Maximus

by Riley Edwards

  “Hell—”

  “I got the job!”

  “Proud of you, Eva. I knew you’d get it.”

  “Thanks. I’m so excited. I saw a bakery on the way here. I’m gonna stop and pick up some cupcakes on my way home so we can celebrate.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll let you tell the boys your good news when you get home.”

  “All right. I’ll see you in thirty.”

  “Drive careful. Love you.”

  God, I loved hearing that.

  “Love you.”

  I disconnected and tossed my phone in the cupholder.

  I had a job.

  I didn’t start for two weeks, which gave me plenty of time to get Liam ready for school. And Max was making it so I wasn’t stressed about money so I could afford to take a few weeks and get settled.

  It didn’t take long for the bakery to come into view and I pulled into the lot, cut the engine, grabbed my phone, got out, and flung the strap of my purse over my shoulder.

  And that was when I’d made the biggest mistake of my life. How many times had Max told me to be aware of my surroundings? How many times had he told me not to text while I was walking through a parking lot?

  I knew better.

  But I’d been so excited about my new job I was texting Tatiana to thank her.

  I never sent that text.

  I never made it home with cupcakes.

  I didn’t get to tell my boys my good news and I didn’t get to celebrate with Max.

  I was a goddamn idiot and I wasn’t paying attention, therefore I’d missed the man walking up behind me. I missed him lifting his hand and the needle coming down toward my neck. And by the time I was paying attention, it was too late.

  Chapter 34

  “When’s Mom gonna be home?” Liam asked.

  I checked my watch and tried to hide my concern.

  “Any minute now.”

  That was the third time in the last ten minutes I’d given that answer.

  Eva was ten minutes later than she said she’d be home and it went against everything inside of me but I wasn’t going to call her. She could be running late for a variety of reasons. Eva had made a solid argument the other night about needing her independence and I wasn’t going to turn into an overbearing asshole and start calling her because she was a few minutes late.

  Though I wanted to. All sorts of shit was running through my head, everything from her broken down on the side of the road to her being trapped in my truck after a horrific accident.

  What the hell was wrong with me?

  If one of my teammates was ten damn minutes late I wouldn’t be concerned. Hell, if one of their women was late I wouldn’t bat an eye. But Eva? I was freaking the hell out over ten fucking minutes.

  “Can I help?” Elijah asked.

  I looked down into a pair of yellowish-green eyes and my heart constricted. Eli looked so much like Eva but that wasn’t what had started the ache in my chest. The normally shy boy had totally come around and he was now openly affectionate. Not that tugging on my hand was demonstrative, but for Eli it was huge.

  “Sure, buddy.” I reached down and picked Eli up, plopped him on the countertop, and looked around for something for him to do.

  We were surprising Eva with tacos. One of two meals I could make that was edible.

  “Here.” I moved the bowl of half-smooshed avocados next to Eli and handed him a fork. “Smash ‘em up.”

  Eli happily went to work and Liam continued to grate the cheese. Together, we got so lost making Eva dinner that when I looked up, another ten minutes had past.

  Fuck this shit.

  Twenty minutes was too much.

  I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and dialed her number.

  Straight to voicemail.

  I waited a moment in case she was trying to make a call and tried again.

  Voicemail.

  I sucked in a breath trying to tamp down the panic I told myself was unnecessary and dialed the office.

  “Lo,” Garrett greeted.

  “Track my truck.”

  “Come again? And hello to you, too, dick.”

  “Garrett, please track my truck.”

  “Damn, brother, someone steal it? Thought that house was good—”

  “Eva took my truck to go to a job interview.”

  I glanced back in the kitchen, keeping my eyes on the boys but walking far enough away they couldn’t hear me.

  “It’s sitting on Chesapeake Avenue near Sixth Street. Hold on, let me check the address.” Garrett paused a moment then continued. “Looks like it’s actually in the parking lot of Bakers Delight.”

