by Rimmy London
I flinched. Didn’t he know what he was doing? If he wanted me to concentrate on his infernal plan, he needed to stop bringing up my entire reason for living and crushing it so completely.
Max was staring at me, and I met him with what I hoped was determination. His reaction was unreadable, his face always a bit perplexing. “We have rope,” Max started, keeping his eyes on me. I nodded like I knew exactly what to do with that. His eyes jumped to Jordyn. “So let’s get started. He’s in the outbuilding at the volcano's edge, right?”
Jordyn nodded, looking glum as Max handed me a coiled bundle of rope. It lit a fire in my chest that undoubtedly burned in my eyes. Did he want to just dig a hole and throw me in right now? His lack of confidence in me was infuriating; with the way he’d said my name still echoing in my head.
We loaded up our packs and headed for the mouth of the cave. Somehow I found a bit of cheer at the lightened sky. But the surrounding scene was a shock. Our little boat was a good fifty yards away, half full of water and tilted to the side—clearly sinking. It looked even more hideous and shabby than I remembered.
As our group filed out they hardly glanced at the vessel, leaving it to its watery grave. I said goodbye with a nod in its direction and followed the bit of sand atop rocks that acted as our trail.
Sea mist obstructed our view for much of the way, but in time it cleared, cut clean through by bright rays of sunshine. The mountain was considerably more than what I’d expected, with the word volcano giving me an impression of sloping ground. Instead, the earth jutted upward.
We gathered at the base of a cliff. A small building was visible at the very top of the mountain, and once I’d seen it I couldn’t turn away. A rickety little thing that clung to the cliff's edge. Any strong breeze could likely blow it over.
He was in there.
Max and Jordyn settled down next to me, crouching in silence—watching. Their minds were no doubt planning, listing details and scenarios. But I had begun to lose my ability to think at all. It felt like he should know I was here… so close. I closed my eyes with a deep breath and forced myself to focus on the cliff. That was between us. We had to conquer that.
* * *
“You hold onto that line!” Jordyn was yelling, and I doubted it was because of the roaring surf. He was terrified for me. I wrapped my hand around the rope so that my knuckles were white, and held it up in front of him.
“There—look. I can do this Jordyn, just worry about your part and I will do mine.” The anxiety that trembled in my fingers was something I had gotten used to, and it was easy to ignore. There was nothing left for me to fear. This was my only option.
Jordyn behaved as if I hadn’t spoken. “And keep that rope ready in your pack, since we will be using two lengths,” he added, glancing up at the cliff face and back before I could blink. “Here we go,” His sleek auburn ponytail whipped to the side as he attacked his job with ferocity. We were huddled onto a relatively small boulder, having climbed an awkward route to a side shelf adjacent to the cliff. Salt water sprayed us repeatedly, the force of the ocean against a rocky cliff turning violent.
The sun had become a steady glimmer through the mass of grey clouds, and even with the daunting task ahead I couldn’t help but feel amazed at the colors that surfaced. Grey rock was the only neutral, surrounded by the surreal blues of ocean and sky. Crusting the top of the cliff was a bold display of green, with yellow and purple peppering the landscape. It was magnificent.
I tried to keep my thoughts on the beauty of it all as I took that first step—straight up. The harness around my waist was something I hadn’t learned to trust, and I clung to the rope. While Max and Jordyn were obviously seasoned climbers, I fumbled with the metal clip at my waist, trying to pull enough rope through and scramble my way up the rock at the same time.
Gradually, as the noise of the ocean faded, I could make out Jordyn’s comments. I wondered if he knew I hadn’t heard a word until then. “Right here. Watch the step up, it’s crumbling.” He said, narrating our climb continuously.
“Right here. Let’s rest a bit.” Jordyn clipped in, tying the rope off and reaching his hand toward me expectantly. After a moment I got the idea and pulled the new rope from my pack. With a nod he got to work, talking in an almost indiscernible whisper. I glanced at the cliff’s top—we were getting closer.
