Ever Hayes - Redemption

“What happened?” I looked at Keena.

“He said now . That was the signal to cut the feed.”

I had been so caught up in what I was watching I’d completely forgotten. “Oh. I thought he hit the camera.”

“I think that’s what he was going for,” Jenna said over my shoulder.

Keena nodded. “I cut the feed as close to impact as possible.”

“Keena, can you get a feed of the main room?”

“Sure, Ryan. But I still have direct audio through Danny in the interrogation room if you want to listen.” She handed me one of the earpieces.

“Can anyone else hear this?”

“No, just you and I. It’s our direct comm.”

I pushed the earpiece into my ear and listened carefully to the conversation in the interrogation room.

“So if they’re not holding anything over you, why would they think you’d go along with it?” Danny asked quietly, the rage absent. “Why wouldn’t you tell someone else?”

“I wouldn’t say they weren’t holding something over me. It may not be my family in that house, but I certainly wasn’t going to jeopardize yours.” Nicole sounded calm. “They told me they would kill Reagan and the girls if I told anyone. How would they know? I don’t know. But if there was a chance they would—if I’d told you and someone had killed them, I couldn’t live with that.”

“And what if waiting to tell us was what ended up killing them?”

“Well…” There was a lengthy pause. “Then I guess I’d have to live with that.”

“Look,” I heard Danny answer. “What you’re saying makes sense—all of it. If they thought Lazzo was dead, this would all be over. They’d either leave the hostages or kill them, and then they wouldn’t need me to come to Kauai for the next set of instructions. Unless…”

“Unless what?” I heard Kate’s voice in the background.

“Unless they’re hoping to capture me somehow and still get what they wanted in the first place.” Danny didn’t sound convinced.

“You could look at it another way.” Nicole clearly had something in mind.

“What’s that?” Danny asked.

“Why take Hayley? Why her specifically?”

“To get me to do what they want.”

“Okay. But why take her to America? Why not just keep her here somewhere?”

“What are you getting at?”

“What if it’s not Hayley they want at all, but you?”

“What?”

“Well, why specifically ask you to come to the compound—and alone? Why not take one of the younger girls to America instead of Hayley? Or Reagan?”

“Okay.” The skepticism clouding Danny’s voice earlier was gone. “Keep going.”

“They don’t want you to think Hayley is dead—even if she is. My guess would be that was a message their contact on the ship didn’t want to send… but had to. Think about it… if you knew Hayley was dead, they wouldn’t get what they want from you. You’d be going to Kauai to free the girls immediately. We’d be seeing or hearing something from the kidnappers… something! It’s been silent on that front. They’re still expecting you tonight, as planned. And they think you’ll still follow through.”

“So they’re just going to kill me tonight?”

“No. I don’t think so. I think they want you to follow your sister.”

“So Hayley is some kind of bait for Danny? This wasn’t a random kidnapping?” That was Kate.

Nicole responded immediately. “I believe Hayley was intentionally targeted, yes.”

“And you don’t think this is a trap tonight?” Danny basically repeated his earlier question—clearly still digesting Nicole’s theory.

“No, Danny, I don’t.” Nicole sounded pretty certain. “If they just wanted to kill you, why wait until tonight. Why wait until after the rescue planes have left the carrier for Colorado? They don’t want you to alert anyone. They don’t want you to stop them. They want you to go after your sister. Whatever it is, they want something from you Danny…something the rest of us don’t have. But they need to make sure the exchange occurs in their favor—so that would exclude it happening here in Hawaii or on the carrier.”

“How does Nicole know the flight times and rescue details?” I asked Keena.

“We all have a copy.” Keena opened a drawer and handed me a green folder. “Check for yourself. Everything she’s said checks out. She could be right.”

Danny hadn’t said anything in a little while. Finally I heard his voice again. “Let’s say I completely agree with you. I still have one question. Why me? Why not the governor? What do I have that no one else does?”

I heard Kate say Lazzo’s name.

“What?” Danny asked.

“Oh… oh no—Danny…”

“What, Kate?”

“Danny, I never told you because it was stupid… or I thought it was stupid.” Kate paused. “A few days ago, when you guys all came here for the Pack meeting, I caught Lazzo coming out of our room at the tree house.”

“What?” Danny sounded equal parts angry and surprised.

“I’m sorry. I asked him what he was doing, and he said he needed some—”

“What, Kate? Needed some what?”

“Underwear…”

What the hell? I looked around the room before remembering only Keena was following this with me. I raised my eyebrows at her. She shrugged. Underwear? Personally, I understood why Kate hadn’t said anything to Danny. Lazzo needed Danny’s underwear? That is stupid .

Danny was silent. I was waiting for him to reply, but he didn’t.

Kate spoke up instead. “Danny? Do you know what he was really in there for?”

Danny answered quietly. “I think so.”

“What did he find?” Nicole asked.

“Nothing,” Danny replied. “He didn’t find it, because I had it with me. But now I know what ‘come prepared’ meant on the note.”

What? What did he have with him? What is he supposed to bring? Again I looked around at everyone in the room before locking eyes with Keena. She shrugged, but something in her expression suggested she had an idea what Danny was talking about. I continued watching her face as the conversation in the earpiece resumed.

“What was he looking for, Danny?” Kate asked.

I heard a door open and Danny say the words, “The book. They want the book.”

Apparently Keena’s suspicions had been accurate. She was nodding.

Wait… so Sam was killed over—holy cow! It registered with me then. Sam really is the one who went overboard . Sam is dead. Lazzo killed Sam. Lazzo took Hayley. Lazzo did all of this! Over a book? A book?

Lazzo had tried to get this book without kidnapping anyone—without casualties. When that failed and he couldn’t find it, he took someone he knew would draw the book out of hiding, someone he knew Danny would come after. This wasn’t plan A. It was plan B. Damn it!

I suddenly realized I’d said that out loud. “What?” Deacon asked.

“Everything Nicole said was right. This was never about Hayley. There is a much bigger plan.”

“What kind of plan?” Royce asked.

“Remember the book Danny told us about in the Elephant Box?” Keena turned and addressed Deacon and Royce.

“That’s what they want,” Deacon stated more than asked.

Keena nodded. I shook my head in disbelief, but none of the Pack members looked even remotely surprised. They must have known what was in that book. “Son of a bitch.” What is really going on here? I placed my head in my hands.

Son… of… a… bitch.

Danny had to think quickly. If Nicole was right, then the mole would be watching Danny when he left the room. They’d be looking for signs of what Nicole had told him—trying to determine if she had violated her instructions. The lives of Reagan, Abbey, Emily, and perhaps even Hayley depended on Danny selling the mole a story. But what story? Given his destruction in the room, he’d have to come out angry. He needed to make another scene.