Page 66 of Echos and Empires (After #3)

THIRTY-ONE

Liam’s shoulder throbbed like he’d taken more damage than a damn bullet ripping past it. Even the bleeding had been slow to stop.

Which is why you’re out here in the damn truck instead of inside with Emma.

Liam was hurt, anxious and jealous as hell.

Hurt because a bullet had ripped through his shoulder.

Anxious because Emma was out there, maybe in danger if the group hadn’t dispersed Victor’s few men that remained.

And jealous as hell because it wasn’t him by her side, helping to get her through this last piece of the fight.

He was stuck waiting with Chris and the truck while Bash, William, and Alex went inside with her.

The fact that he was hurting so damn much didn’t make the wait easier.

Just the opposite. He wanted her back, her voice in his ear, reminding him she was safe.

He stared at the truck’s radio like it might decide to speak to him if he watched it long enough, his shoulder burning with every breath, every heartbeat.

Chris sat across from him in the driver’s seat like always, looking about as bad as Liam felt.

There was a makeshift bandage wrapped around his head, another around his leg, but at least the bleeding had stopped.

At least he wasn’t dead. Chris would likely never forgive himself that Victor attacked him and won, but it didn’t matter.

All that mattered was someone had gotten to Emma in time.

It was too quiet where they were, and even though they were parked right next to the building and the team had cleared the inside before taking Emma in, he didn’t feel like it was safe enough inside.

Everything had gone still after the assault on Victor’s compound.

He’d watched Emma disappear through the doorway, Bash in the lead and William, and Alex flanking her like shadows, with that desperate need to protect her the way they always had.

Liam didn’t want to just sit here and wait.

It didn’t feel right to do nothing while she risked everything one last time, but he knew there was no choice.

They’d barely gotten away from the first attack alive.

He couldn’t think about what might happen on the second.

He couldn’t let the pain and the panic get to him, and without use of his good arm, he wasn’t any help on the inside.

“Fuck, where is she?” Liam asked, impatience twisting his voice. He pushed himself away from the jeep, winced, and sank back against the seat. “Shouldn’t they have started the transmission by now? Or what if it really won’t work with the first tower down?”

“She’s with the guys,” Chris said, the words tired and irritated. “They’ll keep her safe. Just give them a few minutes.”

“You know that’s not what I mean.”

Chris exhaled, an angry sound in the silence. “They’ll get the message out. The plan will work. We can’t do shit from here, not until we hear from them, and you and I aren’t in the best of shape.”

“Yeah, and if we don’t? Hear the transmission.”

Liam knew he sounded paranoid. He knew it. But every minute that passed without hearing her voice tightened the knot in his chest and made him feel more and more useless, sitting here and hurting while Emma was out there, surrounded by who the hell knew what.

“Then we go in with our injuries and make sure they’re okay.”

It should have been him going with her. It had always been him when it really counted.

The first one to find her and the first one to keep his head on straight when everything fell to shit.

The first one she let touch her in the way he’d wanted from the moment they saved her from herself.

And now she was with the others, putting herself on the line to make the call that would either save them all or get them all killed.

Liam’s thoughts made no sense, he was never jealous of the others.

It was just the danger talking and his fury that he’d been injured the last two times she’d been in danger and not there for her.

The radio stayed silent, static crackling softly. Taunting him. He clenched his jaw, closed his eyes against the heat of the sun, against the worry that chewed at him from the inside out.

At least it was just a worry. A couple of hours ago, he’d been sure it would end up worse. A hell of a lot worse.

It didn’t stop the guilt from eating at him.

His stomach twisted at the thought of what the others might have walked into.

What it would mean if this final step went wrong.

The first attempt had been bad enough. What if it went worse this time?

They had to make the second one work. They had to let everyone know Victor was dead and Emma wasn’t.

They had to make sure it was worth the pain of their bodies and the wait.

It would kill him if they went through all this just to lose her. It would fucking kill him.

Chris leaned his head back, looking like he might fall asleep, but Liam knew better.

He could see the lines of tension running through his body.

