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  I ground my teeth in frustration, my heightened state of emotions making it hard for me to focus. Ever so softly, I could hear Sidney’s muffled cries.

  I had to save her.

  “You’re all the same,” I spat. “You hide behind the shadows because you’re afraid of fighting a fair fight. That’s why you ambushed me because if it was just the two of us, you know I’d win.”

  He laughed again.

  And then, silence.

  All I could hear was the thumping of my own heart. I held my breath, listening for any signs of movement.

  Thump, thump, thump. His footsteps sounded like thunderclaps as he approached. Soon enough, he entered the halo of light surrounding my chair. He was holding Sidney by the hair, a deadly-looking knife pressed into her neck.

  “If I was as cowardly as you say I am, then I’d be here with a gun. I’d make quick work of you two, and we’d all be on our way. Or rather, I would be, and you’d both be dead.” He grinned, pressing the tip of the knife to Sidney’s neck with enough pressure that a thin line of red ran down.

  “You bastard! Leave her out of this. What do you want with us anyway? Why did you have Trang lead us here?” I growled, rubbing my wrists together. If only I could get free, I would make this man regret ever laying a finger on Sidney.

  “Trang, dear, would you come here?”

  Obediently, Trang walked up to the man, allowing him to wrap his arm around her.

  “Why, you… how could you? I saved you, and this is how you repay me?”

  “Don’t you get it?” she asked, her voice full of malice and hatred. “It was all part of our plan.”

  “What plan?”

  The man smiled. “Oh, you don’t know, do you? Maybe I should introduce myself. My name is Van Nguyen.”

  My eyes widened in realization. Van Nguyen was the leader of the Gorillas. The same man that Jason had tried to assassinate before he had gone missing. The man my team had been sent here to find.

  “Now it makes sense, doesn’t it?” he asked, handing Sidney off to Trang before he walked over to me, pressing the knife to my bare chest. “Your brother was a good sniper, I’ll give him that, but he wasn’t very smart.”

  I was tempted to headbutt this man, but doing so wouldn’t get me very far. If I wanted to make it out of this alive, I would need to keep my cool.

  “He was supposed to kill me, but instead, he killed my brother.” He circled around me, pressing the blade to my neck. I tensed, knowing that if he made the mistake of cutting across my windpipe, he wouldn’t hit any major arteries, and I’d be less likely to bleed out.

  Of course, looking at the curved knife this man was using, I doubted he was a stranger to Columbian Neckties. “And, as I like to say, an eye for an eye.”

  “You… you killed my brother!”

  14

  Sidney

  The heartbreak on Kirk’s face was devastating.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you!” Kirk suddenly started to thrash about in his chair, obviously trying to break free.

  Van slapped his cheek so hard that I feared he had broken Kirk’s neck. “That’s where you’re mistaken.” He leaned down, face-to-face with Kirk, his dark, beady eyes full of evil. “Because today, you join your brother.”

  Suddenly, Kirk jerked his head forward, crashing it against Van’s. He fell back, tumbling into Trang and me. The girl lost her grip on me. I stumbled before I regained my composure, taking my opportunity to rush over to Kirk.

  My fingers shook as I tried to untie the rope that bound his wrists together.

  “Come on, Sidney…” Kirk whispered, desperate for me to free him.

  I worked as fast as I could, constantly looking over my shoulder at Van and Trang. The traitor was fretting over her lover, looking over the lump on his forehead. He slapped her hand away, growling before he marched toward us.

  “Run!” Kirk screamed, but I couldn’t just leave him to die. I kept at the knots, cursing myself for working so slowly.

  Before I could do anything useful, Van grabbed me by the hair, yanking me to my feet.

  I whimpered, clawing at his hand, desperately trying to get him to let go of me. “Please…”

  “It’s too late to beg, you whore.” He grabbed his knife from the ground. “Now, your boyfriend will get a nice show as I kill you.” The blade sliced through the thin material of my shirt with ease, exposing my chest. I squirmed, fearing the worst.

