by J. R. Rain
“I’m going to try and stay with her, okay?”
“Yep. I know how to get there,” he replied.
I closed my eyes again and tried to get back with Hope. It was fuzzy to say the least but I could hear the elevator door open and Hope ask where they were going.
“I told you to shut-up,” Orlenda said. “We are going somewhere where no one will ever find you.”
I swallowed hard at the sound of those words. If anyone could shelter the girl in a place where no one else could find her, I thought that it might be Orlenda. “We have to hurry,” I said.
“I’m doing the best I can,” Ayden replied taking turns at high speeds. We turned down a dirt road that Ayden continued driving at mach speed. “Short cut.”
He was right. Before long we were coming back into the city as I saw the glowering of the lights ahead. Three minutes later we were pulling into the hotel. It was posh and large. This was not going to be easy. But I did know this much about sounds after all of this time at tuning into things at an audial level. In a hotel like this, the elevators that lead to the rooms sound different than the service elevators. Don’t ask me why, but they do, and I had a sense that Hope had been taken down a service elevator. “Around the back. Where employees might be smoking.” It was a hunch. I figured that Orlenda would have to have taken more than one service elevator by the clanging that I had heard and I hoped that she hadn’t already left the building.
Ayden pulled out of the circular drive leaving the valet guy looking at us with startled distaste. Ayden didn’t whip around the back. He slowly turned down the back side of the hotel. We didn’t want to alert anyone. I did spot a couple of employees out back. Fortunately luck was on my side as I spotted a woman in a housekeeping uniform. “Cover that other door. Be ready for anything. If I were you, I’d start tuning in. Stop here.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I got out of the car and walked nonchalantly up to the employees. In Arabic, I asked if a little girl had come out the back side. That she was my sister and I was supposed to pick her up.
“No,” the woman responded. The couple of men standing around didn’t look my way.
“Can I talk to you for a moment?” I asked her.
She nodded. We walked off to the side. I pulled out two hundred dollar bills. Her eyes widened. “I will give you this money if you give me your uniform. You can have my clothes in exchange.”
She looked confused. “Why?” she finally asked.
“Do you want the money?”
“Yes. Okay.”
It didn’t take her long to understand that I was not going to provide her with any kind of explanation, and if she wanted the cash she needed not ask me again.
She opened the back door and we went on inside. There was a small room with some lockers that I presumed were for the staff. We quickly exchanged the clothing and I handed her the money. I didn’t know if Orlenda and Hope had been able to get out yet, and I didn’t know who was helping her, or where they might be stationed, but I was betting that it was all very covert and low key. Orlenda was not going to risk being spotted by anyone who might be able to provide information about her. She would be traveling with sparse protection until she got the kid in a car, and that was where I knew things could really go awry.
I started up the back stairs that I was sure would take me to a bank of service elevators. I was right, and just as I heard the ding of one reaching the bottom, I knew who would be coming out. I barely looked up, but I saw Hope who saw me, her hand tightly wound in Orlenda’s. I bumped heavily into Orlenda.
“What the hell?”
That was when she looked up and realized I wasn’t any ordinary housekeeper and she yelled out. “She’s here! They’re here!”
I remembered her well. In fact, I’d had nightmares of Orlenda. The bitch who’d not only kidnapped me at a young age, but had been directly involved in the death of my father.
The murder of my father.
As he tried to save me.
The synchronicity was too much to ignore. Hollywood couldn’t have written this any better.
I had a job to do.
I was here to save Hope.
Where and how Simms fit into all of this, or Noah, or anyone, I didn’t know. But I was here to get Hope. I knew Orlenda had security everywhere. I was risking everything by hanging around.
Except I couldn’t resist doing what I did next.
My fist shot out. I put as much weight behind it as I could, although my damaged leg kept me from using a lot of my lower body.
But I knew how to fight; in particular, I knew how to punch.
My knuckles caught the Russian just under her right eye. It had been a punch I’d been dreaming about most of my adult life. That Orlenda was still alive and well, was a surprise to me. Most of our intelligence had her disappearing off the face of the earth. Trust me, I had looked.
But she was back, obviously.
And back to her old ways.
The force of my blow sent her stumbling back into the hallway and as she stumbled, she reached for something on her hip. I knew what that something was. I stepped forward and lowered my body and delivered the hardest punch I could. It was an uppercut, and it sent the bitch stumbling backward, to lie flat on her ass. I was tempted to finish her. In fact, I should have. But I couldn’t. Not with Hope watching me.
Already I heard her security coming. Time to go. I grabbed Hope’s hand. “Come on, Sweetie. We have to go fast.”
My leg hurt like a mother, but I raced down the back stairwell with Hope. I had taken my service revolver with me, and it was drawn. I heard the back door swing open and I started to fire.
“Kylie! It’s me!”
I gasped. It was Noah. He had an automatic weapon. “I’ve got you covered. Now move!”
I didn’t have the time to process all of this. I just kept moving.
