Grayson Ryder: A Thief's Thrill

by M. L. Giles

  “How generous of you, but I’m going to have to turn down both of those requests.”

  Aiden tutted a few times at me, shaking his head. “Grayson, my dear friend, do not be so blinded by your emotions. Think of the bigger picture: if Colton turns himself in, everyone else walks free. If not, then I will be forced to burn everything – and everyone – until I have reached him.”

  A lump came to my throat when I realized this wasn’t a simple request. This was a threat. “No…”

  “Yes. Is it worth it?” Aiden held his ring-covered index finger up. “One life, in exchange for many. Or would you prefer everyone die for him? All the men, women, lovers, families, friends you may have made here, all gone. Are you truly selfish enough to condemn them all?”

  I remained silent, examining the followers of this mad man closely, taking note once again of the jerry cans sitting beside the feet of many of them.

  Aiden turned away from me to face the man holding his blade down at Wendy. With a wave of his robed arm, he called for Wendy to be brought forward.

  The guard lifted Wendy up onto her feet, pushing her forward.

  Once she reached us, Aiden removed the bindings around her hands, as well as the cloth tied around her mouth.

  “Here you are, my friend,” he said, gracefully handing Wendy to me. “I am nothing if not gracious. Consider her a gift, to show how truly sincere I am about this arrangement. All I want is Colton. The rest of you poor unfortunate souls are just caught up in this mess between us.”

  “What mess? Why are you after him? Killing your previous group’s leader was your—ˮ

  Aiden’s angelic look faded away for a moment. He seemed eager to cut me off before I could end my sentence. “Ah-ah-ah! This is about something significantly more important than silly power struggles. Colton will know, of course.”

  I got the feeling he wasn’t going to tell me anything further, so I turned my attention to Wendy.

  “Are you hurt, Dee?” I asked her. She shook her head, looking slightly traumatized by everything.

  “There. You see? She is fine,” Aiden told me happily. “Now then, I shall give you until, say, dusk. Hopefully we can resolve this unpleasant matter at that time.”

  I took a hold of Wendy’s hand, pulling her gently away.

  “…I’ll talk with Colton,” I told Aiden.

  As I turned to walk away, he gave me one final warning. “One last thing, my friend. The hotel is surrounded by my people. If anyone tries to leave, I will act swiftly.”

  I turned my head to the side, speaking back to him. “What if we need to get a message to you?”

  “Ah, now that is why I like you, Grayson! Always thinking of every angle. It’s why you were so successful at entering my residence undetected,” he said. “I shall allow you and Wendy to leave without repercussions. Colton too, provided he is without company.”

  With Aiden’s warnings and slimy compliments stirring in my mind, I kept moving with Wendy, heading back to the hotel.

  I took Wendy back to the private meeting room on the third floor where everyone else was already gathered. The mood had never been so tense.

  Bethany and Carl sat with their heads hanging low. Pearl and Tyrone both looked terrified at the possible outcome. Wendy sat beside me, her hair and torn clothes had that familiar stench of smoke from the hospital.

  The only one of us that could put on a stoic face was Colton, yet even that brave look waned by the time I had finished telling everyone exactly what Aiden had told me.

  “We can’t hand Colton over,” Carl was first to speak after me. “Even if we do, Aiden isn’t going to let us go free… Is he?”

  Wendy voiced her opinion as bluntly as possible. “What if he does let us go? Look, I’m sorry to say this, but we have no other options. As much as I like you Colton, I love Thomas. It’s one man versus all of us! The answer should be obvious.”

  I stayed quiet, so did everyone else.

  Colton tapped a finger repeatedly on the table. His eyes were closed, deep in thought. I knew what he was about to say next.

  “If there’s a chance, even if it’s a small one, I’ll do it.” We all looked at him. “I’ve been tryin’ to keep this group safe for so long now, this is just another step down that long road.”

  “Thank you, Colton.” Wendy breathed out slowly in relief.

