We have all been trained on how to deal with situations exactly like this, but being trained to do something and actually living it are two very different things. Still, I am surprisingly calm for somebody who has a loaded gun pointed at their head.
The guys don’t move. I think they’re scared that this psycho will pull the trigger if they do, and they’re right. I can feel the guy’s hand shaking. His entire body is shaking like he’s having a bad trip and he smells like strong tobacco—like somebody who smokes two packs a day and doesn’t shower very often.
I know that the guys can’t rescue me from this situation. I am going to have to rescue myself, just like I was taught to do. It’s risky, but if I don’t take the risk, I’ll get shot anyway. I have to try, sooner rather than later.
As quickly as I can I reach up and grab the gun, yanking it from the guys hand. I make sure the barrel is pointed away from everybody as I yank it from his hand, but the guy’s reaction time is slow anyway, because he doesn’t even attempt to pull the trigger. Once I have ahold of the gun, I throw it away from us as hard as I can and the guy looks at me with his mouth hanging open. It’s then that I notice he’s missing a lot of teeth. I guess he’s been sampling his merchandise a little too much.
I expect the guy to attack me, but he surprises me by raising both arms into the air.
“Are you guys cops?” the guy asks, his voice coming out shaky.
Still, I follow my training, knowing this could all be an act. I pin the guy to the ground, his face in the dirt. Alek and West get to moving after that. Alek goes to grab the gun and West takes over holding the guy to the ground.
“What are we going to do with him?” Alek asks.
I look at West, who has a frown on his face. “Alek, take Roxy back to the others.”
I shake my head. “No, West. You can’t do this by yourself.”
Because I know what he’s doing to do. I’d do the same thing—it’s what any smart Spy School agent would do.
The guy… he’s a liability. Even if we took his guns, he might still have some stashed away somewhere. He might follow us or come after us. And we can’t have that.
Alek hands the gun to West. West’s eyes meet mine.
“Go, Princess.”
I shake my head.
I don’t want to go.
But I don’t have a choice. Alek grabs my hand, gently pulling me away. The guy that West has pinned yells for one of us to help him, but we won’t.
Alek pulls me against him as we walk away from West and the guy. He doesn’t say anything, he just pulls me as quickly as he can. It isn’t until a couple of minutes after we leave that I hear the gunshot. I flinch at the sound, hating it, but also knowing it was the right thing. West had to protect us and this was the only way.
“Should we wait for West?” My voice quivers at the question.
“No. We should get back to the others. West will meet up with us,” Alek encourages.
I nod, but I am completely numb as we make our way down the stream, toward where Ian and Kal are waiting.
As we are walking, I hear somebody run up behind us. I turn back and see West join us, but he doesn’t stop running. Instead, he grabs onto my hand, pulling me along after him. Alek runs alongside us. Before I have time to question why we’re running, a loud boom shakes the ground. My ears ring from the sharp sound and my heart races.
“What was that?” Alek asks.
West grins. “I lit the drug lab on fire.”
Nice.
We take off running again and run all the way back to where Ian and Kal are. As suspected, they are freaking out, but they are relieved to see us. West tells them what happened, and it’s funny to watch Ian and Kal freak out when they hear about the gun to my head.
“Roxy kicked butt.” Alek puffs his chest up, grinning from ear to ear. “She just grabbed the gun from him and threw it like it was nothing. She took him down all on her own.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “It makes me sound way cooler than I am. It really wasn’t that cool. It was more terrifying.”
Kal comes over and wraps his arms around me, squeezing me tight against him. “Why is it always you who gets guns pointed at you?”
I let him squeeze me and I rub his back, trying to comfort him. “I’m fine. I’m just glad you weren’t there to take a bullet for me again.”
He pulls back. He’s smiling, but I can tell it’s forced. “How about no more guns around you, like, ever.”
“I need a hug, too,” Ian says.
He’s perched against a tree. I get onto my knees and give him a hug, too. “How is your leg?”
He waves a hand. “Are you kidding? You have a gun pointed to your head and you’re worried about a broken leg? This is nothing.”
A broken leg isn’t ‘nothing,’ but I keep my mouth shut for now.
“We should get moving.” West looks up at the position of the sun. “We’ve already wasted so much of our day already, and I’d rather not spend any more time in these woods than we have to. I’m ready to get out of here.”
I second that, and the guys grumble their agreement.
I know that Michael Sinclair dropping us off in the middle of the woods is great for team building and it’s a great survival exercise, but it’s not very fun. Though, I suppose it has done exactly what Michael wanted—it has made the five of us get along.
Kal and Alek carry Ian as we start moving downstream again. We probably did lose a lot of travel time when we went after that guy, but it was worth it. West told us that it was full of drugs that were packed up, ready to be shipped out. I know that one guy in the woods is just a small part of a bigger problem, but we can tell Michael Sinclair about it once we’re out, and he’ll probably send some agents in to shut it down.
West holds my hand as we walk. I think he needs the comfort just as much as I do today.
What West had to do is part of the job, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
Now, I just hope we can find our way out of the woods, because this sucks.
Civilization.
We’ve walked for a few hours when I hear the sound of a car driving by.
