by Lucy Lennox
“Here,” Zach said as he handed Jake something.
It was a small folding knife. Before the four of us took the final curve in the road, Jake handed it to me. “Put this in your boot. I’m sure it won’t do us a damned bit of good, but at least I’ll feel better if you have something.”
I looked down at the tiny folding knife in my palm and back up at Jake.
“They might not see you as much of a threat, so maybe they won’t search you like the rest of us.” He shrugged as I leaned down to slip the little knife into my snow boot. “Can’t hurt, anyway.”
As the SUV pulled up to the end of the road, I caught sight of two dark-windowed SUVs parked in front of the abandoned wood-sided building in front of us. Jake turned to me with determination etched in his face.
“Oz, remember—”
“I know,” I said with a nod. “I promise.” My gut lurched at even the idea of running and leaving Jake behind, but I needed to remember why he was asking it of me.
We got out of the car and trudged up the short staircase to the building. I could hear what sounded like someone crying inside, and it caused my heart to jump into my throat. Before we got to the door, a voice from the edge of the woods nearby called out.
“Stop right there.”
Two men approached us carefully, guns in hand. One was Lyle. The other I didn’t recognize. “Hands up,” Lyle demanded. While he held a gun on us, the other man took his time searching each of us. I held my breath when he got to me. When he reached my boots, I waited for him to order me to remove them, but when he saw the intricate lacings of the Sorel boots, he glanced up at me, then looked me up and down as if trying to figure out something. “They’re clean,” he finally announced, and I barely managed not to let out a whoosh of air as I realized Jake had been right.
The fucker had dismissed me as not being any kind of real threat.
God, I really hoped he wasn’t right.
Lyle motioned us forward with the gun. As soon as Jake opened the door, a deep voice boomed from inside the small, broken-down building. “Come in, come in. No need to be afraid. I’m sure we can have a quick conversation and let all of you be on your merry way.”
Jake reached out his arm to draw me behind him as we entered the small abandoned maintenance shed. It was relatively empty with only two small windows on each side, a few pallets, and debris on the floor.
“You and I both know nobody is leaving here alive,” Jake said as we moved into the open room and let our eyes adjust to the darker space.
“You two,” Lyle said as he waved his gun at Xander and Zach. “On your knees, hands behind your back.” They did as he said. Their hands were quickly bound behind them with zip-ties. I was still standing behind Jake but managed to look around him enough to search out Zoey, Bennett, and Lucky. I found them huddled together off to our right. They were sitting tied on a wooden pallet. But while Zoey and Lucky just had their hands bound with zip-ties, Bennett was actually secured to a pillar. He had a winter hat pulled down over his eyes so he couldn’t see and a piece of fabric of some kind tied against his mouth as a gag. The pillar was at his back and his arms were tied behind it. His ankles were tied in front of him.
Zoey and Lucky’s frightened eyes met ours, and I could see both of them were crying. They were huddled together against the pillar on the other side of Bennett.
Xander’s croak cut through the room. “I’m here, Benny.”
Bennett’s entire body snapped to attention at the sound of his husband’s voice and he began struggling against his bindings. Lucky tried to lurch toward Xander, but Zoey managed to hiss at him and lean in to keep him from doing something stupid.
“It’s okay, son,” Xander said, a hitch in his voice. “It’ll be over soon and you and me and your father are going to go home, okay?”
I felt tears escape my eyes and turn cold on their way down my face.
Laughter erupted from Lyle as he straightened from where he’d finished securing Zach’s hands. “Told you the pretty one would cry. Please let me have him before you shoot him. The guy’s too easy to fuck with.” Lyle snagged my arm and forced me out from behind Jake. Jake reached for me, but when Lyle pointed his gun at me and hissed, “Do it, please,” Jake immediately stopped his forward movement and let Lyle pull me away from him.
