Protector

by Michelle Horst

  Riley~

  Things have kind of returned to normal. I try not to be alone with Griffin. I really don’t want a repeat of that night at the pool.

  I’ve been talking a lot, but not to anyone in the house. I’ve been talking to my family, and it helps.

  It feels like I’m getting somewhere. It feels like they listen, like they are actually there … and that takes away the sharp edges of loneliness.

  I open the next book and get lost between the pages. A few pages in and the first tears fall. By the end of chapter one I’m sobbing.

  Amelia comes to stand in front of me and looks at the book. She shakes her head. “When It Rains. Hmm … this one had me crying from beginning to end. Good luck.”

  I grab a toilet roll and read on. I’ve never read such a heartbreaking story before. Not even The Fault In Our Stars had me crying like this. My heart breaks for the characters, and I can’t stop reading until the last page.

  I’ve never read something so real before. It felt like I was there.

  My heart is broken for the one character, so much that it chases me from the chair. I don’t even bother with boots or a sweater as I rush to get to the cemetery.

  The grass is icy beneath my feet as I run. There’s a frosty wind blowing, and it’s cutting right through my clothes.

  I yank the gate open and don’t slow down until I reach the last grave. I fall to my knees and sit quietly as the wind turns my hot tears to ice.

  “I can’t look at the stars,” I whisper hoarsely. “They remind me of you.”

  I swallow hard and just stare blankly at the dirt in front of me.

  “I can’t drink coffee.”

  An ache starts to grow in my chest until it feels like it’s ripping at my bones and flesh.

  “You’re my person, Josh. I can’t let you go. You’re not supposed to be under all this dirt. You were supposed to save us all. Why didn’t you? Why did you let that happen? Why did you leave me alone?” My voice ends on a broken croak and I swallow the bitterness and hurt down again.

  “This isn’t just some book. This isn’t just a story on pages. The pain is real. It’s suffocating me.” I press a hand to my aching chest. “I can’t face a future without you. I can’t live. I can’t hope. I can’t dream. You took everything with you. You took my soul with you, and now all that’s left is this empty vessel. The memories torture me. They bounce off the walls of my mind like a maddening scream. The silence you left behind is deafening.”

  A loud sound explodes behind me. My whole body lurches forward with fright and my hands dig into the dirt. I quickly swing around and my breath leaves my lungs in a stunned huff.

  What the hell was that?

  A stunned silence follows the sound, and it’s making the air buzz with tension.

  Another blast comes from somewhere and this time I recognize the sound – it’s gunfire.

  I watch in horror as the house plummets into darkness.

  I struggle to my feet and cover my mouth so I don’t let out a scream.

  This is just a nightmare.

  This isn’t real.

  I’m torn in two. Should I run for help? Should I stay where I am? Should I go hide? Shit! A familiar fear I had hoped I’d never feel again slithers down my spine and it almost paralyzes me.

  Another blast rings into the night, and this time it makes life pulse through my body.

  “We’re being attacked,” I whisper as the terror of what’s really happening seeps into my veins. “It’s happening again.”

  I couldn’t save Mom.

  I start to walk towards the house when another shot rings from somewhere. It sounds dangerously near me.

  I run to the entrance by Griffin’s office. I sneak in and rush to his desk. I drop down next to it and wait a few seconds, just listening for movement.

  You won’t be able to save them.

  When I don’t hear anything, I get up and make my way to the door. I slowly inch my way out of the office and then stick along the wall, trying my best to blend in with the shadows.

  When I reach the kitchen and see no one, panic starts to fizzle in me. Where are they?

  You watched her burn and you did nothing.

  My conscience drives me deeper into the house. My eyes flit everywhere and with each passing second, dread creeps deeper into my heart.

  You’re too late…

  The guilt-ridden thoughts lash at me. When I reach the stairs and look up, my heart plummets to the ground. Everything is so dark. What if the intruders are waiting for me?

