17. Silas
Chapter 17
Silas
“ A bsolutely not,” Bianca snaps.
Fury sings through my blood, singeing my very soul as it passes through me.
“You don’t have a choice.” Yarrow leans back.
Bianca turns to River. “You cannot honestly expect me to pretend to be his fiancée.”
“Not all the time,” he says. “Just in the event that Yarrow’s father, Herman, visits. In that case, I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. Yarrow’s father is an important investor in our little organization, and he’s made it well known that he wants the prearranged marriage between you and his son to take place in order to cement our agreement.”
“Then find another Culvers.”
“There isn’t one. You’re it.”
“Then you better find someone to stand in for me and pretend to be your long-lost niece, because there is absolutely no way I will pretend to be anything to him.”
Yarrow stands. “I thought you might say that.” He walks around the table, and I track every move he makes, even as I know exactly where he’s headed.
There’s only one thing in this room that can make Bianca do as he asks.
The cool barrel of his pistol presses against my temple and Bianca’s eyes turn molten. “I’ll kill your boyfriend here. Maybe that will change your mind.”
“You need him,” she says. “You both said you do.”
“We can find someone else. Maybe I can step up as your bodyguard. I’d love nothing more than to spend every waking moment with you, Selena .”
Bianca turns to River. “Are you insane?”
To his credit, he looks a bit frustrated at this current turn of events. “Yarrow is right. I need you to play along, Bianca, or I risk losing everything I’ve built. Everything your father built.”
“I thought Bianca made it clear she didn’t care about anything Lucian built when she let him die,” I quip.
“Shut your mouth.” The barrel digs further into the side of my head. It hurts, but there’s no way I’ll let him see my pain.
“Lower your weapon.” Bianca sighs. “I’ll do it, but there are conditions.”
“Of course there are. I wouldn’t expect anything else than negotiation from a Culvers.” River glances past me at Yarrow. “Drop the gun and sit down. Your temper tantrum is over.”
Yarrow pulls away, then moves back around the table to sit across from me.
“What a good lap dog you are,” I growl.
Yarrow glares at me but doesn’t say anything else.
“What are your conditions?” River questions.
“I will not be alone with Yarrow. Silas stays with me at all times, and you’ll allow us one untraceable phone call.”
“One phone call? What is this, prison?” he jokes.
“That’s exactly what it is,” Bianca replies. “And you’ll let us tell those who care about us that we’re alive.”
River considers, and I find myself seriously hoping he agrees. One phone call is all I need to bring everything and everyone I know raining down on this place like ash after a volcanic eruption. “Fine. One phone call. Silas gets to make it.”
“Agreed.” She turns to me. “You can tell Eloise hi for me, too.”
River reaches into his pocket and withdraws a cell phone, then tosses it onto the table. “The number is untraceable. You get one try. If whoever you’re calling doesn’t pick up, you don’t get a second chance. And if you so much as breathe a word of what you’re doing or where you think you are, I’ll put a bullet in the both of you and start looking for a new doctor. Got it?”
I don’t answer, just reach for the phone and dial Knight Security’s number. Since it’s public, I don’t feel like River having it in his call log is dangerous. The last thing I’ll do is dial anyone’s personal number.
“Knight Security, this is Caleb.”
“It’s Silas. I need to talk to Lance.”
“Silas?” He sounds relieved. “Here he is.”
“Silas. Where are you?” Lance demands.
“I can’t tell you that, and I can’t tell you why we’re gone. I only have one minute, so I need you to give Eloise a kiss for me. Ask her to be extra kind to Bravo.” I can only hope he remembers who Bravo is, otherwise, there’s no hope of us being found.
“I’ll do that. And I’ll make sure Bravo is taken care of.”
Relief surges through my system, but I do my best not to let it show. “Tell her I love her and that I’ll be home soon.”
“I will. Bianca?”
“She’s okay, too. She’s with me, and we’ll both be home soon.”
“Yes,” he replies. “You will be.”
“Minute is up.” River reaches out his hand.
“I have to go. Keep her safe.” I end the call, then hand the phone over to River.
“Who’s Bravo?” he asks.
“A dog.”
“Interesting name for a dog.”
“I was military once upon a time, it seemed like a fitting name.”
He doesn’t respond, just sticks the phone into his pocket. “Shall we finish breakfast so I can show you both where you’ll be working?”
The compound River has managed to build is relatively extensive, though I’m discovering everything but the main house is made of shipping containers. They’re arranged in two long rows, almost like a manufactured main street.
