Unraveling Darkness Read online

  “There she is.” Alex handed me a mug of now cooling coffee. “It should be fine to drink.”

  “Thanks.” I accepted the caffeine gratefully.

  I caught Clay’s eye, and we exchanged a small smile I hoped no one else analyzed too deeply.

  I spotted dark hair and a leather jacket. “Hey, Lorcan. How are you feeling?”

  Lorcan touched his shoulder. “I’m okay. Just as long as I don’t get shot again today, right?”

  I frowned at him in disapproval. “Don’t even joke about it.”

  He threw me a wink to tell me he was kidding, and I narrowed my eyes and pulled a face at him.

  Isaac hadn’t acknowledged my arrival, working on a small laptop I assumed he’d taken from the stash of equipment downstairs. On the kitchen table lay multiple guns of various sizes, and beside each one sat spare clips of ammunition. It looked like we were going to war, and I swallowed hard at the sight of them. Memories from being shot at the previous day were still fresh in my mind, and, as much as I didn’t want to get shot myself, it was the thought of one of the guys getting hurt that worried me the most. What if it wasn’t just a flesh wound next time? What if one of them was seriously injured or worse? I wished there was another way around getting hold of the memory stick, but this was their job. Me trying to convince them not to do it would fall on deaf ears, and besides, I was invested in this, too. I wanted to see Hollan dead, and I wanted to know what information would be unlocked by the code my father had given me.

  Was this something I could just walk away from? I didn’t think so. Until Hollan was dead, I wouldn’t be safe. And we didn’t even know if it would end with Hollan. For all we knew, someone else might be working above him, and taking out Hollan would only mean that someone else would step into his place.

  “You okay, Darcy?” Kingsley frowned at me. He must have picked up on my silence.

  I nodded. “Yeah, just thinking about today.”

  Isaac finally looked up from what he was doing. “You don’t have to come. It would probably be safer for us all if you didn’t.” He’d gone back into cold fish mode, and I was starting to recognize that this was working Isaac. I thought he had another layer to him, one that was kinder, and did care, but in his line of work it seemed he had no room for feelings or sentimentality.

  I shook my head. “No, it’s fine. You might need me to lure Hollan out.”

  Isaac scowled. “I don’t like that idea.”

  I skipped over the possibility in case Isaac changed his mind. It would be even worse to be left here alone, knowing the others were going to my house and putting themselves in danger. What I’d be imagining would probably be far worse than the reality. “Anyway, I really need to see Aunt Sarah. She must be out of her mind with worry about me.”

  “You might not get the chance to speak to her directly,” Isaac warned, fixing me with his green eyes, his expression serious. “If she’s surrounded by Hollan’s men, it’ll be too dangerous for you to go in there.”

  I nodded. “I know.”

  He pointed a finger at me. “And no doing anything reckless, okay? You remember what happened last time.”

  He was talking about the phone call I made, exposing our location to Hollan, and heat torched my face. I twisted my fingers in the strands of my hair and glanced down at the floor, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone. “Yeah, I remember.”

  “Good.”

  Someone shoved a packet under my nose, forcing me to look up. Clay gave me a lopsided smile. “Pop-Tart?”

  I wrinkled my nose. “I think I’ll pass, but thanks. It’s a bit early for me to stomach food yet.” He’d broken the tense moment with Isaac, and I was thankful to him for that.

  “Okay.” Kingsley got to his feet. “Let’s pack up and ship out.”

  That was our cue to move. Each of the men went to the table, selecting their weapon of choice and the spare ammo to go with it. I was left with the same gun I’d been given the previous day. That they trusted me enough to make sure I was armed made me feel better. Yes, I’d messed up, but I’d also been able to give them vitally important information, and I needed to remember that. I had a part in all of this. If they didn’t have me, they’d never stand a chance pulling whatever information was on the memory stick, should they ever get hold of it. Of course, they still hadn’t trusted me enough to tell me what was on it yet. I hoped I wasn’t helping them get access to something that would see a whole heap of people hurt.

  I made a mental note to ask them again, but I wasn’t going to do it right now. I didn’t want to give them any reason to be annoyed with me and leave me behind. Besides, I had to remember my dad had taken the flash drive initially, and he’d been the one to give me the code. He wouldn’t have done that if he’d thought what was on it would hurt people, would he?