  I feel helpless. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where anyone is.

  My eye catches movement and a hushed cry rips from my throat. “Charlie.” I race up the stairs. He’s flat on his stomach, trying to inch his way through the darkness without being seen.

  As soon as he spots me, he starts to move faster. I’m so thankful when he doesn’t look hurt. I rush up the stairs to meet him at the top and quickly crouch down. My heart is beating violently against my ribs.

  “Where are the others?” I ask him as if he could actually answer me.

  He bites hold of my sleeve and starts to pull me down the passage. I stay low but it feels as if my every breath is echoing through the house – telling everyone with a gun where I am.

  Charlie takes me to the room right at the end and just as we reach it, a shot rings through the house. It sounds like it’s coming from downstairs. I quickly rush into the room, scared that whoever is down there will come up here and find me and Charlie.

  I close the door as soft as I can and I’m just about to turn around when a hand slips over my mouth. An arm comes up past my right side and I see the gun glimmering in the faint moonlight.

  Panic makes my throat and tongue impossibly thick. My whole body comes alive with pins and prickles as dread sinks heavy into my stomach.

  “Riley,” Griffin’s whisper makes me spin around. Relief washes through me. I’ve got Charlie and Griffin!

  I throw my arms around his neck and hug him as tight as I can. Feeling his strong body against mine makes the tightening in my chest lessen.

  I’m not alone.

  Griffin is okay.

  “I was looking for you,” I whisper, so thankful that he’s not hurt or dead.

  Griffin places his left arm around me and he presses me tightly to him. He lowers his head until his mouth is right by my ear.

  “Stay silent. We need to take cover until I know what we’re dealing with.”

  “What about the others?” I pull my arms back but Griffin keeps a tight hold of me and it makes me feel safe for the first time in a very long time.

  He ignores my question, but instead moves back through the room. I’ve never been in this room before, but Griffin must have, because he knows exactly where everything is.

  “Come, Charlie,” he whispers, and then I’m pulled into a closet. As soon as we’re all three squashed into the closet, the wall opens into a doorway. My mouth drops open with surprise. It looks like a secret passage. Griffin helps me down some stairs.

  It’s much darker in here. Shit, I can’t even see my hand in front of my face.

  Griffin helps me to sit down on the stairs, while Charlie comes to sit by my feet.

  I have a million questions I want to ask, but I’m scared the slightest sound will give our little hiding spot away.

  Griffin stays standing for a while. I can feel the tension coming off him and it’s making me tense.

  After long minutes have crawled by, Griffin sits down next to me. The left side of him presses hard into me. It’s not like we have a lot of space, and honestly, I don’t mind. The closer I can get to him right now, the better. His left hand brushes down my arm and then his fingers interlace tightly with mine. I inch closer to him, turning my body half into his. I lean my cheek against his arm and just breathe him in.

  His presence alone makes me feel safe.

  The fact that he’s offering me comfort in this horrible moment makes it all
so much more bearable.

  I don’t feel alone in this nightmare, and that makes me stronger.

  The night stretches ahead of us, long and dark. There are no more shots fired for a long while before Griffin moves.

  “Stay here. I’m going to go check what’s going on out there.”

  I want to be selfish and pull him back down to me, but I can’t. I’m worried about the others, that one of them might be hurt.

  Instead, I scoot down a step until I’m next to Charlie and wrap an arm around him. Charlie’s tense too, but knowing that he’s on guard makes me feel better. He’ll hear and smell the bad people before they find us … I hope.

  Griffin exits through another door and then I’m alone with Charlie.

  Long minutes drag out and it makes the darkness stretch around us. If it weren’t for Charlie I would lose my mind.

  There’s a soft noise and then the door opens. My whole body tenses to the point that it’s starting to ache.

  “It’s me,” Griffin says, as if he can feel my panic in the air. “It’s all clear. Let’s go.”

