Serenade

by Heather McKenzie

  Seth was almost at the top. His shirt was drenched in sweat, and he had a vice grip on Kaya’s good arm. “I’ll get girlie here up, and then I’ll help ya with Brutus, all right?”

  I nodded as I watched Seth help Kaya get to the top, and then I held my breath until her legs were safely up and over the edge and she was out of my sight.

  Then there was nothing. No movement. No sound. Nothing.

  The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Kaya was alone—with Seth. He could leave me here. He could take her and go through with his original plan, and I had no idea who it was he was supposed to deliver her to. Weeks ago, I didn’t care about the details, but now… “Seth!” I yelled.

  His head appeared over the edge. “Tie this around the front of Brutus’s harness,” he yelled and threw down a long rope.

  I breathed a sigh of relief, reminding myself to trust him. Brutus however, I had become legitimately wary of. He was suddenly agitated—slobber oozed from his mouth and poured onto the rocks, the fur around his neck stood on end, and his eyes glowed fiercely. He was angry at something, but it wasn’t me.

  “Okay Brutus, we are pals, remember?” I said, quickly tying the rope through the front of his harness and backing away, highly aware of the teeth that could take off my entire face in a single chomp. Seth pulled from above, and we both struggled until Brutus was at the top. I urged my tired muscles the rest of the way, grateful for a hand from Seth and a pat on the back when my feet were firmly planted on the flat ground. I was thankful that was over, but Brutus continued growling.

  “What the hell is your problem, Brutus?” Seth yelled as he shoved the dog into the chopper and slammed the door. “Darn mutt is losing his mind. Anyway, it’ll take me a sec to get everything organized, and then we’re off.”

  Seth went about checking the helicopter while Brutus bared his teeth from behind the window. It was so strange to see the shiny, metal bird out in the rugged, pristine setting. To the left of it were miles upon miles of treetops and the sloping cliff we’d just climbed, and straight ahead, the edge of the plateau that fell steeply off and down to the river below. The sky seemingly stretched out for forever, blue and clear with snow-capped mountains reaching toward it. Kaya stood a few feet from me, taking in the view. When she turned to face me, her eyes were wide and her cheeks flushed—all my breath left my lungs. We were surrounded by incredible beauty, yet she completely outshone it with her own.

  “This is amazing,” she said.

  “Uh huh,” I muttered, and I moved to stand behind her. She leaned her back against me, as if we were an old couple who had been together forever. I carefully wrapped my arms around her. “Seth is going to take us to his ranch just outside of Revelstoke. From there, it’s about a thirty-minute drive to the hospital,” I said, and I could feel her heart speed up. I put my face down into her hair, remembering how it looked floating around her when we were in the hot spring. “Soon we’ll go our separate ways,” I added, the words feeling as though they were barbed wire in my throat, “but I have something I have to say to you first, and this might be my last chance to do it.”

  “Wait,” she said and turned around to face me, her green eyes leveling with mine, “me first…”

  “Okay.”

  She took in a deep breath and bit her lip. “When we saw those hawks in the sky, something that had eluded me my whole life became very clear. Suddenly, I could picture the future; I could actually see a life I might have past what it is today… and it was a life with the two of us growing old together.”

  I thought my heart might stop. I held my breath, waiting for her to continue.

  “And you’re right—”

  “About what?” I asked, words coming out raspy as I was barely able to speak. Pulling her toward me, I rested one hand on the small of her back and couldn’t help the other from cradling her cheek. Her eyes met mine, the liquid green dancing with flecks of gold from the waning sun.

  “You said I should…”

  She stopped mid-sentence, having become distracted by something behind me. Her mouth parted, and her eyes instantly filled with tears, but I stayed put. I didn’t have to turn around to know he was there…and it was about damn time.

  “Oliver.”

  His name caught in my throat, and everything about him came flooding back, along with a ton of guilt as I stood in another man’s arms with words of betrayal on the tip of my tongue.

  He looked like hell—his camouflaged clothes were filthy and torn, and his skin had become darker from being out in the sun. He was breathing heavily, and he looked as if he was ready to tear apart the entire world. He was staring at Luke’s back with his gun raised and aimed in the direction of his heart, while carefully avoiding my eyes. He had that look on his face.