  “Do me a favor, call the bakery and ask if anyone’s seen Eva, then ask them to go out into the parking lot and check to see if she’s in the truck.”

  “Tell me what you’re thinkin’.”

  “I don’t wanna think anything, Garrett. I just need to know if Eva’s there and I can’t make the call myself with the boys in the next room. Both of them pick up on everything. Especially Liam. If I give him one inclination something’s wrong, he’s gonna panic.”

  “I’ll call you back.”

  Garrett hung up on me and for the first time since I’d met the boys, I closed down. They needed me stone-cold and focused.

  I walked back into the kitchen, went to the stove, and started pushing the ground beef around in the pan.

  I was overreacting. I had to be.

  My phone vibrated and I pulled it out and read Declan’s text: Garrett called. We’re on it. I’m on my way over. Everyone else is going out to look.

  My hand shook as I tossed my phone on the counter and lowered my head.

  This could not be happening.

  Then dread hit my gut and I snatched my phone back up and shot off a text to Zane: Where the fuck is Joshua Lemont?

  Zane: In the air.

  Fuck.

  Yeah, I was overreacting. I had to be.

  Eva was just running late.

  But I knew it was a lie.

  I knew twenty minutes ago, something was wrong.

  Fucking knew it and ignored my gut and now Eva was in trouble.

  “Five hours,” I growled. “It’s been five hours, Tex.”

  “Max, I know,” he barked back. “She had three tracking devices on her. None of them are in service. I’m working as fast as I can. We all are.”

  Fuck. I was a total dick.

  “I know you are. I’m… Christ… I can’t breathe.”

  “Hang tight. We got the images from the toll booth near Dulles. It shouldn’t take me long to run them.”

  A hand on my shoulder had me uncharacteristically jolting, nearly dropping my phone.

  “I’m sorry, Max,” Anaya mumbled. “But Elijah’s super upset. He wants you. I tried to calm him, but he’s not having it. I know you—”

  “Thank you, Anaya. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here helping me with them. I’ll just…”

  I’ll what?

  What the fuck was I going to do?

  Go talk to a four-year-old and tell him I didn’t know where his mom was? Face Liam’s revulsion that I’d let something bad happen to his mom after I told him I’d protect them?

  What in the actual fuck was I going to do?

  “Max, I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but you guys will find her. I know you can’t see it right now, because you’re so worried. But this is what you guys do. You find people.”

  “Today before she left she asked me if I wanted kids,” I told Anaya. “I froze. I didn’t know what to say. I never wanted kids—as in never. Then Eva came into my life and with her came Liam and Elijah and I thought that was cool, because I’d have a shot at being something special to them, someone to teach them things. But I still didn’t want anymore. Liam and Eli were enough. Then tonight we were making dinner and I looked down at Eli and something happened. I saw Eva’s eyes staring back at me, and for the first time in my life, I felt an ache. I want kids
, Anaya. And I have to find Eva so I can tell her.”

  I stalked down the hallway thinking I’d pretty much lost my mind, telling Anaya some stupid ass story about kids when Eva was out there lost and alone.

  But I couldn’t stop thinking about the way she looked before she left. Happy. Hopeful. Full of joy and life.

  And she was asking me about babies and I didn’t answer.

  Fucking hell.

  “Did you find Mom?” Liam asked as soon as I walked into the bedroom.

  Tatiana stood from where she was sitting on the end of the bed and gave me a tight smile as she walked past me. Her pat on my shoulder made my blood run cold. I didn’t deserve anyone’s sympathy. I should’ve been more vigilant. I should’ve driven her to her interview.

  “Not yet.”

  I made my way to the bed and no sooner had my ass hit the mattress, Elijah climbed into my arms. His arms wrapped around my neck and his face burrowed into my shoulder, a move I’d seen him do to Eva plenty of times.

  “What…” Liam started then trailed off.

  “Ask, bud. I’ll answer anything you wanna know.”

  “What happens if you can’t find her?”

  “Liam, we’re gonna find her.”

