by Max Henry
I frown when he brings us to a stop outside the pump room. “Unless you think I can fit through a water pipe . . .”
“Just wait and you’ll see.” He opens the door, checking all around as we both slip inside.
Sully shuts us in, and darkness envelops us both. I can’t make out my hand before my face. Who knows how he’s going to see what he’s doing?
“Agh, shit,” he hisses as a dull clang indicates he’s hit metal. I guess he can’t “It’s here somewhere. Just a little to the right . . . there.”
The screech of metal on metal is deafening in the confined space. We’ll be discovered for sure. I turn to check the door and loose my bearing in the pitch black.
“What the hell are you doing?” I whisper-yell. “Stop making so much noise.”
His grumbles of protest are drowned out by the incessant whomp of my heartbeat as it fills my ears, the rush of blood aching with every thud.
The metallic scraping noise stops, and I realize that without it I’m totally clueless in the pitch black as to where Sully is. I also have no idea if the door is behind me or to my side, which way I need to be prepared to fight against.
“Where are you?” A groping hand connects with my calf. “Kneel down, and for fuck’s sake, watch your head.”
Sully’s strong palm runs up over my shoulder and find my crown. He keeps his hand in place to guide me under what I assume is a pipe. The thinnest sliver of moonlight shines beyond.
“It’s an access hatch,” he explains, his breath hot on my temple. “On the other side are the gardens behind the house. You’ve been through them, right?”
“A few times,” I whisper, edging for the hole.
He holds me back. “You know where the Koi pond is?”
I nod, the hand still on my head letting him know I have.
“Turn right and follow the tree line to the wall. You’ll see what I’ve done when you get there. And Elena?”
“Yes?”
“Be quick. Don’t hesitate, don’t let your fear take over. Just go. Get the fuck out of here and don’t look back.”
“You and Maria . . .?”
“Will see you soon enough.”
“But how—”
I’m cut short as Sully pushes the heel of his hand into the base of my head, urging me forward. “Go.”
I crawl and wriggle, ending up flat on my stomach to get out the narrow hole. Even if Sully had wanted to join me, I have serious doubts that the man-mountain would have fit. Standing on the edge of the gardens, I pause and listen. A part of me wants to know he’s okay, wants some sign that he’s managed to bullshit to whomever asks that he saw me. But his words echo in my head. Don’t hesitate . . . just go.
I run. Bare feet slip on the grass wet with the night’s dew. I sprint toward the Koi pond and ignore the spikes of pain in my joints as I push my body to the limit. The water comes into sight, shimmering like a sheet of steel under the clouded moon. The stone of the path bites into the soles of my feet as I lean right, turning myself at the corner without the need to slow down. My breath appears in gray clouds before being broken against my face, the night air cold compared to the dry heat of today.
I follow the tree line as Sully instructed, my eyes keen for any sign of what he talked about along the wall. The stone barrier comes into view, emerging through the shadowy landscape like the formidable force that it is. How the hell do I get over it?
I see it—what Sully prepared. Laid on its side in the longer grass at the base of the wall is a ladder, only given away by the reflection of the patchy moonlight on its dull metal surface. Hesitant to trust how easy this all looks, I dig my feet into the path as I slow to a careful walk. The end of the row of trees is mere feet from me, the expanse of the wall opening up beyond. While still under cover, I duck down and shimmy sideways to the last tree, crouching at its base while I scope out the stone wall both ways.
Nothing.
Nobody.
Surely not?
Using a stone amongst the grass at my feet, I throw it at the wall as hard as I can. The clink echoes around the still gardens. And yet, nothing. I’m not sure what I expected: gunfire, shouting, or a guard to appear before me?
I didn’t expect this: solitude, freedom for the taking, and the end of this nightmare within my reach.