  Davis sauntered out from behind the chopper, holding a gun to Seth’s head. “Hey Kaya, what's up?” he said with a crooked smile.

  Seth’s hands were tied together, and Brutus was now trying to claw through the window to get to his master. I could feel Luke watching my face as I took the whole scene in, but I didn’t dare return his gaze. His hands had dropped to his sides, but his fingertips brushed mine. I moved back an inch.

  “Let the girl go,” Oliver said in a terrifying voice.

  Luke turned around slowly to face my enraged fiancé, and I tried to diffuse the situation as my heart tried to beat right out of my chest. “These people mean me no harm, Oliver. You have to trust me,” I said in a pathetically wimpy voice. “I am not being held against my will.”

  His voice erupted, breaking the silence. “Kaya, get away from him, now!”

  I felt my feet move before my mouth was able to. “Okay, relax,” I said as calmly as I could manage. I crept toward Oliver—slowly, carefully—and when I was about a foot away from him, his eyes finally met mine. His expression softened. And then I couldn’t help it—I threw my arms around him and heard the air leave his lungs… and Luke’s, too.

  Oliver’s embrace felt incredible. I languished in the familiarity of it and the smell of him mixed with smoke and rain.

  “Are you all right?” he asked in his melodically deep timbre.

  “Yes,” I squeaked out.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner, I tried—”

  “Shh, it’s okay. I’m fine. Everything is fine. I’m glad you’re here. I was worried about you, too.”

  He stepped back and saw that my arm was wrapped to my chest, and then he ran his fingers over the newly formed scar on my forehead. “I missed you so much,” he said, and the direction of the gun in his hand had drifted down to the middle of Luke’s torso. “And, I know about… that,” he softly as he glanced at my stomach, “Henry told me. Don’t worry; we’ll take care of it when we get back.”

  Did I hear him right? Take care of it? I looked over at Davis when I noticed his head shake in dismay.

  Oliver continued, putting his hands on my shoulders and speaking in a whisper. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted that to happen. We’ll figure out how to fix it.”

  And then he bent down to kiss me.

  I took a step back. Suddenly, everything about being close to him in that way became extremely uncomfortable. I unintentionally looked behind me at Luke, and Oliver gritted his teeth in a poor effort to conceal his rage.

  “They are my friends,” I explained. “I mean—they weren’t at first, of course. But I’ve gotten to know them, Oliver. They have good reason for what they did.” Oliver stayed silent, but he was fuming, not buying a single word that was tumbling from my mouth. “Luke there—he uh… he pulled me out of the river, and… well, he saved my life.”

  “Luke, eh?” Oliver said, glaring and jabbing the gun further in his direction. “One of the same men who kidnapped you also saved your life?”

  “Uh, yes.”

  “So, he was… nice to you?”

  “Well, yes. He’s been looking out for me.”

  “Hmmm, that’s interesting. What else did he do, Kaya?”

>   I could see jealousy seeping into the anger that was consuming Oliver. “I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not like that. You don’t understand—”

  “Oh, I think I do!” Oliver bellowed, “Your pal, Luke, has brainwashed you into thinking they are the good guys. I have heard of that before. It’s called Stockholm syndrome—the abducted start to fall for their captors for some sick, twisted reason. So, I get it Kaya. It’s not your fault.” He backed away from me and lifted the gun so that it was aimed at Luke’s heart. “You! Get on your knees!”

  Luke calmly obeyed.

  “Whoa there, little buddy!” said Davis nervously. “Let’s think this through a bit, okay? Why don’t we hear Kaya out and use the radio and tell Henry we’ve got her? Nobody has to die quite yet, all right?”

  Nobody has to die… yet? If killing my captors was a part of Oliver’s orders, I knew he would follow through. My mind raced as I started backing away from the man I barely recognized with so much hatred in his eyes.

  “You know what we have to do,” Oliver hissed at Davis. “Let’s get to it.”

