Page 175 of Hunter's Revenge

I spot the moment when he realizes he’s not going to beat me. It’s in his eyes.

At that moment, his gaze darts to the guns near us on the ground, and I know he realizes that’s his only way out.

He’s close to the guns, so if he gets one of them, he would have that chance.

Diego dodges my punch, and instead of coming back at me with a counterattack, he lunges across and grabs the gun.

I follow him, doing the same. But I don’t reach for my gun. I grab my knife from the sheath on my side and plunge it into his neck just as he is about to cock the hammer on the gun.

The fool doesn’t realize what’s happened until blood spurts from his neck.

His eyes go wide with disbelief. It’s as if he really thought he would kill me.

“Not today, amigo.” I shake my head. “Or any other.”

I slice the knife right across his neck, nearly separating his head from his body. He’s dead before his body hits the floor.

I don’t spare him another glance.

That was just round one.

Round two just commenced because there is Jim, standing by the edge of the roof with that gun at my love’s head.

He must have been behind the column. That’s why I couldn’t see him before.

I grab my gun and rise to my feet, never taking my eyes off him.

In my periphery I catch sight of Gwen, crying and shaking against the gag around her mouth. My heart wants me to run to her and hold her so I can tell her I will never let anything happen to her, but I can’t do any of those things until I get her away from a man I didn’t know was my enemy.

“Hello, old friend,” Jim greets me, taking hold of Gwen’s arm.

“Do not use that term with me. I am not your friend.”

“I suppose not.”

It’s strange hearing him talk when I remember being told about his funeral. Just the other week I visited his grave.

I wonder who they buried, and who’s in that grave. Maybe it’s empty.

It also makes me wonder who else is in on this plot.

“Where have you been all this time, Jim?”

“South America. It turns out to be quite the place to go to when you want to stay off the grid. It does help, too, when you work with people like the Navarros.”

Motherfucker.“Give me my wife.” Enough talking about shit. As badly as I want answers, I need Gwen safe first. “Give her to me.”

“No. I’m not going to do that.”

“Because you want the cartel?” This is absurd.

“No. I don’t care about the cartel. That was Diego’s gig. All I wanted was for you to suffer. You haven’t suffered nearly enough yet. Not the way I have.”

Now I have to know why this man hates me so much. “What happened, Jim? What the hell happened to you? What the fuck did I do to you? Tell me. I think I should know.”

“You were the reason Brian died.”

His words are like a gunshot to my heart. It pierces into me, then the shrapnel finishes me off by shattering my nerves.

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