MILA 2.0: Redemption (27 page)

At that, he laughed. “Hell no. If we cut it too close, I’ll ditch you in a heartbeat.”

So starting the bomb. It was just an extravagant, overdone way to bring me to heel.

I navigated the van through traffic, making sure to keep both hands on the steering wheel. Memories accosted me.
Driving my mom, while Holland’s men shot at us. Her blood, pooling on asphalt.

My breath hitched in my chest; my vision narrowed, until all I could see was the road ahead. One step at a time. I would find a way.

I could hear the bomb ticking.

The traffic thinned as the cityscape melted into grass and trees.

“I’d say I was disappointed that you were involved, Lucas, but I knew better than to expect much after your brother was such a waste of space. It’s all about the genes. Joanna, the mouse who’s petrified of her own shadow, and your father. You’ve got brains, but you’re too damn soft, and your loyalty’s all in the wrong place. A pity.”

Lucas made a sound, like he wanted to talk.

“You want to tell me why? Go ahead.” With a flick of his wrist, Holland ripped off the duct tape.

Lucas inhaled a few times before speaking. “My loyalty’s not in the wrong place. Yours is. Instead of defending your country, you look out for number one. You.” I don’t know why it surprised me that Lucas’s voice was calm and clear. My heart swelled with pride but my lungs filled with fear at what Holland would do now.

A hiss, followed by a ragged gasp. In desperation, I glanced over my shoulder. Holland still held the gun to Lucas’s head, but now his other hand was around his throat. Squeezing.

“Drive,” he barked.

The image of Lucas’s red face and clawing fingers burned into my eyes. I felt trapped, desperate. Every cell in my body wanted to yank the steering wheel to the shoulder, throw the van into park, fly into the backseat, and turn the barrel on Holland. But he had me tied up as much as if I’d been chained.

He knew I wouldn’t risk Lucas’s life, or the lives of the kids back at Montford. They were under Tim’s hateful watch now, and they were counting on me.

All I could do was bide my time.

The gasps had receded, spiking my panic to a fever pitch. “He can’t breathe,” I screamed, keeping my eyes on the road. Was he going to murder his own nephew?

Holland laughed, enjoying my panic.

“If you kill him, you’ll be dead within five seconds,” I said. This time, my tone was as conversational as his. I glanced into the rearview, triumphant gray eyes clashing with brown. My expression matched my voice. Calm. Pleasant.

Resolved.

Lucas’s eyes rolled when Holland released him. For a terrifying moment, his head flopped forward and no sound emerged.

My foot went for the brake, but before I could slam it, a terrible, rasping wheeze filled the van.

Lucas, sucking air down his swollen throat.

Holland tracked my concern with curiosity. “This is an interesting development. I hadn’t realized you had feelings for him.”

“Don’t tell me you feel the same way,” he said to Lucas.

When Lucas refused to look at him or answer, Holland’s hand shot out and grabbed his chin, jerking it in his direction. “I asked you a question,” he said.

Lie,
I urged Lucas.
If you do have feelings for me, lie.

Even as I pleaded with him in my mind, I knew it was a lost cause. Lucas never lied. In the rearview, I saw him smile. “I do. It’s logic defying, really. How on earth did someone as horrible as you manage to create something as amazing as her?”

Lucas twisted his face away. In the mirror, his eyes met mine, shining and fierce.

Holland’s punch cracked through the interior. Lucas’s head whipped back hard. “And I always thought you were the smart one. Idiot.”

The drive seemed interminably long, up until the point where Holland told me to stop. Then, it seemed entirely too short. As we drove around a large building in the middle of a field, a helicopter was revealed, dormant for now on top of a landing square.

I climbed out of the car, marching just ahead of Holland and Lucas. The doors on the other van opened, and two men emerged with Daniel. Holland told us the plan.

“The three of us are going in the Huey. Dave and Brady will stay behind with Daniel, just to be safe. We’re just waiting for Grassi. Stay there, against the wall.” He jerked his gun at the white aluminum building behind us. I slid down the wall, resigning myself to the inevitable.

Brady came over, dumping Lucas in a heap beside me. I helped him sit up, trying to fight back tears.

