Page 63 of Unleash You

Anabelle shuffled sideways a few steps, then yelped as her hand slipped out of mine. “Wes.”

I gripped her wrists and pulled her toward me. She’d almost fallen into a huge hole, an oversized animal trap that the cartel used as sort of prison for whoever dared challenge their authority.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Her words were barely audible. “What is that?” She glared into the black abyss she’d almost fallen into.

“Marcel and his men use these sort-of manholes as a scare tactic to keep people in line. I’ve never seen one this big.”

With about four feet in diameter, this hole could hold several people. I dropped on my stomach with a flashlight wedged in my mouth and ran my hand over the wall. It was slippery with mossy mud and a rancid smell that made my stomach turn. The rim of the hole had bamboo sticks poking out of it. Some were firmly in place while others seemed to be melting off in an avalanche of mud running to the bottom.

“What are you doing?” Anabelle stepped away from me, covering her nose with the back of her hand.

I stood and slapped the excess muck off my pants. “Just making sure it was empty.”

“Give us the girl.” A guy with a heavy Spanish accent stalked into my line of sight with at least five other guys flanking him.

“Go to hell.” I didn’t think he’d be up for negotiations. “Run.” I shoved Anabelle off the beaten path toward a patch of palm trees.

In my peripheral vision, Anabelle disappeared into the dark jungle. If I could keep Marcel’s men distracted, she might have enough time to find Mack and hide. In a flash of memorized moves, I launched at the guy, gripped his weapon by the barrel, and twisted it out of his hand before I rammed the buttstock into his face.

I had at least a foot of height on these guys and years of training, but they were fast and there was only one of me. I swung around and took another guy down, and even managed to jab a third one in the ribs before three of them ambushed me and brought me down. We landed in a dark puddle where muddy water splashed into my mouth.

In the distance, Anabelle’s screams filled the air and my head with a hundred scenarios. I kicked and struggled to get off the ground until one of the men struck me from behind and everything—the Catatumbo lightning, the pelting rain, and Anabelle calling my name—faded to black, as if someone had shut off the world.

* * *

I woke up to the stench of Marcel’s manhole and my entire body throbbing in pain. Though I had to be grateful, for whatever reason, Marcel’s men let me live. Panic seeped through me when the events of what happened before I was knocked out played in my head.

Marcel’s guys had Anabelle.

I jerked to my feet, sizing up the hole I was in. The drop wasn’t a long one, maybe five feet.

Without giving it much thought as to whether the sticks poking out of the wall could hold me, I ran at the wall, jumped high to grip the stakes, and hurled myself over the pit’s rim. I landed on my side next to my duffel bag. Thank God for small favors. With my heart thrashing in my ears, I ran back toward the river. Did they grab Mack too?

As soon as I reached the water’s edge, a low whistle lured me toward a dark boulder. Except it wasn’t a boulder. It was Mack, covered in muck. “Jesus Christ. What happened?”

“Got shot.” He rolled on his side, wiping shit off himself as he slid up toward me. He could have stayed here until morning. No one would have found him.

“My butt cheek. It hurts like hell. I can barely move.” He winced, rubbing his lower back.

“Fuck. This was their plan all along. To split us up so they could grab Anabelle.” I dropped to my knees and fished out my first-aid kit. For sure the bullet was still in there, but there wasn’t much I could do about it out here without the proper tools.

“They have her?” He shifted toward me and then winced in pain.

“Yeah. Don’t move, man.” I pumped him full of drugs for the pain and the infection.

“What now?” He lay on his side.

What did Marcel want with Anabelle? Did he figure out her relationship to Charlie? Did he plan to use Anabelle to get Rebecca back? Fuck me. I was not about to let him put me in a situation where I had to choose between Anabelle and Rebecca’s life. Son of a bitch.

I rubbed my chest to ease the pressure there, glaring at the dark sky. “We’re gonna go back to Charlie and make him tell us where they took her.”

17

Crazy Stubborn Territory

Anabelle

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