  “…No… NO!” I slapped the palm of my hand down on the table hard. “It’s not going down this way! Aiden will not let us go! As soon as Colton is out there, we are next.”

  Wendy stood up, looking angrily down at me with her hands on her hips. “Don’t be stupid! I’d say there is a good chance Aiden will let us go. He said it himself: we are just caught up in their feud. I’m sorry, but I love Thomas too much to risk him because of some spat between groups. If Colton cares about any of his people, he will give himself up.”

  I jumped up onto my feet, facing her head on. “And what about me, Dee? Just like you love Thomas and don’t want anything to happen to him, I love Colton and don’t want anything to happen to him either!”

  That was the first time I’d ever said I loved Colton out loud. It felt bloody fantastic. I even heard Bethany give a swoony sigh, right before the arguing started back up.

  “You can’t be serious, Grayson…” Wendy whispered in disbelief. “You were always about keeping yourself safe. Your life is on the line here too!”

  “I’m absolutely serious.” I turned to face everyone seated around the table. “Would you give up someone you loved? Could you let any of your friends here go out there to be executed?”

  Some of the group murmured for a few moments before shaking their heads to show they wouldn’t want to. All except Wendy and Colton.

  “Is this it, then? We sit here, waiting to die?” Wendy asked us all. None of us had an answer for her. “Great… That’s great! We have no plan, no escape, and soon no survivors.”

  “A plan?” I thought, trying desperately to come up with an idea.

  “Gray?” Colton called to me. I looked at him. “Appreciate what you’re sayin’, but there ain’t no other choice here. Entire buildin’ was secured hard; one way in, one way out. Even if we took down the boards to climb out the windows at the back, Aiden’s folk out back would see us.”

  “Unless the people watching the rear were gone…” I spoke quietly.

  Carl leaned forward, eyeing me carefully. “You have an idea?”

  “Yeah. We knock out the guards watching the rear of the building, then sneak out the back.”

  “How?” Asked Wendy. “If anyone leaves, this place is set on fire. That’s what Aiden implied.”

  “Aiden said he would allow me to leave to deliver messages,” I told the group. “I leave here pretending to go deliver a message, sneak around the back of the hotel, then knock the guards out. Meanwhile, you gather everyone together, unbarricade the rear exits, and wait for a signal from me.”

  The group all looked at each other with uncertainty. I knew this was a long shot, yet it was our only plan.

  The silence was broken by Tyrone asking a question. “Are you sure you can do this?”

  Honestly, I had no idea if I could. Not that I’d admit that to them.

  “Sure I can!” I said, with as much confidence as I could fake. “You’re talking to the guy who saved Carl’s butt at the park, got Wendy and Thomas out of danger multiple times, and managed to get into Aiden’s hospital.”

  Everyone seemed reassured by my façade. Everyone except Wendy.

  “What about Thomas and Evan?” she asked me. “Two people get left behind, just so Colton has a chance to get away? That’s not fair, Grayson. You are being selfish.”

  She had me there.

  My plan was a selfish one, I’ll hold my hands up to that. I just didn’t want to lose Colton. After a year of feeling like I’d never meet anyone who I’d ever connect with again, I didn’t want to lose that. I didn’t want to lose him like I lost Gloria.

  Actually, I didn
’t want to lose anyone.

  Feeling deflated by Wendy’s comment, I fell back down onto my chair. That slight glimmer of hope we all shared a moment ago faded slowly away.

  “Maybe we can… go back for them?” I suggested in desperation.

  Colton stood up, a weary smile forced on his tired face. “Wendy’s right, can’t go leavin’ my old man behind. Let’s take a break. Talk with the folk downstairs in that time, see if you can gather some ideas from ‘em. We’ll meet back here in an hour.”

  Both Colton and I left the meeting room together. We had gone to the room which had been converted into a gym on the same floor. Dumbbells lay on the ground, along with dirty towels hanging over the back of workout benches.

