“Before Victoria left Haiti, Summer overheard her tell the other girl with them to double check the location that he would be at. Seems she didn’t want to risk flying into a South American jungle for no reason.”
“He? He who? South America is nothing but jungle. How the hell do we even know where to start?” I asked, watching as Oliver scooped up all the paperwork and put it into a folder.
“Fuel calculations,” he said, tapping one of the maps before folding it up. “The plane would only have so many gallons of fuel. We can do process of elimination and narrow it down a little more. Right now, that’s the best we have. Get packed. We leave in thirty minutes.”
CHAPTER 34
ELLA
“He’s going to kill us regardless of what I tell you,” Allyson said as she squeezed my hands, her body trembling uncontrollably.
I shook my head, forcing her words away. “No. I won’t let him hurt you.”
“You know him, don’t you?” she asked, her teary eyes searching mine.
I opened my mouth to answer, but Trent spoke before I could.
“How did you find me?” he asked, looming over where we sat on the couch.
Allyson’s voice shook as she answered. “I… I didn’t find you. I don’t even know who you are. Victoria… she was the one…” She inhaled, and I could tell she was on the brink of breaking down again. “I don’t understand what’s going on,” she said, flinching when Trent stepped closer.
He glared down at her. “Who is Victoria to you?” he demanded.
“Her ex-stepsister who was bent on getting something she thought was owed to her,” I answered for Allyson, pulling her closer against me to try and comfort her.
Trent snorted. “Fucking rich people. Money? That’s what she was after by taking you?” he asked as a sneer pulled at the corner of his lip.
“It’s hardly her fault that Victoria did this,” I snapped as Allyson pushed herself deeper into the couch.
“I don’t really care whose fault it is. They should never have come here, and she paid the price for it,” he said, pointing to Victoria’s lifeless body laying feet from us.
Allyson shuddered hard enough to shake me too.
“She said something odd… Victoria did,” Allyson said, flicking a nervous glance at Trent before lowering her head to where her free hand plucked nervously at a hole in her dress.
Trent was losing his patience. I could see it in the way his jaw clenched and his hands fisted, turning his knuckles white, so I prodded her along by asking, “What did she say?”
“She said to the other girl Ashley that she never knew a business card could come to be so handy,” she answered meekly, avoiding Trent’s gaze.
I could swear the air shimmered around us when Trent yanked his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out a thick, embossed card.
He held it up to the light, turning it over and over as if searching for something. And when he found whatever he was looking for, he pulled a knife from his pocket and, with the tip, pried something free.
I didn’t have time to see what it was before his fist closed on it and he walked out of the room.
“How do you know him?” Allyson asked, turning on me as soon as Trent was no longer within earshot. Her eyes were puffy and bloodshot as a frown marred her lips.
I couldn’t look her straight in the eyes. “It’s a long story,” I said, unwilling to get into my history with Trent.
“Long story?” she asked, reeling back as if I’d slapped her. Her anger nipped at the edges of her fear since it was just the two of us in the room. “I’ve been kidnapped. My sister… my sister—” She pulled her hand from mine, and then flicked a tear that rolled down her cheek before continuing in a strained voice, “My sister was taken too. She got away, but the other girl, Monica, went after her. Neither of them came back. Summer could be dead, and I have no idea. So are you going to tell me what part you have in this?”
My forehead creased. “My part in this? I don’t have a part in this,” I said, hurt she would think that of me.
She frowned, crossing her arms. “Oh, come on, Izzy! You know him. He knows you. Why are you here with him and how did you get here? Did you two plan this with Victoria?”
Hearing it, I could understand why she’d think that. I would have jumped to that conclusion if I were her. But it didn’t make me feel any better. She was once my closest friend, and now… now she was in danger because of me. Because I failed to do what I had been trained to do. I missed something along the way, distracted by the torment I refused to acknowledge.
“I—”
“She’s my wife. That’s why she’s here with me. And you’re a liability,” Trent said, coming into the room from the other door like a ghost.
She startled, hands coming up to her chest. “What?”
I winced.
“That can’t be true. You can’t be married to him; you married Josh,” Allyson said, eyes darting between us.
“She’s my wife,” he repeated, and then he walked over, jerked me up from the couch, and said, “Go pack. We’re leaving.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I said, pulling against his death grip.
The look he gave me sent a chill down my spine as he said, “You either do as I say, or I put a bullet in her head.”
He meant it. I could see it in his eyes. He didn’t have to pull the gun out and point it at her. His words were dangerous enough.
I felt my entire body relent unwillingly as I said, “Let her go, and I’ll go with you.”
“This isn’t up for negotiation. Go pack.” He let go of my arm and grabbed me by the back of my neck, pinching his fingers deep into my skin as a silent warning.
“So that’s it? Do as I say or I’ll keep killing people? What happened to you?” I asked, pelting questions at him until he shoved me into my room.
“Pack,” he said, turning on his heel to close the door.
There was no way I’d leave him alone with Allyson. He had to have thought I was completely stupid not realizing that he was just getting me out of the way so he could eliminate Allyson and move us to another location.
