by Nicole Helm
“It’s just a drop-off.”
“A few thousand dollars. A few men. I can’t say I feel all that important.”
It was the part that grated. It was the part that didn’t add up. Still, Holden kept his shrug nonchalant. “Maybe they don’t expect you to put up much of a fight. Maybe you aren’t that important.” He wished he could believe it. “Maybe you’re...an insurance policy. They have a different plan in place, but they’ll use you if you have to.”
She frowned at him. “Why do I get the sneaking suspicion you have a completely different and much more terrifying hypothesis?”
Chapter Fifteen
His eyes stayed on the road, but she could have sworn his grip on the steering wheel tightened.
Fear drummed in Willa’s throat, but she breathed through it carefully. It was all scary, but panic wouldn’t solve anything.
“Holden.”
“I don’t have a more terrifying hypothesis. I don’t have a hypothesis. But I don’t like when things don’t add up. You not being worth more attention doesn’t fully add up.” The car slowed. “But we don’t have time to figure it out, because here we go.”
She saw the sign for the wildlife refuge, and her heart thudded hard against her ribs, the beating seeming to echo in her ears. Here we go.
After they entered, Holden slowed to a stop next to a big sign that had a map of the area plastered on it.
“Lake three,” he said, reaching through his rolled-down window and tapping the map. “This one right here. I want you to get a picture of this map in your head. If you have to run, you run north or south.” He pointed to both directions on the map. “I’ve got men on either side there. One grabs you, he’ll say, ‘North Star.’ That’s the cue to let them take you wherever. They’re safe. I’ve got east and west points, too, but they’re farther out. So north or south. That’s all you have to remember. I tell you to run—”
“I run north or south. I got it. Holden, what if this code tells us something important? Or to stay away? Or...”
“Do you want to backtrack? We can go wait in that cabin if you want, Willa. We’d be safe there. We can take the time to figure out the code.”
She could tell he wanted her to agree. She knew she couldn’t. In order for this to look like Holden really had her, he had to bring her today. Much more time and whoever had her parents would surely suspect this whole thing. She shook her head. “As long as they might be in danger...”
He gave a sharp nod, then started driving again.
“When we see the signal, I’m going to get out of the car slowly and carefully. I have weapons in the backpack I’ll wear, but they’ll search me probably. That’s okay, I’ve got more in the car. The most important thing is to stay calm and let them do as much talking as possible.”
Willa nodded. She tried not to look as terrified as she felt. She needed him to believe she was capable of this. That they were equal partners.
“I’m going to have to shake you around a bit, and when I do, that’s when you start the waterworks, okay? Act like you’re scared and I’ve roughed you up. We want them to think you’re as weak as possible. The more they underestimate you, the better off we are.”
Willa nodded. It centered her, oddly. She could act as scared as she felt, and it would only work in their favor.
“It is my last resort option to leave you with them. Understand that. If we have to go that route, you’ll have six highly trained field operatives following you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
It was probably foolish to think him saying I over we meant something, but she could be foolish in her own mind. Especially now.
They pulled up to the sign for lake three. There was a lone fisherman standing at the lake. He held a pole but wasn’t dressed for fishing. He was smoking a cigarette, and even though the jacket he wore concealed everything, even Willa could tell he was armed to the hilt.
“I’m going to get out. You stay in until I come get you. Remember, if you have to run, it’s north or south. North Star is your safety net.”
Willa nodded. She didn’t trust her voice or, more, her expression now that the fisherman was watching them.
“Don’t move.”
Holden slid out of the car, and Willa could only sit in the passenger side seat, watching. Holden had his back to her, but she could see the fisherman as he turned to Holden.
Holden must have said something to go along with the wide hand gesture he made. The man flicked his cigarette into the lake. His eyes were dark and hard. He had a scar under one eye, a nose that listed to the left and a missing bottom tooth. He looked every part the bad guy.
Willa wished that could comfort her in some way. But so many things didn’t add up, and she didn’t know how to wait until they did.
She looked down at the code in her lap. She’d figured out one part, but it didn’t make any sense on its own. Industries. That could be anything. It was a name. Something Industries. And she thought maybe the last word was warehouse.
A warehouse for something called... Maybe Ross Industries. She wished she could search in her phone, but she knew anyone could be watching her, and they’d think it irregular enough she was sitting here unrestrained.
Had Holden thought that through? Surely he knew better than to... He started stalking back toward the car. She couldn’t read his expression, didn’t know if it was real or a mask. He opened the car door and didn’t waste time, didn’t say anything.
He took her by the arm and pulled her out of the car. She pretended to try to shake off his grasp.
“You’re sure lucky they wanted you in one piece, sweetheart,” Holden said, pushing her forward with more theatrics than force. He took her to the fisherman, who’d since dropped his pole.
“What’s your name?” the man demanded.
