Fighting With Light (The Coldwell Brothers #2)

41. Liam

41

Liam

Kai and Emerson should touch down in about two hours. I still need to get a vehicle that fits all of us and can handle off-roading. Earlier, I set up a program to take continuous pictures of the site that Aelia found so we can check to see if there is any significant movement in the mountains.

I pull up the program, and while it loads, get changed into some pants and boots. Flip-flops won’t cut it tonight. When it’s ready, nothing appears different. It looks like it has for the past few days. If everything continues to look like this, then we should be okay to approach. I’ve been looking and tracking any patterns for how they ship and move. Every two days, four trucks leave the area and then it’s hard to tell, but it looks like four different trucks come back. I don’t know if it’s a different driver because the satellite image is too far away to make out faces.

The camp itself hasn’t moved and after further scrutiny, it looks like there are more than just tents and buildings out there. My assumption is they cook in the buildings and the people sleep in the large tents. We also picked up on how the lights never go dim, meaning they have a twenty-four-hour setup, which could make things difficult, but at least they will be easier to find on foot.

I check the clock. We need to get going. “What are you doing in there, Mrs. Banks? We have places to be.”

The door opens, and I thought Aelia in a dress and heels was stunning, but apparently, in that giant suitcase of hers, she also has an olive green tank top tucked in the waistband of black cargo pants that hug her thighs, and lace-up boots on her feet. I think I like this much more .

“What?” Aelia asks, looking down at her outfit. “Is this not appropriate? I knew it—”

I shake my head, still staring at her, and cough, clearing my throat. “I thought you were going to wear a dress or something.”

She scoffs. “In this current situation? No. I, we need to be able to run and sure, I can run in a dress and heels, but I figured I’m better off like this.”

I smile widely, loving this GI Jane situation. Standing from the bed, I slide my hands around her waist and down her backside, squeezing the muscle. She links her hands behind my neck.

“No, no, this is just fine.” I pause. “We need to buy a car, but you have me distracted. You look good. I wish I had my Bowie knife to cut the cargo pants right off of you.”

The corners of her mouth tip up and she rolls her eyes. Her cheeks tinge pink and I know I’ve got her. Her small smile spreads into a wider one.

I chuckle. “I’m not sure if you liked the compliment or the idea of the Bowie knife more.”

She lifts her shoulder and tilts her chin. “I guess it’s just something I will have to experience first before making any important decisions.”

“Oh?” I ask her, leaning in to press my lips to hers.

“See, Mr. Banks, your wife is just full of surprises.”

I smile against her lips. “How did I get so lucky?” I murmur against her lips.

She kisses me and then pulls back. “I ask myself that question every day,” she says, looking me in the eye. I know what she’s saying. Those words mean more to both of us, even though they can’t.

I release her, stepping back. “We need to get going.”

She grabs her phone and a little belt bag, tucking a few things into it. I shut down my computer and shove it under my clothes in my suitcase.

Sliding my baseball hat low over my head, Aelia grabs her own and we leave the seedy motel. “How was the shower?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “Old and surprisingly clean.”

I nod, leading the way towards the doors. We’re on the third floor, closer to the stairs, as I requested. I’m selective about where I stay, but because I couldn’t rent out a place or buy one, we had to make this work. And if we need to disappear, that should be pretty easy to do from here.

“On our way in, I saw a couple of trucks for sale. Let’s hope they are decent enough for us. We need something that can handle the terrain as we leave the valley.”

I push the side door open for her, and we keep our heads down, heading in the direction of the truck I saw for sale. I can sense Aelia getting more and more agitated and reach for her hand again.

“Babe, deep breaths. People can sense those things.”

She nods, doing what I said.

We walk a few more blocks where I saw a truck with an extended cab and large tires big enough for off-roading. I realize we could go to a car dealership and just buy one with everything I need on it. But in the interest of staying under the radar, I felt like that would be a smidge too obvious, seeing as I have only cash. This is a large city, but you never know who’s watching.

I find the truck on the side of the street with a for sale sign on it. My assumption is it’s parked in front of the house of the owner. Let’s hope I can negotiate well enough in Spanish. I can get along in Spanish, but I’m fluent in French, unlike my brother Kai, who is fluent in the former. Where’s Kai when you need him?

Aelia releases my hand, but I hold fast. “I’ll just stay right here,” she says, pointing to the garden gate to the yard.

I chuckle. “No, princess, you’re not because if there are people here watching, standing on the street waiting to be seen is making it far too easy for them.”

“Fine,” she grumbles.

Pushing the gate open, I pull Aelia through and step up to the front door. I knock a few times and a man answers the door. “Hola, estoy interesado en tu caminoeta.” Hello, I’m interested in your truck.

“Yo hablo ingles se?or,” he says.

“Oh great thanks, man, I was wondering what you wanted for the truck.”

“I want eight million pesos for it,” he says.

I glance back at the truck. “Can I take a look first? ”

He nods and disappears back into the house. He unlocks it, and I check out the inside. It’s a little tattered, but I don’t care. I just need a decent working engine and solid suspension. We pop the hood, and I check out the engine. It all looks good.

