Chapter 19

Bile rose in my throat as I let the news sink in.

"That's not even the worst part."

My eyes met his. "What do you mean?"

Will breathed in and ran his hand through his dark wavy hair.

"Ms. Westfield—Eva, I'm so sorry-"

"What is it?" I snapped, my heart racing. My eyes searched his, desperate for answers.

"I-" He closed his eyes "We don't have any records that your Austin even exists. Not in Australia, not in Greece, not anywhere."

Feeling faint, I sat down. My nerves have been given a thorough workout from day one and this certainly wasn't helping. Will put his hand on my shoulder and I pushed it away, pacing the matted-down grass in the area.

"Plymouth must have done something to him." Maybe he tampered with his nephew's records, that horrible man could do anything. Either way, the realization that Austin could be hurt or worse made my eyes sting with fresh tears. I could have been the one to warn him, but I didn't, and now I was going to pay the price. My fists wound tightly, I faced Will.

"I want to go to him. Plymouth. Now."

********

The coppery taste of blood repulsed him. He could barely see though the red stains in his eyesight. All he knew was that the woman he loved was being led into a trap, all thanks to him.

"You never said it would be like this!" He wrestled with his hand ties as he spat the words. His sorry excuse of an uncle stood before him indicating his right-hand man inflict another blow, which he did, this time blocking his hearing out of one ear.

"We had a deal!" He screamed. "You said you wouldn't hurt her. Please!" He begged through his bloodied teeth.

"I know, Nephew." He dabbed a white cloth on his skin, making him flinch from the pain. "Love is a powerful thing. So is betrayal." He grit his teeth on the word. "But once again, you let your feelings get in the way of good business."

"Good business?" He nearly roared. "You call decimating every person dear to her good business?" With that he started to laugh. He didn't know why, but he did. "Oh wait, yeah I forgot, those pills took away your feelings too. It's a shame because I always thought you were capable of so much more." He could hear him growl under his breath, his fists balling.

He whirled around and grabbed him by his bloody shirt collar. "Do you have any—idea what her Father did to me?"

"Yes, he betrayed you. But what does this have to do with Eva?"

All in one swoop, he let his collar go and took a clean white handkerchief out of his vest pocket to wipe his hands. "You'll be sorry for what you've done, boy." A smile grew on his face. A slow, sadistic smile. "Once I get my diamonds back—including the one hanging around her lovely neck, she's going to feel the betrayal I encountered with her Father." He turned to leave. "Because she will know what you've done to her, for nothing more than a pocketful of money."

********

We parked the van a safe distance from the entrance of the gates. There were two guards chatting lightheartedly, un-aware of the agents crawling all over this place.

"I've got our way in." Will held up some kind of strange tool. At my confused look, he went on to explain. "It's to laser the gate and windows. 007 style." I resisted the urge to laugh.

"It's my company, dumbass. You think they won't let me in?"

"We don't want Plymouth knowing we're here yet so the rest of the team can move in."

I nodded my agreement. A small fizzing sound came from his radio. I could tell it was Yvonne.

"Remember what I told you. Get in, get out. Let's get our guy back."

"10-4." Will replied quietly. The sun was low enough that it was casting long shadows as we moved to a side of the fence. There was barbed wire all at the top, which made me cringe.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?"

He narrowed his eyes at me.

"It's be fine. Besides, if we get caught-" He smirked and I suspected something inappropriate was coming. "They'll be too focused on your sexy secret agent outfit to care."

I boxed him on the shoulder. "At least someone around here has a better half." I was secretly referring to Yvonne, who, when we left her, was standing next to the computer nerd aptly nicknamed Cyber.

Will grimaced. "I get your point, Sherlock, now get in there." I crawled through the fresh opening. Somehow this was taking me back to my college years when I was caught in the only 'illegal' act I ever committed—Helping Holly break into her apartment because she forgot her keys. Needless to say, her roommate thought we were actual intruders and called the police. I'd never forget the look Gio gave me as he bailed me out. The thought only made me itch more to see Plymouth and expose him for the fraud and murderer he was.

We inched along the green landscape until we reached the door. As Will pulled out his strange laser contraption I grit my teeth, not wishing to see one more injury to WWM. In a sheer effort of hope, I pushed the door and it opened. I gave Will a knowing look.

"I just saved myself thousands of dollars." I moved in and eagerly began searching. It was deathly quiet past office hours and the echo of our own footsteps on the glossy floor sounded painfully loud. I clicked on my flashlight and Will followed closely. I could feel my heart pounding with every move.

"Where would he be?" Will stayed silent as he drew his weapon searching in vain through several open doors. We finally arrived at the meeting room and a sinking feeling hit me as I remembered the time I was dethroned by those mindless penny-grabbers. If only they knew what mistake they had made by appointing Plymouth. Will's radio crackled to life and it surprised both of us.

"Going offline. See you both soon."

"Roger that." Will replied. We exchanged wary glances and continued to search.

"Miss Westfield." The voice broke out of nowhere and it sent bone-chilling quivers down my spine. It was Plymouth's hoarse voice on some sort of intercom system.

"It's so good to meet again." He spoke. It was too light and airy sounding. I could see sweat beading on Will's forehead as he drew his weapon.

