“Charlie!” I shout to spur him on. “Faster, boy!”
Riley’s breathing stops and she also glances around the side of the tree, then she yanks free from me and falls to her knees. She starts to slam her hands against the ground, urging Charlie on with hoarse screams.
“Come on, Charlie! Run!” Her voice is hoarse with panic.
An arrow clips Charlie’s ear and slams into the ground not far from Riley. I move to pull her back to safety just as Charlie jumps at her, taking her down.
I crouch by them, and only when I’m sure they’re both fine do I glance around the tree again. Camden has taken an arrow to his left leg but he’s managed to pull Skylar to safety next to the cabin. There’s a stretch between us that’s too much of a risk to try and cross.
Camden breaks the arrow off and then lifts Skylar up. He gives me one last look and then starts to work his way past the cabin. He knows we’ll have to split up just like I do.
We’re all on our own now. Whoever is hunting us has successfully divided us. The fucker is good, too good. It’s frustrating when you don’t know who your enemy is. There’s a sense of helplessness that makes you panic, and when you panic, you make mistakes.
A mistake can mean the difference between life and death. I can’t afford to make any more mistakes. I need to get my head out of my ass and gain control over this situation.
I take one last look at Amelia and Miles. It’s breaking me apart, seeing them like this. I vow to take the coward out before I take my last breath, and then my heart is sucked into a black void.
I can’t allow myself to feel anything right now. I have to focus on keeping us alive.
The only thing that keeps me going now is my promise to Josh. I have to protect Riley.
We keep moving deeper into the trees. An icy chill has fallen around us and the only thing keeping us warm is the adrenaline of knowing that there’s someone out there hunting us.
I only have two bullets. I’ve never been this unprepared or caught off guard in my life before.
I’m aware that Riley is walking through the rough earth with no shoes, but I can’t carry her. I need to stay on guard so I can fight. I have to keep the remaining bullets for when I have no other choice but to use them.
Every few minutes, we stop so I can listen. I’m not even sure if the bastard is behind us or in front of us, or whether he went after Camden and Skylar. I’m worried about them. They’re both wounded and can’t move as fast as us.
I’m worried about Mike. He’s still out there somewhere. Fuck, for all I know he’s dead already.
We start to work our way down the side of the mountain that I know will lead to the far side of the property. There’s an old shed we need to get to. I’ve got an old beaten up truck stored there. I haven’t checked on it for a while and can only hope the thing will start.
We slide down a steep bank that’s covered with dead leaves. It’s an embankment that leads to the creek down below.
I hear the crunch of boots not too far off and stop moving, hoping we didn’t give away our position.
Riley stiffens next to me, and Charlie instantly goes on guard.
“Griffin,” I hear a hushed whisper. It’s Mike! I start to move so I can get to him. He doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s an open target out there!
Riley grabs hold of my arm and her small hand slams over my mouth before I can call out to Mike. I grab hold of her hand so I can remove it from my mouth when she shakes her head. Fear makes her eyes shine in the dark.
She crawls over me as if she can keep me down with her much smaller body. She’s got more heart than strength. Charlie lies down, and his ears go back which means whoever is out there can’t be trusted.
My mind keeps racing, searching for answers, and then a shadow passes right above us, and I can clearly make out the crossbow in Mike’s hands.
Betrayal burns a bitter path down my throat and it’s hard to swallow.
Mike is the missing link? How did I not see it? What is his connection to all of this?
He’s been a part of our team for two years now. How the fuck did I not know that I was harboring a murderer in my group?
Riley saw it the second she laid eyes on him, but the rest of us didn’t.
“Griffin,” he whispers again, making it sound as if he’s in distress.
Fuck, he’s a good actor. If it weren’t for Riley stopping me, and then me seeing the crossbow, I’d be dead. I would’ve walked right into his trap.
Rage floods my body, tensing every damn muscle. This fucker is going to pay. I’m going to fucking rip his heart out and shove it down his throat.
I let him into my house. I let him near those I loved most. I fucking trusted him.
I let him walk off a little more before I take hold of Riley. I pull her up my body so I can whisper in her ear.
“We’re going to slide down some more and then make a run for the shed.”
I tap Charlie on his back so he knows to follow. We all inch our way down the embankment until we reach the creek. The water is freezing as we make our way through it, but we have to keep moving.
Right now, we have to do everything we can to survive so I can make that fucker pay.
We’ve just made it through the creek when Mike yells, “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
There’s an open stretch we have to run over to get to the shed. Just the thought of Riley being out in the open chills my bones.
I take Riley’s hand. She’s shivering. I need to get her out of this dangerous situation. I press her hand to my lips and send up a silent prayer that I’ll be able to keep my promise.
Don’t let me fail her. I’ve failed everyone else, but please don’t let me fail her.
“I’m surprised you lasted this long,” Mike yells again, and this time he sounds much closer. He’s moving in our direction.
I take hold of Riley’s face and make sure I have her full attention.
“Run straight across the field. There’s a shed. Get inside it and wait for me.”
