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“I will not let him die!” She pounded on the window, still pulling on the door handle, hoping it would magically give way.
“Let us handle it, Laila. Trees would want you to.” Then Matt spoke to whoever he had called. “Hey, we’ve been ambushed. I’m still rushing Laila to the drop. As far as I can tell, we haven’t been followed. We lost Ghost at a light about two miles back, but Trees was broadsided…” He must be talking to one of his bosses because he explained the rest of the incident, including the location.
Laila listened with half an ear, scrambling for the front seat of the cab, where the childproof locks wouldn’t stop her from escaping.
“Yeah, that’s Laila. She’s losing her shit.” He paused, one hand on the wheel, the other holding her in the back seat. “I’ll have her there in less than ten. Is there anyone who can calm her down?”
“I do not want to be calm. I want to save Trees! He has risked everything for all of us, and you cannot allow Ramos to take him.”
Matt went on as if she hadn’t just screeched in his ear. “Good thinking. I’ll have her there as soon as I can. Then I’ll double back and help you if you need.” A pause. “Yeah. See you there.”
“Double back now and I will help you!” Laila insisted. “Why waste time?”
“We’ve covered this. Let me focus.”
“On a deserted road?”
“On watching our surroundings so that if those assholes in the van come after me to find you, I can get you away safely.”
“I do not care about myself.” She had escaped before. Sometimes it took biding her time and arranging help, but she could do it again. Trees had never known the extent of Victor’s cruelty. She didn’t want him to know it now.
“You will if they take you. Then you’ll be in no position to help anyone.”
That shut her up. Laila wanted to refute him…but couldn’t. Still, she refused to give up on Trees.
Matt’s phone rang again. He pressed the device to his ear. “Talk to me.” A pause. “Nothing?” Another pause. “No idea where they went? Fuck.” Then he looked in the rearview mirror again.
Laila whirled to find the dark blue truck on their tail. Ghost. That must be who he was talking to. “Did he find anything?”
She knew she was being foolish, but she couldn’t seem to stop hoping and praying that the other man had found some clue about who had taken Trees. The concern on Matt’s face dashed her hope.
“We’re working on it,” he told her. When she opened her mouth to demand again they return to the scene, he cut her off. “But he’s already gone. So is the van.”
Laila’s terror ratcheted up again. Barely thirty minutes ago, she had been in his arms. Now he was most likely Victor Ramos’s prisoner and would probably die for the great sin of trying to save her. Dios mío, she had to do something. She had to contact Victor. Yes, and make a deal. Trees’s freedom in exchange for hers. Trees would be angry, but it was for the best. The world needed him. He was a hero. Everyone but her sister had given up on her long ago.
No matter what, don’t put yourself in danger. Trees’s demand rang through her head.
Laila shook her head. She couldn’t heed her promise to him now. She couldn’t live with herself if she had the means to save him and she selfishly did not. Besides, her misery didn’t matter, only Trees staying alive did.
“Any idea which direction the van went?” Matt asked into the phone.
She couldn’t hear the answer, and it was killing her. She would do anything to know…
As the inky night rolled past the windows, leading them into a sleepy residential neighborhood with older houses farther apart, her thoughts scrambled with possibilities. Then Matt screeched to a crawl in front of a blue house with white trim and black shutters. He turned down a dirt path that flanked the structure, rolling behind it to sandwich the truck between the back porch and a tall privacy fence. Other vehicles were already parked out back, including one she vaguely recognized riding in when she’d first reached the States last September.
Matt killed the engine but made no move to open his door—or hers. Ghost pulled up beside them, hopped out, then made his way to her. Finally, Matt disengaged the locks and slid out as Ghost wrenched her door open and all but dragged her from the back seat, carrying her as if she presented no challenge at all, despite her squirming protests. He might be on the wiry side, at least compared to Trees, but he was ridiculously strong.
As they approached the rear of the house, Matt sidled up behind them, gun poised for battle, just in case.
The back door opened. Joaquin Muñoz stood waiting, weapon in hand as he scanned their surroundings, too.
As soon as Ghost set her on her feet in what looked like someone’s living room, Joaquin shut and locked the door. Matt remained outside. An unfamiliar man sidled up to Joaquin, dressed in an impeccable suit, despite the fact it was well past midnight. She wasn’t fooled by his attire. This man was lethal. He made Laila nervous.
“Who is he?” she asked Muñoz.
“Trevor Forsythe. He’s with us.”
Maybe Muñoz had brought Trees more help. “You are all going to find Trees now, yes?”
