My Demons (The Angel Trilogy #2) (19 page)

“Umm… yeah, if that’s what you want to call it.”

“Yeah, I heard.” She approaches me. “Abby, that son of a bitch, will never touch you again. Evan is my best friend in this entire world and you are the love of his life. I will die before I ever let anything happen to you. You’re my sister now.” She hugs me tight.

“I need it to be wheels up in an hour. Six. Score,” Michael says into his phone. “We’re set, let’s roll.” He says with a boyish smile crossing his tan skin.

“Memorize.” She points to the blue passport.

“We’re taking the spare. Here, you’re driving. You follow and keep up.” Natalia throws Michael a set of keys and then speaks to the others.

“I didn’t know Evan had a spare car.” Have I simply not remembered?

“
A
spare? No Abby, Evan has many spares. He has an exit strategy thoroughly planned, and now would be the time that we use it. He’s planned and prepared for a very long time for a moment just like this.

“Smart dude,” Michael says.

“Airport,” Natalia says.

I settle in the back seat with a man that holds a gun very close, dressed in fatigues. I don’t know what to say to this man that I’m sharing space with since I know he just recently saved me from being assaulted by Marco.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Abby

The plane’s small and cozy, but I’m not thrilled about planes on any day of the week. “Where are we going?”

“Brazil. You sit here and buckle up, get some rest and I’ll wake you before we get there.”

“Are we going to get his body, Nat?” A tear falls from my cheek and I wipe it away.

“Abby, he isn’t dead. We’re bringing him home.” Her voice is firm.

“What?” I’m sure I’m in shock at this point. I mean how much drama and craziness can a person take before they lose it?

“Abby, Evan’s a lethal SOB and there’s no way that he’s dead… trust me. I’ve seen what he’s capable of and if they still have him it’s because he wants them too,” Michael bellows.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you on the phone. I got a coded message. It has to be him,” Nat says to Michael.

“
You
got a coded message?” I didn’t get shit, but he reached out to
her
?

“He would only send us code messages because we know what to look for, Abby. If he
is
sending code messages, that means he doesn’t have a direct line and needs someone to respond quickly. Don’t take it personal.” she says patting me on the shoulder.

She sits next to me and pulls out her tray and a map. “This is Sou Palo and most likely where they’re keeping him. My guess is if Marco came into contact with you four then he’s already on his way there. If I can get my contacts to confirm that, then we may have a chance to get one up on him. When we land, you’re going to be asked questions from customs. It’s regular shit. So you explain you’re a rich girl ready for a holiday and that’s it.”

“Do I get a gun too?”

“Have you ever shot a gun, Abby?” Michael asks excitedly flaring from his voice.

“No. But, I want to help.”

“I’ll go over the mechanism with you,” the younger security guy offers.

“Bro, I’ve got this.” Michael holds his hand out to the guy’s chest.

“Scoot over toots,” he winks at Natalia. She huffs, but does move over. Michael starts talking and covering all of the info I suppose someone should know about a gun. I hear Evan’s voice in my head the day he handed me a gun and I hid in his room. That’s the day I should’ve used the gun. That’s the day I should’ve put a bullet in his father’s head for what he did to Addie.

He has me repeat the process of taking apart and putting the forty-five back together again. “I think you have that covered,” he laughs.

“I hope so, I already have calluses on my fingers.” I rub my hands together.

I hear Natalia snort next to me. “He knows how to show a lady a good time, right?” She laughs. I sense some sexual tension between these two
that
I know for sure. I see the way he looks at her. But Nat is a tough girl, and while I don’t know her very well just yet, I know enough to say she’s had a hard go at life and she has a story to tell. “I’ll be back.” She unclicks her seatbelt and heads toward the bathroom. She is
so
beautiful. Tall, long dark hair, bright eyes, golden skin. She should’ve been a model, she would’ve knocked them all out of the water. “What’s her story?” I ask mostly to myself. Michael laughs. “I’m still trying to figure that out myself, little one.”

