Page 12
From the way he looked when he washed up on our beach, it’s a wonder Evander survived more than ten days of torture by Ingrid’s men. I went through some shit on my island, but nothing like that. His body is recovering, but his mind won’t be able to forget.
“Hey. You okay?” I ask him.
He nods, his expression cool and unbothered again. “Yeah. Come on.”
As he leads the way to the door, I say, “Hey, if you ever want to talk about it, I’m around.”
He ignores me.
The hallway we walk into is empty, setting off alarm bells in my head. If this lockdown is so perfunctory, why are the guards by the doors gone?
“What did you mean about one of the cartels?” I ask.
He leads me through a door and down another hallway, taking a few seconds to respond. “Cartel members who survived the virus rebuilt their ranks. Anytime they’re spotted within range of the base, we lock it down. They try to send in drones with homemade explosives.”
My chest tightens and I shake my head. “The fuck, man? Are we safe here or not?”
“This is the safest place in the southern US. We shoot the drones down and then bomb the fuck out of the vehicles they were launched from.”
“Then why the lockdown?”
Annoyance flashes over his expression. “That’s just military procedure. Lockdown until the threat is fully neutralized.”
“I think I liked you better when you were Tyrone.”
He huffs a laugh. “Me too, man.”
“Seriously, are you okay?”
He nods. “Yeah, I’m good. It’s just an adjustment, coming back after more than two years on one assignment.”
“Seems like a mindfuck.”
“You’re not wrong.” He stops in front of a door and knocks softly.
A few seconds later, Briar opens the door, and I can finally take a full breath again.
Her hair is loose around her shoulders, and it looks soft. On the island, everyone is sweaty every second of the day. She always had her hair pulled back because of the heat.
She’s wearing jeans, a hoodie and tennis shoes, her smile uncertain.
“Finally.” She opens her arms and I pretty much lunge at her, pulling her close.
Her hair is soft, and it smells like peaches.
“What’s going on?” she asks.
“Lockdown, apparently.”
She pulls back, looking at Evander.
“Where are the others? And why have we been here so long? I need to find my sister.”
My shoulders tighten with tension. Briar means everything to me, and she might be leaving here without me. I made a deal with an ILF leader, and since they let us use their boat to get here, I have to go wherever they want to send me.
I don’t know how I’ll function if we’re separated. She’s more than capable of defending herself, but she’s walking into a lion’s den. She doesn’t just want to rescue Mae; she also wants to kill Lochlan Murphy, the man who violated her, and Soren Whitman, the mastermind of the mindfuck that is New America.
They have to be surrounded by layers of protection. I know Briar has to go after her sister, but I want to have her back.
