21. Indiana
The second man who had jumped from the chopper, landed on the beach and cut himself free. They took off, sprinting across the sand toward us with rifles clutched to their chests.
The thumping helicopter blades slashed through the humid air as the machine tilted sideways, and when it disappeared around the island, the fucking beeping hard drive in Tyler’s pocket dominated all sounds.
“Run!” Tyler yanked me behind him.
Branches clawed at my skin as we plunged through the underbrush. The thick foliage was a brutal barrier that we shoved aside with frantic hands. The ground beneath our feet sloped sharply upward, and Tyler’s labored breathing matched my thumping heartbeat in my ears and added to the maddening beep of the hard drive.
“That damned hard drive will get us killed,” I hissed at his back. “Fucking ditch it!”
He shot a glance at me over his shoulder, and the determination in his eyes was much fiercer in the moonlight. “I can’t.”
Leaning against a rock, he dragged me forward. I shoved past him, and anger powered my legs.
“Dammit, Tyler,” I said, my voice barely a whisper as the men fanned out across the sand. “That fucking thing is gonna get us killed.”
“We need this evidence.”
“You don’t know that. It could have someone’s porn on it.”
He scoffed. “They’re not trying to kill us for porn, Indy. This has evidence related to Chui. I know it. And if we don’t stop them, they’ll keep killing and destroying lives.”
“Your sense of justice is going to see us both dead.” I pushed off a gnarly tree to launch up a large boulder.
“This isn’t about me. This is about putting an end to Chui’s fucking mess.” His voice was low but loaded with hatred, and I sensed it was more than just Chui’s mess.
This was about Tyler proving himself.
“Fine. But if we go down, so does your fucking evidence.”
I charged ahead. The hill was a jagged monster. Spindly bushes with nasty thorns clawed at my legs, and the ground was rough and covered in loose stones. Grunting, I used my hands and feet to crawl up another steep section. My breaths came in short bursts. My muscles protested with each heave upward. Anger drove me on. I stumbled over a root and only just caught myself before my knees crashed into the jagged rocks.
“Indiana, slow down!” Tyler’s voice was a command, but I wasn’t in any mood to obey.
“Like hell I will,” I shot back over my shoulder, my legs pumping harder. “We stop, we die. Remember?”
An explosion of bullets pinged off the rocks ahead of me.
Screaming, I ducked down. Tyler crashed into me from behind, knocking me off balance. As bullets thundered around us, we skidded down a steep slope and crashed into a tree.
“Fuck. Are you okay?” Tyler’s question was an angry hiss.
“Yes.”
“We have to keep moving!”
I scrambled to my feet, and with adrenaline searing my veins, I followed him deeper into the bushes, running across the slope, rather than up it. Gunfire echoed all around us like they were randomly shooting into the bushes and hoping to hit us.
Dread scraped up my spine. It would only take one bullet.
“Keep down.” Tyler led the way, leaping from rock to rock, shoving branches aside. He was barely visible in the darkness, but his ragged breathing and that damned beeping made him easy to follow.
Bullets whizzed overhead and slammed into branches of a palm tree. Two coconuts exploded, showering us in coconut milk and shell.
Shouts echoed through the bushes below us.
“Shit, Tyler. They’re catching us.”
“They can’t see us.”
“What?”
“If they could see us, we’d already be dead.”
“Well, that’s comforting.”
“Shush. Just keep your head down.”
The steep angle of the hill changed slightly for the better, but the bushes were denser. We had to shove through branches or climb over them, and when that didn’t work, we went around them.
I wanted to scream, but screaming was pointless. And so was running.
“Tyler, this is fucked.”
“We can’t give up.”
“And we can’t outrun them with that fucking thing in your pocket.”
“I know. I’m working on a plan.” Tyler marched in front of me, bulldozing through the plants.
“Well do it faster.”
Giant dead palm leaves crunched beneath my booties, and he released a wiry branch that whipped back and hit my arm.
“Fuck!” I hissed.