  He takes my hand, and I make sure Charlie is following. We sneak down the dark passage and then into Griffin’s office. The sliding door is still open and it makes it easier for us to sneak out without making a noise.

  My bare feet slap against the grass, but this time I don’t feel the cold. When we reach the creek, it’s a different story. We splash through the freezing water, and it makes my body start to shiver.

  Everything is eerily quiet, making every sound we make echo through the night.

  Once we’re through the creek, I see people up ahead. I recognize Miles, and then Skylar. Camden has Mr. Perry thrown over one shoulder.

  My eyes bore through the dark, trying to see if they’re all okay.

  “Did everyone get out?” Griffin asks. He sounds harsh and unforgiving.

  Miles turns, and his eyes touch on everyone. “I don’t see Amelia and Mike. They might already be at the meeting point.”

  He doesn’t sound very convincing. He actually sounds very worried, and that makes me worry.

  “How far to the meeting point?” I ask.

  “Just a mile or so,” Griffin answers, his eyes constantly searching the area.

  We walk a few minutes in silence, but you can feel the tension pouring off of everyone.

  Somehow, I’ve managed to distance myself from what’s happening around me. It’s as if I’ve switched over to survival mode.

  The trail is rough and littered with tiny stones that dig into the bottoms of my feet. I fight the pain and discomfort, knowing this will all be over soon.

  I hope Amelia is already at the meeting place. I can’t face losing another person in my life. If we can just all make it through this nightmare, I’ll be fine.

  I’ll be fine.

  I keep repeating the words because I can’t lose it now, not when our lives are in danger.

  Griffin~

  I keep playing the night over and over in my head. What the hell went wrong? What did I miss?

  I was on my way to my office when the first gunshot was fired.

  Amelia was in the kitchen arguing with Miles, like they usually do.

  It’s Camden’s night off, so I’m pretty sure he was either sleeping or watching TV with Mr. Perry. I have no idea where Skylar was when it all went down. And I know for a fact Mike was on monitor duty.

  So Mike had to have seen the breach. Maybe he’ll be able to shed some light on what happened once we get to the meeting point.

  I just don’t get it. Shots were fired but there was no one when I looked for the intruder? Who, then, fired the shots?

  As we’re hiking up the trail, all I can do is go through the last few hours over and over.

  What did I miss?

  I glance down at Riley, and relief washes through me once again. I’m so fucking thankful that nothing happened to her. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that were the case. Whether I like it or not, she’s become important to me. It’s not just about the promise anymore. I care for this woman, more than I probably should.

  She stumbles and her body lurches to the side. I quickly take hold of her arm and help her find her balance again, and it’s only then that I notice she’s barefoot.

  “Fuck,” I snap. I’ve been dragging her around without realizing that she’s barefoot out here. She must be freezing her ass off.

  I slip my arms under her and lift her to my chest. Her arms instantly go around my neck and her shimmering eyes meet mine.

  “I can walk. I’m fine,” she whispers.

  I hold her a bit closer to me so she won’t be as cold. I respect that she doesn’t want to get in the way but I won’t stand by while she’s tearing up her feet.

  A heavy silence hangs around the small group as we near the meeting point. We’ll have to go our separate ways. The back-up plan for when the safe house fails is for everyone to go dark.

  This is much bigger than all of us. My contact at the CIA has been missing in action, and that’s a very bad sign. It means they’re letting us take the fall for the shit that went down in Russia.

  “Miles, stay back!” Camden suddenly yells. The shocked tone of his voice makes my skin crawl.

  I freeze in my tracks and quickly set Riley down so I have my hands free to fight. I grab the gun from behind my back and search the area around us, looking for the threat Camden must be seeing.

  Camden’s warning comes too late as Miles darts forward. Camden has his hands full, lowering Mr. Perry to the floor so I rush forward to help Miles. As I come out of the dense trees, I get a clear view of the meeting place which is really just an old cabin further up the mountain.

