The Private Serials Box Set(65)

"This is the only way where you disappear, but are still breathing.  Edgar wants you dead. Thinks I'm here to kill you, in fact. But I can't  do that. Even with how much I despise you, I can't kill you. But I will  tell him where you are." I paused, letting everything sink in for him.  "If you do this, if you crash this boat and disappear, I will pay Edgar  off and tell him you're dead. You'll be free to start a new life, and  I'll make that a possibility. But if you don't, it's over."

Derrek's eyes flashed to Jessica's, and she looked just as shaken as he  did. After everything that had happened in the last few days, I was  shocked this had come as some sort of surprise to them both. If someone  were after Lena and myself, if we were being hunted, and someone offered  me an out, I'd take it without hesitation. It would hurt, but I'd put  my past behind me, leave my family, leave my life behind, to ensure Lena  was safe and with me. I watched his gaze move from Jessica to the faces  of his daughters and I knew the moment when he made the decision.

"You promise you can make us safe?"         

     



 

I leaned forward and looked him in the eye, trying to impart as much  urgency and passion with my words as I could. "If you're not safe, then  Lena's not safe. There is nothing I take more seriously than her safety.  You mean shit to me, but she means the world. I wouldn't gamble with  her life."

Derrek's eyes jumped from Jessica to Lena and back to me. He took off  his hat, ran his hands through his hair, and exhaled loudly. "Okay,  let's get this over with." At his words, Jessica stood up and moved to  the side of the boat, leaning toward him and kissing him with all the  passion you'd expect a couple in love to share. My eyes darted to Lena,  to see if their exchange caused her any pain, but she was happily cooing  at the child in her lap, oblivious.

When Jessica and Derrek pulled away from each other, she sat back down  and I watched as Lena ran her hand down Jessica's arm, comforting her.  "He'll be all right," Lena said quietly as Jessica wiped a few tears  from her cheeks.

"Okay," I said, turning back to Derrek. "Like I said, just aim for the  rocks then, literally, abandon ship before you get too close. It'll  probably explode and you don't want to be too close to the explosion." I  heard Jessica muffle a cry at my words but Derrek just nodded. "Make  sure your life jacket is on tight."

"Yeah, no shit," Derrek responded, with almost a laugh.

"We'll be out to get you as soon as it's safe for the girls." Derrek just nodded at my words.

"I love you," he said firmly to Jessica, but she just nodded in  response, pressing her lips together to keep herself from crying. Derrek  threw his end of the rope back into our boat and then took the wheel of  his. We all watched as he pulled away slowly. Once he was a safe  distance away, I took to following him.

We went at a slower clip, just far enough away to see him clearly. I was  more than relieved to see that there were no other boats on the east  side of the island. I hadn't expected there to be any, really; it wasn't  an optimal spot for tourists. The west side of the island had all the  beaches. I slowed the boat when he aligned his with the rocky cliffs. We  stopped altogether and watched as his boat sped up, heading directly  toward the rocks.

Jessica started whimpering as the boat approached the island, and eventually turned her head away, unable to look any longer.

The boat was starting to get a little closer than I would have liked.  "Jump, Derrek. Jump, damn it," I whispered. My heart started pounding  harder; he was getting too close. Finally, I watched as he jumped from  the boat, saw the orange of his life vest hit the water. Then just  seconds later the boat hit with an impressively loud crash into the  rocks. As I suspected, the boat burst into flames; the sound of the  explosion was much louder than the crash, and the whole event was hard  to look away from. Flames licked the sky, black smoke poured from the  wreckage. Surely, if anyone had been aboard, they'd be dead on impact.

I pushed our boat forward and as we neared the crash site, the air was  hot with the fire. I saw Derrek in the water, his life vest bobbing in  the waves. As I neared it became clear he was moving, swimming away from  the crash. I sighed in relief, glad to know he'd made it. I stopped the  boat just yards from him and threw the rope out. He grabbed it and I  pulled him in. After a struggle to bring him onboard, with lots of  coughing and sputtering, he finally landed on the deck of the boat and  Jessica flung herself on him, crying fully now, and very loudly.