My arms shake as I pull the ladder from the grass and struggle to position it against the wall. Happy the feet are secure enough, I put one foot on the bottom rung and give a final glance over my shoulder to be sure this is it before climbing. My hands feel moss as I reach the top, embedded in the gaps between the stones. With one leg either side of the wall, I sit astride and look back at the hell I’ve escaped. From this height, I can make out a handful of people around the distant house, scurrying like tiny ants to find their queen.
Little do they know, she’s long gone. The queen has run away to be with her King of Hearts.
EIGHTEEN
King
“This is the place, right?” Hooch asks, one arm slung out the window.
I stand beside him, outside of the truck, as I scan the horizon in all directions. “According to the address I was sent, yeah.”
“How long do we wait?”
“I guess until somebody shows.” I blow out an exasperated breath and check the road behind me again. “I wouldn’t know which way to even fuckin’ go to get to his place.” There’s nothing around our position but moonlit trees, fields, and the odd barn or lean-to. Sure as fuck nothing that looks like a drug lord’s residence.
“Might not matter,” Hooch says, straightening in his seat. “We’ve got somethin’.”
I spin around and the stones on the tarmac crunch under my heel. The night seems impossibly dark as I shift my gaze rapidly left and right, looking for what he’s spotted.
My gut hits the ground as I see her. She runs toward us favoring one leg. She’s hurt. “Fuck, Elena.”
Hooch’s voice rises behind me as I set off at a sprint to meet her. He’s trying to warn me, but I’ve waited weeks for this moment—I’m not fucking around now. Where the hell is Sully?
The truck’s engine roars to life behind me as I close the space between Elena and I. Her hair flows behind her clear of her face to reveal the pain displayed in the hard set of her jaw. Her eyebrows are pinched, her feet bare. My baby’s hurting.
“King.” Her labored word drifts toward me, barely audible over the sound of the truck as Hooch pulls up beside us.
I open my arms wide and take her weight as she collapses into me. Feels so good. Every time we’re brought back together, every time I feel her warm skin against mine I wonder how did I ever let go? What the hell possesses me to let this get out of my hold, to let the woman who stirs something carnal and sweet all at once inside of me go?
“I’ve got you,” I whisper, my hand buried in her messy hair. “I’ve got you, baby, and I ain’t ever givin’ you up again.”
Elena’s arms slip around my waist and burrow under the leather of my cut, warming my skin with her embrace. “We need to keep going,” she murmurs. “I think I’m being followed.” She tugs her head back to check over her shoulder, fear clear in her wide eyes.
“I know.” I slip my hand along her jaw, gently turning her face back to me. “But first . . .”
Where we are, what we’re doing here—none of it matters when her lips meet mine. Words can only convey so much; there’s a warm intimacy, a level of promise that can’t be spoken only found in a kiss. And it’s that promise she gives as her lips caress mine, as she tilts her head to deepen the connection that drives me forward.
She wants me, and that simple admission is enough. This incredible woman, this fighter, this survivor has chosen me as the one to be by her side. I’ll never stop being amazed by that.
Elena pulls back as the creak of Hooch’s door whips us back into the now. Her gaze flicks between my eyes as her frown deepens. “I’m still so damn mad at you.” As though she doesn’t think the statement is enoug
h, her hand lashes out and she punctuates her point with a slap across my face.
“Shit, woman!”
“Trust me, you deserve worse for dumping me back in that snake pit.”
“We haven’t got time to argue, lovebirds,” Hooch interrupts.
I follow where he points and spot a distant ray of light that cuts across the road. By the way it steadily grows brighter, I’d say before long we’re going to have company.
Meeting Elena’s concerned gaze, I shake my head. “Baby, you’ve got a lot of things to be pissed off at me about, but right now we’ve got more important things to worry about.”
She nods, still sullen.
“Just get in the truck.” I hold the door open for her as Hooch dashes back to the driver’s seat.
She allows me to help her after she shies trying to pull her weight up into the cab. Something’s hurting, something’s injured, but I can’t see what.
“We all good to go?” Hooch asks as I reach out to close the door after I join them.
“Lets get out of here, brother.”