“Why do you call me that?” I giggle, it’s just so Frodo-ish.

He laughs. “Umm, because you’re tiny?” He hesitates and then shrugs his shoulders. “He loves you, ya know?” He looks down at me in a serious way this time. “I knew the second he laid eyes on you that you were the one for him.” He starts cleaning another gun. “He didn’t know what to think of you. He struggled with so many things at that same time in his life. I really felt that you helped him focus and fall apart at the same time. Anyways, I just thought you should know.”

“Thanks,” I whisper, turning my head in the other direction of the plane to hide the tears slipping from my eyes and see the younger guy watching me, but he quickly turns when he notices he’s been busted.

“Get some sleep Abby, this is going to be a long flight,” Natalia says, so matter-of-fact as she returns to her seat. She seems so serious and sweet all at the same time. Like she’s got the responsibility now or something.

I snuggle into the huge reclining seat. I’m tired and this has been one of the longest and most god-awful days of my life. “Whose plane is this?” I close my eyes and drift when I think I hear Natalia say Evan’s name as I disappear into nothing.

“Wow,” Natalia says to herself.

We’re driving through Brazil and it’s beautiful. I had only ever dreamt of visiting this country and now I’m here.

“We have a few more hours of drive time, Abby,” she says from her seat next to me.

After we drive for a while the sun falls It's dark and I wonder what Evan’s going through right now. What can I do to save him, protect him?

Michael and Natalia are talking, but none of what they are saying is making any sense to me. The only thing I can hear is Evan telling me how much he loves me because honestly that’s the only thing that will get me through this. Knowing that something was wrong while he was gone has been ripping my soul out.

“Abby?” Natalia asks.

“”Yeah?” I turn my head nonchalantly wiping away the tears.

“When we get to where we’re going I need you to stay in the truck. If anything happened to you, Evan would kill me,” Michael chimes in.

“Understatement…” Natalia lets the word hang a few extra seconds as she throws her long dark hair in a ponytail.

She begins strapping a vest on her chest and it suddenly feels very real and the fear is rising up to my throat.

“If you don’t want me to get hurt then why did I come?”

Michael laughs.

“Because you’re safer with us,” Nat says.

“Because we needed your security team as backup and they go where you go.” He grunts

“Shut it, you’re going to make her feel used,” Natalia slaps Michael’s shoulder.

“I don’t give a shit, to be honest.” I sit up straight in my seat. “I want to kill every fucking asshole that tries to hurt Evan, so this works great for me.” Inner sexy girl has just staked her claim on a few of these thugs.

“Take off your shirt.”

“Hell yea, time to have a little fun,” Michael hums a little too loudly.

“Oh my God, do you
ever
stop?” Natalia rolls her eyes. “I’m going to strap this vest to you,” she says with her eyes looking at me through fabulously long lashes.
Who made this woman?

“Shit, incoming,” Michael says to us then on his radio to the people following us.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nat… shit, they’re gonna stop us.”

“Awe, little boys want to play?”

“Oh, shit Abby, get the fuck down. Shit’s going to be getting messed up in about…
Now.
” Several things happen in a short time and I don’t know what to do.

I look at Natalia, who’s smiling like this is the highlight of her day. “Hurry up.” She gestures for me to put the vest on. I do as I’m told and it doesn’t take her long to get it adjusted. I throw my shirt back on attempting to prepare myself for whatever it is that’s about to happen. My heart’s pounding in my ears and my cheeks are flaming hot and yet my hands are ice cold and numb. “Don’t say anything, just smile.” She smiles a wicked grin. “Time to play boys.” I hear her mess with the metal of her very large weapon.
I think I’m going to throw up.
“Do they see us?” she asks. “Oh yeah, they see us, now they’re waving us over.”

“Is it the cops?” My teeth chatter.

“Oh no, not back here. This is what we expected, this is who we’re looking for…” she pauses to fold a strap around herself. “Toss me.” Michael slows down and Natalia opens the door and jumps out.
“Holy shit,”
I cry out.

