Mastering the Devil (Rush Series Book 4) (13 page)

“Oh, we’re not taking them out. We’ll let them take the
ir spoils, then follow the rats back to their lair,” Alex replied.

“We’re going to need surveillance equipment,” John commented.

“I hesitate to say this in front of your two misfits, but money isn’t an object. Time, on the other hand, is. We need to gather our supplies today and execute our plan tomorrow,” Alex said.

Erick and John glanced at each other and shrugged. “Let’s get this party started,” Erick said, rubbing his hands together.

~M~

While the movies had seemed like a good idea at the time, Devon found the whole two and half hours to be excruciating. Thoughts swirle
d in her mind and they battled with each other on which would take prominence; thoughts of Jacob and Miguel, or thoughts of Alex and the realness of knowing he was gone from her forever.

If she thought the movies
was hard, it was nothing compared to dinner with her mother. She was forced to pretend as if nothing was wrong and had to make herself focus on what her mother was saying and then respond accordingly. But apparently, she wasn’t doing a very good job.

“Mijo, what’s the matter? You don’t seem yourself,” her mother said.

Devon glanced up and cringed at the worry she saw in her mother’s eyes. “Nothing really… just a work thing,” she answered.

Sharon pressed her napkin against her lips as she studied her daughter carefully. “I know you think I don’t
know you anymore, and maybe I don’t. But one thing I’m very familiar with is fear. You’re afraid of something. Tell me what it is,” she demanded gently.

Setting down the fork she was using to push the food around her plate, she took in her mother’s face. There were lines there that hadn’t been there the last time she’d seen her. How many of those lines came from the stress and strain caused by Miguel, she could
n’t help wondering. “I’ll always be worried until Miguel is either behind bars, or better yet, dead.”

Her mother sat back and inhaled deeply. “My sweet daughter, please don’t let Miguel Munoz consume you. We are together, is that not enough?”

“How can you say that? He is a monster who deserves to be punished. He killed papa and Roman, he was abusive to you – held you captive, how can I not be consumed by him?” she said harshly.

Sharon met her daughter’s gaze levelly, “You are letting him win. You should let him go and think of him no more. He can’t hurt us any longer.”

“He is still out there somewhere. He could show at any time. What if he takes you again? What if I can’t protect you? Doesn’t that worry you?”

Slowly, her
mother shook her head. “I’ll just be thankful I was able to spend this time with you.” Her mother tilted her head and stared at Devon’s face for a long moment, with a voice which shimmered with emotion, she said softly, “You’re so much like your father. He’d be so proud of you and what you’ve done with your life.”

Devon reached across the table and held her mother’s hand. “I love you, mom,” she said softly.

“And I, you,” she answered, with a squeeze to her daughter’s hand. Picking up her fork, she took a bite of her veal, before asking, “Have you ever thought about going to the States?”

Devon blinked at her mother for several long moments
. “Mom, I’m not running from Miguel! I will find him,” she said adamantly.

H
er mother’s lips tightened, “He’s a very dangerous man.”

“And I’m a pissed off woman with five years of rage stored up. I say bring it on!” Devon declared.

Her mother’s lips tightened once more, but this time she didn’t answer.

It was early evening when Devon and her mother
had returned home from the movies and dinner. She’d called Cash en route to let him know they were on their way back. He’d been sitting in his car in the driveway by the time they arrived. Now, Devon was in shorts and running the skimmer through the swimming pool. Even this late in the day, sweat dripped down into her eyes causing her to stop continually and swipe at them with tail of her T-shirt. She didn’t mind though, she found she liked the manual labor. It seemed to help burn off some of the excess tension in her body.

“It’s hot as hell out here,” Cash grumbled from his seat under the covered lanai.

“Yeah, I feel bad for you as you sit in the shade drinking margaritas,” Devon said with a grin.

He smacked his lips. “I must admit, your mom sure does make a mean one. I’m considering it a perk, seeing as how I have to endure your surliness. Do you want to tell me what’s happened to put you in this mood?”

She dropped her gaze back to the blue net of her skimmer. “You mean beside Miguel being out there somewhere, plotting who knows what?”

“Yeah, beside that.”

“Well, then nothing,” she said, as she moved around to the back side of the pool.

Slowly, he shook his head. “Devon, Devon, Devon,” he said as he tskked at her. “When will you learn that you’ll never be able to lie to me?”

She shrugged her shoulders and gave him a look which bespoke:
I don’t know what you’re talking about
.

“Don’t try to look all innocence at me. I know better. So spill,” he persisted.

As casually as she could as she continued to skim the sparkling water, she asked, “How well do you Jacob Roundtree?”

“Jacob? What’s he got to do with anything?”

“I didn’t say he had to do with anything, it was just a question,” she said irritably.

“I guess I know him as well as anyone knows their supervisor. Why?”

Once again, she shrugged her shoulders, “No reason.”

He clucked his tongue at her and shook his head, but all he said was, “God! It is so freaking hot!”

Devon sighed and huffed. “Well, big baby, if you think you can get off your butt for one second, there’s a switch for the fan on the wall by the grill.”

“There is? Well, why didn’t you say so?” He slid smoothly to his feet and sauntered towards the grill. He stopped and blew a kiss to her mother who was standing at the opened sliding-glass doors
taking in their interactions.

“Devon, you’re not being a very good host,” she scolded.

“Don’t encourage him, mother.”

Completed with her task, Devon pulled the skimmer from the water and set it on the edge of the pool and began making her way towards the lanai. She watched as Cash found the switches for the fan and the light fixture. Not knowing which one was which, he inadvertently flipped the light switch. She opened her mouth to tell him it was the other one, that was when she saw the light fixture flicker… just like at the house that had exploded. But she never had an opportunity to speak one word.

