by Pinki Parks
“I look back at when there was a clear way of recognizing the chain of command. We survived because we had the lives of others depending on us. We knew our respective roles and we never questioned those who made the tough decisions. It’s a little different when the shoe is on the other foot. We all want to be in command of our own destinies.” It was the reason why we were butting heads and made it possible for everything to unravel before our eyes.
She left through the back door and into the path in the woods which would lead to a vehicle in the park. It was fortuitous that this location made it possible to go in and out unseen. I was consciously aware of strange vehicles on the road at any hour of the day and night.
There was the slim chance of being ambushed, but I didn’t see it happening with all of us on high alert. I took a breath and dialed the Hamilton residence. I wasn’t expecting to get Grant on the telephone. I was a little startled by the voice that greeted me. I should’ve known he would be in the thick of things.
“I know you’re there and we’re here for the same thing. I’ve been hired to bring Gillian back safe and sound. I’m going to negotiate in good faith.” It had to be a figment of my imagination, but the voice didn’t lie.
I gave Jackson a look and then I took him by the elbow to a sitting position in front of the phone. He wasn’t expecting me to force him into playing the lead role. It was like asking a stand in to immerse themselves in the lines they had barely memorized.
“We want five million dollars. I will get back to you with a location and confirm the money is in escrow. This will be a digital transfer of funds made at the scene. If we see any police she will die. Don’t test me.” I was mildly impressed by how easily the words came to him.
“Don’t bother trying to track this transmission. It’s being bounced around different satellites. I will call you back in 24 hours. If you don’t pick up after the second ring, her death will be on your conscience.” He was clear and concise not like the Jackson I used to know.
The dial tone was sudden, but there was no reason to talk any further. Jackson didn’t give him a chance to negotiate and to come up with a number that would please both parties. He wasn’t getting caught up in making this personal.
He would have recognized my voice the moment he heard it. He would have called me by name. Anyone listening in would know we had come to the rescue of Gillian in a different way.
“Jackson, it’s not nice to keep a lady waiting.” Gillian had somehow gotten loose and we had taken our eye off the ball.
Chapter 17
Gillian
I had dislocated my thumb. It was a trick I had learned after leaving the Navy Seals. It wasn’t really a trick and I did break it while slipping on some ice. It was never quite the same. I didn’t need the key to the handcuffs or to wrestle free from how they were secured to the floor.
I had to act quickly and I knew they were watching. It was a risk I was willing to take. There weren’t enough hours in the day.
I felt the thumb on my left hand dislocate. It was painful, but I remained steadfast without letting the sensation distract me from what I had to do. I slipped out of the cuffs and used a small shaving of metal I carried with me everywhere I went. It was within the fabric of my clothing. Once I had it released, I went about and undid the other pair of cuffs to my right wrist.
I was breathing a sigh of relief. Nobody had come down to catch me in the act of trying to get away. I heard Jackson negotiating with someone. I was hoping the money was keeping him from being able to do two things at the same time.
I used the same piece of metal to unlock the shackles around my ankles. I silently and with bare feet leaped the stairs in two bounding strides. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
My voice made him turn and look at me like I had two heads. He did glance back, but I didn’t see anyone with him.
“I know this wasn’t part of the plan, but it looks like we going to have to work together. Do you want to tell me the reason why you have this insane idea of putting your head in a noose? I wasn’t kidding when I said Grant would have all of his resources looking for me. I’m willing to listen, but don’t treat me like I’m an idiot.” His fingers were inching closer to the gun on the table.
I slapped his hands hard enough to leave the imprint of my fingers. With the other, I absconded with what would level the playing field. I held the gun on Jackson, but he didn’t seem afraid. In fact, I think he was fascinated by how quickly I had turned the tables.
“We made a mistake of not watching you and now we are paying for it. It’s been a long time. We never did stay in touch. I know we said we were going to, but I think we both wanted to forget about everything. I’m sure you are wondering what this is all about. I will give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.” It couldn’t possibly be the one glaring moment when faced with an impossible decision.
“I hope you’re not trying to tell me something I would rather not hear. I have enough problems to deal with than to have to worry about retaliation. I take it this idea of kidnapping me was to mitigate the fallout.” I was better off in Jackson’s hands.
“I don’t like this any more than you do. There is something else you should know, but it’s not my place to tell you. I think it goes without saying I’m not the only one involved in all of this. I have co-conspirators and one that has been living underneath your nose. She’s there to keep an eye on you and to make sure the cartel doesn’t get their hands on you.” The diamonds were supposed to be in exchange for arms, but the plan didn’t go right from the very beginning.
The six of us stumbled into the carnage after we heard multiple guns going off. Most of them were dead and others were in no shape to put up any kind of resistance. Whatever agreement was made had been nullified by somebody taking the first shot. It resulted in a bloodbath with the diamonds being up for grabs. We debated incessantly on what to do and the vote was unanimous. I was the only holdout, but nobody was willing to listen.
