CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The three of them followed the streams for several miles, Elias in front of her and Justin at her back. Nothing was said.
It was easy to see why the Incans had picked that location. It was like a secluded walled city inside the mountain. It was formed like a large vase, the same black rock shaped like a bowl at the bottom and fluted up to a narrow opening toward the top. There were narrow openings, like doorways that would’ve made it difficult for anyone to attack their protected space.
The sound of crashing waves became louder as they kept going, and she remembered Elias saying that no boats were allowed in the waters at the center of the Triangle Islands. Which made her wonder how the hell they were supposed to get out of there.
The moss and rich dirt of the jungle eventually gave way to white sand that felt good and warm on the bottoms of her sore feet. Jagged rocks jutted up from the coastline and the waves crashed high and loud against them. She could see why boats and people weren’t allowed. The water flowed in different directions, almost forming a series of mini-whirlpools.
“I hit the homing beacon for the extraction team,” Elias said. “The best thing to do is wait here. It’s been hours since I heard shots.”
“You’re still going to have to explain this whole extraction thing to me,” Justin said, eyes narrowed. “You were dishonorably discharged. Court-martialed.”
“I was set up, and you’re too stupid to see it.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But there’s still a hell of a lot of unanswered questions.”
The vibrations from a helicopter put them both on alert, and then they saw the black chopper as it slowly lowered itself over the treacherous waters. It was a delicate act, and one that would take an excellent pilot.
“Shit,” Elias said, catching sight of a smiling Emilio Cordova sitting next to the pilot. He had a submachine gun pointed at the three of them. There was at least another one of their men in the back with the doors open.
“Hello, my friends,” Cordova said through a speaker. “I’m so glad you decided to take up my invitation to my islands, Ms. Darling. Your brother has been a great deal of trouble, but it’s nice to see you all together. It takes some of the work off of us. Go ahead and relieve yourselves of your weapons,” he said. “You’re not going to need them. And just in case you’re thinking of doing something stupid, these bullets will hit Ms. Darling first. Just below the knees, I think. We still need her as a bargaining tool.”
Elias and Justin both tossed their weapons on the ground and glared at the chopper. They were helpless. A long strap fell from the back opening of the chopper and it made its way closer to them. It couldn’t get too close because the rotors would be in danger of hitting the side of the cliff. But at the same time, they would have to get into the water to reach the strap.
“I’m not sure who you are,” Cordova said, speaking to Elias. “But I’m assuming you’re part of the team that is laying waste to my men. I believe you’re better off alive for the moment. They might want you back, and you might be a valuable commodity. Mr. Darling, make sure you bring that table leg with you. I’m anxious to see it.”
“How do you want to do this?” Justin asked. “She won’t be able to swim that distance to the strap.”
“We’ll both swim her out,” Elias said, hating the choices he’d been given but knowing there were no other options. They were too far to take shelter back within the safety of the black cliff walls. “You’ll take her up with you and I’ll wait below until they redrop the strap.”
“No,” Justin said. “Let me do it. They still need me, and I don’t want to risk the chance of them taking off without you.”
Elias nodded and took off his shoes, and Miller felt a swell of panic inside of her.
“It’ll be okay,” he told her so only she could hear. “Your natural inclination is going to be to fight against the water. Let us do the work for you, okay?”
She nodded and they made their way over the rocks and Justin dropped down into the water, his head bobbing back up instantly. And then Elias did the same.
“Come on, baby. I’ve got you,” Elias said.
Justin’s head jerked toward him at the endearment, but Miller kept her gaze on Elias’s. She could trust this man with her life. She knew that as sure as she knew she was breathing. She stepped off the rock and into the water, and her head didn’t even go under. The water was freezing and she understood what Elias had been talking about. The water was pushing and pulling, and she could feel the suction wanting to drag her down, and her instinctive need to fight to stay above water.
Elias and Justin looked at each other once, and she could see a whole world of communication and knowledge between the two of them. They each took one of her arms, and then they pushed off from the rocks and started swimming with the most incredible strength she’d ever seen. They each had only one arm to swim with, and their other arms were holding her up so her head stayed above water. She did what Elias had told her and relaxed, trying not to make their job any harder. They swam in such unison they were almost like one person.
