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“Pick Evie up. She’s really shaky. I’ll grab the little guy. Nick. Take this,” I tossed him the first aid kit and he caught it, tucking it under his arm. Then he led the way out. Evie was silent as Aleks scooped her up and held her. She seemed to be in shock and slightly out of it. I was worried about her, and Nick and Harris too if I were honest, but Harris was right, getting out of there was priority. I scooped a soundly sleeping Zack up and followed them all out of the bathroom and down stairs.
I couldn’t help but look around me as we headed for the car. Our haven, that we all planned so diligently and loved so much had been breached, and yet we didn’t care anywhere near as much as I thought we would. That was because we had Evie. She was safe. Zack was safe too. Now, that was all that mattered to any of us. This house? It was our home, but in the end it was just bricks. We could live anywhere as long as we had the people we loved around us, and that meant Evie, Zack and each other. That was all we truly needed.
CHAPTER 14
HARRIS
I drove into the underground lot of the office building in Denver, which Asher had given me the address to. He had assured me that security would be waiting and would escort us all to a secure office where we could stay for a while.
Asher Lyle had completed training with us and also worked alongside me team on several missions overseas afterwards. He too was a SEAL and he had been a good friend of mine once.
After our captivity, when we all chose to get out, we hadn’t really kept in contact with anyone, too fucked up to want any reminders of our time overseas and as a result I had lost contact with Asher. We had both been shocked when we bumped into each other at a business conference the previous year. We had gone for drinks and Asher had told me he too had chosen not to re-up and had gotten out of the military. At the time he had been working for his father’s company. I wasn’t entirely sure what the company did, but I was pretty sure they bought up failing businesses and turned a profit from them. Whatever specifically they did, they were damned good at it because Asher Lyle and his family were rich – very, very rich.
When Asher and I had parted company after the conference last year he had told me repeatedly that I should contact him if I ever needed anything. I offered the same, but I had never expected to need to call upon that favor. Now we had no choice. We needed to get Evie back home without leaving a paper trail that would bring Soloman right behind us, and, though I was far from broke, I did not have the money to charter a private plane and have Evie snuck on without her name going on the manifest.
“You sure about this, Harris? How well do you even know this guy?” Aleks asked as he looked all around us as I parked up in the lot. He was in the middle row with Aleks and Kailan. Nick was in the back row with Zack in his carrier, fast asleep. Evie was out cold too, exhausted by the panic she had been through earlier. Kailan had patched hr hand up easily, but it had taken a lot longer to calm her down and reassure her we would all be safe.
Kailan had also checked Nick over more thoroughly, and was pretty sure he had a concussion, so we were keeping a close eye on him and making sure he stayed awake for now.
“Well enough. We can trust him,” I replied confidently. Time may have passed since I fought alongside Asher Lyle, but I still trusted him with my life, and with something even more important – Evie’s.
As I got out of the car, two guys stepped off of the elevator. They were dressed in dark suits and were definitely carrying weapons. They had badges attached to their jackets, but they were too far away for me to make out. I guessed they were the security Asher had told me would meet us.
“We’re security for the Lyle group,” The taller of the two introduced as they got closer. “Mr Lyle asked us to escort you to the secure office on the top floor. He would like you to wait there until he and his brother arrive,” he explained.
“They’re coming from New York?” I asked, surprised. I hadn’t expected them to make that much of a journey to help us.
“They were on business in St. Louis,” he told me. “They should be here within the hour, and they said to let you know they will have the jet fueled and ready to leave.”
“Thanks.” I gave the guy a nod of agreement. “You’re aware we may have been followed. I checked for a tail, but this guy has some amazing tech skills. There’s a woman with me who is in danger.”
“Mr. Lyle gave us the details. The office on the top floor is secure and we will guard it, along with two of our colleagues who are stationed the entrances,” he explained further. “No one will be accessing the building without company ID as long as you’re here.”
I nodded again, then went to the back door to get the others. Evie barely stirred as Aleks picked her up and stepped out of the car with her in his arms. She was obviously exhausted from the adrenaline that had hit her earlier. Kailan followed, then Nick with Zack still in his carrier. We were all looking pretty messed up, our clothes a state and blood staining most of us. Nick needed to wash the blood from his face, as did I. It had been one hell of a day and it wasn’t over yet.
EVIE
“Say it! Ask me to make this all stop, Eight!” Soloman’s deep voice booms through my throbbing head as I’m instantly right back there, laid out on that freezing, rotting tile floor. He grabs my arms and lifts me from floor, up into the air. My abdomen is agony and when I touch it in panic, I feel the familiar but terrifying ooze of warm blood pouring from it. I’m back there again, I realize. I have lived this day over and over again in my nightmares and now here I am again. I need to make it stop. I need to wake myself up!
But even knowing it’s not real doesn’t help the terror I feel, and a scream rips from as my body is thrust down into the tub of ice cold water. I realize my mistake too late when, once again, water fills my mouth and lungs as I’m violently forced down under the water and held there. Even as I fight with everything I have, clawing and scrambling to make him release me, the same thought is running through my mind over and over – this isn’t real. I have to wake up!
But I can’t make myself wake up. I’m trapped there in that nightmare, reliving the terror and fear I had felt that day.
He raises me for a little more than one breath before dunking me right back under, twice more. By the time he lifts me out completely and throws me to the cold ground, I’m almost unconscious. I start trying to cope with the pain and fear just the way I had that day - by picturing my parents, by brothers, Livy, and the rest of my family one after the other. I cling to their images to give me the strength not to give into him and just make it all stop. I won’t give in to that monster. Even though I know none of this is real, I refuse to give in.
“K-Kyle, Kade, Cole, M-Matt, Mom, Dad….Daddy,” I’m whispering their names over and over again as pain throbs throughout my entire body. It feels so very real – I’m right back there feeling every inch of the pain and terror.
“W-what did you say?” Soloman snaps. I force my eyes open and look up at him, which has never happened in this nightmare before. He’s crouched down beside me and his eyes are focused on me, something in them so different to the coldness I have seen there before. “What did you just say?” he growled again, but I’m so fuzzy from the pain I just whimper and look away from him. I have never seen this before in my nightmares. Is it real or is my imagination just making this part up?
I feel a hand on my shoulder, then he’s shaking me hard until my unfocussed eyes meet his again.
“What’s your name?” he demands.
“Evie,” I utter weakly, then I turn away from him again, determined to remember that – that my name is Evie and not ‘Eight’. I continue my chant of names that give me the determination to keep fighting – keep holding on. “Livy, Xander….Xander, make it stop,”
“Shut up!” Soloman hisses, then he’s picking me up again and dunking me into the tub.
I leap awake and gasp desperately for air, but I can still feel the water that fills my lungs and throat, stopping me from getting in the air I so desperately need. I sit up, clawing at my throat as I try desperately to just breathe!
