I continue forward, my body sheltering Myla’s, dread in me for the moment I will have to let her go to him, and I will. I may even have to let her walk off this plane with him, and I hope like hell my team is waiting when they do. I stop several feet in front of him, Juan, Ricardo and the other men in the seats dividing me from Alvarez.
“Finally we meet, Kyle,” he says. “I owe you money and appreciation for caring for my woman. We will discuss our arrangements later, but as you can understand, I’m eager for you to allow Myla to pass. She’s safe now, though we will certainly discuss your services for her return trip to Dallas.”
Every muscle in my body fights this moment, but somehow, I rotate to let Myla pass.
“Michael,” she gushes, playing her role, and hurrying past me into his arms. His hand flattens on her back, and I can almost feel her skin crawling with his touch, but he does not hold her for long. He grips her arms and looks down at her. “We need to discuss something before we retire for the night.”
“What is it?” she asks, sounding nervous, while I step just a little closer, my hand itching for my gun.
“Is it true that Juan touched you?”
“What?”
“Is it true that Juan touched you?”
“He…I….”
“Then it’s true,” he assumes.
“He said he’d tell you I invited it, but I swear-”
“I believe you.”
Juan moves into the lane just in front of me at the same moment that Alvarez sets Myla aside. She flattens on the wall behind her, and the machine gun guy is watching me, keeping me from offering her any comfort. “She’s lying,” Juan claims. “She tried to fuck me to get her freedom.”
“And you wouldn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t want to upset you.”
“That never happened,” Myla says. “Never, ever, would I do that.”
Juan goes for the gun at his hip, and afraid for Myla, I step to him and cover it with my hand. It’s at that moment that Alvarez grabs Juan’s shoulder, and then the unexpected happens. He shoots him in the cock. Juan screams, a horrific, pained sound, then falls against me, the small lane I’m in making it almost impossible to see around him, while I can think of only one thing. Getting to Myla.
I rotate his body, bringing Alvarez into profile, Myla out of my eyeshot. Juan’s screams go silent, and I shove him to the ground, while Alvarez holsters his weapon and grabs Myla’s arm.
“A car is waiting on you outside, Kyle. We’ll talk tomorrow.” He moves toward the exit, and I take a step toward Myla, but the machine gun guy exits in front of me.
I follow him, my hand back on my gun, but as soon as the machine gun guy clears the stairs, two armed guards step into my path. My gaze reaches beyond them, to where Alvarez is leading Myla across the runway toward a black sedan, but I can’t get to her without ending up dead. “Alvarez!” I call out, trying to buy us time.
That’s when the first explosion happens, shaking the ground around us, and part of the runway goes up in flames. The guy with the machine gun and the guards rotate, looking for the source. The two men in front of me do the same. Another explosion goes off, and men swarm the runway, some in FBI jackets, others in military gear. Smoke is everywhere, and I run in the direction Myla should be, hearing a helicopter coming in low that I pray is one of ours. I clear the haze, and holy fucking hell. Alvarez is climbing onto the chopper, and pulling Myla onto it with him. I run for it, burning every muscle I own, but it’s too late. They lift off.
***
Myla
I fight Michael when he pulls me to the chopper, but he is too strong. “What is wrong with you?” he demands. “Did you betray me? Is that it? Did you bring this raid on me?
“I did nothing of the sort, but they will shoot us down. We have to land.”
“We are in the air,” he says. “Calm down and we will be fine.” He shoves me into a seat and turns to talk to the pilot, and I know then that I have seconds to act.
I unzip my dress, and I waste no time, pulling out my gun. He turns back around and I shout over the engines. “Tell him to land.”
“We aren’t landing. Put the gun down.”
“Land the chopper!”
He takes a step toward me, more like a lunge, and I shoot him, not once, but three times. He falls, not forward, but out of the door. I rush forward to the pilot and hold a gun on him. “Turn around and land.”
“You can’t kill me,” he says. “You need me.”
“I can shoot your leg,” I say. “You don’t need that to land. I killed Alvarez, so if you think I won’t-”
“I’m landing, you little bitch.” He turns us and we’ve gone such a short way that we are quickly coming in low on the runway, and we are not even on the ground when the FBI swarms us. I rush to the door and Kyle grabs me, pulling me into his arms.
“Thank God,” he says, against my hair. “Thank God. You have no idea how scared I was for you.”
“I killed him. I killed Alvarez.”
He takes my gun. “I know you did. We saw him fall but I had a moment when I thought it was you that will give me nightmares for the rest of my life.” He kisses me, another helicopter coming in low. “That’s our ride out of here. Come on.”
***