CHAPTER TWENTY - FOUR

MIRI

The clock is ticking, getting closer and closer to the fifteen-minute limit Shaw set for me. My hands grip the steering wheel, and I look back for the hundredth time.

They have to get out. They have to. It's the only thing that plays in my mind. And I realise I'm as worried for Shaw as I am for Naja. He's risking it all with nothing on the table for him except clearing his conscience.

I tap the wheel, my eyes now fixed on the door. "Come on, come on." My heart races and my hands start to shake.

When Shaw told me about this place, I was expecting something that looked less ordinary. Anyone could drive by, and most people wouldn't have a clue what was going on inside. I'm not really sure what a snuff film is, but I'm glad. Although I'm nervous about what Naja might be like now after what she's been through.

The door bursts open, and I fumble, twisting the key for the engine. Turning in my seat, I watch as I see them both, Shaw and Naja, running in my direction. A rush of relief hits me, and my heart starts to pound.

They made it.

But as I look back again, Naja's fighting Shaw, pulling against him as they get closer to the car. I reach for the handle, spring the door open, and rush toward them. Naja's wrestling with Shaw, squirming one way and the other to get out of his hold, and she even shoves her foot up against the car's bumper to stop them from reaching it.

"Naja, stop. It's okay. It's me." My voice seems to cut through, and she stills, like all her energy just left her body.

"Miri? It's really you?" She looks at me with squinting eyes. They soften for a moment, but then she turns back to Shaw. "No. This is a trick. You can't do this to me again."

I rush toward her, and Shaw backs off, heading for the driver's seat. "Naja, it's me. It's not a trick. We came to get you. You're safe." Her eyes dance back between me and Shaw, and it gives me a chance to see the dark circles under her eyes – the shadow of bruises on her cheek. She doesn't look the same as I remember.

"Reunion later. Get in the fucking car. We need to go," Shaw yells.

Naja glares back, but I usher her forward, fighting off the gulf of feelings ripped open in my chest as she at last gets inside the car.

Shaw doesn't hang about. Before we have our belts on, he's peeling out of the parking lot and along the road.

We're all quiet for a few beats, and I feel the weight of anticipation as to what happens next lay heavily across my shoulders. I look over to Naja, but instead of looking relieved or happy, she's neither. Her face screams anger, and it makes me waiver in my own conviction to do all of this for her. She was the one who left me. I risked it all for her, and now she's angry that we've saved her? My jaw clenches as I keep my words tucked inside. Now isn't the time.

She turns to me and makes a quick look to Shaw before she launches into a reel of questions, the words breaking between English and Danish so fast that I can barely keep up. "Slow down, Naja," I plead, but she doesn't. She just keeps going, repeating the same things over and over, until I follow her lines of questioning.

"I don't understand why you are with him. What are we doing, and where are we going?" She's so angry, and it sparks my own.

I grab her hands and squeeze them. "Do you trust me?"

She looks me dead in the eye, and in that moment, I see all the pain, all the torture and everything we've had to endure starting from the moment we were taken. It feels like a lifetime – a different life – since we were together. An ocean of grief between us.

Her lips remain still, and her hesitation at my question hurts. But maybe that's okay. It's only taken a few seconds to realise we aren't the same girls anymore.

A lot has changed for both of us.

She finally nods, and we settle back into a quiet that only heightens my nerves.

I thought when we rescued her, it would be different. That she'd be happy, and we'd slip back into that sisterly bond we had when she fought to protect me so viciously. But I can see that I was na?ve. That was the hope of the girl who was taken, not the girl I am now. That was the girl who'd been seduced and tricked and stolen and sold and abandoned. The girl who's been through that should know better.

Her questions start again, but I don't want to hear them.

"I'll explain. Not here," I snap.

Besides, I'm not sure I'm ready to tell her everything, so I'm playing for time, too. There's so much I can't explain, and I hope that I can skip over those parts with little or no scrutiny, especially as I'm not sure what they mean to me. Like, why am I drawn to Shaw after everything he's done? Why do I have feelings that linger for him? Why do I feel concern or kindness towards him and have a growing seed of fear in my stomach that he might leave us and I'll never see him again?

