Chapter 12
CHAPTER
TWELVE
As the helicopter hummed in the distance and the darkness pressed close, Hudson contemplated his choices. He only had a moment to decide.
The guys chasing them probably had backup—backup that could arrive at any moment.
“Natalie began to doubt my cover,” Hudson finally said. “She followed me from Virginia Beach. Wrong place, wrong time. Operatives showed up at the marina.”
It wasn’t technically a lie. Just not the complete truth.
Jake studied him a moment. “That’s all?”
Hudson offered a curt nod. “That’s all.”
He knew lying was wrong, and he didn’t like himself for not telling the full truth.
It was bad enough he’d had to lie to Natalie for three months. But to also lie to his teammate filled him with regret.
But he couldn’t tell the whole truth. Not yet.
Not when Natalie’s life was on the line.
Jake nodded slowly, but something in his expression suggested he didn’t quite believe Hudson’s answer. “Colton is going to want a full debrief when we get to base. And Hudson? He’s not going to be happy about you bringing Natalie into headquarters.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.” Jake clapped him on the shoulder. “Let’s just hope you made the right one.”
Hudson climbed into the helicopter, took the seat beside Natalie, and snapped his seatbelt on.
Natalie wouldn’t look at him. Instead, her eyes were fixed on something outside the window. Her headset framed her face, and her hands gripped the blanket like a lifeline.
The rotors spun up to full speed, and they lifted off, the marina falling away beneath them. Hudson quickly pulled on his headset.
As he looked down to the ground, his blood went cold.
Two SUVs pulled into the parking lot, their headlights cutting through the darkness.
Men poured out—four, five, six of them—and spread out across the area.
They each looked up, tracking the helicopter’s ascent.
Even from this distance Hudson saw the cold calculation in their postures.
Those guys had arrived mere minutes too late. But the message was clear in the way they watched the helicopter climb into the night sky.
This wasn’t over. These guys would find them again.
Hudson pulled his gaze away from the scene below. Natalie was no longer avoiding eye contact. Instead, she stared at him, her face pale in the helicopter’s interior lights.
“Those are the men from the marina, aren’t they?” Her voice came through his headset—and everyone else’s in the copter also.
“They’re associates of those men at least,” Hudson said.
“And they’re going to keep coming after us?”
“Most likely.” Hudson offered a solemn nod.
Something flickered across Natalie’s face—fear, yes, but also confusion.
She turned away again, pulling the blanket tighter, and Hudson was left staring at her profile as they flew through the darkness toward Lantern Beach. Toward answers she didn’t want to hear and truths that would destroy everything she’d believed about her father.
Looking at her now, broken and betrayed and terrified, Hudson wondered if he’d made the biggest mistake of his life by taking on this assignment.
He closed his eyes and began to beg God for forgiveness Hudson knew he didn’t deserve.
The helicopter banked left, and Natalie’s stomach lurched. She was still nauseous from the boat ride, and being airborne wasn’t helping.
She pressed her hand against the window, watching the lights of the marina disappear into darkness below them.
Somewhere down there, her car was still parked behind those trees at the Back Bay marina. Her purse was probably on the front passenger seat, her keys in the ignition, and her phone on the charger.
Her entire normal life, abandoned.
She wanted to talk to her father. He would know what to do.
He always knew what to do.
If only she could call him right now, tell him what had happened, where she was going. He’d send help. He’d send lawyers or security or whatever she needed.
Except . . .
Except she didn’t have her phone.
Except Hudson had indicated these people were after her because of her father.
Natalie closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the cold glass of the window.
Her father loved her. She knew that with absolute certainty.
He’d been at every school play and dance recital. Had been there for her after her mother died. Had cheered for her at her college graduation.
He would never hurt her.
Would he? Why was she even asking herself that question?
However, if he wouldn’t hurt her, then why did Hudson say she was in danger because of him? Why had those men been shooting at her? Why did she feel, deep in her gut, that her father was somehow connected to all this?
Ravenscroft International. The shipping company that had paid for her education, her house, her entire life.
What did they really ship? Simple products from overseas?
Or was it something illegal? Maybe even deadly?
What if everything Hudson had told her was true?
The thought made bile rise in her throat again.
Because if her father was involved in something criminal—something dangerous—then her entire life had been built on lies.