  The men had started to pile out to the vehicles waiting outside. I made sure the safety was on, then tucked the gun into the waistband at the back of my jeans. I’d never been a fan of the things, especially after my dad was shot, but right now, knowing I had a way of defending myself, made me feel safer.

  Having five young, heavily armed men surrounding me also didn’t hurt.

  “We’ll take both cars,” said Isaac. “Darcy, you’re in with me, Kingsley, and Lorcan. Alex and Clay, you follow behind.”

  I experienced a dip of disappointment at not getting to be in the car with Alex and Clay. I’d have swapped Isaac for either of them in a heartbeat, but I suspected Isaac knew that. He probably didn’t want either me or the guys to get too emotionally involved. It might cloud our judgment went when we needed to remain clearheaded.

  Outside, the cold fresh air hit my lungs, making me inhale sharply. The night sky was clear, stars winking down at us. I wrapped my arms around my body, protection against the chill. I was looking forward to getting the heat going once we were on the road. Somewhere in the distance came the haunting hoot of an owl. I jumped at the crack of twigs in the depths of the forest surrounding us, signifying a nocturnal mammal going about its business, perhaps interested in the activity of the not-so-nocturnal mammals busying themselves around the cars.

  Kingsley got behind the wheel, and Isaac took the passenger seat. He still held the small laptop in his lap, and I wondered what he was doing on it. Communicating with the people he worked for, perhaps?

  I slid into the back seat, and Lorcan got in beside me.

  “Hey,” he said, giving me a nod.

  “Hey, yourself.”

  I shivered again, violent shudders across my shoulders. It was partly from the cold, but also from tension, and fear of what the very early start to this new day would hold.

  “Crank up the heat, will you, Kingsley?” Lorcan called out to the front. “Our princess is cold.”

  I smacked him on the thigh. “I’m no princess.”

  He held my gaze in the moonlight streaming through the back window. “That’s good, ’cause we’re no knights in shining armor either.”

  Lorcan looked at me just a little too long, and my cheeks heated, forcing me to be the first to glance away.

  The car got moving, headlights illuminating the forest around us. It was strange how something that appeared so tranquil and beautiful in the daytime became full of haunting and mystery in the night. The headlights of our car, and the vehicle containing Clay and Alex following, swept across the swathe of trees and the dirt track beyond. I wondered if something could have been hiding there, watching us, and the thought sent another shiver down my spine.

  Lorcan must have noticed again. He thumped the back of the seat in front. “Where’s that heat?”

  “It’s coming, man,” said Kingsley. “Chill out.”

  “We are chilled, that’s the problem.”

  Seconds later, hot air blasted at us through the vents, and I began to thaw. Though I’d done my best not to get my hair wet in the shower, the ends, and at the nape of my neck, had gotten damp, and that hadn’t helped when I’d hit the cold outside air.
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  With nothing else to do, I sat back in my seat and stared out of the window. I put my hand to my mouth and chewed anxiously at the dry skin surrounding my nails. I wished I had my phone with me—this would be the perfect time to distract myself on social media with videos of cats and photographs of other people’s food. It would help take my mind off what was going to happen when morning broke.

  The interior of the car started to warm up, but I still couldn’t relax. It was the middle of the night, and I probably could have done with sleeping another few hours, but the caffeine from the coffee was working its way around my system.

  “Bingo,” Isaac said from the passenger seat.

  I perked up, relieved to have something to distract me from my thoughts. “What is it?”

  “I’ve got visual on the house.”

  “What house?”

  He twisted in his seat to look back at me. “Your house. It’s dark, so I can’t make out too much right now, but as soon as it starts getting light, we should be able to see if there’s anyone suspicious lurking around.”

  I sat forward. “Can I see?”

  Isaac lifted the laptop so I could see the screen. I’d been hoping to see my home, but all it showed was a few dark shapes and some specks of light from the street lamps and a couple of security lights. I wrinkled my nose in disappointment.

  “We’ll be there in a few hours,” said Lorcan, picking up on how I felt.

