Luke peeled himself away from Cass and got to his knees. He pointed his rifle at Ronan.
The kid halted his progress toward them, letting the syringe in his hand clatter to the ground. His hands soared into the air in surrender.
Luke worked to get to his feet, not taking his attention away from Ronan. He could hear Cass behind him moving around. The buckles on her restraints clinked and clanked. Then she came up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder.
Luke continued his ascent toward Ronan.
“Hey, man,” Ronan said. “I didn’t mean nothin’. I didn’t know she was your girl.”
Luke gave him a look of bullshit.
Ronan forced a pasted-on smile and shrugged.
When Luke got a step away, he stopped.
Ronan hesitated, gauging if Luke had the balls to kill him.
He definitely did.
But Luke had a much better fate for Ronan. One that included an orange wardrobe, a concrete playground, and metal bars that surrounded his tiny living space.
Luke connected the butt of his rifle with the side of Ronan’s face. Spit and blood flew from his mouth before he dropped, his cheek slamming into the tiled floor.
Cass’s eyes went wide, taking in the scene around her. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She glanced at Luke, then Ronan, then back to Luke. She started to shake.
Luke pulled her to him. “It’s okay. You’re safe.” He ran his free hand down her tangled hair.
“H-he was g-going to k-kill me,” she sobbed.
“Shh. I know, but you stopped him. I’m so proud of you.”
Her cheeks were drenched as she looked up at him. “I had to do something. He was coming at me with the drugs, Luke. I was so scared.”
“I know, baby,” he said. “You were brave. You did the right thing.”
He lowered his lips to hers. The extent of his relief that she was safe in his arms was impossible to describe. His chest was full. His stomach light. His head clear. They were going home.
Just as soon as they found Serrano.
“I’m gonna need you to be brave for just a little bit longer.” He slid a thick strand of hair behind her ear, letting his knuckles breeze against the soft skin of her neck. Jesus, he wanted to carry her out of here right now. “Can you do that for me?”
She wavered, panic flashing across her face, but she collected herself enough to nod.
He pulled away in order to lock a set of cuffs around Ronan’s wrists. He left the guy facedown, and wrapped a second set of cuffs around one ankle and the other around the metal pole on the bed. It wouldn’t stop Ronan, but it would most definitely slow him down.
Luke reported back to Ash on his plans to leave Ronan in here for cleanup.
Cassandra was across the room, knelt beside the other kid on the floor, who Luke now realized was Miguel. She ran a hand over the boy’s head, and his eyes flickered. Slowly, he blinked awake.
“Ms. Stone?” he said. “You’re okay.”
“Yes, I am,” she said, smiling. “Thanks to you.”
He rolled into a sitting position, clutching his head. His dark hair and clothes were covered in white dust and debris. Scanning the room, his gaze stopped on his brother’s body. Miguel squeezed his eyes against what must be a killer headache. “What happened?”
Cass patted his shoulder. “I’ll get you caught up later. For now, we have to get out of here.”
Embarrassment skated across his face and he nodded. “Okay.”
When Cass looked at Luke, he already knew what it meant. She was getting Miguel out of this.
Luke was at her side in an instant, kissing her, quick and chaste, then he gripped her hand. “Stay behind me, as close as you can, okay?”
Cass nodded. Then Miguel.
He watched her for second to see if she’d fall apart, but she didn’t. His beautiful, brave girl wore a determined expression that filled his heart more than anything he’d experienced before. She’d been through so much, and asking her for just a little more wasn’t fair. But if they were going to survive, he needed to make sure the threat of Serrano and the gang was over.
The pair did as he asked, staying as close to him as they could. Luke stepped out and skimmed along the wall, his boots crunching over rubble from the explosion. The lights in this part of the hallway had blown out and part of the ceiling was missing. They ventured a few feet down the hallway where he found the rest of the team.
“Still no sign of Serrano?” Luke asked.
Ash turned with tight lips and shook his head. “No telling where he went or if he has more grenades.”