Lena had both girls and tried to distract them, but we made eye contact  and she gave me a small smile, obviously glad everything had turned out  the way I'd planned.

"We've got to get out of here, now," I said urgently. "Someone on that  island heard the explosion and I'm sure the authorities are on their way  here. Derrek," I snapped, hoping to get his attention. When he finally  looked at me from the deck of the boat, still coughing and breathing  heavily, I nodded at the ocean. "Throw your wallet in the water.  Jessica, you too." They didn't bother arguing or questioning me, which  made everything so much easier.

After they'd ditched their personal items into the water, they sat on  the bench, Derrek's arms wrapped tightly around Jessica. I aimed our  boat back toward Athens.





Chapter Ten

I pulled the boat up to a marina that was much less popular, hoping  there would be fewer people around to see us arrive. This marina was  mainly used by fishermen, so when we docked, we got hardly any looks  from the men cleaning their boats. Perfect. We walked down the  wooden-planked walkway and I spotted the black SUV I'd hired.

"This is as far as we go," I said to Derrek. I handed him the manila  envelope that contained the items Parker had managed to get for me. "In  that envelope you'll find passports, IDs, and all the paperwork you'll  need to leave the country under new identities. For all four of you.  There is also paperwork that will lead you to a bank account I've set up  in your new name that has the two million dollars we promised you, plus  another fifty thousand to get you started."

Derrek took the envelope from me, looked inside, and then sighed. "You had this all figured out, didn't you?"

"Indeed," I replied. "Now listen, this is important. You are all dead.  You cannot, under any circumstances, contact anyone from your previous  life. You cannot come back to Portland, cannot even come back to Oregon.  I'd say stay out of the US for a while, even. Am I making this clear?  If you come back, you're dead. And so are we," I say, motioning to Lena  and myself. Jessica looked more upset about this prospect than Derrek,  and I guessed she might have been closer to her family than he was. For  just one moment I wondered if she was regretting getting involved with  him to begin with. She hadn't signed up for all of this. But then I  looked at Lena, who was wearing a look of true compassion. She actually  felt bad for them. Her open and enormous heart wiped away any concern I  had for Jessica; she'd gotten herself into this mess and I'd done  everything I could to ensure the man she loved lived. I couldn't feel  guilty about it. Refused to feel guilty. "In that SUV there you'll find  luggage with a few changes of clothes for each of you. The car will take  you to the airport and I suggest you leave immediately."

Derrek reached out and I took his hand and shook it firmly. He nodded  toward me, and it sort of looked like he wanted to thank me, but the  words never left his mouth. Lena knelt and waved to the kids.

"Bye, girls. Be good for Mommy and Daddy, all right?" The two little girls nodded and smiled at her as she stood.

We stayed in place and watched as the four of them climbed into the car  and drove away. When it was out of sight I heard Lena let out a giant,  relieved sigh. I turned to her and saw the same relief written across  her face.

"That was pretty intense," she said softly as she turned to me. "I'm  glad everything went as planned. There were a million things that could  have gone wrong."

I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, smiling when her cheek came into contact with my chest.

"It was the only way I could think of to end this, once and for all."

"I get it. I just hope it worked."

"If they head straight to the airport, which is where I hired their car  to take them, they should be on a plane before anyone really notices  they're gone."

She exhaled loudly again and I buried my nose in her hair. "You're safe  and that's all that matters." Her arms squeezed me a little tighter and  her face pressed against my chest a little harder.

"Can we go back to the hotel now? I just want to lie in bed and try to forget this ever happened."

"Of course," I responded.



We spent the rest of the afternoon in the hotel room, showering and  lounging on the bed, holding each other, trying to wrap our minds around  what had happened just hours before. It wasn't until that evening when  we turned on the television that we realized we just might have pulled  it off. The reporter spoke in Greek, but there were captions in English  running along the bottom of the screen.