Tyler spun to me. “Sorry.”
Shaking my head, I wiped blood off my arm. “This is stupid.”
My pulse pounded.
Peering over my shoulder, he searched the bushes behind me like he expected the killers to appear out of nowhere. He gripped my wrist. “We need to split up.”
“Fuck that. We’re in this together.” I snapped my arm from his grip.
He grabbed my arm again, his grip bruising. “Listen to me, Indy. This is my fight, not yours.”
“Bullshit. Those fuckers took everything from me.” My lungs burned with each breath. “They messed with the wrong fucking woman.”
“But we won’t stand a chance if we stay together. I’ll lead them away while you?—”
“Hey.” I jabbed his chest with my finger. “I said no. We’re not separating. Now do your cop thing and figure out a plan.”
The scar on my forehead pulsed with adrenaline, reminding me that I’d been in deadly situations before and lived.
“Why do you have to be so stubborn?” His pleading eyes shimmered in the moonlight as he squeezed my arm. “I can’t lose you over this.”
A knot wedged in my throat.
He clutched my hands, and his grip was solid and real, like he held my heart, too.
I swallowed. “You’re not losing me. We’re in this together, Officer Fancy Pants. And come hell or high water, we’ll fucking get through it. But hell is on our asses, so get snappy.”
I clicked my fingers in front of his beautiful face.
A spray of bullets thumped into the bushes behind us.
“Run!” He yanked me forward.
Sprinting ahead of him, I shoved through brushes and branches and climbed over rocks and shrubs. I pumped my arms, forcing my body to move faster. And I prayed that the bullets destroying the shrubs behind us didn’t find us.
The moon spilled a haunting glow over the hillside ahead of me, casting long shadows that were ghostly still. Every time I paused, Tyler pressed his hand into my back, urging me to push deeper into the wilderness.
Bullets sprayed in a wild arc behind us, and I had a rotten feeling they weren’t trying to kill us. They were herding us.
A branch exploded behind us, and I ducked. Adrenaline roared in my ears, drowning out my pounding heart and the fucking beeping.
A flash of movement to my left made me stumble. As Tyler caught me before I headbutted a tree, an owl flew away. He pulled me behind a massive boulder, and our chests heaved in unison as we tried to catch our breaths. His blue eyes locked onto mine, a silent promise of determination and resolve passing between us.
“We can’t keep this up, Tyler.” My steady voice surprised me. “We need a plan.”
As he scanned our surroundings, the darkness pressed around me like a suffocating blanket. The beeping in Tyler’s pocket was like a fucking countdown.
A countdown to our murders.
“Are you sure you want to keep that thing?”
He nodded with deadly conviction, then clutched my cheeks and kissed my forehead. “Come on, I have a plan. Stay right on my ass.”
I smacked his butt, and he tried to flick my hand.
Shouts rang through the bushes, but they seemed further away, or maybe their voices were shrouded by the foliage. As I matched Tyler’s pace, I wondered how accurate that beeping device was. My GPS tracking device was only accurate to an area of twenty feet. Then again, water is denser than air, so that played a factor. And I’d bought the tracker secondhand. The one in Tyler’s pocket was probably the best money could buy.
Tyler changed direction, heading up the steep incline again. Tiny rocks crumbled beneath my feet, and my breaths came in short bursts.
Finally, we crested the incline, and it was like standing on the edge of the world. Below us was a small alcove, and beyond that was a steep cliff that crashed right into the ocean hundreds of feet below. The view beyond our little rocky island was spectacular, with moonlight shimmering on the black water like it was having a party.
The world seemed to stand still as I breathed in the open air. Tyler’s wavy black hair was plastered to his forehead and his eyes had darkened as if they were fighting a storm.
I bent over my knees to catch my breath.
He rested his hand on my lower back. “You okay?”
“I’m alive. For now.” The words tangled with the ragged gasps from my throat.
“Okay, this is good.”
My back creaked as I forced my body upright. “What is?”
“This is where we’ll set the trap.”