  Seth started struggling against Davis and his restraints, momentarily diverting Oliver’s attention away from Luke. So, I did the only thing I could think of—I turned and ran toward Luke, throwing myself at him and almost passing out from the pain that surged through my wounded arm. Luke’s expression of shock and worry made his blue eyes slightly grey—I tried to avoid looking at them too long as he gently pulled me up to stand before him.

  “What the hell?” Oliver raged. “Get away from him, Kaya! What are you doing?”

  I turned around and carefully positioned myself between the man I was supposed to be with and the man I wanted to be with—and I was hurting them both. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “Just drop the gun and kick it away, Oliver. Then, I’ll explain everything. Please.”

  “Not in a million years.” Oliver hissed, and his eyes narrowed while he kept the gun pointed in our direction.

  I steadied myself and glared back. “Well, if you are that desperate to follow Henry’s orders, you’ll be killing me in the process because you’re going to have to shoot me to get to him,” I said, then added with conviction, “I’m not moving.”

  My explanation of the obvious startled him. The struggle to want to follow Henry’s orders but not hurt me was evident on his face.

  “Just put the gun down and hear me out,” I said.

  Oliver looked at Davis, who gave him an agreeable nod, then, obviously going against everything he knew, tentatively placed the gun down at his feet. My throat became so dry I could barely swallow. I wanted to be gentle, delicate, and sensitive, but no matter how heartbreaking things are said, they are still heartbreaking.

  “They aren’t bad people, Oliver,” I said as I inched my way back to him, kicking the gun away when I was close enough. I knew what I wanted to tell him, but I stalled, trying to find a way to lightly deliver the heaviest words I would ever say in my life. “I’m sorry. I never meant for this to happen…” I was a foot from him now, and I whispered, so that only he could hear as I motioned discreetly toward Luke, “but I love him.”

  I was convinced that the only sound that could be heard within a thousand miles was Oliver’s shocked inhale. “You slept with him?” he said darkly.

  I felt my blood instantly boil. “What? How can you even ask that? You know me. So, no.” I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “I just want you to know why I need you to let him go. Please forget this even happened. I’m honoring the promise I made to you—no secrets—and I’m going home with you. I never had any intention of leaving in the first place, so—”

  His nostrils flared. “But you’d thought about it, didn’t you?” he interrupted.

  “I, uh—”

  “Didn’t you!” he yelled, and then he grabbed me by the hair and roughly pulled me to his side. Oliver had never hurt me before, but now his fingers dinging in to my flesh—it was a complete shock. “What the hell did you do to her?” he yelled accusingly at Luke.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Luke said. “Listen, you have her back now, and she is hurt. You have to get her to a doctor—”

  Oliver ignored him, and he pulled my face to his, eyes boring in to mine, as if searching for something. When he didn’t see what he wanted, he shook me like one would a bratty kid.

  Luke took a few steps closer. “Don’t hurt her,” he warned.

  Oliver laughed. “Hurt her? More than you have?” Oliver’s teeth flashed white against his dark skin, and, like a simmering pot, he suddenly boiled over. His resistance finally crumbled. He tossed me aside like a rag doll, then charged toward Luke, swinging out and hitting him square in the jaw. Luke stumbled back, but he made no move to defend himself. Oliver swung again, but Luke just stood there like a punching bag. Why was he letting Oliver hit him? Was all his talk of bar fighting and martial arts training a lie?

  Without thinking, I tried to break it up. I dove toward the two men, but Davis caught me by the waist. I begged Oliver to stop, I begged Davis to let me go, and I screamed in horror when blood began to trickle from Luke’s nose. “Oliver, stop! You’re going to kill him!” I yelled franticly.

  The agony in my tone caught Luke’s attention. He came out of his daze and rushed toward Oliver, aiming for his knees, knocking him off balance, and swiftly pinning him to the ground. “Chill out, Oliver, please,” he said as Oliver struggled beneath him. “I’m not going to fight you, and you are scaring Kaya. She’s sick. She has to get to a doctor. You took your anger out on me, and yeah, I deserved it, but enough already.”

  Oliver’s dark eyes looked like black holes. “I’m going to kill you,” he said, growling.

  Despite the threat, Luke let go and put his hands up in surrender, but Oliver wasn’t ready to quit. He threw himself at Luke, wrestled him face first to the ground, and then sat on him, pulling his arms behind his back. Luke lay there calmly, flat on his belly, and didn’t even try to get free.

