“Tell me why not?”
He looks me dead in the eye. “Because Willow is trapped up there, and your father has bombs planted. He was going to kill you all. We have exactly twelve minutes left, and we’re all dead.”
When he finishes speaking, my world begins to spin.
17
WILLOW
I can’t believe we got caught.
We thought we had it all planned out.
We thought we could get on without notice.
We were wrong.
We got the times wrong.
We got it all wrong.
They saw us coming and they apprehended us. Huck managed to escape and run into the trees, but there is nothing he can do to help me now. It’s too late. I sit tied and bound in a huge open airfield, surrounded by guards. We’ve got six minutes left, six minutes, and we’re dead. I tried to tell them that, but they all laughed at me.
They don’t believe their precious boss would risk all their lives.
Silent tears slip down my cheeks. All I can think about at this moment, is Cody. I’ve failed him. I should never have left. I should have just stayed and let these men do what they had to do without me. I tried to be a hero, when all along Jagger probably could have dealt with it and been off the island before Mick’s explosives went off.
Once again, my brilliant plan ends us all in hot water.
Dried blood makes my lips burn. A guard decided it would be fun to beat me until I stopped screaming for them to listen. I did, because eventually, I realized they weren’t going to hear what I had to say. My leg feels like it’s close to being broken and my head is pounding. Desperation overtook me about ten minutes ago, and I started screaming and begging, again, just once more. All that got me was a few good kicks in the stomach – after they removed my bullet proof vest. Now my head is bowed and I’m crying, big, hot tears stream down my face. I’ve failed and my son will now grow up without me. I can only pray Jagger got free. I can only pray. It’s all I have left.
Five minutes to go.
A gunshot sounds out, then another. I snap my head up and see the guards around me dropping to the ground as sprays of blood spurt from their bodies. I peer around but I can’t see anyone. More guards rush out, only to drop to the ground, too. It’s a machine gun, I can hear the clear sound of round after rounding leaving the chamber. I throw myself to the floor as bullets whizz past me to hit the guards closest to me. The gun is loud and intense, and the sound is cold and frightening. Before I know it, someone is gripping me in their arms and hauling me to my feet.
“Willow.”
Jagger?
He’s here?
He is still here?
No.
No.
He’ll die too.
Cody will have no one. The only hope I had left was that he got off this island.
No.
“Don’t move,” he orders in a hoarse tone. “I have to untie you.”
He quickly cuts through my binds with a knife, and then spins me around to face him. He’s covered in blood and he’s panting. His arm is bandaged up and he looks a little pale.
“Jagger, no,” I rasp. “You should have run.”
“I’d never fucking leave you here. Not ever.”
He pulls me to my feet.
“Run, we have to run. You have to find every ounce of strength you have left. Think of our son.”
“We only have minutes, Jagger.”
“I know, so fuckin’ run.”
He begins pulling me towards the trees, but I’m limping. The guards kicked me so many times in one leg it feels as though it has stopped working. I close my eyes and think of Cody, and his little face. Fuck my leg. I pick up my pace and Jagger runs so fast he’s pulling me most of the time. I’m just making my legs move so I don’t fall. Gunshots ring out behind us, but Jagger doesn’t turn. When something hits me in the back of the leg, followed by an intense burn, I know I’ve been shot.
Pain, unlike anything I’ve ever felt buckles me and I fall to the ground, screaming.
Jagger spins around, raising his gun and shooting ferociously at the guards nearing. The shots stop. Leaning down, he lifts me into his arms, roaring in pain as he does. He begins running again. The burning pain in my leg is so intense I black in and out as he weaves through the trees with me in his arms. We’re going to die here. This is the last moment we’ll have. We reach a cliff, it’s high but it soars off into nothing but clear blue water. No rocks, just water. Jagger curses.
“I went the wrong fucking way.”
Gun shots sound out again. Jagger turns to me, and his eyes meet mine, those beautiful blue eyes. He leans down and presses his bloodied lips to mine.