A World Without Trust

Chapter Fourteen

Adrenaline surges through my body as the distance between the black van and us closes quickly.

“SHOOT AT THE TIRES!” I yell towards Harry above the loud groan of the motor. He leans into the back seats and pulls out a rifle and some ammo. Before I know it he has the gun loaded and is hanging out the window ready to fire. We are now ten metres away from the van and have made it into the city centre making it hard for me to stare the car around all the obstacles at a fast speed. We come to a straight in the road and I push my foot down flat on the accelerator.

“NOW?” Harry yells.

“NOW!” I reply, my knuckles white from my tight grip on the steering wheel. The rifle shot echoes through the street and the van whips from side to side as the bullet pierces the wheel. Another shot rings in my ears and the van pulls up, its tires screeching along the road. I immediately stop the car and reach back for a gun, joining Harry on the street firing at the men in black who now cower behind the bonnet of their vehicle.

“ASHTON!” I yell between shots hoping that he will hear my voice and know I have come to save him. Harry nails one of them right between the eyes. One down, one to go. I lie down on the ground and look underneath the van to see the other guy crouched down low. I aim my gun and fire, hitting him in the foot. A blood curdling noise echoes around the tall buildings as I see the man in black drop his gun and grab his foot, rolling on the ground. Without a moment of hesitation I get up and sprint towards him, jumping on top of him and holding his arms down.

“You shot me!” Comes a voice through the tinted visor of his helmet. He squirms beneath me and I release one of his wrists so I can pull the helmet off of his head before retaining my grasp of his wrist again. I gasp at how young he looks, my age maybe? Dark features frame his olive face, his dark brown eyes glistening with tears. The look of fear in his eyes makes me feel a little bit sorry for him and I loosen my grip slightly from his shaking wrists.

“Essie, Ashton is unconscious…” Harry announces from the side of the van.

“What did you do to him?” I ask the boy re-tightening my grip. He flinches and stays quiet before telling me that his partner hit him over the head in the van because he almost broke free.

“Please can you get off me?” He asks grimacing. I reluctantly slide off him and yank him to his feet.

“Walk.” I say coldly and prod him in the direction of an abandoned clothing store. He hobbles along without complaint and I look over to Harry who has Ashton slug lifelessly over his shoulders.

“What do we do with him?” I whisper to Harry gesturing towards the solider who is now sitting in the corner of the store. I managed to remove the bullet from the wound in his foot and stitch it up. I don’t know why I did, I should have just killed him out on the street. I have to keep reminding myself that I’m not a cold blooded killer.

“Maybe we can use him to our advantage?”

“How?”

“He could take us to find your brother? Get us into the compound, maybe even release Luke without us even having to do anything!”

“How can we trust him though?” I question getting a large sign out of Harry.

“We can’t, but it may just be our only easy shot at getting Luke back Essie.” I stand in silence for a moment and shrug.

“Worth a shot I guess!” I say with a smile. I walk over to the corner and sit cross legged in front of the boy whilst Harry checks on Ashton who lies on a couch in the clothing stores changing rooms.

“What’s your name?” I ask monotonously.

“Calum.”

“We have decided to take you with us to Los Angeles to rescue my brother, who’s in one of your camps.” Calum looks at me with a confused look on his face. “Is there a problem?” I add.

“Um… let me get this straight. You want me to accompany you back to the main base to ‘rescue’ your brother who you think is there?”

“We have a smart one here!” I call over my shoulder towards Harry.

“Sorry, but that’s not going to happen.” I laugh louder than I should before looking Calum right in his eyes.

“Listen here asshole. You and your ‘gang’ of terrorists have ruined so many people’s lives that you don’t have a say in the matter. You will come with us to LA, you will not try any funny business with us and you WILL get my brother out of there. Do I make myself clear?”

“It’s not that I couldn’t get your brother out. The thing is the whole of LA is now heavily surrounded by security. Even if I wanted to take you in with me they wouldn’t let me and kill all of you right on the spot.”

“That’s why we are going to take them in as prisoners.” Harry announces taking a seat on the ground next to me. Calum’s face changes and it looks like he has discovered something.

“You work for them too don’t you? Harry… you’re that one that almost got executed for developing feelings for one of your prisoners and refused to turn her in.” Calum says. Harry clears his throat and carries on, ignoring Calum’s comment.

“You and I will replace the tires on the van and take these two into the compound as prisoners. Once we’re in I will look for Essie’s brother to see where they have placed him and once I have found them I’ll break the three of them out. As for you Calum, you will then be free of your duties with us. However, if you say a word about our plan to anyone, I will hunt you down and make sure you die a slow and painful death.” With that Harry jumps up and walks out of the shop.

“Ashton?” I whisper quietly as I hold his head in my lap. I sweep away the bits of hair that have fallen over his eyes and close my own eyes for a moment hoping to escape reality. A hand brushes against my cheek and I open my eyes to see Ashton smiling up at me. “Thank god!” I praise as a smile grows on my own face.

“You saved me.” Ashton croaks still stroking my cheek. I bring my hand up resting it on the back of his and let out a long sigh of relief.

“I couldn’t let them take you away from me. Not another person in my life that I care about. Ashton’s smile turns into a grimace as he tries to push himself up into a sitting position. “Don’t try to get up, you’ve probably got concussion.”

“He’s definitely got concussion. Have you seen the size of the bump on the back of his head?” Harry says, his eyes locked on me and Ashton’s intertwined hands. Ashton pulls away as soon as he realises that Harry has returned.

“Harry! What the hell are you doing here?” Ashton asks almost sounding angry.

“Nice to see you too and that’s the exact reaction I got from Miss Essie. I found you at your house and followed Essie into the neighbours where I found her stealing tap water.” Harry says comically. There is that darn smirk again with those dimples cutting into his cheeks. Ashton just looks confused so I explain everything that has happened which eventually helps him to get a grasp on the situation at hand.

“So where is this Calum and when are we heading off to LA?”

“When Harry has changed the tires on the van and Calum is over there in the corner.” I answer Ashton.

“How do you know he won’t run away? Have you tied him up?”

“No I shot him in the foot.”

“Of course you did!” Ashton replies with a small laugh.

“Essie can you please help me with the van?” Harry asks. I almost forgot he was there and agree telling Ashton to get some more rest. I get up and Harry immediately wraps his arm around my waste making me flinch. He looks back at Ashton and gives him a wink.