Page 39 of Sawyer (Sabre Security Daddies #6)

S awyer pressed his back to the wall just down from where Hector stood. Within ten seconds of the first kick Hector had delivered to his Little girl's side, he thought of three ways to reach her and fifteen ways to kill that cock sucking sonofabitch.

But now that fucking asshole had a syringe filled with poison that would kill her almost instantly and was preparing to use it. So, he’d just have to find a way to do what Hector had done to Lele her entire life, be patient, and if it came to it, manipulate him into his death.

Sliding down the wall without making a sound, Sawyer set his bag down. He could have it open in seconds, but he’d wait. He was pretty sure his Glock would be all he needed for Hector.

He thought for just a minute he had a shot, but Hector moved, pulling Lele onto her back. If he shot the fucker right now, at this angle of approach, she might catch a head ricochet .

Scanning the room, he spotted Gage. The man was one of the best snipers he'd ever met. And that was saying something because Sawyer was pretty damn good himself.

Tapping his ear com, he whispered, “Gage, can you shift to a position where you can take out that asshole from the way he's facing now?”

Gage looked for a good spot, then nodded. “I can head that way, but it will take me a minute to get there. Somebody's gonna need to distract him. I don't like the look of that syringe he's got.”

Gage was not wrong. He couldn't say for certain what was in that syringe, but the Santiago Cartel was most known for exporting fentanyl.

If Hector shot liquid fentanyl into Lele's veins, Sawyer didn't know that she could survive.

A dose of pure liquid fentanyl could kill in as quickly as two minutes.

They'd had the foresight to bring Bones with them. But that was pushing it, even for him. Sawyer tapped his ear com again. “Is Bones on com?” he asked, never taking his eyes off his Little girl.

“Here.” Came the reply, Sawyer recognized Bone’s voice.

“Be ready with Narcan,” replied Sawyer, his eyes never leaving Lele.

She was being so damn brave. It gutted him that she had to. He was never going to forgive himself for not telling her everything about Hector when he had the chance. For not warning her, though at that point, he wasn’t really sure she would have believed him.

Hector sliced the zip tie binding her wrists, and for a second, hope flared in Sawyer’s chest. With her hands free, maybe his half-pint could fight. At least enough to distract Hector while Gage got into place.

Hector extinguished that hope as soon as it was born when he spread Leles’s arms wide and pressed a knee down on each of her wrists. Sawyer couldn't tell how hard the man was bearing down, but it looked pretty damn hard. Gage needed to hurry .

Then Lele screamed, and Sawyer took matters into his own hands. “Hey, asshole.”

Hector looked up and froze.

Grabbing his bag, Sawyer surged forward, gun in hand, stalking toward Hector like a predator stalking its prey. At twenty away, Sawyer stopped, dropping his bag. And holding up his hands in a sign of surrender.

Never losing Hector’s eyes, Sawyer said. “How’re you doing, Half-Pint? You okay?”

“I'm fine,” Lele said. But the quiver in her voice betrayed her.

At the same time, Hector said, “She's gonna be dead if you don't back the hell up.”

Sawyer didn't move. Not even so much as the blink of his eyes. He gave Hector nothing. That would give him a clue as to what Sawyer would do next.

Still holding Hector's gaze, Sawyer continued to speak to Lele. “We've talked about telling fibs, babygirl, now, haven't we?”

“Yes, Daddy.” This time, Lee's voice was a little stronger. That was good. He was going to need her to be strong.

A look of disgust crossed Hector’s face. “What kind of kinky shit has he gotten you into? When you've been talking about your Daddy today, you were talking about him, weren’t you?”

Now Sawyer smiled. “That she was, Hector. That she was.” He waited, but when Hector said nothing else, Sawyer took the lead.

“Now, Hector. We seem to have ourselves a little situation here.

There is no reason that everyone can't walk away from this unharmed.

The first thing you need to do is get that needle away from my woman's arm.”