As soon as his back was to me, I rushed him. It knocked him off balance enough that instead of catching my arm, he caught my dress. It gave, ripping up the side. I caught the material and jerked it from his grip, then ran back to the living room.
Allyson sat huddled in the corner of the couch, eyes bulging as tears rolled down her cheek. She could think whatever she wanted of me, but that wasn’t going to stop me from keeping her safe from Trent.
He was pissed as he stormed down the hall only a few feet behind me.
I put myself between them as he lifted the gun and aimed it straight at my chest.
“Move.”
I stood my ground, unwilling to back down. “No. I won’t let you hurt her.”
“You won’t let me…” He laughed, the sound a stark contrast to the tension in the air. “Last time I checked, you don’t have a say in what I do.”
But I wasn’t going to allow him to hurt another person I cared about.
“You’ll have to kill me to get to her. Are you ready to do that?” I counted on the fact that he’d gone through a lot of trouble to take me from the boat, hide me God knew where, and committed murder to keep it all quiet. There had to be some sort of feeling there, even if it was insanity, or else why even bother?
“I can still shoot through you, kill her, and you’d survive,” he said, lowering the gun to where it lined up at the center of my thighs.
“Hard to move a body around when they’re bleeding all over the place,” I said, hoping he was bluffing.
“Don’t worry, I have a stockpile of bandages.”
“Allyson, get up and get as close to me as you can,” I said, hoping she’d let go of her anger long enough to ensure her survival.
“It’s not going to work,” Trent said.
“I’m damn sure not going to make it easy for you,” I hiss
ed as my heart thundered against my chest.
Allyson came up behind me, body pressed against mine like she’d climb inside of me if that would keep her safer.
Her heart beat against my back like a jackhammer. I fought a wave of panic as my own heart rate tried to pick up the pace to match hers.
I moved slowly, turning us so we walked backward toward the hallway as I took deep even breaths. To panic was to seal Allyson’s fate, and I wouldn’t let that happen. I was a freaking undercover badass just as much as Trent was. It was time to prove it.
Trent stalked us, gun pointed at my heart. “That’s the difference between you and me. You’d die for her, but I’d kill her to survive.”
“That’s a screwed-up way of looking at things,” I said, making slow progression so I didn’t trip over Allyson and give Trent an open target.
It wouldn’t matter if I got us both behind the closed door of my bedroom. The minute he had a clear shot, he’d kill her. And I’d never be able to live with myself.
“You know I won’t let her live,” he said, dropping his voice as if sharing a secret with me.
“I refuse to believe you don’t have a shred of the man I knew left inside of you. The one who used to stand up for the innocent, not kill them.”
If I had struck any kind of nerve in him, he didn’t show it. “He died. There’s nothing left of him,” he said, reaching for me as my hand bumped against the doorjamb to my room.
Allyson quivered behind me as if ready to bolt, but afraid to move away from the shelter of my body.
I put my hand behind me as if curling it around her like we would both make the turn into the bedroom together. Her fingers were holding onto the fluttering material of my dress, and it took me a second to pry her free without giving myself away.
“Trent… I—” I put my hand out, gearing up to plead with him. At the last second, I lunged for the gun and yelled, “Close the door, Ally!”
Trent shook me loose with ease, but I spun around and locked my arms around him, hanging onto whatever I could to restrict his movement.
“Lock it, Ally. Lock it and hide,” I yelled as he reached up and grabbed my hair, jerking my neck at an awkward angle.
“Fight me all you want if it makes you feel better,” Trent said, grunting as he tried to pry me off him with his other hand.
“I don’t care what you do to me, but I won’t let you hurt her,” I said, locking my arms and legs around him.
Something in him snapped. He let go of my hair, took two steps forward, and then lunged backward, slamming me against the wall. He did it until I couldn’t breathe and black dots danced behind my eyes.
“It’s over, Isabella. You might as well give up,” he said as I slid lower.
I lost my hold and landed on the floor.
He went to step over me as I came up wavering, putting myself between him and the door. “She’s my friend… please don’t do this,” I begged.
He stepped back, cocked his head to the side, and then put his hand out as if to silence me.
I heard it then—an alarm of some sort was going off. Someone was on the property.
“Time to go,” he said, pulling me from the door and shoving me in front of him.
CHAPTER 35
JOSH
“Shit,” Oliver hissed as an alarm cut through the humid air. “Cover’s blown now.”
I pulled my foot back and saw a thin string waving in the slight breeze. Fuck.
“Watch your six,” he said, pulling his pistol out and moving forward.
My six. If they were here, I’d stand a better chance of surviving. As it was, Oliver and I were the only two going in. We had no idea if we’d find Trent or Ella. For all we knew, it could be a drug cartel house and fifty men would surround us.
Nothing stirred. Nobody stuck their head out the door. No stray bullets were fired. It was as if we’d walked onto an abandoned property. The only thing we had going for us was the underground intel that Oliver had received about some blonde bitch that had come into the region of Mabaruma in Guyana on a private jet, demanding things like she was royalty. She’d stuck out like a sore thumb, which had been just the break we’d needed.