  I gave him a grateful smile. “Yeah, but I don’t know what to hope for—that Hollan is there and we’re able to find the memory stick and make him pay for what he did, or to hope we don’t find anyone, and I’m able to go home and give my aunt a hug, and get a fresh change of clothes.” I gave a small laugh at how stupidly opposite the two possible situations were. Gun fights and abduction, or hugs and clean clothes.

  Sadness swelled inside me, making my eyes prick with tears and my throat tighten in a knot.

  How had my life ended up in this place?

  I knew how. My father telling me that code.

  Had he realized he was making me a target when he told me? Or had his actions been done in panic, knowing the code would die with him if he didn’t? I hoped it was the second option. Thinking he’d potentially signed my death warrant with his final breath caused my insides to twist, making me nauseated.

  Fingertips lightly brushed the back of my hand, and I looked over to see Lorcan frowning at me in concern. I glanced down to where our hands touched. Lorcan’s fingers were long, the nails squared, and I briefly wondered if he might play an instrument—the piano, or perhaps guitar would be more suited to him.

  “You okay?” He kept his voice low. “You look upset.”

  I sniffed and nodded. “Yeah, just thinking about my dad.”

  “I’m sure he never meant for all of this to happen.” He gave me a smile that was supposed to be reassuring but didn’t quite get past rueful.

  “I’m trying to convince myself of that.”

  His fingers slipped around the back of my hand and solidified into a firmer hold. I smiled at him gratefully. I could see he was trying to offer me the same comfort as I’d tried to give him yesterday. It was a different type of pain—mine emotional as opposed to the very physical agony he’d gone through—but often physical pain heals far more quickly than an emotional one, especially when the person who’d caused the pain was no longer around to get closure from.

  We sat like that, just holding hands, and though it was such a simple thing, it helped me feel better.

  Chapter Seven

  As the vehicle ate the miles, bringing us closer to the city, my anxiety increased. I continued to check out of the rear window, making sure Clay and Alex were still with us, and that no one else looked like they were following.

  After a couple of hours, the sky began to fade from pitch black to a deep, cobalt blue. One by one, the stars winked out, as though they were flames extinguished by the hand of God. In the front seat, Isaac folded open his laptop again, and I knew what he was doing.

  I leaned over the back of the seat, pulling the seat belt loose so I had room. “Are you able to see anything yet?”

  He was looking at an aerial view of my street. With the burgeoning light, I was able to make out our back yard and the chimney on the roof of our house.

  Isaac nodded. “Getting there. Another hour or so, and I’ll be able to spot if anyone is on lookout on the street, or if any of the vehicles appear suspicious.”

  “How are you going to be able to tell a suspicious vehicle from a non-suspicious one?”

  “If one is doing loops of the area, they’ll be easy enough to pick out. And if there’s a car you don’t recognize parked opposite the house, we’ll keep an eye on that as well. At this time of day, a lot of people will be driving to work, so the residential streets should clear out of traffic fairly quickly. It’ll make the ones who aren’t supposed to be there more noticeable.”

  I stared at the screen, trying to spot anything that didn’t seem right. But it wasn’t light enough yet, and the cars only appeared to be dark shapes dotted around the streets.

  “What if Hollan is already inside?” I asked. “How will we know?”

  “He won’t be inside without anyone else around to watch out for him. He’d leave himself open to us surrounding him, and he’s too smart to do that.”

  I nodded. “Makes sense. What if he’s not there at all?”

  “Then you go and see your aunt, and we’ll figure out what to do next. But whatever happens, we need to find Hollan. Now we have the code, we need the memory stick. One is no good without the other, and, as far as we know, Hollan is the only one who knows where the damned thing is.”

  “And as far as he knows, I’m the only one who knows the code.”

  Isaac nodded. “True. He doesn’t know you’ve told us.”

  His teeth dug into his lower lip as he thought. I wondered what was going through his head. Isaac seemed to have one of those minds that was always thinking and plotting. I wondered if he ever just sat back and relaxed. I doubted it.

  Isaac snapped the lid of the laptop down again, signaling our conversation was over.

  I sat back and leaned the side of my head against the window. We’d been in the car for almost three hours, and everyone was starting to get uncomfortable, shifting in their seats. The guys, with their long legs, must have found the cramped space worse.

