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Muriella had remained near the hood of the car. When I tried again to signal to her to take off, she lifted her arms and aimed. Automatically, I reached for my weapon.
The shot hit her father in the thigh. He screamed in startled pain as he fell to the dirt and clutched his wound. She stalked toward him and fired again, this time hitting his arm as he reached for his gun. He grunted in pain, and it fell to his side.
Carlos swiped the weapon off the ground as I snagged Muriella by the waist. She stood over her father, her gun pointed at his forehead. My lips pressed against her ear. I spoke soft enough so only she could hear. “Think about this before you do it. Whichever way you go, I’m with you. I just want you to be sure.”
She leaned into me, hesitating before she lowered the gun. When she turned to look up at me, everything was right for the first time since this morning. I beamed at her, so grateful she was in one piece.
Movement behind Muriella set the world in slow motion. Juan Carlos lifted a second gun he’d kept concealed. There was no time to fire mine. I spun so my back was to him. The shot sounded off like a crack, breaking the silence of an otherwise peaceful night. I lurched and hit the ground.
Lights out.
Chapter Forty-Five
Muriella
I pitched forwardas if I’d been hit, yet there was no pain. And then I was on the ground, rocks digging into me through my clothes, dirt filling my nose and mouth.
Stone covered me. His chest rose and fell against my back. He made not a sound. Panic seized me. My father gasped out a cruel laugh. I clutched the gun I’d somehow managed to hold onto after the fall.
Slowly, I raised my head. The General stood near the SUV, his weapon drawn. My father sat halfway up, his gun still pointed at Stone and me. Our eyes met, his intentions clear. I struggled to lift the gun in my hand. He would not kill Stone. I squeezed the trigger and hit the arm that held his weapon. It dropped immediately. He reached for it but winced in pain.
Before my father could get to it, Carlos swiped up the weapon and hit him in the back of the head with the butt. One look from Carlos, and the General stopped advancing. “You breathe one word of this to him when he wakes up, and I will see to it there isn’t a single recognizable piece of you left to give your family.”
The General dropped his pistol and held up both hands in surrender.
“Get him on the plane,” Carlos directed.
“Stone,” I said softly, trying to wiggle out from under him.
His eyes opened. “Muriella.” His voice was hoarse, ridden with pain.
“Are you hurt?” My eyes searched his, pleading for him to give me the right answer.
“As long as you’re okay, I’ll be all right.” The words were strained, and I held him.
That’s when I felt his soaked shirt. “You’re hit.”
“It’s nothing.” Carlos jogged over to us, his hands full, but of what I couldn’t tell. “Let me have a look.”
“What do you know about tending injuries?” I asked as he produced a small flashlight from what appeared to be a medical kit.
“More than I want to.” Without asking, he lifted Stone’s shirt and examined the wound. “Hold his shirt up, Cam—” Carlos stopped before saying my given name. I appreciated his effort and immediately complied with his command. “This is going to hurt,” he said to Stone.
“Already does,” he muttered good-naturedly.
Carlos worked quickly and efficiently, even in the darkness. I peered at the wound, my stomach turning. In what little light we had, it didn’t look good. Stone’s smooth flesh was marred by a jagged slice. Regret and anger coursed through me. He shouldn’t have been here.
My brother wasn’t joking about his expertise with injuries. He stitched up the hole in Stone’s side with precision as if he did it every day.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
“It’s nothing,” Stone said reassuringly.
“That should hold for now. Let’s get him to the truck.” Carlos and I had the same caramel skin tone, dark hair and eyes, but our height and builds were polar opposites. Where I was petite and small-framed, he was tall and solid muscle.
He scooped Stone up off the ground as if he weighed nothing. I scrambled to my feet and rushed forward to open the passenger door of the truck. Carlos set him in the seat, adjusting Stone’s legs so they fit inside.
“Thank you. I’m Stone, by the way.” He held out his hand to Carlos, and they shook.
