62 #2
He didn’t look happy about that, but I’d already found the mechanism and set my foot down on it.
I made sure to get proper leverage and slowly depressed the trap.
With meticulous care, I reset it through feel.
I’d reset hundreds of these during my time in the forest with Sacha, and he’d made sure I could do it in the dark and under stressful circumstances.
I never thought it would come in handy, but apparently I was wrong.
I finished up and slowly waded to the bank where the others waited.
“Hopefully it catches one of them,” I said. “Let’s go.”
The landscape dipped and visibility slowly deteriorated, as we walked into a mist that thickened the further we walked.
We slowed to a crawl as I practically had to be on my hands and knees to watch for tripwires and pit falls.
Luckily, the traps were fewer and farther between now.
I wondered why, until I noticed the greenish-tint to the mist.
I turned to see if it was affecting Griffin, but he seemed okay. He’d pulled his cloth face covering up over his nose and mouth, and while I didn’t think that would help in the long run, it might slow things down.
I continued on until the mist grew so heavy, I could feel its wetness coat my lungs. I turned to check on Griffin again only to see he’d stopped. He stood staring off into the trees. At first it looked like he was checking our flank, but there was a glassy glint to his eyes.
“Seven,” I said.
“Shit,” Seven muttered.
He backtracked to Griffin. “You good, man?”
Griffin slowly turned his head to Seven and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go.”
At some point, I was back in front with Angel. I studied the ground carefully—it looked like there might be a tripwire under the leaves, but before I could check, I heard Seven behind me.
“Gabriel!” Seven barked.
We both turned and saw that Griffin had stopped again.
He was completely still and his eyes were fixed on something to our left, but when I looked in that direction, I couldn’t see anything.
For the first time since I’d met him, he looked…
vulnerable. Like heartbreak and longing—all wrapped up into grief that bled across his face.
Whatever he saw was from the depths of a wound he obviously had tried to bury deep.
That’s when I noticed the green mist that swirled around his ankles and reflected in his eyes.
“Fuck. I think he’s hallucinating,” I muttered.
The faint echoes of voices reached us, muted and dampened as they were, I knew Mahoney’s men were closing in.
62
GAbrIEL
“Gabriel.” I barely heard Seven when he put his hand on my shoulder. “We need to move, brother.”
I let him guide me back in the direction the group was headed, but I kept glancing out through the trees.
Something was out there. At first, I dismissed it.
I knew it was the fog. The green tint gave away the imminent disaster, but I thought if I just focused on the present, I could overcome it.
Whatever was out there was just a trick of the poison.
Maybe even a trick of the light. Nothing more.
It certainly wasn’t anything I needed to focus on.
But, the fog grew thicker. I felt it with each inhale as it coated my lungs and twisted through my nose and mouth. It clung to me, thick and noxious, all while having no smell at all except the dampness of the earth. I didn’t want to breathe, but I grew lightheaded trying to keep my breaths short.
Everything stayed the same, until I realized my steps were uneven. I’d fallen to the back of the group again. Hadn’t I just been in front with Emersyn?
The shadows moved in my periphery. I didn’t want to acknowledge it. But, then I saw it again. And this time, I couldn’t help it. I looked.
Motionless among the trees was a figure.
My heart stopped. No. I knew it wasn’t possible, but my brain didn’t want to listen to reason.
My vision narrowed until all I saw was her.
She stood maybe thirty yards away, mist swirled around her feet.
Long hair, caught between brown and blond clung to her cheeks. Familiar green eyes and those dimples—
She was older than I remembered, almost like she was the age she should be now—the age she never got the chance to become because it had been stolen from her. She smiled, and every muscle in my body locked. My lungs forgot how to work, but I somehow still gasped out a word.
“Kally.”
Her smile widened and turned mischievous. The same one she always got before she played a prank on me or our older sister. I’d tried to remember that smile everyday since she’d died. I’d been worried I’d forget it. Kalena took a step back and nodded her head like she wanted me to follow her.
No. I knew she wasn’t real. I knew this wasn’t really happening.
I was in the forest. I was on Mahoney’s island.
We were being pursued. I needed to continue with the team.
