“Roger that,” Nondescript Man said. “Watch your back.”
“Always,” Garza said, nodding. Then he hurried to the passenger door of the box truck and hopped inside.
The last of the boatmen went aboard. They reeled in the lines, then the boats were turning around, preparing to head out into the dark cover of open water.
On land, the engines in the four vehicles revved. Once the boats cleared the end of the pier, the vehicles pulled out one by one, lining up into a convoy.
Staying low, gun drawn, Shane scrabbled across the barge following the direction of the boats. “I might be able to take out their motors,” he said.
“Negative. Negative. Stand down,” came Nick’s voice. “Church’s men are still in range. We cannot engage.”
Peering over his shoulder, Shane saw the row of taillights just coming along the side of the granary, barely out of the lot.
For one last moment, Shane held on to the hope that he could save those women’s lives. Letting go of that hope was like driving a dagger into his heart. It left him grasping his chest and gulping down air. Loosening the grip on his gun, Shane went down on his knees, his head hanging on his shoulders. Long minutes passed, during which he forced himself to stay in that place, to feel what it felt like.
To feel what failure felt like. Again.
Then, looking to the sky, Shane made a vow. If he couldn’t save the victims, he would find a way to avenge them. One way or another, Church was going down. And somehow, some way, Shane would be the one to make it happen.
CRYSTAL WOKE FIRST. Gently rolling on her back, she stared up at the early-morning light making patterns on the ceiling. The butterfly mobile turned slowly, bringing the yellow one closer, then the orange.
Turning her head, she found Jenna still asleep beside her. They’d talked and cried into the middle of the night, until Crystal’s throat was raw, and they were both damn near dehydrated from the outpouring of their grief.
Crystal told Jenna everything. She hadn’t held anything back. What would be the point? Jenna had seen the scars. She’d seen the evidence of Bruno’s abuse. And now she knew the reasons Crystal had put up with it.
At some point, they’d fallen asleep. Neither of them wanting to be apart from the other.
And though Crystal’s heart was warmed by the end of the loneliness that sharing had brought about, another part of her hated that it had come at the cost of Jenna’s innocence, at the weight of her having to shoulder some of this burden.
Jenna’s bright blue eyes blinked open. “Hey,” she said, her voice scratchy.
“Hey,” Crystal said. “You sound like I feel.”
With a hoarse chuckle, Jenna nodded, then her expression turned serious. “How are you?”
“Okay. You remember what I said, right?” Crystal asked, needing to hear Jenna say it again.
“Yeah.” Her eyes went glassy.
Crystal turned on her side, bringing them closer. “None of this was your fault, either. You are never, ever to blame yourself for any of this, do you understand?”
Her lips trembling, Jenna nodded. “I know. But I still feel bad. If it wasn’t for me—”
“No,” Crystal said, her belly twisting into knots. As much as she’d always worried that Jenna might think less of her if she knew all the things Crystal had done, this was the thing she’d most feared—Jenna’s feeling somehow responsible because of her illness and the cost of her treatment. “Dad’s debts trapped us here. Not your epilepsy. Please, please believe me.”
“Okay,” she said, pushing herself into a sitting position. “Okay.” She tucked long strands of red hair behind her ears and met Crystal’s gaze. “So what’s our plan?”
Crystal forced herself into an upright position, too. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what’s our plan? We have to get the hell out of here.” Jenna turned toward her and sat cross-legged amid the messy covers.
“Sshh,” Crystal whispered, then reached over to the iPod dock and queued up some music to cover their conversation. Just in case. “Keep your voice down.”
Jenna acquiesced just as she had the night before when Crystal had insisted they take a similar precaution. It was more likely that Bruno had known about Shane because he’d had a guy watching her apartment. He’d done stuff like that before. But at this point, Crystal came down on the side of full-blown paranoia and decided she couldn’t be too careful.
Crystal grasped Jenna’s hand. “We can’t leave yet. I told you, we wait until you graduate and I have more money saved up, then we go.”
“That’s crazy, Sara,” Jenna whispered. “Bruno’s too unstable. It’s not safe for you.”
“You have a full scholarship at a great school. If we go now, you won’t graduate. And to get a job with benefits, with good health insurance, you need a degree. We can wait.”
Jenna shook her head. “I can finish anywhere, anytime. It’s only the rest of this semester, the summer, and next semester.”
“Exactly. Which is why we should stay. You’re getting a free education. We won’t have that anywhere else. Besides, if we go now, you’d lose all the time you put in this semester.” Crystal believed to the depths of her soul that their getaway plan needed to be methodically and carefully planned. She was the one who really knew Bruno, Church, and the danger they faced if they misstepped along the way. But convincing Jenna that Crystal was right was like getting a teenager to believe their parents had any wisdom.
God, she really was like a 104-year-old, wasn’t she?
Jenna blew out a long breath. “Okay, I have a compromise solution.”
Crystal looked at her, willing to hear it but doubting she’d be convinced. She waved a hand, indicating Jenna should share.
“I’ve got two more weeks of classes left, then finals. We go right after that. Then it’s just the summer classes I planned to take and one last full semester, and it’s mostly electives at that. I could do those anywhere.”
That was four weeks. “I don’t know if I can get us ready that fast,” Crystal said, considering Jenna’s proposal more seriously than she thought she ever would. Though she’d always imagined them running to New York City, she didn’t have a job or an apartment lined up for when they got there, and she’d hoped to have more money saved. Most importantly, she hadn’t found a way to get them fake IDs and new paperwork. Everyone she thought might be capable of such a thing was too damn loyal to the Church gang to risk asking. But damn, four weeks sounded like heaven.
But it also means you’ll be leaving Shane that much sooner.
True. And that hurt. Bad. But no matter what, she wouldn’t get to have him for long. And Jenna’s safety was worth the sacrifice. Besides, if by some miracle Shane wasn’t disgusted by her back, and Crystal did get to spend more time with him, she’d just fall harder for the sexy ex-soldier. And then losing him would hurt that much worse.
“You’re considering it,” Jenna said with a smile in her voice.
Crystal rolled her eyes. “Maybe.”
“Hey, I know. Why don’t you ask Edward and his bossy friend for help,” she said. “They helped us before.”
For a moment, Crystal heard Shane’s voice coming through her cell phone that night. “I told you I’d help you and Jenna. That offer didn’t come with an expiration date or office hours.” And she recalled the sadness and frustration in his voice when he’d said he didn’t know how to help her. So maybe Jenna was right.