  He ran the blade across my stomach, making me cry out in pain. The sharp edge crept into my bra, getting dangerously close to my nipples. I squirmed even harder, kicking my legs, trying to put up a fight.

  Before I could land a hit, he slapped my cheek, knocking me to the ground. He barked an order at Trang, who immediately left the room.

  I crawled backward as Van hulked toward me, his nostrils flaring. “It’s a shame… really. You’d do well as one of my girls…” His eyes washed over my body hungrily before he grabbed me by the throat, lifting me to my feet. My face turned red from the lack of air.

  I was starting to get lightheaded when something came crashing into Van. My world tumbled out of focus before I heard the sound of two men tussling.

  Kirk threw down a punch, landing it against the concrete floor. Van rammed his knee into Kirk’s chest, winding him.

  There had to be something I could do.

  I looked around, spotting the knife on the ground. I crawled toward it, still feeling like I was breathing through a straw from my close encounter with death. I held the hilt, my hand shaking as my heart beat faster and faster.

  Just as I was about to sink the blade into Van’s back, he turned the tables, using Kirk as a human shield. I was seconds away from plunging the knife into Kirk when I stopped myself just in time. Before I could realize what was happening, Van swiped the weapon from my hand, pressing it to Kirk’s neck.

  Blood spilled on the ground. The smell was potent, making me sick to my stomach.

  “Kirk…!” I screamed, fearing the worst.

  I lunged toward Kirk, but before I could reach him, Van grabbed me, tossing me over his shoulder like I was a sack of potatoes. I banged against his back, kicking my legs hard. “Let me go!” I screamed, tears blurring my vision.

  I couldn’t believe it.

  Kirk was dead…

  “You’ll be begging me to kill you by the time I’m done with you.”

  My eyes widened when he slammed me against the wall, grabbing one of my breasts in his hand and fondling it roughly. I whimpered, trying to put up a fight, but it was like all motivation to stay alive had been sucked out of me the second I saw Kirk’s lifeless body.

  Van grinned, his face cloaked in shadows like a real-life monster.

  “I told you to keep your filthy hands off her.” Kirk suddenly appeared behind the Gorilla leader, his belt in hand. In a flash, he had it wrapped around the Gorilla leader’s neck, strangling him.

  Van’s eyes bugged out of his skull as he clawed at the thick leather, desperate for air.

  I grabbed the knife from his hand, holding it high, ready to plunge it into his chest, my anger surging through me like never before.

  But before I could kill him, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

  Kirk dropped his belt, breathing hard before he looked up at me, flashing me his signature grin. “You didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?”

  I was frozen for a second, feeling like I was staring at a ghost. I had been so sure he was dead. Overwhelmed, I rushed forward, wrapping my arms around him tightly.

  He pulled me close, his hands running over my hair in a soothing motion. “Shh. It’s okay. I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess…” he whispered in my ear.

  I could tell he was crying. I shook my head, but I couldn’t think of anything to say that would comfort him, so I just took his head in my hands, looking into his piercing blue eyes. In that moment, the world was a violent, messed-up place, but none of that mattered as long as I could spen
d my life with Kirk.

  With this thought, I kissed him hard, thankful that we had both survived this horrible ordeal.

  But as we continued to kiss, I felt something sticky on my palm. I pulled away, my hand covered in blood. “Kirk… you’re bleeding,” I whispered in horror. Immediately, I pressed my hand against the deep gash on his neck. “We need to get you help…” I was already starting to panic, imagining a situation where Kirk bled out in my arms.

  “Sidney…” His voice was soft but strained. His skin was pale. He was getting weaker. I could sense it.

  “We don’t have time for this. We need to get help.” I pulled him toward the door, but he stopped me.

  “The place is probably heavily guarded. I won’t be able to leave. But you can.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not leaving without you.”

