“No, I can. I can do it.” Alek’s hands came forward again, eager to accept the water. Taylor took the lid off the bottle of water and handed it to Alek. I tried to glance at his hands quickly to see if something was visibly wrong with them, but Alek pulled them away too fast.
While I kept my eyes on the road and on the side mirrors and rearview mirror, I could hear the boys talking quietly about the water and helping Aurora sip. Mixed in with that were the quiet sobs from Anna.
“Text the pilots and let them know we’re about twenty minutes away,” I said quietly to Taylor.
Her fingers moved swiftly on the phone.
“Pilots confirmed the jet will be ready. They’ll start the engines in ten minutes.”
I continued to scan the mirrors and the road ahead of me as I drove. Things were calm until I saw the screen to my phone light up in her hand.
“What is it?” I asked.
Taylor cleared her throat before saying, “It’s Daniel.”
My heart began to race a little faster as I thought about what kind of news he was probably delivering.
“And?”
“Meeting is done and he’s heading back.”
Fuck.Though, I didn’t know why I should be surprised. It took a lot longer than I thought it should have at the house. I thought it would have been an easy in and out. If we had left Anna, she’d have probably been dead by this afternoon. Taylor and I were essentially escaping with Wade’s future income and pieces that he used as leverage. Which made me think of the other boy. I hoped to God that boy ran away to somewhere in Stockholm and was able to stay there.
“Okay.”
We’d made it to the bridge when Taylor and I spotted a black Mercedes sedan heading into Solsidan. Taylor didn’t say anything, but we both knew the other one saw it.
“You boys ever go ice skating out on the lake behind your house?” I asked.
“No, sir,” Bowden said. “We don’t have skates.”
That’s right. You kids barely have skin covering your bones. Why the fuck would I think you had ice skates?I chastised myself for even suggesting they’d have skates.
“Do you play in the woods out back, maybe during the summer months?”
“No, sir. There are wolves out there. Mama doesn’t want us playing out there,” Bowden answered.
The wolf was under the same roof as you were.
I could hear Bowden mumble something to Alek.Why was Alek suddenly so quiet?
“Alek, did you get something to eat and drink?” Taylor asked. I think she’d picked up on the fact Bowden had stepped up to answer everything and Alek was quiet.
“He did,” Bowden replied.
“Alek, buddy, you doing okay? We’re close to the airport,” I said.
“Sir, my brother’s head is hurting him bad,” Bowden said.
Taylor turned around and asked, “Alek, on a scale of one to ten with ten being the worst, how bad is your pain?”
“Eight,” he mumbled.
“Can you describe it?” she asked.
“Throbbing all over. There’s a loud ringing.”
These kids need a fucking doctor.