“Don’t cry,” Lucas said. “Not over me. You’ve had enough sadness for one short life.”

That only made my eyes fill up more. Even in this state, in bonds and beaten, Lucas worried about me.

“You two want to be together so much, here’s your chance,” Holland taunted us. I couldn’t stand the mocking. But I also couldn’t stand to lose the possibility.

Lucas caught the intent in my eyes, and just the very
edges of his lips curved up. I laugh-sobbed and with one hand, gently cupped his cheek.

And then my lips touched Lucas’s and for the moment at least, Holland faded away.

For these few, shining moments, it would be just the two of us. Sharing something bright and warm, full of the good parts of humanity.

Lucas’s mouth moved over mine, or mine over his. I wasn’t sure and I didn’t care. I grasped his shoulders and pulled him close, trying to press into him a lifetime of wanting and need.

Trying to absorb a lifetime in return, to carry with me in my final moments. His body, his scent, the soft graze of his eyelashes against mine. The way, even now, he let me take the lead when I wanted. Everything about him, and us, felt right. Full of possibility. A partnership born of complete acceptance.

The kiss joined us, forged a bond that neither Holland nor his goons nor anyone else could touch. I wanted to sink into this moment, into Lucas, and remain here forever.

Holland had other ideas.

Rough hands grabbed my shoulders and I gasped. Too soon, it was too soon.

The last press of his lips was salty with tears: his or mine, I wasn’t sure. And then I let the hands pull us apart. The last I felt of Lucas was the sensation of his fingertips slip-sliding
against mine, until even that tiny bit of contact was lost.

I remained calm.

For one moment, I had been at peace.

“Abominations, both of you,” Holland said. “Where the hell is Grassi?”

Brady shrugged. “He hasn’t checked back in yet. Maybe his phone died.”

While Holland cursed Grassi and Brady out for carrying half-charged phones on assignment, Tim’s face flashed in my mind. The way he’d refused to show any expression. His rise in pulse. The army pin, planted at the scene of the fire. What was he trying to say?

“Why didn’t you come sooner?” I asked Holland. “You could have found us before we uncovered your plan.”

“I would have, if Lucas had checked in with his brother sooner,” Holland growled.

“My brother? What does Tim have to do with this?”

Holland’s grin sharpened as he smelled blood. “Didn’t I mention it? He’s the one who helped me track you down.”

“What? No . . .” Lucas sagged against his captor, his pale face going gray. “I can’t believe . . .” His anguish was a horrible thing to witness. “Mila, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Not to me, not for things that this monster has done. There is no shame in giving someone the benefit of the doubt. You thought Tim had changed.”

Lucas’s lashes were dark with tears when he looked at
me. And then his eyes widened, just a little. He mouthed something at me.

“I did check in sooner.”

And apparently Tim hadn’t said a word to Holland.

Could he have wanted us to uncover Holland’s scheme?

Could he have left the pin at the fire, so someday someone could follow the trail?

Could he have wanted forgiveness? Redemption? More than anyone, I knew what that was like. I also knew I might never get the answers about Tim. But suddenly I felt differently about leaving the Montford kids in his care.

Holland’s gaze traveled between the two of us. He didn’t know what had passed between us, but he didn’t like it.

“New plan. We’re leaving Grassi and getting on now. Brady, start it up and get Lucas on board.”

The blades began to move with a groan, slowly at first but then building up speed until my hair whipped at my face and everyone had to shout to be heard.

Brady screamed over the ruckus. “Wait, just got a text from Grassi—he’s almost here. Needed to stop for gas,” he yelled, but his words got plucked up by the wind and tossed away.

Meanwhile, he was having a hard time getting Lucas forward. Lucas had pretended to faint, and the effort of trying to drag him while not letting go of his gun was proving to be a challenge.

Unnoticed by anyone but me, a lone car raced down the road. One hundred yards away but gaining on us rapidly. I scanned the contents; my sensors were barely back online. Three people. Two guns. Not enough information to make a decision. But just enough to hope. And plan.

I edged closer to Brady and Lucas, putting myself in their path. From the back window of the van, I caught a quick motion. Daniel’s foot. Just before it smashed into the window.

The car was pulling up, but Holland still hadn’t heard it. I prepared myself. I would have one chance to make this work.

