The Vows We Make (The Six Series Book 4)

by Sonya Loveday

  Ella handed me the phone when I gestured for it, and then I took it off speaker before placing it against my ear. Steeling myself against the possibility of losing it again, I tried my best to go into nurse mode. Stick to the facts. A direct diagnosis, or in my case, a direct and detailed report. Fact one: There had been a man in the jungle with not only a knife, but also a gun. Fact two: Mark had told me to run. By the time I got to fact number five, Josh had paced the floor enough to wear a hole in it.

  Oliver didn’t interrupt me once. He waited until he’d heard it all, up to the point of me making it back to the cottage. And when he did speak, he said exactly what I wanted to hear.

  “We will find him, Paige. I’ll have my best men on it. I promise,” he said.

  I’d handed the phone over to Ella then, crossing my arms against my chest to keep my heart from breaking free of it as I thought about Mark and all the bad things that could have happened.

  When Ella got off the phone, she pulled me over to the small couch and sat us both down.

  “Oliver said to keep an eye out for Erol. If he went into the jungle, we’ll know before nightfall where Mark is. Once we have that information, Oliver will have a team in place,” she said.

  “So we’re supposed to just sit here?” I asked, unable to think about how many hours we’d be waiting. Worrying.

  “No. Oliver asked me to get you packed and ready to fly out in an hour. He’s making a few calls and will get back with me with the finalized details,” Ella said, unable to look at me.

  “I’m not leaving,” I replied, squaring my shoulders as I turned to her with a scowl. “So you might as well call him back and tell him not to bother. My husband is in the jungle with knife-wielding crazy people. I will not leave without him.”

  She frowned into her lap. “Paige, he’s my superior. I don’t give the orders. He does. So if he says I have to have you on a plane—that is exactly what I’m going to do. I’m sorry.”

  “She’s not going anywhere. If you won’t make the call, I will,” Josh said as he snatched the phone from Ella, and then stormed out of the room.

  I'D ALWAYS THOUGHT THE HOSPITAL staff had the hardest part of any sort of emergency. The hustle and bustle that goes on behind the scenes of a peaceful waiting room. The endless hours the staff was on their feet, swaying because they’d missed both lunch and dinner, and there wasn’t a thing to do about it until the patient was stabilized.

  When you waited, all you had to do was sit. Someone else took care of the rest. Being on the flip side of things, waiting, had to be the most gut-wrenching thing of all. The not knowing. The worrying. All the while, there wasn’t a damn thing you could do about it, but wait. Wait for someone to tell you something. Anything.

  After Josh called Oliver and told him I wasn’t leaving, there had been a pretty big argument that played out between Ella and Josh. They’d squared off, toe to toe, and I wondered just what it was that had them at such odds. Sure, my part in it was pretty big. Oliver had given Ella an order, and I’d flat out refused. There was nothing she could do about it either since Josh had agreed with me about staying.

  They’d settled when I’d caught sight of Erol sprinting across the small yard.

  “Erol,” I cried, rushing to open the door for him.

  He clutched his side, breathing erratic as he clenched the strap of Mark’s camera in one fist.

  Josh marched right up to him, demanding answers. Where was Mark? Who’d taken him? Where had they taken him? I stepped in at that point, cutting off Josh’s rapid-fire questions.

  “Give him a minute to catch his breath,” I demanded.

  I didn’t need him passing out as he tried to force explanations past the sucking gulps of air he pulled into his starved lungs.

  Erol had smiled at me, pointing a wagging finger at me with a wink, but kept silent.

  Ella, not missing a beat, called Oliver to report that Erol had arrived and was in the process of telling us what he’d found. Before she hung up, she promised to send the coordinates to Oliver as soon as she got off the phone.

  Erol, hearing her, handed over his phone to her. With efficient movements, Ella forwarded on the information.

  “The mon is alive,” he said, reaching out to squeeze my shoulder.

  “Who has him?” Ella asked, cradling the phone between her hands, thumbs poised at the ready. Like a court stenographer, she looked ready to relay everything he said by shorthand.

