“Stay down. I’ll get us out of here to a place where we can talk safely. My men can track down the idiot who disappeared with the guns.” He squeezes between the seats and maneuvers into the driver’s seat, then starts the engine.
From the front of the SUV, Leo shouts my name at full volume. “Celeste! Fucking answer me, tell me you’re okay!”
Just as the SUV starts moving, I grab the door handle. I’ll be damned if I let this man kidnap me, gunfight or no gunfight. I open the door as he picks up speed and brace myself to bail out.
“Celeste! No!” he yells and reaches back for me just as I make a leap for the pavement. His fingers catch my jacket and tangle in my shirt. The collar rips, but he can’t hold on. I hit the concrete hard, pain jolting through my side, and keep rolling with my arms tucked in close, then come to a stop as Amador hits the brakes.
Footsteps race toward me, and Leo is at my side with Manny close behind. Leo pulls me up and into his arms while Manny spins, putting himself between us and Amador, who steps out of the SUV, gun in hand.
“Celeste, are you all right?” Leo holds me close, and I nod into his shoulder. I’m still confused by what the hell just happened, but his embrace is more than welcome comfort.
“You’re not fucking getting away with this, Gustavo!” Manny yells, raising his gun and aiming at the traitor who is running toward Amador’s SUV.
Gustavo stops, and his muzzle flashes, leaving afterimages burned into my retinas. Leo shoves me behind him, and Manny leaps in front of us. Both of them raise their guns. Manny fires first, his shot pinging off the side of the SUV just past Gustavo’s shoulder. Gustavo dives to dodge the shot, firing again as he goes down. Manny jerks, his torso twisting in the dark before he topples to the ground.
Leo jolts back against me and drops his gun, then falls to his knees at Manny’s side, gasping. I bend down, clinging to him. My eyes widen at his brother lying on the ground, a glistening patch of wetness in the center of his chest shining in the red glow of Amador’s taillights. Amador lets out a roar of rage and spins around, aiming his gun at Gustavo.
“You stupid son of a bitch! You could have killed her!” One pull of the trigger and Gustavo yelps and curls into himself, clutching his abdomen. “Get him the fuck in the car and get out of here!” Amador yells. His two thugs leap into motion and haul Gustavo into the other car.
“What about the guns?” one of the men asks. “He left with them and the money before we could unload.”
“We’ll find the bastard soon enough and make him pay for stealing from me,” Amador says. “Leave before the sharks start smelling blood.”
The men climb into the car and rev the engine, then speed off into the darkness. Amador stands there for another second.
“Are you hurt, Celeste?” he asks. His expression is cold and impassive in the shadows.
Beside me, Leo shakes his brother, but Manny doesn’t move. When he reaches for Manny’s gun, Amador lifts his and aims it at Leo’s head.
“Not a brilliant plan, pendejo. You’ll be dead before you get a chance to pull the trigger. Get his body out of here, and get some help for yourself before you bleed out. I’ll take care of the mess left behind. When you see your father again, Celeste, tell him I plan to take back what’s mine, what was always mine. If he doesn’t want me to destroy the three things he loves most, he’ll get the fuck out of my way.”
With that, he turns and gets into his SUV, leaving us huddled in the darkness.
It takes me a second to take stock of what just happened, and what we’re left with. Benny and Baz rush up then and crouch at Manny’s side.
“Jesus! Is he dead?”
Leo runs his hand over Manny’s shaved head and nods, a choked sound bursting from his throat. His hand is dripping with blood, and Benny curses.
“Fuck, dude, were you hit?”
Then what Amador said registers. Get some help for yourself before you bleed out. He meant Leo.
“Get up,” I say, standing and grabbing Leo’s arm. He doesn’t budge. “Leo, now. Benny, you and Baz get Manny into his car. Then follow me.”
I bend down and loop Leo’s good arm over my shoulder, wrap an arm around his waist, and haul him up as Benny and Baz grab Manny’s arms and legs.
Leo stands in a daze that is probably as much from blood loss as it is seeing his brother gunned down in front of him. Fucking Gustavo.
“What the hell happened?” I ask, bracing myself under Leo’s weight as he leans against me.
“You were with Amador. I didn’t know . . .” Leo begins, then another strange choking sound scrapes out of him as his gaze follows Benny and Baz loading Manny into the back seat of Manny’s SUV. “Thought you were in danger. He said you were the goods, that the guns we were here to unload were just a bonus. I couldn’t let that bastard take you without a fight, Celeste.”
I get the door to Gustavo’s Mercedes open and Leo climbs in, then I lean in after him and push his jacket open and peel open his shirt. The wound is ragged and raw from the bullet piercing his shoulder, and there is no exit wound. Blood still flows, and his shirt is soaked through. I pop open the glove box and find a stack of paper napkins that I wad up and press against the wound.
“Hold this. I’m taking you to get help.” I push him back into the seat and fasten his seat