“None of your business,” Willa retorted, but her voice shook, and she looked at the sun, rather than the man, which helped her eyes water effectively. “I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you’ve made a mistake and you need to let me go.”
“Or what?” Holden said with a nasty laugh.
She knew he was playing a part, but that didn’t make it comfortable how well he fell into the role of sleazy bad guy.
“We need some proof you brought us the right package,” the man said. He held up a hand, and a man materialized out of the woods surrounding the lake. Willa didn’t have to feign fear. This man had his weapons strapped across his body like armor.
Like a very valid threat.
“Well, you don’t need me for this part,” Holden said, and he licked his lips and looked around nervously. He even loosened his grasp on her arm. “Just hand over the fee and I’ll be out of your hair.”
“Can’t pay you until we have confirmation,” the man replied, and his cold stare never left Willa. The other man came over to him, carrying something. He handed it over to the fisherman.
It was some kind of cloth. It looked a bit like the handkerchiefs her father liked to carry. The cold shudder of trepidation turned into an icy ball of fear as the man pulled a pair of glasses out of the handkerchief.
Willa let out a gasp, one she didn’t have to feign. It could be coincidence, but clearly they wanted her to, at the very least, think they had her father. At the very worst, they knew enough about her father to replicate the things he would have carried on him. “Those are my father’s. Where did you get that?”
He nodded at the second man. “Excuse us.” Both men turned their backs on Willa and Holden. Willa wanted to run. Away, to save herself. At them, to get her father’s belongings. But all she could do was stand next to this lake and breathe too hard, furiously fighting the tears that wanted to fall.
Someone did have her parents, and now they wanted her.
Suddenly Holden was close. Too close, his mouth practically brushing her ear. “The minute th
e third guy comes out of the trees...” Holden muttered so quietly she almost couldn’t hear him. “Fight for your life.” Then he slid the handle of a knife into her hand.
* * *
HOLDEN HAD NO better grasp of what they were getting into, but he could see clearly based on how the men were positioned, what weapons they had and what vehicles they didn’t, that this wasn’t supposed to end with either him or Willa making it out alive.
He’d made out two men in the woods straight off, though he knew he wasn’t supposed to. He was supposed to be a penny-ante thief who wouldn’t think to look for complications.
The hidden men were complications. Even when the one came out to “confirm” Willa’s identification.
This was no kidnapping drop-off. Maybe they were only planning on killing him so he couldn’t talk to anyone about the package he’d dropped off, but why make an open call then? That in and of itself left a trail.
It was possible, more than possible, that something had changed with Willa’s parents. Either they already gave the information they were supposed to keep secret, or they’d already been eliminated—which made Willa the loose end that needed tying. It could even be they’d escaped, and Willa’s head was going to be the payback. But the fact they had Willa’s father’s belongings had Holden, unfortunately, leaning toward them already being dead.
But still. Too many possibilities. Too many options. Holden wasn’t about to let either of them be heads on a platter. Maybe she’d never forgive him if he prioritized her life over her parents’ lives, but she was the life he had in his hands. Hers was the life he had to save.
He wanted to give her a gun, but it would take more time to get one out of the pack, so the knife he’d been able to conceal in his belt would have to do.
His team would come running once he shot his gun, but that had to be done at the right moment. When he and Willa weren’t so close to the men here, who had much more powerful and lethal guns than he had access to at the moment.
There was also the possibility these three men had their own team waiting, though it would have to be much farther away than his if his team hadn’t caught wind of them in their survey of the area.
The two men by the lake came back to them. “Come with us,” the fisherman said, pointing toward the woods.
Holden gave it one last chance. “You don’t need me anymore. Just hand over the cash and I disappear.”
The man from the woods shook his head, but he didn’t speak. He grabbed Willa’s arm and started pulling her toward the woods, the fisherman doing the same to Holden.
Holden didn’t fight back yet. He let himself be dragged, though he put up a bit of a fight. Worked on looking scared instead of ready to fight for his life.
The third man stepped out of the woods and Holden watched, waited, calculated. Once they were within reach, he dug in his heels. “Now,” Holden said firmly.
He landed an elbow into the taller man’s nose with his free arm, then used his backpack as a weapon, flinging it off his back and at the new shooter. He didn’t expect to hurt him, just wanted to knock the gun away for the extra seconds it would take for Holden to tackle him to the ground.
It felt a little bit too much like slow motion, because as the pack hit the gun, causing the gunman to jerk with the force, Holden had to trust Willa to fight off the third.
Until he could get to a gun and fire off a warning shot, his team would not advance.
Holden dived, knocking into the third shooter. It was easy then to land a few key punches and rip the high-powered weapon out of the man’s hands.
He picked off the fisherman, who instead of going after him had turned his attentions to Willa. She’d clearly managed to knock both men off her, keeping them too busy dodging blows to shoot. If they were going to. Holden still wasn’t completely convinced they were meant to kill Willa, but they certainly weren’t afraid to hurt her.
