have a father who is worried sick about them.”

  Her father had the decency to flinch. But the veins in his neck bulged out in fury.

  “Enough! You will all come with us and we will settle this!” He looked at his men. “Take them away and tie them up.”

  Leo drew his gun and pointed it at their father.

  “Leo, what the hell?” Lucy yelled.

  “There are no half-measures here, Lucia,” Leo said grimly. To their father, he said, “Let us go or I will shoot you.”

  Before Lucy could say anything to diffuse the tension, one of her father’s men shot Leo, hitting him in the arm.

  That was when all hell broke loose.

  Mikey, Anton and Freddy started shooting, her father ducked behind his SUV while his men returned fire. All the while Lucy and her father were screaming to cease fire, but no one was listening.

  Lucy scrambled to get to her brother who was leaning on the van, clutching his arm. But she felt herself getting hauled against a hard chest and being pulled away from the firefight.

  Thinking that it was a cop that had got to her, she started kicking and screaming and landed a blow to her captor’s gut. The man grunted but did not release her until they were behind the last van where she was unceremoniously dropped to her feet.

  She swung her fist to get a lick in, but it was caught and brought down hard against her side. And she didn’t fight back anymore because as she tilted her head up, she was stunned to look straight into Nathan Stark’s furious face.

  ***

  “What?” Lucy whispered in disbelief and Nathan was pretty that sure if he had not been holding her up, she would have fainted.

  “Good to see you too, babe,” Nathan said sarcastically. “Stay the fuck here. Do not fucking move.”

  His blood was pounding in his head. Maia had held him back at the Tampico residence, telling him not to play their cards yet and see how everything would unfold. His girl sure could drive a mean muscle car and he concluded she was nuts. Nathan almost swallowed his tongue as he watched her drive in reverse against traffic. Maia dispatched the two police vehicles in pursuit with a single shot to the tire, but was not expecting Francisco Cortez to show up with his henchmen.

  Nathan made his way back to the front line. Maia had taken out several of Cortez’s goons and he positioned himself to take out two more. After Nathan’s successful fatal hits, the older Cortez realized they were up against people more lethal than the garden-variety vigilante like his son. He called a fall back. His remaining men quickly jumped back into their vehicles and they sped off.

  “Oh my god, Leo are you all right?” Lucy cried as she rushed to her brother who was by now sitting against the van.

  “Shit, are the girls all right?” Leo croaked. Several of the bullets had pierced the windshield of the van.

  Maia quickly checked the occupants of the first vehicle. Nathan rounded the first van to check on the second.

  When he slid the door open, the women were huddled on the floor, they were sobbing silently. For the first time since last night, he realized what Lucy was fighting for exactly, and he felt a surge of pride for what she had done. That still did not diminish the desire to turn her over his knee and blister her ass.

  “Are you girls, OK?” Nathan asked.

  All the women nodded. Satisfied, he headed back to the front where everyone had gathered in a huddle.

  “We can’t stay here, the police might show up any minute,” Maia said. “I have a feeling those first responders were on your father’s payroll which explains their swift interce
pt.”

  “Who the fuck are you guys?” Leo asked angrily.

  “A little thanks would be nice,” Nathan replied dryly.

  “What’s going on, Nathan?” Lucy asked. Her voice was trembling and for the first time, Nathan looked at her. Really, really looked at her and fuck, there was the hurt of betrayal in her eyes.

  “There’s no time to explain,” Nathan clipped.

  “You know this guy, Lucy?”

  “I’m her boyfriend.”

  “What the fuck?”

  “Not anymore!” Lucy cried angrily.

  “Everyone, calm down,” Maia shouted. “Jeez. We’ve been trying to nail down Francisco Cortez. We work with the FBI, but we’ve gone rogue because Stark here, screwed up. We have no time to explain. We need to leave now!”

  “We gotta get the car out of the ditch,” Lucy said quietly. Nathan nodded to Anton and Freddy to help him. When the car was on stable ground, Leo and Lucy walked around it. Lucy had wrapped a bandage around her brother’s gunshot wound. It looked like the bullet went through and through.

  “Damn Luce, there’s a big dent on the back and you’ve probably messed up my axle,” Leo grumbled.

  “Suck it up, Leo,” Lucy said as she punched her brother’s good arm.

  Nathan watched the exchange for a beat. Mikey got into the first van and was pulling away.

  “You driving the Charger?” Nathan asked Lucy.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m riding with you.”

  No way was he letting Lucy out of his sight.

  “I don’t want to be in a car with you,” Lucy said, glaring at him.

  “You have no choice, Lucy,” Nathan said firmly. “It’s a long drive back to Monterrey and I intend to clear a few things up with you.”

  “My sister says—” Leo interjected hotly.

  “I don’t care what your sister says,” Nathan growled at Leo. “You fucking drew her into this shitstorm. She’s twenty-one for Christ sakes!”

  “All right, enough!” Maia declared impatiently. “Nathan, ride with Lucy. You.” Maia pointed at Freddy. “You drive the other van. Leo comes with me.” She looked at Anton. “You can choose wherever.”