  Once inside, Colton drew back the heavy blue curtains so we could look out of the window at Aiden and all his followers standing down the street.

  They had numbers, weapons, and most importantly, the means to set us all ablaze.

  “Always knew it would come to this,” Colton said. We both kept looking out through the window. “Ever since I got a bunch of us together an’ ran off, I knew Aiden would find me. He was never gonna give up ‘till I was dead.”

  “Why does he want you dead?” I asked. “Is there something I don’t know?”

  Colton took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. “Pearl, remember how she was his girl?”

  “Yeah, I remember she was Aiden’s girlfriend. What about it?”

  “Aiden’s obsessed with her. Pearl was scared he would come after her, so she came up with this idea to send false info to Aiden, tellin’ him that she had died. We thought it would stop him lookin’ for us. He ended up blamin’ me for Pearl’s death, makin’ him angrier than ever.”

  Love. That’s what all this was about. Aiden was seeking revenge for the supposed death of his former lover.

  “If someone had killed Colton, maybe I would’ve gone out seeking revenge too?” I thought.

  I clenched my fist, hoping to never find out the answer to that scenario.

  “Why didn’t you move everyone farther away?” I asked.

  “Thought this was far enough, to be honest. By the time we realized it wasn’t, we were settled here. Plan was to move soon, but it’s real tough movin’ so many folk on low resources an’ transport.”

  We both kept looking out at the crowd. Most of them had broken off into smaller groups, chatting away like normal human beings. I wondered how many of them were looking forward to dusk.

  “I’m… sorry I didn’t tell you about your dad,” I said sheepishly.

  “Wouldn’t be right to be mad at you, Gray.”

  “Why’s that?” I turned to face him. He did the same with me. “I’d be mad if someone kept such an important secret from me.”

  “I’m keepin’ the doc confined to his room so folk don’t start panickin’ that our main medical guy is goin’ nuts. Just like you lied to protect me, I’m kinda doin’ the same thing with everyone else.”

  I let out a slight laugh. “Ha, yeah. I guess it would be hypocritical of you.”

  Colton smiled at me. Even with his life on the line, he looked remarkably calm. If he was hiding any fear, he was doing a bang-up job of it.

  “You meant what you said back at the meetin’?” he asked suddenly.

  “About?”

  “‘Bout you lovin’ me.”

  In all the commotion, I’d completely forgotten about that little declaration. My cheeks went bright red. I turned away, looking outside in embarrassment.

  Colton walked up behind me and slung his arms over my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. “It’s all right. You don’t need to say it, ‘cause I already knew. Just like you already knew I felt the same way.”

  “Well, your constant boners around me were a pretty big, veiny clue.” My humour probably wasn’t done in good taste, but it felt like the only way to handle the sword of Damocles that hung above our heads.

  Colton let out a deep laugh. “That’s my Grayson.”

  He leaned down, giving me a kiss on the side of my face. It felt so good to have found someone that truly understood my stupid self.

  “Well, I should go an’ see if anyone has any new ideas,” he said, removing his arms from around me and making his way to the door. “We still got a few hours ‘till dark, best not waste ‘em.”

  The calmness Colton was putting on made me have a terrible realization. Without turning around or taking my eyes off Aiden, I asked, “If nothing can be done, you plan on giving yourself up, don’t you?”

  Colton stopped at the door. His momentary silence answered my question before his words could. “…Yeah. No idea if Aiden will let everyone walk away, though. But if there’s a chance I can save the group, my dad, an’ most importantly you, then I gotta take it.”

  My eyes welled up when he said that. I had to fight hard to not show how devastated his selfless statement made me feel. “If your dad was safe, we would all be escaping right now, wouldn’t we?”

  “Probably.” Colton pulled the door open. “Don’t go givin’ up yet, Gray. There’s still time to think of somethin’.”

  “Yeah. You’re right.”

  Except he wasn’t right. Not even close. Now wasn’t the time to sit on our butts, thinking about what we should do. Now was the time to act.

