Page 9 of Alex

Chapter Five

Alex tensedfor a split second before grabbing Evelyn and yanking her behind the kitchen island as the ping of a bullet hitting the marble resounded in the silent room.

“Fuck. They didn’t waste any time.” Alex’s brain raced for exit routes. He had two firearms and three K-bar knives on him. He knew that whoever was out there was experienced and highly trained.

The silence that followed the bullet was worse than being fired on.

“We need to move—now!” he said urgently grabbing her hand and palming his gun.

“I have an escape hatch in the bedroom.”

Evelyn pulled her hand from his and grabbed a gun that had been taped to the underside of the island. Alex buried the shock he felt at her words. Evelyn was prepared for this which begged the question of why and what had happened to her to make her this way. He had no time to try and gather his thoughts though because she took off running, leaving him no choice but to follow her.

Crouching low to the ground they made it to the hallway as a hail of bullets rained down on them from an automatic weapon. Wood splintered and fell on them as he dropped down beside Evelyn between the bed and the wardrobe.

Evelyn turned and opened the wardrobe, hitting a button below the hinge. A drawer popped open that was filled with weapons and ammo. She thrust two handguns and a small semi-automatic gun at him, and Alex wasted no time with the thousands of questions that were going through his mind and locked the clip into the weapon as Evelyn did the same.

“Which way? We need to get out of here,” he said looking at her and seeing a woman he didn’t recognise.

“Here.”

Alex stayed close as she crawled on her belly to the bed, pushed the coverlet aside, opened a latch, and pulled back a small trap door big enough for one person at a time to go through. It was a vertical drop and he couldn’t see the bottom through the fading light.

“This leads us out about a mile further down the mountain,” she said as she began to climb down.

Alex said nothing as he watched the door his firearm aimed. “Go. I’m right behind you.” He felt her move as he listened to the sound of boots kicking the front door down. It was holding better than he had expected but then again it was probably reinforced titanium knowing this new Evelyn. The sound of her feet as they hit solid ground had him moving. Climbing to the edge, he gripped the door and pulled it closed as he let himself drop to ground inside the tunnel.

Evelyn snapped a glow stick usually used for camping and the dark tunnel was illuminated in green light. It was crude but it worked. Reaching out she grabbed his hand, but he didn’t have time to enjoy the moment as she pulled him deeper into the escape route. Their feet thudded on the cold earth, the smell of soil and earth sharp in his nose. When they had been moving for a few minutes he realised he could no longer hear the sounds of gunfire.

Deeming it safe to speak he asked the obvious question. “What is this place?” He couldn’t see Evelyn’s face as there wasn’t space for them to walk side by side, but he felt her tense and she let go of his hand. It made him inexplicably angry that she was shutting him out. He was about to call her on it when the tunnel came to a sudden end and the light from outside filtered in through the concealed entrance. Evelyn moved to climb out first, but he stopped her with a hand on her elbow.

“Let me go first.”

Alex gave her no time to argue before he pushed her aside and stopped to listen for any signs of an ambush. Hearing nothing, he slowly pushed aside the heavy wooden logs that were stacked up and covered in snow and eased his way out. Satisfied that nobody was waiting to blow his head off he climbed out and turned to offer Evelyn his hand, but she was already out and brushing the snow from her knees. It was then he noticed that she was only wearing a base layer.

Taking off his jacket he tried to hand it to her. “Here.”

She looked up about to speak when a powerful explosion rocked the mountain behind them. Looking up he saw smoke billowing from where her little chalet had been and swore inwardly. Fuckers didn’t need to do that, but it meant that in their haste to destroy the place they hadn’t found the escape route. Glancing back at Evelyn he saw grief and pain sharp on her pretty features before she masked it.

“I’m sorry about your place,” he said as he handed her the jacket which she now took with a silent nod.

“It’s just wood and stone,” she replied bravely as she shrugged on the jacket, tiny lines around her pinched mouth showing him how much she was hurting.

Bitterness weighed him down at the ease with which she lied to him. “Don’t do that, Evelyn. We may have been apart for fifteen years, but I know you.” He pulled her into his chest and brought both sides of the jacket she had slipped on together and zipped it up to her chin so that the cold wouldn’t touch her before he carried on. “You loved that place and it meant something to you. Don’t hide that from me.”

Alex let go even though what he wanted to do was finish what he had started in her cabin and moved off towards the direction of the village below. The air was quiet, and he thanked God that the explosion hadn’t caused an avalanche. It was a short hike, but the temperature was dropping fast, and they needed to find a place to stay. He started walking and Evelyn fell in step beside him.

They walked for fifteen minutes before she spoke. “You’re right. It did mean something to me. It belonged to a friend of mine and when he died, he left it to me. The escape route was his idea to keep me safe.”

Alex locked every muscle in his body in an attempt not to react to her words. He had so many questions to that but if he asked them all at once he knew she would shut down.

So instead he just made the obvious statement even though it hurt more than it should. “You loved him.” He angled his head towards her waiting for her to deny it, but she didn’t.

“Very much,” she replied and the knife of pain in his solar plexus was agony.

The rest of the trudge through the snow was made in silence but it wasn’t awkward, rather contemplative. Alex tried to keep his thoughts on the mission ahead of him. Keeping Evelyn safe was already proving to be a bigger task than he had expected. He couldn’t afford to let his mind wander to the mystery man that Evelyn had loved that wasn’t him. She still wanted him though and maybe that was all they had now, but his desperate desire to take the sadness from her eyes and to make her smile were not the actions of a man who wanted to get laid. They were the actions of a man who cared.

As they neared civilisation Alex pondered his next move. He had obviously picked up a tail at some point and been followed to the cabin. Nobody but Jack, and Will knew about the cabin, except the Eidolon team that was shadowing him and now Evelyn. That meant he had slipped up and that was not going to happen again. The resort of Courchevel was made up of five main villages that were connected by ski lifts and shuttle buses. Each had its own unique character. Courchevel 1850 was for the rich and famous. Exclusive shops and high-end restaurants, a few of which Alex would love to explore if he had ever had time. He was staying in Courchevel Moriond which was lower down the slope and maintained a busy nightlife and a high tourist population making it the perfect place to disappear. They now found themselves in Courchevel Le Praz where most of the ski instructors had homes. He couldn’t risk going back to his hotel, but they needed somewhere to stay for the night before he got hold of Jack to arrange an extraction, including a new passport for Evelyn.