8
Liam
—
Abandoning his grip on the goats’ harnesses, Liam grabbed Astrid’s hand instead and set off in a sprint.
The whir of the hovercar containing Teva and his men chased them as they ran, rapidly growing closer. Liam knew it was impossible they’d outrun the bastards, but the hills provided no hiding spots or getaway points.
Teva must have backtracked. It was the only explanation for how he’d found them despite going ahead with his men first.
At the fork in the road earlier, Teva must have gone far enough to realize he and Astrid were not on that route. Then Teva had turned around, headed the other way, found the farmer and gotten his and Astrid’s location. Whether the farmer had provided the information willingly or through force was anyone’s guess.
“Liam, stop!” Astrid cried out in alarm when they dashed up a hill that turned out to be a cliff’s edge. Far below, the river sat like a dark serpent, curving its way toward a drop-off in the distance.
Liam swore beneath his breath, the tips of his boots perched over the cliff’s edge. They were trapped. Scowling, he faced forward as Teva drew the hovercar to a stop before them.
“Enough of your games, Cross,” Teva said with a smirk. He aimed a gun at him. “We’ve wasted too much of my time already. Give me the box. Now.”
Liam ground his teeth together, his nostrils flaring in anger. His fingers itched, recalling the days when he was an agent and his gun was always ready and waiting by his side, ever faithful in its sole deadly purpose of existence.
But the day he’d handed over his badge was the day he’d gave up his gun, too, promising himself he’d never find use for one again.
With slow, reluctant movement, he dug into his pants pocket and took out the box. Teva’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
“Very good,” he said. “Bring it to me.”
But before Liam could take a step forward, Astrid whisked the box from his hand.
“If you want it, come and get it, asshole,” she spat before taking a leap off the edge of the cliff.
Stunned, it took Liam a few seconds to acknowledge what had happened. It was the tell-tale splash of Astrid hitting the water below that kick-started his awareness. Teva must have been just as surprised, because he fired off a belated shot as Liam jumped off the cliff edge too.
The icy-cold water pulled a gasp from him as the force of his fall pushed him into the river’s murky depths. Clawing his way back up to the surface, he spun around in mounting horror when he didn’t see Astrid right away.
“Astrid!” he called out. And then he saw her, struggling to swim against the strong current as she fought to get away from the drop-off. Dammit! Why the hell did she jump into the river if she didn’t know that the first rule was to never swim against the current?
Liam swam toward her, his whole body prickling from the coldness. He tried not to think about not reaching her in time, of her drowning and him being unable to save her.
“Liam!” she cried out when she saw him. The drop-off rushed toward them. He wasn’t going to make it in time before she fell over.
She screamed as she went over the edge. Liam held his breath as the current pitched him over next. He plunged into the pool below, the pounding of the water loud and disorienting, churning the waters below. Yet there was Astrid, flailing her arms and legs as she struggled for the surface.
He grabbed her around the waist, hauling her up. They both took long, desperate gulps of air when their heads broke the pool’s surface. His arm wrapped tight around her, he swam them to the edge of the pool.
“Are you insane?” he bit out as soon as they climbed up onto dry land. Now that she was safe, the intense fear of her dying that had tightened his chest shifted to anger. “What were you thinking?”
“I was making sure he didn’t get the box,” she said defensively, shoving the box back into his hand. He was amazed she’d managed to hold on to it despite her struggle in the water.
“You risked your life for a stupid box?” he growled. “Astrid, do you understand you could have died? What if the river wasn’t deep? What if you’d drowned?”
“Well, I didn’t, OK? You saved me,” she said, wringing the water from her hair, a scowl on her face too. Then she faced him, her mouth pursed in defiance, but guilt brimming in her gaze. “Why are you overreacting? My plan worked. We got away from Teva.”
“Unfortunately, you did not.”
Liam immediately hauled Astrid behind him at the sound of Teva’s voice. There he was again, climbing out of the hovercar with his gun aimed at him. He had followed them and crept up on them while he and Astrid were arguing.
“You just don’t quit, do you?” Liam said, scowling. “You’re really starting to get on my nerves.”
“The feeling is mutual.” His two buddies who all somehow looked like exact replicas of each other—bald and dressed entirely in black—flanked him. “I’m going to say this one last time, Liam Cross, give me the box.” He waved the gun. “Or I will kill you and your pretty friend you have hidden behind you.”
Astrid’s fingers sank into his shirt, gripping tight. Liam decided he had to take the only shot he had left to ensure they both got out of this alive.
“If you kill me, how will you open the box without the code?”
“I said give me the box!” Teva shouted, spittle flying out of his mouth, his eyes widening in fury.
Liam knew what desperation looked like and it was written all over Teva’s face. Desperate people with guns were never a good combination. They were like children, prone to carelessness and foolish actions, especially when they weren’t getting their way.
He tossed the box to Teva who fumbled to catch it and missed. The box flopped near his feet and Teva dove for it, inspecting it with a satisfied look on his face.
He looked up, aiming the gun at Liam again.
“Well? What’s the code?” he demanded.
“Gonna kill me after I tell you?” Liam asked.
“Of course not,” he said, his tone suddenly cooperative.
“All right. It’s BOOBS.”
Astrid snorted in amusement behind him.
Teva shifted a suspicious look between Liam and the box. “Only numbers can be entered here. Are you lying to me, Cross?”
“5-8-0-0-8,” Liam explained, taking a subtle step back. Thankfully, Astrid shuffled back in tandem too. “When you type the number in and turn it upside down, it spells the word—”
“Spare me the details of your infantile mind,” said Teva as he eagerly punched in the digits.
Liam hurriedly backed out of the way with Astrid as the box made two beeps. A second later, a loud bang echoed around them and a thick purple plume of mist gushed from the box.
With a yelp of horrified surprise, Teva dropped the box as well as his gun. He and his men tried to back away from the purple mist but whatever it contained robbed their ability to use their legs.
They dropped to the floor, flopping about and coughing like fish taken from the ocean. They let out pained grunts before falling still, the sinister purple mist rising up and dissipating in the air.
“Are they dead?” Astrid whispered.
Liam’s gaze took in Teva’s wide-eyed glassy stare. He hated that she had to witness this, but he didn’t want to lie to her either.
“Yes.”
“How did you know that would happen?”
“I didn’t. I thought it would explode.”
“What? Why?”
“The guy who gave me the box to deliver insinuated it was a bomb.” Liam said. “I had expected the kind with a little more boom.”
Astrid shook her head, visibly upset. “And you didn’t even think to tell me about it?”
“What good would that have done?” He frowned at her. He pointed at the now unoccupied hovercar. “Wait inside the hovercar. I’m going to get the box back.”
Her eyebrows drawn together, her features said she wasn’t happy with his commanding tone. Liam had the insane urge to kiss her until her scowl vanished. Until she was slapping his chest for air.
Wordlessly, she marched off to the hovercar and Liam ignored the pull to follow the sway of her hips in her short pants.
Lifting his shirt up over his nose, Liam held his breath and darted over to where the box lay innocently beside its victims.
A cold remorse filled him as he paused to survey the damage. Then he snatched up the box. Was it a one-use only, or was the timer still counting down to another deadly mist bomb?
Better not wait to find out. He hurried back to the hovercar where Astrid waited for him.
Time to complete this damn delivery.