“Oh, really?” Virgil asked. “Why don’t you think of it this way. If the little squeaky toy that you’ve been playing with had been a real woman and actually been able to give me a baby to follow in my footsteps he would be a teenager right now. High school. We’d be looking at colleges and thinking about internships at my office.”
“Do you actually have an office?” I asked, not allowing the taunts about our ages to get to me. “From what I hear, actually working isn’t something that you are too fond of.”
Virgil’s eyes darkened and I knew that it had occurred to him that Eleanor may have shared with me what he had done. Though she had still only been sparse with the details and I had only the most basic of information to build on, I knew that he was a white-collar criminal who had done enough that the entire government was interested in getting their hands on any evidence that they could that would let them finally bring him down.
“And who are you?” Virgil snapped.
“My name is Hunter,” I said.
A flash of recognition went across his face.
“Hunter,” he said. “I know who you are. You’re Noah’s paper jockey. That must be so fulfilling. Spending all day every day licking the shoes of a man who is so far above you, so far beyond anything that you could ever even hope to achieve. I bet your parents are just so proud.”
I felt like my blood was boiling, the heat searing my skin and making my heart pound so hard that I couldn’t get it under control. This man was the reprehensible waste of breath who had put Eleanor through so much and somehow, he had found us, confirming that it had been him who had sent the men on the ship.
“How did you find us?” I asked.
Behind me I could feel Eleanor bending down to take up the pieces of fabric that she had brought with us to the river so that she could tie them on as clothing.
“When you have power like I do, nothing is beyond your reach,” Virgil said. “But it wouldn’t have been so easy if it hadn’t been for the incompetence of ship security. It’s incredible how quickly someone can forget the name of a crime boss. They called me as her next of kin and alerted me to the fact that she was missing. From there, my men pinpointed where you had made your little swan dive into the ocean. A few very good friends of mine were willing to do some hacking for me and found records of a satellite call that came from this area and then images of your precious HELP sign. That really is adorable, by the way.”
“Satellite call?” I asked. “No one made a satellite call. Does this place look like it has a phone?”
“Don’t give me that,” Virgil spat. “The call was made and it just so happens that one of the investments that Eleanor gifted me during our marriage served me beautifully. By some strange coincidence one of their copters had been chartered for a last-minute flight right into the heart of where that call came from.”
“Copter?” I asked, confused.
“Airborne Tours,” Eleanor murmured from behind me. “It’s a company that gives tours of historical and natural points of interests by helicopter.”
She sounded gutted, as though the words that she was saying to me weren’t really being said, but rattling around inside the shell of what she once was. A terrifying thought settled into my stomach and I took a barely perceptible step back so that I was pressed more closely to Eleanor. I could feel that she had managed to get the fabric in place and I reached back to give her hand a squeeze. I waited until Virgil started talking again, not caring what he was saying, before I turned my head just enough that she would be able to hear me.
“Run.”
I broke off from her the instant the word was out of my mouth and started running away from the river, taking a sharp diagonal path. I was relieved that she didn’t question me or hesitate, but shot off from the river bank the same moment that I had, having the forethought to go in the opposite direction. I hated the thought of her being alone in the jungle, vulnerable to the men, but I knew that running together would have slowed us down and actually made it easier for them to find us. Instead, going in opposite directions, using the knowledge of the island that we had built up over the days that we had spent there to weave through the trees, would create confusing paths that would be extremely difficult to follow.
Behind me I could hear the infuriated shouts of Virgil and the men, and I kept running, occasionally taking a path that would loop me back slightly to throw them off if they did happen to catch sight of me. My heart was pounding in my chest, each beat like a silent prayer that Eleanor was alright. Finally, I turned and started running in a direct path toward the beach. I shot out onto the sand and whipped around, trying to see any sign of movement in the trees.
“Come on,” I muttered. “Come on. Where are you, Eleanor?”
****
Eleanor
Why again? Why fucking again?
The rough undergrowth of the jungle stung at the bottoms of my feet, the occasional rock or sharp branch pressing up into my skin until I was sure that I was going to be hemorrhaging by the time that I made it to the beach. This was just ridiculous. For nearly the entire time that we were married I tried to convince Virgil to take up running with me. ‘We should train for a marathon, Honey. It would be such an amazing bonding experience.’ ‘Just a few loops around the block, Sweetheart. The neighbors aren’t going to care.’ ‘Let’s run up to the hill and watch the sunrise together. It will be such a romantic start to our day.’ ‘Side-by-side treadmills. We could get side-by-side treadmills and run together during your nightly news.’ I even went so far as to buy us coordinating jogging suits embroidered with our names and cute little headbands to match. But no. Virgil flat-out refused and told me that a woman of my station should never be seen sweating or doing something physical like running. It diminished my standing.
Yet, here I was. The last two times that I had had any interaction with Virgil he had me running like I was running across the border. I could hear the men chasing behind me and I knew that somewhere in the jungle Hunter was running, too. I wished that he was back by my side like he had been in the cruise ship, but I knew that it was better this way. It gave a better chance that at least one of us would survive and be able to lead the authorities to recover the other one.
Damn. I go to the dark place fast. Something else to talk to my therapist about.
As I ran I had the sudden and somewhat stunning realization that I was perfectly comfortable. Though it was painful and I would have really preferred to have been wearing shoes and actual clothing, I felt at ease running through the jungle, zipping past the trees and ducking the vines that hung low enough that they would have clotheslined me just a few days before. It was as though my father and my brother were right there with me, directing me. I could hear Virgil’s voice following me, but I refused to let it slow me down. He had done that for far too long. Now I had the strength of Hunter and the life of freedom that I had found behind me and I wasn’t about to sacrifice that without a fight.
I finally saw the thinning of the tree line ahead of me and could hear the crash of the waves. I pushed myself faster and soon felt the sand of the beach on my feet.
“Eleanor!”
I turned toward the sound of my name and saw Hunter running at me. I rushed toward him and jumped into his arms, wrapping myself around him as much as I could and clinging to him out of desperate relief. He pressed a series of hard, fast kisses to my neck, cheek, and mouth before setting me to my feet. His eyes frantically searched the sky above us and then length of the beach.
“What?” I asked. “What is it?”
“What don’t you hear?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Virgil said that someone scheduled a helicopter to come this way. Do you hear a helicopter?”
“No,” I said.
“So, he didn’t use the helicopter.”
I felt like what he was saying wasn’t completely sinking in, like the words were bouncing off of my brain and going right back toward him without making any sense.