  “I’ll cause a distraction, and hopefully, that’ll give you enough time to run.”

  “Kirk, I’m not leaving you behind.” The tears were burning at the corner of my eyes. “You just came back… I can’t lose you again.” I held on to his shirt, pleading with him. “Please…”

  He held me by the hips, his eyelids drooping. “I’m a dead man, Sid –”

  “Don’t talk like that!” I pressed my hand against his neck even harder. “We’re going to make it out of this.”

  Suddenly, someone cleared their throat behind us.

  I whipped around, expecting a member of the Gorillas, but instead, I saw an American soldier.

  “M-Martin?” Kirk croaked.

  “I figured I’d have to save you from that suicide mission. I was right.” Martin looked unimpressed as he glanced over at Van. “You didn’t kill him, did you?”

  “No…” He started to say something, but before he could finish his sentence, his body gave out, and he collapsed into my arms.

  Epilogue

  Kirk

  I was swimming in a giant lake. My lungs were burning, but no matter how fast I swam, the surface never got any closer. Underneath me, a bright light shined, making it impossible for me to see what was lurking on the lake’s floor.

  A figure appeared in the gloom, its hand outstretched in my direction.

  I reached for it, but it was too far away. My body felt like it was being sucked back into a vortex, a whirlpool opening up at my feet.

  When I looked down, the water had turned to blood, and I was drowning in it.

  I woke up with a start, gasping for air. My eyes were flooded with a bright light as I looked around, trying to get my bearings.

  “Kirk…” a soft, angelic voice sang to me.

  When I looked to my left, Sidney was sitting by my bedside, a concerned look on her face.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked her, reaching out my hand to caress her cheek.

  “Never scare me like that again.” She suddenly had her arms wrapped around me, pulling me into a tight, back-breaking hug.

  “Scare you?”

  “Do you not remember?” she asked, pulling back, her frown deepening.

  I blinked. My temples throbbed as I tried to recall, but somehow, through the haze, my altercation with Van came back to me. The man who had killed my brother – who had nearly killed the love of my life.

  “Where is he?” I growled.

  “He’s being detained at a high-security facility. Nothing will get to him.” Martin walked in with a can of Mountain Dew in his hand. “I thought you might want something to cheer you up. Unfortunately, they told me you couldn’t have beer.”

  I rubbed my forehead, my arm being followed by a plethora of needles and medical wires. “I don’t understand… what happened? How did you find us?”

  “We followed you,” Martin answered, opening the soda for me. “Like I said, I knew you were going on a suicide mission. I managed to convince the commander to let you be the bait we needed to get to Van.”

  I groaned. “So now you get all the credit for taking him down, don’t you?”

  “No.” He grinned. “You do. You’re being honored as a hero. Also, since you got shot in the line of duty and you now have a few fractured ribs as well as a busted hand, they’ve deemed you unfit for duty. You’ll be discharged with an early pension and benefits. You get to go home and enjoy the rest of your life while the rest of us have to continue sleeping on dingy cots as the ocean rocks us to sleep.”

  “Unfit for duty… what are they talking about? I’ll be as good as new in no time. You know that, Martin. Tell them.”

  He frowned, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry, buddy. There’s nothing I can do. Take my advice and just enjoy your life.” He paused before reaching into his pocket. “Oh, and one more thing. You won’t have to go on a wild goose chase after your brother anymore.”

  “What do you mean…?” I whispered, my heart quickening. Had they finally found him?

  With a somber expression on his face, Martin pulled out a pair of dog tags. “We found these in one of the holding cells. It has his name and number on it.”

  I took the tags, feeling numb. They were cool to the touch, making me shiver. After all this time of searching, this was all I had to remember him by.

  “He died with honor. The Medical Examiners found evidence of quite a few traumatic injuries to his skeleton. He was tortured, but as far as we know, he didn’t tell them a thing.”