The strap dangled in front of them and Elias grabbed hold of it, and Miller, sticking his foot in the loop at the bottom, and they began to rise as the crank pulled them up into the chopper. The man waiting at the top tugged at her arms and all but tossed her inside, and then he left Elias to get in on his own. The strap was dropped again so Justin could grab hold, and she wondered how he had the ability to hold himself against the strength of the water.
“Sit down on the floor and stay there, no matter what,” Elias told her. “Make yourself as small of a target as you can. Got it?”
She nodded and waited in anticipation as the crank lifted Justin into the chopper. The man in back was holding his gun at the ready, and Cordova was turned in his seat, his own weapon ready to fire.
Miller brought her knees up to her chest and curled in as small as she could get, pressing herself between two wooden crates. The second Justin came over the edge of the chopper, there was pandemonium. Elias and Justin moved in a flurry, a well-choreographed dance.
A shot went off, and then another, and she watched in horror as Justin knocked the man’s teeth together by hitting him under the chin with the back of his wrist, and then he flung the man out the side door into the rocky waters below.
The pilot was trying to fly the chopper and kill Justin at the same time. He finally let go of the controls long enough to turn in his seat and aim. But he wasn’t aiming at Justin. She could see directly down the barrel of the pistol.
“No,” Justin and Elias yelled at the same time, and she flinched as Justin’s body hurtled toward her to cover her. And then she felt the impact of the bullet as it hit him and he went limp on top of her.
“Ohmigod,” she said, pushing him off her so he lay flat on his back. Blood pooled beneath his shoulder out the back, and she looked around frantically for something to staunch the wound with.
She looked up at Elias for help, but he was still embroiled in his own battle against Cordova. Elias had both hands on Cordova’s submachine gun, and he jerked hard, hitting Cordova in the face. Blood spurted from his nose and mouth and he smiled, the blood coating his teeth. And then he pulled the trigger.
The chopper listed and she held on to the grab bar and Justin for dear life as she looked around to see what had happened. The pilot sat slumped over the controls, a good portion of the side of his face missing.
Elias lifted the dead pilot by the shirtfront and tossed him out the open door, and then he took his place in the pilot’s seat. Cordova was still in the seat next to him, only his neck was twisted grotesquely to one side.
“You can pilot a helicopter?” she asked, finding some old rags thrown in the back of the chopper. She folded them into a thick square and placed it at Justin’s exit wound. And then she made another and pressed it against the entry wound.
“Pretty much,” he said.
“Pretty much?” she said, eyes wide. She saw Justin’s lips twitch and breathed a sigh of relief.
“A little faith, my love,” Elias said.
“Always,” she said.
Justin studied her face and he seemed very fragile all of a sudden. He’d always been larger than life.
“Justin, if you die on me I’m going to kill you,” she said, holding him tightly in her arms. Her tears fell on his face, but he didn’t seem to mind.
“I’m so sorry,” he told her. “Can you ever forgive me? I should have done better by you. I didn’t know how, and that’s my own stupid fault. It was easier to leave.”
“Of course I forgive you,” she said, worried about his color. His lips were tinged blue. “I love you, you knot head. Save your breath. Elias is bringing us down and they’ll take care of you.”
“He used to be a good man,” Justin said. “The best. There was nothing he wouldn’t have done for one of us. We were all devastated when the verdict came in. We never would have believed it, but the proof was irrefutable.”
“It was a setup,” she told him. “He’s still a good man. One of the best.”
Justin nodded and squeezed her hand.
“Shh,” she said. “It’s okay. You can tell me all about it at the hospital.”
Panic filled her as his eyes went dim. He was slowly slipping away, and there was nothing she could do. He was the only family she had left.
Elias landed the chopper on the roof of the only hospital in Santa Cruz, and a team came out in a rush to greet them with a stretcher and whisk Justin away. Elias peeled himself out of the pilot’s seat and pulled her into his arms and she let herself weep—a cleansing through tears of years of heartache. And she loved him all the more because he held her as if she were the only thing in his world.