that probably contained Garcia’s men and maybe even Garcia.
The goon’s car took an abrupt turn and disappeared down an alley.
The agent in the chopper kept them updated over the radio. “Suspects have vacated the vehicle. Two to the west, one to the east.”
Colt took the turn so sharply it felt like the car was only traveling on two wheels for an instant. Austin’s body smashed against the door. He unclipped his seat belt even before the SUV came to a full stop behind the abandoned car.
All three of them jumped out, pulling their handguns from their holsters. No sign of the fugitives. He and Kylie split off to the west while Colt headed in the opposite direction. They moved through the quiet, dark neighborhood.
People were probably still awake—but they were smart enough to switch their lights off and lock their doors after hearing the helicopter. Residents in border towns knew the drill.
A dog barked in the distance. The radio chatter told him other units had moved in quickly as backup. More barking. Maybe one of the K-9 units border patrol utilized was searching for the runners.
Ever alert, he and Kylie slipped along a high wooden fence, both of them turning half circles, weapons drawn. Even with the adrenaline rushing through his system, a strange calm washed over him. He was at his best when the danger level was high. Chalk it up to a childhood that had required constant vigilance in the face of violence, everything he’d been through as a kid made him a good ranger. In his book, he counted that as God’s mercy and justice. Only God could redeem a life like his.
The fence ended, and they ducked low as they moved along a hedge. The chopper had left them in the dark, spotlighting something several streets away. Probably Colt’s target.
Austin snapped his head around when a noise off to the side caught his attention. Through his goggles, he saw the yellow glow of a man on the run. He watched as the figure headed toward a house set apart from the others. The blast of a gun penetrated the silence and made Austin’s heart seize up.
His worst nightmare raised its ugly head. He hated getting civilians involved in this war.
Please, God, don’t let the innocent die here tonight.
He’d signed up for this, but the people in these houses hadn’t. Kylie surged ahead of him, making a beeline for the house where the goon had gone. As they drew close, she slowed down.
He didn’t see any movement outside the house, no shifting shadows. “Maybe he fired to shoot open a door.” That was Austin’s hope, anyway. That the gun hadn’t been used to kill someone.
“I’ll take the back. See if I can obtain entry and surprise him.” Kylie sprinted into a dead run, disappearing around a corner of the house.
Even as he radioed their location and asked for backup, he knew they couldn’t wait for help to arrive. Innocent people might die.
Inside the house, a light flashed on and then off.
Hopefully the goon would just run through the house and Kylie could catch him escaping out the back. That would be a best-case scenario. His chest squeezed tight. Best-case scenarios rarely happened in his line of work.
Heart pounding, Austin made his way to the side of the house. His mind flitted to Kylie as an image of her red hair and bright green eyes flashed across his brain.
Normally, he would assume she could take care of herself, but the death of an informant she clearly cared about had put her off her game, and he wasn’t sure if she had recovered.
He purged the thought from his mind. Doubt and hesitation would get them both killed. He had to move in and assume Kylie had his back, just as she always had before.
He found the door that had been blown open by gun blast and slipped inside what turned out to be the garage. He eased open the door that led to the inside of the house. The kitchen was dark. He moved across the tile making no noise at all. Gun drawn, he slipped inside the next room as the floor changed from tile to carpet.
The light in the living room flashed on.
A heavily tattooed Mexican man held a gun to the head of a woman in pajamas. She couldn’t be more than thirty. The woman’s tear-filled eyes pleaded with him as Garcia’s henchman yanked on her long brown hair.
The goon snarled at Austin.
Austin commanded him in Spanish to put the gun down.
The man lifted his chin defiantly. The coldness of the man’s eyes told Austin everything he needed to know. This was a seasoned criminal with a heart as cold as ice.
The goon would think nothing of using the woman as a human shield and then killing her so he could get away.
Austin could buy a few precious seconds by talking, but he couldn’t take the guy out without risking the woman’s life. Everything depended on Kylie moving into place and catching the man off guard.
He prayed she would be able to do that before it was too late.
Heart pounding against her rib cage, Kylie slipped around the back of the house, searching for entry. An open window caught her eye. It was nothing to push the screen out and slip inside.
She found herself in a dark hallway.
Austin’s seemingly calm voice drifted down the hallway. A light was on in what was probably the living room. Though she could not make out what he was saying, she picked up on the thread of tension that twisted tight beneath Austin’s words.
She pressed against the wall and moved toward the living room. She heard a second voice, louder than Austin’s, switching between broken English and Spanish. The intensity of the tone suggested fear and the threat of violence. She was close enough now to hear some of the words, “la matare”: I will kill her.
Terror struck through to Kylie’s core, yet she kept moving.
As she drew nearer, she picked up on a third voice, a woman crying and whispering “Please,” over and over. Kylie adjusted her grip on her gun and took in a sharp, quick breath.
She was only a few feet from being able to turn the corner into the living room when a door on the opposite end of the hallway swung open. A blonde girl of not more than five stepped out. Her eyes grew wide with fear when she saw Kylie.
Kylie put the gun back in the holster, knowing that was what frightened the child. She placed her finger across her lips indicating that the little girl needed to be quiet.
The girl stayed quiet, but it was clear she didn’t trust Kylie from the way she edged toward the living room. Kylie caught her, wedging the child inside her bent arm.
“I need you to go back to your room,” Kylie whispered.
“I want my mommy.” The girl tried to twist away.
Agitation and the need to stay calm warred within Kylie. She held the child tight but spoke gently even as precious seconds ticked away. “What’s your name?” She had to protect