  Erol shook his head. “Don’ know. Here, womon. Get des pictures I took to Oliver.”

  I took the camera from him, heartbroken to see the damage it incurred. Mark’s gonna be devastated, I thought, peering into the shattered lens. He’d had it since our sophomore year in high school. It was more than a camera to him… it was like an extension of himself.

  “Paige,” Josh said as he snapped his fingers in front of my face.

  I blinked, bringing him into focus, realizing it didn’t matter what happened to the camera. It was just an object. An object that could be replaced. Sentiment aside, I’d have crushed the damn thing to pieces myself if it meant Mark was safe.

  “Here,” I said, pulling the memory card and handing it over to Josh.

  A minute later, I heard Ella gasp. “No. It can’t be.

  THERE WAS AN ODD DRIPPING noise like a leaky faucet coming from somewhere to my left. Try as I might, I couldn’t pick my head up to figure out just what the hell it could be. Had one of us got up in the middle of the night and not turned the tap all the way off?

  And what was that smell? I was so used to the feminine scents of air fresheners, depending on the season, that the stench coming in with every inhale reeked of foulness. Like a stall needing to be mucked out. The acrid scent of urine combined with the pungent smell of horseshit. The same smell I’d associated with working every so often with Riley to make a little extra money.

  A sort of awareness rippled through me. With every wave, it brought me more and more out of the confines of sleep and into a reality filled with aches and pains. I had the worst migraine. Each beat of my pulse sent a flash of pain so intense I couldn’t open my eyes. A groan slipped out as my stomach rolled.

  “It’s all right,” a hushed voice whispered close to my ear.

  The sound, while quiet, made colors flash and dance against my eyelids.

  “Shhh,” the voice warned. “It’s best they think you’re still unconscious.”

  “They?” Who the hell were they?

  The form settled beside me, knees squelching in the mud as he lowered his voice further and said, “Militia. Rest now. You’ll need all the strength you can manage when they come back.”

  He moved then, leaving me to rest, not realizing the panic he’d stirred as everything came back to me. Paige and I had been in the jungle, armed with my camera and a purpose. Get as close as we could so I could take images of the militia encampment, if there was one. Our first assignment for Cole Enterprise.

  It should have been simple. Easy. Take a few pictures, and then hike back out of the jungle. But it hadn’t been the former or the latter. It had been nothing like either of us had expected. And Paige… she ran like I’d told her to. Like I should have done. Where was she? Was she here, somewhere in the darkness? Unconscious? Dead?

  Dread rolled through me. Thoughts, clear and frightening, broke the surface, waking me up from the pain-filled haze shrouding me like a leaded blanket.

  “Paige…” I called. Desperate to hear her voice and hoping with everything in me that she didn’t answer because she wasn’t there.

  “Shhh!”

  The warning came too late.

  "WHO THE HELL IS TRENT, and why is Ella freaking out?” I asked, hauling Josh off to the corner.

  Ella paced the floor, phone once more up to her ear. The string of words that flew out of her was too fast to keep up with.

  “I have no idea, but from the sound of it, it’s not good,” Josh answered, unable to take his eyes off her.

  Ella’s voi
ce broke as she gasped, shoulders curling as if cloaked in grief. Whatever news Oliver gave her, it clearly broke her heart.

  The seconds ticked by as Ella listened. The grief slipped into anger. She lashed out, voice like a javelin. Using the only weapon she had in her arsenal, she hurled her venom-filled words at him. “You told me he was dead. I mourned him, damn you. I lost a piece of myself, thinking it died right along with him.”

  She halted, body straightening like a lightning rod. Vibrating with anger, she threw the phone across the room.

  Erol watched her with one eyebrow cocked, waiting, I expected, for her to explode.

  She didn’t disappoint.

  Erol moved out of her path as she stormed around the living room like a tornado drunk on its own power. None of us was stupid enough to get in her path until she blew herself out. What none of us realized was there was a method to her destructive behavior. It looked like she couldn’t settle, but then, all at once, she did.

