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“I can’t remember that, at all.” I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter.” I ran through the problems that might pop up. “If they have an office, can you grab records? Hard drives? I don’t want anything there pointing to me or to Jazmine. Plus...” Did I want to do this? Yes, I did. I needed the truth and I had a feeling she wasn’t going to supply it. “I’d like to see her records. Especially.”
He nodded. “We’re torching it anyway. The dirty cop has interests to be protected too. His friend died here. I’ll grab what I can – just it’ll be our secret. Okay?”
“Yeah. You know me. Mouth is zipped. Are you checking for other captives?”
Glass tapped his earpiece. “They’ve found three women in cells. All are going to be left alone for the cops to find. They’re well enough to wait. We can’t afford for more people to see our faces.”
“Casualties?”
“Just your finger and one bullet wound through an arm. We can fly you out. The rest will be taking trucks on a long drive back down to Moresby.”
“Okay.” I turned to Jaz. “Her too. She comes with me on the plane, or I stay.”
“Shit. I guess the little Cessna can take you all. The climb out of the airstrip is a fucking tight one. We’ll have to jettison a few things. I don’t want to side-swipe a mountain.”
If I left her here, even with my friends, to drive out on miles and miles of roads, I’d be the worst man ever.
“We have to decide what to do with her, Pieter.” With the hand carrying his rifle, he gestured toward her. “She’s seen us all, knows you, and our rogue cop won’t be happy with a witness on the loose. Can we trust her?”
Good question. I did and I didn’t. “I think so.”
“We have to be sure. She can stay in the compound under lock and key until I talk to you some more.”
Under lock and key? After this? But he was right. No matter how bad Gregor had been, a ton of illegal acts had just been committed. I understood his problem.
“Now, go back to her.” He slapped my good arm. “We’ve been waiting days to get in here and if what I saw through the scope is any indication of what went on here, she’s going to need you.”
She did. If only I was sure she would agree with that, because now we were free I had to get used to normal etiquette with a woman. Whatever the fuck that was. She’d want to go back to Australia, where I couldn’t go, and the thought of losing her was combining with the finger pain to give me a big fat headache, as well as making me want to hit someone.
Chapter 24
His arm rested across my shoulders and with every bump, as the plane hit turbulence, I was rocked against his body, his muscles. I loved it, I wanted to wrap myself around him and let loose all my sorrow by weeping on him, knowing he’d understand that need. What I would soon have to do made me feel ill. When he spoke, his soft words seemed to grind their way to my heart leaving bits of me in their wake.
I was lost.
No collar, no wrist cuffs, no angel bracelet – they’d all been removed. Who was I now?
Having Pieter being so gentle after everything that had happened – the violence, the killing, the sense of freedom that had blasted its way inside me – it was too much. I could barely cope. One minute, a victim without any say in my degradation by that man...
My name is Andrew Gavoche. I am the father of David Gavoche.
That statement had embedded in my head. I’d never forget it, accompanied as it was by a barrage of confusion, then recognition, then terror.
The man who’d been orchestrating my torture wasn’t just having some terrifyingly illegal fun or exploring a deviant perversion, he wanted to destroy me.
The jump between that second and my old life as a freelance journalist had been too abrupt. At first I’d scrambled to recall the old me. I hadn’t known why David had died but it was clear I was being blamed.
Then the Client died, and Gregor too, after Pieter had spat on him, kicked him, and shot him so many times I’d been stunned by the callous ferocity.
He’s dead, you can stop, please stop, I’d wanted to scream. I’d seen enough of people killing each other. The sound, the blood, the stench of bowels from men shot through the guts – I could taste it on my tongue, the viciousness was so thick in the air. And after all that Pieter had come to me and held me, and made me accept his hug.
Fuck.
I’d done a 180-degree turn and just for that moment, I think I loved him more than a little. Which was making me have to hold back tears to the point of my head almost exploding from the ache in the middle of my forehead, chest, and stomach.
I was going to leave him and I was certain he had other ideas. No man was this this...what was the word? Nice would do...unless he wanted you in his bed.
Well, I’d been there and he was the best as well as the most insane lover I’d ever had.