I should look at the road; I should look around and see where that approaching car is at, but how can I when the one thing worth doing this for sits right beside me? Hooch whips the truck around with a snap of the tail end, and I cradle Elena to my side as we’re thrown against the door.
She pushes against my leg to sit herself upright and immediately brings her hand to her chest. “Ow.”
“What’s hurt?” I swivel my hips so I can face her better.
“Nothing that we need to worry about now.” Her eyes dart between the road in our headlights and the side mirror out my window.
“Oo-wee!” Hooch hollers. “We got ourselves a par-tay!”
I crane my neck and look behind us to spot the same thing: blurred headlights that slowly grow larger. Elena twists in her seat to look out the back window also. Her angry scowl deepens, mixed with a tinge of apprehension as the lights begin to separate.
“You okay?” I ask. For all that’s happened, for how hard it must have been to get away, she’s ridiculously quiet.
“What sort of question is that?”
“Baby . . .”
“No! Don’t ‘baby’ me.” Her angered words have Hooch looking around briefly as he accelerates to the truck’s limit.
“I’m sorry,” I start, as I check the side mirror to see our tail’s gained on us. “I didn’t mean—”
Tiny fists connect with my arm and chest. “If anything’s happened . . . if our baby is . . .” She chokes back her words, her hands stilled for the briefest of seconds before finding strength once more and laying into me again. “This is on you! You should have taken me with you,” she wails as I finally get hold of one of her wayward fists. “You sent me back there. You made this happen.” Her words are lost amongst the choked sobs that push from her chest.
I trap both wrists in one hand and hold them between us, wrapping my other arm around her shoulders to pull her into me as we slide around another corner. She’s frightened, the adrenaline is probably still thick in her veins, and she needs an outlet. I get it.
“This guy behind us ain’t going anywhere fast,” Hooch says.
“On it,” I mumble.
I let go of Elena’s wrists as her sobs subside into sniffled tears and take her chin in hand, tipping her face up to mine. Her brow is creased, her eyes displaying every ounce of the hurt and betrayal she’s harbored since I threw her to the dogs. She’s justified in feeling every bit of anger at what I did.
“I was a fool.” My lips ghost over hers.
She sucks in a sharp breath, drawing cool air across my mouth. “I hate you for it.”
“I know.”
A confused frown pinches her brow as I push her off me and move the handgun that’s at my feet to down inside my shirt. No way I’m losing that in the process.
“What are you doing?”
Hooch glances across, unsure also. “Yeah, man. What are you doin’?”
“Can you keep the fuckin’ truck straight?” I ask.
“Sure.”
I crank the window full down, and then latch both hands onto the roof of the vehicle. Elena eyes what I’m doing, one hand braced against the dashboard, the other against the seat. I tip my head back and out the window, looking ahead of us to make sure I’m not about to lose it. The car swerves to Hooch’s side as our tail tries to pass.
“Wait where you are a minute,” Hooch yells.
I tuck my head back in the cab the exact moment he takes us off-road, clipping a corner and sending the three of us flying skyward in out seats.
It gains us a little distance.
Back on the straight, I pop my head out again and give a push with my feet to get my shoulders through as well. Hair whipped by the wind, I pause when I feel Elena’s hands on my ankles, doing her bit to steady me. Can’t get distracted now. As amazing as the small gesture feels, I’ve got a job to do. I sit on the window frame for a second before pushing to stand on the seat, contorting my body over the roof of the cab as I reach for the headboard of the tub and pull my left leg out. The truck hits a pothole, and I scramble to keep my boot on the edge of the tub. With my heart in my throat, I swing my body around and hoist myself onto the back of the moving vehicle.
With my feet wedged wide, I sit with my back to the headboard and retrieve the gun from inside my shirt. What I can only assume is a bullet pings as it ricochets off the steel to the right of my head. I daren’t check behind me in case I meet Elena’s gaze through the rear window; one concerned look from her alone could undo the blind ignorance I’m going to need to carry on with this.