  Snatching my book bag off the back of the dining room chair, she shoved random things inside of it. Erol’s phone. A map of the jungle she’d spread out while we waited for his return. The knife she’d used to cut an apple with. One by one, each thing disappeared inside the bag.

  Josh stepped in front of her as she made her way to the counter where a case of bottled water sat.

  She tried sidestepping him, but he just kept getting in her way.

  “Move,” she growled.

  “No,” he answered.

  Her face took on a pinched look as she said, “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you don’t get out of my way.”

  Josh, the idiot, chuckled.

  Ella snapped.

  He was on the floor before I could reach out and snatch him out of her way. Standing with her foot planted on his chest, she added a little more pressure, just enough so he wheezed. She didn’t remove her foot until she gave him one final warning. “Stay down if you know what’s good for you.”

  Erol crossed his arms and leaned against the counter, watching her. “Wa’ chu’ gon do, gurl?”

  She dropped two water bottles into the bag, hesitated, and then grabbed a third one before rummaging through the cupboards, grabbing a handful of granola bars.

  “What the hell does it look like I’m doing?” she fired back at him.

  Erol shook his head. “Ya can’ go alone.”

  She ignored him.

  He pushed a little more emphasis in his words as he said, “Womon, did ya hear me?”

  She spun on him, arm going behind her and pulling the pistol she’d had tucked away at the small of her back. The barrel was pointed down as she ejected the clip and then checked the chamber for a round. “I heard you. Now hear me. I can take care of myself. I don’t need anyone’s help.”

  Erol’s hands came up, palms facing Ella as he moved down the counter to give her some space. “An wot you gon’ do when ya get der? Ya might get a few shots in before dey take you.”

  Ella’s eyes narrowed as she said, “I won’t miss.”

  The gun slipped back under her shirt, tucked away from where she’d pulled it, and then she settled the book bag on her shoulders.

  “Wait!” I called to her. “I’m coming with you.”

  Josh made a grab for my arm as he said, “The hell you are.”

  She didn’t wait for me. And as desperate as I was to find Mark, I damn sure wasn’t going to sit and wait while Ella stormed the jungle.

  I shoved Josh as hard as I could and tore out the front door, running to catch up with Ella before I lost sight of her.

  Ella had the long stride of a hill walker. Not fast. Not slow. Her even steps stretched to cover the ground, whereas my own were halted as I stumbled along the uneven terrain.

  She knew I was behind her. There was no way she wouldn’t know with all the noise I made. Not with the way I bumbled about, trying to keep up with her.

  After I’d fallen for the third time, Ella lost her patience. She spun around and marched up to me. Grabbing my arm, she pulled me back in the direction we’d come from.

  I jerked and twisted, but Ella’s grip held painfully firm. “Get back to cottage and stay there,” she demanded.

  “I’m coming with you,” I hissed, trying my hardest to plant my feet.

  She stopped, grabbed my other arm, and shook me. “This isn’t a game. You need to go back. Now.”

  “I never said it was. Let go, you’re hurting me,” I said, bringing my arms up and swinging them to break her hold.

  She sneered, digging her fingers deeper into my triceps as she said, “Hurting you? Do you have any idea what those men are capable of? This?” she asked, clamping down even more before continuing, “This is nothing. A minor annoyance. The things that can happen if you’re captured? People don’t recover from those things. And that’s even if they live to tell the tale at all.”

  I shivered. Fear snaked its way down my spine, coiling in my belly.

  Ella saw how her words affected me and smirked. “Go back and wait for Oliver.”

  Ella could stick her fingers clear through my arms. I wasn’t going to back down. If it were me, Mark would do the same thing. I wasn’t going to sit around and wait for someone to help him when I was capable enough to do it myself.

  She stiffened when I caught up to her. “You’re either extremely stupid, or you have a death wish.”

  “Yeah, well, the same could be said about you,” I answered, giving her the same snide tone.