  “Right, guys,” Kingsley said from the driver’s seat. “I’m gonna go cross-eyed if I have to stare at the road much longer.”

  Isaac looked back at Lorcan and me. “Let’s take a comfort break. It’ll be better for us to be refreshed if we need to deal with Hollan and his men when we reach Darcy’s house.”

  We pulled over at the next truck stop we came across and climbed out with groans of relief, stretching stiff arms, legs, and backs. Clay and Alex had pulled over with us, and they both got out, too. I tried not to stare too hard when Clay lifted his hands above his head in a stretch, revealing a flash of hard abs.

  “Who wants more coffee?” Alex glanced at the truck stop cafe.

  Everyone’s hands rose into the air.

  “Can I grab a bottle of water, too?” I felt bad for being awkward, but I was dehydrated, and though I needed the caffeine from the coffee, the beverage wouldn’t help with my thirst.

  Alex nodded. “Of course. You want to give me a hand?”

  I shrugged. “Sure.”

  Everyone needed bathroom stops, and my own bladder needed emptying, but I figured I’d help Alex get the coffees first, and then I’d take my turn. I followed his tall, lean back into the service station. The lights were on inside, and the shapes of people were silhouetted at the window. At this time in the morning, the place was filled with truckers, and, other than a couple of older women who looked like they were either truckers’ wives, or truckers themselves, I was the only female below the age of fifty. Alex also stood out among the small crowd. He looked far too clean cut, and had the air of someone who
’d studied well beyond leaving high school. But he was also well over six feet tall, and the sharpness of his blue eyes and the jut of his jaw also made him look like someone you wouldn’t want to mess with.

  I stuck close to his side as we went to the counter.

  Glancing over my shoulder, I found several pairs of male eyes lingering on me. I received a salacious grin as I accidentally caught the eye of one of the men. Ugh. He must have been at least forty, with a gut that pressed a fold of flab into the edge of the table. He gave me a wink, and I looked away. I didn’t want to give him the idea I was interested. If the guy had been here alone, I’d have told him to fuck off, but he had a number of his buddies with him, all with the unhealthy pallor of someone who spent too much time sitting down, eating fast food, and not getting regular hours of sleep. It was best just to ignore men like that. They’d never change, no matter what clever retort you came up with.

  “I wanted to see how you were getting on,” Alex said, after he’d ordered six black coffees and a bottle of water for me. There was no messing around with skinny Frappuccinos with extra foam with these guys.

  “I’m okay. I guess I just want this to be over with.”

  I did, but I didn’t. Again, I was back to the thought of what would happen to me after this was all done with. Once Isaac and the others got the memory stick back, and were able to access the information on it, would I just be sent home to continue living my pointless life? If Hollan was dealt with, I wouldn’t be in danger anymore. The thought of them all leaving me caused pain to tighten in my chest. It had barely been a week since they’d all burst so dramatically into my life, yet now I struggled to picture myself going back to my old life. Would I continue to search for crappy jobs I didn’t want? Would I work on improving my relationship with Aunt Sarah? Hell, maybe I would even get myself a proper boyfriend, though after having the five of them in my life, whoever came along next would have a lot to live up to.

  Was this the reason I’d never bothered to get emotionally involved with a guy? I’d had plenty of men I’d messed around with, but the moment any of them gave the slightest hint at being interested in anything other than what was in my panties, I’d run a mile. Had, deep down, I known I’d never be able to get everything I needed from just one man? Had some part of me known I’d end up frustrated at all the things they wouldn’t be able to provide me with, either physically or emotionally, and that I would have just gotten bored, so we’d have ended up in one big mess? With each of these guys, I didn’t feel there was a chance I’d ever end up bored or unsatisfied. They each took care of me in their own way, and they never made me feel I should be with one of them more than the other. Whatever mood I was in, they each picked up on which of them fitted best with me at that time. Would there ever come a time where I’d have them all together? I couldn’t imagine that—five gorgeous men, each with their hands and mouths on me. It was the kind of thing only fantasies were made from, and yet here I was, with the very real possibility of it hanging in my future. I didn’t want to mess this up.