Cass tensed beside him.
Right. The element of surprise was never to their advantage.
“I’m getting them out of here,” Luke said.
Ash nodded. “We’re gonna stay here and continue to search until the cleanup crew arrives.”
“Lay your hand on my shoulder,” Luke said to Cass. “We’re going to move quickly.”
She did as instructed, then said something to Miguel, which prompted him to place his hand on her shoulder. Luke didn’t waste any time stepping forward.
They traveled down the length of that hallway, then at the dead end, turned left to reenter the main hallway toward the exit. Once into the main hallway, his heart beat faster and his nerves bolted into hyper speed. The area had been quiet when they entered, but now it was too quiet. It held a different air. Something wasn’t right.
Luke slowed his pace, causing Cass and Miguel to slow behind him.
“What is it?” she whispered, the strain in her voice was evident.
He looked back at her. “Just being cautious.”
Her gaze darted around the area—everywhere from floor to ceiling to walls. Her panic radiated from her body like another being. It was suffocating him and making it difficult to keep calm.
Two more steps and they were at the main door to the outside.
A gunshot sounded.
Heart skipping a beat, Luke whirled around to see Serrano standing behind them with a handgun pointed in their direction, wearing a self-satisfied smirk. His red shirt had three distinct black stains at his right shoulder and that same arm hung loosely down his side.
Luke glanced at Cass, running his gaze down her body, searching for a bullet. But she was looking at Miguel with a horrified expression.
The young man’s eyes expanded and his hand dropped from Cass’s shoulder in order to grip his chest. His mouth opened. Then his knees crumbled. He fell onto the tile floor in a heap. Cass tried to hold him up, but he sagged even more. She dropped onto the ground with him, cradling the boy in her arms. Miguel slowly lifted his head, his eyes scanning her face. Blood trailed out of his mouth across his cheek. “Ms. Stone,” he said, attempting a smile. “Thank you.” Then his head lolled back and his eyes closed.
“Miguel,” she said, rubbing the side of his face. “Miguel, wake up.” She swallowed, then gave the boy a little shake. “Wake up.” She shot a desperate look at Luke. “He…he’s just sleeping. Why is he sleeping? He has to wake up!”
Then reality set in. Her features hardened. Lips pressed together. Eyes narrowed. A deep red flush rose fast and furious through her neck and cheeks.
Cassandra blasted to her feet and went after Serrano with clenched fists.
“Cass, no!” Luke screamed, reaching for her.
“How dare you!” she yelled at Serrano, shrugging Luke off. “He’s a kid! With his whole life ahead of him. He could’ve done anything. Anything! And you took that away from him!”
“Tell that to my grandson.” Serrano pulled the trigger a second time.
“NO!” Luke pounced at Cassandra, but it was too late.
Her body jolted back from the impact of the bullet. Luke caught her. She stiffened as her brain took a second to catch up with the fact that she’d been shot. Disbelief creased her features, then realization. Her eyebrows plummeted. So did her jaw. She looked up at Luke with glassy eyes, bl
inking back tears that gathered in the corners.
He fell to the ground with her in his arms, her head against his chest, his legs sprawled out in front of him.
Bullets rained from all around. Luke didn’t bother to care from where or from whom. He vaguely heard Ash barking orders and someone shouting at him over the COMs, but he wasn’t listening.
His attention was on a pair of green eyes that were starting to dim too quickly.
Cass swallowed, then coughed. “It…it hurts. Why does it hurt so bad?”
“Hurting’s good,” he said, raking a hand through her tangled hair. “If it hurts it means you’re alive.”
She winced. “Being alive sucks right now.”
He laughed, despite the grim situation. “I’m sure it does. But I’m grateful for it.”
Looking up at him, a glint of worry clouded her expression.
“Don’t you dare,” he said, his voice coming out strained. “Hold on. Medical is on the way.”
“Luke.” Her hand lifted so her thumb could run along his bottom lip.