Lyle forced me several feet farther into the room and turned me so I was facing the man I presumed was Barton. Lyle shoved me to my knees, but surprisingly, he didn’t tie my hands. I didn’t have to wonder why when he suddenly put his gun to my temple. Jake let out a cross between a cry and a whimper but didn’t move even a muscle. His terrified eyes met mine before he forced them back to Barton. Barton lowered the gun he’d been pointing at Bennett.
Barton glanced briefly at Lyle before returning his icy gaze to Jake. “If even one of them moves, shoot him,” Barton said.
I had no doubt he was talking about me.
“With pleasure,” Lyle said almost gleefully.
“I’m here, Barton! Let them go. You have what you want,” Jake said, his voice thick with emotion as he flicked his eyes frantically between Lyle’s gun and my face.
“Now why in the world would I let anyone go? You were right. No one is leaving here alive,” Barton replied. He walked over to Jake and pushed his gun into Jake’s cheek. “Did you really think any of you were going to survive this?”
Jake tightened his jaw against the pain of the gun barrel. “No. I never did. I left you alone for all these fucking years and you still couldn’t get the message I wasn’t going to say anything. I never once thought if you found me, you’d let me live. But if I’m going to die because of you, then you’re not making it out of here either. I’ve told twenty people back in Haven what you did and where to find you. Even if you kill us, this isn’t going away.”
Barton laughed. “If you think one little town full of a bunch of hippies is going to scare me when I’ve been up against goddamned mercenaries and cartel thugs, you’re fucking crazy. Do you have any idea the people I’ve had to kill to keep my drug operation going in Colombia? I even had to take out Diego himself when he decided to try and cut me out. But for the sake of argument, let’s say I actually believed that bullshit, do you really think some unprovable thirdhand storytelling is going to be believed over the word of a decorated agent like myself?”
Barton shoved the muzzle deeper into Jake’s cheek until he hissed in pain.
“No, but they’ll believe whatever’s on that flash drive that Megan snuck into my medical bag.”
I had the satisfaction of seeing Barton pale. I knew there wasn’t a flash drive, since Jake had already confirmed he had no hard evidence against the murderer, but Barton was clearly unsure of whether or not to believe him. “You’re bluffing,” he said.
“Let everyone go, and I’ll take you to it.”
I wanted to yell out my denial, but I managed to hold my tongue. On the one hand, I wished like hell I was wearing a watch so I knew how many minutes had passed since we’d separated from Wade’s group, but on the other, I probably wouldn’t have dared look at it, since Lyle likely would have used the little bit of movement to shoot me.
“Or how about, I just kill your boyfriend here…”
Barton tilted his chin at Lyle who jammed his gun harder against my temple, causing me to cry out both in pain and fear.
“No!” Jake shouted. “No, please, don’t.”
Jake lunged for me, but Barton backhanded him with the gun, then put it to his head. “You’re full of shit, aren’t you?” the man snarled. “There’s no flash drive, is there?”
When Jake didn’t answer, Barton hit him again. The man’s coolness had given way to pure rage. “Is there?”
“No!” Jake shouted.
My body began to shake because I knew we were running out of time. Where the fuck was the signal?
“Thought so,” Barton said in satisfaction as he stepped back.
Jake pulled in several breaths, ignoring the blood
trickling down his temple. “Barton, at least let the kid go.” He nodded toward Lucky, who Zoey was trying to shield with her body so he wouldn’t have to witness what was happening.
Barton’s eyes flicked to Lucky. “No way in hell. He’s a witness now as much as anyone.”
“Then at least take him outside for this. Surely you can’t be so cruel as to make him watch his own fathers die?”
“What do you take me for? A monster?” Barton laughed. “I’ll be sure and kill the kid first, so he doesn’t have to watch me kill the rest of you.”
Bennett’s entire body fought against his bindings as Xander yelled, “You touch my kid—” Before he could even finish the sentence, Barton strode over to him and kicked him in the gut. His gun remained pointed at Jake and the gun to my temple didn’t ease up even a little bit.