We were headed to our exfil location. I knew Emersyn was nearby.
I knew Seven was probably shouting at me. I knew all of this and yet—
Kalena beckoned to me again, and all of that disappeared.
None of that mattered anymore because for one impossible second, she was alive.
The thought shattered something inside me.
I’d spent years dismantling trafficking rings in hopes it would help alleviate the guilt I felt at not being able to find her in time.
I’d spent years pretending I’d made peace with what had happened.
When really, I don’t think I’d ever be able to accept that she wasn’t in this world because I had been too late.
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I’d gotten there five minutes sooner.
Three minutes. One minute, even.
“Just—please be careful, Kally. Don’t accept rides from strangers—”
“Okayyy, jeez, stop acting like dad,” Kalena sighed in exasperation on the other end of the line. “That’s exactly something he would say.”
“I know, but it can be dangerous out there,” I insisted.
“I have to go, Griffy,” she called.
I heard her girlfriend, who had accompanied her on their European adventure, talking excitedly in the background.
“Call me if you need me—”
“I will! Love you!”
“Love—”
The line went dead.
I took a step toward her. I thought I vaguely heard my name being shouted behind me, but the sound barely registered as Kalena smiled again.
She turned and walked deeper into the trees, and panic gripped me.
No. No, I didn’t want her to leave. Not again.
I surged after her. I knew I was being reckless, but it didn’t matter.
I had to get to her. I’d been too late last time.
I wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
I was at home on the couch, drinking again in an attempt to drown out the nightmares I’d had of my team getting killed one by one, and of Seven strung up and bloody, while the enemy demanded answers to questions I would rather die than answer.
I could taste the whiskey thick and heavy on my tongue, the burn long gone now that half the bottle was too. The phone rang, loud and aggressive.
I saw it was Kalena so I answered. “Two calls in one day—”
“Gabriel, help me,” Kalena’s voice trembled so hard it was barely audible.
I sat up, my vision doubled as the alcohol hit. “Where are you?” I demanded.
“In a car—” She said the street name she passed, then all hell broke loose. A gruff male voice shouted at her. There was a scuffle.
She screamed. “No! Don’t touch me! Help me! Gabriel! No—”
“Kally!” I had a death grip on the phone as I raced around the house grabbing things. “Kalena!”
The line went dead.
I’d almost reached her when I followed her around a tree, and I was suddenly not in the forest anymore. I stood in the warehouse—the same one I’d entered all those years ago in search of her.
The smell hit me. Blood. Mold. Sex and death. The smell of a den where hopes and dreams and safety were ruthlessly suffocated by evil men. No matter how many dens I’d raided, the smell always reminded me of her—of that night.
I frantically dialed Kalena’s number, but it went straight to voicemail.
I cursed, and the panic rose so intensely I leaned over the sink and threw up.
It was purely alcohol, I hadn’t eaten anything in hours.
I couldn’t breathe. I gripped the counter and tried to get my panic attack to subside so I could fucking think. I dialed another number.
“Kyllion.” My voice broke.
“What is it, Griff?” I heard him grab his keys, instantly knowing something was wrong. “What happened?”
“It’s Kalena—” My voice choked off, and I had to take a deep breath and try again. “She was taken.”
“On my way,” he said. “Stay there.”
The same hallway yawned dark and threatening in front of me.
My stomach seized. I was going to be sick.
Not again. I couldn’t go through this again, but my boots moved on their own accord and carried me forward.
Past steel doors and concrete walls that muffled cries of suffering.
I couldn’t stop, even if I’d wanted to. I had to see.
And some sick part of me hoped I wouldn’t be too late again.
I was on a plane to Paris. I was numb. The turbulence was violent—I don’t think it had been like that, but I hardly remember anything from the flight.
The guys forced water and food down my throat to get me sober.
I didn’t want to be sober. I wanted to drown in alcohol and act like this wasn’t happening.
“I haven’t been able to reach his older sister,” Kyllion’s voice filtered through the haze.
“I wouldn’t tell him that right now,” Seven said quietly. “Let’s get on the ground and we can try again.”
We were at the safe house. Kyllion grabbed me by the shoulders.