Harrison groaned, “What is with that gi-”
“Not here,” Andy snapped in a harsh whisper. He ran his hand through his peppered hair, “I have some things he might want. Let me try.”
“Isn’t that what you’ve been doing?” Harrison demanded. “Isn’t that why we loaded the van?”
Andy shot him an impatient glare and turned back to Arturo. They began speaking in rapid Spanish again. I could hear the salesman’s lilt to Andy’s voice, the placating, coaxing tone that tried to bring Arturo to an agreement.
As I watched him negotiate Page’s release, I caught a glimpse of who he might have been before the Zombie Apocalypse. He smiled as he talked to Arturo, chuckling every once in a while. His hands moved expressively with his fast Spanish and his eyes danced around the room, including all of the men around him.
He didn’t seem bothered by the weapons at all. He was completely at ease in this situation. It was really rather remarkable.
I watched in awe, saying silent prayers that he would remain the ally we needed. I couldn’t trust him completely yet, even though we had asked so much of him. He was still mainly a mystery though and his reasons for helping us didn’t quite add up.
Arturo’s cynical laughter caught my attention. He leaned forward on his desk, resting his massive weight on his pudgy fingers. His watchful glare was directed at Andy and his catfish lips pulled up into a victorious grin.
Whatever he said made Andy take a step back. He glanced at Vaughan but didn’t have time to explain before Arturo’s men jumped into action and closed ranks around us. Their guns were raised and in our faces in the next breath. Thankfully, we had been on high alert ever since… well, ever since forever.
I had my gun pulled and pointed just as quickly. Sure, there was one at my neck, but mine was aimed in between someone’s eyes. Take that random Mexican guard.
Clicking sounds rippled through the room. The Parkers had pulled their weapons too. Andy held an impressive handgun directly at Arturo’s chest.
And that leads us to where we were now. Guns aimed and trigger fingers itchy. But we were not defenseless this time and we were not the victims. We held our ground, daring them to make a move.
Ha! Suck on that, bad guys. We were so ready for you.
Arturo started barking Spanish at Andy. He gestured wildly with his hands, spittle flying from his thick lips. Andy’s hands held steady, but he nodded slowly.
He cocked his head to the side and started translating to English for us. “He says Matthias is in the country, so we can’t blame him for trying to make a deal.”
“He means to trade us,” Vaughan growled. “To Matthias.”
Andy nodded, “It would seem so.”
Arturo let out a string of angry Spanish before Andy spoke again. “Now he says that he heard how dangerous you all were. He was protecting himself. He thought you were here to kill him.”
“If he doesn’t hand my sister over, I will kill him,” Hendrix growled.
Andy translated that for Arturo. I tried not to grin. It felt good to be back in control. It felt good to have a capable weapon in my hand and the prospect of coming out of this alive.
I had been facing death for way too long. The hope that swirled inside of my chest felt foreign and underused.
Arturo’s voice gentled this time when he spoke. He sounded as if he were changing his tune. Andy’s tone softened too, but he sounded even more dangerous. There was a steely glint to his words, as if he had pulled out a dagger and held it to Arturo’s throat. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but the pressure mounted with each gritty word.
“He wants to bargain now. We must have persuaded him with our American charm,” Andy explained to us in an amused voice. “He is willing to hand over the girl for medical supplies and our silence.”
“Our silence?” Tyler demanded.
“He doesn’t want anyone finding out that he let her go willingly. He wants it known that you stole her from him.”
Tyler chuckled, “Is he that afraid of my dad?”
Andy glanced over his shoulder at Tyler. The look on his face was shock mixed with opportunistic glee. I realized then that we had never told Andy that Tyler was Matthias’s daughter. Maybe he had guessed it before, but we hadn’t come right out and said it.
Tyler cleared her throat and lifted her chin bravely. She wasn’t going to let her accidental confession bother her. “He’s just a man. Shoot him and he’ll bleed out just like anybody else.”
I wanted to argue with her. I wasn’t so sure that was true.
“He doesn’t want to kill Matthias,” Andy explained. “He wants to make him an ally. The warlords have decided to fight for his partnership.”
Except for Diego. He wanted to kill Matthias. Was he really the only one? I started to rethink my refusal of his offer. If he was the only territory leader that was willing to fight Matthias, maybe Diego wasn’t my enemy after all.
Or what was that saying? The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
But could I really trust Diego? No.
Could I use him if I absolutely had to as a means to an end?
I didn’t know. I couldn’t answer that right now with a gun shoved against my jugular. But it was something worth putting a pin in.
I would bring it up to Vaughan and Hendrix later.
“If he were smart,” I couldn’t help but say, “he would avoid the Colony all-together. Matthias doesn’t want a partner. He wants complete control.”
Andy repeated my words so Arturo could understand them, but they only brought out a sly smile from the ugly warlord. He looked straight at me and gestured around with his heavy hands. He turned to the side and motioned toward his estate. He said something in Spanish and winked at me.
“He says, he’d like to see the man try,” Andy translated.
I leaned forward and smiled serenely. “I’m glad you’re up for the challenge.” Andy didn’t translate.
