Page 47 of Resurgent
Chapter Thirteen
Charlotte
Although I really try to stay awake—how often do you get the chance to fly on a private jet, even if it terrifies you?—last night exhausted me, both physically and emotionally, and I sleep for most of the ten-hour flight to Malaysia. Liam wakes me up to eat—French toast with Vermont maple syrup, whipped butter, sliced strawberries, and strips of crisp bacon—and then puts on a movie, but snuggled up next to his warm, solid body with a full stomach, I drift back off to sleep.
I wake up to the jolt of the plane touching down. Before I have time to be scared, we’ve come to a stop, the unfamiliar landscape of Malaysia visible outside the small windows. “We’re here already?”
Liam smiles. “Yep. See? Piece of cake.”
After he thanks the pilots and makes arrangements for the trip back, the customs officer shows up—a middle-aged Malaysian man wearing a pressed suit who asks us if we’ve brought in anything we need to claim. When Liam says no, he nods and waves us off the plane to the car that’s waiting for us on the tarmac.
“I see why you booked a private jet,” I say as we make the hour-and-a-half drive to a town called Semporna. “Customs was a joke.”
He nods. “That’s the power of money. At fifty thousand one way, they tend to not ask too many questions.”
Fifty thousand dollars to fly one way? That’s more than I make in a year. I know he has a ton of it from the cartel, and he wants to get rid of it, but that kind of money could change your life. “Are you going to keep any of it?”
“No. Although after I looked at my bank accounts, I can see why I took the job. I’m in trouble financially, up to my eyeballs in debt trying to pay off my parents’ bills and Kenzie’s school loans.” He shakes his head. “But I’ll spend it all if that’s what it takes to clear my name and get my life back.”
I nod, unsure if I would do the same. “Sorry I slept. I know we had bucket list things to check off.”
“You needed the sleep. I wish we didn’t have to cram so much into such a small timeframe, but I haven’t heard from Anthony, and we only have a couple of days here to find what we need and get back in time for my meeting with El Gato. We have to dive today. See if I remember anything.”
“I know.” I pause, and then ask the question that neither of us have wanted to think about. “What if we don’t find what we’re looking for here?”
Liam looks out the window. “I don’t know, sweetheart. I just don’t know.”
…
From Semporna Island, a speed boat takes us to Mabul Island, where we briefly check into our resort—individual Asian-looking bungalows with pointed roofs over the bluest water I have ever seen—before putting on our swimsuits and catching the boat that will take us to Sipadan Island, where we’ll spend the afternoon diving. I hope against hope that something will jar Liam’s memory, or maybe we’ll even find where the guns might be hidden.
Due to the thirteen-hour time difference, we’ve already lost almost a full day. While it was only seven o’clock in the evening Mexico time when we landed, it’s eight o’clock in the morning in Malaysia, and Liam has already arranged for us to dive.
“This is beautiful!” I say, completely enchanted as we motor over the glass-calm water that our dive master, a sixty-five-year-old man named Gary, says is the Celebes Sea.
“Your first time diving here?” Gary asks me.
“My first time diving anywhere!” I’m like a little kid on Christmas morning, completely unable to contain my excitement. McKenzie had been nervous even in the deep swimming pool where we all got certified, but all I’d been able to imagine was being in the ocean, seeing fish and turtles and wonderful things I’d never seen before. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought it would really happen. But I’m excited to actually be on my way to a more adventurous life despite the circumstances that have forced me here.
He hoots with laughter, shaking his head. “Damn. Nothing like starting at the top. Most divers wait a lifetime to dive here. It’ll ruin you for anywhere else.” He turns to Liam curiously. “Your first time too? You look familiar.”
Liam shakes his head. “No. I’ve been here before. With a diving buddy of mine.”
The guy looks at him more closely and then recognition registers on his face. “You’re the Navy SEAL! You were here with that attorney from the States. I thought I recognized you.”
Liam shoots me a look that perfectly mirrors what I’m thinking. It’s about time we got a break.
“Wait a minute.” His eyes narrow as he looks at Liam and my heart stops, terrified at I don’t know what. “Your sister was here not long back. Said you’d been killed in the line of duty.”
“I was shot during a mission in the Middle East. Everyone thought I was dead, but I was in a hospital unable to reach out to my loved ones until recently.” He wraps an arm around me and pulls me to him. “The first thing I did after telling my sister I was alive was plan this trip with my wife. It’s the honeymoon we never had. I realized life is short. It can be gone in the blink of an eye, and none of us know when it’s our last day. You’ve got to make the most of it.”
Gary lets out his breath in awhooshand claps Liam on the shoulder. “You are one lucky son of a bitch. I’m glad.”
“Not half as glad as I am,” Liam says. “Do you happen to remember where we dove? I’d love to show Charlotte the exact dive we did before.”
“Sure thing, man! I remember it. It was incredible, wasn’t it? One of the less accessible parts of the reef. And we did Turtle Cavern. She’s up for it?” He looks at me skeptically. I nod vigorously. There’s no way I’m blowing this now.
“Okay,” he says reluctantly.
