To Honor and To Protect (19 page)

“They’re trying to flush us out,” he said as another bullet bit into a tree well above their heads. “Either they’ve never used those guns, or they want you alive.”

It wasn’t much relief and she had no confidence that Everett’s orders would leave Andy and Drew alive, too.

“Too bad. I don’t want them at all.”

His smile was edgy and dangerous. “Then we’d best hurry.”

* * *

T
HEY REACHED THE
tree line near Nico’s cabin and skidded to a stop. Drew was surprised it was still standing. He’d expected them to have burned it to the ground, eliminating Addi’s options. He didn’t see any activity and the place appeared deserted, but the fire pit had been used recently. Probably this morning, he thought, catching the faint scent of wood smoke in the air.

Only a short hike between them and the boats they’d left. Everett’s men would be on them any minute, and if they didn’t move now, it would be open season on Addi. “We’ll go for the boats.” And deal with it later if they were no good.

They made it across the clearing and through the marsh grass and trees to the far shore. Spotting the boats they’d pulled onto the shore, he stopped, assessing the area for any threat. It was the perfect spot for an ambush. If he only knew how many they were up against.

“That’s Nico’s boat.” Andy pointed.

“Right.” But Drew’s boat, the faster of the two they’d brought, was missing. Drew knew Addi trusted the old man, but if Everett had turned him, it explained how they’d been found.

“Craig doesn’t know anything about Nico or his mother.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes,” she said through clenched teeth. “The water is our best hope to escape.”

Knowing she was right didn’t make it any easier to race across the open space, into what could easily be a trap. He was surprised when no one rushed from the shore or the water to intercept them.

Beyond a quick prayer of gratitude, Drew didn’t waste any thought on their good fortune. At first glance, both Addi’s and Nico’s boats looked to be in good condition.

“Help your mom,” Drew said to Andy while he took up a covering position. “Can you start either motor?”

“Sure.”

Another three-round burst of gunfire chipped away at the knot of mangroves they’d used as a dock the other night.

Behind him Addi cried out and his blood turned to ice. “Are you hit?”

“No.”

“Andy?”

“No.” Her voice was choked with tears.

He turned. Addi had gathered Andy into a tight embrace, blocking the boy’s view of the boats. “Oh, no.” He saw the body of an older man with graying hair and a rangy build floating facedown in the water behind one of the boats. Produce, dry goods and a box of sodas were scattered around the body.

“It’s Nico.” She gulped, struggling for composure.

“Addi, I’m sorry.”

“Nico?” Andy asked, straining for a look.

“You keep your eyes on the water,” Drew instructed him. At seven—nearly eight—he didn’t need to stare death in the face. “Let me know if you see anything moving out there.”

“Okay.”

He wanted to comfort them both, but escaping was the priority.

“Can you get the other boat in the water?”

She nodded as another shot splintered the stilt. Drew fired into the trees, hoping to pin back Everett’s men for just another minute or so.

“Ready.”

He heard the motor start. “Go on, then. Leave the bag.”

“Not without you.”

“I’ll catch up.” The boat wasn’t that fast. “Stay near the bank.”

He heard a splash, then the rumble as the motor revved.

Spotting movement at the tree line, he squeezed off a three-shot burst and the pained scream confirmed he’d hit flesh. He could hold off Everett’s men, giving Addi and Andy time to get away. Someone on this swamp would help her. He just had to give them the chance. He’d been trained to hold the line and—

“Drew!”

It was Andy’s screech that tugged him away from that sucking abyss that whispered he was only good enough as a sacrificial distraction. They’d warned him about moments like these when the past would cloud the present. Although he was more than willing to do whatever kept Addi and the boy safe, this wasn’t the best place to make a stand.

How could he have forgotten about the other team on an attack boat? She needed him. Too much swamp remained between her and Casey’s protection. Drew reached into the bag and pulled out both transmitters. He shoved one into his pocket and toggled the switch on the other, tucking it into the mud near the mangroves. Assuming it didn’t get shot to pieces or carried away by an animal, it would give Casey’s men a place to start searching and hopefully result in a decent burial for Nico.

