Chapter Seventeen
Emily wriggled in the man’s grasp, but the cold metal of the gun pressed against her temple stopped her in her tracks...along with the look of rage stamped on Nash’s face.
“I’m all right. I’m all right, Nash. Just do as he says.”
The man who had accosted her at the motel sneered at Nash. “And I say drop your piece and head inside for some civil conversation.”
Nash’s eyes flashed once before he dangled his gun from his fingers and let it fall to the ground.
The man scooped it up immediately and waved it at Nash. “Everyone inside.”
“The dog?” Nash folded his arms and widened his stance.
Emily’s heart jumped. What had they done with Denali? He’d been out here running around and then disappeared on the other side of the truck.
“We just sedated him with a tranquilizer. He’s not dead.” The man nodded to her captor. “Let’s move, Danny.”
While her guy, Danny, kept the gun on her at the bottom of the steps, Nash unlocked his front door. The man who now had Nash’s weapon prodded him in the back with it, and they both walked inside the house.
She knew and Nash knew, one aggressive move on Nash’s part would result in a bullet in her head.
Danny pushed her toward the porch, and she stumbled, bracing her hand on the top step. She could’ve easily swung around on this goon and disarmed him, but she had no clue what kind of position Nash was in at this point. She didn’t want to get him killed.
Grabbing her T-shirt, he pulled her up and shoved her again.
She ground her teeth together. “I can walk myself. Stop pushing me.”
“Danny, basta. That’s enough.”
When Emily walked into the house, her gaze flew to Nash, sitting at the kitchen table, his own gun trained on him, his jaw set in a hard line.
“My name is Gustavo.” His mild tone made it sound like he were visiting for lunch instead of holding them at gunpoint. With his other hand, he pointed to the chair next to Nash’s. “Sit down. We just want answers. Nobody needs to get hurt.”
“Yeah, like Jaycee? Like Brett?” Emily plopped down in the kitchen chair. “What do you want now? Both of them are dead. Weren’t you after Brett all along? Well, you got him.”
“We didn’t want that skinny junkie dead...or we didn’t care one way or the other.” Gustavo narrowed his dark eyes. “He took drugs and money from us, hijacked one of our mules just coming across the border.”
Nash ground out between his teeth, “And you were willing to use a baby to get him to turn over your property.”
“We use what’s at our disposal, Agent Dillon, just like you do.”
Nash snorted. “So, what? You killed the poor bastard when you found out he didn’t have your product? What did you do with the baby?”
Emily held her breath and curled her feet around the legs of the chair. Of course she and Nash wouldn’t let on that they had an app to track Wyatt. These two would never tell them where they’d sent Wyatt.
The man’s bushy eyebrows, incongruous paired with his shaved head, slammed over his nose. “The baby is missing?”
Emily said, “Nice try. You killed Brett and took the baby. We know. We were there in that trailer to see your handiwork.”
He stroked his chin. “We didn’t kill Fillmore, and we didn’t take the brat. We figured someone killed him for our stash of drugs, and we thought you could tell us who.”
Nash hunched forward, his hands on his knees. “You’re telling me you didn’t kill Brett Fillmore and take that baby.”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you, amigo. We didn’t kill the girl, either.”
“You would say that.” Emily crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her legs, crossing them at the ankles. “You’re talking to a Border Patrol agent—not a good idea to confess to any crimes.”
Gustavo lifted his shoulders. “Think what you want. The junkie killed his girl. Maybe he thought she was gonna rat him out. He killed that social worker, too, and took the baby, and then someone killed him, took the baby and our property.”
Danny, still pointing a gun at her, cracked a gap-toothed smile and spoke for the first time. “We want our stash and you want that baby. Looks like we’re on the same side.”
Nash grunted. “That’ll be the day. Why would the person who killed Fillmore and stole your drugs take the baby?”
Emily had her own theories, which probably matched Nash’s, but neither one was going to blurt out anything in front of these two. The farther they kept away from Wyatt, the better. And the more she and Nash kept them talking and thinking they were all in this together, the better.
Gustavo shook his head. “What is it about that baby? I know why we wanted him, but why did Fillmore want him and why did the people who killed Fillmore take him instead of killing him?”
Emily flinched. “Brett wanted him because he was the baby’s father. That’s obvious. That’s why you wanted him—to force Brett’s hand.”
“Maybe that baby had more value than we realized.” Gustavo renewed his grip on Nash’s gun. “That’s why you’re going to tell us where he is and who took him. We’ll find our product in the bargain.”
“There is no bargain.” Nash reached down and scratched his ankle. “We don’t know who stole your stuff and we don’t care. We want to find the baby.”
“And that’s—” Gustavo tipped his head toward Danny “—where our worlds collide. You’re going to look for the baby, and you’re going to keep us informed so we can collect what’s ours. We’ll even let you have the brat.”
“You’ve been smoking too much of your own product if you think I’m going to help a couple of soldiers for Las Moscas recover the drugs they illegally smuggled across the border.”
“You’ll help us, Agent Dillon, because