“My sister,” Vaughan growled impatiently.
More conversation transpired that I could not understand. Eventually Arturo waved at his men and sighed with defeat. Two of his guard disappeared into the hallway while Arturo motioned us through the door.
“He’s walking us to the van,” Andy explained. “We’ll do the trade there.”
We moved in unison with Arturo’s guards. It was an awkward walk while we tried our best to keep our weapons aimed at our enemies. Arturo and Andy fell to the back of the line. Andy kept his gun trained on him, but Arturo didn’t seem bothered by it.
Outside in the blinding sun again, I gaped at the van. All of the doors had been opened. They dangled with defeat while my heart sunk to my toes. They’d clearly searched the car.
The medical supplies we had carefully packed this morning had been removed. Andy had gathered the things he thought Arturo was most likely to trade for, but we had foolishly left them in the van.
A tsunami of disappointment crashed over me. Why hadn’t we left someone to stay with the van? What an amateur move.
All of that hope and optimism from before disintegrated into ash that scattered under the desert sun. We had weapons again, but our confrontation skills had gotten rusty. Now we were empty-handed and without anything to offer for Page.
We would have to kill all of these men.
I expected Andy to look just as disappointed, but when I looked over at him, he grinned at Arturo and spit out something in Spanish. Arturo blanched. The color from his face drained completely and he growled curse words in English.
While the rest of us stood around feeling like idiots, Andy pulled a sleek walkie-talkie from his pocket and waved it in front of Arturo’s face. Arturo glared for so long, his face turned purple and his lips flapped in the breeze. This was the first time I had seen him truly upset.
I didn’t blame him. Andy was clearly holding his secrets close to the chest. He hadn’t even revealed his plan to us.
I felt deceived and manipulated. A quick glance at Hendrix, Vau
ghan and Nelson revealed that they felt the same way.
Andy had never asked us to trust him, only promised his help in return for mutual cooperation. I tried to swallow the bitter pill that we were being played here too, but I couldn’t force it down my suddenly parched throat.
What was he up to?
He spoke into the walkie-talkie and grinned at us. I held back from pointing my gun at him and pulling the trigger.
I needed to exhaust all options first. Page could still be on her way. Maybe Andy had more tricks up his sleeve.
Trusting Andy to rescue us seemed like a cruel joke now. Even if he did have a plan B to get us out of this mess, he’d deliberately deceived us.
“I called Joy,” he explained in English. “She has the real supplies they want.”
Vaughan grunted in reply and turned to face the drive. Several minutes later, Joy pulled into the paved circle navigating a beat up sedan that had seen better days. Luke sat in the front seat with her holding an assault rifle.
For a second my stomach clenched and my heart rate picked up speed. Adela, my brain screamed. He wouldn’t really trade her. He wouldn’t offer her life without discussing it with us first, right?
I hated how badly I wanted to trust this couple. I knew better. And yet every instinct inside of me told me I could put my faith in them despite our current circumstances.
Indecision created a war inside my head. I took a calming breath and rubbed my pointer finger over the trigger of my gun. I would wait this out, but I would be ready.
No matter what happened.
Joy put the car into park without turning it off. She slid out of the driver’s seat with feral grace. I almost smiled at the bad ass vibe she had going on.
It was hard to reconcile that this was the same woman who wore an apron around her house and made homemade tortillas. Her signature scarf around her hair had been traded for a black bandana and hip looking aviators hid her eyes. Her clothes matched this persona a hundred times better.
Luke looked just as dangerous, despite his age. There was a reckless gleam in his eye that I recognized. He wasn’t afraid of these men.
He probably should have been.
But he wasn’t.
Joy shouted something in Spanish, then leaned down and popped the trunk. Arturo nodded at his men and they went around the car to check out her haul. One of the guards waved over at Arturo once he had thoroughly inspected the stockpile.
My mixed feelings about the missionary couple quadrupled in the next moment. Arturo motioned toward the door to his house and two guards came out dragging Page with them. I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face when I saw her fighting them as hard as she could.
She was tiny compared to them. She looked a doll in the hands of giants. Her blonde hair thrashed around her face, which was the reason she didn’t immediately see her family waiting for her. Her small hands hit and clawed at the two brutes carrying her beneath her elbows. She kicked out at them whenever they raised her from the ground. She looked absolutely crazed.
And beautiful.
And mostly unharmed.
Relief like I had never known sprinted through me. My knees buckled and I nearly fell over. Page still hadn’t noticed us and not one of us had made a sound while we waited for her to lift her head. I realized then that I wasn’t the only one that had thought this moment would never really come. I wasn’t the only one that had believed we had lost her forever, even if none of us was willing to say that fear out loud.
What were the chances she had somehow survived this household without us? What were the chances we would actually get to have her back without having to murder half the country?
The odds seemed extreme and our chances too slim. But here she was.
“Page,” Hendrix grated. His voice barely carried over the rest of the commotion.
