Page 19

Max

Something about the feeling in the air doesn’t sit right with me.

I can’t put my finger on what it is that’s wrong, but I sure as hell know it is something.

I have a well-honed nose for this shit, an ability to sense when there is something out of place, even when people are trying to cover it up or deny it.

Cara is in her room. She seemed fine when I checked on her. Less angry at me, somehow.

Veronica is arriving later today. Matthew is dropping her off in the woods, and she is finding her way here based on a map I sent to her.

I had some concern about her being able to find the place, but she insisted that she could. It’s best that she approach alone. Any extra activity out here could easily draw attention and suspicion.

"I’ve done a lot of running in my life," Veronica had reminded me grimly. "I’m not going to get lost out there. Trust me."

I had backed off, then. Sometimes, I forget how much she’s been through, how much she’s survived with no complaint.

She’s been such a strong presence in my life, always courageous and kind despite what happened to her—hell, maybe even because of it.

She came out swinging to try and take that asshole down, and I know she is not going to be able to rest until she does just that.

Whatever it takes, even these two decades of planning, she’s never going to walk away from her goal of stopping Leone from using people, and I admire that.

Even if, sometimes, I wonder if there is any risk she won’t take to bring this to an end.

I wrap my hand around the mug of coffee and keep my ears alert, listening for anything that might indicate the truth as to what is happening here. Because something is… off. I don’t believe in rushing to figure things out. Sometimes, being watchful is the best approach.

The sun is shining, and any other day I’d be enjoying this as a pleasant morning—but out here, I can’t. I can’t take my hand off the wheel of this train for a second, because I am all too aware of what price I might pay if I do. What price my family might pay. And Veronica.

I’m pretty sure Cara is up to something, though she denied it when I confronted her about the matter earlier.

The call I accidentally answered from the unknown number threw me so badly that I left my phone out for a while.

It's an ancient device, an old school burner phone, making it harder to track. But that also means the interface is more than basic, so I couldn’t see if there had been multiple calls with the unknown number or not.

I’m concerned though… what if the call I answered was some kind of code to let her know that they were on their way. What if she was listening, ear pressed to the door, hearing something I missed, a secret code word lost on me.

The weird energy lurking in the cabin today has me doubting everything. Even her trying to seduce me the other night when I pulled back could have been a kind of distraction, teasing me and maybe even lying about being a virgin so she wouldn’t have to go through with having sex with me.

I cross my arms.

She looked like she really wanted me that night, but maybe it was part of her act.

A noise from outside draws my attention. My head snaps up, my eyes wide, and I rush to the front door, throwing it open so I can try to get a better idea of what it was.

For a moment, I just stand still, looking, waiting. There is nothing but the near-silence of the forest around me, the breeze through the trees, the sound of a bird singing here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary, until?—

"Help! Help!”

A woman’s voice cuts through the sun-dappled woods. A voice I recognize at once. I dive off the porch and into the trees without a second thought—it's Veronica.

"Veronica!” I yell into the trees.

I have no idea where she is, no idea how far she has made it towards the cabin before someone came to intercept her.

I squint between the trunks, but I can’t make her out.

I yell to her again, but before she can reply, a bullet flies over my head and burrows into a tree next to me, releasing a hail of splinters.

I throw my hands up, trying to protect myself, but I can still feel them tearing into my skin like needles.

The pain that sears through me for a moment, though, is the least of my worries.

Because I know sure as hell that Veronica wouldn’t be shooting at me.

Whoever has her yelling for help might be.

Another shot rings out, this time hitting a tree a few feet away from me. I quickly follow the line of the bullet, and my gaze lands on my attacker, a man in a pair of dark jeans and a dark tee, brandishing a weapon.

The only thing on him that gives away his presence is the flash of a watch on his wrist. I'd guess it’s what he used to track us this far into the woods, though I don’t know how he got the coordinates for our location.

I barrel towards him before he can figure out what is going on, his attention split between me and the woods around him.

I manage to crash into him, knocking him into the trunk of a tree behind him.

I grab his hand and slam it into the wood, his fingers flexing and the gun dropping from his hand at once.

I keep him pinned there. I can’t reach the gun from where I’m standing, but I can’t let go of him in case he manages to get to it before me.

We’re at an impasse.

And then, footsteps sound beside us. I tense, preparing myself for a second attacker, but instead, Veronica bursts out of the darkness of the thick woods, scooping up the gun and aiming it at the man without a word to me.

She narrows her eyes, steadies her shot, and squeezes down on the trigger, one last shot exploding out into the forest before the energy around us sinks into an eerie silence.

