Exposed (29 page)

He would
not
give up. Had to find a way to get out of this.

But he couldn’t move his limbs. Could barely twitch his fingers.

The sudden quiet was jarring. Everything around him was a blur. The blood loss left him weak and cold. Even though the brilliant summer sunshine beat down on him it felt like he was encased in ice. Someone rolled him over to his back, tearing a cry of agony from him.

“Miguel. Miguel, look at me.”

At the pain in Julia’s voice he turned his head and looked up into her face. She was kneeling beside him. There were tears in her eyes. They rolled down her cheeks as she knelt close, her leg touching his head.

Her arms were bound behind her.

They’d fucking cuffed her. Were going to drag her away because of him.

His heart twisted. He was free in a sense, just not the way he’d wanted. Julia was beside him but he had probably mere minutes left to live. It hurt to breathe and his heart beat sluggishly.

His hand twitched as he tried to move it. He wanted to touch her. Couldn’t.

“Ma’am, get back,” the HRT member holding her bound wrists said in a Southern accent. “It’s over.”

“Just let me say goodbye, goddammit,” she snarled. Bending low, she pressed her cheek to his. The gesture pierced him, the warmth of her skin penetrating some of the ice.

Julia. His sweet Julia. “I’m s…sorry,” he rasped out, feeling the last of his strength fading fast.

She shook her head, the tears falling faster now. They landed on his face like raindrops. “Don’t. Just be still. They’re going to get you help, okay? A medic’s coming, he’ll help you.”

His heart pumped harder, a jolt of adrenaline flashing through him.
Can’t stay here. Have to move
.

But he could barely keep his eyelids open.

She pressed her cheek harder to his. “You saved Marisol and me,” she said in a choked whisper. “You
saved
us.”

Yes. At least Julia was alive. It wasn’t much, not when compared to all the lives he’d taken, but it was something. He wondered what God would have to say about the things he’d done.

You’re about to find out.

Grief speared through him at the realization, hot and sharp. He didn’t want to leave her. He’d wanted to start fresh, had thought he would have time to figure out how to get her to come with him. His whole body shook, the pain in his heart eclipsing the agony of the bullet wounds.

A nearby motor throttled down and a hard male voice called out. “Hold him steady while I get a central line in.”

He struggled, a desperate will to survive erupting. They were arresting Julia. He had to protect her.

“No, lie still,” Julia begged.

“S-sorry,” he slurred. The cold seeped deeper, freezing him from the inside out.

“Hold on,” Julia whispered to him as she drew away. In his fading vision he saw her get to her feet.

“Don’t you move.” The growl came from the left.

He stared up into Julia’s face as the deck vibrated with heavy footsteps. His head hit the deck as someone half turned him. Everything was growing fuzzy. His vision was nearly gone but he could still catch snippets of what Julia was saying.

“Help him. You have to help him.”

No
.

He opened his lips, tried to force the word out. He didn’t want them to save him. Not when he’d only wind up behind bars for the rest of his life. He’d rather die here with Julia beside him, be able to look at her as he took his last breath.

Then they’d both be free.

It had been selfish of him to ever want her to leave everything behind to be with him. No matter how careful they would have been or how often he checked over his shoulder, there would always have been a threat hovering over them. She might have acted like an operator today, but if he died here, at least she’d be safe from his enemies.

Strong hands turned him, shoved something against the wound at the top of his chest. The one that had shattered his lung.

He barely felt it when someone pressed down on his abdomen. With a last burst of strength he moved only his eyes, searching out Julia’s face.

She was standing near the edge of the boat, crying silently as she stared back at him. The sun streamed through her hair, forming a glowing halo around her head, her pale blue eyes wide and locked on him. Pleading with him to hang on. His angel.

I love you, my angel. I’ll always watch over you.

Imprinting that image of her in his mind before the edges of his vision went gray, then dark, he closed his eyes and consciously let go. His heart thudded slower and slower in his ears. Men moved around him, pressing on his chest, checking his pulse.

The last thing he heard was Julia’s panicked voice echoing through his mind. He clung to it, determined to take it with him into the black void of death.

