To Colombia, With Love by Piper Collins

Author:Piper Collins [Collins, Piper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-07-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Archer

“Son of a bitch!” I yell. “No, no, no…” I’m in danger of biting through my pursed bottom lip.

The heat from bodies pushed in and around me is stifling. I’m being smothered by a mob of humans. Why the hell haven’t they let up? The parade has passed, for fuck’s sake.

There’s a large man in front of me, pungent from the day’s heat and our current proximity. I don’t think. I lash out. My palms land on his back, pushing with a strength that I haven’t felt since my time in the Middle East. He rocks forward but is buoyed by the surrounding people.

“Fucking move!!” I yell. My throat burns from the effort.

The man turns to see me, his eyes growing wide. In them, I see the reflections of the street lamps and battery-operated candles, held aloft by the crowd of worshipers. It does nothing but cast him—and everyone else—in a sadistic light.

I close my eyes. I inhale the deepest breath I’ve ever taken, and I feel it. The adrenaline in me. The anger. The acute terror. The worry for Mia’s safety. How could I have let this happen? She was my responsibility, goddammit! And now she’s gone. She’s fucking gone because I couldn’t protect her well enough. What did that say about me? How could I be a professional at personal protection when I fucking lose a client?

“Hey, whoa! Arch, what happened?” Midas is at my side. Somehow, he made it through the throng. I look at him, his eyes waiting for an answer. I don’t care that he’s my boss right now. I don’t care that I’m about to admit that I’ve failed at the one thing that I excel at. He can fire me for all I care. All I’m concerned with at the moment is getting Mia back. “Archer,” he says gently.

I’m looking at his face, but my eyes are unfocused. He’s so close to me that I can sense the deadly calm that comes over him in a crisis. It’s why he had made master sergeant and I didn’t. “She’s been taken,” I say, gritting the bitter words out like they’re rocks between my teeth.

He inhales deeply. “We’ll get her back, okay?”

I can tell he’s looking at me, but again, I can’t bring myself to focus my eyesight. My hands tighten at my sides. “It’s my fault. Me.”

“Arch. Not here, not now.”

I close the infinitesimal gap between us. My chest bumps against his. “She fucking means something to me, man.”

“You think I don’t know that, Arch? Jesus Christ…” A woman near him crosses herself.

When I don’t respond, he places a hand at the back of my neck, forcefully bringing me closer. I’m an inch from his face and we’re eye to eye. “We will get her back, do you hear me?” he says again. This time, I nod in understanding.

“How could I—”

Midas still has me in a headlock. “You better shut that shit down right now, do you understand? We don’t have time for it.

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