“No!” The word rushes over her trembling lips. “I’m not going without you, Griffin.”
“I have to kill him, or he’ll kill us. We can’t keep running from him. I need answers, and only he has them. Run as fast as you can. Charlie will stay with you. I’ll be right behind you.”
She takes hold of my wrists and I can see that she wants to fight me, but she also understands that we need answers.
“Promise me you’ll be right behind me.”
I suck at promises. Lately, I just can’t keep any of them.
I feel her shivering beneath my hands. I feel her icy fingers gripping my wrists. I feel her warm breath.
She’s alive and I’ll do anything to keep it that way.
I press a kiss to her forehead and whisper, “I promise.” I take a deep breath and let it out against her skin. “I’ll always be right behind you.”
She takes a shaky breath and then scoots up the side of the embankment. Charlie is sticking close to her and that gives me a sliver of comfort.
Riley looks back one last time and then she darts up, running into the night.
I get up quickly and run back through the creek. I make as much noise as possible so Mike will come for me and not see Riley.
“I can hear you,” Mike taunts stupidly, giving away his position.
I pick up a rock and throw it deeper into the trees before I take cover. I listen to him coming closer and, like an idiot, he falls for the oldest trick in the book – he goes after the rock.
I inch my way forward, and, holding the gun with both my hands, I point it right at his head.
“Who are you, and what is your connection to Volkov?” Those are two questions I need answered before I end him.
He lets out a confident burst of laugher that tells me he thinks I’m bluffing.
The fucker actually thinks I’m bluffing after he killed half my team. He’s as stupid as they come. There’s no way I’m letting h
im get away.
“Mikhail … my name is Mikhail,” he answers, surprising me again. I thought I was going to have to beat it out of him. “Do you know how easy it was to study you, to become one of you?” His American accent is gone and now replaced with the Russian he obviously is.
Slowly, all the puzzle pieces are starting to fit together.
Shit, he was good. He had me fooled for two years. He had us all fooled.
“I studied you, McGraw. I studied the way you walk, the way you talk. I trained for a whole year to be one of you so I could get close enough to kill every single one of you.”
“Why?” I spit the word out as anger chases the chill from my body. My finger is itching to pull the trigger. There’s nothing I want more in life right now than to watch this fucking asshole gasp his last breath.
Mikhail turns around and I raise the gun in warning. He slows his movements but keeps turning until he’s looking me right in the eye.
“What do you expect, McGraw? You kill a man’s family and that man won’t come for you? Sergei Volkov is my uncle. Timofei Volkov is my cousin.” Mikhail holds two fingers up, and sorrow and anger washes over his face. ‘Tatyana Volkov is my cousin. We’re like this.” He thrusts his hand forward, twisting the two fingers together. “We’re like brother and sister, and you … you just killed her. You killed my whole family and you think I won’t come for you? Do you know what it feels like to bury your whole family at once? The grief is so debilitating that it strips you of your humanity.”
As angry as I am at him for killing those I love, I can’t deny that I understand why he’s done it. I would do the same to the fucker who killed my family. I’m going to do the same.
A war between understanding why he’s done it and just wanting to beat the life out of him, wages inside me. I want to make him suffer a slow and painful death. I want revenge for my family.
But I won’t forget that all of this is on me. I’ll never forgive myself for the poor choices I’ve made and the death that has come from them.
“Is Sergei dead?” I have to know. I have to know if he’s still alive and who the other two men were that looked like him.
“He had a double he used for deals he had to make with people he didn’t trust. He had a body double because of people like you. The man you killed in the warehouse wasn’t Sergei.”
I’m well aware of the fact that he doesn’t answer my actual question. It’s good to know how that son of a bitch did it. The fact that Mikhail is talking around Sergei’s death means he’s still alive, and it’s a bitter pill to swallow.
The man is like a fucking cockroach - he just won’t die.
Regret pulses through me. Regret for taking the mission. Regret for assuming he was dead. Regret for not doing my job right the first time.
Regret corrupts a person. It makes you feel desperate to fix whatever caused the regret. Desperation makes you careless, and carelessness makes you fuck things up even more.
I grind my teeth as I steel myself against the onslaught of emotions. Usually, I have a steady hand but for the first time in my life, I start to shake. I fucking hate that this fucker can see that I’m upset. I hate giving him that kind of satisfaction.
“I buried my heart and soul that day. I’ve been a dead man walking ever since. I took out your CIA contact first. After that, it was easy to find you. You should keep better company, McGraw.”
“The emails I sent to the CIA?” I ask, already knowing the answer, but I still have to hear it from him.
“Re-directed to me. It was fun watching you break under the pressure.”
This man is pushing all my buttons. He just keeps taking swings at me, forcing me closer to the edge.
He takes a step forward, causing my whole body to tense. Again he surprises me when he drops the crossbow to the ground. He brings his arms up and links his hands behind his head.
“I want you to kill me,” he says, taking another step forward. “I want you to look me in the eye when you pull the trigger. I want you to think of me for the rest of your life and remember that you made a murderer of an innocent man. I was innocent, but because you killed my family, I killed yours.”