As Addi urged the boat out into deeper water, Drew scrambled along the bank, trading fire with the men behind them. Anticipating the best place to join her, he hollered and pointed. She waved back, acknowledging. There was something to be said for knowing a person well.

“Mom, wait for him!” Andy’s cry carried across the air, filling him with determination. He wouldn’t miss, wouldn’t renege on his promise to see her and Andy through this.

When Drew glanced their way, the boy was lying low in the boat, his head barely visible. Whatever Addi had said had calmed him down. They had a great kid, he thought, rounding the point and jumping into the water. He ignored the idea of any wildlife as he trudged through the waist-deep water to the waiting boat. He came up to the side, tossed in the drenched gear and wet gun first, then pulled himself in.

His boots were barely clear of the water before Addi gunned the motor. The bow reared up a little before the boat leveled to skim across the swamp.

Heedless of his soaked clothing, Andy crawled closer to give him a hug. “Seventy-three seconds.”

Ah, so she’d distracted him by making him timekeeper again. “Is that good?”

Andy shook his head. “It was too long without you.”

“But I made it.” He gave his son’s shoulder a squeeze.

Andy nodded. “I’m glad a gator didn’t get you.”

“I’m glad the bad guys didn’t get you.”

Another hug. Drew thought he could get used to this.

“Are you going to stay with us forever?”

He looked back at Addi, but she didn’t seem to hear anything over the growl of the motor and her eyes were on the water ahead of them. “That’s up to your mom.” But he sure hoped it worked out that way.

“But she’s gonna have a baby. You have to stay and be the dad for it.” His face clouded with worry, that familiar Bryant frown creasing his brow.

“What?”

“You and her were kissing. I saw. Kissing makes babies.”

Drew was not getting into
this
right now. “Andy, the three of us have a lot to talk about.”

“I want you to be my dad.”

“I’d be honored.” It was the best he could do, considering the poor timing of this conversation. “The three of us will— Get down!” he shouted as another attack boat approached behind them. He pushed Andy to the little protection offered by the hull of their shallow flat-bottomed boat and reached for the shotgun. It was the only dry weapon.

Addi twisted around, then swerved across the swamp as she searched for cover behind an outcropping of trees. Their boat wasn’t fast or agile and Everett’s men had no intention of allowing them out of this swamp.

A warning shot fired from the shore just as she made the turn. Though Drew was prepared to shoot back, it wasn’t worth the risk of Andy getting hit in the cross fire.

They’d been flanked by a team of professionals. The best they could do was surrender and hope the orders were to take them in alive. “Time to cooperate,” he said, lowering the shotgun and raising his hands.

Her face went pale, but she nodded, cutting the motor and raising her hands, as well.

A voice boomed from shore, “Addison Collins!”

She faced the man shouting at her. “Yes?”

“Mr. Everett wants you to come with us. Put up a fight and we’ll shoot you where you are.”

“I promise you I’ll find a better opportunity,” Drew said under his breath. Or he’d die trying.

“
We
will find a better opportunity,” she said, her mouth set in a grim line.

The attack boat came up alongside them, the leader clearly irritated by their resistance. “I’ll come with you,” Addi replied when they demanded it. “Just let my son go.”

Drew was impressed by her courage, knew she had to ask, but he wanted to keep Andy with them.

“All of you or none of you,” the leader said, raising an assault rifle.

“Be reasonable. He’s a child.”

“Would you rather I let him go right here in the swamp?”

Based on what Drew had seen, it wouldn’t be much of a hardship for Andy, but he kept that opinion to himself.

“Well?” the leader demanded.

“All of us.” Addi sent Drew an apologetic look as the men tossed them a line and tied their small boat to the attack boat.

He knew she’d weighed the decision and he murmured reassurances as he kept Andy tucked by his side. None of them, not even Andy, said a word as they were towed through the swamp to a dock and transferred to a big black SUV waiting there.

Chapter Fifteen

Drew reviewed the limited options as the SUV barreled down the road in the direction of New Orleans. The driver, weaving in and out of traffic, clearly wasn’t worried about the authorities intervening.