  “But what happens if you can’t?” I took in Liam’s panic and pain-filled eyes, his bright red cheeks, and his vibrating body, and bile churned in my gut.

  “We’re—”

  “What happens if you can’t find her?” Liam shouted and Eli startled in my arms. “Where will we go?”

  “Where will who go?”

  “Me and Eli.”

  “Nowhere, Liam.”

  “You won’t get rid of us? You promise.”

  Fucking Jesus Christ. My throat clogged and my sinuses tingled. I was so lost in what Liam had said I couldn’t contain my response.

  “Son, no matter what, you and Eli are mine,” I choked out, not bothering to hide the wetness I felt spilling from my eyes. “You and your brother will never go anywhere. You understand?”

  Liam nodded his head and crawled across the bed when I picked one arm off Eli’s back and motioned him over.

  Somehow, some way, I had to shove my fear aside. Eva needed me on my game, she needed me to be smart and find her and bring her home.

  The three of us huddled together on the bed I’d shared with Eva. I was stuck in the worst possible scenario. I had two children who needed comfort and reassurance—they needed me. Yet everything inside of me was screaming to go out and find her—hunt, rescue, kill.

  But I didn’t move. I held my boys and trusted my team had my back.

  Chapter 35

  “I’m not gonna do it!” I screamed, and the throbbing in my head intensified.

  Once again I was screwed—no, I was worse than screwed.

  My life was over.

  And my boys would be alone—but right now I couldn’t think about them or I would have a complete breakdown. I had to believe Max would take care of them, it was the only thing keeping me from going into a full-blown panic. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to focus on getting myself out of this latest situation because no one was coming for me.

  I didn’t have my phone, my purse, or the necklace Tex had given me that had a tracking device in the pendant. As a matter of fact, my watch was gone, too.

  “Then you’re gonna die,” Novak returned, his lip curling in disgust.

  My eyes darted to the woman standing near the trunks that were being packed into the Cessna 172. She had her arms wrapped around her middle, hugging herself tightly. She looked disheveled, and frightened. Whoever she was, she didn’t want to be standing on the tarmac of a small airport in God-knows-where-fucking-fucking-Alaska anymore than I wanted to be.

  My eyes snapped back to Novak and I knew I’d messed up. And when he walked to the woman, snatched her by her ponytail, and turned his gun to her head, my thoughts were confirmed.

  “Actually, we’re gonna start with this bitch.” Novak shoved his gun to her temple. “Is this what you want, Eva? You wanna watch me blow this bitch’s head off?”

  I didn’t answer. I couldn’t take my eyes off the woman. She looked resigned, hopeless. It was as if she was begging me with her gaze to say yes.

  What had Novak already done to her that was so horrible she’d rather die?

  I searched my memory and thought back to all of the interaction I’d had with Novak Yazzie. He and Jay used to be partners and I’d seen him around a lot. The drugs that Jay had stowed in my plane when I’d been arrested were actually Novak’s, which got me thinking about something else.

  “The last time Jay tried this, it didn’t work out too well,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah, because the motherfucker called it in,” Novak spat and jerked the girl angrily. “This time, without that bitchass involved, you’ll fly into Canada undetected.”

  I’d always known Jay had called the authorities to set me up, but hearing Novak say it was a knife to my heart.

  “I’m not doing it, Novak.”

  “Then this bitch dies.”

  My stomach clenched and I looked back to the woman. Could I really let her die? Could I live with myself knowing I was the reason Novak killed her?

  Fuck, no, I couldn’t. But I couldn’t live with myself knowing I’d transported drugs, either.

  “Why are you doing this?” I asked. Not that it really mattered, because I wasn’t going to live through this, but I was trying to buy time.

  The thought of leaving my boys motherless nearly brought me to my knees.

  Max has them.

  Novak was going to kill me as soon as I delivered the woman and drugs—I knew it. There was no way he’d allow me to walk away.

  And honestly, it was more about delivering a woman to an unknown future that didn’t take a genius to figure out was going to be misery. I couldn’t do that no matter what.