We’re close to a road.
After that, all of us start walking a little bit faster to try and get out of this stupid forest. We’re all over this and ready to get Ian to the hospital. I know he’s ready for some pain pills that are a little—or a lot—stronger than the aspirin I keep force feeding him.
I am a little disappointed when we get to the main road. It’s a small, two-lane road with trees on both sides. We walk down the side of the road, knowing we will eventually get to a gas station, a town, or something.
After walking about half a mile down the road, we come up on a small gas station on the side of the road—a small one that doesn’t even have a pay-at-the-pump option. I didn’t even realize gas stations like this still existed. But West and Alek put Ian on a bench outside and Alek sits beside him while West, Kal, and I walk inside to see if the station has a phone or something that we can use. We don’t even have cash or a credit card to use a payphone.
There is an older guy behind the counter and he looks warily at the three of us as we walk in. I’m sure we look like a sight. West and Kal both have dirt smudged on their faces and I’m sure I don’t look a whole lot better, even after my freezing cold ‘bath’ in the stream this morning.
West nudges me forward, which mean he wants me to do the talking. Maybe the old guy will go easy on us if I’m the one doing the talking. It’s a gamble. This old guy might not have a soft spot for girls, you never can tell anymore. Maybe West could sweet talk him, but now isn’t the time to argue.
“Hey, sir. Sorry to bother you. We got lost camping in the woods a few days ago. Our phones are dead and our friend outside on the bench broke his leg. We’re hoping we can use your phone to call for an ambulance.”
The older guy glances outside where Alek and Ian are sitting and then he nods, handing me his cellphone. I dial 911, k
nowing that an ambulance will come for Ian, but also Spy School will send somebody. I guarantee they’re listening for calls right now, just in case. Well, not actually listening. They have voice recognition software that does the hard part.
I talk to the operator and explain my friend broke his leg and where we are. She promises an ambulance is on its way. I give my phone back to the older guy, thanking him. A lot of people would not hand over their phone so easily to a stranger.
A black SUV pulls into the parking lot literally seconds before the ambulance does, which doesn’t surprise me. West looks at us, proclaiming he will ride with Ian to the hospital and the rest of us will follow behind in the SUV. I’m too tired to argue, so I walk over to the SUV, climbing into the back. Alek gets in the back with me and Kal gets into the front seat with the other Spy School agent.
Alek reaches his hand across the center console and grabs onto my hand. I look over at him, surprised at the gesture. I guess part of me thought that our truce would end when we came out of the woods, but I am thrilled to see it hasn’t. When he sees me look at him, he smiles at me and squeezes my hand. I’m not really sure what to think of our relationship now. It’s changed so fast in the last forty-eight hours.
Is it really only Wednesday, and were we really still fighting like crazy on Monday?
Kal glances back at me and he furrows his brows, frowning as he looks at my hand in Alek’s. I’m sure it’s weird for him to see Alek and me getting along like this. I hope he doesn’t think there is more going on between Alek and me besides just friendship, because that is not the case at all.
At least I think it’s not.
I really don’t know anymore. My feelings are so confusing and I don’t even know what I want anymore, but right now isn’t the time to think about that. First, I want a shower, I want some warm food that isn’t fish from a stream, preferably something with a lot of carbs, and I want to sleep in a soft bed.
“When we get home, I am going to sleep for a week straight,” I tell Kal and Alek.
“How can you think about sleep?” Kal asks, rubbing his stomach. “All I want is food. A cheeseburger, a steak, pasta, heck I’d even settle for some potato chips right now. I’m starving.”
“Food, shower, bed, in that order,” I say.
Alek and Kal both nod.
It takes forever, but finally we reach the small hospital. Ian is taken away almost instantly for X-Rays, and then he pretty much goes straight from X-Rays to surgery. I am worried about him getting surgery at this small-town hospital, until I find out that a Spy School doctor is on staff here and is handling his surgery. I’m guessing that means that Michael Sinclair drops a lot of agents off into these woods, which doesn’t surprise me.
Spy School is amazing. I love my job and everything that I get to do. But it’s things like this that I don’t particularly enjoy. I know it’s important to learn survival skills and learn how to stay alive in the middle of the woods, but that doesn’t make it fun. I’m hoping that was the first and last time we are ever forced to do something like that. I’d much rather stay in our little condo.
If Michael Sinclair promises to never make us do that again, I will seriously never argue with the guys again.
Well, maybe not never. The guys are kind of annoying sometimes. But I would at least try, so there is that.
Is everybody into her?
Later that night, once Ian is done getting surgery on his leg and everybody has cleaned up and gotten showers, we go back to the hospital—there is no way we’d leave Ian by himself in the hospital overnight.
The doctor wanted to keep Ian in the hospital overnight just to keep a watch on him. On top of the broken leg, he was also dehydrated. All of us probably are.
Ian is sitting up in his bed with a huge smile on his face when I walk in. I’d like to think that I am the reason for his smile, but I have a feeling it’s more because of the fact that he is drugged up on some really good painkillers and not just the weak aspirin I kept giving him.
“Foxy Roxy,” Ian says, then giggles.
