Chapter 37 Jackal
JACKAL
The world narrows to the sound of Isla’s voice and four words I’m desperate to make happen.
Come help us, please.
The words are faint. She sounds exhausted beyond reason but fighting anyway.
Most important, as of right now, she said us. Not me, us. They are both still alive, and that’s my only thought as I signal to Grudge that I need to pull the bike over.
The weight of all the helpless hours and riding to get here burn away, until all that is left is the desperate need to get to them. Given this was the last known place for them, we’d ridden as a club with a plan to spread out from here.
“I’m here,” I say. My voice is unrecognizable, laden with stress and fear. “Sunshine, I’ve got you. You did good.”
As I put my boot down on the ground, Grudge does the same and looks over at me. “Isla?”
I nod.
He raises his phone to his ear, and I hear him say one word that tells me finding my loves might be possible.
Wren.
But I focus on my woman and the critical task of figuring out where she and Garrett are.
“Isla. Where are you?”
“He took us to an old mine shaft. It’s a bit like a cave at the entrance.”
“Good girl. A mine shaft,” I say out loud as Smoke, our road captain, walks to my bike. He whips out his phone and begins to search.
“I ran out…there’re rocks. And…my feet…they’re shredded.”
There’s escalating panic in her words. Like she’s so exhausted and fearful, she’s losing the ability to focus. Her feet we can fix, but if she’s dead, there’s nothing I can do to bring her back from that.
And if she’s a mess, I can only imagine what state Garrett is in. I rein in the wave of nausea I feel.
“I’m sure they hurt, sweetheart, but I want you to look around. I know it’s dark, but can you see any landmarks? A road? Power lines? Anything man-made?”
“Not really. Just hills as we walked to the mine. It was sort of collapsed. We were able to walk deep into it before the actual vertical shaft was sealed up.”
I quickly relay the information to Smoke.
As I do, I hear Grudge say, “Wren, do whatever the fuck you need to do to stop the signal from pinging around.”
“Isla,” I say. “I need you to do something brave. I need you to turn on the flashlight on your phone and wave it in the air.”
“I have Garrett’s phone, I’ll do it with that one.”
There’s fumbling, then a sharp inhale, followed by a mournful sob.
“You’re doing so good, Isla. I’m really proud of you, sweetheart.”
“He’s hurting Garrett,” she sobs. “I should go back. But I saw the phones and ran while they fought.”
“Binoculars,” Smoke yells. “Anyone who has a pair, look for any sign of a moving light from a cellphone flashlight.”
“Good girl,” I say. “Garrett would want you safe. And we might be able to find you from what you’re doing.”
The members who have binoculars in their kit get off their bikes. They walk to the edge of the old trail and turn in circles, looking for any sign of the flashlight.
Every miserable second that creeps by unlocks another level of fear.
I did some horrific things to Paltrow. If he’s repeating even half of them on Garrett…
I gag, my stomach revolting.
Catfish slams his hand on my back, hard, then squeezes my shoulder. I rally.
“Wave it, Sunshine. High. Slow. Like you’re bringing an airplane in to land.”
“Oh, God,” she cries, right after I hear the faint sound of a gunshot in the distance, louder through the phone.
Most of us look in the same direction, but the sound could be bouncing off rocks, for all I know.
My heart stops beating. We’re close, but too far to be any damn use.
“Someone just fired a gun,” Isla whispers. “I need to go.”
“No.” I slam my fist against the handlebars of my bike. “No, no, no. Isla, listen to me. Do not run back into the mine shaft. Stay where you are.”
“But Garrett’s in there. He’s still fighting.”
“Something he’s been trained for. Stay safe and let him fight Paltrow without worrying about your safety.” Because I saw the video. I saw Garrett’s compliance when they left the house because Paltrow had the gun up against Isla.
“He shouldn’t have to fight alone, though. I can help.”
“I know,” I say, the truth burning like acid. “But you can’t go back. If he already shot Garrett, you’ll be next. Don’t let him take you both again. You need to get to cover.”
Tears of frustration sting my eyes. If either of them dies, I’ll never be able to get over this conversation.
“I love you with my whole fucking heart, Isla. I love Garrett the same. And it will kill me forever if he’s gone, but I won’t survive it if you’re gone too.”
Isla sobs. “I won’t let him die without a fight, or alone, Kai. Because he wouldn’t let that happen to me. He wouldn’t just sit safely outside while I was going through who knows what.”