  I’m in time to see Miles dropping to his knees. His shoulders sag, and his breathing speeds up. For a stunned moment I don’t understand his actions but then it registers and shock vibrates through me, dulling my emotions for a few seconds.

  Amelia is tied to the left post of the porch. There’s something stuck to her chest with what looks like an arrow.

  It’s a gruesome sight, not one I could ever prepare myself for. None of us expected an attack. Sure, we were on guard, but I honestly thought we were safe here. Only the group knows about the safe house. It was a tightly guarded secret.

  Amelia’s eyes are wide open. She saw her killer. He wanted her to be aware of the fact that she was going to die. This was a brutal kill. Her front is slit open up to where the arrow is driven into her chest.

  The fucker made her suffer.

  This person had to be watching us for a while to know that Amelia is the heart and soul of the group. He hit us where it hurt most.

  While I was keeping Riley safe, someone got to Amelia.

  Miles gathers himself before I do. He gets up and rushes over to Amelia’s body. He quickly unties her and then gently lowers her to the ground. A broken cry rips from him as he yanks the arrow from her chest. He throws it to the side with whatever was stuck to her, and then he starts to rock her. He presses a kiss to her forehead and then cries out against her skin.

  In a sorrowful daze, I walk to where the arrow is and pull the piece of paper from it. It looks like a torn piece from a picture. I take a good look at it and see that it’s a torn corner from a photo that must have been about A4 in size.

  I lift my head slowly and take in the broken form of Miles as he grieves Amelia, and then it hits me like a ton of bricks.

  Amelia is dead.

  The thought shudders through me like an earthquake, fracturing the last bit of what used to be my life.

  I’ve lost Josh and Amelia.

  I shake my head as I war with disbelief, because this can’t be happening.

  Someone is taking out my team, my family. A sense of powerlessness washes over me. I’ve always been in full control of everything but not anymore. Things have gone to shit. Things are so far out of my control that it feels like I’m stuck in some fucked up version of the twilight zone.

  The idea
of Amelia being dead is still trying to take root in my mind when there’s a swift whistle in the air. Miles’ upper body jerks and then he slowly looks down at the arrow slammed into his chest. His arms loosen their hold on Amelia, and she slides to the ground at his knees.

  Skylar’s scream echoes around us and she rushes forward to help Miles just as an arrow tears past her and slams into Mr. Perry’s back.

  Alarm pours hotly into my veins. We’re being hunted. Right now! Fuck!

  Adrenaline washes through me, instantly throwing me into survival mode.

  Everyone starts to yell and scream all at once and then Camden cries out as Skylar takes an arrow to her side. She falls to her hands and knees. She doesn’t stop as she tries to crawl to Miles.

  Camden ducks and dives to get to her and by doing so, he makes himself a harder target to hit. He shoots off a few rounds into the dark trees around us. It’s hard to fight a target you can’t see, but it buys us some time.

  I run for Riley, doing the same thing Camden did. I run and duck and dive at the same time, and it works, because the arrows keep missing. I fire three shots in the direction the arrows are coming from and for a precious moment the arrows stop. I use it to my full advantage and put everything I have into getting to Riley.

  My eyes lock on her as I try to block out the chaos erupting around me. More arrows start to fly past me again and one misses Riley’s neck by mere inches, making her hair fly up in wisps.

  I knock into her, and, with one arm securing her to my side, I keep running until we’re back behind the first line of trees on the opposite side of the clearing.

  My back slams into the rough bark of the nearest tree and I bring Riley closer until she’s plastered against my front.

  “Did you get hit?” I don’t have time to check her over. I hardly have time to catch my breath.

  “No,” she says on a stifled sob. I can’t even begin to imagine what she must be going through. It feels like someone keeps punching holes into my life and I’ve been trained for shit like this. It’s never easy watching one of your own go down, but for someone like Riley, it must be brutal.

  I dare a glance around the side of the tree and see Charlie running towards us. Fuck! He’s out in the open still.