He pulled it from his mouth and gripped her hand over her chest. “Don’t give me that shit. You are not dying, goddamn it. You’re not leaving me. You can’t. I need you. I—”
“You what?” she whispered.
Tears choked him. He couldn’t go through this again. Not with her. She was everything. It wasn’t fair. She didn’t deserve this.
“Love you,” he said. “I love you, Cass. And I need you to be okay. Tell me you’ll fight and you’ll be okay. I love you so much.”
A sob broke from her chest. “I love you, too. I should’ve told you sooner. I’m so sorry for hurting you. For kicking you out. I—”
“Shh,” he said, sliding a hand down her face. “Stop. I know, baby. I’m sorry, too. Just keep your eyes on me. We’re gonna get out of here real soon.”
The corners of her mouth lifted into the semblance of a small smile. Then as if it was too heavy, they lowered. “You—”
“Please don’t leave me,” he begged. “Please.”
Then her head dropped and her eyes closed.
Chapter Twenty
It was raining. Of course it had to be raining. Luke’s mom used to say it meant the angels were crying. It had rained at her funeral, too. Mom’s was a torrential downpour that soaked you before you had a chance to hoist an umbrella though. Today was a soft, constant mist that just made the event inconvenient.
Men and women in all black surrounded a casket, sobbing with their arms around one another. Flowers filled the small tent covering the group. Luke sat in an idling SUV with darkened windows, parked out of sight, watching the service take place. He didn’t care about the weather, that’s not why he didn’t get out. It was more about the event itself. The finality. All he was concerned about was that it was done. Over. Complete.
What followed the incident at the hospital involved a lot of paperwork and debriefs. After Cass had been…shot—something Luke was still coming to terms with—the DEA arrived to clean up the scene, tote Serrano off to the morgue, and round up Ronan and his boys. Which was easy since it took less than an hour behind bars before Ronan gave up the names and locations of his entire crew. Loyal to the bone, that one.
Ronan admitted to kidnapping those people. Apparently, he was desperate for the drugs to be as potent as possible. Too many kids were surviving the drug initiation, which caused a shift in power in the gang. Members started to believe Ronan wasn’t as strong as he liked to lead on. If a ton of kids were surviving, then they must not be as special or as strong as they’d once thought. His plan had been to use the people he’d kidnapped to ensure the drugs would kill enough of the new recruits.
It was fucked up. Something had driven Ronan over the edge, and Luke didn’t think he’d ever understand what it was. The kid lost himself somewhere. And now, at least he was going to pay for it.
Sitting in the passenger side in his classic black suit and tie, Luke lowered the heavily tinted window about an inch and glanced out over the rows of tombstones, trying to ground himself in the present. He was here because he had to be.
A priest reading from a Bible addressed the guests. “Welcome family and friends. We are gathered here today to pay homage to a life that contributed so much to so many…”
Luke dropped his gaze to his hands, which were balled into fists and shaking.
“A life that was taken from us much too soon…” the man went on. “A life that deserved to explore all the many splendors of the world before leaving this earth.”
A cough sounded from the back of the car, then, “Bullshit.”
“Hey,” Ash said from the driver’s seat. “This is a nice affair. Why do you have to sully it, man?”
“Me?” Tyke said. “Please. The guy’s going a little over the top, don’t ya think? Serrano already got every splendor he had comin’ to him. Especially my rifle rounds through his chest three times.”
“Actually,” Reese said from the backseat of the passenger side. “I hit Serrano three times. Two of your three shots went through the wall of exam room thirteen.”
Tyke huffed. “Damn it, I already told you guys, those holes were from the grenade. Must’ve been shrapnel or debris or some shit.”
“DEA ran ballistics,” Luke said, deadpan. “They were yours.”
Tyke shut up in lieu of lifting his binos and looking at the crowd gathered for José Serrano’s funeral.