I ignore those thoughts and look out the window as he continues to drive. We didn't talk about what happens after we got Naja, so the rest of the plan is a mystery, including where we're going.

I lean forward so I can speak to him. "Where are you headed?"

"Somewhere off the grid after this. Then, I have something in mind."

"I can hear you both," Naja complains.

"We weren't trying to keep you in the dark," I spit back.

"We'll find somewhere to spend the night. Get some food," Shaw cuts in.

Neither of us says anything, but the plan calms the atmosphere, and we remain quiet on the journey. He takes precautions, turning left and right, doubling back on himself and changing direction for over an hour. It's a useful distraction to what else is coming tonight, like talking and explaining.

God, how did it get to this? It's a fucking mess.

Finally, we pull into a tidy-looking motel. There's a diner on-site, and it doesn't look like we might be murdered in our sleep.

"Wait here." Shaw heads to the office.

I wait for more questions as soon as we're on our own, but Naja just stares out the window at the highway in the distance. I want to reach out my hand and squeeze her. I want to be the one to stand in front of her and tell her everything will be okay, just like she did to me, but I can't because I don't believe it myself – not yet anyway.

Shaw walks back to the car, and I jump out. "Here." He tosses me the keys. "Two rooms, interconnecting door."

"Thank you." I risk looking up at him. I didn't see it in the car, but his left eye is cut over the brow. "You're hurtagain?" I step toward him and try to angle his face so I can see better, but he snatches my wrist away.

"I'm fine. Come on." He moves to open the door for Naja, who obliges and gets out. She lingers next to me, and we follow Shaw as he leads us around the back to the room. He opens the door for us, and we head in. "I'll be next door." He walks through the adjoining room and leaves the door open.

When he's out of sight, Naja collapses on the bed. Her head drops to the pillow, and she pulls her knees up to her chest and starts to cry. Soft, muffled noises drift over to me.

There was a time when rushing to her to offer comfort would be the first thing I'd do, without any thought or indecision, but I stand, hovering, before realising I'm being stupid.

I perch on the edge of the bed and put my hand on her shoulder. No matter what has happened over the last year, she's my sister. My blood. She doesn't respond, but her cries continue. So, I pull myself onto the bed and curl my body around hers until the tears begin to even out and our breathing aligns. It's not long before it shifts again, and I'm sure she's asleep. I could move, but I'm safe, and I have my sister back. And for a few moments, that's the most important thing.

~

"Miri?" Shaw's voice wakes me. I'm in the same position, snuggled up against Naja. "Food." He motions with his head to the other room, and I gently move off the bed.

A selection of fast food is laid out on the small table in Shaw's room. It all smells heavenly, but then a table of fat and grease would. I pick a burger and sit down.

"Thank you." I pick at the wrapper and look up at Shaw. "You've done what you said. You got her out. So, thank you." He picks up his own burger and starts to eat. I can feel his eyes on me as he glances over. "What will you do now?" We talked so much earlier, it felt natural to ask him questions and talk to him. Now, it feels like there's a shadow casting us into darkness when we should be celebrating. I take a bite of the burger.

"I still need to make sure you're safe and gone. Don't worry."

"I meant with your family?"

"That's a big old mess of complicated shit."

I sigh. He's right. My expectations and reality seem to have collided and been mixed in the crash when I think about rescuing Naja.

"How is she?" Shaw asks, around a mouthful.

"I'm not sure. Sad. Angry." I take another bite.

"I warned you, Miri."

"I know. But I thought that would be physical. It's like she's a different person." I try to remember our last moments together. How she was, what she said to me. "It's too soon, and like you said. Complicated."

"Living with your sins can be hard. They weigh you down and suck you to a place you don't even recognise." He tosses the remnants of his burger down and sits back.

"Anything for me?" Naja appears at our side.

"Of course." I gesture with my hand. "Take your pick."