“Babe, turn the truck on.” She takes the keys from the man and starts it up. I observe it, looking for radiator drips or oil leaks. It sounds good. Getting on the ground, I slide under the truck and check out the additional suspension that he added.

“Okay, turn it off,” I tell Aelia. She flips it off and takes the keys out.

“I’ll take it. How is three thousand US dollars and forget you even had the truck and leave the plates on it for a week?” I ask.

The man looks between Aelia and I. “Deal.”

He grabs the title from the glove compartment, signs it over to John Banks, and hands it to me with the keys. I give him the stack of cash and shake his hand before going back inside.

“Let’s go get my brothers.”

Aelia nods and reaches for my hand, and it grounds me. I’m nervous about seeing my brothers. In the past, I’ve always gone home to them because that’s where things are happening. I hope this trip will be worth it because I know Kai didn’t want to leave Cordelia and Theo. Emerson likely thinks this is all stupid, but it makes sense. I hope they see that, and I hope that we all survive long enough to get home to finish putting the case together. If we can prove the connection of the US government to the formidable Costa mob, then the authorities will have no choice but to investigate. It will strip my father of his pride, and that’s so much worse than killing him.

Knowing that he will rot in jail for the rest of his days feels significantly more satisfying than burying him. Kai and Emerson have expressed the same sentiments. But most of all, I think it will give my mother some level of justice for suffering over eighteen years at his hands. Seeing him behind bars will help soothe the sting.

“How do you know where we’re going?” Aelia asks.

I make a right. “I researched the routes we need to take. ”

“You just…memorized it?”

“Yeah. I do it wherever I go, in case I need to make a quick exit.”

“I always check exits when I’m in a room,” Aelia says quietly.

I glance at her and go around a slow driver. “Even with me?”

She lets go of my hand and leans into the passenger side door. “No.”

“No, what?”

“I don’t check exits when I’m with you,” she says.

Pinning my lips together, my chest tightens with the conflict of emotions. I like that she feels safe with me and simultaneously I hate it. We crossed that barrier both of us had set up for each other in Portugal and we all but destroyed it in El Salvador. It’s confirmation for me that we are both much deeper than we ever intended to get. Regrets are something I try not to think about a lot in my life because they do nothing but drag you down. I should regret going as far as I have with Aelia. But I don’t, I won’t. I could never regret her. The reasons don’t matter anymore.

We pull up next to the private airport. I glance at the clock again. They should land in about twenty minutes with all the gear we need.

Aelia and I watch my family plane land. A few minutes later, after the jet gets pulled into a spot, the door opens. A text pops through on my phone and I flip my lights twice. Emerson and Kai walk towards us dressed in cargo pants tucked into their boots with t-shirts tucked in. They each carry two large duffle bags and backpacks on their backs.

“Stay in the truck, baby,” I tell Aelia.

Slamming the door, I grab Kai into a hug. “Hey, brother,” I rasp, my throat suddenly feeling tight.

Kai pats my back, and Emerson tosses his bags into the truck bed. I turn around and hug him. He doesn’t hug often, but he will hug his brothers now and then.

Emerson pats my back roughly. The truck door slams and Aelia leans against the door. “Boys,” she says.

This woman.

“Do you ever listen, princess?” I ask her .

She flips me the bird and then holds her hand out to Kai. “Aelia Costa, nice to meet you in person.”

Kai takes it and glances at me. She reaches for Emerson, and he shakes her hand politely. My brothers stare at me and I don’t know what to say or how to explain it, so I just don’t.

I clap my hands. “Alright, let’s go get some food and shut-eye.”

Kai stares at me a moment longer and nods. They get in the back, and Aelia hops back in her seat.

After we stop to get something to eat, we go back to the seedy motel. My brothers go to their room, and Aelia and I go back to ours.

“Emerson doesn’t speak much, does he?” Aelia asks, plopping down on the bed.

“No, he’s not a big talker, but he doesn’t miss much.”

She hums. “Kai doesn’t like me, does he?”

I toss my hat onto my suitcase and sit next to her.

“He’s protective of all of us.”

Aelia’s shoulders bounce with silent laughter. “ All of you are protective, Liam.”

I shrug because she’s right. We are, we’ve had to be.

Aelia stands and climbs onto my lap. “I don’t blame him. I don’t blame any of you for being weary of me. I get it. I would be, too.”

“But?” I ask her because there always is one.

She tilts her head, eyes searching mine. “No, but family is important, I know that. It’s the sole reason you and I are doing this. We just…” she trails off.

I wait for her to gather what she wants to say, but she leans in to kiss me instead. Every time she does, it makes me want to scream mine. It makes me want to keep her so no other man can have her because she belongs to me .

She pecks my lips one more time, then leans back. “We should get some sleep,” she whispers.

I hide my nose in her neck, taking a deep breath of her. She hugs me back, and we stay like that for a while. We don’t know what will come tomorrow, or if we’ll survive it, so in this moment I want to remember the way her heart beats against mine. I want to soak in her warmth and the way it feels to hold the love of my life that I’ll never be able to call mine.