“Close the door, Abby. Quick,” Michael grunts and I do as I’m told.

“What the hell?” I freak out.

“Now we play. Just sit and keep your pretty little self still, we’ve got you.” He laughs “This is what we do, Abby.”
This is what they do?
I’m scared to death and they act like they’re at the freaking circus? My heart’s pounding so much harder than it ever has before because I’ve seen this kind of shit go down in movies and I know how this ends.
Someone’s going to get killed.

Oh my God.

I turn my head to look for Natalia on the side of the road, but I don’t see her or the SUV that had been following us with the security team. I grab hold of the armrest that sits in the middle of the seat and stumble forward when the truck comes to an abrupt stop. I hear Michael and the other guy in the front seat hush their words as they fumble with something in the seat. ”Get on the floorboard now Abby and be quiet no matter what happens.” I once again quickly do as I’m told as my breathing is labored and my vision is becoming uncooperative, probably from the adrenalin pulsing through my veins.

The doors shut on both sides of the truck. My body’s shaking on the floorboard with my arms wrapped around my legs.
I wish I knew what was going on out there
.
What if they get killed? What will I do? How will I help?

It’s pitch black out, except for the bright vehicle lights shining on the passenger side of the truck. I hear muffled voices, but I can’t understand what they’re saying.

The rear driver’s side door clicks and slowly creeps opens.

Shit…

“Abby,” I hear a female voice whisper.

“Natalia?” Oh, thank God. “What?” I ask a little louder than I should have.

“Shhh.” Yeah, definitely louder than I should have. “Slowly and quietly come to the door.” I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get out of the truck because last time I checked there were very bad people on the other side, and I’m not so sure I’m ready for that. What I can’t get over though, is how Natalia does this all the time?

“Move!” she hisses

I crawl on my hands and knees across the floor of the truck and I’m quickly pulled out by the young guy. They don’t say anything, they only hold their finger to their lips signaling for me to be quiet.
Well, I’m not going to say anything.
Natalia is kneeling in front of me doing some sort of hand signal shit that I don’t understand, and then slips some strange device over her face. It reminds me of something like night vision goggles or something. The next thing I see her do blows me away. She totally reminds me of
‘Laura Croft.’
She stands up crossing her arms over her torso pulling a gun into each hand from her sides. She nods her head and the guy that has been holding onto me since I got out of the truck pulls me forward.

I turn my head to see what the crazy girl is about to do. She’s standing against the truck and then I see Michael on his knees with a gun to his head, I make a noise. I think it’s a scream, but then this guy’s glove is tight around my mouth.

“It’s fine.” He seems kind, but firm. He drags me into the trees away from the absolute craziness on the other side of the road. “Are you going to help her?” He can’t stay here with me when they are all getting ready to die can he?

“No, I can’t leave you,” he says against my head.

“Yes you can! Go help her!” I hiss.

He doesn’t answer me. I look around wondering where the other three guys are. “Copy,” I hear him whisper. Like a fire has just erupted, I hear gunshots in unison. Natalia breaks from her position on the driver’s side of the truck and I see her shoot everyone. My eyes have to be bulging from their socket because she literally moves her guns in a beautiful rhythm and the men fall one after the other. My body feels extremely tense and this guy’s hold is crippling. Natalia throws something to Michael and he jumps up.

“Thank God!” He’s alive. I see Michael and the security guy run around Natalia and grab something out of the back of the truck.

“Let’s go.” He pulls me out of the trees and across the road.

Natalia is gripping a bag that she’s digging through. I don’t see what it is she pulls out before I’m thrown back into the truck. “Oh, I
do
like party time with the boys,” Natalia says with an extra hitch in her voice. “Crazy.” Michael laughs. I’m so glad that he didn’t die. We’re all alive and I’m so thankful. I look out the window and see Natalia place something on the side of the large SUV parked on the side of the road. “What is she doing?” I ask leaning over the front of the seat.