  “Okay, Oliver, you got him. Let’s tie him up and be done now,” said Davis, still holding me tightly. “I’ve got a burger and fries waiting for me in town.”

  “Yes, you won Oliver. Just let him go, please,” I begged.

  But my pleading was like gasoline on the fire. Oliver grinned, and what little light remained had left his eyes completely. Everything about the look on his face meant he had become murderous, and he made sure I was watching as he pulled a knife from his belt. His massive hand grabbed hold of Luke’s gold hair and yanked his head up off the ground.

  “No! Oh my God, Oliver, stop!”

  Oliver’s eyes narrowed and sunlight glinted off the knife as he pushed it against Luke’s throat. How could he? This was the very same thing that happened to me on my sixteenth birthday… a knife sliced through my skin and tore my neck wide open… Oliver saved the girl he loved… and now he was about to cut the throat of someone I said I loved, and this was much, much worse…

  Luke didn’t struggle. He didn’t beg for his life. He just lay there. And then I realized something: he was keeping a promise he’d made to me. The day the mountain lion attacked him, he’d promised me that he wouldn’t hurt my fiancé if it ever came to this. Even with his life in danger, he was keeping a promise he’d made to me…

  “Luke, he is going to kill you!” I yelled desperately. “Get up! I don’t want you to keep that promise anymore. I want you… to fight back, please. Fight for me!”

  And that lit the fire.

  It was as if a different creature rose from the ground. In a blur, Luke had tossed Oliver off his back and the knife landed inches from Seth’s feet. Luke’s face became expressionless—calculated, and his quick-as-lighting reactions blocked every blow Oliver tried to deliver. It became very clear that Oliver was no match for Luke’s skill, but he persisted stupidly until a quick strike to the ribs had him doubled over.

  As angry as I was, I didn’t want anyone hurt. I thought I might throw up.

  Oliver was stubb
orn. He straightened up and charged Luke again but was quickly winded when he took several more blows to the abdomen. He stumbled and fell to his knees, inches from the edge of the plateau. Loose rock gave way. Oliver started slipping backward, and soon his fingers were the only part of him visible from the surface.

  Luke and Davis both lunged for him, each one grabbing an arm and pulling until they got him back up. I held my breath the whole time, picturing all three falling to their deaths… and then the pain came back. It pulled across my hips, wrapped around my back, and dug in. I think I might have screamed, because I heard something strange come from my own throat. My legs gave out, and I fell into Seth’s arms. As I fought to breathe, I watched Oliver rise to his feet, still wanting to fight. I tried to say something, but the pain had a hold of my voice.

  “Are you assholes done yet?” Seth yelled for me.

  The pain grew—doubled, tripled—and then I couldn’t focus anymore. I dug my nails into Seth’s arm, horrified by the smell of him, but comforted by it at the same time.

  “Hey!” Seth yelled again, “you aren’t going to have a girl to fight over if you both don’t kiss and make up right now! She needs a doctor immediately!”

  The sound of arguing resonated in my ears, but they were ringing so loud nothing made sense. My muscles pulled tighter and tighter until the world disappeared for a few minutes. Oliver was trying to pull me away, but I clung to Seth for dear life. Commands were issued and Davis murmured something in my ear to persuade me to let go of Seth, then I was carried and placed into the chopper where Brutus’s hot, doggy breath brushed my face. We lifted into the air, and I found myself sandwiched between Luke and Oliver in the back of the helicopter. My agony was suddenly not only from the physical ache, or from the dread of losing the baby, but—of all ridiculous things—who to lean on.

  Was I going to follow my head, or my heart? Do what was right, or what felt right? Each had its consequences.

  I leaned over and put my head in his lap, breathing a sigh of relief as he caressed my cheek. Then the pain returned, burning and pulling my muscles tighter and tighter until I felt they might break. I pulled my knees up and listened as he told me to breathe. I followed his instructions—letting the air escape when he told me to and moving through the pain while holding on to the sound of his voice. Then, I stared at the split and broken skin on Luke’s knuckles until I passed out.