“I don’t like this,” Oliver said, hunkering down, gesturing for me to do the same.
Streams of sweat rolled down my face and into my eyes. The heat did its damnedest to broil me alive. Oliver had insisted I wear a bulletproof vest, saying, “You’ll roast, but I’m not taking any chances of you getting shot in the chest and having to try to get you out of the jungle.”
“And if I get shot in the head?” I asked, swallowing the bile that crept up my throat.
“Don’t get shot in the head,” he’d answered.
“We’re going to have to try and get in over there,” Oliver said, pointing to a blacked-out window closest to us.
He went first as I covered him, and then he waved for me. When I was beside him, he unzipped a small pack slung over his shoulder, pulled a thin black pouch out, and dumped a metal circle that resembled one of those flat disc-like batteries.
He pushed it against the center of the window where it stuck to the glass, and then twisted it a quarter turn before pushing me back a step, turning us away from the window.
There was a pop and then the sound of glass falling.
“Let’s go,” he said, catching hold of the windowsill and pulling himself through the opening.
The room was empty and had been empty for a long time from the musty smell. Across the room there was a solitary door. Oliver unlocked it, ear pressed against the crack, and listened before he opened it.
We treaded silently along the grimy tile floors. The house hadn’t been used in a while from what I could tell. That was until we made it halfway around what seemed to be a circle and came to the main part of the house. The floors were clean, but the air held the tinge of something metallic, and under that smell was the faint scent of bleach.
Oliver’s hand came up about the same time as I saw the body lying on the floor.
I clamped my hand on Oliver’s shoulder and leaned close, whispering, “That’s Victoria.”
He nodded, moving forward, and then stopped abruptly, tipping his head to the left.
I peered past him and saw another body. My stomach dropped. The girl wasn’t facing us, but she had long brown hair.
“Cover me,” Oliver said, whipping around the corner and into the open layout of the living room and kitchen, keeping his back to the wall.
I brought my gun up, keeping an eye on the other side of the room where the hallway picked back up and moved along the other wall, getting in place before darting a glance to Oliver.
He stopped long enough to look down at the body and then up at me with a shake of his head. It wasn’t Ella. I blew out a relieved breath, sent up a silent thank you, and then moved to my place on the other side of the hallway.
Together, we moved, covering each other down the hallway until we got to where a lone door was cracked slightly open.
Oliver shoved it and hit something that made it bounce back at him about the same time as someone rushed out at us. Oliver jerked his gun back and spun to get out of the way. I wasn’t so lucky.
She tripped. Flailing her arms, Allyson’s momentum carried her forward and slammed into me like a ton of bricks.
I hit the wall and landed on my ass, watching her eyes go round as she was snatched up mid-fall. The lamp she clutched in her hand fell to the floor.
Oliver righted her. When I got to my feet, she grabbed the front of my shirt, fisting it. “What's going on, Josh? How did you know we were here? Are you part of this sick, twisted—”
“I don't have time for this right now. Where is Ella?” I asked, trying to pry her fingers free.
“He said she was his wife. How can she be his wife, if she just married you? What the hell is going on?”
“Ella and I were hired on to protect you. That's all I can tell you right now. Just trust me, I’m here to help.”
“Where did they go?” Oliver demanded, moving around us to the other side of me, gun drawn as he watched the empty hallway. We’d made a lot of noise. I half expected someone to come rushing down the hallway firing bullets at us like fish in a tank.
“I don’t… I have no idea. She told me to shut the door and lock it,” Allyson said, voice pitched high with hysterics.
Her face was splotched red and white, fear kept her eyes wide and unblinking.
“Be quiet, damn it!” Oliver hissed.
She flinched, and I did the only thing I could do. I hugged her and said, “I know you’re scared, but we need your help to find her. Did he say anything… anything at all about where they were headed?”
She shook her head and attempted to wipe her eyes. “No. He just grabbed Izzy as soon as he heard this beeping noise.”
“He can’t be far,” Oliver said as we moved back down the hallway, toward the living room.
“Do you hear that?” I asked as Oliver lifted his head toward the sound coming from above us.
“Helicopter,” he answered. “We have to move now or he’ll get away.”
“It sounds like it’s coming down on top of the house,” I said, feeling a gust of air coming through the bottom of the door closest to me. “Oliver, here,” I said, backing up and pulling Allyson behind me.
Oliver snatched at the locked door. When it wouldn’t open, he motioned me back, pointed his gun and fired.
I’d put my arm up in front of my face. By the time I lowered it, the door was open and Oliver was gone.
“Stay here,” I said, trying to untangle Allyson from the hold she had on me.
“Don’t leave me!” she cried.
I didn’t have time to calm her down, but she wasn’t letting go.
“I can’t save her by staying here. You have to let go,” I said, voice raised over the noise of howling wind and rotating blades. I pushed her away. “I’ll be back. I promise.”
She went to grab for me again, but I lurched forward and shot through the open doorway, praying to God she stayed in the hall, and came to a screeching halt only inches away from the edge of a massive pool.
All We Are (The Six Series Book 5) Page 18