And then the car pulled into view. I saw the driver at the same time Holland did. It was Hunter. And he wasn’t stopping. He gunned the car at Holland.

Now.

Brady’s attention, diverted by the car, was the next break I needed. I lunged behind him, one arm around his throat, the other squeezing his wrist until the gun slipped from his grasp. I smashed the gun over his skull, and he crumpled. Quickly, I squatted and freed Lucas from his bonds. I pressed one quick kiss to his lips, trying to commit the feeling to memory.

“Quick, go help Daniel,” I said, handing him the gun.

Holland had dodged the car but fallen in the process, giving Samuel time to jump out and pin him with a Taser. A minute later, and I had the detonator in my hand.

Lucas was safe. What I’d been longing for since Nicole had been killed—bringing Holland down—had finally happened.

Throat knotting, I took a step toward the helicopter.

“You don’t have to!” Lucas yelled over the deafening sound of the helicopter’s blades. “We’ve got Holland. We can get him to stop the bomb in trade for his life.”

The lump in my throat grew. “They’ll just keep coming. As long as I exist. Even if Holland is gone. There’ll be someone else, like Quinn or Grassi, who’ll find out about me and try to use me for whatever twisted plan they have. I can’t take the risk. And I can’t run anymore.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but no words came. He knew I was right, and it wasn’t in him to try to persuade me otherwise.

“We could hide. We did just fine at the cabin, didn’t we?”

But I could tell by the sad smile that he knew that what I was going to say.

“You shouldn’t have to live like that.”

He reached forward, traced my mouth with his thumb. “But we’d be together.”

Tempting. So tempting. “For how long? We’d always be looking over our shoulders, wondering when I might be discovered. Please trust me, this is the right thing to do.”

“Like I said, you’re one of the bravest people I know.”

His hand cupped my cheek; mine cupped his. Equals.
I could have stood like that for hours. Breaking the contact was like ripping up a piece of me. Step one in leaving him—everything—behind. But it had to be done. I backed away, urging myself to turn around, but faltering.

And then my mom’s last words floated through my head, lending me warmth. “If no harm would come to others, I promise, I would choose to live,” I said softly.

But people would be harmed if I stayed. And I had inflicted so much suffering already.

This was my choice. What he did with that knowledge was his.

Then I turned and ran for the helicopter, jumping into the driver’s seat.

Daniel’s anguished cry caught my ears, but I knew he would understand, too. Eventually. As much as he cared about me, he would want to protect other people’s daughters more.

The dashboard was a maze of buttons and knobs, but my android sensors took over, directing me.

Before I could lift off though, Samuel shouted, “Wait!”

I looked to see Daniel sprinting over to Holland, and punching him in the face. Once. Twice. Three times. None of it would bring back his daughter or save me, but it was certainly a little bit of justice served.

When Holland was barely conscious to fight back, Daniel and Samuel began dragging him. Toward me. I started to
shake my head, knowing what they had in mind.

Daniel cut me short. “Mila, this is the only way we’ll know for sure those kids will be safe. And future kids. Other people’s Sarahs.”

I looked at Holland, my mind at war with itself. Taking him with me was murder. But leaving him behind could very well be too. I found myself seeking Lucas, one last time. My beautiful pacifist. There was no way he’d be okay with this.

What I saw in his eyes surprised me. “Like you said, they’ll keep coming. There are no guarantees what will happen to him in a trial.”

“Lucas,” I said, shaking my head.

His jaw flexed before he sighed. “I know. But if he chose?”

“Why on earth would—”

But Lucas was already walking away, heading straight for his half-conscious uncle.

So I waited. I waited while Lucas knelt down and whispered in his uncle’s ear. I saw Holland jerk, then flinch. A minute later, Lucas rose. “Put him in the copter,” he said. Samuel and Daniel complied, hoisting him into the passenger seat and buckling him in.

I approached the pilot’s side, where Lucas waited. “What did you say to him?” I asked. A little afraid.

“I reminded him how traitors are treated in this country.
How his name would be ruined. He’d be a laughingstock, the brunt of jokes for years to come. I told him his life was pretty much over anyway, and if he went, we could try to keep his involvement quiet.”