They’d followed Serrano’s body to South America to ensure the man was indeed dead. Despite the fifteen rounds he’d taken, one could never be too sure. Plus, he was a man with many connections, which was evident today given the plethora of other drug kingpins in attendance. The DEA wanted to be sure the threat would end with Serrano. A pipedream since bad guys always did bad things. But the team hoped to scope out the next up-and-coming player.
This was the last place Luke wanted to be. Now that the assignment with Serrano was over, he was done. No more undercover work, drugs, or danger. He’d had his fill. Let the younger, more eager agents handle it. Life was too precious to let it pass without slowing down and enjoying it.
Cass had shown him that.
Cass.
Every time her name came to mind, he wanted to reach into that casket and kill Serrano all over again.
She was fighting for her life. Meanwhile, Luke was thousands of miles away on this bullshit surveillance assignment.
“I think we’ve seen enough,” he snapped at the group. “The man’s dead. We’ve gotten the names of everyone in attendance. Let’s wrap this shit up.”
Ash looked at Luke, then passed a glance to Tyke and Reese in the back.
“What?” Luke asked. He spun to the backseat, catching Bryan and Jason’s cryptic expressions. “What? Just fucking say it.”
“You’re coming unhinged, Calder,” Ash said. “You gotta get a grip.”
A grip? A grip? He’d get a goddamn grip once Cass woke up and was breathing on her own instead of using that machine.
“Look, man,” Ash went on, “I know you’re hurting. Hell, if it was Sam in that bed right now, I’d…” The man clenched the gear shifter on the console hard enough that the leather creaked. “I get it. I understand what you’re feeling. But you gotta start coming to terms with the fact that she might never wake up. The docs said—”
“I know what they said,” Luke growled. “I was there, remember?”
The SUV fell into an uncomfortable silence. Good. Shut up. He didn’t want to hear another word unless it was something constructive that could save Cass’s life.
After a moment, Ash spoke again. “We’re here for you. That’s all I wanted to say. Whatever you need, we’ve got you.”
“What I need is to be at that hospital.”
Throwing another look toward the backseat, Ash addressed Reese. “You get what we need?”
“Yes,” Reese said. “I have enough footage to review.”
One drop of his chin, then Ash said, “All right. Let’s
go home, boys.”
Home. That word didn’t hold the same meaning it once did. Home was wherever Cass was. And currently, that meant by her side as she fought for survival.
…
As soon as their plane landed, Luke was in a car and on his way to the hospital. He’d broken almost every traffic law in the books. Red lights mostly.
He rushed into the Intensive Care Unit of Shock Trauma, and scanned for the first available person. A nurse at the front station sat behind a tall desk, typing on a computer.
“Cassandra Stone,” he said. “What room?”
She paused and looked up. “Relation?”
He pulled his badge out of his wallet and flashed it at her.
She scrutinized the metal with lowered eyebrows like she expected it to be made of tin. “ID?” she asked.
He slid a card from the pocket behind his badge that had his picture, name, and agency.
She snatched his identification from his hand and did the same suspicious once-over with it. Her features relaxed as she passed the card back to him between two fingers. She pointed directly behind him to a door. “Once you hear the buzz, you can go in.”
He was already turned and headed that way as she said, “Take it to the end, then turn right.”
He went through double doors and down a short hallway. Buzzing computers, ringing phones, and idle conversations hit him from all sides. It was almost soothing in a distracted sort of way. The memories of a few days ago crept into his mind. His vision narrowed. The white walls and floors. People captive in hospital beds. He could still picture Serrano standing in front of them. Could still hear the gunshot. Could feel the weight of her warm body in his arms.
Luke shook himself from the memory and focused on the path that would get him closest to her. He stopped outside her room and took a huge breath, readying himself. He knocked once, opened the door, and stepped past the curtain.
An average height, slightly overweight, gray-haired man turned from the bed. Cass’s father, Luke presumed. He assessed Luke from head to toe.
This wasn’t how he’d planned to meet Cass’s father. Not while trying to come to terms with the fact that she might…not make it.
“Luke Calder,” he said, holding out a hand.
In Walked Trouble (Under Covers) Page 26