Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Bree’s heart was beating way too fast. She’d been scared more than once in the last few days, but nothing like this.
They were trapped. Smiley was being optimistic, but she could see the worry in his eyes.
Thirty minutes for his team to arrive seemed like a lifetime.
She wasn’t sure how they were supposed to hide from the men coming up the stairs for that long.
But she didn’t voice any of her concerns out loud. It was taking all her control to stay on her feet and keep up with Smiley. As they walked down the dark and dingy hallway that smelled a little funky, he tried each door they passed. They were all locked.
Then, finally, they came to one that opened when Smiley turned the knob.
Looking back at the door to the stairwell, Bree was relieved it stayed shut. She couldn’t help but picture a bunch of men running up the stairs, weapons at the ready, willing to do whatever it took to get their hands on her.
And getting their hands on her meant Smiley would die. She knew better than her own name that the only way he’d ever let anyone take her again was over his dead body. And she couldn’t live with his death on her hands.
Thankfully, the apartment they’d entered was empty. The last thing Bree wanted was to bring someone else into the shitshow that was her life at the moment. The place was surprisingly clean and tidy. The occupants were obviously poor, but they took pride in the few belongings they had.
The apartment was literally one room with a curtain in the corner, which Bree assumed was where the occupants used the bathroom.
There was a mattress on the floor against one wall, two chairs and a rickety table, a love seat of sorts that had definitely seen better days.
The stuffing was coming out of the cushions and she could see a few springs through a hole in the backrest. But there was what looked like a homemade crocheted blanket folded neatly over the back.
The kitchen area was tiny, consisting of a small sink with rusted knobs.
A bucket sat under it to catch the water.
Bree had no idea if there was running water, but she guessed not, since there were large buckets of water sitting alongside the sink.
There weren’t any cabinets, instead just some boxes of rice and other food items stacked in a few crates to the left of the sink.
Dishes were in a box next to the makeshift pantry, and a hot plate was plugged into the wall on a large piece of wood fashioned into a kind of countertop.
It would’ve been a sad little living area if it wasn’t for the personal touches the owners had added to make it a home.
There were drawings done by children on the walls.
A few books neatly lined up on another makeshift piece of furniture, a bookshelf.
A few photographs were tacked around the space as well, showing a man and a woman, each holding a small child.
The thought that four people lived in this tiny room, in this piece-of-crap building, made Bree sad…
but at least they weren’t on the roof, having to live in the elements and heat.
Smiley didn’t let go of her hand as he tugged her toward a window in the kitchen, behind the sink. He looked out, scowled, then turned without a word to the only other window in the small space. It was on the same wall as the other window, but closer to the bed.
He made a pleased noise in his throat then turned to look at Bree. “If we need to, we can go out this way.”
Bree’s eyes widened. “What? Out the window? Smiley, we’re nine stories up.”
“And there’s a gutter right outside this window. Piece of cake,” he said, echoing her earlier sentiment.
He was crazy. That was the only explanation for his nonchalant announcement.
Stepping into her space, Smiley took her face in his hands. “Do you trust me?”
That was a no-brainer. “Yes.”
His head tilted as he continued to hold her. “You didn’t even hesitate,” he said softly.
Bree’s hands came up and she grabbed his wrists.
“Smiley, you’re a lot of things. Introverted, not a people person for sure, kind of a jerk when it comes to being around others, in fact.
But the one thing you aren’t, is reckless.
If you say we can get out of this building by going out the window, I trust you one thousand percent. ”
He stared at her for so long, Bree began to worry.
Just when she opened her mouth to apologize for her flippant response, to insist that of course she trusted him, he spoke.
“I didn’t understand what love was. When my teammates fell one by one, I didn’t get it.
I was happy for them, of course, but was still cynical about their relationships.
And then you appeared…and disappeared. I was consumed with finding you, but I kept telling myself it was only because I wanted to make sure you were safe.
But it was way more than that. That short encounter in Vegas made me want what they had. And now, here we are.”
Bree wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “Here we are,” she echoed.
