Page 23 of What Remains

Now isn’t the time to tell her Gwen doesn’t care who I’m sleeping with, but . . .

I take my hat from her, squeezing the brim between my palms. “Why are we still walking around free, then?”

“I don’t get that part.” She blows out a deep breath. “Unless she assumes we’ll wait to make our escape with Gwen. Attempt a controlled crash to escape. But she’ll probably have the plane rigged to go down before we have a chance. I wouldn’t put it past her to sacrifice her own men to take us all out.”

The crash from August makes an immediate return to my mind. No way am I going down again. “Yeah, well, waiting isn’t something we’ll be doing. Not a fucking chance.”

I scan the hangar again, wishing I could pull off some MacGyver shit with what I have in here, but my mind is too black and white for that kind of out-of-the-box thinking.

“Why not just put two in our heads now? Why go to the trouble with a crash? Some type of setup?”

“All I know is we’re still alive. As to why? My guess is as good as yours.” She tilts her head in the direction of the complex where building B is located. “Gwen’s strong. She’ll hold out.”

“Jezebel’s creative in getting people to do what she wants. Every minute counts here.” I put my hat back on, forward facing. “We go now. No time to think and plan. No strategizing. Just fucking go.” I start for my bench, but she secures her hand around my arm, and I stop. “If you don’t want to come, you don’t have to.” I glance over at her. “I get it. It’s dangerous. But you won’t be stopping me.”

She leans in closer, studying me. “How much more did you drink while you were in here?”

“Consider me sobered up the second I set eyes on Gwen in this hellhole.”

Her brows tighten for a second, then she releases her hold of me. “Fine. We’ll move in silently and fast before they know we’re coming. We get her out of the room first and pick off everyone on the way out. We go by foot to our safe house.”

We already have a preplanned emergency escape route. A contingency for ourselves if our covers are ever blown. That plan was never meant to involve killing everyone first for it to work, though.

“This op, this mission, has always been about this moment. We just didn’t know it until now,” I say steadily. “Whether we’ve been played from the beginning because your source set us up . . . or it’s fate we’re in the right place at the right time, I don’t know.” I curl my fingers into my palms as a chill rolls down my back, reminding me of the lash marks there. Marks I couldn’t give two shits about at this point. Bring on the pain. Fuck it. “We’re getting her out alive and untouched, am I clear?”

She’s quiet for a few seconds before murmuring, “And here I thought you were fresh out of faith. Looks like you’re now asking me to have some.”

CHAPTER 8

Easton

“We’ll need a distraction once we’re there. Something that buys a few seconds.” Zoey steps away and begins to unzip her jacket before calmly tossing it.

What am I missing?

She flicks her white T-shirt and gestures to the outside where it’s still raining. “Half these men don’t think with the right head, if you get what I mean. Especially Todd, and he’s our first barrier to getting in. I’ll distract him.”

Those men had Gwen on the plane, and they have her now, dammit.

“I’ll take the hammer.” She picks it up and grabs a torque wrench for me.

I go to take it from her, but my hand goes still as I catch sight of the white-gold wedding band on my ring finger. No need for this anymore. I take it off and toss it onto the bench before accepting the wrench.

“My ring is stuck.” She holds up her hand, shaking her head, then quietly slides the hammer at the back of her jeans and covers it with her shirt.

I tuck the wrench into my cargo pocket, and then we start for our target location, moving like shadows in the night. The rain continues to pour as the jungle closes in on us with every step. The floodlights create reflections on the wet metal as we move, and by the time we reach the side door, we’re both drenched.

Zoey approaches Todd first. “Got caught out here in the rain. Don’t have a jacket I can borrow, do you?” She lets go of a soft laugh, then leans in and rests her hand on his shoulder.

“You had your jacket on when you left here.” Observant fucker. “And why are you back?” He points a gloved hand at me, his other resting on his holster. “He’s not allowed in here.”

She goes for her hammer so fast Todd doesn’t have a chance to react. She strikes him hard at the temple, and I slam the wrench into the hollow of his throat.

He coughs out one breath, and I proceed to beat him to death with the damn thing.

Once he’s down for good, we disarm him—she takes his Glock, and I snag his blade—before we drag him into the bushes. I ditch the wrench and stow the knife in my cargo side pocket as Zoey swaps the hammer for the Glock, hiding it at her back.

She punches a code into the panel—still works, thank God—before laying her thumb on the scanner. While the door slides open, I signal “eyes up.” Zoey answers with the single finger of “ready,” and we stack. She’s first in, tight against the wall.