Page 65 of Rami

CHAPTER 18

Rami stood in the center of the parking lot amidst the destruction. His chest heaved on ragged, crazed breaths. The bullets burned hot against his Kevlar, but he didn’t have the capacity to check his injuries.

“What the fuck happened?” Taschen’s booming voice cracked through the air.

Rami quickly dug his keys from his pocket with shaking hands and motioned for Taschen to follow him. He’d already wasted precious seconds because of the collision.

Taschen took shotgun and Rami got in the driver’s seat then gunned out of the parking lot, heading east, the direction the van had gone.

Taschen’s voice droned on, finally puncturing Rami’s awareness. “Dude, I was five minutes behind. What the hell?”

She’s gone.

He wasn’t sure if he’d spoken the words or not.

Taschen gripped Rami’s shoulder, giving him a light shake. “Hey, we’ll find her. You need to pull yourself together.” His face turned hard. “We’ve got a problem.”

The pungent scent of gunpowder stung his nose with every inhale. There was no pulling himself together. He’d failed. They’d stolen Ivy right from his fucking hands. “No, shit,” he spat. He threw a glance at his friend then looked back at the road. “How’d they find her?” The words snapped from his lips as sharp as whip.

He couldn’t think about anything else. All that mattered was getting to Ivy before the cartel got too far.

It didn’t make sense. His team had spotted the cartel leaving the motel—why hadn’t there been word they were on their tail? Something didn’t add up.

Taschen’s gray eyes darkened. “That’s what I mean, man. We’ve got a problem. After I got off the phone with you, August called. The cartel guys didn’t go to Gigi’s house. They got on the highway, heading in this direction.”

“What?” Rami’s head spun. “When did I talk to you?”

“About thirty minutes ago.”

He shook his head, his brain buzzing with possibilities. “The guys from the motel, what kind of vehicle are they driving?”

“A gray truck.”

He blinked. The vehicle that had made off with Ivy was a van, and the one that had run him down was an SUV.

“Sonofabitch! How many of those fuckers are there?”

“They were smart. Broke their team into groups so we’d only know about one of them.”

They’d been fooled. Had Rami known there were so many of them, he’d have brought the whole team for cover.

For now, they had to focus on getting Ivy back.

Rami stomped on the gas pedal. They couldn’t have made it far. “Is that guy dead? The one who tried to run me down?”

“He was barely hanging on. I don’t think you would’ve gotten answers from him. He’s probably already passed.”

If he killed three more guys, their boss would be even more pissed. Adrenaline set fire to his veins.

He’d kill every last one of them for daring to touch Ivy.

“We’re gonna need backup. Have August and Toth head this way. And I want the boss of this operation,” Rami said, his voice flat and even. “Get Toth to find him.”

Toth’s brothers, Dare, Cole and Dallas, had an infinite number of resources for tracking people down. If anyone could direct him to the leader, it was them.

As he pulled onto the highway, his hands grew clammy. No van in sight. Several roads jutted out from the main highway, and goddammit they could’ve taken any one of them. It would be like trying to find them in a corn maze.

Taschen spoke on the phone beside him, his voice grave and urgent but holding none of the desperation electrifying Rami’s core. He couldn’t even process what Taschen was saying—his brain was hyperfocused on the dizzying trees and fields, searching for signs of the van.

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