Our stop ended up being less rest than climbing had been. My nerves caught up with me, and as much as I tried not to, my eyes found the shore below. We were so high my hands and feet ached with each glance at the jagged, rocky bottom and churning sea.
“Loriel,” Max was watching me. For how long I didn’t know, but he seemed much too aware of the rising fear pulsing through me. “That was the hardest part. You’re doing amazingly well.” He leaned in closer, keeping his voice down. “When we reach the top there’s no telling what we’ll run into. If there’s trouble, don’t wait for us to give direction, just act. I’m hoping Enrica is okay, and Van too, but I really can’t make a single promise here. Do you understand me?”
I did, and nodded. But the fact that he was telling me everyone might be dead and we were likely to be next was hardly a comfort. But then he wasn’t trying to comfort me—he was trying to prepare me.
Jordyn had finished with our new rope, and after threading it through our harnesses he wrapped up the first rope and returned it to his pack. We were now completely unconnected to anything below, and one hundred percent committed to what lay ahead. Jordyn’s narrative that I’d begun to rely on was cut off, and I knew there would be no more conversation unless it was absolutely necessary. This part of the climb was harder only from my nerves making me clumsy and awkward. I pulled out a clump of grass more than once, cursing myself for being stupid enough to rely on such a weak thing for support. Strands of green ivy and tiny purple and yellow blossoms didn’t register until Jordyn grabbed my arm, stopping me. We were all wedged into a small crevice in the landscape, with some of the meadow dipping into the depression with us.
“Let me watch for a while,” Jordyn whispered, flattening himself against the dirt as he inched his way up. His feet were still visible when he stopped, and I watched his boots desperately, wishing I could see through his eyes. My mind reeled and I tried to control it, but I was sure he was seeing everything—Givanni, Enrica, brutality, and horror. I could imagine it all, and waiting was torture.
In a single movement, Jordyn lowered, melting smoothly to the ground. He flicked his hands at us and we huddled together. “They just switched guards,” he whispered. “We will watch and see how long they take up post. I haven’t seen anyone else—the building has no windows.” He glanced briefly at Max, who frowned. “We’ll have to go in heavy and come out the way we came.” I nodded. Heavy… right. “I don’t know what Enrica has been at, but the guards were alert. They looked afraid. I’m sure by now she has put a few of them in the ground.”
Max swore. “She’s going to ruin this,” he grumbled. “You didn’t see Givanni?” Jordyn only replied with a jerk of his head. “Fine,” Max continued, “I’ll watch for a while.” Snaking up the crevice, Max lay with his boots in view.
Jordyn spoke the second I glanced his way. “This will be dangerous Loriel.” I nodded—he’d already said that. “We will see Givanni inside, and I want you to prepare yourself for whatever we might happen upon.”
This time I only stared back with my stomach turning. I didn’t need his haunting caution, and twisting my hair in one hand I tossed it behind me. “I’m ready Jordyn. I know this will be difficult, but I’ll do whatever I can. Trust me on that.” He took a breath, wiping sweat from his forehead. “But Jordyn, you’ve been here for more than a week. Have you been inside that building? When did you see Givanni? Where was he?” I could have continued—asked questions for hours. But I doubted he would deal well with an interrogation.
“He hasn’t been here long. I waited for four or five days before he even arrived at the island. They had him down at the main buildi
ng, but when they transferred him I watched.” His eyes glanced warily up, and I swallowed. I could imagine what he was holding back. “They’re not treating him well. I’m not even sure if anyone outside the IM knows he’s here…”
Max climbed down, nodding at Jordyn before they both ascended together. Max’s hand waved back at me and I followed with my heart thumping in my chest. We climbed up the last fraction of cliff to finally reach high ground.
The breeze was warm and new, losing any scent of saltwater and carrying the sweet, rich fragrance of earth. The two guards were easy to see, although farther away than I’d suspected. I could hardly make out their faces. One was obviously larger, but I couldn’t tell if that meant the other was small or just not as lumbering as the first.