Holden couldn’t shoot the man she was currently grappling with because he could too easily hit her—no matter how good a shot he was, they were moving too much. So he had to throw himself into the fray.
He dived in and landed a punch, but got the wind knocked out of him by the man’s elbow. Willa got a nasty shin kick in, but the man took her by the hair and threw her to the ground, raising his gun to point at Holden. Holden pushed him and grabbed him by the shirtfront, ready to use his own badly bruised head as a weapon, but out of the corner of his eye, Holden saw the man he’d knocked to the ground lift his arm. He ignored the one pointed at his heart and shot the guy on the ground who was still trying to shoot Willa.
Kill Willa.
For what? Why was she the target when she hadn’t been a day ago?
Holden braced for the bullet that was no doubt coming for him. But when the shot rang out, just as he was attempting to jump out of the way, he felt nothing.
The man he’d been holding crumpled to the ground. It took Holden a second or two to let him go. To look up and see Gabriel, gun in hand, standing at the edge of the woods.
“Saved by the sniper,” he muttered to himself, turning to find Willa. She was splattered with blood, but most of it wasn’t hers. Thank God.
The North Star team began to tighten their circle around the nasty scene. One member to each immobilized or dead man. Gabriel came up to Holden, grim faced and serious. “We were moving in before your shot. We got an urgent message from Shay to move in.”
“Why?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Wasn’t given the details. Just told to get you guys out.”
Holden frowned at that. It wasn’t like Shay not to lay the whole picture on the line. She didn’t like her operatives acting without knowing all the details, all the whys and all the possible outcomes. “You got your phone?” Holden had left his in the car, knowing he didn’t want any of the men he’d originally been meeting to get a handle on North Star property.
Gabriel handed his over. Holden went through the complicated process of patching through to Shay.
“Saunders?”
“What’s going on?” Holden demanded.
He heard Shay sigh. But when she spoke, it was all authoritative demand. “Report on the situation at hand, Holden.”
“We fought them off, then my team saved my butt. What’s going on that you sent them early and not on my signal?” Thank God she had, but that didn’t ease the discomfort in his gut that something was very, very wrong.
“That code Willa’s parents left her? It isn’t just a location, or information about who they’re working for or why. If our code breaker is right, they gave her evidence on an entire arm of the organization the feds are after. An organization that’ll do anything to make sure it doesn’t get into the feds’ hands.”
Chapter Sixteen
Willa watched as Holden’s expression went completely lax. His surprise terrified her more than fighting off men with guns. What could surprise Holden at this point?
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Holden said, taking her arm. And giving her absolutely no comfort whatsoever. He tossed the phone back at his team member without a second glance.
“But—”
He shook his head, issuing orders to the members of his team. They’d take care of the mess, no doubt, but Holden was leading her to the car. Getting out of here. When none of this had gone to plan.
“Hold—”
“I’ll explain everything when we’re back at the safe house. I promise.”
But he sounded gutted. A little horrified. “Is it my parents?” she asked, feeling light-headed. Some mix of adrenaline wearing off and utter terror that he’d gotten news her parents were dead and none of this mattered anymore.
“No. No word on your parents,” he said, and his hold on her gentled as he opened the passenger side door.
She let out a relieved breath and all but melted into the seat. But there was a tension, a worry
in him as he walked around the front of the car, and she couldn’t help but feel both seep into her bones.
If they hadn’t had word on her parents, what was so bad? That they’d been willing to kill her?
She’d had a decent amount of certainty the men had wanted her alive, until Holden had said now as they’d reached the third man. There’d been something about the look that man had given her, the way the gun was pointed at her, that made her believe they meant to kill her. Then and there.
Why would they want her alive in one breath, and dead in another?
Holden didn’t drive fast this time. No, the pace was well within the speed limit, his gaze was steady on the road, and even when they turned off onto the unmarked path to the cabin, he kept his silence.
The silence felt oppressive, but Willa didn’t know what to say to break it. She should demand answers, but she was terrified of them.
They’d come anyway. Whether she asked or not.
Holden stopped the car in front of the cabin they’d been in. Had it only been a few hours ago? It was full on dark now, and Willa wished she was home with her animals. But there was starlight and moonlight and...
She glanced over at Holden as she followed him to the door. Something was going on. Something he didn’t know how to work out. She figured a man like Holden wanted to figure it out before he told her.
There was no time for that. If these men suddenly wanted her dead, then the chances of her parents living through this grew slimmer and slimmer with every minute.
They stepped inside, and Holden locked the door behind her. He set a security code, and though he didn’t make a full tour of the cabin, she could tell his eyes swept everything, making sure no one had come in while they’d been gone.
“We should change our bandages,” he said, and she had to assume he saw nothing suspicious. “Ice everything down. Get a meal in. Then sleep. We both need to sleep.” He moved for the kitchen.
Willa didn’t scoff or argue. She simply stood in the middle of the living room and stared at him. Waiting.