Zeb could hear crashing in the forest.
Tavez should not get away.
‘Tulip!’ he roared, following the fleeing cartel boss.
‘I am here,’ Sara said, panting as she came from behind a thicket. ‘I saw him. That way,’ she pointed.
Away from the pond.
Toward the rocky slope.
Zeb grabbed her hand.
Reloaded his Glock instinctively.
And upped his pace.
Branches slapped their faces.
Agony raced through him.
Thigh.
He white-boxed the pain.
Stowed away the fury and the rage.
Summoned the calm.
Got his feet to roll on the ground.
Became a panther.
Breathed in and out, through the mouth.
Easily.
Making sure the girl was close behind him.
Ducking around trees, giving their trunks a wide berth to foil Tavez if he sprang out from behind one of them.
But the gang boss was easy to follow.
His panting and thrashing could be heard way ahead of them.
Zeb saw flashes of him.
Fifty yards away, running as fast as he could.
Zeb snapped a shot at him, more to slow Tavez down than to cause any injury.
The cartel man surprised him.
He stopped and took shelter behind a fir.
Fired a long burst at them.
‘Gringo.’
Zeb heard him swear as he grabbed the girl and flung her to the ground, rounds peppering the air above them.
‘I am not finished. I will still kill you. I will drink your blood.’
He laughed.
Zeb risked a look.
Tavez had resumed running.
Zeb got to his feet. Hauled Sara up.
Checked her swiftly for injuries.
Nothing apparent.
Continued the chase.
The trees started thinning out.
Joachim Tavez, knowing that he would be exposed soon, moved faster.
‘Don’t wait for me,’ Sara gasped. ‘Get after him.’
Zeb didn’t.
Because protecting her was more important.
The distance between them and the gang boss widened.
They caught glimpses of him as he started ascending the slope.
Tavez was wily. Vicious. And smart.
That showed when he crouched behind a boulder.
And heaved it down at them.
The rock wasn’t large.
Probably two or three feet in diameter.
However, it started gathering speed as it jumped and bounced alarmingly on the uneven surface.
Zeb and the girl lost precious seconds in getting out of its way.
By when, the distance between Tavez and them had widened to a hundred yards.
The cartel boss topped the rise.
Looked back at them.
Fired three rounds that whistled into the air and got lost in the open.
Tavez laughed, swore, and disappeared over the top.
Careful, Zeb warned himself.
He cut a wide loop to the left. They climbed carefully, as stealthily as they could, because they didn’t know what lay beyond the rise.
Tavez could be lying in wait.
Zeb slowed as he neared the rise.
His Glock out, his eyes and ears alert.
His body shielding Sara.
He bent double and crossed the ridge in a flash.
Loose gravel. Round stones. Smooth slope.
Descending two hundred yards to a stream.
No sign of Tavez.
Zeb’s foot slipped.
He started falling.
‘Stay back,’ he yelled at Sara as he lost his balance.
A shadow streaked across the slope.
‘Watch out!’
Joachim Tavez pounced on him.