Page 54

“ Not far now!” I yell to the pilot. “Keep going straight.” I watch the blinking dot on my phone, knowing that at any moment, we’re going to see… something. An island, a raft, something to indicate where they are.

I’m praying it’s an island, but until I see it, and see them… safe, I’m not sure I’ll be able to breathe properly.

The chopper blades are the only sound I can hear as my eyes lock on the horizon, waiting for the first glimpse of them.

Then, I see it… a dark blur in the distance that can’t be a raft.

“That looks like an island, sir!” The pilot says loud enough to be heard over the sound of the chopper blades spinning above us.

“Thank fuck for that!” I say, a small smile gracing my lips. The first smile I think I’ve had in two months.

I thought flying in this chopper would be far worse than the plane ride here, which was terrible, but the knowledge that I’m so close to King and Bower has me almost forgetting my fear of flying.

I watch, barely blinking as the island gets larger and larger, until it’s right there in front of us. It’s not huge, but big enough for them to have survived on.

A stream of smoke reaches up from the beach, making me wonder if they saw us coming and lit it.

“Look! Down there, another chopper!” I divert my attention to the beach where he’s pointing and see a chopper sitting there.

“What the fuck?” I ask, wondering what they’re still doing there if someone else found them already.

“Maybe it just arrived?”

But what are the chances of that? They’ve been missing for two months, and are found by two different choppers on the same day.

“Oh, it’s still running. Is it one of your search teams, sir?”

I shake my head, also noticing the other chopper still has spinning blades. “No, I spoke with them all before I left, none of them could get here for another week, they were held up. That’s why I’m here alone.”

It was annoying that the moment I found them, both my search teams seemed to have technical malfunctions with their equipment, grounding them from getting here before I could.

I scan the beach but don’t see any movement.

“Land beside the other one,” I instruct him, my eyes continually scanning for signs of life. It takes a few minutes, but finally, we set down on the beach as he switches off the engine.

“I’ll wait here in case you need a quick getaway. But let me know if you need me out there with you,” he tells me and I nod before jumping down to the beach, my black leather loafers instantly filling with sand .

I probably should have dressed more casually than dress pants and a dress shirt, but it’s how I always dress and I didn’t even consider anything else.

There’s a large pile of wood burning on the beach, or what’s left of it. It looks like it’s been going for a while and is starting to die down. I scan the line of the jungle for any movement, but it’s eerily quiet.

I pass the other chopper, seeing nobody in it. Why would anyone leave this running?

There’s no name on the side. I can’t even tell what country it belongs to. My stomach starts to tighten with worry.

Who the hell is here? And where the fuck is everyone?

As I take a few more steps forward, movement catches my eye. I suck in a sharp breath, getting my first glimpse of Bower and King. Seeing them after all this time is shocking. Not only that, but West, our pilot, is with them.

I open my mouth to call out to them, but that’s when I realize they’re being led by gun point. Two men, who look like mercenaries, have rifles aimed at their backs as they march them out onto the beach and force them to their knees.

I freeze, not wanting to alert them of my presence, but unsure what to do.

I don’t have a gun. I didn’t consider any scenario like this in my rescue plans.

The enemies' backs are to me and I decide I have no choice but to try to sneak up on them. Weapon or not, I didn’t come this far to watch my friends get executed right in front of me.

Slowly, I move forward, trying to be as quiet as possible as I approach them.

When I’m close enough to make out their faces, Bower’s eyes flick to mine and they widen in shock.

He tries to hide his expression, but it’s too late, one of the mercenaries swings around and starts firing.

I dive towards the jungle, managing to make it behind a few trees without getting hit.

I take a few deep breaths as I try to decide what to do. I turn around and look out from behind the tree trunk. I can see one man still pointing his gun at my friends on the sand, the other man is walking along the edge of the beach, looking for me in the jungle.

“If you don’t get out here in the next two minutes, I’ll shoot your friends!” he yells, making my blood turn cold.

Fuck, what do I do now? What are they even after?

Watching him scan the jungle, something on the beach captures my attention, and I realize it’s my pilot. He must have gotten out of the chopper and got shot when they were shooting at me. Fuck, he’s dead because of me.

The first gunman joins the other as he yells towards me, “Thirty seconds!”

Deciding I can deal with the grief of the pilot's death later, I take a deep breath, knowing I don’t really have a choice.

I take several steps towards them, and as I get to the edge of the trees, I freeze as something comes swinging out of the jungle, right beside them, crashing into the man who was just yelling.

He goes flying onto his back, and the distraction is enough for West, who grabs the end of the second man’s gun and points it away from them, trying to pull it from his grasp.

I run towards them, my eyes pulled toward the first man. He’s on back with a tiny wild woman on top of him. She’s trying to take the gun from him, but he smacks her in the head and she falls sideways.

“Zee!” Bower yells, as he and King try to get to her .

But before they reach her, the man has her on her feet in front of him, a small pistol suddenly in his grasp, aiming under her chin as he holds her tight against his front.

She struggles in his hold as the others yell at him to let her go. Weston yanks the gun from the other man’s grasp and steps back, aiming it at him. “You shoot, then I shoot.”