  That’s when I heard her, almost like a gentle whisper in my ear.

  “If there is one thing I know about you, Grayson,” my sister’s words replayed in my mind, accompanied by the image of her beautiful face, “it’s that you always find a way.”

  I never had a chance to protect my sister from that virus last year, but I had a chance to protect someone equally as important to me now.

  All Colton wanted was his father back. That sounded like the perfect job for a sneaky git like yours truly.

  With or without some help from a certain someone.

  Chapter 18

  Disbelief.

  End of the Hunt.

  “It’s the only way,” I explained to Wendy. We had gone to my old room to talk privately while I got fully dressed in my darkest, freshly-cleaned clothes. “If Colton won’t leave here without Evan, we need to go free him ourselves. Same with Thomas.”

  Wendy paced around the bedroom in a panic, protesting away. “This is stupid! You’re going to get us killed! I’ll have no part in this.”

  I sat on my bed, leaning down to tie up the laces of my black trainers. “I’m going no matter what you say. And it would be very helpful if you would come along too. You heard Aiden, only we can leave the hotel without any problems. That means it’s up to us.”

  “No chance,” she huffed.

  There was only one way I was going to get through to her. If this didn’t work, nothing would. “Guess you don’t care about Thomas, then…”

  Wendy stormed around the bed, giving me a light warning slap across my face just as I was done tying my laces. “How DARE you! Of course I care! Look, we don’t need to do anything this risky, not when we already a solution – have Colton surrender.”

  There wasn’t time for arguing with her. It was better for me to ignore the slap, for now.

  I rose, fully equipped for my outing. My hair was tied tightly back, black jogging bottoms sat comfortably on my legs, dark gray hoodie and black trainers were all good to go. Most importantly, though, I was wearing navy socks without any holes in; just in case I had to remove my shoes again, like I had done at the hospital.

  Live and learn, right?

  “If that’s your decision, we have nothing more to talk about, Dee,” I said, trying to walk past her.

  She grabbed my wrist, forcing me to stop beside her. “Please, Grayson, just listen to me! Nothing good will come of this. As your friend, I’m trying to warn you that bad things will happen if you go out there. Don’t throw your life – all these people’s lives – away for Colton.”

  Her eyes darted nervously. Sweat beads formed on her forehead, slowly dropping down her brow. Even her voice trembled as she spok
e.

  She was trying to protect me, but I had someone I wanted to protect too.

  “I never had the chance to keep my sister safe from the virus. When she died, it felt like I’d lost the only person I ever truly cared about; the one person who not only understood me, but who also accepted me for the mess I was.”

  “Don’t do this, Grayson,” she whispered. I ignored her.

  “Now, I’ve finally found what I thought impossible. Although I had no chance to protect my sister, I’ve got a chance here to protect Colton.” I twisted my wrist, freeing myself from her grip. “I’d never be able to live with myself if I didn’t try.”

  “But—ˮ

  “But nothing!” I snapped. “You wouldn’t understand… I need him, Dee. He and my sister are the only people in all my life that made me feel glad to be Grayson Ryder. Everyone else, including you, wanted me to change in some way. Everyone, except Colton. Nothing you say will stop me from helping him now. Understood?”

  Wendy had lost this battle, you could see it on her face. She knew I wasn’t going to be stopped. “…Take out the guards at the back first.”

  “Why? Shouldn’t I go get Evan and Thomas first so we can get out of here?”

  “Because if you get Evan and Thomas out before securing the rear, and Aiden notices they are missing, he might attack. We would have nowhere to run.”

  It made sense. “Good thinking. I’ll see if I can clear the rear first. Thanks.”

  “Don’t thank me. Just go…” she said, looking miserable.

  I walked to the open door, stepping out into the hallway. Before I closed the door, I told Wendy, “I’ll do my best to get Thomas out safely. Don’t tell anyone about me leaving, by the way, especially Colton.”

  She didn’t respond.