Page 129 of Maximus

“Myles, Kevin, and Owen.”

“What are you doing in Alaska?”

Please get this right. Please be a good guy.

“We were transporting Joshua Lemont, the man who was hired to kill you.”

Thank God.

All the fight drained out of me and my body slumped as the adrenaline waned and I fought to catch my breath. Now that it was over, everything hit me. Gabe must’ve felt it because he slowly set me on my feet and gently turned me in his arms.

“I need to get home.”

“Yeah, you do, before Max has a stroke.”

“Have you talked to him? How are my kids?”

“I talked to Max thirty minutes ago. He threatened disembowelment if I didn’t have you on a plane home to him within the hour. So if you wouldn’t mind getting a move on it, I mightily like my intestines where they are.”

Gabe gave a sharp whistle and threw his arm around my shoulder.

I was going home—alive.

In a few hours, I’d have my arms wrapped around my boys.

“Wait.”

I shrugged Gabe’s arm away, turned, and ran toward Natasha.

“Whoa, Eva.”

“I can’t leave Natasha,” I told him.

“We’re not.” Gabe gestured to the woman now cradled in a man’s arms, his rifle gone as he carried her our way.

Minutes later, we were safely stowed in the third row of an SUV. A man that was not Gabe was speeding away from the small private airport, Natasha was mostly leaning against me as I pressed a shirt a man had produced against her forehead. Throughout this, I didn’t mention I was a tad squeamish when it came to blood and tried my best to breathe through my mouth so I didn’t gag. I’d already puked once, I didn’t think any of the men would appreciate a repeat performance in the tightly confined space.

“What day is it?” I asked.

“Wednesday.”

Holy shit, I’d been gone more than twenty-four hours. I sucked in an unfortunate breath, a coppery smell filled my nostrils, and I started to cough.

Hold it together, Eva.

With my free hand, I felt my neck but couldn’t find the puncture wounds I was looking for as I searched my mind how many times Novak had injected me. Two that I could remember for sure. But there were a lot of blurry parts.

“I don’t remember getting here. I was passed out.” Gabe turned to look at me and now that he’d taken off his mask, I could see the creases around his deep brown eyes, and his thick eyebrows that matched his dark hair were pulled together in a frown. “Where are we?”

“Sheep Creek Trail,” Gabe answered.

So we were in Juneau.

Gabe looked away from me for a moment and when his gaze came back to me, he was smiling.

“Your man’s calling.”

Gabe swiped the screen and held the phone out. I may’ve been a little overeager and snatched the phone out of his hand with an overwhelming urgency to speak to Max.