I didn’t care how old the bread was. It tasted wonderful. Two buttered pieces, a chugged bottle of water, and a hard striped mint—all courtesy of Chase and Flynn—and I was acceptably full. I sat by the door of the room, listening to the sounds of the ship. We’d been moving east for twenty-eight hours now. Best guess—we’d gone a little over a thousand miles. Tomorrow evening the planes would take off for Colorado, and we had to be on them. I had no idea how we were going to pull that off.
Lazzo was across the room from me, sitting by the other door. Occasionally he would glance at me, but I was doing my best to ignore him. Still, some thoughts were eating at me. He’d told me I couldn’t ask him any questions, but he’d softened a little thanks to my correct reading of Flynn. He’d even let me practice with his set of throwing knives. But he held onto the gun.
I was fine with that. I didn’t like guns anyway. But I sure did miss my bows. I’d fired a hundred arrows—at least—almost every day since we’d arrived at Redemption. That was my own little escape there—my therapy. Occasionally Blake would come shoot with me, or Sam…or Dad would swing by and toss a few cans. But everyone else left me alone while I was shooting. That was how I liked it. I didn’t have that peace here. Here I was extremely tense.
It was a weird situation knowing I could stand up and run out into the hall now and be safe. Lazzo couldn’t stop me. I could get to a guard with a gun and have Lazzo shot dead before he could get to me. Instead, I chose to stay here, to stay stressed, to keep my nerves on frayed alert. I chose to believe the threats of this man who had fooled us all—who had lied to us all.
What if Lazzo had been lying? What if he didn’t have a bomb on the island and was merely desperate? What if I’d played right into his hand by falling for his story, because he was waving the gun at the girls and Reagan? Was that even possible? It would make sense. He’d killed Sam not only because he was a physical threat but also to convince me he was serious about his other threats. Why wouldn’t I believe him, then?
It didn’t really matter now. Even if the bomb had been a lie, Reagan, Abbey and Emily were being held captive. Their lives were on the line every single minute. Killing Lazzo—or letting someone else do so—was the same as killing them. Lazzo had to be in communication with someone stateside somehow. If that link didn’t stay open…
I can’t take any chances.
I found myself staring at him now, without even realizing he was staring right back.
“I don’t like that look, Hayley.”
I laughed. “You think I care which looks of mine you do or don’t like?” I stood up and walked toward him. “You think I don’t know you need me more than I need you?”
“Watch it.”
“Why? Huh? Do you want to kill more innocent people? Is that what the Special Forces taught you? Have you missed it so much that—”
“Hayley.” He stood, but only to be at eye level with me. He hadn’t raised the gun.
“What? I’m following your rules. I’m not asking you any questions…okay, not the ones you’re afraid to answer anyway—even though none of this makes sense.”
“I’m not scared.” He turned away from me. “Not of you anyway.”
What is that supposed to mean? Who would he be afraid of? “Then what is this, Lazzo? Is someone holding something over you? What did it take for you to go all Judas on us?”
“Judas?”
“Never mind.”
“Hayley.” He shook his head.
I turned away from him. “Fine. People actually liked you, you know? You had it made—for life. And then you become this monster that kills my boyfriend—who did nothing to you by the way—and I’m supposed to…let it go?” I flipped a mattress up against the wall and stepped ten paces away from it. I threw the knives in rapid succession, all three clustering within inches of each other. Lazzo had walked over to the other door, and as I gathered my knives I saw him wipe his face with his hand—twice. Is he crying? Why do you even care? Because it’s not normal. This doesn’t make sense. I knew something else was going on, but if he wasn’t going to tell me about it, how could I possibly find out?
I threw the knives a few more times and then crawled under the bed onto my mattress. Lazzo was sitting by the door now, where I usually sat, and he watched me out of the corner of his eye. Strangely I felt a little guilty now. I sighed, closed my eyes, and replayed the past few days. Lazzo didn’t seem to want to be doing this. None of it. But he apparently really needed this book Danny had. A thought struck me then—something Kate had mentioned to me.
Kate told me she’d caught Lazzo coming out of her room and he’d said he was looking for underwear—he was all out. He’d been embarrassed and asked her not to say anything, but Kate had thought it rather funny and told me. What if he wasn’t looking for underwear at all, but that book he talked about? Danny had a safe in his room. Was Lazzo in there for that? And couldn’t find it? The only way Lazzo would even know about the book was if someone in the States had told him to look for it. If that were the case, then Lazzo had planned this since—when exactly? The beginning? And now he was supposed to take that book to Colorado to give to… whom exactly? Who was behind all this, and what did they want? What was in that damn book? And why would Lazzo want to do this for them when he was safe in Hawaii, where he had a home, and friends, and…”
Unless they did have something he wanted in return. Something he would risk his life to get back. My accusations from earlier had to be spot on.
I pulled myself out from under the bed. “Lazzo, do they have Eddie?”
My question floored him. “Wha… what? They? Who? What are you talking about?”
I could tell I’d struck a nerve. “Do they have Eddie? Does someone have Eddie?”
“Hayley, stop—”
“Just tell me. Whoever they are, what do they have? What are they promising you for this book?” I could see he didn’t know whether to answer or snap at me again. He held his hands up in the air, pleading for me to stop.
“I don’t know.”
“Come on, Laz!” I nearly shouted at him. “There had to be a good enough reason for you to turn on the people who saved your life…for you to kill Sam after all we’ve done for you. I don’t believe you are that man. I think you’re good…so why the hell did you do it?” So much for agreeing to not ask him any questions. But now I understood why he didn’t want me to ask them. He doesn’t know what to say.
“I can’t talk about this right now. I can’t.” His voice was barely a whisper.
Before I could answer, there was another voice in the room, a deep, loud male one. “Aww. And it was just getting interesting.”
Shit. I hadn’t even heard anyone coming. I’d been so involved in pressuring Lazzo. This one was on me completely.
Brock was standing against the far wall with an automatic rifle pointed at the two of us. Three other men stood beside him, and two more came in the door by us. Too many for my knives, and their guns were far more deadly. Lazzo looked at me, the fire raging once again in his eyes. I’d blown it. Whatever it was he was up to, I had ruined it. I may have just killed Reagan, Abbey and Emily. Damn it, Hayley.
Brock smiled. “Someone’s been looking for you two.” He snatched the gun out of Lazzo’s hands. “And for this.”