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“Nooo!!!” Her scream is followed by a thundering crash and someone else’s cries in the background.
“Get away, you asshole!”I hear Hanna.
Finn yells behind me, begging her to hide.
The distinctive sound of breaking wood makes Annika yelp. Thuds and violent noises make me dizzy, the pulse in my temples sending me into a silent frenzy.
I’m not there, goddamnit! I’m not there… She’s alone because of me! In danger because of me!
“Annika, baby, please just hide. Stay low. Please…”
“They’re inside, Ronan! Ben and Louis are trying to—”
“I want you to listen to me. No matter what happens, I’m coming for you. No matter where you are or where you will be, I’m coming for you.”
Her staggered voice turns to whimpers, and through tears, the rage comes through. That unmistakable fury that only comes out when you’re backed up into a corner and there is no escape in sight. And she lets it all out on an ear-piercing howl.
“Annika!”
“Ronan, please…”
Gunfire interrupts her and more screams fill my ears, seeping fear into my gut.
“They’re dead… Nooo! Let her go! Goddamnit, let her gooo!”
With a loud crash, the line goes dead. Finn hollers in the back of the car, but a sort of shocked numbness fills my veins. Disbelief… utter and total disbelief.
This—no, this didn’t happen. What have I done?
A thundering roar rattles the windows of the car, blind rage replaces the numbness, and I don’t realize I’ve been banging my fist on the dashboard until pain slices through my hand, a deep dent left in its wake.
What the fuck have I done?!
* * *
Jonathan,The Ghost,lent us his boat and even at full speed, we knew there was no chance. It was too late. When my feet touched the sands of Bovely Island’s shore, I ran inland through the trees of the small woodland, plagued with memories of the last time I did that…chasing Annika.
I was holding on for dear life to my self-control as we were spotting our men, lying lifeless under the shadows of the trees. As much as I was running after Annika, I couldn’t help being pained by the heaviness of having to break the news of their death to whatever families they had left.
The torment grew every time I had to get close enough to make sure none of them was… her.
Then we got to the house, heart in my throat as I walked through, witnessing the destruction. Pain splattered in shades of crimson on the walls, through the shards of broken furniture, the bullet holes. I knew in my gut that what I was looking for wasn’t there… I knew she wouldn’t have magically fought the beasts that came for her. It was then that I acknowledged hope for what it truly is—the cruelest form of torture.
As I walked through the broken wall of the hidden room, the absence of her body was the only saving grace.
“I know who we need to go after.” Carter rushes through the door, in the empty main room of Midnight, pulling me out of the painful flashback.
He’s been in the office, checking in with his team, while the rest of us have been devising a plan out here. Far too many hours have passed since we returned, since they were taken. Finn gets off his chair, anxiously waiting for Carter to approach and continue. I down my drink and lean forward, bracing my forearms on my knees, nervously rubbing my thumb over the palm of my hand.
“There.” He pops the laptop he was carrying on the table and points to a spot on a map.
“That’s fucking hours away. Is that where they’re keeping them?” Finn asks.
“No. That’s where Nathan Hayes is. I’ve been trying long before we even met Bartiste to find this man.”
“And we fucking care, why?” I ask with an unintended bite.
“As much as he is the boss, he would be nothing without Nathan. He’s the little mole working in the background, orchestrating the whole operation, and I finally fucking found him!”