“Miguel,
no
! Don’t die on me…”

Have to, angel
, he thought in the moment before his heart stopped.
It’s the only way I can protect you.

Chapter Twenty-One

Over. It was all over.

Marisol huddled beneath the blanket Schroder had thrown around her shoulders just before he boarded the other boat. Miguel and Julia were both in custody, but from what she could see, she didn’t think Miguel was going to survive.

There were too many things going on in her head right now for her to even know how to feel about that. And she wondered just who the hell Julia was, and how she fit into this mess.

Shivering, she kept her gaze pinned on Ethan as he stood and met her gaze. He seemed a bit unsteady, wove on his feet slightly for a second.

She bit down on her lip as a hot wash of tears flooded her eyes. She’d been terrified when he’d launched himself at Miguel like that.

He stepped over the edge of the speedboat into the Zodiac and she dropped the blanket, surging to her feet to reach for him. He caught her and dragged her close, his strong arms crushing her to him. He smelled of blood and sweat but she didn’t care.

“Soli,” he rasped out. “God, Soli. You all right?”

She couldn’t answer. Could only cling and fight not to cry as he held her. Her shoulders shook as the first sobs ripped free.

He murmured something she didn’t catch and cradled the back of her head with one big hand, curving his body around hers. Sheltering and protecting her.

Images from earlier flickered through her mind, a movie on fast forward. She squeezed her eyes shut and fought to block them out.

Slowly the heat from his body penetrated through the wall of shock trying to engulf her. Her hands gripped the back of his fatigues, squeezing fistfuls of the fabric. Unbelievable as it seemed, she was alive. They both were.

Ethan pressed his mouth to her cheek. “Baby, are you hurt?”

She shook her head, wouldn’t let go. Yes, she hurt all over from what felt like a thousand cuts and scrapes and bruises, but she wasn’t injured.

When the tears had slowed she lifted her head to peer up at him. “Are you ok-kay?” She’d seen him hit the deck when he’d been fighting Miguel, had seen the other man head-butt him. Already a bluish bruise was forming around the edges of the lump in the center of his forehead. He could have a concussion.

“Yeah, I’m good, kitt’n. Now that I’m holding you and know for sure you’re safe, I’m good.”

She set her hands on either side of his face, stared up into those beautiful light brown eyes. “I saw you go down, and him hitting you.” She bit her lip as her throat closed up. “I was scared you weren’t going to get back up.” Even though his teammates had all been there, she’d still been terrified.

His eyes filled with tenderness. “I’m tougher than I look, baby.”

She let out a watery laugh. “You look plenty tough to me.”

“And you’re definitely tougher than you look. Knocking Miguel over and jumping into the water like that, when I know how much you hate being in it.”

“Survival reflex.”

He kissed her gently then bent to scoop her up into his arms as he sat in the middle of the boat and wrapped the blanket tight around her body. “Whaddya say we get to shore and get you into some dry clothes so you can warm up?”

She nodded against his shoulder, let her eyes close to block out the sight of Julia standing on deck with Tuck holding her bound wrists. She was crying as Miguel likely lay dying in front of her. There was no question she loved him.

Marisol shivered. “Just as long as you don’t let me go for long.”

His arms tightened fiercely around her. “That’s a promise.”

She didn’t open her eyes when some of his teammates came on board and started the boat up. On shore a mob of people in uniform awaited them.

Marisol huddled under the blanket as Ethan rushed her to a waiting ambulance. Plain-clothes agents were gathered around talking to his teammates while others went to deal with Miguel’s body and Julia.

She glanced around for the woman. Didn’t see her. “Where’s Julia?”

“Julia?”

“The woman with Miguel.” Who the hell was she, anyway?

Ethan stopped and scanned the immediate area. “Dunno, but I saw Tuck hand her off to another agent on shore. Must be with one of the EMTs now, getting checked over.”

There were at least five ambulances on scene that she could see. Ethan shifted her in his arms and strode for the back of the ambulance. A paramedic helped him settle her onto a stretcher.

