The Private Serials Box Set (42 page)

   “Hello,” she said sweetly when she pulled away, not removing her arms from around me.

   “Hello, sweetheart.”  I watched her eyes soften at my endearment, then she turned to face the man she was ready to leave behind.

   “Derrek.  Jessica.”  That was her greeting to them, and it was cold.  She did, however, give a small wave to the little girl at Jessica’s side, and I wasn’t surprised when the child’s face lit up with a smile and she waved back.

   “What are we doing here?”  Derrek asked, irritated.

   “We’re here to go boating,” I said deadpan, fully aware that my answer was snarky and frustrating.

   “Cut the bullshit,” Derrek snapped.

   “Lena and I are going to rent a boat.  You and Jessica are going to rent a boat.  We are going to meet about seven miles southeast of here.  You can follow me.”

   “First you tell me what’s going on.”

   “No.  We’re doing this my way.  You either rent this boat and meet us in the water, or the first call I make is to Edgar.  I’ll remind you that you no longer have enough money to pay him back.”  Derrek thought about his options, but in the end, the choice I gave him wasn’t really a choice.  I turned, my arm around Lena’s shoulders, and proceeded to the small building to rent a speedboat. 

   Forty-five minutes later Lena and I were shooting through the water, cutting through the ice-blue waves, wind whipping past us.  Lena was smiling and so was I.  Even though we were about to try and pull off something completely crazy and illegal, it was hard not to enjoy the ride.  Lena looked back toward the shore, Athens disappearing in the distance, and I couldn’t help but admire the picture she had painted for me.  Long tanned legs crossed, black bikini covering enough to be appropriate, but leaving enough skin available for me to peruse that my thoughts were anything but.  Her hair was captured by the wind, flowing behind her in a wild mess that looked both beautiful and free.  Perhaps she felt free.  Perhaps she had faith enough in me to understand that this would be the last hour of her life where she’d have to worry about Derrek or the mess he’d made.  I couldn’t help but smile bigger thinking I’d given her the happiness and freedom painted across her face.

   Once we’d reached our destination I slowed the boat to a full stop. 

   “I know you’ve wanted to keep the details to yourself, and I understand why, but I’m really curious as to what we’re doing way out here.”  Lena was sitting on one of the benches that lined the side of the boat, her hair no longer blowing in the wind, but her face a little pink from it. 

   “Derrek and Jessica are about to get lost at sea,” was my only response and Lena, God love her, accepted it with a nod.

   When their boat pulled up near ours, obviously a little behind, not wanting to take theirs at a full clip with little girls on board, Derrek’s face was both worried and irritated.

   “Okay, we’re here.  Now tell me what the hell is going on.”

   “First thing’s first.  Jessica and the girls need to board our boat.”

   “What?”  The rage in his voice was clear and loud, and I completely understood.

   “Listen, Derrek.  I give you my word that everything will be all right.  But you’ve got to trust me here.  I want nothing but for this to be over with.”  I picked up the rope I’d pulled out of the supply hatch and raised my eyebrows at him, waiting for him to comply.  I knew he would—he had no other choice.  He held his hands out and I tossed him the rope, then we gently pulled until our boats were side by side.

   Jessica climbed aboard first, then slowly, Derrek passed the girls over to her.  Lena held her hands out, offering to take the smaller girl from Jessica.  She hesitated for just a moment, but then handed the tiny girl to her.  Even though she was holding the love child her ex-husband created while cheating on her, Lena’s face lit up and she made it her mission to make the little girl smile amidst all the uncertainty and chaos.

   Once all three were safely aboard, I looked to Derrek.

   “You see that island just south of us?”  I pointed to the horizon, where one could see the outline of an island in the distance.

   “Yeah….” Derrek’s answer trailed off as he tried to put together all the pieces I was giving him.

   “The east side of the island is just a rocky cliff.  I want you to take your boat around the island and then point it directly at the rocks.  Max the speed out.  You need to be going fast enough to wreck that boat beyond recognition.”

   “What?” Jessica practically yelled, but then calmed immediately when both her children began to panic too.

   “You want me to crash the boat into the side of that island?”  Derrek’s voice was both scared and unbelieving.