Jordyn tipped his head and we followed, making our way to a small outcropping of trees.
Max angled himself behind the largest trunk, and attached a small section of metal to the end of his gun. After a glance at the building, his eyes found mine, and he placed a finger at his lips—a silencer.
Lowering to my belly when they did, I could feel my heart pounding against the dirt. We lay like that, lined up with our faces below the grass, and waited.
When Max reached his hands out, angling his elbows in the dirt like a tripod and holding up the unusually long gun, I could barely blink. Were they just going to shoot them? I watched the guards, telling myself that they would kill us without a thought. But it didn’t seem to matter, I could still feel my breath coming harder, and the grass in front of me swayed with each gust.
Suddenly, two new guards appeared, and their amiable voices carried in the wind. Unlike the first guards, they didn’t seem the least bit worried as they took their posts.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Max’s muscles tense, and his grip on the trigger tighten. Without thinking I grabbed his gun. Max’s surprised face swung to the side. Silently warning me he jerked his gun from my grip. “Wait,” I whispered, not able to justify this. “Isn’t there another way inside? Can’t we do this without killing everyone we see?” To my left, Jordyn exhaled in an irritated gust, but I kept my attention on Max. I could see his emotions playing out behind conflicted eyes. Flickering back to focus on me, his indecision cleared and he rested his gun in the grass.
“Max,” Jordyn growled. “You know there is no other way. Will you send us to die?” Max turned sharply, taking in Jordyn’s disdainful expression with a tip of his head. I didn’t know what it meant, but it seemed to pacify Jordyn.
“I thought you said you didn’t fight Ms. Lane,” Jordyn huffed, tucking his gun into a well-concealed holster. “If there ever was an easy way, you just dismissed it.” Even in his irritated state, he took the trouble of checking my gun over twice before handing it back to me. Max hovered closer. “Okay, we shoot only if there is no other choice,” he said. “I think these two guards are unaware of what has been going on, so they should be easy to surprise.”
Feeling guilty, I nodded anyway like this was the best idea we could have gone with. Taking a man’s life was one of the worst experiences of my life, and I never wanted to feel it again. I just couldn’t stand by while they shot their way through—we were better than that.
Jordyn strapped another knife around his ankle and began a quick sneak through the brush. But Max held my arms, slightly shaking me with each enunciated word. “Stay here. Lower down and stay put. When it is safe I will signal you. If it has been longer than twenty minutes you run.”
“Okay,” I breathed, watching in sheer terror as he crouched down and snaked his way through the grass. Jordyn was already lost from sight. As Max did the same I hoped more than anything that I hadn’t just ruined us.
Chapter 16
I should have stayed put.
I knew that.
But from where I sat, things weren’t going well. I could clearly see Max being thrown to the ground. It was me who’d stopped him from shooting—I had to do something. The fighting continued, grunts and sounds of struggle drifting with the wind.
I inched my face over ever so slightly, crouched behind a half-dead tree and some tall grass. The gun in my hand was slippery from sweat but I clutched it tighter. At the sound of splintering wood, I sprung forward, running hard until I reached the sidewall. The entire front door had been smashed in, but at least I hadn’t heard any shots. I scanned the surroundings before stepping around the corner cautiously. My feet shook as I inched my way over the broken door. They were only seconds ahead of me, so why was it so eerily silent? The building wasn’t much, just a narrow hall forward and one to the left. I sidestepped down the back hall, hoping to find an advantage spot where I could stay out of the way. But that was hard to do when by the sound of things I was completely alone—they could be anywhere.
Backed into a doorway I stopped and listened with my pulse racing. Suddenly, the thought that Givanni was in the same building surfaced like the tide, strong and unyielding, and as much as I tried to push it away and concentrate, I couldn’t. He’s here… somewhere. The structure was so small I probably could have shouted and found out right then and there, but my better judgment prevailed. I waited as long as I could stand it, finally catching someone’s hushed voice, although I couldn’t tell whose. But at least I had a direction.