I shake my head as I try to process all he’s saying.
“Why tell me all of this?” I ask, still not trusting a word he’s saying. He’s been living a lie for the past two years. He’s so fucking good at it that it’s impossible to tell the difference between a lie and the truth, which makes me second guess every fucking word that’s coming from his mouth.
“Why would I lie? You have the gun,” he says with a dead calm.
Yeah, like me having the gun will make him confess everything. When your life is in danger, the truth is usually the furthest thing from your mind. You’ll say anything to survive.
“You could lie so that I will drop my guard again. Fuck knows, you could be lying just for the hell of it.”
“I trained so you would trust me. I succeeded. You took me in as one of your own. I deceived you so I could get near you when you were most vulnerable. You brought me here, to this safe house of yours. I killed your whole team, your whole family. Now you know how I feel.”
“Camden and Skylar?” I have to know.
He shakes his head. “I killed every single person you love. I killed Woods’ whole family and yours. You paid with blood like I had to pay with blood.”
My mind goes to Riley where she must be hiding in the shed, and I wonder if he’s forgotten about her. I’ll have to touch base with Carson and check if he’s okay. He made the right choice by not coming here.
I want to mourn my dead, but I have to protect the two that are still alive.
I make sure to look him in the eye, giving him what he wants. He deserves that much. We were two people who got caught up in a war that wasn’t ours to fight in the first place. I’ll pay the price for my poor choices, but so will he.
“I’m sorry for my part in killing your family. I’m sorry it had to come to this.”
Mikhail locks eyes with me and there is a silent minute where I can’t hear anything before I pull the trigger. The shot hits right between the eyes, a quick death. It’s more than he deserves.
The war is far from over with Sergei still out there.
I have to bury the rest of my family.
I have to look Riley in the eye, knowing that I’m responsible for all this death and destruction.
They might be dead but their ghosts are very much alive. Mikhail was right – I’ll think of him every day for the rest of my life.
The senseless loss of life will weigh me down until I won’t be able to get up anymore.
Riley~
I don’t get far over the field as the thought of Camden and Skylar out there hits me.
They are both hurt and they need help. I can’t go and hide like a coward.
I change direction and run back to the cabin. The first thing I see when I reach the clearing is Miles and Amelia. I slow down and feel the cruel punch of grief as I walk by Mr. Perry.
I kneel by Amelia and Miles, and a sob rips through me. Miles died looking at Amelia. It’s the most tragic thing I’ve ever seen.
I reach over and softly close Amelia’s eyes before doing the same for Miles. I can only hope they find each other on the other side.
“Riley?” I hear Camden whisper, and it makes me dart up from the floor. I run to him and almost make him lose his balance when I hug him.
“You’re alive! Thank God.” The tears start to fall faster when he hugs me back.
“Where’s Griffin?’ he asks, and I can hear the worry in his voice.
I shake my head and his question only makes me cry harder.
“He stayed behind. He said he had to kill Mike.”
“Mike?” Confusion washes over Camden’s face.
“Yes, he’s the one that killed Amelia, Miles and your dad.”
A gunshot echoes through the night, and I jump with fright.
“Come!” Camden starts to limp to
the side of the house where I last saw him and Skylar.
When we reach the side, he kneels down, and it’s only then that I see the opening.
“We have to crawl under the cabin. It’s the only place I could think of hiding. Skylar is hurt. I can’t risk running with her.”
I follow Camden into the small space. Charlie comes in after me. It’s cramped and stuffy down here but we make it work.
“Camden,” I hear Skylar’s broken whimper . She lost Miles tonight. We all lost so much.
“I’m here, babe,” Camden whispers.
I can’t see much down here. Camden touches my shoulder. “That’s good enough, Riley. Let’s just wait it out a bit.”
“Okay.” I’m scared. I don’t want to think of Griffin out there alone with Mike. I don’t want to think what that gunshot means. Griffin is alive. He has to be alive.
We all lie in silence, no one wanting to voice their fears.
I scoot closer to Charlie and bury my face in his neck.
As the night settles around us, I start to feel the full impact of what happened.
Amelia and Miles are lying dead out there.
I wish I could let the darkness swallow me. This world has become too cruel for me.
We hear someone moving around the cabin. My heart starts to beat heavily with fear.
“Fuck, where are they?” The sound of Griffin’s voice has me moving faster than I thought I could.
I worm my way out from under the cabin and just the sight of Griffin’s silhouette in the dark causes a strangled cry to rush through my lips.
“Riley!” I hear the relief in his voice and it makes my heart soar.
I run to him, just wanting to hold him. I bury my face in his shoulder and wrap my arms tightly around his waist. I have no intention of letting go. His arms wrap around me and he presses a string of kisses to the top of my head.
“Why didn’t you go to the shed? I had a fucking heart attack when I got there and you weren’t there.” I hear the restrained anger in his voice.
“I came to see if Camden and Skylar needed help.” I explain quickly.
“Camden?” The anger quickly disappears from his voice, making space for hope.
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