14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
Carys
O ur plane lands in Belfast, and as we wade through government red tape, I wonder how the PLA avoided the same process. Maybe they bypassed the whole thing. It’s what I would have done—found a loophole. Finn has nothing but the prison clothes on his back. No passport, identification, or money. Evander tracked him and the helicopter to a northern village. He’s brought a small team with him to negotiate his release.
We pile into the rented van, and one of Evander’s men navigates us north. Finn’s presence in the same country is a homing signal, flashing to the beat of my heart. “How long?” I peer out the window as Belfast falls away along the roaring highway.
At one time, Van de Berg Ammunitions had a plan to build our European office here. When I took over from my father, I decided not to pursue the investment, instead favoring more travel for our employees. The terrain around Belfast is familiar given the number of times we came to investigate the possibility of reorganizing. Between Finn’s spirit and a forgotten potential investment, the anxiety bubbling in my stomach decreases to a simmer.
“Ballycastle is about an hour from here,” the driver says.
“Is that where he is?”
“Not quite.” Evander passes me the map app on his phone. With his finger, he indicates a location outside Ballycastle along the coast. “The helicopter landed here.” He pinches the screen and points to a road. “His clothes ended up here, or at least the tracker did.”
Despair creeps up my spine. It’s a guessing game. “So, we don’t know where he is.”
“We’ve got a place to start. I’m sending my team out tonight to ask around, observe, see what we can come up with. He’s here somewhere. You and Jay will get a good night’s sleep at the hotel. In the morning, we’ll put together ideas based on where he’s located.”
“You’re not leaving us out of the plan,” I warn. The last thing I want is to wake up and find more things have gone wrong.
“No intention of leaving you out.” He closes his phone. “But we have got to be smart about this. The PLA has taken him for a reason.” He grimaces and examines me. “Is there any chance he’s working with them by choice?”
I rear back as though he’s slapped me. “No. No. He wants to be with his family.” There are few things I know for certain, but that’s one of them. Finn’s unwavering loyalty is an absolute. He went to jail for me. Between death and jail, he always said he’d pick death. For me, he sacrificed his freedom. He would never betray me.
“The PLA framed Carys for the crimes her father perpetrated or for crimes none of the Van de Berg family committed. What exactly went on there isn’t crystal clear,” Jay admits. “Finn wouldn’t agree to work with them.”
But he would take them down. They tried to destroy me, and Finn has never taken threats against me lightly. The McCaffery men who came after him in the Irish bar eighteen years ago almost killed me by accident. Finn tracked them down and murdered them—over an accident. What would he do to the PLA who willfully and intentionally went after me?
I shudder and meet Jay’s gaze. The troubled expression on his face tells me everything I need to know. We’re on the same page, but for some reason, both of us aren’t giving Evander the full picture. Have we lost faith in him? Do we both suspect something larger is at work here? Even if Finn is going after the PLA, it doesn’t explain the interception of the jailbreak.
“All right.” There’s skepticism in Evander’s voice. “We’ll continue under the assumption Finn has been kidnapped against his will. We’ll formulate an extraction plan once we confirm his location.”
“Yes.” My tone lacks conviction. “He wouldn’t choose to work with them.”
“We’ll go to the hotel first so you and Jay can get settled, and I can determine next steps with my team.” He goes back to his phone. A frown mars his forehead as he clicks through various messages.
I stare out the window as my mind ticks through the possibilities. Did he screw up the extraction? Could the Volkovs have anything to do with the PLA? Someone at the prison was applying pressure to him for something. Is Finn trapped by the PLA against his will? If he agreed to the interception, why wouldn’t he have given me a way to see it coming?
Evander checks us into our rooms and then disappears into the conference center with his team. Instead of insisting on joining them, Jay and I are in the hotel’s bar and restaurant. Huddled together in a dimly lit booth, we pick at our food. Normally, I’d be relishing in the old-world atmosphere. But unrelenting thoughts keep tumbling through my mind.
“Are you thinking the same thing as me?” I ask.
He nods and takes another bite of his beef pie. “Likely. Finn’s not someone who goes quietly anywhere he doesn’t want to go. For him not to have gotten any sort of message to you since the jailbreak means one of two things. Either he’s in no shape to contact you, or he’s going along with this bait and switch for a reason.”
“But why?” Him injured or incapacitated is too much to contemplate. He’s larger than life—unstoppable—he’s survived shootings and stabbings. He’s been the conductor of his own fate for so long it’s impossible for me to believe he’s not still in control somehow.
“My gut says to take them down. The better question is: For who?”
“Hagen?” I murmur.
“Evander told us he was having pressure applied to him in prison. Could be Hagen’s got a hand in this. Might be unrelated.” Jay polishes off the last of his meal, and I envy his ability to eat in a crisis. My appetite vanishes at the hint of stress. “I think we should ask him how smoothly the jailbreak went. We haven’t asked a lot of questions about the process. Was it Plan A?”
I consider the implication of his words. “You think one of Evander’s men might have aided the PLA?”
“If the plan went off like clockwork except for the interception of the helicopter, then yeah, I think he’s been played.” He rubs his jaw. “Or he’s been playing us. Something is off if there were no issues other than the chopper being stolen.”
I cover my face with my hands and rest my elbows on the wooden table. “What if we find him and he won’t come back with us?” The truth in that question terrifies me. We waded into a mass of risks to bust him out, and there’s still a chance I’ll return to Cape Verde without him. He won’t leave a threat to our happiness unanswered.
“I’d like to tell you that won’t happen.” Jay’s expression is layered with sympathy and concern. “We both know that’d be a lie. Finn’s a wildcard. The lack of communication from him is troubling. He’ll realize you’re frantic with worry, maybe even capable of doing something rash or dangerous as a result.” He shakes his head.
“At this point, do we stick with him or try to go our own way? If Finn is there of his own free will, we could be putting him at risk, not to mention Evander and his team.” My thoughts are jumbled with the possible scenarios. Not all of them end well, with Finn in my arms, with us on our way home. I didn’t take this very dangerous path to have any of us dead.
“We wait until morning to see what Evander’s team comes up with for a plan and for intel into where Finn’s located. Maybe he’ll have contacted you by then. Maybe this worrying will be for nothing.”
Jay often tells me worry is a wasted emotion, but his words can’t stop the rising tide of it, sloshing away in my stomach. “I admire your optimism.” I push my plate into the center of the table and tuck a stray strand of hair into the bun at the nape of my neck.
“No matter what else is going on,” he says, “you’re Finn’s priority. You and Lucas. Without a doubt, if he can contact you, he will.”
Hope swells in me, pushing out the worry. Jay’s right. It’s a truth I’ve known this whole time, but it’s hard to have faith in something so big and impossible. Whether or not he’s been kidnapped, Finn will reach out. I’m going to cling to that even as we try to get to him.