Ever Hayes - Redemption

Nicole flipped to infrared and continued the feed. We saw five dots move towards the back of the shed then disappear one by one. What the? A sixth dot was hanging out near the back of the van while two more dots stayed relatively motionless, essentially in the middle of the giant dot—the van.

“Why—” Tara started to ask.

“Tunnel,” Danny said. “They had to have gone underground.”

Or into a freezer . Glancing back at the van, a third dot was now visible towards the back . The van backed out, returned to the driveway, and disappeared again into the larger blackout zone when it neared the gate.

Nicole replayed that last part around the shed again but it didn’t provide anything new. At least we’d learned a few things. Reagan and the girls were taken into that house by two men—or we assumed they were men. It hadn’t been Reagan, Emily or Abbey who had fallen out of the boat. Another person—Hayley, Sam, Lazzo, or someone else entirely—stepped out of the van for a couple minutes then hopped back in. The van left and came back almost fifty minutes later with just one passenger, who also disappeared in the garage. I agreed with Danny’s tunnel assessment now. Seems everyone did. Best guess was the returning person was the one we’d seen climb into the back of the van—not Hayley, Sam, or Lazzo. The other two passengers had taken the boat out toward the USS George Washington . If all of that was as it seemed, then two of the three had disappeared with the carrier.

Still, none of this explained anything, and no one wanted to jump to any further conclusions. It was time to take action. By 8:00 a.m. Danny and the Pack were on a plane with all their gear, headed for Kauai. It was time to breach that house. The rest of us stood or sat around the satellite room in Area 52, watching the big screen. Another Area 52 operator—Damien—had come in to replace an exhausted Nicole. He was following the plane on the screen, and we’d be able to see everything unfold from here.

I looked up as Tara walked over to me, and I stood tentatively to meet her, unsure what she wanted. She raised her arms and wrapped them around me, burying her head against my shoulder. I breathed in deeply, reveling in her scent and appreciating this opportunity to squeeze her tightly—finally.

“I’m scared, Ryan.”

Chills zigzagged through my body, and I rubbed her back with one hand. “Danny’s gonna get her back, babe.”

“But what—”

“No, Tara. But nothing.” I lifted her chin to look her directly in the eyes. “Danny’s getting her back.”

She pulled me tightly against her again, her head back on my shoulder.

Come on, Danny .

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…”