EBRAHIM PULLED HIS baseball cap low on his face.This was too easy.The security around Mlilo was focused outward, not inward. All he'd had to do was hop on a delivery truck, keep his head down and ride it on in. Once inside, so long as he kept his hat and sunglasses in place, no one recognized him. There were enough research teams working alongside each other that it was possible to stroll the grounds and be completely anonymous.Where was the bitch?She'd had the audacity to come to his home after what she'd done to him?His family were practically forced out of their home from being harassed by the cops. Ebrahim couldn't hardly show his face anywhere. If it wasn't for Bekker offering him a job if he jumped ship, Ebrahim didn't know where he'd be. He owed that man a hell of a lot.But this?This Ebrahim was doing for himself.The harassment would never end until he made it stop.Today was that day.Coco wasn't the only person who had it out for him, but she was the one who
THE ATMOSPHERE IN the van was tense.Paxton tipped his head back, his gut knotted up, and wished he could call Coco for some wisdom. Right now he just didn't see a good way out of this."Fifteen minutes out," Zain announced.As soon as they'd loaded up from Mlilo and left the park both of the cell signals moved. For almost an hour the signals were in transit, working their way west into Soweto.Each time Zain updated them the lower Paxton's gut sank.The signals had come to a stop inside the open-air market, in the heart of the Bekker crew.Paxton had no problem going after Luke Nodorf. The guy was scum of the worst kind. Paxton knew Bekker's guys were criminals. Most of them weren't anything close to what could be called good people. But then Paxton recalled seeing Cameron there, the pangolin thieving kid backed into a corner. How many of the people who worked for Bekker were like that kid? How many didn't have a choice?There were a lot of things Paxton could say about his dad
COCO LEANED AGAINST the front passenger seat, her arms tied to the headrest with a collection of zip ties that were cutting into her skin.Ebrahim was quiet now. He'd spent well over half an hour yelling at her as he drove the stolen car toward the city.If she'd just gone to check on the pangolins by herself like she'd wanted to, maybe this wouldn't have happened. In the split second when she'd first seen Ebrahim, she hadn't thought about herself. No, she'd first thought about Lacey. How she'd confided that maybe she wasn't as anti-baby as she'd been. That maybe her and Shane would start a family. Then there was Cane. He was her twin and regardless of what he'd done to her, he did good things. People believed in him.Coco could not risk their lives.There'd been no choice for her except to go with Ebrahim, for their sake.From the man's ranting, she'd gathered she was the source of all his life's problems. From why his family had been forced to move to why his plans hadn't worked
PAXTON SPRINTED PAST the perimeter, past his friends.Coco had been taken by the very man who'd already tried-and failed-to kill her. That time Paxton had been there to save her. This time he hadn't been there for her."Pax? Pax!" Silas bellowed.Paxton ignored him and kept going, past the cop cars.He caught sight of Zain standing behind a police van speaking with two officers. A short distance away the SUV Zain had ridden in idled, the windows down, one of the fresh meat guys at the bumper watching the crowd.That was Paxton's ride.He changed his course and in three strides he was at the driver's side door. He pulled it open and climbed inside, pausing only to unclip his rifle from his vest and slid it into the passenger seat.Silas ran straight into the hood of the SUV, staring at Paxton.He leaned out the window and yelled, "Move."Silas shook his head and Paxton didn't have to hear him to know he was cursing a blue streak, probably in Spanish. Silas always did go bilingu
PAXTON STARED AT the old money houses. Each one was surrounded by a tall fence, some topped off with wrought iron spikes. Gaining access to the property where Luke was holing up would be their first problem. After that he was fairly certain it came down to available bullets and bodies to put them in.Brett broke the silence. "Johann Nodorf, up here on the left, that's the house where the cell signals are transmitting. All three of them."Paxton eyed the collection of guys from Henchmen R Us hanging out front of the Nodorf house. Getting in there wasn't going to be easy. The moment they made their move, if Luke was smart, he'd grab for Coco."Okay, how we doing this?" Silas glanced at the side of Paxton's head. "We aren't just going to roll up to the fence, get out and see what happens."Paxton wanted a perch and his rifle. He'd pick off the whole lot of them. But that was asking a lot."If it was me?" Vito shifted, leaning into Paxton's line of sight in the rearview mirror. "I'd t
WHERE WAS HER action hero guy now?Coco shifted. At least she was more comfortable zip tied to a length of chain anchored into the floor of the garage than she'd been earlier.She focused on breathing deep, nice and slow. She'd come to in the car to them screaming and crying that Luke had killed her. While her head hurt like hell, she wasn't substantially banged up. He'd just gotten her just right on the temple and she'd blacked out. There'd be a knot later, but chances were that wasn't what could kill her.Right now she had to remain calm for her brothers. They were in this mess because of Cane and her. They were innocent.What about Mia?She glanced at the other woman. Mia had pulled as far away from Coco and her brothers as possible, the other two children clinging to her and whimpering.This was the woman Cane wanted to marry? Did he even know her?So far Mia hadn't said anything to Coco beyond a few muttered words. They didn't meet each other's gaze, they might as well be i
PAXTON WAS THE first through the wall. He had his rifle in hand, a ball of coldness in his chest. His finger twitched to pull the trigger, but he wouldn't take that first shot. It mattered. He'd do what he had to so that Coco was saved, but he wouldn't fire first."The girl. The girl, where is she?" Silas bellowed, charging into the lush back yard of the Nodorf home.The man on the porch rolled to his back and lifted a gun."Do not shoot," Paxton roared.The man's arm flinched, and the muzzle lit up with the first shot.Paxton squeezed the trigger."Pax! Pax, the door!" Silas yelled.Paxton glanced at the door where a metal barrier was lowering into place. He could just barely hear the motors humming.A window to his left shattered, blowing glass and bullets.Paxton rolled forward, hiding behind a short stone wall surrounding the grill area."Go, go, go," Brett called out as he reached them. "I'll cover you."Paxton didn't hesitate. He shot forward, his gaze on the narrowing
COCO SAT ON the bumper of the ambulance. She knew she'd been sitting here for a while, staring at the asphalt but she couldn't make herself move. It was all a blur. She wasn't even sure how she'd wound up here, just that here she was.The last clear thing she remembered was locking eyes with Paxton and then...Her mind shied away from it. Her skull ached. She was impossibly cold despite it being early evening still."Coco!"The sound of her name had her chin jerking up.Paxton?The man jogging toward her had her face. No blond hair. No broken nose. He was familiar, just not the person she wanted to see.Cane closed the distance between them at a run. When had her intellectual brother taken up running?There was so much they didn't know about each other anymore. She was clueless when it came to her other brothers, too.Brothers.Oh, God.Her throat tightened. How could she have forgotten?Cane reached for her, his hands gripping hers."James? Patrick?" Their names came out