As she squeezed my hand she tugged me closer.
With my ear near her lips, she whispered, her words barely audible, “Bring him down. Don’t think about me. I’ll figure a way. You worry about your mission. I know after everything we’ve been through, we won’t fail.”
I started to shake my head. It wasn’t her place to be the strong one.
She tugged me closer.
“We won’t. Because one day I’m going to take you up on that promise of a new name.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. As much as I wanted to be the one to save her, I knew I had to have faith in her. I had no idea what was in store for her, but I believed that while Sara knew how to survive The Light, Stella would be the one to figure out how to escape.
Covering her with the blanket, I kissed her forehead.
“Jacob,” Richards called from the other room. “You’d better hurry. My uncle’s already pretty pissed.”
I swallowed my emotion and whispered, “It will happen”—I lowered my voice more—“Mrs. McAlister.”
And then I did the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. I walked away.
CHAPTER 24
Dylan
I pulled the door closed, but not before taking one more look at Stella. She had to be unconscious. She hadn’t moved since she’d collapsed in Gabriel’s office. Maybe if she could stay out cold for a little longer I’d be able to get back to her. Once I was sure Gabriel was in the air then I’d be in charge.
The tumblers echoed against the cement block walls as I locked the door.
“Tell me you’re the only one who has a key to that door.”
My teeth clenched at the sound of Jacob’s voice.
I wished I were the only one with a key. I really did. If he hadn’t fucked up and gone to Fairbanks, she’d still be at the Northern Light. It wasn’t as if I wanted her there, but it was a hell of a lot better than what Gabriel had planned.
I found my cockiest tone. “Are you now saying you’d be OK with that?”
His hands balled into fists, but at least he was keeping them at his sides. “No. I’m not OK with any of this. You’re pissed because she had a blackened eye. Have you looked around this place? Did you see the woman in the other bed?”
I put my hand up to make him stop. “I’m serious. My uncle will be more upset than he is, if he has to wait for you.”
“That’s it? You’re going to leave her here. What do you think will happen to her?”
I knew damn well what would happen. Did he think I was a fucking moron? But this place did have one advantage. I took a step toward him as my answer came out staccato. “I. Think. She’ll. Be. Away. From. You.”
Hatred glowed in his eyes. I’d seen it before, but not in a follower. Most of these Light psychos had the intellectual fortitude to be frightened or at least respectful of me. That wasn’t the vibe this guy was giving. His expression wasn’t like that of a normal follower. It reminded me of the look I’d seen on more than one asshole’s face as I was about to arrest him. They were the ones breaking the law, but they blamed me for locking them up. It was the same thing. This guy had been the one to screw up, to cause my uncle to question his loyalty. He’d been the one who blackened Stella’s eye, yet from the way his nostrils flared, he was blaming me because she was here.
Before I registered his movement, he was on me. His words spewing with spittle through clenched teeth. “You asshole! You think what you just did is better?”
He was the asshole. One word from Gabriel and me would turn him into polar bear food.
Before I could tell him, his forearm came against my throat, pinning me to the wall and momentarily halting my breathing.
“I could kill you right now,” he threatened. “No one would hear or find your body until your uncle’s forty-three thousand feet in the air, flying across this goddamn country at nearly seven hundred miles an hour.”
I pushed toward him and backed away, giving myself much-needed air. “Asshole!” I seethed. I was a fucking cop. I dealt with lunatics like this before breakfast. I didn’t care how fucking big or strong he was, I knew what I was doing.
My hands came up, and as they did, so did my leg. My boot planted to his torso. As soon as my leg straightened, he was the one gasping for air, his body tumbling backward against one of the filthy old couches before he regained his balance.
If I told my uncle now, Stella wouldn’t have a chance. “You’re really losing it,” I said. “If I fucking tell Gabriel any of this, you’re the one who’s dead.”
“I don’t give a damn about myself. You think I give a shit about me when my wife and child are locked in there? If I can’t help Sara, I don’t—”
Wife and child? As if any of this shit was real.
I ran my hand through my hair and slowed my words. “That’s not her name.”