That felt like a lifetime ago.
“Evette’s really alive?”
“Yes. You can call her as soon as we’re on the road.”
I didn’t know Evette in the sense that we were friends, or even acquaintances. I’d never actually spoken to her, though I did hear her voice when she called after I agreed to let Zane Lewis and his company, Z Corps, get me to safety. But I’d waited too long and Tamir had taken that call. Still, for some bizarre reason, I needed to talk to Evette, I needed confirmation she was alive. Even if there was no hope for me, if Evette made it and she had everything she needed to take down Abrams it would be worth my life.
Aviv had to be stopped.
“I’m not hurt. Tamir didn’t touch me. He didn’t even speak to me. It’s been weeks and weeks of eerie silence,” I admitted.
He let me go and gently turned me. I got my first look at the man who could either be my savior or my reaper. God, I really hope he’s the first. It was dark—not pitch, but dim with the only light coming into the house from the rising sun. I couldn’t make out his features but the sheer size of him freaked me out. He was bigger than Tamir, and the former IDF commando was not a small man. The man before me was also dressed in full battle gear, or at least what I thought would be battle gear—a black vest I was positive was bulletproof, gun magazines stuffed into the pouches, a handgun secured to the front, and a rifle hung from a sling strapped diagonally across his chest.
Tamir, too, had guns. He’d never pointed any of them at me, but he didn’t hide the fact he had them. But seeing this man armed didn’t scare me like it did when I saw Tamir’s weapons. Maybe I should’ve been more scared seeing as I didn’t know this person. And since I’d learned the last few years of my life had been one big, fat lie—at least my professional life had been—I was being stupid. Letting my guard down could mean death.
But staying locked in a house with no food and a trickle of dirty water means death, too. A long, drawn-out, painful death.
“Here.” He produced a cellphone and held it out to me. When I took it he continued, “We need to get to the car before the sun comes up. Stay behind me, and if something happens, you run and get yourself safe, then you call the last number that called that phone. It’s Zane’s personal cellphone. If I can’t get to you he’ll send a team in to pick you up.”
I didn’t want to think about what could happen but I needed to know what he meant when he said if I can’t get to you.
“Why wouldn’t you be able to get to me?”
“I’ll explain in the car. The sun’s almost up we have to leave now.”
Waiting until we were in the car defeated the purpose of asking but his tone had taken on an edge of urgency that couldn’t be ignored.
“Okay. I’ll stay behind you and run if something happens.”
Even though I couldn’t see him clearly I didn’t miss the relief in his posture. And that relief was a reminder that I wasn’t safe, not even with this big man standing in front of me proclaiming to be one of the good guys.
Chapter 3
“Don’t let go. I need to feel you behind me.”
Delilah didn’t grab the back of my vest or hold on to my belt loop. She shoved her fingers into the waistband of my cargos and held on as I walked around the corner of the house and scanned the area.
Still quiet.
The house where Tamir had stashed Delilah was off the beaten track. It couldn’t be seen from the highway or the gravel road that switchbacked up the hillside, nor could it be seen from the dirt road that led into a valley. The landscape had gone from barren with only a few patches of shrubbery to dense greenery.
There were too many places for someone to hide. The hill couldn’t be called a mountain by any stretch; however, it would give even the worst sniper the upper hand.
“Wow,” Delilah whispered from behind me. “I had no idea what was out here. The bushes and vines mostly covered the windows.”
The barred windows that had kept her prisoner.
“You didn’t see when you drove in?”
“It was dark and Tamir turned off the headlights when we exited the highway. I couldn’t see anything.”
That was good to know. Tamir knew his way, so much so he didn’t need his headlights to find the house.
“We’re almost there,” I told her.
I hadn’t left the car too far away. Close enough I didn’t have to walk miles back to it with a possibly immobile Delilah but far enough if Tamir was still in the house he wouldn’t see my approach.
“It looks like a jungle.”
The awe in her voice almost made me smile. The hillside was full of trees and thick underbrush but it didn’t come close to what a jungle looked like, and thankfully none of the very large reptiles and other animals that could bite, sting, and kill were lurking in the grass or hanging from the branches above us.
There was nothing worse than being on patrol and having a snake suddenly dangling in front of you. I’d rather take an armed insurgent any day of the week and twice on Sunday than a snake suddenly appearing in front of my face with its forked tongue flicking inches from an eyeball.
I heard the distinct pounding of hoofs in the distance and came to an abrupt halt. My left hand went behind me and tugged Delilah closer and my right brought my rifle up.
“Do not move.”
I let go of Delilah and brought my left hand up to the barrel of my AR and took aim at the clearing in front of me. Then I listened. Only one set, and by the rhythm, I’d guess a horse at a fast gallop.
“Reach around me and pull out the Glock.” I felt Delilah shift, then she fumbled with the holster until she freed the gun. “Now keep your finger off the trigger, turn around, put your back to mine, and shoot anyone who approaches.”
“Shoot them?”
“There’s no safety device on a Glock,” I informed her. “There is a bullet in the chamber. That means the gun is ready to fire. All you need to do is point and pull the trigger.”
“Shoot them,” she repeated shakily.
The pounding was getting closer and we were out of time.
“Yes, Delilah, shoot them.”
“Okay.”
That was even shakier, perhaps it was because her entire body was trembling against mine.
“Everything’s gonna be fine.”
“Someone’s coming.”
“And I’ll take care of it. All I need is for you to watch our backs, make sure no one’s sneaking up behind us.”
“I don’t see anyone.”
“Good. Just stay calm and be ready to run if I tell you to. You have a gun and a phone. Everything’s gonna be fine.”
A horse came through the clearing, I zeroed in on the rider’s forehead, slid my finger into the trigger well but stopped short of pulling the trigger when the man yanked on the horse’s reins with one hand and put the other in the air.
“Friendly,” he shouted in a heavily accented voice. “No shoot me.”
What the fuck?
“Message. I have message only. He said to come, give you message.”
“Slide off the horse,” I commanded.
The man instantly did as I asked and raised both hands.