Following the sound, I wound deeper into the building, around the central room that seemed to encompass the entire structure, until I came to another corner. “…make it to the cliffs Givanni, that’s our only shot.”
I gasped in reaction to Max’s voice, but quietly enough that the conversation continued without a hitch. “But Max, we can’t leave Enrica here to die. She has to be somewhere.” The voice was perfect—smooth and strong. It was Givanni, and I stepped out from behind the wall.
His face was bruised and littered with cuts, boasting a week’s worth of unshaven stubble that added to the strength in his jawline. The shirt he wore, I assumed from a once perfectly tailored suit, hung un-tucked and saturated in dirt and dried blood and hung open at the neck with a rip along one arm. But all of this was a background to the bright green eyes that had finally looked up from Max’s face.
At the sight of me, his mouth hung open, and the expression on his face went slack. The vulnerability in his eyes had me taking a step forward. My heart pounded and my throat slowly seized up. But it was his eyes that stopped me. They filled with despair as he walked forward, limping on one side. I could feel my lip shake, but everything else was numb.
“Max,” Givanni’s voice was strangled, rough and catching. “How could…you...” His eyes stayed on me, even as he asked. But he abandoned the question, only hovering in front of me torturously close until he sunk to his knees. Taking my hand he held it to his forehead, his head bowed and eyes pressed closed.
“I…” Max said, beginning an answer. But he didn’t’ finish, and I couldn’t concentrate on it anyway. My knees hit the floor before I knew what I was doing, and I wrapped my arms around Givanni’s, tangling our hands together and leaning my head against him.
He was alive.
I choked back each breath, trying to control the breakdown that was surfacing. My gun had clattered to the ground at some point, and with a bit of irritation, my thoughts were returning it. It was important somehow. We weren’t safe—not yet. We needed to move. I stayed paralyzed in place even as the thoughts repeated in my head. Move. I ran my hand across his. It’s not safe. His eyes found mine, and the room faded away. Move NOW. With one hand tracing his face I met his lips halfway, kissing him like there was time enough for it.
A shout echoed from outside and he was on his feet, dragging me with him as the room spun in a daze. I tried to grab the gun Max shoved at me, but I was still in a dream, and it struck the ground with a crack. Scooping it up, I felt my feet slide as Givanni towed me with him.
“They’re here Givanni, it’s too late!” Max hissed from behind us. Givanni’s eyes were alight with tension when he turned back, and I felt an entirely new fear ignite
inside me.
“This is the only way out Max,” He looked half-crazed, and his grip on my wrist was almost painful.
Jordyn flew through the door and stopped at the sight of me. “There you are,” he breathed. I could see the relief on his face, and my own face flushed as I realized it—he’d gone to find me. It could have cost him his life.
The static of a two-way radio had our heads turning together. The guards from earlier were returning—their attention at their feet as they came into our line of sight.
I lifted my gun and Givanni reacted, tearing it from my grip and stepping in front of me. Before they’d raised their heads he fired two shots, dropping them each to the ground and pushing the gun back into my hands. I stared in shock at his hardened face.
“I’m already a murderer,” he growled. “No need to make you one.”
We were running again in the next instant, and I glanced behind us in time to see both the guards struggling to stand. One guard reached for his radio and then they were lost from my sight. I pumped the adrenaline into my legs, keeping up as the shock wore off. Jordyn had ropes draped around each arm as he ran, and I caught the clip he threw at me, attaching it in one quick swipe to the harness that still hung around my waist.
A gunshot rang out and I flinched, following the rest of the group as we crouched down at half pace. Behind us, two jeeps rounded the building at the volcanoes peak. Their vehicles were impressive, cruising at full speed over brush and mounds of lava rock. They looked like military weapons the way they handled in the impossible terrain.
