Ever Hayes - Redemption

I nodded. “Is Danny talking?”

“A little,” Eddie replied.

“Has he thanked you yet?” I asked with a smile, hiding the sickness in my stomach at what I was going to have to ask him to do.

“Not necessary.” Eddie shook his head. “He’d have done the same for me.”

“My friend.” I put my hand on his massive forearm. “The five of us couldn’t have carried you.”

Eddie laughed but said without hesitation, “He would have found a way.”

Eddie was right. Danny would have found a way. Danny would have found a way to get Eddie in that bunker too. “What has he said?”

“He asked where we are.” Blake knelt back down beside him.

Concern flooded my voice. “He didn’t know?”

Blake laughed. “No, no, no—he knew—he meant specifically. He wanted to know why we were hiding and not searching for the bunker.”

“And you told him about the girl—about the people?”

Blake nodded. “I did.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Eddie.” I turned to the African major. “We have a problem.”

“They won’t let us in the bunker, will they?”

I didn’t know exactly how to reply. “Yes and no. They won’t let you in.”

I heard Danny cough then and clearly say, “Bullshit.”

“Danny just said—”

“I heard him.” I moved over to my brother. “Danny, they said either we leave him out or we all stay out.”

“Then we all stay out,” he whispered back weakly.

“No,” Eddie replied behind us. “I will not accept that.”

“By tomorrow I’ll be strong enough—”

“There will be no tomorrow,” Eddie interrupted Danny. “You said as much yourself.”

“Maybe I was wrong.”

Eddie scoffed. “Doubtful.”

Suddenly there was a commotion in the courtyard.

“Someone’s coming,” Ava whispered. “It looks like that girl.”

I stood and stepped out into the courtyard. It was the girl, and she was running, clearly in a panic. “They’re coming,” she yelled.

I looked behind her but didn’t see anyone else. “Who?”

She ran up to me. “The enemy.” She was out of breath. “Somehow they found us. Every truck, helicopter, everything—everything is coming this way.”

“How did they—”

“The Humvee,” Blake offered behind me. “Danny says it must have had a GPS tracker.”

Of course it did . That’s why there was almost no pursuit coming from the Seven Oaks Dam. Qi Jia wanted us to go where we felt safe, saw us stop here, got everyone together, and followed the signal. We’d made it easy. “How much time do we have?”

“Seconds, minutes…” Eddie spoke, stepping out with Danny in his arms. “Who knows?”

The girl took one look at Eddie’s massive build and retreated a few paces.

“Don’t worry.” I put my hand on her arm. “He won’t hurt you.” She didn’t look convinced. “He just wants to keep my brother safe.”

She told us to follow her, introducing herself on the way as Mackenzie—insisting we call her Mack.

We hurried behind her to the entrance of the Pirates ride. There we were met by six armed guards—five men and a woman. “We’ll take him from here,” the one man said to Eddie.

Eddie handed Danny to two of the men, and they hurried into the building with him. Ava followed them in. Blake grabbed my arm. “Come on, Hayley.”

“No.” I stared at the man who had his gun pointed at Eddie. “You don’t let him in, I don’t go in.”

“Hayley, go,” Eddie growled.

“No. This is bullshit. Two times you’ve saved my brother. Twice you’ve saved me. I’m not leaving you.”

“I’m not either then.” Flynn stood beside me.

Blake sighed and rolled his eyes. “Okay then, I’m with you. You guys go back inside.”

The two remaining men looked at the other man, who seemed to be the leader. He was finally starting to look conflicted. The whirring blades of approaching helicopters almost swayed him enough—but not quite. He maintained his position—or his orders. “Have it your way.” He waved for the other two to follow him inside.

“Hayley.” Eddie was angry. “This is not your decision to make.”

“It is, in fact.” I stared him down. “It is no one else’s decision.”

Two helicopters roared overhead, and we stepped under the entrance of the ride—hiding behind a few pillars. They obviously would have picked up our heat signals. They knew where we were now.

I had taken my eyes off Blake for just a few seconds. As I turned to tell him he needed to go with Danny, I caught a brief glimpse of an object coming at my head. Before I could duck, it struck me and I blacked out.

I didn’t hear Blake say he was sorry for knocking me out.

I didn’t hear the gunfire start.

I didn’t feel Eddie pick me up.

And I didn’t hear the voice that said, “Okay, let him in.”

When I came to, I was in a dark room with only a dim lamp in the corner. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw another person sitting in a chair by an open door. “What’s going on?” I sat up suddenly and winced at the searing pain that shot through my head. “What happened?” I picked up the bag of ice that had fallen on the floor. “Did Blake knock me out?” I had a sudden flashback of something coming at my head.

Flynn stood up from the chair, nodded, and stepped over to me. “The point is you’re okay—we’re okay. They let us in—all of us.”

“Eddie too? Really? Did they knock him out too?”

“No, just you.” She shook her head. “But yes, Eddie’s in here.”

“How?”

“Your brother.”

What did he do now? “Seriously?”

“While you and I were off exploring earlier Danny had Eddie wrap his arm and hide the other C-4 block under the wrap. When they brought him in, he took the C-4 cube out and stole a gun from one of the guys carrying him. He threatened to blow the bunker up from the inside if they didn’t let Eddie in. Somehow he convinced them he was serious—they didn’t have a choice.”

“They could have killed him.” I couldn’t hide the concern in my voice.

“I’m sure he knew that. But he also knew if they’d called Hawaii, they’d know they couldn’t afford to shoot an active American captain, and—as the governor called him—a living hero.”

“I didn’t think he was strong enough—”

“I think Danny was counting on them thinking that too.”

That son of a…

“In any case, it worked…we’re all in here safe.”

“And Qi Jia?”

“That’s the interesting thing. They’ve been blowing the crap out of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. But there’s a tunnel running from that basement room we were in over to Tom Sawyer’s Island. We’re actually under that island, watching them demolish the place. Look.” She pointed to a screen above my head.

I glanced up at the security feed and watched as nearly a thousand men ripped apart the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. “They’re definitely looking for us. What if they find the tunnel?”

“That’s the best part.” Flynn was amazingly calm about all of this. “The Army Corps of Engineers outdid themselves here. That room we were in earlier had a false-floor panel that opened into a three-story staircase. At the bottom of the staircase there was another door leading to an airtight sub-like tunnel over to the island. Once we were inside the sub tunnel, it turned like a drawbridge under the water, swinging us all the way around to the island. It’s airtight and waterproof once the doors are sealed. We just walked right over here. Tom Sawyer’s entire island is one giant bunker.”