   “Yes.  I want you to aim the boat at the rocks, but jump into the water about five hundred yards out.  We’ll come and pull you out of the water.”

   “That’s crazy.  I could die.”

   “That’s the idea.”

   Derrek stared at me, eyes wide, until I saw recognition cloud them over.  “You want me to fake my own death.”  It wasn’t a question, but a statement.

   “Not just yours.  The registrar at the marina thinks your whole family is on that boat.  They’ll find the boat, but they won’t find your bodies.  They’ll think you all died in the crash and your bodies were lost at sea.”

   “This can’t be the only way,” Derrek said, his voice wavering somewhere between angry and scared.

   “This is the only way where you disappear, but are still breathing.  Edgar wants you dead.  Thinks I’m here to kill you, in fact.  But I can’t do that.  Even with how much I despise you, I can’t kill you.  But I will tell him where you are.”  I paused, letting everything sink in for him.  “If you do this, if you crash this boat and disappear, I will pay Edgar off and tell him you’re dead.  You’ll be free to start a new life, and I’ll make that a possibility.  But if you don’t, it’s over.”

   Derrek’s eyes flashed to Jessica’s, and she looked just as shaken as he did.  After everything that had happened in the last few days, I was shocked this had come as some sort of surprise to them both.  If someone were after Lena and myself, if we were being hunted, and someone offered me an out, I’d take it without hesitation.  It would hurt, but I’d put my past behind me, leave my family, leave my life behind, to ensure Lena was safe and with me.  I watched his gaze move from Jessica to the faces of his daughters and I knew the moment when he made the decision.

   “You promise you can make us safe?”

   I leaned forward and looked him in the eye, trying to impart as much urgency and passion with my words as I could.  “If you’re not safe, then Lena’s not safe.  There is nothing I take more seriously than her safety.  You mean shit to me, but she means the world.  I wouldn’t gamble with her life.”

   Derrek’s eyes jumped from Jessica to Lena and back to me.  He took off his hat, ran his hands through his hair, and exhaled loudly.  “Okay, let’s get this over with.”  At his words, Jessica stood up and moved to the side of the boat, leaning toward him and kissing him with all the passion you’d expect a couple in love to share.  My eyes darted to Lena, to see if their exchange caused her any pain, but she was happily cooing at the child in her lap, oblivious.

   When Jessica and Derrek pulled away from each other, she sat back down and I watched as Lena ran her hand down Jessica’s arm, comforting her.  “He’ll be all right,” Lena said quietly as Jessica wiped a few tears from her cheeks.

   “Okay,” I said, turning back to Derrek.  “Like I said, just aim for the rocks then, literally, abandon ship before you get too close.  It’ll probably explode and you don’t want to be too close to the explosion.”  I heard Jessica muffle a cry at my words but Derrek just nodded.  “Make sure your life jacket is on tight.”

   “Yeah, no shit,” Derrek responded, with almost a laugh.

   “We’ll be out to get you as soon as it’s safe for the girls.”  Derrek just nodded at my words.

   “I love you,” he said firmly to Jessica, but she just nodded in response, pressing her lips together to keep herself from crying.  Derrek threw his end of the rope back into our boat and then took the wheel of his.  We all watched as he pulled away slowly.  Once he was a safe distance away, I took to following him. 

   We went at a slower clip, just far enough away to see him clearly.  I was more than relieved to see that there were no other boats on the east side of the island.  I hadn’t expected there to be any, really; it wasn’t an optimal spot for tourists.  The west side of the island had all the beaches.  I slowed the boat when he aligned his with the rocky cliffs.  We stopped altogether and watched as his boat sped up, heading directly toward the rocks. 

   Jessica started whimpering as the boat approached the island, and eventually turned her head away, unable to look any longer. 

   The boat was starting to get a little closer than I would have liked.  “Jump, Derrek.  Jump, damn it,” I whispered.  My heart started pounding harder; he was getting too close.  Finally, I watched as he jumped from the boat, saw the orange of his life vest hit the water.  Then just seconds later the boat hit with an impressively loud crash into the rocks.  As I suspected, the boat burst into flames; the sound of the explosion was much louder than the crash, and the whole event was hard to look away from.  Flames licked the sky, black smoke poured from the wreckage.  Surely, if anyone had been aboard, they’d be dead on impact.

