“And the women?” He swallowed convulsively. Had Steel ordered men, women, and children to be defiled? Had he taken part in those actions?
Something flickered in the man’s eyes, and Triumph wasn’t sure he was going to answer.
“I am not a good man,hermano. When I was under Hector’s thumb, I did many things I’m not proud of. I’ve shoved them deep and hard into the back of my mind. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to look my wife in the eye. Wouldn’t be able to raise my children with any sense of worthiness in me. I did what I did to protect my wife, the son I lost, and ultimately, my daughter.
“In situations like I just described, if there were women and children involved, I gave the men the choice to take their punishment. Or, adults were offered the opportunity to protect any children threatened.” His expression seemed to go even colder. “Sometimes, they did the right thing. Sometimes, they did not.”
Jesus Christ, they were screwed. They could not get caught.
Did he blame Steel? He didn’t have enough data to analyze and make a decision with any accuracy. But given what Glennon had shared, what little he knew about the Colonel Cartel from his research, and the practical evidence provided by Steel on this nightmare of a journey, he didn’t doubt that the man was being brutally honest. He also didn’t get the sense that what he’d been forced to do in his past gave him any joy.
Glancing over at Glennon, that one look at her face told him she also understood what the man was saying. No doubt she would fare better at whatever “punishment” Guillermo doled out, given what he put her through in the past decade.
Glennon threw herself at Steel to hug him, then buried her face in Demon’s chest. “Thank you,” she whispered. “No matter how this ends, I’ll be forever grateful that someone was willing to try to help me.”
Demon smirked as she stepped away from him. “Stay alive. Don’t go throwing away all my great surgical skills by dying on me, yeah?”
“I’ll do my best,” she promised.
Triumph shook each of the men’s hands. “Thank you for helping us. Good luck. Hopefully, we’ll see you soon.”
Steel advised, “Stay here until you see the diversion. Once all the men come flooding down to try to pull the two of you out of the mess, make your way out of the port as fast as you can. Get to the camp and get your supplies. Once you’ve done that, don’t join any of the groups. Just go.”
“What’s the diversion?” he asked.
Now it was Steel’s turn to smirk. “You’ll know it when you see it. Trust me.”
With that, the two men took the safeties off their weapons and moved at lightning speed down the pier toward Arturo’s boat.
From their spot beneath the overhang, he and Glennon saw them stop at the lip of the boat and look down into it at something. Their slight pause before jumping into it suggested that they’d found Arturo, and not in the same state as when he’d left his home that morning.
A flurry of bullets rained from all directions toward the boat. Both of their escorts retreated into the cabin area to take cover, Demon completely disappearing and Steel covering him from the doorway.
It wasn’t long before a dozen men converged on the boat from the tiny alleyways between buildings, bullets still flying. Suddenly, Steel disappeared completely.
Movement to their left drew his eye, and standing on the far lower edge of the walkway stood a man. Unlike the others, he was dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt, the top severalbuttons undone and the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He was standing right in their way of escaping toward the gap.
“Glennon,” he whispered.
She looked to where he pointed, and he watched the color drain from her face. “Guillermo,” she confirmed.
Seconds later, shots resumed as Steel and Demon fled the cabin and headed toward the bow. Almost in tandem, the two men dove into the water. Some of Guillermo’s men rushed onto the boat and to the bow, firing wildly. Others ran onto nearby boats or the ends of empty slips, doing the same in all directions. The men didn’t resurface.
Suddenly, the boat erupted into a ball of flame, taking several boats on each side of it along in its glorious demise. The men on board were engulfed in flames. Those standing on the dock itself were blown backward by the explosion, some landing in the water, others tossed onto boats, and a few striking the buildings across from them. None of them stirred.
The concussion reached Guillermo, causing his guards to pick him up from where he fell and drag him to a nearby SUV. After shoving him into the back seat, the two guards threw themselves into the vehicle, and it pulled away, the tires squealing.
“I think that’s our cue,” Glennon said.
Triumph swallowed hard. He couldn’t unsee their two escorts diving into the water, followed by a hail of bullets. “You think they escaped?”
“They said they had contingencies. Steel is too strong to die. Remember—I lived with his family. He got out of some crazy shit then, and he knows Guillermo and how his soldiers operate.” She tugged on his arm. “We need to go. They told us not to stick around. The foot soldiers who survived will be scrambling for a bit, more concerned about their friends. Guillermo’s men have whisked him to safety, but he’ll be back quickly to survey thedamage. It won’t take them too long to discover our bodies aren’t among the wreckage. Come on!”
Together, they ran in the opposite direction and exited the wharf.
By the time they traveled several streets away, people rushed to the port, and sirens wailed in the distance. Together, they huddled out of sight to catch their breath. “We can’t run all the way to the gap. It’s over thirty miles,” he said.
“We need a vehicle. Something unobtrusive.” Her eyes scanned the nearby area. “There.”
