Tia

Chaos ensues after Huxley demands that we leave the compound now. But none of my husbands argue. They quickly take action. While Banks loads his research into one of the SUVs, Emerson and Huxley gather the girls.

I feel completely helpless as I put a few changes of clothing into a bag, then meet my husbands in the garage.

Huxley is talking to Salinger, and I can see the emotions that both men try to hold back. But this is no time to fall apart. Once we get to the bunker safely, then there’ll be time to grieve.

“We need to go,” Huxley says, opening the passenger side door of the second car and helping me in.

Emerson, Salinger, and Banks get in the other vehicle with Beth and Caroline, as Giles and Fallon get in the backseat of the one I’m in.

“You okay?” Huxley asks when he sits beside me and starts the ignition.

“I can’t believe the Director is dead.” I shiver despite the warmth that blasts against my face from the heaters.

My comment is met with silence as we drive down the street. We’re met with some resistance from the guards when we try to leave, which frustrates the men.

“We’re wasting time,” Fallon barks from the back seat.

“It’s dangerous out there,” the guard says, “We have news that--”

“It’s more fucking dangerous in here,” Huxley says. “Let us pass, now.”

Salinger’s vehicle is stopped in front of us, and they’re obviously getting the same rundown as us. Finally, their guard waves them through, and with a frown, our guard nods for us to go as well.

“Miriam must be beside herself,” I say, thinking about the odd relationship between her and the Director. But no matter how strained their relationship was, the man was still her husband, the father of her children.

I wipe away the tears that form in my eyes, anger replacing sadness, knowing it’s my father who is responsible for the death of my children’s grandfather.

He may not have pulled the trigger, but I have no doubt that he issued the order.

Because of his greed.

Because of me.

Nausea rolls over me like a wave, and I place my hand over my mouth.

Huxley glances over at me. “What’s wrong?”

“I...” My stomach heaves again. “I’m going to be sick.”

“Pull the car over,” Giles demands.

As soon as Huxley does, I open the door and stumble out, only making it a few feet before I start to heave.

A large hand is on my back, another one is holding my hair back, and Giles is speaking soft words to me, and I get sick a second time.

“Just go on,” Fallon says behind me, talking on his cell. “She needs a few minutes. We’ll meet you at the bunker.”

“I... I’m okay,” I say, letting Giles help me stand.

Huxley hands me a small bottle of orange juice and I take a small sip.

“It’s the stress,” Huxley says, dragging his knuckles down my cheek.

“Sorry.” I lean into Giles taking his strength and his arms wrap around me.

“You don’t have to be sorry,” he murmurs against the top of my head. “It’s a lot to take in.”

“We do need to go,” Fallon says. “We’re sitting ducks out here, and…” Blue eyes narrow on something in the distance.

I glance in the direction he’s looking but see nothing.

“Get in the car,” he orders, pulling out a gun from his back pocket. “There are--”

“Yeah,” Giles mutters, releasing me. “I see it.”

“Fuck,” Huxley says, as two small black dots appear in the distance. He opens the trunk and digs through a bag, pulling out two more pistols and handing one to Emerson. “Let’s go.”

“I’ll drive,” Fallon says, which gets no argument from Huxley, who issues me into the backseat with him.

“You’re going to need to step on it,” Hux says.

“Just fasten your seatbelts.”

My head jerks back as the tires squeal and we speed forward.

“We’re going to lead them straight to the bunker if we don’t lose them,” Giles says.

“I’m not going to be able to shake them,” Fallon says grimly. “This car is built like a tank, but it’s not fast.” He glances in the rearview mirror and curses. “They’re gaining on us.”

“What are we going to do?” I clutch Huxley’s hand. “We can’t lead them to the bunker. We wouldn’t just be putting the others at risk, but all of Miriam’s research. And the cure. Banks has it. It’s more valuable than...”

“Nothing’s more valuable than you,” Huxley says tightly, squeezing my hand.

A shot rings out behind us, followed by a sharp tinging sound of a bullet hitting the back of the vehicle.

“Fuck, keep your heads down,” Fallon yells, as Huxley places a hand on the back of my head and pushes me down.

More shots are fired, and one must pierce a back tire because we start spinning.

Everything happens so quickly.

“Stay in the car and keep your head down,” Fallon screams at me before all three men jump out, and a series of shots are fired.

“Drop your weapons,” a familiar voice orders.

My father.

Oh, God, he’s here.

“No one needs to get hurt, Tia. Just get out of the car and come home with me. If you do that, I promise I’ll let these men walk.”

“She’s going nowhere with you,” Huxley yells back, firing his gun.

More gunfire sounds out from both directions, and I scream when Huxley falls back, a bullet piercing his shoulder. I start to move toward him, but he yells at me to stay in the car.

“I’ll take down each one of your husbands, daughter.” My father’s voice carries across the distance. “You’re outnumbered here. Alaska is already in my control.”

Blood seeps through Huxley’s shirt, but I can tell it’s a clean wound. Still, my father’s men won’t back down. And I know my father will do what he has to in order to get me back.

But he won’t harm me. At least, not until he extracts the cure from my body.

Ignoring my husband’s shouting, I get out of the car.

“For fuck’s sake, Tia, get down,” Huxley yells.

“He won’t hurt me,” I say, searching the black vehicles in front of me for signs of my father. But he remains hidden. “Will you? Not when I’m carrying your grandchildren.”

“They belong to me, daughter. Everything I’ve sacrificed, it’s all worth it because of those six heartbeats.” Surrounded by his guards he steps around the car, and I finally meet my father’s cold gaze.

