Page 19

Austin

We drove for hours, taking every back road Riot directed us toward. The jungle gave way to open land, dust billowing behind our convoy as we put as much distance between ourselves and The Ghost’s men as possible.

The headlights in our rearview had disappeared, but that didn’t mean we weren’t still being hunted. The Ghost had eyes everywhere. He’d probably called the men off. Which worried me. He would only do that if he was confident enough in pursuing us later. I would be very naive to think he was through playing with us.

Our war was just starting.

What had my old man done to The Ghost?

The safehouse Riot led us to was another rundown shack. It sat on the edge of nowhere, hidden by miles of overgrown brush and crumbling stone walls. It would have to do.

As soon as we pulled in, the men moved fast, hauling Luke inside.

I followed, heart hammering at seeing my brother’s battered face under the dim light. Luke’s condition was worse than we thought. His breathing was shallow, skin gray with fever. He was slipping away.

“Get him on the table,” Jax ordered, already digging through the medical kit he’d brought.

Ribs pushing against too-tight skin. Dried blood caked in his hair. The bruises, the cuts—Jesus, he looked like he’d been tortured for weeks.

“He needs a hospital,” Jax said, voice tight. “If we don’t get him proper care, he won’t make it.”

The problem was hospitals weren’t safe here. The moment we stepped into one, The Ghost would know. And we’d all be dead before Luke made it through surgery.

I scrubbed a hand over my face. “We need options.”

Riot stood near the door, shoulders tense, barely looking at his sister. Raven sat on an old couch, her knees pulled to her chest, staring at nothing. She’d been strong when it mattered, but now the effect of what she’d been through was crushing her.

“Riot,” I called, pulling him from his downward spiral.

His eye flared with hatred. “We should’ve killed that bastard.”

“We will,” I said darkly. “Right now, I need your head on straight. She needs you, not some ass bent on revenge.”

Riot let his head drop, understanding that his anger wasn’t helping his sister. “You’re right. I’m okay.”

He wasn’t okay, but none of us were.

I turned to Emmy. She stood near the table, watching Jax work on Luke, but she was distant. Disconnected.

“Emmy.”

She didn’t respond. I stepped closer. “Emmy, talk to me.”

Nothing.

“Emmy,” I pressed, this time placing a hand on her shoulder. “We need to talk.”

That snapped her out of it. She wrenched away from my touch, eyes flashing as she finally spoke.

“No, we don’t. I did what I had to do,” she hissed out. “Now let me be.”

I wasn’t going to push her further, but the silence she’d been wrapped in was just as dangerous as Riot’s anger. Before I could say anything else, Jax’s voice cut through the tension.

“Shit.”

My pulse spiked. “What?”

Jax was on his laptop, his face grim. “I’ve been monitoring the dark web. There’s chatter—someone put a bounty out on us. Mercs are on their way.”

My stomach dropped.

“If we stay, we die,” Jax continued. “If we move, we could be walking into a trap.”

I blew out a breath. I didn’t like those odds, but I had never played by the rules. I knew when to use them and when to shit all over them.

My first priority was getting Luke to a hospital before we lost him. There was only one person who could help me pull that off.

I pulled out my phone and dialed. Detective Ryan Cole answered on the second ring.

“Austin,” he said, his voice edged with both concern and warning. “I had a feeling I’d be hearing from you.”

“I need a favor,” I said without preamble.

Cole sighed. “Of course you do.”

“We need to get out of Mexico now,” I said. “And I need a guarantee that Luke gets into a hospital without getting us all killed.”

There was a long pause.

“You realize what you’re asking?” Cole finally said. “I can’t just pull a magic string and make all your problems disappear.”

“No,” I said. “But I can offer you something in return.”

Another beat of silence.

“I’m listening.”

I took a breath. “The Ghost slipped through our fingers. But help us get out of Mexico alive, and I’ll work with you to help bring him in.”

Cole didn’t respond immediately, and I knew why. The Ghost had been a thorn in his side for years. A criminal mastermind who never left a trail. The FBI had tried and failed to catch him too many times.

Cole exhaled. “You’re serious about this?”

“If it means keeping my people safe? Yeah. I’m serious.”

Another pause.

“I’ll see what I can do.” The line went dead.

I lowered the phone. We had a plan. Now, we just had to survive long enough to make it work.

The safehouse felt smaller with every second that passed. We were sitting ducks, waiting for Cole to come through.

I paced near the door, my gun resting against my thigh. Every instinct in me screamed to move, to act, but this was a waiting game.

Riot leaned against the wall, silent, his fingers tapping against his knee in an uneven rhythm. Across the room, Jax was still at his laptop, trying to stay ahead of the mercenaries closing in on us.

Luke lay motionless on the table, his breathing uneven, his skin cold and clammy. Jax had done what he could, but without real medical care, it was a losing battle.

