Read Story: SEASON 2 EPISODE 63

The sudden appearance of another person’s voice scared the ever-living shit out of me as I shot into a full-standing position, nearly clipping my head on a jutting piece of wreckage.

“Marcus! They're… toward…” The rest of Chloe’s message was lost.

I turned around just in time to see a stranger clearing a tree, staring directly at me. Before I could think, I bounded into the wreckage for cover, pressing myself just inside the internal frame. The timing had been impeccable. Chloe might have just saved my life again.

I could feel the pistol meant for Astrid grinding against my lower back as I pressed against the helicopter, and reached behind me to pull it out, turning the safety off. This would be simple enough… After all, I’d done this before. How hard could it be this time?

Except this time, they know you’re there and are ready to shoot back at you.

Fuck.

“...have…” Chloe’s voice broke through the static again.

Where was she? Was she just behind the guy? Were there more guys out there?

“Marcus Upton!” Someone called out from the general direction of the man I’d spotted. His English wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t his first language, and I could hear a thick Asian accent making it a little more difficult to understand. “You come with us! We have your people!”

What?

“What!?” I asked aloud.

“Marcus,” Astrid hissed. She’d pulled herself into her cocoon as much as she could, and even I couldn’t see her from my angle. “No! If you give yourself up, he’s just going to kill her!”

They had Chloe!?

“What do you mean!?” I called out. “What people!?”

More static burst from the walkie, but I couldn’t make out any of the words. Was he lying? Why would Chloe be trying to talk to me if they caught her?

“We have the girl!” The man said. He sounded closer.

“What girl!?” I called out.

“Marcus!” Astrid hissed. “You can’t! If they capture you, they’ll kill me!”

“You can’t know that,” I half-whispered back. “They have Chloe!”

“If I can’t move, they’re going to kill me… or worse.”

“You don’t know that!” I insisted.

“Do you want to take that chance?” she hissed back.

“The girl from the helicopter! She is one of yours!”

What the fuck did that mean? Didn’t that mean Chloe!? Her face flashed through my mind’s eye. Brushing dark blonde strands of hair from her freckled face, seeing that rare smile on her. I remembered the tears falling down her cheeks last night as she confided her hurt over the pilot from the helicopter being killed Fuck… if they had her… I couldn’t just let her die!

“Astrid,” I said, “I’m not letting anything happen to Chloe.”

“If I give myself up, how do I know you won’t harm her!?”

The walkie exploded with more static, “...Marcus, they ha—”

“He’s lying,” Astrid said, desperation in her voice. “She’s fine! She’s talking to us!”

Astrid had a point. Something seemed off… like I was missing a piece of the puzzle.

“You don’t,” the man said, but if you don’t come with me, we will kill her!”

“You don’t have her,” I said. “You’re lying!”

The walkie crackled to life again, “...have Shea! They…”

The girl from the helicopter... Ryo had killed the pilot last night. What if Astrid’s people hadn’t been the only ones to check on the cabin?

Oh my God…

“Wait!” I said. “I’ll come with you!”

“Marcus!” Astrid barked. “You can’t!”

“They have Shea!”

What’s worse, Chloe thought it was urgent enough to let me know even though there was nothing I could do. What the fuck did that mean? Where was she? Still at the cabin? Sneaking up on this guy?

“We’re all dead if you turn yourself in!” Astrid pleaded.

Maybe I could buy Chloe more time. If I turned myself in, they would report my capture, and Ryo Tanaka wouldn’t have a reason to kill Shea immediately. If some of Tanaka’s men were out here, hunting me down, then maybe that would give Chloe the edge she needed to take the cabin.

As far as I could tell, it was the only way out of this whole mess, and it all hinged on Chloe doing her job.

I had to trust that she was still out there and that she knew what she was doing. I wasn’t going to be responsible for losing Shea.