“Dad!” Lucky called. I flicked my eyes to the teenager. His eyes were wide with panic. But this time he didn’t try to get to Xander. “At least let Zoey go,” Lucky said to Barton. He pulled away from Zoey and nudged her to try and get her to stand up. Bennett tried shouting through his gag, but it was too muffled to understand.
“Aren’t you chivalrous?” Barton’s smile toward Lucky was almost admiring. “Such a nice boy. I’m sorry about this, son. Really. Close your eyes.” To Jake he said, “We’re done here.”
As he lifted his arm to gesture first to Lyle, then Lucky, a muffled shout came from outside the shed. Lyle froze, and Barton quickly stepped to the broken window. I didn’t need to see what was happening because I knew. Either Wade or one of the men had finally cleared the perimeter and given us the signal we needed by dragging Barton’s man outside into the trees and making sure he made enough noise to get Barton’s attention.
Jake took advantage of the distraction to shoot forward and tackle Barton to the ground. Lyle’s gun arm swung around toward them, but there wasn’t a way to get a clear shot off. I shoved my shoulder against Lyle in the hopes I could throw him off-balance enough to keep him from taking the shot, but since I was still on my knees, it didn’t do much. He cursed and stumbled a bit, then lashed out at me with his free hand, catching me on the side of my head. He pointed his gun at me, but then Zach was there. He’d managed to get to his feet during the melee. His shoulder caught Lyle square in the chest, knocking the man backward, but he still managed to hang onto his gun.
At the same time, Xander stumbled to his feet and threw himself on top of Zoey and Lucky. He wasn’t close enough to reach Bennett, so I reached into my boot for the knife in the hopes I could cut Bennett loose so he and the others might have a chance to make a run for it. But before I could reach him, a gunshot rent the air. I turned to see that Zach had somehow managed to knock Lyle back against the wall, causing the gun to discharge harmlessly into the floor. Zach was trying to use his body to keep Lyle from aiming the gun, but with his hands tied, Zach didn’t stand a chance. Lyle punched Zach hard in the side, causing him to stumble to his knees.
Lyle immediately aimed his gun at Zach. Fear for Zach had me moving without thought, and I used every ounce of strength in my body to jam the thick little blade into Lyle’s neck. My hands were shaking so violently, I was shocked I hadn’t missed his neck completely. But my aim had been true. The asshole looked at me in shock as he dropped his gun and then pulled the knife from his neck. The weapon clattered to the floor as he went down. Zach tried to go for the gun, but he was too far away from it.
I wasn’t.
I went to grab it, but before I could, another shot tore through the room.
Jake.
Chapter 34
Jake
The sound of a gun going off momentarily distracted me as I fought with Barton. It was enough time for him to bring his elbow down on my arm to force me to loosen my hold on the gun he and I were struggling for control of. Barton and I were fighting by the window, and I knew that as scuffed up as it was, there’d be no way for Wade or any of the other men outside to get a shot off without risking hitting me. Which meant they wouldn’t take a shot while there were two bodies in the window.
I let out a grunt as Barton punched me in the side, hitting me in the exact spot where I’d taken the bullet on the mountain. With my strength failing fast, I knew I needed to give the guys outside one body to fire at or this would all be over. I heard a grunt from the other side of the shed, but ignored it and snapped my head back, catching Barton hard in the nose. Barton cursed and released me. Oz’s voice pierced the air with a warning as I dropped to the floor. As I went down, I saw that Oz was standing close to the window on the opposite side of the shed.
“Oz, down!” I yelled, in hopes he’d remember the plan to leave the windows clear for the men outside to take their shots. He instantly dropped to the ground.
One of the shots from outside the shed went wide, hitting the wall behind us with a thud, but one caught Barton in the shoulder, stunning him for a second.