“Trust is hard for me. I was let down by the people I should have relied on most in my life, my parents. My dad because he was an abusive asshole, and my mom because she didn’t get the fuck out of that relationship.
She stayed, even knowing how horrible my father was.
I slowly learned to trust Kevlar, Safe, Blink, Preacher, MacGyver, and Flash…
but that was it, and it wasn’t easy. And then you exploded into my life.
I’ve never been happier for someone to know me, truly know me, than I am right this second.
No matter what happens, I know you’ve got my back, just as I have yours. ”
He was making Bree’s heart hurt. “I love you,” she whispered. “And I don’t think I even knew what those words meant until right this second.”
“Same,” Smiley said with a nod. Then he leaned forward and kissed her gently. “When we get home, you’re definitely going to move to Riverton, right? Stay with me?”
“Yes. If you want me to.”
“I want you to.”
They were just four words, but the emotion behind them was loud and clear.
Bree loved how confident he was. And he hadn’t said if we get home, but when.
They were in the middle of a very precarious situation.
They could be discovered any second. They were definitely in big trouble, and yet he had no problem standing there having an emotional conversation as if they had all the time in the world.
“Shouldn’t we be getting out of here?”
Smiley shrugged. “The second we go out that window, we’ll be sitting ducks. Visible to anyone and everyone. I’d rather stay here, hunker down, see if they’ll think we escaped and run off looking for us before we purposely put ourselves out there.”
That made sense, but waiting wasn’t Bree’s strong suit. It felt as if the boogeyman was just outside the door. Salivating, purposely torturing them by not coming inside. But she’d said she trusted Smiley, and she’d do whatever it took to prove she was a woman of her word.
Every minute that passed felt like an eternity. They heard stomping over their heads, and it amazed and worried Bree how thin the ceiling seemed to be. Without a watch, she had no idea how much time had passed, but it wasn’t enough. It hadn’t been thirty minutes yet, of that she was sure.
But when they heard voices in the hallway, then the unmistakable sound of doors being kicked in, it was obvious their time had run out.
“Time to go,” Smiley confirmed, sounding calm.
She was seeing her man in a new light. This was the deadly Navy SEAL. Focused. Intent. Decisive.
Swallowing hard, she let him lead her to the window. He raised the glass and looked out. Then he turned to her. “I think it’s best if I carry you. You can climb onto my back and hold on as I get us down. Unless you think you have the strength to hold on to the gutter and slide down yourself.”
The concern in his voice was easy to hear.
And he was right. She was shaky, hadn’t had nearly enough sleep or calories in her to be able to do something so physical.
She wanted to question if he could get down with the added weight on his back, but she’d said she trusted him.
If he was suggesting he carry her, then he was sure he could get them to the ground safely.
“Turn around,” she said in response.
He stared at her for a moment, before removing the rifles strapped around his back and placing them on the floor.
Then he turned his back to her and crouched.
Biting her lip, Bree climbed onto his back, hooking her ankles together at his belly and doing her best not to strangle him with her arms as he stood.
She didn’t like that he was leaving the weapons behind, but she wasn’t sure how this would work if he had to carry her and the weapons.
Without hesitation, Smiley slung one leg over the window ledge. Bree squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath as he asked, “Ready?”
With the men kicking in what sounded like the door right next to where they were hiding, Bree made some sort of affirmative noise.
They couldn’t stay where they were, there was literally no place to hide in the tiny apartment, but sliding down a questionably secure gutter didn’t seem super-smart either.
“Hold on,” he said—then they were moving. Sliding downward at a brisk pace.
The sound of Smiley’s boots creating friction along the gutter was scarily loud, even with the noise of the city all around them. She felt the wind in her hair as he raced down the gutter…
Then the jolt when his feet hit the ground seconds later.
She heard a shout from above. Glancing up, she saw a man looking down at them from the apartment they’d been in moments before. Without putting her down, Smiley began to move—but before he took more than a few steps, he stopped abruptly.
To her utter horror, Mateo Castillo and two of the men who’d been on the boat to Ecuador were standing in front of them.