“The new maid is Melanie. I would have seen it had I not been preoccupied with other things. It doesn’t look like I’m going to be able to hide from this. It does my heart proud to know that I can count on you when the chips are down.” I still had the gun, but I was never going to fire it in anger.
“I told them they would rue the day, but they wouldn’t hear it. I knew you would see things differently without the restraints. I was overruled. Kidnapping you was a mistake, but we had to act quickly. This way we could keep an eye on you. The cartel was going to use your family. They still might if they get wind this kidnapping was staged.” He was the pointed end of the spear. Somebody else was directing and Melanie was too much of a hothead. She could be counted on to act without thinking first.
They both needed someone that wasn’t going to lose their head in the moment. They needed a puppet master to pull their strings and to give them their marching orders. Jackson and Melanie were weapons of a different color. She was blunt and to the point. Jackson was a man who found his courage with well-placed injections into a vein. We knew he was using, but his deadly efficiency was too hard to ignore.
“The best thing for everybody is to keep up this charade. Melanie is in the enemy camp. We still have the element of surprise on our side. We do need to find out where the cartel is hiding. I have a few people I can reach out to, but you’re going to have to trust me.” I no longer felt like somebody else and the shoes of the military were comfortable.
“I have always trusted you, but I can’t say the same thing for them. There was really only one who wanted to keep you in the dark. He mistakenly thought you were happy and didn’t deserve to be pulled back into this. I’ve always believed we were in this together until the bitter end.” He was staying still and making no untoward movements to make me use extreme force to change his tune.
“You make it sound like somebody I know. It’s not Granger. I do have to wonder why
he is absent from this little party of ours. If anybody should be here, it should be him. He was the one who first brought up the idea of taking the diamonds. I find it a little suspicious he’s not here to stand in the spotlight. He’s never been one to stay out of it.” I could see Jackson was fidgeting and he didn’t think I noticed, but I was quite aware of the way that he was looking behind him.
“Nobody has been able to get in touch with Granger.” Jackson looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here with me.
“I don’t see Conner. I suppose there’s a reasonable explanation for him not being called back into service. Let me guess, he declined your offer and decided to fend for himself. It would be just like him to want to go down in a blaze of glory like at the Alamo.” I could see him lavishly spending and putting a bull’s eye on his back.
“We don’t have to worry about Conner. He won’t be bothering anyone.” The tone of his words was laced with melancholy.
I swallowed hard and took a step back with the gun wavering like somebody had just punched me in the kidneys. I wasn’t expecting the news of his untimely demise to affect me in such a way. He was family, but he never was one to admit how we were joined at the hip.
“I guess I don’t have to ask if you’re sure about his… I’m not even sure I can say the word.” Death was so final and there was no coming back when your time expired.
“His body was found and whatever happened was not for the faint of heart. We searched for his share of the diamonds, but they were gone. I don’t think he would have said anything, but where his diamonds are is anybody’s guess.” Conner would have saved them for a rainy day when the three years had elapsed.
“He wouldn’t be too obvious about where he hid them. If he doesn’t want them found then they won’t be. He probably made sure upon news of his death the diamonds would fall into the right hands. There’s no telling who he might trust with this information. I can’t believe you went along with this surveillance. It would’ve been far better to take the fight to them.” Nobody had survived that night, but we knew the cartel would be watching to see if the diamonds resurfaced on the open black market.
“You are speaking to the choir. I agree with you, but I wasn’t the swing vote. It was two against one. We would’ve had a stalemate had you been here to voice your opinion. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around how you could possibly marry into the Hamilton family.” He was smarter than I gave him credit for.
His superpower was how he was able to see things others didn’t know he was able to see. We had counted on him several times to breach the perimeter. He had walked through a hailstorm of bullets without one touching him. It was the damnedest thing I’d ever seen in my life.
“If it’s not Granger and it’s definitely not Conner then who could it be? I can’t see you and Melanie taking the risk of involving a third party. You wouldn’t know his agenda. The possibility of him killing the both you and taking the diamonds would be foremost on your minds.” A shadow followed a revelation of Biblical proportions.
“I guess the cat is out of the bag.” He couldn’t be alive, but the face looking back at me was one I had last seen disappearing under the waves.
Chapter 18
Dalton
I didn’t want her to carry the burden of knowing I was alive. It seemed I had to reveal myself. The only way to counter her head from exploding was to give her some context. She was in a state of complete bewilderment. The gun was still in her hands, but she wasn’t going to use it. I knew that as much as I knew the back of my hand.
“I know this is a lot to digest. It makes you feel any better, I thought I was dead and was never going to see you again. I came out and was prepared to come back when I stumbled across the cartel. They had somehow found out I was there when the diamonds went missing. They didn’t know anything more than that.” I felt what I did was for the best and would allow the team to find a way to soldier on without me.
