“Can you think of a better place?” he asked calmly. “Or maybe you want to hang around and let Ricardo play target practice with our asses?”
She shook her head. “But I don’t have a passport. Right now I don’t have much beyond a driver’s license.”
“We can handle that,” Braden said. “We’ll worry about it when we’ve put an ocean between us and Ricardo.”
She nodded shortly then stared between the two brothers. “Now it’s your turn. Who are these people supposedly after me? You said Gabe sold you out but in the next breath, you say he took a bullet for you. So which is it? Is he a hero or a traitor?”
Chapter Fourteen
Braden grimaced. “He’s both.”
Katie stared up at him, pain and confusion brimming in her eyes. After hearing what she’d endured at the hands of the de la Cruz brothers, he had no desire to cause her more distress.
“He betrayed you for me? I’m to blame for his death?”
Ian cursed and backed away from the bed, his fists clenched tight at his sides. “You’re not to blame for the choices Gabe made, Katie. Gabe was a big boy. He didn’t have to do things the way he did. He could have come to us or to Eli. We’ve been out of the service for a while now. There was no reason to keep you a secret any longer.”
She blinked in shock. “What? He wasn’t enlisted anymore?”
Braden blew out his breath. Gabe was causing way more trouble dead than he’d ever caused alive. It was too bad he wasn’t around because Braden would be tempted to kick his ass for the way he’d taken care of Katie.
Hell, she’d been little more than a kid. Completely alone save a few visits when Gabe was on leave. The rest of the time she was left to fend for herself. Instead of doing the right thing when she was forced to kill a man in self-defense, Gabe only ensured that she’d spend the rest of her life running after he covered up the deed. Damn fool. He could have asked his team for help. They would have gladly given it.
And here she was, grateful for whatever morsels Gabe had doled out. Yeah, maybe he’d taught her to survive in a tough world, but he damn well should have been protecting her from predators like de la Cruz.
“No, he wasn’t enlisted any longer. None of us are, Katie. It’s why he damn sure should have come clean about you. We could have helped. We certainly could have gotten you the hell out of the country where you’d be safe.”
She twisted her hands in her lap and stared down at her fingers. “He talked about taking me to Argentina. But that was a while ago. Right after that he got weird. More distant and…paranoid. It went beyond the stuff with Ricardo.”
Braden exchanged glances with Ian. It was obvious that Gabe hadn’t told her shit about what had gone on during their mission to Adharji or the consequences. Which meant she didn’t know of her brother’s ability to become invisible or of Braden’s and Ian’s unstable shifts to big cats.
Ian cleared his throat and shook his head in warning at Braden.
A peculiar expression crossed Katie’s face followed by the slow downturn of her mouth. “If he wasn’t enlisted, why didn’t he come home? What have you been doing all this time? Or was this recent? Why did he keep so much from me?”
If she only knew just how much he’d kept from her.
Braden threw Ian another desperate look. Ian ran a hand over his head then settled on Katie’s other side.
“Look, Katie. I don’t know why Gabe did half the shit he did,” Ian said. “I can only tell you what I do know. He sold us out because there were threats against you. But in the end, he stepped in front of a bullet meant for us.”
“And he asked you to find me?”
“He wanted us to make sure you were safe,” Braden said gently.
She leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. She rubbed tiredly then dragged her fingers through her still-damp hair. “Okay, so you swoop in and save me from the bad guys. What then? You say we’re leaving the country. That’s all well and good but I’ve got to come back sometime. What about these people you say are after me?”
Braden slid a hand over her shoulder comfortingly. An alarming prickle skirted up his spine and squeezed his nape. He snatched his hand away and cupped the back of his neck.
Ian shot him a sharp look, and Braden looked away, closing his eyes wearily.
“One thing at a time, Katie,” Ian said as he stepped closer. Was it an attempt to get between Braden and Katie? The man appreciated the idea that Ian was ready to step in. The beast growled deep within.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
He sucked in deep breaths through his nose, his nostrils flaring with the effort.
“We’ll eliminate the threats as they present themselves,” Ian said calmly. “You won’t be alone anymore.”
Braden lost Ian’s voice as a dull roar began in his ears. He jerked up from the bed like a puppet and staggered toward the door, his only purpose to escape. Instead, from the void, he heard Ian’s harsh command for Katie to get out and stay out. Before he could protest, Ian tackled him.
They went down in a tangle on the floor, Ian’s heavy body sprawled over his. He struggled weakly, and then a cool blast of aerosol hit him in the face. Seconds later, the jab of a needle made him flinch. His body went lax and fatigue swarmed over him with the speed of a bullet.
He was dimly aware of the battle between the man and the cat. For a few moments, he felt what the cat felt, saw what it saw, smelled what it smelled. And then the beast retreated with a low snarl.
For the moment he’d won.
Ian’s low curses registered in the distance.
“Braden, talk to me, man.”
Braden groaned and tried to open his eyes but the sedative Ian had injected was too powerful. His body jerked as Ian hauled him to his feet, and he stumbled. He went down like falling timber, hitting the bed with a thump.
Ian looked down at his brother and swore. Then he swiveled and saw Katie staring from across the room. She was backed against the wall in a defensive posture, and her gaze was locked warily on Braden.
“What’s wrong with him?” she demanded. “What’s wrong with both of you? Do you have some sort of seizure disorder?”
Ian latched gratefully onto the opening she unwittingly offered, because he sure as hell had no intention of telling her just how close she’d come to being cat food.
“Something like that,” he muttered. “Look, we need to get on the road. We’re sitting ducks. Let’s get everything into the truck and then you need to help me get Braden out of here.”
She froze, her body stiff against the wall.
His eyes narrowed as he stared impatiently at her. “You’re not still holding on to the stupid idea of going it alone are you?”
A hysterical-sounding laugh escaped her lips. “You’re asking me to trust two ex-military guys with some funky seizure disorder who’ve done nothing but fuck things up for me ever since they walked into my life. Yeah, real hard choice here.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t become you,” Ian said. “Get your things and head out to the truck or I’ll stuff you in the back myself.”
Rage flared in her eyes, and to his surprise, she stalked over and got into his face. Oh hell, did she have to get that close? He was already having a devil of a time keeping the cat from rearing its head. One whiff of her, and he’d be shit out of luck. Braden wouldn’t be able to help him this time.
“What you can do is back the fuck off,” she snarled as she rose up on tiptoe to get a better angle into his eyes. “I am tired of men with more brawn than brains. I’m tired of being manhandled and pushed around. You touch me, and so help me God, I’ll castrate you.”
“I don’t have time for your tantrum,” Ian said in a bored tone. “If you want to stick around and let Ricardo’s men grab you so you can be his plaything then knock yourself out. Braden and I are out of here.”