Stone Cold Cowboy(108)

Trigger slanted his gaze toward her, then cast it over to the trees. The whap, whap, whap of helicopter blades drew closer. Rory had gotten her message. That, or Trigger had contacted his brother. Either way, help was coming.

Torres’s gaze narrowed on Derek and her brother. “You set me up.”

His men drew their weapons. Everyone, including Sadie, ducked for cover. Torres ran back to his vehicle, jumping in even as it backed out. His men shot at them to cover Torres’s retreat as they ran to the car and climbed on the running boards and dove into the back.

The chopper crested the hill, gliding in fast.

Derek went after Trigger. “You fucking sold us out.” Derek lunged for Trigger, swiping the knife through the air at Trigger’s gut. He jumped back out of the way, then swung his huge fist straight into Derek’s jaw, sending him to the ground.

The helicopter hovered overhead, whipping up dirt and leaves in the downwash. Sadie backed up, blocking her face with her hands to keep from getting anything in her eyes. Trigger walked toward her. In the commotion, she lost track of Connor, but spotted him when Trigger reached for his head, fell to his knees, and face-planted in the dirt. Her brother stood behind him, a rock in his hand. He raised it to smash it into Trigger’s skull again. Rory ran out from the trees and tackled him to the ground as a shot rang out from above. Connor grabbed his bleeding leg and howled in pain, then went berserk, trying to fight off Rory to get away. Rory held him down and shook him to get him to stop.

Sadie ran to Trigger and rolled him over. His eyes fluttered and squinted against the chopper’s downwash. She leaned over him and brushed her fingers over his long hair at the base of his head. Her fingers came away sticky with blood. His eyes went wide, his gaze locked on something behind her. She glanced over her shoulder too late to move out of the way. Derek plunged the knife in his hands down toward Trigger’s chest. She gasped, lying herself over Trigger’s body, hoping the inevitable didn’t happen. Trigger tried to push her away, but not in time. DEA agents ran out from every direction. Another shot rang out and a heavy weight landed on her back, the knife slicing through her shoulder. Fire exploded down her arm and up her neck. She stared across the dirt and grass at Rory with his knee planted on her brother’s back, a DEA bulletproof vest covering his chest and a small gun in his hand pointed in her direction. Shocked, her vision tunneled in and winked out.





CHAPTER 29

Rory dropped the gun and lunged for Sadie the second her eyes fell closed. The blood running down the top of her shoulder and over Trigger frightened him more than the fact he’d shot Derek and dropped him right on top of the woman he loved. Rory shoved Derek off her. One of the DEA agents dragged him several feet away, dumped him in the dirt, then checked his pulse. Trigger grabbed Sadie by the shoulders and rolled her off him, gently laying her next to him. The bloody knife fell away.

Rory dropped to his knees beside her, thankful the knife wasn’t sticking in her, but still scared out of his mind that she’d passed out. “Sadie. Sadie, sweetheart, please wake up. Please be okay,” he begged.

The helicopter finally moved away and disappeared over the treetops. Rory thought he’d be able to think again without all the noise, but all he did was think one thought. He couldn’t lose her.

“Please be okay.” He ran his shaking hand over her pale face and laid it on her soft cheek.

Trigger pulled her sweatshirt away from the wound. “Look, man, it’s not that bad.”

“She’s bleeding.”

“He didn’t stab her, just cut her deep on the top of her shoulder. She’ll need stitches, but it’s not that bad. See.” The relieved sigh Trigger let out eased Rory’s worry, but not enough to slow his racing heart.

Rory took his eyes off Sadie’s too pale face and studied the open gash seeping blood that oozed from the wound. Trigger was right. It wasn’t that bad. It could have been a hell of a lot worse.

“Rory,” Sadie mumbled, her eyes fluttering open.

“Sadie.” Her name came out on a relieved exhale. “Are you okay?”

“My shoulder hurts.”

Trigger took the gauze one of the DEA agents handed him and pressed it to the bleeding wound.

“Ow!” Sadie tried to move away from Trigger and the pressure he put on the wound. “Stop.”

Rory brushed his fingers over her forehead and into her hair. “Shh, you’re okay. It’s okay. You’re bleeding. He cut you.”

“He likes to watch me bleed.”

“He’s dead, sweetheart. He’ll never hurt you again.”

Sadie let out a ragged sigh. “You saved Connor.” She rolled her head and stared over at her wailing brother. Another agent wrapped a bandage around his leg. He tried to shove the agent away with his handcuffed hands. “The shooter in the helicopter would have killed him to save Trigger.”