   I pushed our boat forward and as we neared the crash site, the air was hot with the fire.  I saw Derrek in the water, his life vest bobbing in the waves.  As I neared it became clear he was moving, swimming away from the crash.  I sighed in relief, glad to know he’d made it.  I stopped the boat just yards from him and threw the rope out.  He grabbed it and I pulled him in.  After a struggle to bring him onboard, with lots of coughing and sputtering, he finally landed on the deck of the boat and Jessica flung herself on him, crying fully now, and very loudly. 

   Lena had both girls and tried to distract them, but we made eye contact and she gave me a small smile, obviously glad everything had turned out the way I’d planned.

   “We’ve got to get out of here, now,” I said urgently.  “Someone on that island heard the explosion and I’m sure the authorities are on their way here.  Derrek,” I snapped, hoping to get his attention.  When he finally looked at me from the deck of the boat, still coughing and breathing heavily, I nodded at the ocean.  “Throw your wallet in the water.  Jessica, you too.”  They didn’t bother arguing or questioning me, which made everything so much easier.

   After they’d ditched their personal items into the water, they sat on the bench, Derrek’s arms wrapped tightly around Jessica. I aimed our boat back toward Athens.

Chapter Ten

   I pulled the boat up to a marina that was much less popular, hoping there would be fewer people around to see us arrive.  This marina was mainly used by fishermen, so when we docked, we got hardly any looks from the men cleaning their boats.  Perfect.  We walked down the wooden-planked walkway and I spotted the black SUV I’d hired.

   “This is as far as we go,” I said to Derrek.  I handed him the manila envelope that contained the items Parker had managed to get for me.  “In that envelope you’ll find passports, IDs, and all the paperwork you’ll need to leave the country under new identities.  For all four of you.  There is also paperwork that will lead you to a bank account I’ve set up in your new name that has the two million dollars we promised you, plus another fifty thousand to get you started.”

   Derrek took the envelope from me, looked inside, and then sighed.  “You had this all figured out, didn’t you?”

   “Indeed,” I replied.  “Now listen, this is important.  You are all dead.  You cannot, under any circumstances, contact anyone from your previous life.  You cannot come back to Portland, cannot even come back to Oregon.  I’d say stay out of the US for a while, even.  Am I making this clear?  If you come back, you’re dead.  And so are we,” I say, motioning to Lena and myself.  Jessica looked more upset about this prospect than Derrek, and I guessed she might have been closer to her family than he was.  For just one moment I wondered if she was regretting getting involved with him to begin with.  She hadn’t signed up for all of this.  But then I looked at Lena, who was wearing a look of true compassion.  She actually felt bad for them.  Her open and enormous heart wiped away any concern I had for Jessica; she’d gotten herself into this mess and I’d done everything I could to ensure the man she loved lived.  I couldn’t feel guilty about it.  Refused to feel guilty.  “In that SUV there you’ll find luggage with a few changes of clothes for each of you.  The car will take you to the airport and I suggest you leave immediately.”

   Derrek reached out and I took his hand and shook it firmly.  He nodded toward me, and it sort of looked like he wanted to thank me, but the words never left his mouth.  Lena knelt and waved to the kids.

   “Bye, girls.  Be good for Mommy and Daddy, all right?”  The two little girls nodded and smiled at her as she stood.

   We stayed in place and watched as the four of them climbed into the car and drove away.  When it was out of sight I heard Lena let out a giant, relieved sigh.  I turned to her and saw the same relief written across her face.

   “That was pretty intense,” she said softly as she turned to me.  “I’m glad everything went as planned.  There were a million things that could have gone wrong.”

   I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, smiling when her cheek came into contact with my chest.

   “It was the only way I could think of to end this, once and for all.”

   “I get it.  I just hope it worked.”

   “If they head straight to the airport, which is where I hired their car to take them, they should be on a plane before anyone really notices they’re gone.”

   She exhaled loudly again and I buried my nose in her hair.  “You’re safe and that’s all that matters.”  Her arms squeezed me a little tighter and her face pressed against my chest a little harder.