Falling with Grace - Page 170

Boom.

Boom.

Boom.

I crouched low, and Javier yanked at my flak jacket, propelling us toward the breached gate. Overhead, chunks of cinder and debris rained upon us as the common area transformed into a swirling, smoky haze.

A trio of explosions ripped through the compound, turning it into a fiery inferno. The men’s agonizing screams and battle cries reverberated over their microphones.

We stumbled across the narrow dirt street, and I flung off my helmet, the flames licking at the sky. My men emerged from the smoke-filled gateway, one man favoring a limp, another trailing blood from his right arm.

“What the hell happened there?” I seized Ramirez, helping him to the opposite side of the road, my hand sliding through his warm, satiny blood.

“We were ambushed,” Ximén said, his breaths short and gargled. “They were waiting for us to move deep inside the buildings.”

“Where are the rest of the men?”

“Two went down in the firefight, and another didn’t make it out before the explosion. There are more on the other side of the compound.” His breaths labored. “Escaped through the back door.”

Three men are gone.

For nothing.

He made a fool out of me.

I settled Ramirez onto the ground beside Manuel and Felipe—their breaths hard and raspy, their skin covered with chalky dust.

Javier bent over and tended to Ximén. “We need to get out of here.”

“I agree.” I snapped my fingers. “Eduardo, assist the men into the vehicles.”

Police sirens wailed in the distance, and the simmering irritation heightened. My men dispersed into the five large SUVs, and we roared down the road, each vehicle veering off in a different direction, mine homeward bound.

“How do you think he knew we were coming?” Javier shed his flak and tossed it to the floor.

“I don’t think he did.”

“He ambushed us. That looks like he knew.”

I shook my head. “He had one of two options.” I ran my hand through my mussy hair. “One, Grace gives herself up, and he takes off, or two, she tells me everything she knows, and we storm his doors.” I pushed back in my seat. “He knew I wouldn’t give her up. He knew I’d get the information from her, and he waited for it.”

Grace knew his dealings, the people coming and going. If she had told me his location sooner…

My fist clenched at my side, a wash of red staining the once-perfect image of Grace in my mind. My men died, and revenge fell through my fingertips because of her…

And, in turn, sealed her friend’s fate.

Mierda.

My heart thumped in my chest, and the tension simmered.

How was she going to take that?

“What are we going to do now?”

I hunched my shoulders, weariness sinking its claws into my bones.

Defeat took a sledgehammer to my spirit.