Emaciated children sit outside in the dirt, the younger ones playing while the older kids watch carefully. I see no men or women, no adults at all, aside from us and the armed guards walking back and forth.
I stop walking.
“What are you doing?” River asks.
“What is this place?” My tone is deadly.
River looks around. Realization must dawn on him because he shakes his head. “You may think me a monster, SEAL, but I assure you I wouldn’t harm children.”
“You sure about that?” Bianca snaps. “Because they look pretty sick from where I’m sitting.”
“Hungry?” he asks. “Sure, but not harmed.”
“Hunger is harming them.”
“That’s on their parents. I offer meal tickets for a job well done. If they starve, it’s because they have parents who don’t take their work seriously. What kind of boss would I be if I didn’t offer consequences for actions?”
“You starve their children?” Bianca looks genuinely surprised, as though that horror goes beyond even what she thought him capable of. But I’ve seen the monster that lurks within River.
“They starve their children by not working. Come.” He’s clearly ready to dismiss the conversation, so I table it for now, though I intend on freeing every single one of these people by the time we leave here.
I’ll free any who want that freedom…or I’ll die trying.
We continue down the makeshift main street until we reach the edge of a massive pit in the ground. Going down at least a hundred feet if not more, there are stairs carved into the ground, and people are below, using tools to move through the dirt.
“You’re looking for diamonds.”
River turns to me, clearly impressed that I called it. “Good on you, SEAL. Yes, we were looking for diamonds. And we found them.”
The people in the pit are sweaty and covered in dirt and grime. They’re skin and bones, their faces gaunt, their expressions haunted. Armed guards patrol below in the pit and above, walking alongside the edges so not an inch of the place is unmonitored.
“So you kidnapped their children and put them to work in your mine?” Bianca whirls on him. “This is what you brought us here for? Because you’ve starved and worked these people to within an inch of their lives, and now you expect me to treat them?”
He doesn’t even miss a beat. “Yes. I do. Now let me show you where you’ll be working.” Turning on his heel, he heads back toward the rows of converted shipping containers, stopping in front of the one closest to the pit. He opens the door and steps inside.
Bianca glances back at me, her emerald gaze furious, then follows him inside.
Yarrow shoves me so hard I nearly fall. Slowly, I turn to face him. “Have to come at me when my back is turned and my hands bound?”
“At the moment,” Yarrow replies. “But we both know you’re no match for me.”
I grin, because truthfully? I hope I get to show him just how wrong he is. Then, because I know it’ll make him even angrier, I don’t say another word. I simply turn and follow Bianca into the medical building.
It’s a crude room, with only four cots serving as hospital beds, and a wall of shelves containing medical supplies. There’s a woman in the corner, her head bowed, hands trembling. Her dress is stained, the white apron she wears boasting a medical symbol.
“This is your nurse, Abana. She speaks English and will assist you in whatever way you need her to.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss,” Abana says, her accent thick.
“Call me Bianca,” she replies, then turns to River. “Fine. But I can’t help you while Silas is chained. So remove his handcuffs, give him a gun, and I’ll get to work.”
“A gun?” River laughs. “Do you think I’m stupid, girl? No. Your SEAL can protect you with his bare hands. I’ve seen him do it.” He turns toward me. “Isn’t that right, SEAL? Did he ever tell you about one of the times he got out?” He steps right up in my face. “I watched him—single-handedly—take out three of the highest-trained guards on your father’s staff. Just leveled them like they were nothing.”
“I was motivated,” I growl.
“Oh, I imagine,” River replies. “And I can also imagine just how motivated you are now, knowing what’s on the line.” He gestures to Bianca.
I don’t give him the satisfaction of a response, just hold my wrists out so they can undo the handcuffs.
“This is a bad idea,” Yarrow says. “I say we leave him chained.”
“Don’t be foolish,” River replies. “He has a job to do, just as she does. Otherwise, why bring him?”
“My question exactly,” Yarrow replies, keeping his gaze firm on me. “I think we should have thrown him out of the helicopter.”
He removes the handcuffs, so I take a step closer to him, enjoying the clear fear his arrogance typically masks. “One day you’re going to realize what a mistake it was to let me keep breathing.”
Yarrow glares back at me, though he doesn’t say anything.
“Easy, boys, we don’t need to take this to violence. Do you need anything else?” River asks Bianca.
Yarrow steps back, retreating until he’s at the door.
“Yes,” Bianca replies, glaring back at her uncle. “A Bible.”