She stilled completely. She recognized his voice immediately and she became such dead weight in her captors’ arms that they nearly dropped her. While they adjusted their hold on her, she slowly lifted her head. The sun glinted down on her dirty blonde head, shining on her like she was the favorite daughter of heaven. Her bright blue eyes glinted with shock and awe. Slowly a smile turned her pretty lips up and painted the most beautiful expression on her lovely face.
“You’re real?” she rasped brokenly. “You’re really here?”
I nodded along while her brothers shouted their answers all at once. Emotion pushed into my throat and I had to look away from their stunned faces before I burst into tears.
I loved Page, as much as I could love anything. But nothing I felt for her compared with what those five boys felt.
Arturo’s men finished unloading the truck of bandages, saline, prescription medicine and so much more. My mouth dropped open when I watched one of them carry a pie inside. I glanced back at Joy with wide eyes only to watch her shrug nonchalantly.
A pie. How very missionary.
Andy spoke more to Arturo, but his voice had gentled into his normal, friendly cadence. Arturo let out a bark of laughter and slapped Andy on the back. He motioned to his guards and they let Page go. She stumbled into a run and sprinted for her brothers.
They collapsed on her in one fluid motion. I lost her in the middle of the five of them. The five brothers crushed her between them, murmuring words and promises I couldn’t hear. Their low voices rumbled together and hid beneath Page’s frantic crying. Her little hands poked out of their circle as she hugged each of them in turn.
Tyler walked over to me, still holding her gun. She had tears in her eyes and I knew my expression matched hers. How could we have lost something so precious?
We were so much more than lucky to have gotten her back.
Arturo called out one more command to Andy and then disappeared into the house with his men. Andy waved him off before walking over to his wife.
“What do you think of them?” I asked Tyler. She was watching Miller as he stood near the Parkers, waiting his turn with Page. “They lied to us.”
“They didn’t lie,” she countered. “Not exactly.”
I felt a righteous anger swell in my chest. “Are you on their side?”
She nudged me with her shoulder, “If they do it again, I’ll kill them myself. Our eyes are wide open now.”
“We need to go!” Andy called out. “Now.”
The Parkers broke apart and Miller found Page immediately. His arms were around her neck so tightly I worried that she couldn’t breathe. Slowly she lifted her hands to settle around Miller, but I could tell from here she didn’t feel exactly comfortable. Miller pressed his face right up to her ear and spoke insistently. Page’s face went white as she listened. She dropped her hands and tried to take a step back.
Tyler and I burst into action at the same time. The brothers all noticed too, of course, but before any of us could intervene Miller stepped back and smiled at Page. She stared at him for a long moment before offering a tentative smile back.
I lifted my eyes and shared a brief look with Hendrix before stepping in front of Miller. Hendrix had looked just as concerned as I felt.
“Page,” I cried, unable to stop the tears from falling.
“Reagan!” She fell into my arms and sagged against me. Her shoulders immediately started shaking as she released all of her emotion at once.
I picked her up and carried her into the van, determined to have my time with her. Her brothers surrounded us on the bench seats and made no apologies for crowding us. Tyler took the front seat with Andy; Miller decided to ride back with Luke and Joy.
“We need to talk,” Vaughan announced to Andy as soon as we were back on the road and Arturo’s plantation was a dot in the rearview mirror.
“And we will,” Andy promised. “We have a deal.”
Vaughan’s anger pulsed through the stuffy interior. “I mean about what happened back there. You weren’t honest with us.”
“I was as honest with you as I could be,” Andy snapped. “You’re not the
only one that has interests to protect. I have to look out for my family too.”
Realization clicked into place. Collectively we did not trust this couple or their intentions. We were letting them help us but it was for selfish reasons. We were basically using them until we didn’t need them anymore.
With Andy’s explanation I finally understood that they were doing the same thing to us.
They had decided to work with us too, but only as long as we served a purpose.
Strangely that made me like them even more.
In an effort to break the tension, I said, “Actually, I thought that whole thing was rather civilized.” My gun burned into my side. I hadn’t bothered to put the safety on just yet.
Andy glanced over his shoulder with a wide grin, “I told you Arturo could be reasonable.”
Hendrix grunted. “Yeah, that moment when he held us at gunpoint so he could sell us to Matthias was heartwarming.”
“I said he could be reasonable,” Andy laughed. “I didn’t say he was going to be sweet.”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Vaughan broke in with a husky timber. “We have Page back. Everything is okay.”
We did have Page back, but this was still the end of the world. Everything was far from okay.
Chapter Two
We spent the next several hours surrounding Page and making sure she knew how loved she was. I helped her take a bath as soon as we got back to Andy’s bungalow and made sure she washed her hair really well.
She could have taken a shower by herself, but not one of us was comfortable letting her spend so much time alone in the backyard. She wouldn’t be allowed out of any of our sights for probably the rest of her life.
Poor girl.
Her teenage years were going to suck.
Vaughan and Hendrix spent at least an hour grilling her on everything that had happened while she was in captivity. I knew they were expecting horrible things that would traumatize her forever, but mostly it sounded like she’d been treated like an animal and forced to scrub a bunch of floors.