I heard the screeching of the tires before I saw the car. Ayden pulled up alongside of us and I ordered Hope to get in. I jumped in the front seat, and turned back to see Noah firing on what I could only presume were Orlenda’s people.
As Ayden sped away, my stomach sank.
How had Noah found us? Was he going to make it out of there alive? And, was he on our side, or someone else’s. I didn’t know. I did the only thing my mind and heart was telling me to do at that moment.
I turned to the little girl in the back seat. Her blue eyes wide with what I knew was fear. I also recognized something else in her eyes—they were like mine.
I wanted to tell her in that moment that I was her sister, but I knew she was already so overwhelmed that waiting for the right time was what I had to do. “It’s okay, Hope. I promise. You’re going to be okay. I’m Kylie. And I promise you that no one will ever be allowed to ever harm you again.”
Chapter Thirty
We had a plane fueled and ready to go. We knew we couldn’t travel via the PSI right now because Ayden and I both believed that Simms couldn’t be trusted. All I wanted to do was get Hope to a safe location; where that was I didn’t know yet, and after we found a place what were we going to do with her? I mean, I could be her sister, but this child needed a mother and the thing was, I had serious doubts about the woman who had “raised” her. First off, I knew that she was not her biological mother, and secondly, I was positive that the woman had ulterior motives in playing the role of her “mom.” It was disgusting and confusing, and I had not been able to make any sense of any of it.
I figured there were only two people who might have answers—Grant Simms and Orlenda Kobach. Neither of them could I even attempt to question. But when I had the opportunity, I sure in hell was going to do my best to tune and see what I could hear. At this point I even wondered if they were some way in cahoots together, although why Simms would have sent us out on this wild goose chase wouldn’t have made much sense if that were the case. Unless, of course, his ultimate goal was to have us dead and gone. I couldn’t discount that possibility. I hated thinking
about it.
I looked out the window of the jet as the pilot started the engines, and spotted a car racing toward us. “Uh oh. We have company,” I said out loud.
I watched as Noah jumped out of the driver’s seat of the car and ran toward the plane. A black SUV squealed onto the tarmac and bullets were flying toward him.
“Let him in!” I screamed at Ayden.
“Are you kidding, Kylie? We can’t trust him.”
“I think we can! Let him in!” I remembered him covering me back at the hotel. There was no way I could leave him there to die, which surely he would. He was trapped. I jumped up and opened the door, letting down the stairs. I saw Noah get a shot off, blowing out a front tire in the SUV.
He ran up the stairs. We closed the door, and I yelled for the pilot to go.
Seconds later we were taxing down the runway and I could see the SUV trying to keep up with us, but they weren’t having any luck.
Noah sat across from me, and Hope next to me. She hadn’t uttered a word and her tiny face was pale. I looked at Noah and noticed blood coming from his shoulder.
“You’ve been hit,” I said.
“I’m fine. It’s just grazed.
The plane began to ascend and I started to breathe a bit better. I took Hope’s hand. “It’ll be okay.” I looked at Noah. “We need to look at that. Come on. In the back.”
Ayden’s eyes were trained on us and I shook my head as I could see he was ready to pounce on Noah.
We went to the back of the plane where Noah took his shirt off. He was definitely ripped. I have to admit that I’d be paying attention to that body if I wasn’t cleaning up the blood and taking a look at his injury, which as he had said, was a graze. As I took the supplies from the first-aid kit to bandage him, I finally said what both Ayden and I were thinking. “What happened, Noah?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do I mean? Are you serious? One minute you’re with us standing guard on the boat while we question the scientist, who turned out to be a phony. Then you tell us that you have a lead on where Hope is. Then you’re gone, and the boat we are on gets blown to smithereens, and we don’t see you until we get Hope out of the hotel and you’re going all AK-47 on me with the bad guys, and now you’re here. Oh, and the best part of the whole thing is when I learned that your lovely wife was a double agent and working for Orlenda.”
He hung his head and then looked up at me with intense green eyes. “Jacqueline is dead. I killed her.”
“What?”
He nodded. “I’ll tell you my side of the story and I guess it’s up to you to decide. I left the boat on a tip that Jacqueline had given me. That’s true. But it was a trap. She knew that of the three of us, because of my relationship with her, I would be the easiest to take out first, and that was Orlenda’s plan. They figured that with me out of the way, the two of you would be easier targets. When I went to the meet up, I quickly realized there was something wrong because within minutes of waiting for the contact, I was being shot at. I obviously got away, and tried to reach you guys. I made my way back to the harbor and saw the wreckage. At that point I didn’t know if you were alive or not.”
I could see the emotion in his face and it sent a rush through me. Like Ayden, Noah possibly cared more for me than he’d let on.
“I did what I could to tune into either one of you, and I was getting some signs that you were alive, but you were hurt, weren’t you?”
“Not badly.”
“I had to tune out though because, um… because you and Ayden…”
I felt the heat rush to my cheeks, and I blurted out angrily, “Nothing happened.”
“It’s not my business.”
