Read Story: SEASON 3 EPISODE 59

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Tuesday, September 10th, late evening

The rest of the day went by uneventfully.

I’m not sure if she could sense my discomfort after our close moment with each other, but I felt a lot less sexual tension when I returned with food. As we ate, I stayed relatively silent while Astrid filled me in a little more on what she knew of the Tanaka family. She was able to confirm what Chloe had said—the younger Tanaka was a rude, hot-tempered, entitled man in his early thirties who partied, drank, and whored his way through Asia. She only met him twice, but was barely able to tolerate his presence both times. Now that she’d been shot out of the air by the man, her opinion of him only lessened. She thought so little of the man that she even expressed surprise that he hadn’t burned down the entire forest just to kill us.

I was grateful that Astrid remained so talkative; it gave me something to concentrate on besides the sexual tension between me and both women. Plus, she was incredibly helpful, providing me with a wealth of information on Tanaka, Kelly Maddox, my late grandfather, and others who shared similar circles. None of it was world-shattering information, but it helped me paint a better picture of our little corner of high society as a whole.

After eating, taking turns with the remote, and spending some time examining the wreckage for any signs that there might be a way to extract Astrid, the heiress fell asleep. That left me with only my thoughts to keep me company.

I flirted hard with Astrid. A large part of the reason for that was because Chloe had gone so cold on me this morning, but that wasn’t all there was to it. I couldn’t deny an animal attraction to the woman, and she admitted the same toward me. We almost kissed, and my hands had been all over her body under the guise of helping her.

I wanted more.

And I felt guilty for it.

Chloe was already doing so much for us—she was racking up a hell of a body count in the forest and making a several-mile trek daily. She had been injured and braved the cold for us. On top of that, she was clearly struggling with crossing certain professional boundaries. It made sense why she was pulling away from me, and instead of being an understanding friend, lover, or whatever we were… I felt sorry for myself and turned to another for comfort.

I didn’t even know if that was a relevant concern to Chloe. She knew well that there were other women in my life and hadn’t seemed the jealous type. Surely, she didn’t expect me to give it all up for her.

Unless I completely misread the situation. What if she was pulling back because she was extremely confident that we were about to be saved? Was our possible rescue making her sad? After all, we did finally fuck when none of the others were around. Was that on purpose? Would she want me to give up my lifestyle for her?

Would I be willing to give it up? Could I give up Bobbi, Erin, and Helen for Chloe?

Would I give up wiling away hours on flights in bed with Shea? Could I give up the rendezvous Erin arranged with vetted strangers? What about Jessica? Rose? Were Natashya and I really done? Danni? Carla?

What about Natalie?

The faint sound of thunder rumbling in the distance registered in the back of my mind while I wondered what Natalie was doing… if she knew that I was missing.

Wait. Thunder?

Almost the entire time that I’d been in Norway, it stayed overcast and rainy. I enjoyed rain as much as the next person, but it was getting old… especially after spending so much time out in the middle of it. Why today, of all days, would I hear thunder.

There was a sinking sensation in my stomach and I slowly rose to my feet, wringing my hands as I looked in the general direction of the cabin—the direction Chloe disappeared every day.

“That’s not thunder,” I muttered.

It was an explosion.

The only question was, who was responsible for it? Was that Chloe? Or was it Ryo Tanaka and his men?

There was no way of telling.

Unsure of what to do, I began pacing, my imagination running wild. She could have gotten a shot off, then been gunned down before she got a chance to get away. She might have been caught before she had an opportunity to launch it, and attempted to fire it as a last-ditch attempt to get them to back off, killing her plan. Maybe she got ambushed and the rocket launcher exploded on her! I didn’t know how RPGs worked.

Another distant rumble pulled my attention back to the Northeast.

Chloe had taken two rockets with her… was that second one hers?

Continuing to pace, I kept my ears open for any other explosions or perhaps even gunfire, but couldn’t make out anything else. For the first time in days, I’d finally heard something from the direction of the cabin while Chloe was gone. I just hoped it was good news.

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking the perimeter of our little camp, but all remained calm. By the time the afternoon darkened to evening, the rain had started again, and I was beginning to worry in earnest whether I would see Chloe again.