She grabs a box of what turns out to be chicken pieces and some fries but doesn't stay with us.

I look at Shaw, feeling awkward and out of place. Guilty, even. "I'm going to go and sit with her."

"Sure. Get some rest. It'll be a long day tomorrow."

It's on the tip of my tongue to ask what his plan is but now isn't the time.

I smile and leave to speak to Naja.

She's sitting cross-legged on the bed. "It's good." She holds up the food before taking another bite. She seems unsure, vulnerable, even. "You're okay?" she asks, finally.

"In a manner of speaking. I'm not sure if I can attest to anything more than that right now. And you're okay? You don't seem as… You're okay?" I want to say she doesn't seem happy; maybe there's nothing to be happy for.

"I'm as okay as I can be. I'm out of that place, but there's a lot I don't understand. You're going to have to help me out there." She gives me a pointed look, and I know what she's getting at.

"And I will. Just not yet. When we're safe." I stall her because I don't know how to explain about Shaw.

"I'm not sure I'll ever feel safe again. Not after what they did to Jackson. Coming for him – for us – after all that time."

"You knew the risks. You went anyway."

She looks at me like I just slapped her across the face. And maybe I did, but I didn't say anything but the truth. She left me for a man she barely knew, with people she only just met, to go on the run with a criminal. She knew this. If that hurts, then so be it. We've both been through worse.

We finish our meal, but there's little conversation before we go to bed. And I don't sleep, either. I lie awake thinking of everything that might have been or could have happened. What might have happened to Naja. And if we'll ever get back to the way things were before.

~

"Time to go." Shaw knocks on the door to wake us.

My sense of time or even what day it is has deserted me.

"I'll go and grab a shower first." Naja rolls out of bed and straight into the bathroom.

After our brief words, there's still tension and the weight of things left unsaid is rising. However, it's not as easy as I thought it would be between us. I assumed being free and seeing me would be enough.

We get ready and leave the room. Shaw's standing by the car.

"I want to know where we're going." Naja stops and crosses her arms, facing off at Shaw.

"I"m getting you somewhere safe that's beyond the reach of my brothers. You don't need to know any more."

"Yeah, that's not going to wash. I don't trust you. I don't care what my sister says."

"Give it a rest, Naja. He's not gone through all of this just to turn around and hand us both back."

"No. They'll simply wait until our defences are down and then do it. They're ruthless, evil men who seem hellbent on revenge."

"There's nothing to seek revenge for," I say, tired of this.

"Maybe for you."

"Hey, we can do this if you want, but don't think you're the only one who has cause for revenge." I keep my eyes on Naja and refuse to glance at Shaw.

"Yet you're happily making puppy dog eyes at him. I don't know what happened, Miri, but you really don't know what these men are like." She shakes her head, her voice cold and hard, and turns to storm off.

Shaw grabs her arm.

"Hey," she snaps, ripping it from his grasp.

"Listen, I don't give a fuck about you, but for once in my goddamn life, I'm going to make the right choice, and that's to see Miri safe. What you do after that doesn"t mean shit to me. I'm not here to make friends. Just get in the fucking car or call it now and I'll drive off and leave you both in the dust. Good luck getting anywhere without my help."

Hearing that he'd just up and leave us stings, and I'm snapped back to the reality that I have no clue what I'm doing or where my heart or feelings lie. There's no future for me and Shaw. I shouldn't want there to be a future between us, either.

Naja finally moves to open the back door. I can't help but glance at Shaw, wanting to see if I can read his face and look for something that might tell me he wouldn't just leave me after everything. But there's nothing, and I get in after her.

"We're heading for New York."

"Why? Jackson's not there. You made sure of that," Naja accuses.

"Logan Cane," Shaw announces, before starting the engine.

Naja looks at me, her eyes suddenly alert. I recognise the name, too. It was back when we were running with Jackson and went to Landon for help. He had a connection with him, but he was nervous to call in a favour.

"Logan Cane?" Naja questions.

"Yeah."