Drew had the second transmitter in his pocket, but his hands were cuffed. The crew was well armed. Drew recognized the semiautomatic pistols in each holster and assumed the men were more than proficient. So far the five-man team had shown a disturbing level of efficiency and a cold calm that only cranked up Drew’s adrenaline response. He was now certain that last night’s seeming inept work by these guys had been about ensuring that Addi was captured alive.

He reminded himself that he’d survived hell once already. Nothing Everett dreamed up could be worse than what Drew had endured as a POW. Yes, there was more on the line beyond his own life, but he would not cave to the fear of failure.

He didn’t know Craig Everett beyond the little insight Addi had shared, but the man had been given an excellent strike team. Casey would be very interested in this development.

The city came into view and Drew waited for his opening, knowing it would be a narrow window. With a clear path to a weapon, he could flip the whole scenario to their favor. Every fiber of his being was braced to save Addi and Andy from whatever Everett had planned.

He and Addi had been cuffed at the wrist with plastic zip ties, but Andy’s hands were free and the boy was buckled into the seat between them. Drew wasn’t naive enough to believe that minor concession was a positive thing. Everett was working for someone connected and ruthless.

The driver slowed down as the traffic got heavier. Drew leaned over Andy’s head. “Whatever happens,” he murmured to Addison, “whatever they do, don’t tell them anything.”

Her eyes welled with unshed tears, but she gave him a smidgen of a nod.

“We’ll get through this. All three of us.” He bumped his elbow against Andy’s shoulder in a small show of assurance as the driver turned down a narrow alley between two warehouses.

Drew believed Casey and his team of Specialists had to be closing in. Thinking anything else would erode his confidence. He ran through a mental checklist of the details Addi’s former fiancé didn’t know about her. His men might’ve found them in the bayou, but not because of Everett’s knowledge of her past.

Had to be that leaky contact. Had to be, Drew thought again. Everett wouldn’t have wasted time searching for Addi around her college haunts if she’d told him her real origins or given him any indication how much she valued her family roots.

The car slammed into Park and the driver cut the engine. Drew decided not to dwell on the obvious concern that their captors weren’t hiding location or faces. He’d cheated death plenty and intended to keep up his winning record now that he had two amazing reasons to stay alive. The men in the front seat climbed out and the back doors opened a moment later, flooding the vehicle with bright morning light.

Drew hopped down, hiding his trepidation behind a cocky squint. “Nice place.”

“Shut up,” the driver said, pushing him toward the nearest door.

New Orleans was a fine town, but this grimy industrial area wasn’t the sort of area preferred by a man like Everett. This seedy environment was, however, just the sort of place Drew could navigate with expertise. Places like this lurked in the shadowy corners all over the globe, always controlled by the man with the most money and biggest weapons.

Gang graffiti decorated nearly every rusting surface. Drew wondered how much Everett’s men had paid, in dollars or blood, to gain temporary control of this area. The ripe scents of trash, grease and stale fuel stained the thick, humid air. Drew hoped to turn his unfortunate affinity and experience with this kind of place into an advantage. Surely the powers that be would grant him that much, giving him a chance to create something good from the sorry remnants of his career.

“Where are we?”

Andy’s small voice sliced right into Drew’s heart.

“I’m not sure,” Addi said, “but we’re together.”

Drew didn’t turn, picturing mother and son holding hands as Everett’s men pushed them into the dreary interior of the warehouse. Two cars were parked near a wide garage door. Three battered couches and an oversize flat-screen television made up a seating area in the far corner. The windows of what might have been a supervisor’s office were covered with peeling black paint. An odd mix of industrial equipment was scattered around the space, but the stack of crates along one wall looked too new to be anything but valuable.

Drugs or guns. Drew hoped like hell this gang was the gunrunning sort. He could hardly beat the crap out of this crew with drugs. He needed a weapon.

The office door opened as they approached and out stepped Everett, looking preppy in a short-sleeved polo shirt, creased khaki slacks and loafers; Drew understood Addi’s comment about polish and charm. It wasn’t hard to picture them as an attractive power couple, able to give Andy every advantage. Drew wanted to bloody that smug face beyond all recognition.