Chapter 31
The outside of HERO Force Chopper One looked like something out of a military movie, but the inside was a surprise. Divided into two sections, the forward compartment had leather seating for eight, with what seemed like two computer monitors and a shiny metal console of some sort.
Olivia had gotten to see the rear compartment when the guys unloaded some unusual vehicles from the back, but it was the arsenal of weapons on the walls that really captured her attention.
The men had been gone more than an hour — possibly two — and she was grateful for the warmth inside the chopper and the relatively luxurious accommodations. She was also grateful for the time to be alone and think.
Now that HERO Force had arrived, her time in the cabin with Trevor was at an end. She wasn’t sure what that meant for them or, even more pressing, what it meant for her now that she had nowhere to go.
You must have a home somewhere. You just need to remember where and find it.
She scoffed. Easier said than done.
She truly hoped the relationship with Trevor would continue after the snow melted and the roadways cleared.
She liked him far more than she should after just a few days, and in some ways she suspected she would always feel like he was her whole world — just as she had felt before her memory began to return.
He was that kind of man.
Standing up, she walked over to the console and began looking at the different controls, words popping out from the chaos of buttons and dials.
Infrared.
Radar.
Launch sequence.
Periscope.
I thought periscopes were only for boats.
She walked back and forth down the miniature aisle, her mind floating over the moments she’d spent with Trevor. His kindness. His strength. How well matched they were in the bedroom.
They probably didn’t even live in the same town. That posed a problem. She wondered if her acting career was easily transferrable to another place, and if Trevor would think she was stalking him if she followed him to the edge of the world and back.
She laughed at her own thoughts.
Stalker-ish, indeed.
The chopper door behind her rattled, and she grinned widely as she turned around, happy the men had returned so soon.
But the door was not opening, it was simply shaking, the handle jiggling as someone on the other side tried to get in. A metallic taste took hold in Olivia’s mouth.
The taste of terror.
A man’s voice called out, “Let me in, Brooke!”
Trevor called her Olivia. Anyone else from HERO Force should be able to get inside without her help. Still she yelled back, “Who are you?”
Trevor had told her the windows and doors were bullet-proof. As if on cue, someone fired into the window she was staring at. The damage looked like a bullet-sized chip in the glass, and she screamed as several more shots were added to the collection.
She dropped to the ground in a crouch. For a moment she considered trying to fly the chopper, then quickly dismissed the idea as idiotic. She needed to get to the weapons, but if the rear compartment was connected to this one, she had no idea how.
Gunfire continued as she crawled to the wall separating the two rooms. In the dim light from the single small fixture, she ran her hands along the baseboard, searching for some kind of opening mechanism. Finding none, she moved higher.
The gunshots stopped, and Olivia wondered if that was a good sign or a bad one. Several of her fingers scraped against something sharp, slicing her skin open and making her bleed.
There has to be a way into the other compartment from here!
A loud squeaking noise rumbled through the chopper. What was he doing out there? Another round of gunfire, though this time it sounded like it was coming from a different direction.
Her hand grazed over an electric control, and she quickly pressed it down. Relief was instantaneous when the door between the seating compartment and the weapons room began to slide to one side. As soon as she could fit her body through the opening, she threw herself into the darkness.
Straight into a man’s thick, muscular arms.
“Thanks for opening the door, Brooke.” He laughed.
The smell of body odor assaulted her nose as she swung her arms violently, hitting him in the face, but he only grabbed her wrists and cursed loudly in her ear.
“Stop it! I ain’t gonna hurt you.”
She continued to fight and he tightened his hold on her until it was nearly impossible for her to breathe.
“That was real funny what you did, Brooke. Setting me up with that chick and then running away. You’re a goddamn comedian, you know that?”
“Let go of me!” she whimpered, working to get her knee between his legs so she could pop him in the groin.
“I don’t know what the fuck’s gotten into you, but we gotta go see Marco.”
Olivia stopped moving. “Marco?”
“Yeah. He’s been worried sick since your sister told him you didn’t show up at the airport.”
My sister. I have a sister!
The image of a twenty-year-old girl with curling black hair came into her mind.
“Bella?” she asked.
“Yeah. Now are you gonna stop trying to kick me in the nuts so we can get up there, or do I have to restrain you or something?”
“I want to stay here,” she said.
“Well, that ain’t an option.”
“I’m not going back to Marco.”
He smiled. “What, just because you’re banging some guy in the woods, you think you and Acero can’t live happily ever after no more? I won’t say nothing if you don’t.”
She felt sick, the metallic taste back in her mouth. “How do you know about that?”
“I been looking for you, Brooke. And I found you, too, back when I still had the snowmobile. You two’ve been doing without a fire for no good reason.” He chuckled. “And let me tell you, you two are like a couple of really loud rabbits.”
Embarrassment flooded her.
“Now come on, hot lips, it’s time for us to go up the mountain. I took my snowmobile back after you left today, thank you very much.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Oh, no? See, here’s what I’m thinking. Marco wants me to find you, so if I find you, we’re good. But if I can’t find you, I’m still in deep shit, so I might bring him your new boyfriend instead.”
Her eyes widened. “Trevor has nothing to do with this.”
“You’re fucking kidding, right?”
“What?”
“Jesus, you ain’t kidding.” He shook his head and laughed. “What are the odds of you dirty dancing with the exact same guy who’s got a beef with Marco?”
Olivia went still, a horrible image beginning to emerge from the dots she’d yet to connect. She swallowed hard. “What do you mean, a beef with Marco?”
“They’ve got a history, those two.”
“Marco and Trevor?”
His brows drew together. “I thought his name was Hawk.”
She suddenly felt dizzy.
Trevor was after Marco.
Marco was the one who killed Trevor’s friend, Ralph.
Trevor’s words came back to her. They’re going to help me go after Ralph’s killer.
“Take me there,” she said.
“I thought you didn’t want to go.”
“Damn it, whoever you are, just take me there! Now!”