“I think I’m starting to understand your train of thought. You believed your death would stop them from pursuing. There was nothing to indicate we were even involved. I’m not going to ask how you got off the island. With the people we know and the relationships we made, it’s not that out of the realm of possibility you would have somebody you could trust.” She was getting the basic idea, but she didn’t have a clue how close she was to the person who knew the truth.
“I don’t want to get anybody into trouble. They did implore me to tell everybody I was alive, but I wasn’t having any of it. I was able to get off the island and I went to the only place I knew nobody would find me.” I was about to say it out loud, but she beat me to it.
“Your grandfather’s cabin is someplace you would find familiar. If I knew you were alive, I would have gone there first. Everything makes sense. I knew there were pieces missing from this story. It was your idea to let me live my life blissfully unaware. It wasn’t your place to make that decision for me.” She was right and I had taken the decision out of her hands.
“Is there anything I can say to take the sting out of this?” I was momentarily distracted by the kind of intimate affection she was giving me.
The kiss was soft and demanding at the same time. The feel of her lips was bringing me back to the memory of seducing her under the influence of a sleeping pill. It was a crass thing to do when I knew she was unaware that the hallucination was real. It wasn’t a figment of her imagination.
She had her hands running down the length of my blue shirt. Jackson was all but forgotten. We weren’t even aware that he was still in the room watching us with intensity. She released me from the lip lock with her teeth nipping at the skin of my bottom lip.
She slapped me in a knee-jerk response from learning I was alive. She was probably struggling with whether or not to hit me or kiss me. Deciding to do both was a little jarring to my sensibilities. She turned away from me and I couldn’t see what she was doing.
“I would seriously consider running while you still have the chance. You’re not seeing the look on her face. I know that look better than anybody. Trust me; your only chance is to get as much distance from her as you can.” She was standing in front of me and I was worried that this was too much for her.
I had my hand outstretched about to touch her with a reassuring gesture of good faith. Her shoulders became rigid and this was the signs of anger building up inside of her.
She turned abruptly and tried to hit me again, but this time I was ready for her. I wasn’t ready for the well-placed knee to my groin. The pain was indescribable, but I did not give her the satisfaction of dropping to my knees. I was doubled over in serious need of some time to compose myself.
She grabbed me by the hair and made me look at her. The venom in her eyes was making me realize what Jackson had said was his way of getting me out of the line of fire.
“I kissed you and everything that happened that night came back. It wasn’t a dream. You should be ashamed of yourself for taking advantage of me. I feel like such a fool. I gave into a purely physical exploration of your flesh. It wasn’t anything more than that. I don’t want you to think that god forbid I would have feelings for you.” She wasn’t about to go into hysterics or have some kind of tantrum.
Other women in her shoes would have acted entirely different. She wasn’t running on pure instinct. This was the training of the Navy Seals. Her eyes burned into me with accusation and this desperate need for reprisal.
“I know it was a horrible thing to do. I can’t say I would’ve done anything differently. It’s not what you want to hear, but I can’t help think it was about time. I’ve been reminded by someone we know that we were denying ourselves.” Melanie had made it quite clear she knew about my feelings and was wondering when we were finally going to consummate.
“I’m sure you enjoyed yourself at my expense, but I doubt it went any further than that. You never gave me any indication you wanted more than a professional relationship. It was frowned upon to frate
rnize with the team with notable exceptions.” We both knew of the one night where Conner and Melanie had gone missing for 12-hours.
Nobody mentioned it when they came back, but we all secretly knew they had found necessary comfort in each other’s arms.
It was after a grueling mission in Columbia. We were sentenced to be executed at dawn. Melanie and I were standing side by side when the rest of our team came to aid us in our escape. That day was a turning point for most of us. Some of us swore it was going to be our last tour of duty.
It was shortly after that we found ourselves with an impossible decision. We were still thinking about how close we came to dying. Granger didn’t have to do much to get us to think about our futures. We always believed our destiny was on a bullet with our name on it.
“I don’t like you putting words into my mouth. God damn it, I do have feelings for you and they go deeper than anything resembling platonic. Was there any part of you that thought what we were doing was real? It didn’t feel like you were somewhere else.” I’d just finished telling her I didn’t want her to put words in my mouth and here I was doing the same thing.
“I don’t know how you want me to answer that. I would like the record to show my cooperation was medicinally motivated. I have always wanted you. I thought the hallucination was the only way I was going to make my fantasy a reality. I certainly couldn’t fathom you were right there in front of me. What the hell were you thinking?” That was the prevailing opinion.
“I lost myself when I touched you for the first time. I had to take the chance. It wasn’t a matter of any conscious thought involved. Let me show you.” This time, I was the one kissing her and not the other way around.
She fought me, but there was nothing she was doing to convince me of her need to get away from me. Whatever fight was in her was soon extinguished by the passion being unleashed. Her hands vainly slapped my chest, but it wasn’t hard enough to hurt a fly.