Hector laughed. “Now see, I'd love to do that, Sawyer. Trouble is, I have a small problem. How many guns would you say are pointed at me?”

Sawyer had no reason to lie. If Hector was in with the General, he knew all about Sabre Security anyway. “Eight. Minimum ”

“Right,” Hector said with a nod. “That’s what I thought. Those odds aren't in my favor. So, I think I'll keep that needle right where it is. Call it insurance.”

Sawyer cocked his head. “Your hands seem to be shaking, Hector. I think the odds of you accidentally shooting a syringe full of poison into my girl are much better than any of my brothers shooting you in cold blood. If you push that plunger… even by accident… your odds drop to zero. Your security is gone, and you are a dead man.”

“I’m willing to risk it,” Hector said.

“Well, I’m not.” Sawyer put his gun on the floor and kicked it away. “Now I’m not armed. That means now it’s only seven guns aimed at you.”

Red patches mark Hector’s cheeks, evidence of his anger, even though his voice remained calm. “I’m not stupid, you know. You think I don’t know my death warrant’s already been signed.”

Lele’s eyes were glued to him. He felt it, but he didn’t dare look at her. His focus had to be on Hector. “I haven’t seen any signatures, Hector. You have the ability to walk out of here free and clear. But the first thing you need to do is put that needle down.”

Hector glanced down at the syringe in his hand, and Sawyer used the opportunity to wink at Lele and take a small step closer to Hector.

Hector began to sweat, and his hand continued to shake.

Sawyer had to get Hector the fuck away from his Little girl.

“You know, I never had a chance in this life. No one ever gave me a shot. At least the General respects me.”

Sawyer forced a grin. This guy was an idiot. “The General doesn’t respect anyone but the General, Hector.”

“You don’t know!” Hector snapped. “The General has put me in charge of a lot of important things. I was the one who came up with the plans that took down Jaxon Ruick and my sister. I’ve been smart, biding my time, gathering money little by little.

I’ve got enough saved now to get away from this shithole. ”

“I’ve seen your bank account records, Hector. I’d say you’ve got a lot of money gathered.” Sawyer looked at Hector like he was an idiot. “Let me know how that goes when the cartel wants their money back.”

The color leeched from Hector’s face. Sawyer thought they might be making progress. He glanced at Lele. Her gaze was still on him. The love in those eyes almost had him shooting her brother, just so he could reach for her and pull her in for a kiss. His girl was something else.

Hector followed Sawyer’s gaze and glanced at his sister. Sawyer took another small step closer.

Hector must have caught the love in Lele’s eyes, too. For some reason, it seemed to anger him. Or was that jealousy? Whatever his feelings were, his action was to push the needle further into Lele’s arm.

She cried out again, and Sawyer let the mask of civility slip away.

He was done with this shit. It was time to end this.

Sawyer snatched his bag from the floor and pretended to throw it at Hector. Not expecting the move, Hector stretched out his hands by reflex to stave off what he believed to be an incoming bag. In that moment, Hector allowed the syringe to lift away from Lele’s arm.

Lele saw the distraction and bucked her hips up, causing Hector to lose his balance.

“You bitch!” Hector snarled and stabbed Lele’s arm with the needle.

Gage and Sawyer both fired. Neither one missed their mark.

Screaming, Lele struggled to turn away, but when she twisted her body, Hector fell forward. His body landed on the syringe and pushed the plunger down, emptying fentanyl into her arm .

“No!” Sawyer yells. Forgetting everything else, he raced to her, grabbing what was left of Hector’s body and shoving it aside. Nothing mattered except getting to his Little girl. Not caring that he spoke to a dead man, he yelled, “Get off her, you sonofabitch. Get off!”

Sawyer dropped to his knees and gathered her into his arms. Something was very wrong. Her eyes were unfocused, and she seemed to be struggling for breath. Her pupils were mere pinpoints in her irises. “Daddy,” she gasped. “I…I don’t feel…” Before she completed her sentence, she passed out.

“Bones!” Sawyer screamed. His voice sounded hollow in the open barn.

