21. Mia
Chapter twenty-one
Mia
“ G et up!” Gary orders.
Fear grips me. I see my life flashing before my eyes.
“Man, you don’t need to do this,” Noah says. “Let her go. You don’t want murder on your rap sheet. They’ll give you life. You’ll never see the light of day again.”
“You’re operating under the assumption that I have to worry about that or that this situation will ever get out,” he sneers.
He grabs Noah’s arm and pulls him off the couch. He pushes him toward the little bedroom.
“You’ll be waiting in there.”
“Waiting for what?” Noah asks.
“Gary. He’d like a word with you.”
Then he drags me off the sofa. I shoot a dirty look at the man. “Do you feel tougher now?” I ask. “Manhandling a woman with her hands tied behind her back. Good job. You’re a big man. ”
He laughs, a harsh sound raising the hair on my neck. “You’ve got a mouth on you, don’t you?” he drawls, pulling me closer to him.
I hold his gaze although every instinct screams at me to back away. I refuse to let him see how terrified I am. “You expect me to cower?” I retort.
His smirk fades for a moment, and then he laughs again, shaking his head. “You’re something else.”
Noah is shoved through the bedroom door. He stumbles but manages to stay upright. We share a fleeting glance before the door is slammed shut behind him, and I’m left alone with Tim and the other man, whose name I still haven’t learned.
“Don’t you touch her!” Noah shouts and kicks at the door.
The man stares at me. “Scared?”
“Nope,” I reply.
“You’re lying. This little game you’re playing will not go over well with the boss. He prefers his women to be demure.”
“I’m not his woman. I don’t give a shit what he prefers.”
He laughs again. “I can’t wait to see him put you in your place. ”
He opens the door and pushes me inside hard enough to knock me to the floor, nearly banging my head on the bed frame.
“Are you okay?” Noah asks.
“Fine. For now.”
“I’m so sorry,” he says.
I want him to hold me, but that’s not possible. My heart races, but I refuse to show my fear. The men outside are ruthless, but I won’t let them see me break. I look at Noah, my voice a low whisper. “What the hell is going on?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, tell me what is happening. Who are those men? Who’s Vincent?”
His head drops forward. He walks to the edge of the bed, which is nothing more than a box spring. I watch as he sits down and then looks up at me with sadness in his eyes—sadness and regret.
“I was hired to take a couple of guys to a property. It was vacant, but there was a boat dock. I just assumed they were fisherman. I never picked them up. I was only hired to fly them out. They were good customers. Paid well and tipped me. On one trip, I noticed one of them forgot a bag. They’d left in such a hurry; it must have slipped their minds. I looked inside, expecting to find fishing gear, maybe a wallet or phone.”
Noah pauses. He looks up at me, his eyes filled with guilt. “I found stacks of money and bags of...drugs.”
My heart drops. I feel sick as the truth slowly sinks in.
“I should have gone to the police,” he continues. “But I panicked. I thought if they found out I knew, they would come after me.”
I nod, taking it all in.
“I swear I didn’t know I was transporting drugs,” he goes on. “There was a sting operation, and I got busted. The DEA offered me a deal. I either gave them all the information I had, or they would send me to prison. Several of the men were arrested, but I was let go as part of the deal. I thought it was over. I thought they got them all. The day I flew you out here, I had my last meeting with the DEA. They told me it was handled. I was free to go. The investigation was done. I mistakenly assumed it meant they had them all in custody. ”
His voice chokes on his words, his gaze not daring to meet mine. “I was wrong. Vincent was left. He somehow found out I was the one who gave them up.”
A desperate laugh erupts past my lips as I manage a bitter smile. “That’s quite the story.” As much as I want to be angry with Noah, I can’t be. He was sucked into something beyond his control and did what he felt was right in the moment.
The room falls silent as we each lose ourselves in our thoughts. The gravity of our situation is sinking in. “Are they a cartel or just local drug dealers?”
“I believe they might have some connection to a cartel, but I don’t know,” he shrugs. “I didn’t ask questions. When I got busted, I was shocked. When I saw the drugs, I was like, okay, just guys doing some shady stuff.”
“You kept flying them after you found the drugs?”
He looks ashamed. “Yes. I thought if I suddenly stopped flying them, they would know I knew, and they would come after me. On the last run, before we got busted, I told them I wouldn’t be able to fly them anymore. I told them I was going out of town. And then we got busted, so I’m pretty sure they figured it out.”
These men aren’t just after him—they’re after anyone associated with him, including me. “So, we’re both being hunted,” I say, the words tasting bitter on my tongue.
Noah nods, his expression pained. “I’m sorry. I thought it was over.”