I’ve never heard Ian giggle in my life, but the sound makes me burst out laughing.
“They gave you the good stuff, huh?” I walk up next to his bed.
Kal messes with the computer, unlocking it. He pulls up Ian’s file and whistles.
“Yes, really good medicine,” Kal says, turning to Ian. “Lucky.”
But Ian isn’t even paying attention to Kal. He’s just staring at me.
I furrow my brows. “Uh, Ian, you okay, dude?”
“You’re really hot, did you know that?” Ian asks.
The guys laugh.
My cheeks grow warm. “You are so going to regret this entire conversation once you sober up.”
“Ah, guys, she’s blushing,” West says. “Cute.”
Kal huffs, sitting on the couch at the side of the room. “Is everybody calling Roxy cute now?”
I turn to Kal, wondering what’s wrong with him. He’s clenching his jaw as he looks anywhere but at me.
I assumed that the guys would go back to hating me once we were out of the forest, and I was genuinely surprised when that wasn’t the case. This is exactly what I expected, but I didn’t expect it out of Kal. Out of all the guys, he’s always been my friend. Sure, we’ve had our fights and our moments, but he’s the one I can depend on to always be there to support me.
“Dude, not cool.” Alek sits down beside him.
Kal crosses his arms over his chest. “You were holding hands with her in the car. And all three of you are practically dating her now.”
Oh.
He’s mad because he’s jealous.
My stomach turns sour as I look between the four guys wondering if this is the moment that I have to choose one of them. The problem is, I don’t even know which one I would choose. I need more time, a lot more time, before I can choose.
Kal stands abruptly from the couch, storming from the room.
“Kal,” I say.
But he doesn’t even pause before rushing out the door.
I look between the guys, wondering what I should do. Do I rush after him or do I stay here?
“Go,” West says, nodding at me. “We’ll be here when you’re done talking to him.”
With his permission, I turn and walk out the door. I have no idea where to even begin to look for Kal, but I find him standing right outside Ian’s room. He’s leaning against the wall, covering his eyes with the crook of his arm.
“Go away, West. I don’t want to talk,” Kal says without even looking.
“Not West, but good guess.”
When he hears my voice, he jerks his arm away and he looks at me with wide eyes. He doesn’t say anything for a good twenty seconds, and I know because I count them as they go by painfully slowly.
“Do you want to go somewhere and talk?” I ask, motioning down the hallway, toward the waiting room.
A nurse glances at us as she walks by, not saying anything, but I suddenly feel like we are in the way, standing out here.
He doesn’t respond, so I grab his hand, pulling him down the hallway toward the waiting room. It’s currently empty, probably because it’s nearly seven o’clock at night and visiting hours are over. That doesn’t stop us though.
When we get to the waiting room, I take a seat. I’m exhausted and I feel dead on my feet after all the walking we did the last two days. I’m sure Kal feels the same, maybe worse because he had to help carry Ian.
“Are you dating Alek?”
Kal’s words shock me.
I shake my head back and forth slowly. “No.”
“But you like him,” he says.
I nod. “Well, yeah. I like him most of the time. When he’s not being a jerk. Which means I like him fifty percent of the time.”
Kal runs his hand through his hair. “No, I mean, do you like Alek as more than a friend?”
I open my mouth to respond, but the truth is, I’m not sure how to respond. Instead, I shrug my shoulder
s. “I don’t know. It’s… complicated.”
Kal rolls his eyes. “Don’t tell me it’s complicated, Roxy. I need to know where I stand with you.”
That is a fair question, but I really don’t have an answer for him. I wish I did—for him, for me, and for everybody else. I guess I was just hoping it would be a little while longer before I had to deal with this. When we left to come on this trip, I thought everybody still hated me. And I’ve only just admitted to myself recently that I have some kind of feelings for all four of them. What kind of feelings is still too soon to tell.
I grab his hands. “I don’t know how to answer your question. Instead, I will tell you that I am attracted to Alek, but I am also attracted to Ian and West.”
He nods, still clenching his jaw. He tries to let go of my hand, but I won’t let him.
I look at him through my lashes. “It’s fair for you to know that I am attracted to you, too.”
His eyes widen. “Really?”
I nod, chewing anxiously on my bottom lip.
I’ve never done this before, and I am very nervous to be having this conversation with Kal, of all people. He’s the charming, flirtatious one. Out of all the guys, he probably just winks at a girl and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make him hers. And here I am telling him that I have definitely fallen for his charms. It makes my stomach tighten and my heart race. Even my hands are sweaty, but he doesn’t seem to care or notice. He grips my hand even tighter.
“You’re... nervous,” Kal observes, cocking his head to the side.
I take a shaky breath. “Yeah, very, very nervous.”
“Why?”
“Why am I nervous?” I ask.
He nods.
“Uh...” I swallow hard. “Well, I just told you that I’m attracted to you. I’ve never done that before. And I’m kind of scared that you’re going to laugh or think I’m silly because I know that you’re, like, way out of my league.”
He sucks in a sharp breath, narrowing his eyes. “If you understood how absurdly beautiful you are, you wouldn’t say that.”
The Unwanted Spy Page 23