  “Because you fuckin’ owe me. You and Jay. Your fucked up tug-a-war lost me millions. Since I can’t find that motherfucker—you’re gonna pay me back.”

  Wait, one goddamned minute.

  “How’d you find me?”

  Novak’s mouth curved into the nastiest, cruelest smile I’d ever seen.

  “I never understood what Jay saw in you,” he sneered. “You’re the stupidest bitch I’ve ever met. Then I realized that was why Jay picked you. You’re so goddamn dumb you still don’t get it. I run this place. As soon as I heard Eklund hired someone to find you, I had you.”

  I ignored Novak’s dig, mostly because he was right. I was dumb, punctuated by the fact that there I stood on a tarmac in Alaska instead of being home with my guys. Nope, Eva, don’t think about them, not right now. But this stupid bitch wasn’t going down without a fight.

  Think, Eva.

  “You went through a lot of trouble to find me, when you could’ve found someone here a lot easier.”

  “Enough talking!” Novak shouted. “What’s it gonna be? A quick four hour flight to Vancouver to deliver my products or am I killing this bitch?”

  Four hours to Vancouver… we had to be south of Juneau—not that that little tidbit would save my life, but maybe it could help me escape.

  I could agree, take off, and crash the plane, but I’d run the risk of killing the woman and myself. This wasn’t a float plane like I’d flown…

  Nope. Not going there. Thinking about Bubba and Zoey wouldn’t help—though Bubba’s cargo pockets full of stuff might’ve come in handy right then.

  “Answer me, Eva!”

  “Don’t do it,” the woman cried. “Let him kill me.”

  “Shut up, Natasha!”

  “He sold me!” she shouted. “I’d rather—”

  Natasha didn’t finish. Novak used the gun at her head like it was a hammer and slammed her across the face. Her forehead and cheek split open, blood oozed from the gash, and stomach acid burned my throat.

  Now was my chance. I needed to run, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Natasha’s bludgeoned face and he
r comment about being sold had me paralyzed. I needed to leave her behind and save myself—for my boys, for Max. But damn if I could make my feet move.

  Natasha was on her knees, Novak was half bent dealing with a screaming, hysterical, bleeding woman.

  Instead of running for the trees, I took off toward Novak and Natasha. Shit, I was the stupidest bitch that ever lived but I couldn’t leave her.

  But before I could take more than three steps in their direction, all hell broke loose. A bullet cracked, then I watched in horror as Novak’s head…exploded.

  Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but Christ Almighty, half of it was gone.

  My body froze, my lungs seized, and I threw up.

  It was too much. Way too fucking much.

  Natasha’s ear-piercing scream tore me from my stupor and I ran. I didn’t think about the blood, I didn’t think about the missing pieces of Novak’s skull. No, I was on a mission—get Natasha and run. We had to get out of there.

  The woman was still shrieking—not that I could blame her, there was blood pouring from the gash in her forehead, running down over her brow, the bridge of her nose, and dripping from her chin. It flowed faster than the Alsek River during a melt-out. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Novak’s blood…and…other stuff…stuff I didn’t want to think about, had spattered all over her. But sweet Jesus, the woman had a set of lungs on her.

  Then I was no longer running. Two steel bands wrapped around me from behind and lifted me clean off my feet. My eyes locked with Natasha’s horrified ones and time stopped. Fear slithered down my spine and my mind blanked. Two men dressed head-to-toe in black appeared—their faces hidden behind black masks, both had scary black rifles pulled up to their shoulders, pointed at Natasha.

  We were going to die.

  That’s when I remembered to fight.

  And fight I did. I twisted and turned. Clawed at the arms around my middle, kicked my feet, threw elbows, and screamed my head off until I was finally dropped.

  “Eva, stop,” the man grunted but I didn’t.

  Now that I was on my feet I was prepared to run. I took off in a sprint, but didn’t get very far before a hand curled around my bicep, spun me, and pulled me close.