I rolled quickly away from the other people in the room in hopes I’d at least split Barton’s attention in two different directions. As I rolled, I realized Oz was trying to make a lunge for the dead gunman’s weapon. Barton noticed the move too and swung his gun from me toward Oz. I screamed Oz’s name again, then threw myself at him, knocking us both to the ground in the process. I heard another bullet tear through what little glass remained in the shed window just above our heads, and Barton wildly began shooting through it to the outside. Oz was lying beneath me, his breath coming in heavy pants. His eyes connected with mine as he shoved the gun he’d managed to grab into my hand. I quickly rolled onto my back, took aim and fired.
The shot was good–center mass as I’d been taught–and Barton’s wide eyes connected with mine briefly before he dropped to the ground and fell face-first onto the wooden floor.
There was a beat of silence as we all seemed to realize that the threat was really over. Then a sobbing Oz was sitting up and pushing into my arms. I clung to him as I watched Xander crawl the short distance to Bennett. Zach had managed to get a hold of the knife Oz had used to kill the gunman. He cut his hands loose and then hurried to Xander and Bennett and cut Xander free. Xander ripped the hat off Bennett’s head and removed the gag as Zach cut through the bindings securing Bennett to the pillar.
“It’s over, baby,” Xander cried as he leaned his face against Bennett’s. “I’ve got you.”
“Lucky!” Bennett screamed.
“Here, Dad, I’m here!” Lucky shouted.
“Wade, clear!” Zach called as he hurried to Lucky and Zoey and sliced through their bonds as well. Lucky threw himself into his fathers’ arms as soon as he was loose.
Wade came tearing into the shed, rifle in hand, and made a beeline for Zoey, who sobbed in relief when she saw him. Keith and Russ began checking the bodies for signs of life. Zach quickly cut through the rest of the bindings holding Bennett in place and then Bennett was in Xander’s arms. “Oh god. Oh my god, Benny,” Xander cried into Bennett’s damp hair, mashed flat from the hat and sweating from the stress of it all. “I thought I was going to lose you two. When I saw you tied up and Lucky—”
Bennett didn’t let him get any further before grabbing his face with shaky hands and kissing him for all he was worth. Then Lucky was wrapped around both of his fathers, sobbing into their chests as they tried to offer him words of comfort.
“We called the sheriff,” Russ said to me as his gaze met mine. I gave him a nod of thanks, then focused on the man in my arms.
I closed my eyes as I felt the sharp stab of guilt straight to my core. I had caused this. All of it was my fault for bringing these amazing people to the attention of such a dangerous, hateful human being. I felt cold hands on my cheeks and opened my eyes to see the most beautiful soul in front of me.
“Do you see them?” Oz said softly, his voice still thick with tears as he looked around at our friends.
I nodded, too heartbroken to answer with words.
“They are all alive because of you.”
I shook
my head then and closed my eyes, tucking my face in his neck and letting out a sob.
“You. They’re all alive because of you. You came up with the idea of having Wade and them grab the guy outside in a way that would distract Barton and act as the signal. We knew it was a long shot, no matter what, but we pulled it off,” Oz murmured into my ear.
“But none of this would have even happened if I hadn’t come here,” I whispered against his skin.
Oz forced my head back from his neck and locked eyes with me.
“If you hadn’t come here, we wouldn’t have met. The next time you say anything implying you wish you hadn’t come here, I will take it as you saying you wish we’d never met. Do you understand?”
He was so strong, so fucking capable.
“I will love you for the rest of my life,” I choked out. “I’m so, so sorry. I’m so sorry I almost let that man take you from me.”
Zach knelt down and grabbed the back of my neck to force me to look at him. “If this hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have gotten you back. Oz wouldn’t have gotten a chance to be with you forever. It’s over, Jake. It’s all over now.”
I took a deep, shuddering breath and looked at my brother crouched next to me rubbing his sore wrists, my best friend, whose arms were around his husband and child, and the man huddled in my arms, the absolute love of my life.
Was it possible?
Could I really, finally, have everything I ever wanted and be safe to enjoy it?
As the sound of sirens cut through the cold mountain air outside the shed, I thought maybe, just maybe, I could.
Epilogue
Six months later