  I didn’t believe myself stupid or willing to die. Irrational maybe, but who wouldn’t be if their husband was being held by a group of jungle militia?

  “You’re right. The only difference is…”

  There was a look that came into her eyes right before she lunged at me.

  I flung myself out of the way and danced out of her reach.

  “You’re fast. I’ll give you that,” she said, coming at me once more.

  Again, I moved in a way she least expected and said, “If you’d have spent the last four years around Jared Jackson, you’d have the same moves.”

  She sneered and pulled her gun on me. “You’re not coming with me.”

  I stepped right in front of the pointed barrel, stopping only when I was close enough to take it from her. All the while, my heart hammered in my chest as I called myself all sorts of really bad names.

  “You’re not going to shoot me,” I told her, hoping to God she didn’t have an itchy trigger finger.

  She cocked her head. “You so sure of that?”

  I’d never practiced it, but I knew the concepts of disarming someone. Both hands were moving before I could chicken out. With my left hand, I went for the gun. My right hand went for her wrist.

  “So you got the gun. Big deal. You’re not going to shoot me,” she said, mimicking my early statement.

  “You sure about that?” I asked, stepping back and lowering the gun.

  I should have kept it pointed at her.

  She had me on the ground, knee in my back, as she took the gun from my hand.

  I didn’t say anything. Couldn’t really, since she’d knocked the air right out of me.

  “What the hell are you two doing?” Josh barked as he knelt down to help me up.

  “Having a little girl time. What the hell does it look like we’re doing, genius?” Ella answered.

  Annoyance spread across her face when Erol strolled up to our group.

  “You two gurls make enough noise to clear out de whole jungle,” he said, beaming as if he’d cracked a really good joke.

  “Take her back,” Ella said.

  Erol, as good-natured as he’d been up to that point, actually growled at her before a slew of words, most of them I didn’t catch, rolled out of his mouth. The sum of it being he’d like to wring both of our necks.

  Ella shoved past him, grabbing him by the arm and hauling him off several feet away from Josh and me.

  “You shouldn’t have taken off like that, Paige,” Josh said, taking a
dvantage of the few minutes we had alone.

  We didn’t look at one another as we spoke, both caught up in watching a show of Ella’s hands poking and pointing at the air, and then Erol’s return pantomime. Each threw their hands up at one another.

  “Don’t start, Josh,” I warned.

  “What do you think Mark would say to me if I’d just sat back while you wandered the jungle, knowing how dangerous it is? Not to mention the fact he’s been taken by the militia,” Josh asked.

  “I guess we’ll worry about it after we get him back,” I snapped, watching Ella storm away from Erol.

  He followed close behind her, until his stride swallowed hers. Neither of them looked back. Leaving Josh, I scrambling to catch up.

  Ella walked with well placed, yet rigid steps. Her anger hadn’t abated, and it didn’t look like it would blow itself out very soon either.

  “Where the hell are they going? The cottage is back the other way,” Josh asked, the question sounding more like a thought he’d spoken aloud before jogging to catch up with Erol.

  Whatever Josh asked, Erol’s only reply was to shake his head. Josh’s lips moved again. Erol’s answer was brief and not to Josh’s liking.

  He looked over his shoulder at me, nostrils flaring before his head swung back around. Whatever upset him hadn’t kept him from keeping pace with Erol.

  Ella was uncommonly quiet beside me. Her face remained blank as she kept her pace, never once losing her stride. I wished I had her stamina because, after a while, I developed a stitch in my side that threatened to buckle me.

  “How far is it?” I blurted, digging my fingers into the pain, hoping it would help.

  Ella’s sound of exasperation was my only answer.

  We walked for a couple more minutes in silence before I tried a different tactic and asked, “Who is Trent?”

  She surprised me by answering me as she said, “Someone I used to know.”

  “There are a lot of people I used to know too, but I’m not trekking them through the jungle with a gun,” I said, hoping to prompt her for more information.

  “Jungle, desert, or the damn polar icecaps. If I knew he was there, I’d hunt him down and take him out,” she answered.