I sighed and looked away.
“Anyway, with some real effort I was able to get a read on Hope’s whereabouts and that’s when I ran into you. After you left, Jacqueline came after me, and I had to kill her. I shot my wife.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I had no choice. She was shooting at me. Orlenda is still alive though.”
“I figured.” I had to believe Noah. I needed to, anyway. I really didn’t know what to make of it but we had been a team for so long. I couldn’t believe that he would ever betray us. His story made sense to me. His feelings for me—if they were there, if I had read him correctly—well, at the very least, they left me completely baffled and pretty much a wreck.
I turned back to see Ayden watching us. He was kind of looking the way I felt. I stood and got us some water, handing a bottle to Noah, I said, “What about Hope? Where should we go?”
“Israel.”
I turned around to see Hope behind me. “Israel? Why Israel?”
“You know what I can do, don’t you? We need to go to Israel because I need to take you somewhere. It’s where Orlenda wanted me to take her,”
I looked at Noah. “Where do you need to take us?” he asked.
“A different year. I think it’s 1940’s, but I am not sure yet. There was something found there, and it’s important. If Orlenda can find a way to get there, she will take it, and it will change history. It won’t be good.”
Noah’s eyes widened.
Ayden walked to the back. “What is it? What is there that is so important?”
“It’s papers, but not all of them were found and that lady knows that and she wants them. She wants them for a reason.”
“Why?” I asked.
Tears welled in her eyes. “I don’t know if you will believe me.”
I took her hands in mine. “I will.”
“Because the papers say when someone very evil will be born and someone very good, and that lady wants the good person destroyed. She plans to take the evil one and keep him.”
I looked between Ayden and Noah. I was not one for apocalyptic theory or Armageddon stories, but to me what Hope was saying sounded like this was what she was referring to, and again, with all that I was capable of doing, there was nothing that I could discount any longer. Although, there had been plenty of evil and good humans born since the beginning of time, so my initial assumption could be all wrong.
“We need to go there. We do,” Hope insisted.
“Okay.” I nodded.
Noah stood and went to the cockpit to direct the flight to Israel.
I hugged Hope close, and I finally told her the truth. “Do you know who I am?” I asked her. She looked up at me. “I’m your sister, and like I told you when I got you away from Orlenda, I promise to keep you safe.”
The tears now came down her face. “Really? You are really my sister? What about my mother?”
“You’ll see her again. I am your sister and I will take care of you.” I knew that I was possibly lying to her about seeing her mother again, but I didn’t have the heart to detail out the sordid story for her. Not yet, anyway.
I felt her, for the first time since having her with me, relax. It was like something had been lifted from her—something very heavy. I realized in that moment how badly this child needed to be loved. My sister needed to be loved, and as I had promised to keep her safe, I now promised to myself that I would love her and nurture her.
We sat back down and she quickly fell asleep. I looked at my guys who seemed to be making some sort of amends or pact. That was a good thing as I had no clue what was to come next, but my sense was that we would all need to be on the same page.
“This isn’t over,” I said to them.
Ayden shook his head. “No.”
“Not by a long shot,” Noah agreed. “I don’t know what to think of this, but it isn’t over. I do think we have to see where she takes us.” He nodded his head toward Hope. “We also know there are other kids out there—still imprisoned.
I nodded. “I think we have to go with Hope first. I don’t know.” I sighed.
“We need to go with her first,” Noah replied. “I don’t think the children are in immediate danger, but we will need to find them.”
Ayden smiled. “Well, I for one a
m always up for an adventure.”
“I think we are going to get one,” I said. “Israel 1940 something. Here we come.” I didn’t exactly know how we were going to get there, but I trusted that my sister did, and I trusted that it was imperative that we go.
The End
To be continued in:
See No Evil
The PSI Trilogy #2
by A.K. Alexander and J.R. Rain
Available for pre-order now!
Amazon Kindle * Amazon UK
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Also available:
Silent Echo
A Mystery Novel
by J.R. Rain
Amazon Kindle * Amazon UK
Paperback * Audio Book
Also available:
A Killer Margarita
A Nikki Sands/Wine Lover’s Mystery
by Michele Scott
(read on to sample the first three chapters)
Chapter One
A light snowfall dusted the vineyard, as Christmas lights galore twinkled brightly on the front of The Malveaux farmhouse.
Nikki Sands Malveaux smiled as she lit candles on the mantel waiting for their guests to arrive for the Christmas Evening celebration. She took a step back and sighed. Family. She had a family. Their family room was the epitome of festive with more lights, Santa Claus and angel figurines, and stockings for everyone including their dog Ollie. A nine-foot noble fir remained bare inside the room facing a large bay window. By the end of the night, the tree would be decorated by her loved ones and herself.
She could hear her husband Derek singing “Jingle Bells” at the top of his lungs—badly, but it was rather cute. She never would have guessed that one day she would be owning and running a winery with the man she planned to spend the rest of her life with in the glorious land of Napa Valley.