Dangerous Games - Gold

by Adele Huxley

  “Baby…” Rebel whispered.

  “It’s okay,” he said softly, touching her leg. “I had no choice.”

  It was as though Phoenix saw him for the first time. When they’d first met, he’d largely dismissed him. Boring at parties, a bit of a downer, and always saying weird things. Like a brother, he'd felt a little protective when he took an interest in Rebel.

  But the way he’d looked after her at the Lodge and since… Phoenix realized Rhett was the kind of guy men strived to be. Stoic, balanced, loving, strong. The dude killed at least four people and took it all in stride.

  “And the long version?” Penny asked.

  Rhett drew a deep breath and fleshed out his tale of survival as they ate. From stripping one of the guards of their white camouflage gear to watching them from afar, it was incredible. Phoenix was awestruck by what he did to stay alive. All the while, his focus was always Rebel's safety.

  They swapped experiences, roughly trying to line up what happened and when. It was only when Rebel mentioned the fire did Rhett shift uncomfortably.

  “I uh… did anyone get hurt in that?”

  Rebel frowned. “Not that I know of. Right?” she blinked to the others for confirmation.

  Phoenix shook his head. “We were near the door and it didn’t seem like anyone was hurt.”

  Rhett sighed with relief, his stiff shoulders folding in on themselves a touch. “That’s good.”

  “Why?” Penny asked slowly, dragging the word out.

  “That fire was kind of my fault. I was trying to test their defenses and see how many people were in the compound. So I torched a small outbuilding.” He stared at his fingers as he picked at the skin on the side. “But it was windier than I was planning on.”

  They fell silent, each grappling with an experience that would follow them for the rest of their lives.

  “I have you to thank for that, in part,” he nodded to Phoenix. “I used a pack of matches I think belonged to you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he smiled thinly.

  They exchanged stories until they tired of talking. The fire was more than adequate for heat and light in the small cabin. With a full belly and warm limbs, a weary exhaustion settled into his bones. Phoenix lounged on the dirty rug, his head resting against the mattress. Rebel had curled up on the bed behind him, her back to the wall, legs dangling beside him. She’d been attached to Rhett’s side most of the night.

  “Someone should keep watch.” His internal thought came out slurred and sleep-drunk.

  “I can go first,” Penny replied. She lifted the metal camping mug and grinned. “I’m more than awake.”

  “I’m good to go, too,” Rhett agreed.

  “More?” she asked him.

  He nodded and handed her the empty mug without lifting his eyes from the table. They’d taken the two chairs and casually compared notes about what they’d learned since the kidnapping.

  As Phoenix watched Penny go to the kitchen, one of the walkie-talkies on the table hissed with static twice. They stared as it fell silent, hissed twice again. A woman’s voice spoke in a language none of them understood.

  “I wish Claire was here,” Penny said as she turned to fill the kettle.

  “She should be in the Village by now,” Rhett replied, his eyes fixated on the bit of scrap paper he was scribbling on.

  “You saw her?” she gasped.

  He nodded solemnly. “She’d gone back to the bus and gotten her skis.”

  Penny and Phoenix glanced at each other. In the excitement, they’d glossed over what had happened with Charlie. But the idea of Claire going back on her own was disturbing.

  Rhett didn’t notice their silent conversation across the room. “Yeah, she stopped only long enough to tell me you were all safe and that she was going to Elle.”

  Penny nodded and returned to the stove. “That’s a relief. I don’t know where we’d be if it weren’t for her. Did you know…”

  “They’re kind of incredible, aren’t they?” Rebel whispered in Phoenix’s ear. He watched as her eyelids drooped slightly in the flickering firelight. She shifted away from the wall and curled up on the bed. “They’re like two sides of the same brain.”

  Phoenix adjusted the blanket across her as she drifted off. His gaze fell to Penny as she settled back at the small table. Intent. Angry. Even after everything she’d been through, driven to bring these people to justice.

  “Incredible,” he whispered to himself. He struggled to stay awake, to absorb as much as he could. Now that he saw her, genuinely saw her, he never wanted to tear his eyes away.

  Chapter 30

  Penny wasn’t sure how long Phoenix had been asleep. At one point when Rhett got up to throw more wood on the fire, she looked over and found him out cold. She wanted to move him into a more comfortable position, but didn’t dare wake him.

  It still surprised her, the flood of emotions she felt every time she looked at him. They crashed against her defenses, threatening to break through. She blinked away. There would be time for all that after they’d reached safety.

  “What do we know for sure?” Rhett whispered.

  “That we know fuck all,” she quipped. His lack of response reminded her why she enjoyed spending that night going over all this with Rhett. It also reminded her of how they’d left things. A sudden jab of guilt stabbed at her gut. She reached out to touch his arm but stopped short. He raised his eyes with a hint of curiosity but nothing more.

  “I’m sorry for everything that happened up at the Lodge,” she whispered.

  Rhett’s features hardened a touch and she almost regretted bringing it up. “You help catch these people and consider it forgiven.”