Everything seemed to slow down so that it went as if slide by slide in a projector. First, she saw Cash turn towards the house and yell something; then he leapt towards her. In the next second, a huge ear-splintering explosion sent him flying right into her. When he slammed into her, she had a second to acknowledge the hideous pain when her previously dislocated shoulder was once again dislocated. She opened her mouth to scream against the pain at the exact moment they landed in the pool, causing water to rush into mouth. Devon struggled against both mounting panic and terror as she gulped in what seemed like gallons of the chlorine water. It took her a second to remember to close her mouth.

Together they landed in the pool as brick, mortar, and glass flew and slowly sank to the bottom of the pool with them. Even through the
seemingly weightless quality the water gave their bodies, she hit the bottom with a hard impact, with Cash landing on top of her. The momentum of their explosive fall caused the rough surface of the pool’s bottom to scrape harshly against her skin. She pushed her way past Cash to reach the surface as her lungs burned from the lack of oxygen. Once she broke the surface, she gulped in deep gasps of air and coughed and sputtered against the water she’d ingested. She brushed the hair out of her eyes and frantically looked around the pool’s surface, but Cash didn’t come up. Diving quickly back into the water, she opened her eyes and the chlorine stung them like acid. Through the clear water and slowly sinking debris, she saw him right away. She kicked her feet and struggled to navigate with only one functioning arm. Even through the coolness of the water, she felt a rush of heat encompass her body as her shoulder protested at being moved in such a way. As smoothly as she could, she made her way through the water to reach him as quickly as she possible.

When she reached him, she hooked her good arm under his armpit and struggled to get him to the surface. When she finally broke through, she tugged his lifeless body to the pool’s edge. When she began to pull him from the water, blood streamed from his back from the many hideous cuts and gashes he’d received from the explosion and from catching the bulk of the debris. The once clear blue of the water was slowly turning
a reddish-muddy color.

Sobs tore from her chest
as she struggled to hold it together. “Don’t you dare die on me,” she ranted. “You hear me! I mean it. Don’t you dare die!”

Slowly, she made her way to the steps at the shallow end of the pool and dragged his still lifeless body clumsily up the stairs one handed; it seemed to take forever. He was sure to have bruises all over his back and shoulders in addition to all the cuts. She cringed at having to lay him where he was injured the most, but she had no choice.

She finally got him on the rough cement surrounding the pool and began to try and perform CPR, although the task was made complicated by being able to use only one hand and arm. All the while, she commanded him to wake up. She slapped his cheeks, blew much needed oxygen into his lungs, then began the compressions once more. She didn’t know how long she did this, only that the strain on her arm, and the intense jarring on her dislocated shoulder made her tremble. Finally, after what seemed a lifetime, he sputtered and a gush of water ran from his mouth.

“Oh, thank God! Thank, God!” she murmured over and over.

When he could finally focus in on her face, he rasped, “What the hell happened?”

“It was an explosion, like the drug house,” she said
breathlessly. “How do you feel?”

“I’m okay, how’s your mom?”

Her mother
! How could she have forgotten her? Rushing to her feet, she picked her way through the debris. The entire backside of the house lay in ruins. Whimpering and holding her throbbing arm steady, she continued forward through glass which cut and stabbed her bared feet. She pushed aside huge chucks of the house’s exterior as she struggled between sobs and calling her for her mother over and over.
She’d been standing in the doorway when the explosion happened
, that was all Devon could think of.
Please, dear God! Please, no
. She’d just found her. She didn’t want to lose her now.

Tears began to blind her and hastily she brushed them aside as she frantically dug through the rumble. A wail escaped when she saw legs jutting out in an awkward, unnatural angle from underneath the flattened dining room table. S
itting on top of the table were parts of the roof and a huge chunk of the kitchen sink. She struggled to remove the debris but it was so heavy, beside the fact her whole body was shaking with emotion.

Sobbing over and over,
please no, please no
, in frantic, uncoordinated movements she pushed against the elements which kept her from her mother. Cash’s hands on her shoulders tried to restrain her, she yelped at the pain, but violently shrugged them off.

“I have to get my mother,” she screamed through her nearly hysterical sobs.

“Devon, it’s too late. I’m so sorry but it’s too late,” he said as he once again tried to restrain her.

Batting away at his hands, she cried, “You don’t know that. She can’t be dead. We just need to get to her, like I got to you. Come on, please help me,” she pleaded.

Cash cupped her cheek. Gently, he said, “Devon, I’m sorry, but she’s gone.”

“Noooo!” she cried, as she collapsed against him, “Nooo.”

Pain like she’d never known tore across her chest and seemed to threaten to burst through her skin. Defeat caused her shoulders to sag even further as hot, burning tears gushed from her eyes. Harsh, guttural sobs were rent from her very depths as the reality of her anguish took hold.

He wrapped his mangled, scorched arms around her even though the contact was excruciating. “Shhh,” he murmur as he pressed his lips against her wet hair. “I’m so sorry, Devon, so very sorry. We’ll get through this,” he continued to murmured words of comfort until her sobs lessened.

Still buried against his chest, she sobbed, “I just got her back. I was supposed to keep her safe. I failed her. It was my fault. If I’d have left her with Miguel, she’d still be alive. I killed her. I brought this fate on her. Oh, my God!”

Cash’s arms tightened around. Roughly, he said, “That’s not true, God, that’s not true. Don’t even think that way.” While keeping his arms around her, he stepped back to look into her face. “That kind of thinking does no one any good. Now, we need to call the authorities so we can get your mother out, okay?” he said in a soothing, rational voice.