The leader of their unit didn’t know how to rest. Especially not now.

Especially not when Emma had the same odds he did of bleeding out or being captured or worse.

“You’re really not worried?” Liam asked, incredulous.

“Of course I’m worried. But I trust them. I trust her.”

Liam scowled, shook his head. “We never should’ve split up.”

Chris didn’t argue. Liam watched him, serious and calculating, like he always was. Like he didn’t feel anything even close to what Liam did.

A high-pitched whine cut through the silence, and Liam’s heart jumped. He and Chris both reached for the radio, stopped, looked at each other.

Then a voice crackled through the static.

“We’re not dead. Don’t come after us. We’re almost there. Stop worrying and let me do this on the public channel.”

It was Emma.

Liam had never heard anything so fucking beautiful in his life.

He sat back, relief crashing through him, just as a small smirk spread across Chris’s face.

And he waited to hear her again.

“That backup tower actually worked,” Liam said, shaking his head in disbelief. “And here we were thinking we’d won by taking the other?—”

“Doesn’t matter,” Chris interrupted. He didn’t sound angry, didn’t sound like the realization had hit him the way it hit Liam.

“It worked because it drew Victor out. We knew it was a shot. They’re going to get the message out.

Let that be enough. Take the win where we can and worry about the losses later. ”

Enough? Liam wanted to laugh. It should have been.

The tension in his gut, the worry, should have dissolved with the sound of her voice, with the relief that they’d gotten through and she was sending out the truth.

But all he could think of was how he and Chris could have been with her instead of sitting on their asses in the dirt.

“Well, turn the frequency to the public one,” Liam hissed, unable to really lean forward and twist the knob himself.

The frustration that twisted through him was nothing compared to the thrill that took over as Emma came back on the radio.

He heard the bite in her voice, the edge he didn’t think was possible until now. Despite everything they’d been through, she never hardened, unless she had and they’d all just missed it.

“If you can hear this, you need to know the truth. Victor’s dead. His plan failed. It’s over, his control of this island is gone.”

She was bold and blunt, and it took Liam’s breath away.

He exchanged a glance with Chris, who gave a quick nod. She sounded sure of herself, confident. Like she could tell them all to go to hell, and they’d follow her just to find out what it was like.

The message kept coming, each word a spark that lit up the silence around them. “To those who would continue to support him or not believe the violence I speak of, come and pick up his body. Or join him. Those are your options.”

“She’s not holding back, is she?” Liam asked, the corner of his mouth pulling into a grin that he didn’t know he had in him.

“Nope,” Chris said, the hint of a smirk on his face. “She’s not.”

Liam let out a breath, the earlier tension still gnawing at him but dulled by the relief that flooded in. It was a crazy mix, a whirlwind of emotions that he couldn’t quite get a handle on. He wasn’t sure he wanted to. Hearing Emma like this, strong and ruthless, was its own kind of high.

It was the kind of high he didn’t know she had in her.

He listened intently as her tone shifted, softer, more familiar, the edge smoothing out but still so determined.

“To the men of the island, you need to know. Don’t take the vitamins. They don’t do what he told you.”

She was going to destroy everything in a single speech.

“They won’t help you have kids. Victor’s been lying to you. He doesn’t care about your families.They don’t improve the chances of fertility, and for all we know they allow you to be controlled through means we don’t yet know.”

She was giving them the truth, the thing they’d risked everything to get to the island to do. She was putting herself out there, and Liam wondered if anyone would even believe it, if anyone would listen.

“Think anyone’s buying it?” he asked, more to himself than Chris.

“Doesn’t matter. It’s out there. It’s something. It’s all we can do,” Chris replied, voice steady, confident, not a shred of doubt in him. “Victor is gone and everything is different from here on out because no one has the money he has.”

Liam wished he could feel that way, wished he could stop worrying long enough to let the thrill of hearing her alive and unbroken sink in.

He knew Chris was right, knew that just getting the message out was huge, that everything else was out of their hands now.

But the doubts, the what-ifs, still loomed over him, made it hard to breathe.