Annoyed, she tried to push up. Going to the hospital would mean she’d be stuck there for hours, not including all the time it took to talk to the FBI and local cops about what had happened.

She wasn’t hurt worse than some cuts and scrapes and bruises. More than anything she just wanted to talk to whoever she needed to talk to in order to be cleared to go home. Or the safe house, or a hotel. Wherever the hell they would allow her to go, so she could be alone with Ethan for as long as possible.

“No, I’m f-fine,” she protested. Just cold. She couldn’t seem to warm up, kept shaking despite the blanket and Ethan being next to her.

Ethan flattened a hand on the center of her chest, keeping her pinned to the stretcher. “You’re not fine. Not until the doctors say you are.”

She opened her mouth to argue but a sudden commotion broke out beyond the ambulance, near the dock. Raised voices reached her, and people began scrambling away from the scene. Frowning, Ethan stood to see what was going on and Marisol sat up.

A few seconds later DeLuca materialized out of the crowd and came rushing toward them, his brows lowered in a tight frown. “Did you guys see the female suspect anywhere in the last two minutes?”

Ethan blinked at him. “Tuck handed her off to—”

“Yeah, I know.
After
that.” He looked at Marisol, his stance radiating tension.

She shook her head. “We thought she was with the paramedics.”

He pulled off his Chargers ball cap and ran a hand through his slightly thinning-on-top hair. “She was.”

Huh?

DeLuca let out a frustrated growl and replaced his cap. “They must have cut off the flex ties when they started to treat her. An agent found both EMTs and the escorting agent unconscious in the ambulance. No gunshot or other visible wounds, but all three were down for the count. Taser maybe, I dunno. Agent In Charge is securing the perimeter and two teams are already out searching for her.”

“What the fuck?” Ethan muttered, turning to look at her.

Marisol’s eyes widened. Julia had done that? Who the hell was she? “I could tell she had training, but I never knew…” Wow.

She wrapped her arms around her middle, suddenly having a whole new level of appreciation for just how lucky she was to be alive. If Julia had wanted to kill her, apparently she hadn’t even needed a weapon to do it. It was a sobering thought.

DeLuca stepped back from the rear of the ambulance. “She’s the AIC’s problem now. I’ve gotta deal with
el Santo
and Villa. You guys get going so they can check you out at the hospital.”

Ethan shot him a frown. “I don’t need to get checked out.”

“And neither do I,” she argued, staring at Ethan. He was the one with the fist-sized knot in the middle of his forehead. He needed medical attention more than she did.

Hands on hips, DeLuca divided a stern look between the two of them. “You’re both going. Schroder said you both need to get checked over, so that’s how it’s going to be. Got it?”

For a moment she thought Ethan would argue, but then he sat down on the built-in bench at the side of the ambulance and folded his arms across his chest, scowling at his commander. “Fine,” he muttered.

“Hope they find Julia,” Marisol called out as DeLuca turned away.

Clearly there’d been a strong emotional link between Julia and Miguel. She would know all kinds of important information about him, maybe about his operations or other enforcers. They needed to interrogate her in detail, it was critical not only for this investigation, but for the Fuentes case.

He stopped and looked back at her over his shoulder. “They’ll find her.”

But Marisol wasn’t so sure about that.

The paramedic who would be riding in the back with them grabbed the rear of the deck, about to jump inside.

“Wait, can you give us another minute?” she asked him. The guy paused in surprise but then nodded and climbed down, shutting the doors to give them privacy.

Ethan stopped sulking and moved in close, taking her hand. “What’s up, sweetheart?”

She half turned on the stretcher, swinging her legs over the side to face him. “Need to tell you something.”

He nodded, searched her eyes questioningly.

She took a deep breath, and jumped. “I love you.”

Surprise flared in his eyes but she ignored it, kept on going.

“I knew it last night but was afraid to say anything because I thought you’d just dismiss it as me being overly romantic about what happened between us. You know, you being my first and everything.”

His eyes sparkled with warmth as he smiled and raised her hand to his mouth to press a kiss to her battered knuckles. “Would I have said that?”