He crossed to his bed and dragged a beat-up metal lockbox from underneath. She wasn’t surprised to see the gun inside. She was surprised that he’d gone for it.
“What’s wrong?”
He checked the weapon, then grabbed an extra box of ammo and stuffed it into the side pocket of his board shorts. “Why are you here?”
She opened her mouth, but never got the chance to reply. A footstep creaked on the porch a half second before the door flew off its hinges. Marcus grabbed her and shoved her behind him, but it didn’t matter. There were two of them, both dressed in black battle gear and ski masks. The bigger of the two went after Marcus and the second guy lunged for her.
There was no room to run, to fight, to maneuver in the small space. The man caught her around the waist and dragged her from the bungalow. She tried to see what was happening inside, but it was too dark. All shadows and fast movements. Then the gun fired, popping like a firecracker inside a metal can. Her heart lodged in her throat.
Marcus!
She kicked at her captor and landed a solid blow to his balls. His legs buckled, and his grip around her waist loosened. She ripped out of his hold and ran toward the bungalow, her feet sinking into the sand. Marcus staggered out. His nose was bleeding and he held one arm across his ribs, but his other hand was up, the gun aimed. He didn’t hesitate and fired. She whirled to see her attacker collapse face-first into the sand, blood spouting rhythmically from a hole in his neck.
Marcus half staggered, half jumped down from the porch. He released his hold on his ribs to grab her hand and yanked her along behind him. He gritted his teeth like each step pained him. “What the fuck is this, Leah?”
“I-I—” Her mind was blank.
She should’ve told him right away, but she honestly hadn’t thought they’d follow her. How could they have known she was coming here, to this speck of an island nobody but surfers had ever heard of?
And then her mind not only clicked back online but zipped into hyperdrive. If they had found her here…
Her heart threatened to pound out of her chest. She tried to pull him to a stop, but he was too strong. “Oh my God. Your mom. The kids.”
He yanked her around to face him. His dark eyes blazed anger. “What’s going on?”
“I told you I needed your help!”
“You didn’t tell me it was because armed mercs were after you.”
Her own temper sparked against his. “You didn’t give me a chance!”
“Jesus.” He let go of her and stalked down the beach, but then froze and swore under his breath. Before she could react, he whirled around and grabbed her again, marching her back toward his bungalow. She resisted. She didn’t want to go back, didn’t want to see the bodies of the men he’d killed.
But then she spotted the other four men running toward them and realized she’d rather take her chances with the dead. She fell into step beside Marcus. He didn’t return to the bungalow but zagged around it and plunged into the jungle beyond.
It went from dusk to midnight in an instant, and Leah’s eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness caused by the thick foliage overhead. When she could see again, she realized Marcus wasn’t plunging recklessly into the jungle after all. There was a thin, winding path. Not much of one, but still it gave her a sense of comfort to know he wasn’t dragging her into the jungle without a direction.
A shadow stepped into their path, the outline of a gun in its hand.
Marcus skidded to a halt, his gun coming up. But he was too late and they both knew it. The shadow had plenty of time to shoot them in the endless second it took Marcus to level his own weapon.
“Hey, hey,” the shadow said and raised one hand in a halt gesture. “It’s okay.”
The shadow figure was…a woman? Leah looked to Marcus for instruction, unsure how she should react.
“Mercedes Raya.” He didn’t lower his gun. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
The shadow woman scoffed. “C’mon, Deangelo. If I had wanted you dead, I could’ve killed you months ago. Instead I called your boss to drag your sorry drunk ass out of the snow before you froze to death. I think that means you owe me.”
After another tense moment, he relaxed marginally but still didn’t completely lower his weapon. He hitched his chin toward the beach. “How do I know you aren’t with the dead guys in my cabin?”
“Maybe because I’ve been here all along?” she suggested and gave a snarky little wave as she moved closer. “Howdy, neighbor.”
“You followed me.”
“Of course I followed you. Defion wants me dead, and they want you dead. The enemy of my enemy and all that jazz. I figured they’d come after you sooner or later, and I wanted to be here when they did.”
“I’m sorry,” Leah interrupted. “Is this really the best time for a chat? Did we forget about the men with guns chasing us?”
Mercedes was close enough that Leah could now make out the details of her face. She would have been pretty if not for the hardness in her eyes. Instead, she was intimidating. She gave Leah a short, dismissive up-down then returned her attention to Marcus. “How many are there?”
“Six. I neutralized two.”
“We can take them. Who are they? Defion?”
Marcus glanced at Leah, and there was no missing the anger still burning in his eyes. “Don’t know for sure but don’t think so.”
“You don’t think so.” Mercedes sounded doubtful. “Who else wants you dead?”
Both of them looked at Leah. She shook her head in disbelief. Were they really going to just stand around gabbing when people were chasing them with guns? “Does it matter right now?”
Mercedes lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Nah, suppose not.”
Without a word, Marcus turned away and scanned the path behind them. “She’s right. We gotta move.”
He took Leah’s hand and pulled her around Mercedes.
Mercedes scoffed. “You’re just gonna run? You don’t want the whos, whats, whys? We can take them!”
“Not putting Leah at risk like that.”
Whoa. He wasn’t going to get answers because of her? No. She wouldn’t be a burden like that. And she damn well wanted answers, too. She tried to pull him to a stop and got dragged several steps. She managed to rip her hand out of his grip and dug her heels in. “Can you really take them?”
Marcus stopped walking. His sigh moved his shoulders before he turned around. He met Mercedes’s gaze over her shoulder, then sighed again. “Probably.”