  I thought about what my brother must have gone through in his final days. Alone. In pain. Still, he managed to stay strong through it all. A true soldier, through and through. I clutched the tags in my hand, holding it up to my heart before I smiled at Martin. “Thank you.”

  “Of course. Those were supposed to go into evidence, but I snagged them before anyone could file them. Don’t tell anyone, okay?” He winked.

  “Wow, Martin breaking protocol. Is hell freezing over?”

  He chuckled. “You know I’d do anything for you, brother.” With that, he patted me on the shoulder before stepping outside.

  Now alone with Sidney, the silence felt like a heavy fog that made it hard to breathe.

  On one hand, I should have been ecstatic, but somehow, the moment felt bittersweet. After so many years searching for my brother, my search had ended in failure. My brother had been killed, years ago. After years of heartbreak, I was finally able to mend that wound, to lead a happy life with Sydney, and yet, I hesitated.

  “You want to stay, don’t you?”

  I looked at her, my heart heavy. Slowly, I nodded. “But, they’ll never let me back on the force.”

  “Doesn’t mean you can’t stay.”

  “What?” I asked, my brows furrowing together in confusion.

  “You may have completed your mission. You finally know what happened to your brother. But, I’m still looking for answers. My article isn’t going to write itself, you know. The world still needs to know what’s really going on in this country.”

  “So, what do you want me to do?”

  “Well, when you’re out of that bed and fully functional again. I wouldn’t mind a strong, sexy bodyguard by my side as I travel through the jungle, searching for answers.”

  “Are you seriously going to risk your life to write this article?”

  “I’m a journalist. That’s what we do.” She grabbed my hand, squeezing it gently. “You know I’ve always wanted to make a difference in the world, and this is the only way I know how. Won’t you help me?”

  She offered me a warm smile that melted my heart. I didn’t deserve her, but now that I had her, I knew I would never let her go.

  “There’s no need to ask.” Before she could say something, I grabbed her hand in mine. “I only joined the Navy so I could find my brother… now that I know he’s dead… the only thing I have to live for is you. And, I’ll be damned if I let you wander around the jungle by yourself while I’m at home watching TV. I might as well put my skills to go use.” I leaned forward, kissing her lips ever so gently, feeling like I never wanted to pull away.

  Too soon, she broke the kiss, holdi
ng me at arm’s length. “Are you sure? ”

  I nodded as much as I could, considering the brace around my neck. “I love you, Sidney, and now that I’ve found you again, I’d follow you to the ends of the Earth just to be with you.”

  Martin

  Part 1

  1

  Martin

  I can’t believe I’m doing this. After everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve, I’m letting her down. Letting my entire family down.

  Still, I see no other option.

  I turned down Evergreen Way, the large wrought iron gate of Carmichael Gardens growing across my windshield. I could feel her tense up beside me. She had no idea where we were or what we were doing. I wondered if this was what it had been like for her when I was a kid — telling me we were going to get ice cream and we ended up at the doctor.

  The thought slowed me down. I almost stopped the car completely. I feared much worse than shots were waiting for her here. Most likely, her final place before the great beyond. None of us had been much for religion, which struck me as odd as I’d grown into a man, a SEAL. Non-religious Italians just weren’t a thing, and yet here we were.

  Part of me wished we had faith to fall back on as I came to a complete stop in front of the looming gate. My training took over, and I started looking for ways out, or in. It was habit, but it calmed me. Running contingency plans was my lullaby. The gate would be too high for most to scale – most, but not me. The fence surrounding the rest of the property looked sturdy, better than expected when all they’re securing is feeble-minded old people.

  I flinched and mentally apologized to Ma for the slight. Sometimes training taking over wasn’t such a good thing.

  “License, please.” An older uniformed guard stepped out of the forest green and brown building in front of the gate. He was well-dressed, with his shirt tucked in, buttons straight, and belt snug on the hip. This guy was the real deal.