  Penny smiled. “Deal.” She wasn’t completely confident she could see that promise through, but it was a good bargain nonetheless. “Well, we do know one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The people they used as guards,” she started carefully. “They were desperate to conceal their identities. I never saw a face and it was only when I was eavesdropping did I hear their real voices.”

  Rhett’s eyes narrowed. “Which means they’re recognizable or want to reintegrate into the world after all this is over.”

  “Which means you better believe I’m taking photos of those assholes out there,” she said, pointing to where two bodies lay frozen on the ground.

  A long lull in the conversation stretched between them, but like the night they spent mulling over all these facts, it was far from uncomfortable. She appreciated Rhett’s way and thought, in another life at another time, they might be friends.

  Maybe they still could be.“And you’re sure the woman you heard was Landry’s assistant?”

  “Positive.” She knew she didn’t have to say it, but she did anyway. “That doesn’t mean Landry is necessarily involved.”

  He nodded slowly, staring down. “I still think there’s something here,” he said as he tapped a spot on the paper. Penny craned her neck to read.

  “The selection process?”

  “Why are we all here in the first place? What do we all have in common?”

  “Didn’t we decide it didn’t matter?”

  “It does now that Landry’s assistant is involved. At the very least, it implicates him.”

  Penny agreed, staring into the grain of the wooden table and allowing her brain to work. “His assistant is North American. And where is he from originally?”

  “No idea. France? I’m not positive.”

  “But definitely not Italian?” Rhett shook his head, so she continued. “I keep trying to draw connections along the traditional lines, but as far as I can tell, this group doesn’t follow them. There’s no rhyme or reason to who is involved.”

  Rhett held her with a steady gaze, his dark eyes unflinching. “But don’t let that fool you into thinking there’s no reason. There’s something linking all of us.” He stared at the paper and muttered to himself. “Autonomous Action.”

  In th
e end, she’d had to reveal Charlie was the source of much of her new information. She was careful to dance around her true role at the Unity Games, but she got the sense Rhett knew anyway.

  “I wish we had the internet,” he sighed.

  “Or my computer. I had to leave it on the bus, but everything is backed up on my external drives. B would give just about anything to see what’s on that USB.”

  Rhett rocked back in his seat. With his hands threaded behind his head, he stared at the ceiling in quiet contemplation. The crackle of the burning wood filled the calm space, drawing her eyes to the dancing flames. She needed sleep but she needed to solve this more.

  He shifted forward and placed his forearms down on the table. “Okay. From the beginning, let’s go over this again.”

  For another hour, they tried their best to piece together the events from the Village, the Lodge, and along the road. It didn’t paint a comforting picture. As exhaustion threatened to take hold of her eyelids, Penny stretched and yawned.

  “I can only hope Elle and Ethan have been hard at work cause from where I'm sitting, this is a fucking mess.”

  “Mmhmmm.”

  Penny fought to keep her eyes open as long as she could, but eventually succumbed to sleep.

  * * *

  Penny knew she wouldn’t be leaving that cabin on foot before she even opened her eyes the next morning. As the soft daylight pulled her from her slumber she rolled over to find a more comfortable position in the chair. A sharp zap of pain rocketed up her leg as she resettled.

  If I can’t even roll over, there’s no way I can walk on the damn thing.

  She cracked her eyes open j touch, just enough to see Phoenix across from her at the small table with a cup of coffee in his hands. He stared thoughtfully out the window. For a moment she could almost imagine they were on vacation together.

  Rhett must’ve gone to bed after she’d drifted off, waking Phoenix to take watch until morning.

  He was so preoccupied, she dared to open her eyes a touch more.

  I don’t even like going to sleep around other people, but with him… he’s always been different. Even before he saved my life.

  She watched him for several minutes until the bed squeaked as Rhett or Rebel shifted. He looked away from the window and caught her with her eyes open. The way his expression instantly warmed made her heart thump faster.

  “Good morning. How’d you sleep?” he whispered.

  She stretched and tried to ignore how badly she needed to pee. Squatting in the snow wasn’t her favorite thing in the world. “Horribly. Any idea what time it is?”

  “No, not really. I’m not sure when dawn is around here. I’m hardly ever up in the time to see the sun come up,” he chuckled softly.

  After gazing out the small window for a few moments, she carefully tried to work the kinks out of her painful joint before declaring she needed coffee.

  “Let me get it for you.”

  “I’m fully capable of—”

  Penny yelped as she attempted to take a step. She thought she might be able to hide how much it hurt for another day, but it was exponentially worse. She lurched forward and grabbed Phoenix’s shoulder.

  He helped her back into the chair. She pulled up the leg of her pants to reveal her ankle had easily doubled in size. It looked like a knot of fluid had formed around her once narrow foot.

  “I probably shouldn’t have taken off my boot, huh?”

  Phoenix knelt and gingerly examined the swelling. “You’re gonna have to keep this elevated. You can’t walk?”

  “It’s just stiff,” she replied half-heartedly. “I can work out the kinks.” She rolled it this way and that, knowing in her gut this wasn’t a good situation. “Will you love me even with cankles?”

  His eyebrows shot up, crinkling his brow. “Even with,” he countered with a growing smirk.

  Her cheeks flushed at his response. Luckily, he spared her any further embarrassment.

