Echoes at Dawn (KGI #5)(20)

In a day’s time, provided she had ample time to rest, she should demonstrate marked improvement.

Rio hopped into the back a moment later, and the doors shut behind him. When one of the front doors opened, the overhead light came on and Rio’s eyes narrowed.

“I thought I told you to lie down. I don’t want you to make your injuries worse.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said quietly.

“How is your breathing?”

“Good,” she huffed out. She was still a little short of breath, but nothing that was going to kill her. She’d already survived unimaginable events.

The light went off as all the doors closed and the van pulled away. She and Rio rocked and swayed as they went over a series of bumps.

“Is your house far?” she asked.

“Up the river,” he said shortly. “It’s a short drive to where we’ll put in.”

“The river?”

“Yeah, we’ll take a boat the rest of the way.”

She was gripped by a sudden chill and she wrapped her arms around her waist, ignoring the slight protest offered by the arm she’d broken.

She couldn’t shake her unease. So far Rio had proven to her that he was a man of his word. But the farther he took her from civilization and all she knew, the more her panic increased.

She’d learned the hard way that she could trust no one. Her entire life had been spent on the run, moving from town to town, house to house, always shrouded in secrecy. And then when her parents had been murdered, she and Shea had split up and running had become their reality.

Had she traded one hell for an n Tellereother? How did she know Rio wasn’t working for people who wanted to cash in on her gift just as the others had? Was he even now taking her to some isolated laboratory, hidden so deeply that she’d never be found?

She began to shake, and she hunched forward, pulling her knees to her chest and ignoring the pain the movement caused.

“Grace?”

She ignored the question in his voice and laid her forehead on the tops of her knees, sucking in breaths.

His hand slid through her hair, gentle and comforting. “Hey, what’s going on? You’re shaking like a leaf.”

She lifted her head and stared through the darkness. “I’m scared.”

He scooted closer until his leg touched her feet and she could feel his warmth wrapping around her. “Of?”

She took another breath and opened herself to him, hoping that she’d get something from him, some hint of his true intentions or at least if he was genuine or not. He’d claimed that he’d heard her, mentally, and she remembered his voice in her head but she couldn’t be sure she hadn’t imagined it.

“Of you. Them. All of this. I’m scared that I’ve traded one kind of hell for another. Same prison. Same horror. Just different jailors.”

At first she thought she’d angered him. Then she assumed he’d rush to reassure her. But he did nothing. For a long moment he was silent.

“You’re smart to be wary,” he finally said. His statement took her by surprise. She hadn’t expected this. “You’ve been through a lot. There’s nothing I can say that’s going to make you think any differently. You’re just going to have to see for yourself and make up your own mind whether you trust me.”

He wasn’t saying anything she didn’t already know, but it seemed different coming from him. And she supposed it didn’t matter to him one way or another whether she trusted him or not. She assumed he was getting paid to do this and not acting out of the goodness of his heart. For that matter, she wasn’t entirely certain what he was, who he was or what his connection to her sister was.

She opened her mouth, intending to get clarification on just that, when the van ground to a halt.

Seconds later, the back opened and Diego stood there motioning for them to get down. Rio went first and she crawled after him. When she reached the edge, he and Diego both reached to lift her down.

She landed softly on her feet.

“Can you make it?” Rio asked.

“Yeah.”

She stared at her surroundings and saw the inky black water of a river that snaked through the landscape. The moon was high overhead but covered by a thin layer of clouds, moving rapidly through the sky.

“Let’s go,” Rio murmured, taking her arm.

He led her to the water’s edge and into an aluminum boat with an outboard motor operated by a hand-held lever. She stepped down and wobbled when the boat swayed. Terrence, who was already in the boat, quickly steadied her and held on to her hand while she made her way toward the front.

Diego motioned for her to take the bench directly in the middle. Rio came to sit beside her. Diego and Terrence took the front while Alton and Browning settled in the back. Alton took position to pilot the boat and a moment later they eased away from the bank and slipped downriver.

It was eerie traveling through the dark waters. The only light was from the sliver of moon visible through the hazy cloud cover. Unease gripped her and she warily stared swarout of t from side to side but she couldn’t even see the shoreline. Only the dim shape of passing trees and what looked to be thick, junglelike terrain.

Fear knotted in her throat. Heavy silence was thick like fog. Only the gentle purr of the motor as they pushed farther down the river echoed through the still night.