Beyond the Breaking Point - Lori Sjoberg Page 0,29

palms behind his head. All the while, he watched the man as he approached, waiting for the right moment to spring into action.

“You’re dumber than I thought. Only an idiot would come back for more,” the man said in Spanish as he stepped closer.

Another eight or ten feet. and he’d be within striking distance.

He stopped in front of Hope and gave her a long, unsettling appraisal. “At least you brought us a snack. Too bad El Señor said we can’t have her until after he’s done with her. She’ll be too ugly by then.”

Eyes narrowed, Hope glared at the guy, but she had enough sense to keep her mouth shut.

If she kept it together, they might stand a chance of getting out of this alive.

Frustration tightened Wade’s jaw when the asshole tossed Hector a pair of metal handcuffs. “Hands behind his back. Make sure they’re tight, or I’ll shoot your balls off.”

Hector’s Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed. Cuffs in hand, he crossed to Wade, reluctance plain on his face. With his free hand, he gripped Wade’s right arm and lowered it behind his back.

“Don’t do it, man,” Hector murmured as he locked the cuff around Wade’s wrist, the metal digging into his skin. “We’ll find a way out of this.”

Yeah, right. He’d thought the same thing in Guadalajara, and look how well that turned out. This time, he knew better, and he’d rather die than let history repeat itself.

Three men still had their rifles aimed at them, and Wade sure as shit didn’t like the way one of them kept leering at Hope. To her credit, she hadn’t freaked out yet, though he noticed the slight widening of her eyes and the rapid pulse at the base of her throat. Overall, she had a pretty good poker face, but he doubted it would hold for much longer, especially if that bastard decided he wanted a taste before they delivered her to Aranza. After everything she’d done for them, he’d give his last dying breath to ensure she avoided the same fate as Carmen.

Every protective instinct Wade possessed exploded into overdrive. He had to act fast, before Hector closed the other cuff around his left wrist, because as soon as that happened, their chances of survival decreased substantially.

In his mind, Wade mapped out a rough plan of attack: dive for his gun, shoot the asshole to his right, and use the guy’s body as a shield while he fired on the other three men. There was absolutely no room for error. His aim had to be perfect. Odds were, at least one of them would get shot, but doing nothing meant death for them all.

He caught Hope’s gaze, and the tightly contained terror in her eyes hardened his resolve. No way would he allow her to be brutalized. He’d rather take a bullet than let that happen. Slowly, he tipped his head toward the ground, hoping she’d understand what he wanted her to do when the bullets started flying.

Unfortunately, he had no way of alerting Hector to his plan. He’d apologize for that later—if they survived.

An eerie sense of calm settled over him as he slipped into attack mode. Adrenaline surged through his veins. His heart pounded in his chest. Using all of his strength, Wade elbowed Hector in the gut with his uncuffed arm. Hector grunted as he doubled over. Not wasting any time, Wade spun around, grabbed Hector’s arm, and slung him at the guy with the snake tattoo. The pair crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs and a torrent of Spanish profanity.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl when Wade pivoted to the right and dove for his gun. As his hand wrapped around the pistol’s grip, a pair of gunshots split the air and two of the armed men dropped to the ground like sacks of wet cement. A third shot rang out less than a second later, taking out the third gunman.

On the ground a few feet away, Hector and the guy with the snake tattoo struggled for control of an automatic rifle. Hector was putting up a pretty good fight, but the other man was younger, taller, and outweighed him by a good forty pounds. He knocked Hector out with a cross to the jaw, rolled on top of him, and grabbed for the weapon.

Acting purely on instinct, Wade raised the barrel of his gun and fired two quick rounds. Blood sprayed the air as the man’s body jerked. His mouth