The day clung to the final strands of gray light as I stood under a tree, watching for Chloe and trying to stay as dry as I could. I was considering going to see if Astrid was awake when I heard a twig break behind me. Spinning, I drew my gun and flipped off the safety just in time to see Chloe’s familiar form emerge from behind a tree.

Her limp was exaggerated, and there was no sign of the rocket launcher anywhere. She had her satchel thrown over her left shoulder and carried a pistol in her left hand. Her hair was wet and stringy, hanging around her face like a shower curtain.

“Easy,” she called out as she approached. “It’s just me.”

“Thank God,” I breathed, flipping the safety back on and tucking my gun away as I walked toward her. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Just wet and cold. Let’s get in the shelter.”

“Of course,” I said, alarm rising in my chest. There was blood running down her right side.

“You’re hurt!”

Chloe shook her head. “It’s fine. Wound opened up again when I fired the rocket the second time.”

I was unconvinced, but decided not to press her until she’d had a chance to take a breather and get some food in her. I headed toward the shelter with her limping behind me.

“I would have prepared some for you, but I wasn’t sure when you were going to be back, and I didn’t want to waste anything. You’re back sooner than I expected.” I said as I lit the second-to-last can of Sterno.

“It’s fine,” Chloe reassured me, sounding short of breath and incredibly tired. “I ran most of the way back here. I had at least three of them on me for a while.”

I glanced at her. “Do you think they followed you here?”

“No,” Chloe said, stripping out of her clothes. She peeled the shirt off and tossed it in one of the corners. Her pants went next, then the boxers she borrowed from me so that she was completely naked. She was right—the wound I stitched up last night was bleeding. It didn’t look nearly as bad as it had yesterday, but it would need some attention before she went to bed.

Neither of us said a word for the next few minutes as I set up a little cup of soup for her, balancing it over the tiny flame. “Give it about ten minutes and it should be warm enough.”

“It’s fine like that,” Chloe said.

“You’re not eating cold soup, Chloe.”

“I’m hungry!” she snapped, reaching for the cup.

“Then I’ll get you a protein bar!” I snapped back, batting her hand away. “You’re cold and wet. At least let me make sure you get some hot food!”

I stretched out to grab one of the protein bars and tossed it to her. She caught it, stared at me for a beat before tearing into it. The sound of cellophane crinkling was the only thing cutting through the silence in our tiny home as I sat there making her soup, trying to assuage my guilt. Chloe had been out there getting shot at while I’d been hardcore flirting with another woman. It was apology soup for something she wasn’t even aware of.

While her food was heating, I grabbed the kit and had her sit with her back facing me so I could patch her up again. I handed her something for the pain and then set to work. It was still uncomfortable to do, but much easier than it had been last night.

After nearly a minute of silence, I finally asked, “What happened out there?”

“There was a second chopper,” Chloe muttered.

“A second helicopter?”

“Yeah. The one we heard this morning. It was some of Astrid’s people. I don’t know how many of them came out. When I got there, I couldn’t see anyone other than Tanaka’s men. At the time, I wasn’t sure who the second chopper belonged to or what Tanaka was doing with the passengers. I couldn’t do anything about it on my own, so I decided to stick with the plan.”

Chloe stared into the flame as it danced just under her cup of soup, a haunted look on her face. A bite of protein bar later, Chloe said, “I took out his chopper.”

“How?” I asked as I continued to work on her. “With the rocket?”

“Yep,” Chloe said without looking at me. “I spent a couple of hours assessing the situation. Decided the best option was to get their attention around their own chopper, so I got a body from one of the men I killed yesterday and hauled him back to the house. Wasn’t too far. When I got the right moment, I dragged him to the front of the chopper and left.

“It got their attention,” she said, “in about ten minutes, I had four of them around it trying to figure out where the body came from. That’s when I fired.”

She finally tore her eyes away from the flame to look at me over her shoulder, her expression unreadable as she popped the last of her protein bar in her mouth, slowly chewing on it as we stared at each other. At that moment, she looked cold and emotionless… a woman who had simply done her job.