I step back from the man, and he slides to the ground, dead, a large blossom of blood spreading across his shirt. I am breathing hard, the sound of the shot still ringing in my ears, but it might not be over yet.

I turn to Veronica.

"Any more of them?”

She shakes her head as she lowers the gun, expelling the last bullets quickly so nobody else can use it.

"Not that I saw," she replies. "There were two in the car that drove us off the road—killed my driver. I made a run for it into the woods and they started shooting, I managed to take one of them out, and the other one..."

She glances past me, to the heap of the body on the floor in front of us.

"Yeah. He’s gone now."

"Are you alright?”

She nods. She is shaking slightly, but I can tell that she is telling the truth. She turns to me.

"You?”

"Yeah. Fine."

"What about the girl?”

"Back at the cabin. Come on. You need something to eat, and we need to figure out if there’s any more of those fuckers on the way."

She nods, and I reach out to put an arm around her shoulders as I steer her back in the direction of our home base.

My eyes dart back and forth, the hair on the back of my neck standing up as I consider what the hell is happening here.

Who were these men? How did they figure out where we were hiding?

Has Cara got something to do with it? That call I accidentally answered from the number I didn’t know?

I have a million questions, and I doubt that I am going to find answers to them anytime soon.

We reach the cabin, and Veronica pauses for a moment, pulling away from me and catching her breath.

"I’m sorry," she mutters to me, glancing up at me out of the corner of her eye. "I didn’t bring any supplies. They were in the car, and?—"

"Shit, Veronica, I don’t care about that," I reply, as I plant a hand on the door. "Get inside. Let’s regroup. I’m just glad you’re alive."

We head into the cabin, and once we step in, I double check that all the doors and windows are locked, that there is nobody watching this place from the outside.

Whoever those men were, there is not a chance they weren’t sent by Lucio Leone.

I know that bastard too well to imagine it could be anyone else.

He just underestimated us, thought that we could be dealt with that easily with no pushback.

Two men aren’t enough, not by a long shot—not for something that we have been working towards for so long.

"Sit down," I tell her, gesturing for her to sit down. "You need to rest."

"I know," she sighs. "Got a coffee or something like that? I need to call your father. Make sure he knows I’m here safe, even if the driver didn’t make it."

She winces as she says that part. No matter how long she has been part of this life, part of this world, I know there is always a sliver of her that feels bad for how far we have to go, for the lives we have to lose in the process.

You can’t bring down a man like Lucio Leone without being willing to put yourself at risk, no matter how much you might like to think otherwise.

I am about to make my way back to the kitchen when I hear a sudden banging on the door from inside Cara’s room. I shoot a look over there, frowning. Why the hell is she making such a fuss? At least I know that she hasn’t somehow made a break for it when I was handling the emergency outside.

I stride over to the door, unlock it, and pull it open swiftly, meeting her with raised eyebrows.

"What is it?”

"I heard gunshots! And another voice. There’s someone else here," she shoots back as she looks past me, peering towards the living room. I step in front of her. Though I doubt that laying eyes on Veronica before I have a chance to catch up with her would make much of a difference at this point; that doesn’t mean I am going to just let it happen.

"That’s got nothing to do with you."

"I heard a woman’s voice," she snaps, crossing her arms over her chest.

And for just an instant, I am sure I can see something in the way of jealousy in the expression on her face.

I almost smirk, despite everything. I know that whatever is happening here between us is complicated, more complicated than it needs to be, but I am not going to deny the fact that in between worrying about everything, I enjoy it.

I step aside. If she wants to see Veronica for herself, maybe it will help bring all of this home for her—make her see that there are real people involved in the hell that her father has unleashed on women in this world.

She might not want to believe he could be capable of something like that, but Veronica, of all people, knows better. She survived it.

Cara brushes past me and towards the living room, and I follow her.

But, to my surprise, she comes to a sudden halt when she realizes who is sitting there in front of the fireplace.

I hear her draw in a sharp breath, shock coursing through her faster than she can make sense of it, faster than she can even think.

"Oh my God," she gasps.

I glance between the two women. Veronica seems just as surprised as me that Cara is reacting in such a way. Veronica pushes a strand of wild red hair away from her face, tilting her head at Cara as if to say do I know you?

But Cara seems certain in the way she’s looking at Veronica. This isn’t some case of mistaken identity; whatever she is seeing before her right now, she is not acting as if Veronica is a total stranger.

She moves a little closer to Veronica, as though waiting for her to snap out of existence right as she sits there before her. But, as she stares, Veronica just looks back blankly. Cara’s face is paler than I’ve ever seen it, like she’s looking at a ghost.

"Oh my God," she repeats, but this time, she adds words that change everything.

"It’s you."