Ever Hayes - Redemption

“No, Dad. I don’t think that. The ‘come prepared’ on the note has to mean ‘bring the book.’ But I doubt they’d take it from me here on the islands—not with everyone knowing where they are. If anything happened to me tonight, they know they’re all dead. They have to be sending me somewhere else. The exchange will be taking place elsewhere.”

“How do you know that?” Tara asked.

“Well, it’s an assumption—of course. But they don’t know I assume that—and maybe I’m even wrong about their intentions. But—if I’m right—then this was my one chance to take an advantage by hiding Blake on a plane. Like I said earlier. I couldn’t take Trigger or Twix by surprise. They’d have beaten the crap out of me. But Blake—he wouldn’t have fought back initially, and Trigger and Twix would’ve broken it up before I got a second punch in. It was a split-second decision—and maybe it was the wrong one—but for now, I think it kept everyone alive.”

Danny let that sink in and then addressed all of us. “It was a foolish oversight to ignore the possibility of enemy survivors in these attacks. Obviously there are others here in Hawaii who are a part of all this too. Maybe they’re even Americans. Nicole indicated the person at the base who held her up and gave her the instructions was white—possibly even American. We don’t know how high up this goes. What we do know is I have what they want, and they…” He glanced in the direction of Kauai. “They have what I want.”

“But Lazzo…” Tara spoke up.

“Yeah, I know.” Danny looked at her. “I didn’t see that coming. I really thought he and his brother were on our side…that they didn’t want to be a part of this takeover anymore.” Danny paused and looked out over the water. “Maybe he blamed me for Eddie’s death.”

It can’t be that. Lazzo had to have had this mission before Eddie died . “Okay, so Danny, I hear what you’re saying. But why would he need to take Hayley away? Why not keep her on Kauai, make the exchange here, and then take off?”

Danny rubbed his forehead. “Like I said, Dad, I don’t think what’s in this book is of use to anyone here. I think Lazzo is trying to get it to someone on the mainland. Maybe they’ve guaranteed him something. Beyond that, I’m at as much of a loss as you.”

“I doubt that.” I shook my head. I’m completely lost .

Danny spent the next few hours with the Pack. If, as expected, he wasn’t able to come back to Redemption tonight, he wanted Trigger and Twix to stick to the governor. He hadn’t let the governor in on his thought process because he knew Barnes would never let him leave with the book. That alone suggested what might be in that book.

The governor was the only person in Hawaii Danny was certain wanted to protect the islands at all costs. Danny believed Governor Barnes was willing to die—if necessary—to do so. I listened as Deacon and Royce tried to convince him to take along a fake book instead of the real one, but Danny insisted he couldn’t. He knew more than all of us did about why that wouldn’t work—we had to trust him. Of course, it wasn’t that simple.

I trusted Danny, of course, but I could also see Deacon and Royce’s point. If the contents of that book were as relevant to our security—and to America’s future in general—as I was beginning to believe, it couldn’t make sense to risk all of that for one person. But ultimately this was Danny’s decision. He was the one who had been entrusted with the book. He told Trigger and Twix if at any point the Shield system failed, it would be their responsibility to climb the “Stairway to Heaven” and reboot it manually. That seemed to make everyone feel better. Those two are a pretty good fail-safe . We realized losing the book wouldn’t necessarily be a fatal blow, but… There has to be more in that book than info on Hawaii . So what exactly was Danny risking—or what was he willing to risk, for that matter—to save his sister? And what guarantee did he have that if he did all he was asked to do he’d even get her back… that we’d get any of them back alive?

I knew the answer to that question already. There are no guarantees .

We said our goodbyes at eight o’clock. Keena and Axel were going to ride along with Danny in the boat and wait for him at Waimea Bay. Deacon and Royce had agreed to stay at Redemption with us until whenever Danny came back. They wanted his mind to be at ease. Tara walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him. I could see her body shaking and knew she was crying. I heard her thank him and tell him she loved him. Danny held his hand out to me, but I pulled him in for a hug. “Bring her back,” I said, hoping he was wrong about not coming back to Redemption tonight. “Bring them all back—yourself too.” I was trying to maintain control of my emotions. “I love you, son.”

Danny cleared his throat and stepped back. “If she’s out there I’ll get her, Dad.” He met my eyes and smiled, but I could see his eyes watering too. So this isn’t just hard for me . I nodded, and the rest of us backed off to give him time with Kate.

We watched from a distance as they hugged each other for a long minute, and then Danny stepped back. They continued to hold hands though, and suddenly I heard Danny say “What?” loudly. What was that for? He got down on one knee—his hands at her side and his head to Kate’s stomach. No way! When he kissed her stomach and stood back up, I knew Kate was pregnant. You have got to be kidding me!

We edged our way toward them and heard Kate say, “We need you, Danny. Please…” He nodded and kissed her, tears visible in his eyes, and then turned away from all of us. He stepped into the boat, and they motored off. I saw him look back at us one more time, but I knew he was probably looking at his wife. Kate held one hand up high—in a wave—until she couldn’t see him anymore. When she finally lowered her hand, Tara grasped it and pulled her close. I joined in and hugged them both, thinking what I couldn’t get myself to say. He’ll be back. Now he has one more reason to come back.

I woke up with a jolt, like someone had kicked me in the head. I sat up quickly and looked around, but it was still dark out—or in. Flynn and Chase were lying side by side next to the lamp. Lazzo remained asleep in his corner. So what woke me up? I didn’t remember dreaming. Huh. Weird . I stood up and stretched. Now was as good a time as any to have my talk with Lazzo. I picked up one of the 9mm’s we’d taken from the armory, walked over to him, and nudged him with my foot.

He too bolted up, and a moment of panic flickered in his eyes as he saw me with a gun in hand. “Hayley, what—”

“Let’s talk.”

He nodded and followed me as far from the sleeping twins as we could get. We sat down in a corner of the room with just enough light to see each other.

“The way I see it, you owe me some information now. I’ve proved my loyalty to you and your mission, haven’t I?” I didn’t wait for him to answer. “You know I could have easily left you in the cell to die. You also know Flynn saved both of us. She is untouchable, do you understand? Both of them are.”

Lazzo nodded. “Hayley, I do owe you an explanation… for Sam. I’m sorry—”

“Understand your apology means absolutely nothing to me. I get that he was a threat to you. As much as I hate you, I also understand you felt you didn’t have a choice. So keep your worthless apologies to yourself.”