Page 14 of Last Destination

Peace over.

“Nik, wait.” The frantic call came from behind him. “I just need to know how I can—”

Nikki burst through the trees first, followed by Jamie’s stumbling form. Our glasses-wearing friend took one look at our compromising posture and for an instant, his terse frown morphed into a satisfied smirk. It only lasted a second. A killer sneer replaced the knowing look when Jamie’s palm landed on his shoulder.

Nikki spun with an agility I hadn’t seen before and shoved Jamie backward on the muddy, sloping hill.

“How dare you,” he spat, his hands shaking at his sides in rage. “You should be asking — no, begging — for our forgiveness, not finding loopholes in our bargain. People died, Jamie. People we were responsible for. Aileron needs to pay for that, and so do you. You don’t know me from Adam if you believe I’d give you an out for one second.”

Marley’s gaze was transfixed on her two crewmates. Nikki swung his hand around toward us, his voice rising with every word. “Do you have any idea how much she suffered while you played coward? I used to admire you, and now you’re nothing but a twat who can only prove himself useful if you testify.”

When he shoved his fist against the other man’s chest, Nikki slipped on his heels, barely staying upright. “I swear it, Jamie, I will only keep you alive if you follow through on your word. You do anything to screw me — to screw her — and I’ll do the job the plane didn’t.”

He pushed Jamie with his fist one more time, but it was a fatal shove. Jamie lost his footing entirely on the clay and tumbled backward toward the river below.

It was a steep incline. I had trekked it yesterday to get the water for Marley’s filtration set up. Several jagged rocks sat at the bottom beside a deep pool, and if Jamie hit his head…

“He can’t swim!” Marley shouted. She rushed past Nikki and me to get to Jamie.

Blowing out a harsh breath, I turned to follow, internally cursing her hero complex while also knowing Jamie was a very valuable piece of our puzzle right now. I agreed with Nikki — if Jamie screwed us over, I’d help him bury the body — but not until it was the only option. Aileron needed to pay, and we needed our star witness to do it.

Marley was already several feet ahead of me when I hit the incline, and I could hear Nikki’s slower, begrudging footfalls from behind. The thick mud on this side had very little vegetation, and I watched every footstep to prevent a Jack-and-Jill scenario.

At a sharp cry, I looked up to see Marley falling forward, her body twisting at awkward angles down the hill at an alarming speed.

“Marley!” My shout carried through the trees, and several monkeys responded with their own shrieks from the branches.

Ignoring the far-too-active jungle life above my head, I picked up my pace. Nikki was by my side within seconds. Together we jumped and stumbled through the muck until our feet met moss again closer to the bottom. My loafers squelched through the last few strides before stopping at the small cliff, about five feet high, where the empty space dropped to the river below.

Scanning the water for her form, an indescribable relief flooded through me at the sight of her head breaching the water with a slapping splash and a huge gulp of air. Nikki scrambled down the rocks to my right, and I followed him. At the bottom, where a large pebbly pool wedged between inclined rapids above and a steady stream below, Jamie was already staggering to the water’s edge, making no move to help Marley.

A hot burst of indignation flushed the back of my neck. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” I snarled as he pulled himself to shore. “She’s in there because she went after you. Have a little gratitude and help us get her out.” I kicked his side with my muddy shoe, but it was like kicking a tree stump, unsatisfying and solid, and he didn’t even flinch.

“I can’t swim, and she has marine survival training.” His bloodshot hazel eyes seemed to look through me rather than at me, clearly haunted by his own choices. “But sure, tell me what else the great Marley West needs.”

His words weren’t malicious. They didn’t even have any bite. But they said a lot about how much the relationship was one-sided. Hadn’t Marley looked up to this guy? She’d spoken about him with reverence. She’d been worried as shit about his well-being.

This man couldn’t even summon the barely necessary acting skills to show he cared about his co-pilot. Did he really not give a shit, or was he so plagued with guilt it was easier to go blank?

I knew what that felt like firsthand: to empty yourself completely of caring so you don’t have to face your own actions. My shame over Erik’s betrayal ruined my marriage, and every day, it took little pieces of my soul along with it. I hadn’t allowed myself to care until her.

Like recognizes like.

A conversation for another time. I needed to make sure Marley was okay. She was still treading water in the river. The head of dark brown hair plastered to her forehead turned in my direction and she started swimming toward me with ease. As if sensing I needed to hear it, she called out “I’m okay” across the twenty feet from where I stood.

The peace of mind didn’t stop me from wanting to check her over myself. The urge to keep her safe warred with my disgust. I didn’t want to get into the gross, biochemical jungle soup full of spores and bacteria and animal poop. But this water was much clearer than down the river, and if the mud dried on my shoes, they’d be five pounds heavier and become the start of trench foot.

Of all the ways to die in the jungle, fungal feet were not it.

“Baby girl!” Nikki leaped into the water as if he hadn’t heard her, a note of hysteria in his tone. It was weird hearing the normally even-keeled voice with a manic edge, but when it came to Marley, I got it. He’d had a thing for her long before me, and I was already obsessed with keeping her safe.

“Nikki, I’m okay! I promise I’m okay.”

Her voice carried across the water, and it seemed to freeze him in place when he got up to his knees, his tall form a statue as he watched her come in. The water drifting downstream formed small eddies around his exposed calves as it moved past him.

He was afraid. I gingerly stepped into the surprisingly warm pool. When the muck dispersed into the water in a brown, filmy spread, I took another step toward him. Water seeped into my pant leg and bled up to my knees with each move forward, but I breathed through my nose to avoid thinking about every bit of something else’s DNA crawling up my skin.

When I finally made it to his side, I stopped and slid my hand against his shoulder. His exposed skin in the sleeveless muscle shirt was warm against my palm. He didn’t flinch or shy away. He didn’t do much of anything, instead staring into the water beyond us with a tight frown pulling his pouty lips into a thin straight line.