Emmy sat in the corner, her arms wrapped around her herself. She hadn’t spoken since she snapped at me earlier. She was still covered in Javier’s blood, but she hadn’t seemed to notice.

I knelt in front of her. “Emmy,” I said quietly.

Her gaze flicked to me, but there was no real focus, no spark of the woman I knew.

I reached out, hesitating for just a second before brushing my knuckles against her cheek. “You’re still with me?”

She blinked, then nodded. A small, lifeless motion. It wasn’t good enough.

Before I could press her, Jax blew out a loud breath.

“They’re close,” he said, tapping furiously at his keyboard. “I’ve been monitoring their comms. We have maybe twenty minutes before this place is swarming.”

I pushed to my feet.

“Cole?” Riot asked.

I checked my phone. Nothing.

“We can’t wait,” Tank said. “We need to move.”

I exhaled. I knew Tank was right. But where the hell were we supposed to go?

Jax cursed. “I’ve got something. A potential escape route.” He turned the laptop so we could see. A crude map of the area was pulled up, and Jax pointed to a location a few miles away. “This here—it’s an old smuggler’s airstrip. If we can get there, we might be able to bribe our way on a plane.”

I didn’t like the idea of relying on unknowns, but we didn’t have a choice.

I turned to Riot. “You know anyone who can get us a plane?”

He ran a hand over his face. “I might.”

“Make the call.”

Riot nodded and stepped away, already pulling out his phone.

I turned back to the group.

“We move now,” I said. “Quiet. Fast. Anyone not with us gets left behind.”

A murmur of agreement rippled through the men, and they began to gather supplies.

I stepped toward Emmy, who was still staring at nothing.

“We’re leaving,” I told her.

She didn’t move.

“Emmy,” I said, firmer this time.

She finally looked at me, her lips parting slightly as if she wanted to say something. But then she closed her mouth and gave another empty nod.

It wasn’t good enough this time either. But it would have to be. I squeezed her shoulder, then turned to check my weapons.

We had a long night ahead.

The airstrip was little more than a cracked runway in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rusted-out buildings and overgrown brush, but it didn’t matter. It was our way out.

The hired mercenaries stood off to the side, collecting their payment in silence. They were professionals—dangerous men, but men who did their job and moved on. I had no doubt that if we crossed paths again, it could be on opposite sides.

“Pleasure doing business,” one of them muttered, tucking a wad of cash into his vest before signaling for his men to move out.

I barely acknowledged him, my attention shifting to my crew.

Luke was only semi-conscious, his weight supported between Tank and Jax as they guided him toward the plane. He needed serious medical care, and fast.

Emmy stayed close, but she hadn’t spoken since we’d left the safehouse. She followed when directed, moved when needed, but it was like her spirit had been hollowed out.

My gut twisted. I had too many fires to put out, and no idea which one would burn me first.

We boarded the small plane, and as soon as we were in the air, I got the call from Cole. He had already arranged for a private jet to be waiting in the U.S. The transition would be seamless—land, get Luke to the hospital, and get the hell home, but nothing about this felt like a victory.

By the time we landed on U.S. soil, the ambulance was already waiting. The second the plane doors opened, EMTs rushed forward, loading Luke onto a stretcher.

I stepped off last, my boots hitting the pavement with a heavy thud.

Cole was waiting. The detective gave me a onceover, eyes sharp. “You look like shit.”

“Feels about right,” I muttered.

We watched as the medics secured Luke in the ambulance.

“He’s under police protection,” Cole said. “Not custody. You have my word.”

I gave a tight nod.

“Tank’s staying with him,” I said. “He won’t be alone.”

Cole sighed, running a hand over his jaw. “We need to talk soon.”

I knew what he meant. The deal we’d made—deliver The Ghost. But now wasn’t the time. “Not today.”

Cole studied me for a moment, then nodded his agreement.

Riot stepped up next to me his arm slung protectively around Raven, who was struggling to hold herself together.

“This is where we part ways,” he said.

I met his gaze. “You sure?”

“I need to get her home. To Montana. She needs time to heal.”

I glanced at Raven, and she wouldn’t meet my eyes, her face pale.

“You haven’t seen the last of me, though,” Riot added. “If you’ll still have me after what I did.”

I didn’t hesitate. “You were protecting your sister. You’ll always have a place, brother.”

He gave me a jerky nod, gripping my forearm. “Thank you. For everything.”

I held on tight for just a second before letting go. Riot turned, leading Raven away.

Tank climbed into the ambulance, giving me a final look before they drove off, and I exhaled, feeling the weight of everything settle deep in my chest.

“Time to go home,” Jax said, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

I turned to find Emmy standing by the jet, still hugging herself, still quiet. She hadn’t even asked about Luke. She should have been pushing to stay with him. That told me how off she was in the head.

Home.

Yeah. It was time.

Without another word, I led my crew on to the plane.