But something else catches my attention, a woman gets out of one of the cars, a smirk plastered on her face.

“Helene?” I gasp. What is she doing with my father?

Following my gaze, I see my father’s lips twist into a sadistic smile. “I brought along a little insurance, just in case you had any hesitation about coming with me. Helene has been extremely helpful. It’s amazing what people will sacrifice for money. She came to me with the information I needed,” he says with a snarl. “Some people understand their place in the world. A lesson my own daughter has yet to learn.”

“If you think I’ll surrender to you for a traitor, you’re wrong.”

“It isn’t her life I’m trading.” He motions to Helene, who reaches into the car and yanks a boy out by the hair.

Mason.

Bound and gagged, I see the fear in the boy’s turquoise eyes.

No, no, no.

I hear the muttered curses of my husbands behind me, and I thank God Emerson isn’t here, because I know his reaction would have been to run for the boy. It’s my reaction now. But I manage to hold myself steady.

There has to be a way out of this. And yet I can’t see one. Not when one of the armed guards points a gun at the boy’s head.

“All these years, you’ve been searching for a cure,” I say, my voice trembling with emotion. “But it was never for the good of humanity like you claimed. It was for fame. For glory. How do you justify all the lives that you’ve taken when you go to sleep at night? And now, you’d use an innocent child, threaten his life, for what?”

“For what belongs to me,” he hisses. “All those sacrifices weren’t in vain. I created a cure. Because of me, the human race will live on.”

“There was another way.”

“Your flower?” He spits. “A temporary fix. Already my men are preparing to rid the island of your false hope.”

“No. You wouldn’t.” But I already know he will. He’ll take out everything and anything that gets in his way.

“With what lies inside of you, I can rewire the genetic code--”

“You’re a monster.” The words pour from my lips. “You’ll kill your own grandchildren?”

His gaze hardens on me. “Be logical, Tia. The extraction isn’t fatal for you. And you can get pregnant again.”

I place my hand over my belly, protectively.

“They’re just fetuses.” He grabs Mason by the shoulder and using him as a shield, he takes a step towards me. “But he is a child. Do you think your husband would ever forgive you if you let his son die?”

Tears blur my vision as I look at Mason.

I can’t, won’t, let my father hurt him.

“Tia,” Huxley warns from behind me, obviously reading my thoughts. “Don’t.”

I shake my head, knowing there’s no other way. This ends one of two ways. Either I go with my father, or a battle will ensue, one that would most likely result in Mason and my husbands’ deaths.

“Okay. I’ll go with you.”

There are curses behind me from my men, and a grin stretches across my father’s face.

“But you give me your word that you don’t spill another drop of blood on Alaskan soil. You leave my family alone.”

His jaw twitches and he nods. “As long as your husbands stay in Alaska they will be unharmed.”

I let out a breath, then take a few steps forward, reaching my arms out for Mason, who runs into them.

“Get in the car,” I whisper against his head, before releasing him.

As soon as the boy is out of my arms, a guard seizes me.

“No,” Huxley shouts, stepping away from the car door he’d been using as a shield. “I won’t let you--”

A shot is fired.

Just one.

I don’t know where it comes from, the sound pierces the air, and I’m being pushed towards my father’s cars, but not before I see my husband drop to his knees, a pool of bright red blood forming in the center of his chest, his blue eyes wide in shock.

“Huxley,” I scream. “No.”

It’s a fatal shot. And I see in his eyes he knows it.

“No. No. No.”

I don’t think. All I can do is act. My only thought, revenge. Grief and anger guide my actions, as more shots ring out around me. I pull the guards gun from its holster, take aim, and fire.

The shot hits its target. Straight in the center of my father’s forehead. His eyes widen just before he falls heavily to the ground, dead.

More shots fire around me, but I just stand there, paralyzed.

Screaming and chaos reign and the gun is pulled from my hands, large arms lifting me. I’m held tightly against a hard body and then I hear Giles’ voice.

“It’s me, Tia. It’s me.”

I only get a quick view of the bloody scene he carries me away from, but it’s one that will forever be imprinted in my mind. My father’s lifeless body, surrounded by his dead guards. And Helene, her eyes still wide open, mouth gaping in shock even in death.

Oh, God.

But I don’t have time to think about the lives lost because, inside the car, I’m met with a new horror.

Huxley’s body lies limp in the backseat, Mason holding his hands over the wound, blood seeping through his fingers.

“Help him,” Giles says, before shutting my door and climbing in the front, and yelling at Fallon to drive.

Shock and despair make me hesitate, but it’s only for a split second before my medical training kicks into gear.

“Give me your shirt,” I say to Mason, who takes it off, then hands it to me. I ball it, then press it over the wound. “Keep the pressure on it.”

Huxley groans, his face pale, as his eyelashes flutter. “Tia.”

“I’m here. Just hold on. You’re going to be all right. We’re almost at the bunker and Banks will--”

“I...” He tries to lift his hand to touch my face, but he doesn’t have the strength and it falls limp beside him. “I love you. Always know that.”

“You’ll be able to tell me that a million times. Just stay with me. Okay?”

“Thorne? Is he...?”

“He’s dead.” I place my palm on his cheek and repeat, “He’s dead.”

“Good. Then you’re finally safe.” A look of peace rests across his features.

“We’re all going to be safe. Just hold on.”

“I love you,” he says, one last time before his eyes close.

“Huxley,” I shout, checking frantically for a pulse. “Hux, don’t do this. Don’t leave us.”

But even as I cry out the words, I know that my husband is already gone.