Page 14 of The Wrecked One

“No, it’s just that the ‘group,’” he began, air quotes implied but no hand gestures, “is taking out its own trash the second their cult realizes one of their card-carrying members is going to be exposed.”

Sacrificing the few for the many. But how many were in that damn group? Ten? A dozen? Twenty? “So, you’re proving why we’re here, then, which makes this meeting getting canceled a dis?—”

“Fuck,” Oliver cut me off, eyes on his watch. “Our trackers just went offline.”

“What do you mean?” I peeked over to check his watch myself. That wasn’t possible. “No, it must be a glitch.”

He immediately secured a tight hold of my arm, forcing me to do a three-sixty with him. We zeroed in on four police cars pulling up behind our motorbike down the street near the drink cart. “They’re here for us. We need to go.”

“How do you know that?” I asked, but he was already urging me to walk in the other direction.

“We’ve been compromised. I don’t know how, but they found us,” he rasped as our speed-walking switched to running when we realized a swarm of uniformed officers were on our ass.

“I bet Soren never planned to meet me, then. He used himself as bait. He’s probably not even in Thailand,” I said, breathless, as Oliver kept hold of me while we cut through the park by the pier.

We ran by the concrete promenade along the river, maneuvering around people and dodging vendors. Others began taking notice of what probably looked like an action scene from a movie, but I ignored them and kept moving, worried they might signal our location to the police.

Oliver snaked his hand around my waist a minute later, forcing me to stop.

“More cops up ahead,” he warned, and yeah, there were several more officers a hundred or so feet away on approach. “We need to go over this ledge and get to the riverside.”

It was about an eight-foot drop to the second narrow sidewalk down by the water.

Oliver let go of me, and I pocketed the phone to climb over the ledge, and he helped lower me down.

“Your turn.” I was anxious for him to join me, wondering why he’d yet to jump over given what was at stake.

“They’re too close. I’m going to distract them so you can get away and call the team.”

I reached up for him, but he was too far away. “Hell no. You’re coming with me.”

“You have to go, Mya. No arguing. We’re out of time. Keep running along the waterway and find a place to hide before you make the call.”

“No!” I clawed at the wall in an attempt to get back up but failed.

“Dammit, go. You have to escape.” He leaned over the edge, staring into my eyes. “Mya, I?—”

“Don’t you dare say goodbye to me.” I blinked back tears. “You promised you’d never leave me,” I cried, starting to lose it, to unravel right there.

“I have to,” he whispered, and one painfully sad nod from him was all I got before he disappeared from sight.

With all the determination I had inside me, I went for the rock wall again, doing my best to scale it. We were in this together.

Finding success, I pushed up on a tiny ledge, anchored my shoes to one barely there spot, and I was able to reach the top. Hanging on to the flat part of the concrete with every fiber of my being, I hoisted myself up just enough to peer over it.

Oliver was about fifty feet off in the distance and police were everywhere. He was outnumbered and not fighting back, hands behind his head but not yet cuffed as police shouted in both English and Thai.

Despite appearing not to be resisting arrest, two officers began striking him with their batons, and he fell onto his knees. I did my best to stifle my screams so I didn’t give up my position.

People had gathered around the scene. Cell phones came out. It was only then that the officers stopped beating him.

I either had to finish the climb over and wind up arrested, or drop down and run for help like he’d asked me to do. You were right. Of course you were. I should have run. One of us had to get away to reach out to Falcon.

As I mentally prepared myself to let go, two officers pointed my way and began yelling at the other officers in Thai.

This got Oliver’s attention and he spotted me as well. My heart filled with dread and anguish as he pushed up to his feet and began attacking the officers.

With his forearm, he blocked another strike mid-air, then immobilized the guy, flipping him to his back. He repeated the move with another officer as if it’d all been choreographed.

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