The contacts I chose to use were distant from my regular network—as distant as I could possibly risk venturing. I mentioned nothing about Elaine Constantine being alongside me, just that I needed a fresh set of IDs to get out of the country. Wesley Dale was all set to meet me in the parking lot of JFK International Airport, but it would be over 24 hours until he could deliver. As well as the fake IDs, he was also getting us tickets on a flight out of there, heading right on over to the UK.
As much as 24 hours between now and our flight would be one hell of a long one, it did grant me a window to complete the calling in my soulless heart that couldn’t be silenced.
I had something that needed to be done first, before we made our escape. Something I couldn’t walk away from. Something I could never leave the country without fulfilling, no matter how insane it might be. It was festering too deep in my gut to ignore.
There was no guarantee I’d ever be back in the US again in this lifetime. This might well be my only chance to deliver what was deserved to the pieces of filth.
I’d do my damn fucking best trying.
I gave Elaine one more chance to back out of a future on the run before we were snared for good.
“You’re really sure about this? This is your last opportunity to head back to your world. Make sure you won’t regret the road you take with me, sweetheart.”
Her reply was instant. “I’d rather die with you than survive alone.”
It was a beautiful statement. One I fully reciprocated as I pulled her close and held her tight.
“Ditto.”
Her smile was amazing.
“Let’s go, then, Romeo. Let’s get across the ocean and start our new life.”
That’s when I told her, my eyes fixed firm on hers.
“Our escape will be tomorrow, which is just as well. I have something I need to do before then, Juliet.”
Her question was instant. Wide-eyed.
“What? What do you need to do before then?”
I contemplated sharing my plans, but I didn’t. She would only beg me to let them go, but I had no intention of it. I wouldn’t let retribution go for any fucking thing in the world.
It wasn’t only fake IDs and plane tickets and women’s clothes I’d been seeking out on my cell for the past sixty minutes. It was Colonel Hardwick’s current location. Only that had led me to so much more. You could call it God giving me his blessing. I fucking deserved it for the beautiful payback I was about to deliver.
Through my backhanded investigations, I’d managed to find out that it wasn’t just Colonel Hardwick who was at Hanborough Park Golf Course that morning. No. Lionel Constantine, the depraved uncle who’d delivered Elaine to her abusers when she was just a scared little girl, was right there with him. Forty minutes’ drive away.
Halle-fucking-lujah.
I knew what they were there for. I knew the only thing they could possibly be there socializing for in the midst of Elaine Constantine’s abduction. Reverend Lynch. The vile priest and his sudden disappearance, and no doubt the girls I’d set free to run away from the manor late that night after I’d taken his sicko life away from him.
I changed my clothes to casual golfing attire as Elaine stared on from the bedroom doorway. She was visibly scared as I loaded myself up with the necessary weaponry from the cabinet downstairs. She was ghostly as she followed me around the place, eyes wide and terrified.
“Really, Lucian, whatever it is you need to do, do you really have to do it? We could hole up here and stay as quiet as we can, and just pray that nobody finds us.”
I stepped up close and took hold of her chin, tipping her face up to mine.
“I need to go. I can’t leave without delivering what’s due.”
She was shaking as I kissed her. She let out a breath as my tongue pushed its way inside her mouth and danced with a passion. Kissing stopped questions.
“There are suitcases under the bed in my room,” I told her as I forced myself to pull away. “If you want to make our escape as smooth as possible, then please feel free to pack as many essentials as you can find for the journey. The more ready we are to leave, the better. Somehow we need to find you some damn clothes to go with, too. I don’t think you wearing my shirt on the plane is going to blend us into the hustle all that much.”
She smiled at me and did a scared little curtsy. “I kinda like wearing your shirt constantly. Can’t say I’ve been missing my wardrobe.”
I did my best to smile right back at her.