I squinted at the alcove below us that was flanked by two large boulders. The tiny cave was half concealed by a curtain of plants that draped down from the top. “How?”
“I’ll put the device down there.” He squatted down, trying to peer over the edge. “And when they go to get it, we’ll attack them.”
I blinked at him.
“We’ll attack.” Giggles rumbled up my throat like I was a fucking lunatic. “Are you crazy?”
“Nope. It’s the best shot we have.”
When I wiped sweat from my brow, my fingers brushed over the scar on my forehead. It was like my past reminding me to voice my opinion and prove why I thought he was wrong. I eyed the alcove; it was too exposed and too narrow.
I glared at him. “It won’t work.”
“We’ll find some big rocks to?—”
“Tyler. It won’t work. One of them will get the device. The other will stay up here.”
The muscles along his jaw ticked. “Trust me.”
Trust wasn’t something that came easy to me, not since my mother’s murderers ruined that feeble word.
Tyler was different. He would die for me. But I sure as shit didn’t need him proving it.
“I do trust you, you idiot. But this won’t work.” I peered over the edge again. “Unless . . . ”
“Unless what?”
“I’ll distract them.”
“No way.” He raised his palms. “No. No. Absolutely not!”
“I’ll get down there with the device, and I’ll pretend that they shot you. I’ll plead for them just to take the stupid thing. And while they’re distracted, you can do your thing.”
The weight of my plan settled between us like a blazing asteroid.
Tyler’s jaw remained rigid as he grasped my hands. “I can’t let you do that.”
“This is our fight, remember?”
“No, Indy, it’s mine. If something happens to you . . .”
I squared my shoulders, squeezing his palms to mine. “They won’t expect it. I can handle myself. I’ll distract them with my tits or something.”
He scrunched his face, frowning.
“Men can’t focus when tits are on display.” I reached behind my neck and tugged the knot, and my bikini fell away from my chest.
His eyes bounced to my boobs.
“See.” I jiggled on my toes, making my tits bounce.
He looked like he was torn between laughing and yelling at me.
“You crazy woman.” His jaw clenched, and the muscles beneath his cheeks bulged as he wrestled with his emotions. “But?—”
“Trust me. This will work.” With a final squeeze of his hand, I released my grip and peered down into the shadowy alcove below. I undid the other knot on my bikini. Turning back to Tyler, I handed my bikini top to him. “Don’t lose that. It’s the only clothing I have left.”
His lip twitched like he was fighting every emotion at once.
“Help me down there.” I sat on the edge and raised my hands for him to lift me down.
“Indy.” His pleading tone made me falter. It sounded exactly the same as the day my father begged me to stay back when that big Viking bastard whipped Dad’s back. I was only eleven years old, and I did as I was told, but I should have done something back then.
I’m not backing down this time.
“I am doing this.” As I peered up at him, the space between us charged with so much energy, I half expected a lightning strike. I waggled my hands. “Help me down.”
Finally, he nodded, and the determined cop returned to his expression. He gripped my hands and lowered me onto the ledge below. The alcove was somehow warmer, like it had trapped the heat of the day, and the air was tinged with scents of earth and grass.
Crouching down, I peered into the alcove, and ducking beneath the low-hanging plant runners, I stepped into the cave.
“It’s not very big,” I said, “but I can stand inside here.”
Voices carved through the air and seemed to echo around me. I dashed back outside and reached up. “Give me that device.”
He glared at me before he reached into his pocket. The piercing beat got louder as he lowered it to my hand. “Be careful, Indy.”
“I will. You, too. Kill those fuckers.”
The voices grew louder. If they were hunting us, they were doing a rotten job of concealing their position. Or the cocky bastards believed we couldn’t hide from them anyway.
Tyler sprinted into the bushes higher up the hill and disappeared from my view.
Clutching the device to my bare chest, I ducked back into the cave.
With my back against one of the giant boulders, I heaved a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves zinging through my body.
“Come and get me, you bastards.”