Turning back to his half-pint, he brushed kisses on her clammy skin. Her lips were turning blue. He rocked her in his lap and chanted, “You’re okay, babygirl. You’re okay. You’re okay.” Where the fuck was Bones? Turning his head to the side, he screamed, “Bones! Bones! I need you here, now!”

As if materializing out of thin air, Bones was standing at his side. “I’m here, brother. I’m right here. I need you to lay her down flat on her back. Gage, call 911! Tell them Dr. Preston is on scene, and I said get here stat.”

Gage nodded and pulled out his phone.

Sawyer lay Lele on her back. Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t appear to be breathing. At all. Sawyer’s heart raced. He needed to do something. To fix this. But he had no idea how.

How could a heart race and break at the same time? “Lele!” He shook her. “Lele, listen to me. You need to wake up, little girl. Right now. You are not allowed to leave me. You will fight, babygirl. You damn well better hold on and fight.”

Then he felt something strange on his face. Something he hadn’t experienced since joining the CIA. Something he’d thought his soul was too broken to allow. Tears coursed from his eyes and down his cheeks .

“You will obey me, Half-Pint. You will open your damn eyes and be back to normal. You have no other options. None.”

Without looking away from the precious woman lying limp before him, he spoke to the only man who could do anything. “Bones, please. You can help her. Please, Bones, please. Help her.”

“I will, brother. Tilt her head back.”

Sawyer cupped the back of Lele’s neck, lifted, and watched as Bones gave her a dose of Narcan to counter the effects of the fentanyl.

Moving to her other side, he brushed back her thick curls.

“You are so brave, Half-Pint. You’re the scrappiest fighter I know.

You’ve got to fight this. You’ve got to fight to stay with me.

” A tear dripped from his chin and landed on her chest. It lay there glistening against her skin.

“Look what you’ve done to Daddy. I think you might have fixed him. ”

When she didn’t start breathing, he yelled. “You listen to me, Leyla Catalina Cortez. If you don’t start breathing right this second, I’m going to spank your ass so damn hard you won’t sit down in this life or the next.”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest, tears dripping onto her shoulder. That’s when he heard it. The most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. A beautiful raspy breath, no louder than a whisper, that came from his Little girl. His girl was breathing.

“Do not ever do that to me again,” he said into her ear. “I am wrapping you in bubble wrap when I get you home, and you will never take it off again. Do you understand me? Not ever.”

Okay, so he’d lost it. But she had scared the shit out of him. He was allowed, damn it. He pulled away and looked down to see her eyes flickering open. “You are the most beautiful woman in the world, and we are getting married tomorrow.

She looked up at him sleepily. In a breathy whisper, she answered, “I knew you’d come, Daddy. I always knew.” She closed her eyes and took another long breath, then opened them again. “Daddy?”

“Yes, baby, I’m right here.”

“I want to go home.”

Sawyer smiled and wiped some strands of hair away from her eyes.

“We’ll go home soon, Babygirl. Just try to take it easy.”

Her eyes drifted closed, but then she forced them back open. “Oh, and Daddy?”

“Yes, Half-Pint?”

“My stepbrother is a dick.”

Her eyes closed again.

“Bones, you sure she’s okay?”

Bones held her wrist, monitoring her pulse. With he was done, he smiled, “I think we got here in time, Sawyer. You’ve got yourself a very lucky Little there.”

“She’s not the only lucky one here.”

To reassure himself, he turned his head, lowering his cheek to hover over her lips.

Her breathing was steady. Then he placed his ear over her heart, and it was steady, too.

He kept his head resting against her chest, being sure not to put his weight on her, and listened to the beautiful heartbeats of his Little girl until the ambulance came.

When they got to the hospital, they wanted to keep her a few days for observation. Over their objections, but not hers, he lay on the bed with her. Every time she dozed off to sleep, he pressed his ear over her chest again.

He could listen to her heart for eternity. Lucky for him, that’s exactly what they had.