I can’t see the woman from this angle where I stand at the edge of the tree line, but I can hear the laughter in the man’s voice who’s holding her.

“Nice threat. But I don’t care about his life.

Besides, our mission was to get rid of you men.

They said nothing about a woman. So I guess after we kill you, we can have a little fun with her.

What do you say, wild thing? Wanna know what it’s like to be with a real man? ”

His free hand slowly moves up from her waist towards her chest as all three guys scream at him.

“Keep your fucking hands off of her!”

“Don’t touch her!”

“Leave her out of this!”

He laughs as his fingers dig into her. “I bet you’re a real firecracker in bed, hmm?

” he asks, his mouth moving towards her ear.

I clench my fists as my fingers dig into my palms. Over my dead body would he touch her any further.

I couldn’t think of anything worse than a man who murders, rapes and molests people.

I find a branch and pick it up, figuring it’s better than nothing as I stomp forward.

As I step onto the sand, his head turns in my direction and the woman makes a jerking movement, then he screams, his arm loosening and she spins to face him, taking a step back as he clutches at a knife sticking out of his thigh.

Did she just stab him ?

Before he can aim his gun at her, her arm flies through the air, smacking him across the face, blood flying from his mouth. I can sense a scuffle happening between the others, but I can’t take my eyes off this wild woman as I quickly move closer, ready to help.

He hasn’t even turned his head back to her, when she hits him again, a scream escaping her lips, and it’s only then that I realize she’s holding a rock in her hand. Losing his balance, he drops to his knees, his gun falling to the sand. She strikes him again from the opposite direction.

Blood covers his face. It’s brutal, and savage, but she doesn’t stop. He falls backward as she screams again, a raw, furious sound. She jumps onto his chest, straddling him. She uses both hands to hold the rock high and swing it down violently against his skull.

His body shakes for a second before it stills, but she strikes him again. And as she goes to do it once more, I drop my branch and grab the rock while it’s above her head.

“Easy there, Killer. It’s over.” She lets me pull the rock from her hands and I drop it in the sand, glancing over and seeing the other man lying dead, clearly having been shot by West. I somehow missed the sound of the gunshot in all the excitement.

I look down at the back of the woman’s head, gently placing my hands on her arms. “Let’s get you off of him, okay?”

“Zee!” King yells, and her head snaps over to him, a whimper leaving her lips as she scrambles up and lunges for him, wrapping her little body around him as he hugs her tightly.

Who is this little mystery woman who swung in and saved the day?

“Reece?” I look up at Bower’s wide eyes. “Fuck, you’re here. You’re actually fucking here! ”

His shock melts into a wide grin as he strides toward me and pulls me into the biggest hug of my life. I hug him tightly, patting his back, unable to believe that I’m touching him right now.

“I can’t believe I finally found you,” I tell him.

“We knew you would,” West says as Bower pulls back. I give him a quick hug and a slap on the back as I smile at him.

“I’m really happy to see all three of you. Are you injured at all?” I ask, finally trying to take in their current states. Apart from some overgrown hair, and a lot of dirty and worn clothing, they all seem to be in one piece.

“We’re fine, thanks to Zee here,” King says with a smile as he glances down at the woman still hugging him tightly.

“Zee?” I ask, glancing down at her back.

“Sweetheart, do you want to meet Reece? He came for us, just like we said he would.”

She pulls her hands between them, clearly wiping her tears away as she takes a few seconds to compose herself.

“Reece?” Bower whispers from my side. “Go easy on her. She’s been through a lot and she’s special to us.”

“Special?” I ask in curiosity as I watch her turn in Kingsley’s arms to face me.

The second those piercing green eyes meet mine, it feels like the air is ripped from my lungs.

A ghost stands in front of me. That’s the only explanation my brain can grasp in this moment.

I take a hesitant step toward her, my heart hammering against my ribs. My eyes search her face, desperate for it to be real but terrified of what it might mean if it is. I quickly note all the familiar features; those big green eyes, the pouty lips, the delicate curve of her cheekbones .

It’s her… it’s… “Darla?” I manage to croak out, my voice trembling in shock.

She gasps, her wide eyes suddenly searching my face for recognition as she takes a step towards me.

I reach up and cup her cheek as she whispers, “Mo-Mo?”

Hearing my childhood nickname on her lips, the name only one person in the world ever called me, hits me like a lightning strike. It confirms what my heart already knows. She’s here.

My Darla is… here.

My best friend, the girl who knew every piece of me, who became my first love. The girl I lost when she vanished with her father on a flight that never made it home when we were only thirteen.

Losing her shattered something deep inside me. I’ve never stepped foot on a plane since. Never looked at another girl the way I looked at her. No one else ever came close.

And she’s been right-fucking-here for fifteen years.

“W—”

BOOM

A large explosion behind us has me instinctively diving on top of her, our bodies landing in the sand as I try to shield her from any flying debris. Just as I think we’re in the clear, another explosion erupts and I tighten my hold on her.

After a minute, West lets out a curse. “Fuck.”

I lift my head and look back where the explosion came from.

“That’s both of them,” he says. “They’re gone.”

Staring at the burning remains of steel from both helicopters, I suddenly realize why he’s so upset.

We’re stranded.

To be continued…