Anger bubbles up inside me, but it’s not directed at him. It’s the situation, the helplessness. I take a deep breath, trying to steady myself. “Do you believe them when they said they didn’t kill Eric?”
He looks thoughtful. “Honestly, I do. I know that sounds weird, but they seemed genuinely surprised to find his body.”
“How did they know about him?”
He shakes his head. “It doesn’t take much to do a property record search. If we can get you out of here, you’ll have to run. Don’t go home. They’ll have your name from the flight records, but you should be able to disappear.”
“What do you mean get me out of here?” I ask.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” he declares .
“There’s something you’re forgetting about,” I remind him.
“What?”
“Carter. If they didn’t kill Eric, Carter did. That means he’s still out there.”
He looks thoughtful. “Is it strange that I’m actually hoping he is?” Noah chuckles. “Maybe they can kill each other.”
Noah’s dark humor doesn’t comfort me, but it does bring a brief smile to my face. It’s a moment of lightness in the midst of our grim predicament.
And then I laugh. “It would make Carter’s whole week if he could rescue me. He’d want you dead, but I’m sure he would drag me to some cave and keep me prisoner.”
“What’s the phrase? Frying pan or the fire?”
I groan. “What are we doing to do?”
He gets serious again. “We can’t be here when the boss arrives. It won’t end well. We need to escape.”
“Escape? We have no usable hands. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
He nods his head at the window. “Through there. ”
I look at the window, measuring it with my eyes. It’s small, but we can fit. “And go where?” I ask, my skepticism clear.
“Civilization is twenty miles away.”
“And it’s cold. There’s snow. How are we going to survive.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what to do, but we can’t sit here. I’m not trying to scare you, but this is real. They will kill us. I don’t imagine they are going to leave any evidence. We’ll just be gone.”
Noah’s words hang heavy in the air. The certainty in his voice sends a shiver racing down my spine. The gravity of the situation finally washes over me. There is no more time for denial or disbelief. We are trapped in a real-life nightmare.
“Then we go,” I nod. “Wolves or man, I’ll take the wolves.”
“The wilderness out there isn’t so forgiving,” he says.
He is right—we have to get out, but how can we expect to survive hostile terrain with no tools?
Noah takes a deep breath, eyes fixed on some distant point in the room. “I know it’s not an ideal scenario,” he sighs, “But I’d rather take our chances with nature than wait here for a certain death.”
“Before we had your backpack,” I remind him.
He smiles. “Actually, my backpack is over there.”
While that’s a relief, it’s not exactly a huge win. But at least I know he’s got some survival gear. “We can’t outrun them on snowmobiles.”
“We can make it,” he says fiercely. “There isn’t an option. We have to. Period.”
“Why don’t we take one of the snowmobiles,” I suggest, hopefully.
He grimaces and shakes his head. “They’ll just get on the other ones and track us down. This has to be done quietly. At night. The dark will be our friend.”
“The wolves and bears are not our friends,” I murmur.
I think he’s crazy, but he’s right. It’s either death by wilderness or death by these men. Noah offers a small, sad smile. I stare at him, caught between anger and admiration. Anger for the trouble he’s brought upon us, admiration for his bravery in the face of it all. I can’t really blame it all on him. I brought my own baggage .
“Maybe, but at least we’re not giving up. I’m going down fighting.”
The resolve in his voice stirs something within me, a spark of hope that fights against the despair threatening to consume me. That spark has me nodding, steeling myself for what lies ahead. “Alright,” I murmur. “We’ll run like hell.”
“Hopefully, it takes Vincent some time to get here,” he says.
I groan, realizing our plan isn’t exactly perfect. “What a mess.”
“I really am sorry,” Noah says again. “If I thought I was in danger, I would never have let you on my plane. I wouldn’t have put anyone in that position. I asked them if I should lay low and was told things were handled.”
“If that guy was right, maybe they do have someone on the inside,” I shrug. “You could have been lulled into a false sense of security.”
“If I get out of here, I’m going all the way up the chain,” he growls. “It’s one thing to have my life put in danger. It’s entirely different when they put innocent people in harm’s way. What if I had been flying a family? ”
I look at him. This man has become my unexpected partner in this unanticipated chaos. “Noah, I don’t blame you. Do you blame me for what Carter may try and do?”
“No.”
“Right. I blame them. I blame Carter.”
The room is growing colder by the minute. I scoot over and lean my head on his shoulder. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad I’m in this mess with you.”
He turns to face me and kisses my cheek. “Thanks. We’ll wait for nightfall, and then we run like hell. In the meantime, there’s nothing to do but wait.”
We stay silent, listening to the murmurs of the men outside and the occasional bark of orders. I can feel the weight of every second, the anticipation building like a coiled spring. I pray this Vincent character doesn’t show up before we can escape.