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“I get the picture,” Dawson said. “First, you need to know I’ve spoken with Trevor.”

“Are you serious?” Mo stared at him with wide eyes.

“He hasn’t said much, but he’s waiting for me to crack the case so he can turn.” Dawson nodded. “What I want you to remember is that Paul is in a worse boat than you are, and I can protect you. At this point, the cartel might not even know your name. But they know Paul. They know Benson. You’re nothing to them and not worth their time.”

“Unless I betray them.”

“But you won’t.” Dawson arched a brow.

“I’m not following.”

“We’re going to make it look as though you did exactly what Paul told you to do but that I outsmarted you.”

Mo sighed. “I can live with that. Paul has a habit of always saying I’m useless anyway.”

“How about you reach into my pocket, grab my knife, put it in my hand, and let me do the rest,” Dawson whispered. “And when this is over, we’ll talk about how I can help you and your family.”

Mo blinked. “Why are you helping me when I’ve so royally screwed up?”

“Because I understand the need to protect those we love and that, sometimes, we’ll do almost anything to take care of them—including breaking the law.” He cocked his head and raised his hip. “I can’t promise there won’t be any consequences, but I can promise I will do whatever is in my power to ensure you, Anna, and your family are protected. Everyone will know that you helped me, except the cartel.”

Mo glanced around. “My wife believes you’re one of the best things that has ever happened to this town. That you’re an honest cop with good intentions, even if you do things a little ass-backward.” He dug his hand into Dawson’s pocket and placed the small knife into Dawson’s fingers. “If anything happens to me, please tell Anna I didn’t intentionally get involved. I went to Paul for extra work. I didn’t know I was moving drugs until it was too late; only, I knew what I was doing couldn’t be…legal.”

“Nothing’s going to?—”

Mo raised his hand. “You can’t promise that,” he said. “Also, tell her that I love her. That she’s always been my world, and I’m sorry.”

“Okay.” Dawson knew better than to argue. “Thank you.”

“Now what?” Audra asked.

“I cut our hands out of these zip ties, but we leave our feet bound until I hear the signal.”

“What signal?”

“From my team.”

“You really think they’re coming?” Audra asked.

“I never finished my radio call, so yeah,” he said softly as he finished cutting through the plastic. He quickly tucked the evidence in his pocket and went to work on Audra’s. “If they aren’t here before shit goes south, we have to go for the weapons.” He let out a long breath. “Mo, you’ll need to choose. Us or them.”

“That’s an easy choice.” Mo nodded. “I won’t let them kill you. I do still have a conscience.”

* * *

Audra hated waiting.For anything. She had the patience of a toddler. It was made worse by the pounding in her head and the constant swishing of her gut. She’d had enough concussions over the years to know she had another one.

Mild or not, her head felt like a stick of dynamite had gone off.

Thunder no longer rumbled through the hut. It exploded like a bomb. With each thud, a flash of lightning lit up the small structure like it was going up in flames.

The storm was directly over them.

“I can’t hear anything outside,” Dawson muttered. “If my team is out there, they can no longer signal. We’re going to have to make our move.” He reached behind her back and squeezed her hand. “Are you up for it?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

“Hey, Mo,” Dawson called between claps of thunder.