Using a knee as an aide to steady my arm, I line up the swerving vehicle and track it until I’m confident my bullet won’t go wasted. Another loud twang sounds to my left as the bullet probably pierces the bodywork, and my hand tightens on the weapon. It’s all I can do not to loose it with how crazy my heart races.
One round. Two. I’m pretty sure the first misses completely, but the other vehicle veers right after the second shot before it recovers. Only after I track the car for my third attempt, and it moves enough to the side, do I see the damage I’ve done. No longer blinded by their headlights, I catch the snaked lines that mar their windscreen as we jerk over another bump.
Hooch thumps the roof of the truck, and I look over the top to see a corner up ahead. I wrap my redundant arm around the upright of the truck’s headboard, and fire off another two rounds at the car as it tracks our rear left wheel. They swerve and weave, but I’ve got no hope of stopping them without better firepower.
As soon as Hooch has the vehicle righted around the bend, I rip the storage beside me open and pull out the sawn-off. Trapping it on the deck under my leg, I shove my hands back in the steel box and fish around for the cartridges I know are in there. We sweep around another long bend, and my butt slowly slides farther away from the box. Just as I lose reach, I close my fingers around what I’m looking for and pull the box of ammo out to quickly load the gun.
The glass beside my head shatters. Elena’s squeal of surprise sends the blood pumping faster through my veins. No fucker gets that close without payin’ for it. Locked and loaded, I fire both barrels at our friends. The other car skids, the back end comes around, and they slow to an almost complete stop before the car whips straight and continues pursuit.
Fuck it. That was my last hope; there’s no more ammo in the box.
I retrace my Evel Knievel steps and clamber back inside the cab as we launch over a rut in the road. “I’m all out, but I think I’ve done damage.”
Hooch checks the rearview and nods. “They’re slowing down, all right. We’re gettin’ distance.”
Thank fuck for that.
Elena’s gaze searches mine, for what I can’t tell. Her pupils dilate in the near dark until her eyes are almost entirely black. My gaze is drawn to her bruised cheek, to the scratches on her temple. Her eyes close briefly as I trace the marks with my rough fingers, pus
hing her hair behind her ear to check for more as the lengths are whipped about by the draught created by the missing back window.
“I don’t know if I can ever make this up to you,” I murmur, “but I’ll damn well never stop tryin’.”
“Why couldn’t I let you go?” she asks, taking me aback. “Why did I start this? If it wasn’t for me—”
“We started this,” I remind her as Hooch sighs beside us. “Took two to tango.”
“Hate to interrupt,” Hooch grumbles, “but you fuckers need to hold on.”
I glance out the windscreen and pull Elena tighter when I notice we’ve run out of sealed road; rough dirt stretches for miles before us. “Got a plan, brother?” The cargo in my arms is first priority, and if she is injured, I don’t want to risk doing her more harm by bumping around off-road too much.
“I got a plan,” Hooch reassures, “but it involves us findin’ out how accurate that map is.” The truck jolts as we swerve right and hit the edge of the grass.
My eyes flick down to where my phone still sits in the center console, open on the app. The blue arrow points toward a mass of green beside the road we were just on. If he’s thinking what I am, we cut straight through this and we shortcut out to the highway.
My arms tighten around Elena as she lifts both legs to jam her feet into the dashboard and stop from jerking around so much. I press down on her shins and force her legs free.
“We hit something hard with your legs like that, and you’ll break both ankles.”
She tucks her legs against the seat and nods her understanding.
I reach up and wrap my fist around the handle above the door, looping my left arm around Elena’s side and under her arm. She crosses her forearms on mine, and holds on with shaking hands. “What if we don’t lose them?”
I glance in the side mirror and smile at the headlights that jerk up and down. “I think we have a fair chance.” Turning to Hooch, I ask, “You think that was a sedan too?”
He flicks his gaze to the rearview. “Yuh-huh. I’d say they’re cursing out its shitty suspension about now.”
