grabbed Wade’s arm and slapped it hard against the concrete. The saw came next, the metal cold against his skin as Aranza decided where to cut first.
But instead of the agony of metal ripping into his flesh, Wade heard an explosion that blew one of the doors into the building.
Through the haze of smoke, a team of men wearing black body armor and protective helmets and eyewear burst into the warehouse. The sound of rain on the roof was replaced by heavy gunfire, bullets zipping through the air like swarms of angry wasps. The hands pinning Wade disappeared, and when he looked up, he recognized Austin’s bushy beard beneath one of the helmets.
“Stay down!” his brother barked, and then laid out a stream of automatic fire that dropped the guard closest to Wade. Two other guards were already dead, while another emptied his clip at the team. The remaining men scattered like roaches and took up positions behind nearby pallets.
Jackson staggered back a step when a slug slammed into his body armor, but the big man didn’t go down. Taking aim, he fired at the guard, and a thin smile spread over his face when the guy crumpled to the floor.
Wade spotted Hope crouched by the blown-out door, her medical bag slung over one shoulder and a pistol in her grip.
His heart stuttered. What was she doing here? He swore to God, if he made it through this, he was kicking Austin’s ass from here to Orlando for not locking her away someplace safe. But now wasn’t the time to worry about that. There were more pressing matters at hand, namely Aranza, who’d escaped the fracas and was racing toward the emergency exit with one of his men.
Hands still cuffed, Wade scrambled to his feet, ignoring the pain and his brothers’ shouts as he stripped a gun from one of the dead guards and took off at a run. Aranza’s guard turned and fired, the bullet whizzing past Wade’s head and pinging off a metal rack.
Wade ducked behind a pallet and returned fire, hitting the other man twice in the torso before finishing him off with a headshot. With the guard out of the way, he lined up a shot on Aranza and cursed when the gun clicked empty.
The blare of an alarm cut through the chaos when Aranza shoved the emergency exit door open and fled the building. Wade took off after him, his battered body screaming in protest, but he refused to slow down, refused to give up. If he didn’t catch Aranza, he’d be worse off than before, because now the bastard wouldn’t just come after him. He’d come after everyone Wade loved.
Outside, the storm had unleashed its fury, the wind whipping hard enough to make the rain come down sideways. Bodies littered the parking lot, a half dozen henchmen that Austin and the team had eliminated prior to breaching the warehouse.
Fueled by adrenaline, rage, and sheer determination, Wade narrowed the distance between himself and Aranza. His right pant leg was soaked with blood, each step sending bolts of pain through his body.
Without warning, Aranza stopped and whirled around, a gun in his left hand. Wade grabbed his wrist and yanked it to the right, the gun flying from Aranza’s grip and skittering across the pavement.
Fighting while handcuffed limited Wade’s options. His injuries made matters worse. The predicament wasn’t lost on Aranza, who gripped the chain between the cuffs with one hand and pummeled Wade’s ribs with the other. A kick to the thigh, and Wade’s legs went out from under him. An iron grip tightened around his windpipe.
“Fucking pendejo,” Aranza spat between gasps of breath. “When I finish with you, I’m going to find that pretty doctor you like so much. Teach her a thing or two.”
Fury burned Wade’s blood as badly as the lack of oxygen burned his lungs. He swung his cuffed hands like a club, breaking Aranza’s hold on his neck and knocking him to the side.
Both men sprang to their feet. Using his size to his advantage, Wade charged the drug lord like an angry bull. He slammed into Aranza’s midsection, and momentum sent them to the ground.
Wade rolled on top, pinning Aranza to the pavement, and looped the metal chain between his cuffs around the other man’s neck. The drug lord struggled, trying to break free, but it wasn’t long before his resistance diminished, and then disappeared altogether.
Lungs pumping like bellows, Wade pressed two fingers to the man’s neck. When he