Page 76 of All Twisted Up
“True, but if you remember, Trevor was nearly killed during the raid we conducted and had been undercover for a very long time before that, Hampstead,” Agent Prince said. “There’sa good chance the men never met each other even though they both worked for the same agency.”
“And prior to heading up their Tac Team here in L.A., Turley had been assigned to a DEA taskforce in Mexicali,” Agent Snow added. “That’s most likely where he made contact with Manuel Tomas who used to be Pedro Gomez’ boss.”
I could feel Nash tense beside me. It felt like he’d come to attention right there in his chair. “So, that fucker Turley has been working with the cartel this whole time. He’s the one who tried to kill Joshua.” He turned to me with a sympathetic expression. “You and your family were simply collateral damage so that Turley could cover his connection to both cartels.”
I felt a shiver run over my skin as he tightened his grip on my hand.
“In any case, we now know that we were right about who killed John Sibley,” Captain Sorensen said. “Turley probably ordered Gomez to kill him to remove any connection between himself and cartels on his way out of the building.”
“Turley no doubt promised to get Gomez out of the country, usin’ him to cover his own arse,” Patsy swore in disgust.
The words had barely left Patsy’s lips when every light in the house went out, plunging us into darkness. A split second later, all hell broke loose as the windows began shattering and the deafening sound of semi-automatic gunfire exploded in the room. I opened my mouth to scream but was instantly silenced as Nash dove off the chair to the ground, yanking me along with him as he flattened me to the carpet.
“Nash…what—” Whatever I was about to say came out as a strangled squeak as the crushing weight of his body pressed me to the floor, half stealing my breath.
“Stay down, Joshua!” he said in my ear seconds before his weight lifted…and he was gone.
NASH
The volleys of semi-automatic gunfire were nothing new to me, but the fear that lanced through me as I dragged the man I loved to the ground, wanting to shield him from bullets, certainly was.
Satisfied he was out of immediate danger, I belly crawled toward the foyer where I’d left my semi-automatic, terrified that I wouldn’t make it in time to protect my brothers but most importantly, Joshua. Though it felt like ages, I made it to the foyer in record time. As it turned out, I was right.
I needed the weapon.
The moment I snatched the rifle away from the wall, I rolled to my back, just managing to sit up halfway before a dark shape came at me with a combat knife. I blocked the deadly stroke with the barrel of my rifle, quickly flipping it, and smashing the butt across the masked man’s face, sending him reeling away. He fell backward onto his ass as I swung my semi-automatic forward and squeezed the trigger. His head kicked back, and though, I could barely make out his shape in the dark, I knew I’d placed three holes dead center in his forehead. He was nothing but a warm corpse before hitting the ground.
A new attacker squeezed off a volley before I had a chance to turn. I fell back, breath wrenched from my lungs as the three bullets hit me center mass, buried in my vest. The back of my head smashed onto the ground. My vision swam before me as I blinked, then coughed, realizing that smoke was filling the room as the sound of semi-automatic gunfire echoed around me. I clawed at my vest, doing my best to suck in air as spots swambefore my eyes. In the back of my mind, I knew passing out wasn’t an option. I loved my brothers, but no one was as invested in protecting Joshua as I was.
My ears were ringing as I finally managed to suck in a breath and I rolled, struggling to my knees, then ducking as I staggered back to the place I’d left him. He lay flat on his stomach, hands covering his head. I grunted in pain as I rolled him onto his back. He looked up at me with wide, terrified eyes but the second he recognized me, tears filled them.
“Come on!” I screamed, grabbing his hand, and twisting to block his unprotected body from the chaotic scene going on all around us. He wore a vest but that only stopped so much. I dragged him out of the dining room and into the kitchen, shoving him to the ground in a corner, shielded on two sides by cabinets as all hell broke loose in the rest of the house. I could barely make out the expression of terror on his face as I ran my hands up and down his body. “Are you hit anywhere?”
“No.” He shook his head.
Thank God.
I paused only a moment before yanking my earbuds out of my pocket and shoving them into both ears. The crackle of shouting nearly made me jump as I heard Candy acknowledging the promise of backup from whoever he was talking to. Since I hadn’t heard how long it would take or who the captain had called in, I could only speculate that LAPD units along with an airship were on the way. That’s what was called for in situations like these.
“Calder’s with me…safe,” I shouted over the cacophony of noise, looking down at his trembling form. “Sit rep?”
“Three of them are dead out back, Twizz,” Mickey shouted. “Several others are inside, probably searching for Joshua. We’re on this. Cover your boy.”
“Roger.” I had an idea and looked down at Joshua. “Let’s move!”
He nodded vigorously.
We crawled along the floor and I tore open the pantry doors to find a large, deep space. I didn’t spare a second before I was shoving him into the dark space. “Stay here!” When I tried to pull my hand free, he held on.
“Nash…don’t go out there!”
I pulled my hand free and paused only long enough to brush it over his cheek. “This is what I do, baby. Now, stay here!”
I didn’t wait for an answer before leaving him tucked into a corner and closing him in. The volleys of gunfire hadn’t lessened as I returned to the living room. I had no idea how many sicarios Turley and Rojas had sent to kill us, but the safehouse felt like a warzone. Lingering smoke from the grenades they’d thrown into the room combined with the scent of gunpowder, lit up by occasional flashes of blue from gun muzzles.
“I count several down inside the house. All friendlies report in!” Candy shouted.
“Twizz!” I shouted, unable to see anyone on my team through the swirling smoke.
