33. Butterfly

The same man came into the room and exited again periodically. As time went on, he became increasingly agitated. His muttering in Italian would’ve been unintelligible even in English, but his tone was what was most telling.

Whenever he left and I sensed I was alone, I tried to figure out if there was any way to get loose. I wiggled against the ropes, seeing if they’d give. Being cuffed behind my back wasn’t just uncomfortable, but it meant that even if I got loose, I had no way of untying myself.

I reminded myself that, unless there was an extremely good chance of survival, I shouldn’t attempt an escape, but just sitting here, waiting for something to happen, was making me crazy.

When I heard footfalls behind me but outside the door, followed by men shouting in Italian, I froze. The sounds took me back to my abduction and rescue six years ago. The same feeling of panic swept through me. Was this a rescue? Was I about to be killed? Would someone else be killed? The idea that it might be Brand made everything worse.

The night Aine, Tara, and I had been liberated from our captors, Ava’s now-husband, Razor, remained on the brink of death for several days. The doctors told her and his mother and sister that his condition was critical and he wasn’t improving and that they were recommending taking him off life support. Miraculously, when they did, he started breathing on his own. If something like that happened to Brand and he died, I wouldn’t know how to go on.

I wished my hands were free so I could cover my ears against the sounds that were increasingly louder. When I heard gunshots, I couldn’t swallow back the bile rising in my throat and retched onto the floor. Tears of fear spilled from my eyes, dampening the blindfold and my cheeks. “Please, God, make this end,” I cried out loud just as the door burst open.

It was then I heard the sound of a gun cock in front of me, not from behind.

“Take one more step, and she dies.” It was the voice of the same man who’d said he’d keep me for himself if Brand didn’t follow his instructions.

“Put down the gun, Maximo, and let her go. This is over.”

“If you have not brought my family to me, her death is inevitable.”

“Hurt her or me, and your uncle and his grandson will be dead within seconds.”

I screamed when shots were fired and I heard what sounded like bodies falling to the ground.

“Typhon’s hit!” a voice I recognized as Brand’s shouted as he turned my chair. “Hold on, Butterfly. I’ve got you,” he said as he removed my blindfold.

“He’s dead,” a voice I didn’t recognize shouted.

“It’s a flesh wound, but I need to stop the bleeding,” someone else, who sounded a lot like DeDe, said as I slowly opened my eyes and stared into the green-gray ones of my beloved Brand. His gaze didn’t waver as he and someone else untied me. Once free, he pulled me into his arms.

“You’re safe. Max is dead,” he said, stroking my hair.

“I can’t get these cuffs off,” a man behind me said.

“Move!” I heard someone else bellow.

“Typhon! I need to stop the bleeding! What are you doing?” I turned my head and saw it was, in fact, DeDe speaking.

“You can do it after I get Penelope free,” he shouted back.

“I don’t understand what’s going on,” I said to Brand.

“Hold still. Do not move even a millimeter. Brand, hold her arms as tightly as you can. Seshat, get over here. Cover her ears and hold her head still.”

I squeezed my eyes closed, not knowing what to expect or what would happen if I moved. Then I heard the pfft of another shot, and my hands were free.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Typhon. You could’ve killed her!”Brand shouted at him as he pulled me from the chair, lifted me in his arms, and carried me away.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t,” I heard Typhon reply as we raced from the room.

“They brought me in on the right. There’s a way out only a few yards from here.” I said when Brand veered left.

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

“Typhon’s hit but not seriously wounded,” Brand told someone I didn’t recognize, who opened the door leading outside.

“Get her out of here!” Sven yelled after we walked through it. He raced past us in the direction of the sound of shots being fired inside the caves behind us.

“This way,” another man shouted at us. Brand rushed over to an SUV and set me inside the back passenger seat.

“Thanks, Tank.”

“Where to, boss?”

“The airport. We’re getting the fuck out of Italy, and we’re never coming back.” He yanked something out of his ear, threw it on the vehicle’s floor, then pulled me into his arms. “Forgive me if I cannot speak yet. I just need to hold you.”

I wrapped my arms around him. “Same.”

“Nem saidto go straight to the private airfield. There’s a plane waiting,” Tank said when we arrived outside Florence’s airport but turned away from the entrance.

After stopping at a guardhouse, Tank identified himself and us, and we were waved through. He pulled up close to a private jet with its airstairs already down.

Brand got out first and held his hand out to help me. “Please give my thanks to Nemesis and the rest of the team, including yourself,” he said.

“Will do, and you’re welcome.”

“We’re scheduled for takeoff in approximately thirty minutes. I’m Angel, and I’ll be piloting today with Captain Lavery.” A man who was seated in the cockpit saluted us. “Make yourselves comfortable. As soon as the others arrive, we’ll be on our way.”

“Others? Who?” Brand asked.

The woman pulled out her cell phone.

“Seshat, Puck, and Typhon. We’re flying them into Gatwick, then we’ll continue on to JFK.”

“They better hurry the hell up,” Brand said under his breath as he led me into what looked more like a living room than the interior of a plane. I’d been on private jets before, but not one quite as elaborately configured.

“I encourage you to make use of the aft stateroom,” Angel said.

“Can we wait until DeDe gets here?” I said to Brand.

“Of course we can.”

We approached a seat wide enough for two, but Brand pulled me onto his lap. “I need you as close as you can possibly be.” He kissed me. “I know you have many questions, and I will answer them, just not yet.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready to hear it yet, either.”