There’s chaos around me. Men shouting, looking through binoculars, studying maps and calling out mine locations that could take us north, south, east, or west. Grudge is working with Wren, who is back at the clubhouse trying to triangulate their position.
And I lift my eyes to the sky. I’m not a religious man. But I pray.
I pray for courage for them both.
I pray that whoever is listening to the prayer will weigh up the good and bad I’ve done in my life and let the scales tip in my favor.
I pray for a miracle that will bring me to them both. Even if it’s just for long enough to tell them how much they both changed my life.
“I can’t lose you both, Isla.”
There’s silence on the line for a heartbeat. “I’m putting the phones, flashlight up, on a big rock. I love you, Kai.”
The call doesn’t cut. She doesn’t hang up, as if she knows without saying, that Wren is trying to trace the call.
“Gimme the location,” Grudge says suddenly. “Smoke, here.”
The two of them look over Grudge’s phone, and then, Smoke looks at his own phone, as if overlaying information.
“Less than a mile away,” Smoke declares.
“Mount up,” Grudge shouts. “Full spread. No heroics. We move fast and smart.” He looks to me. “We’ll get them both.”
The ride is a blur of dirt and rage and roaring engines, and I force myself to bury my fears. To stop thinking about how hurt they may be or how I’ll protect them both. Because the only thing that matters, now, is getting rid of the person that would hurt them.
I channel my energy into remembering Paltrow’s sister’s face when she told me all the heinous things he’d done.
I force down the fear that he might have repeated the same to Isla or Garrett and focus on what it will mean to the world to have this walking scumbag gone from it.
My face will be the last thing he sees.
My fists will be the last thing he feels.
And my words, condemning him to hell, will be the last thing he ever hears.
I channel Isla’s breathtaking bravery.
And my fiancé’s courage.
So, when we make the last bend and see two beams of light emerging from a large rock, the only thing on my mind is death.
I don’t remember stopping or parking or turning off engines or removing keys. The terrain is rocky. Rough and uneven. If Isla is barefoot, like she was on the video of her getting forced into the truck, then her feet must be truly shredded.
Don’t think about her. Don’t think about Garrett.
“It should be over here,” Smoke shouts, leading us to the left of the rocks with their phones.
When I see it, my legs nearly give out. There’s the faintest glimmer of light farther in the tunnel.
I run, but Grudge is faster. He ducks his head beneath the framed entrance, and I follow him down the tunnel. It opens up a little farther in, and there’s evidence that, over the years, people have been here. An empty soda can, chip wrappers. People’s names carved into the walls.
I hear Isla scream, first. Then, the sound of fighting. A scuffle. A male grunt, not like any sound Garrett would make.
“Get…off him.” Isla’s throat is hoarse. The sound of terror in her words brings a burst of speed from everyone.
When we reach them, Garrett is on the ground, blood everywhere, as Paltrow delivers kick after kick to Garrett’s curled up body. He’s protecting his face with his hands.
Isla is on Paltrow’s back. Her bloodied feet are off the floor as she scratches at his face and attempts to strangle him with her bound hands.
My heart is already in my throat when Paltrow lets up from kicking Garrett, just long enough to turn his back to the wall and then slam her into it.
She cries out as he forces her hands over his head and lets her drop to the ground.
Then, he sees me.
And he sees the men crowding into the small space behind me.
His eyes narrow as he realizes the odds have shifted, and there are multiple guns pointed straight at him.
“You’re going to fucking die painfully for touching them,” I snarl.
His hand goes out, reaching for Isla, and she presses herself smaller into a ball against the wall.
The contact of my fist on his jaw is solid and real and jolts me back into my own body.
I can deal with what Garrett and Isla have suffered once the threat to them is gone. When there’s only the three of us in private, I’ll hold them while they cry and heal. I’ll encourage them to use this thing they’ve gone through together to strengthen their bond with each other.
But now, all I can see and feel and think about is annihilation.
“You didn’t fucking learn,” I say, taking in the burn that creeps up Paltrow’s neck.
Like a man with nothing to lose, Paltrow comes out swinging. But it’s easy to take down an exhausted man, and from the state of Garrett and Isla, they fought him hard.
Atom and Grudge are fast to step in and restrain him. “We’ve got him. See to your family.”
I shake my head. “I want to kill him.”
Grudge nods. “We can do that.”
With Catfish’s help, Isla stands, her face streaked with tears, and I open my arms to her. She limps into them, and clutches my cut. “I knew you’d come,” she says.
Her whole body is wracked with sobs as she buries her forehead against my chest.