  “Coffee?”

  “Please.”

  he noise caused Rhett and Rebel to stir, the squeaking bed giving them away. After quiet good mornings, they took turns examining her ankle, pinching their faces in sympathy. It didn’t look great and it felt even worse. Rebel carried small kitchen towel outside and filled it with snow in an effort to reduce the swelling.

  The mood in the cabin shifted after breakfast. Nothing was holding them back now. It was time to get moving yet no one would broach the subject.

  Penny sat quietly in one of the chairs, her hand stuffed in her pocket. She rolled the tiny flash drive over and over between her thumb and fingers. She was dying to know what was inside. It was a struggle between what she wanted to do and what she knew she had to.

  If only I had my laptop.

  But she didn’t.

  And that wasn’t what scared her the most.

  “Please leave me one of the guns when you all go.” She spoke swiftly, the words jumping out of her mouth before she could stop them. The three of them stilled and looked at her, the comment unprovoked. She avoided Phoenix’s eye. “I’ll meet you in the Village or wherever you end up, but I need a couple days before I can walk.”

  “Are you sure you can’t walk at all? I can help you down the—”

  Penny shook her head, adamant she wasn’t going to slow them down. “No, this is how it has to be. Oh, and if you could leave a couple of the meals. I counted them out,” she said, pointing to the counter.

  "I don't care which ones."“Penny…”

  “That should be enough for three.” She swallowed hard, deliberately looking away as Phoenix strode the length of the cabin and crouched at her feet. He glanced over her shoulder to the kitchen space.

  “You know, you really suck at counting,” he declared. Her gaze snapped up to him, temper blazing. But when she saw the softness in his eyes, it wilted. His hand ran down her arm to her hand. “They only need enough for two.”

  A dozen things flew through her mind, but she could only settle on one, spoken in a soft whisper. “You don’t have to.”

  “Too bad. I want to.” A hint of something flickered behind his eyes as he gave her hand a squeeze.

  Penny knew what it meant. He remembered her traumatic captivity wasn’t too different from this. It meant he was giving her a choice to back out.

  "I want you to," she whispered.

  * * *

  Penny helped Rebel pack everything up as the men moved the bodies outside. The ground was too frozen to bury them in the dirt, but at least they could fully cover them with snow. Less than an hour later, they were at the door saying their goodbyes. Their little group was fracturing again and this time Penny was surprised by how upset she was.

  “Take care of yourself,” Rebel said as she gave her a parting hug.

  “You too,” she squeaked, craning her chin up to meet the leggy blonde’s shoulder.

  Rhett and Phoenix hugged briefly, clapping each other on the back. While Rebel said goodbye to Phoenix, Penny pulled Rhett to the side.

  “Take this with you.” She pressed the flash drive into his palm. “I have no idea what’s on it, but I have the feeling it’s huge.”

  “Are you sure?” he frowned.

  She wasn’t, but it didn’t matter. “Get it to Elle as soon as you can. Between the two of you and Claire, these assholes don’t stand a chance.” Penny felt compelled to give him a quick hug. She was grateful to have him on her side and didn’t have the words to convey that thanks. The embrace lasted a fraction of a second before he stiffly pulled away.

  They said their final goodbyes and began their descent through the forest.

  “I know that wasn’t easy for you,” Phoenix said as they watched them leave. Even though they were letting the warmth out, they lingered at the door until the couple disappeared from sight.

  A rush of air escaped her nose. “It was like hugging a cactus.”

  “He’s not one of them.”

  “I know.”

  “Seriously,”
Phoenix insisted as if she were only placating him.

  “I’m agreeing with you,” she laughed. “He’s too smart and capable to be working with them.” She cocked her head to the side and stared off in the direction they’d disappeared. “It makes me wonder if he isn’t a spy like me.”

  Phoenix shook his head as he moved to tend the fire. “It’s your humble nature I’ve always liked most.”

  Penny eased herself back into the chair and watched as the flames grew with each prod of the poker. “Think they’ll be okay?”

  “Those two? They’ll be more than fine.” He straightened and grinned down at her. “It’s me I’m more worried about.”

  Chapter 31

  The sensation of being on vacation together only grew stronger as the day stretched on. Phoenix kept the fire going, collected wood, and made sure she was comfortable. But her nerves wouldn’t let her relax. She sat by the window with her hand only a few inches from the gun, waiting for the inevitable.

  Phoenix picked up on it right away. “It’s like you’re expecting it all to go to shit.”

  Penny tried to hide a twinge of guilt, as if her mood were ruining a lovely vacation he’d planned for them. “Just running off historical evidence.”

  They didn’t speak much. At first, she took it personally. Was he mad? Was he thinking about leaving her and saving himself? Her mind flew away with wild accusations, even going so far as to play out the arguments in her head.

  She watched him, wondered, studied. He didn’t seem angry. He stared into the fire, dozed in the chair beside her, made her cups of bitter coffee. He smiled and kissed her on the head in a loving way she would’ve never guessed she’d like.

  And as she relaxed into it and allowed it to happen, it became easier. Being at peace with another person was an odd feeling, but one she might get used to.

  * * *