Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(21)

The other women looked between him and Zara, trying to follow the conversation and failing. But when Dave said their names, Bonita asked Zara a question.

She turned to them and answered in Spanish.

All five women looked at Dave in shock. Their eyes were wide, and Carmen’s mouth was hanging open.

“?Por qué?” Maria asked quietly.

“Why? Because it would be safer,” Dave explained as Zara translated. “Because no woman should be afraid to close her eyes to sleep at night. Because you’re Raven’s friends. Because you need a break, and I can afford to give it to you. I wasn’t there to help when you needed it the most, but I can help now, and I will.”

Gabriella was quietly crying, and the other women looked on the verge of bursting into tears themselves.

Dave was happy to help. He wasn’t doing it to try to bribe his way back into his wife’s affections. Hell, she wasn’t even giving him the time of day to do more than say hello in the evenings. But these women were her friends. They’d helped both his Raven and Zara, and that meant more to him than anything. He’d do whatever it took to try to make sure they were safe and in a healthy environment.

Before anyone could say anything else, there were shouts from outside. Suddenly, all the women looked terrified.

“What’s going on?” Dave asked Zara.

“Ruben,” she whispered. “Maybe they don’t know we’re here.”

But right after Zara spoke, a male’s voice rang out, and Dave recognized Raven’s name.

His hands fisted, and he stood, happy that the confrontation he’d been expecting way before now was finally happening.

Zara pulled out her phone, probably to call Meat.

“Stay in here,” he ordered the women, and pointed to the ground to emphasize his point, since they couldn’t understand him.

No one moved a muscle as he slid back the metal door and stepped outside. He took the time to close the door behind him. He knew if things got out of control, Zara and the others could go out the back of the hut, so he wasn’t too worried about them getting trapped inside the ramshackle shelter.

Looking up, Dave saw a cluster of slender men wearing dirty clothes and smirks on their faces. This had to be Ruben and some of his cronies. They were the barrio bullies, and the police and military didn’t seem to care what they did. Zara was sure they were being paid by del Rio to help deliver helpless children and women as well. That was one of the reasons why the Mountain Mercenaries’ last mission to Lima had almost failed spectacularly. Both these men and the military group they’d been working with had had no intention of letting the team succeed in rescuing the women and children who’d been slated to be delivered to del Rio.

That thought pissed Dave off all the more. How dare these men sell their own up the river? How would they feel if it were their wives or children who were sold? Then again, it was obvious these bullies weren’t married, and they definitely didn’t have any children they loved and cherished. They were too full of themselves to care about anyone, and they obviously craved the power that came with being petty tyrants.

Dave narrowed his eyes at the men. These were the ones who’d hurt Meat and Black. He felt it in his bones. They had also tormented his wife and her friends, not to mention the other residents of the barrio. He wasn’t scared of them, no way in hell. In fact, he needed a handy outlet for his frustration.

The man in front of the others—Dave assumed it was Ruben himself—said something in Spanish, and Dave merely crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t need to know what they were saying; he understood them from their tone. They weren’t happy he was here and wanted to scare him into leaving. Well, tough shit. He wasn’t leaving without his wife, and since she didn’t seem to want anything to do with him, he was apparently going to be here for the long haul.

He frowned at them and didn’t back down, which seemed to piss them off even more. Instead of listening to their words, which he couldn’t understand anyway, Dave concentrated on their body language.

Ruben gestured to two of the men, and they fanned out, attempting to box him in. Dave dropped his arms and rotated his head, working out the kinks in his neck from sleeping on the hard ground. He looked forward to the upcoming fight. He hadn’t worked out in a while, and beating on these men would help assuage his frustration and anger about the situation he’d found himself in. Black and Meat might’ve been taken by surprise by Ruben and his gang a few months ago, but Dave was more than ready.

The man on his right made the first move, leaping toward Dave with a yell. He held a thick tree branch and swung it at his head. Dave turned into the hit, making the weapon literally bounce off his back, before turning and grabbing the smaller man around the neck and smashing his other fist into his face. The man went down like a stone—and after that, the fight was on.

Dave fought like a man possessed. These were the people who’d been terrorizing Raven and her friends for years. They thought they were the prime rulers of the barrio and didn’t think twice about taking what they wanted, whether that was food, money, possessions, or even women.

Dave wasn’t a soldier, had never studied hand-to-hand combat, but he was a strong man who owned a bar and had dealt with his share of violent and drunk men. He was also determined to teach these assholes a lesson. He felt as if he had the strength of ten men. Every time he hit someone, he imagined it was del Rio—or one of the men who’d violated his wife.