Ever Hayes - Redemption

Those shots and my scream may have been our only hope of drawing attention from Redemption. But given our current distance from the island, I knew even that was unlikely.

Reagan now shielded both younger girls with her body, and I stood in front of the three of them. “Why, Lazzo? Why did you have to kill him?” I couldn’t contain my sobs, and my chest ached as if I’d been shot. I felt like throwing up. I could hear the girls crying behind me. Even Lazzo was wiping away tears. What is going on? Why is he doing this? This didn’t seem malicious. It seemed forced.

“I must kill Reagan too.”

“No!” I backed up against her, blocking her more. “No, Lazzo.” I shook my head emphatically. “You can’t need to do that. She—we—we’re no threat to you. That can’t be the only way in whatever this is.” Lazzo was looking around and rubbing the gun nervously against the side of his head. I kept talking. “I don’t understand. We’ve done everything for you. Haven’t we? What is—”

“Hayley, shut up. Shut up!” He pointed the gun at my head again. “No more. Shut up!”

I bit my lip.

“Hayley, you need to move out of the way.”

I shook my head. No way! “I won’t.”

“Now!”

I crossed my arms and stood my ground. He opened his mouth to yell at me but stopped. Something he saw in me made him lower the gun. He held it loosely at his side now. I spoke up again. “You’re going to have to kill me first.”

Lazzo shook his head, suggesting he couldn’t do that. Why the hell not? Why do you need me? “No. Only Reagan.” He sounded less convinced this time. He continued to steer us toward Kauai and Waimea Bay, his head constantly on a nervous swivel.

I pushed my luck. “Tell me what needs to happen.” I took a few steps toward him. “And why.”

“Not another step, Hayley. You must know I’m serious—I will kill someone you love if you don’t listen to me.”

You don’t think I know you’re freaking serious? “You already have,” I mumbled, trembling. “You’ve already killed someone I love.” I never told Sam I loved him. He said it all the time, but I never did. Not one time…

Lazzo ignored me. “I will kill Reagan. I will kill the girls. I will kill your father, his wife, and the baby too if I must. There is a bomb on the island.” He held up a small black box with red buttons. “One push of this button and they’re dead, all of them.”

“Lazzo, you don’t have to do this.” I realized this wasn’t impulsive. If there was truthfully a bomb planted, then he’d planned this all out. But how? “You don’t have to do this.” He’s listening… keep going. “Whatever you need… I’ll do it. Anything. What can I do?”

He seemed to be thinking about what I said. “Sit down and shut up.” He continued guiding the boat in silence for a minute. Finally he killed the motor. “I don’t know why I’m even considering this, but if—if—I let them live…”

“Yes?”

“If I let them live… you will do everything I ask? Anything I ask?”

I stood back up, making certain I was between his gun and the other girls. “Yes, anything. Whatever you want. As long as they don’t get hurt.”

“First, you promise no more questions.” He pointed the gun at me again. “Not why I’m doing this… not why I tell you to do something… I need you to follow everything I say.” He stared at me, as if expecting me to object, but I didn’t. “There is a van in the parking lot at the marina. All of you will walk to it and get in. I won’t tie you up. I won’t gag you. Hayley, you will drive where I tell you to drive, and then Reagan, Abbey, and Emily will go into the house.” He paused again, still staring at me, seemingly surprised I hadn’t interrupted. “What, Hayley?”

“Nothing. I’m listening.”

“I don’t know the people at the house we’re going to—no names, backgrounds…nothing. I only know they are African—probably all Libyan. I don’t know what they’ll do to Reagan and the girls. They will be prisoners there, but I’ve never met these Africans before. They could be evil; they could be nice. I have no assurances. But I will not hurt the girls myself if I have your word you will do all of this—that they will do all of this. It is that or I kill them now.”

I couldn’t stay quiet anymore. “What about me? Can I at least ask that now before I agree to anything? Why do you need me?”

He nodded. “We are going to America on the ship. You will get us to Colorado. The men at the house will let Danny know I have you, and he must bring the book to Colorado to exchange for you. If he does, you will live, and you can come back and rescue these three when I have the book.”

“Book?” All this for a stupid book? Sam’s life for a book? “What book?” Benedict Arnold’s biography?

“That book,” Lazzo snapped, “is not your problem. This decision is your problem. You get me to Denver, and I will keep you alive. That is what you must agree to. You give me away, and I will blow up your family. You try to fool me, and I will kill your family. If I do not have that book in Denver in one month, these men at this house… they will kill your family. Is there anything—anything—not perfectly clear?”

I was stunned. There wasn’t really a decision to be made, and he was certainly very clear. What else could I possibly say but “okay?” I didn’t know what book he was talking about, but I’d seen him shoot Sam right in front of us. This man Danny had saved, who Danny had risked his own life for several times—he’d killed my boyfriend right in front of me for this one book. What can that book possibly mean to him? I knew there was no decision to be made. If I said anything other than “okay” right now, Reagan was dead. Emily and Abbey would be dead too. If Lazzo was indeed capable of blowing up Dad’s house and killing all of them, I had no reason to believe he wouldn’t do that.

“Okay. On one condition.” I could tell he didn’t like me saying that, but he didn’t interrupt. “When we get to this house, you tell your men—”

“They’re not my men.”

“Okay. You tell the men if they hurt any of these three, my brother will kill them all. You tell them you’ll pay a king’s ransom, or whatever the hell you want to say—or have to say—to make sure they’re treated well. Your men—sorry, these men—keep my girls safe, and Danny will let them live. I promise. You know Danny. He trusted you.” I paused. “I trusted you…” My voice was shaking. I took a deep breath. “We trusted you, and you’ve been good to us. If that was really you, if you’re not this monster you’re acting like right now… then you do at least that for me.”

Lazzo nodded. “Okay.”

I knelt beside Reagan and the girls. “Did you hear all that?”

“Yes.” Reagan was trembling. “Thank you, Hayley.”

“You can thank me by staying alive and keeping these two safe. We’ll come for you as soon as we can.”

I stood up and walked toward Lazzo, extending my hand to the person who’d killed my first love. “I’ll do everything I can.” I didn’t want to touch him—certainly not this gently—but I needed him to know I was sincere. “I promise.”

He shook my hand. “I know.”

“I give you my word… I won’t hurt you.” I hadn’t yet let go of his hand. “But if you want to stay alive on that carrier—full of people who want to kill you—you’d better get me something to protect you with and follow my lead.”

“Why would they want to kill me if they don’t know who I am?”

It was a good question but I had a better answer. “Because once Danny figures out what happened—which he will—that’s going to be the instructions he gives.”