"Where are you?" I called out loudly.

"Charming." He chuckled. "Just like your Father." The voice was coming from every speaker. I wondered if it was possible to shoot them all down, but Will was the one with the weapon. Yvonne trusted me with only a knife. I just stood silent, feeling my strength grow.

"Meet us in the warehouse. And I know that imbecile of a bodyguard is with you, so don't try anything stupid." Warehouse, warehouse.I scanned the nearest floor map and found it. Two floors down, which would take us to the basement. I looked at Will, but knowing Plymouth must be listening to and watching our every move made me keep conversation to a minimum. Some kind of a white film came over his face.

"Are you okay?" I asked nervously.

"Yeah." He gulped hard. "Just brings back a few memories." Something from his past no doubt. I made a mental promise to myself to get the full story once this was finished. As long as that Loraine was a threat to him, she was a threat to me too.

We made it to the elevator and went down. Idly, I wondered just how dependable Yvonne's team was in case Plymouth didn't plan on us getting out WWM alive.

The warehouse was enormous, housing product supply from WWM and containers likely loaded with the weapons my Father helped design and build. Slowly, I was becoming more disgusted with Plymouth knowing how he must be destroying all that Dad created. There was a movement in the corner of my eye. One of the container doors was ajar and I could hear a faint ticking sound.

"Will, in there!" We moved towards it in one quiet motion. The mouth of it was dark as the ticking sound became louder. Suddenly a light clicked on, exposing a man sweating and sitting tied with duck-tape to a chair. My heart sank.

"Gio!" Instinctively I lunged forward until Will yanked me back by the arm.

"Eva, stay back!" Gio ordered.

"That's a bomb strapped to the chair." Will said. I could see it now. A small box strapped to the back of the chair with a timer attached, and it was counting down from 10 minutes. In a furry, I tore back out of the car.

"Where are you?" I demanded loudly. "Stop being such a coward!" Another light clicked on close to a pair of garage doors. A man leaned with a cigarette halfway out of his mouth. My blood was slowly started to boil on high.

I began rushing towards him when two men appeared on either side of him. I heard a noise above and noticed a couple of sharpshooters with their guns at the ready on top of cranes intended to lift all of the cargo.

"I'm so glad you made it." I felt my biceps bulging underneath Will's grasp as he caught up with me.

"Yeah, well after you tried to kill me twice, I was beginning to wonder."

He took a long drag from the cigarette. "You were supposed to be dead the first time, but after I found out that I still needed you, I called my men off."

I breathed in and lifted my hands in surrender, my eyes beginning to water. "I give up figuring out your game, you snake. What do you want!?" He stamped out the smoke from his cigarette and moved towards me slowly.

"You think I'm some sort of animal." He hissed low, his bloodshot eyes trained on me.

I stepped back an inch, running into Will.

"The thought has crossed my mind." About a million times. Feeling Will's presence behind me gave me the strength to stand still.

"That's what MI6 has fed you, at least." He said "You must know they are all liars." How did he—it didn't matter now.

"Get Gio out of the chair." I said through gritted teeth.

"You think I'm an animal—" He continued, continuing to step slowly towards me. "Because you think I killed your Father and your precious pilot and your—boyfriend." Austin! I swallowed hard. "But you see, my dear, I didn't kill your Father. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to." His smile spread, exposing white teeth. "MI6 just so happened to beat me to it."

"What?" I turned to face Will, backing away from him.

"Don't blame your bodyguard, he didn't know."

I searched his eyes for the truth, but he looked just as surprised.

"Eva, I swear I didn't know about this." Ignoring him for now I faced Plymouth. I could still smell the stench of cigarettes coming from all around him.

"If they killed him, it's because he helped youescape." I emphasized strongly.

He shrugged. "Our personal issues ran much deeper than that, especially once I found out he was planning to rat me out the whole time."

"Don't mind me! Just running out of time over here!" I heard Gio say. I glanced back in his direction. I could see from there that the clock was running at 6 minutes.

"Get him out of the chair. It's me, you want right? You need me."

"And how did you figure that one out?"

"Don't patronize me!" I ordered. As long as I held whatever keys he needed, the ball was in my court. He pulled a note out of his pocket and flipped it at me. I narrowly missed the catch.

"What is the meaning of this?" Finally, my Mother's poem was back in my hands.

My eyes greeted his in steel. "First, I want to know what you've done with Austin."

"Austin?" He scoffed. "You mean you actually care about him?"

My jaw locked and I pulled out the knife I had, pointing it at him with trembling hands.

"Tell me where he is, or I'm not saying anything. At get Gio out of that chair." The way his hands began trembling too, I feared he was having another strange episode.

"He's not dead, he's waiting for you in Greece!" An odd awkward smile spread across his lips. "And he has something very important to share with you."

"Excuse me?" I didn't have time to think. I glanced back at Gio.

"Yes, dear." He continued. "We're going back to Santorini. And without your friends in MI6." He pulled a controller out of his pocket and flipped on a projector screen that showed Yvonne standing next to Cyber. My heart sank.

"Now. You're going to figure out what that means and figure it out fast, or everyone is going to die, including your precious Gio." I looked at the clock. 4 minutes wasn't nearly enough time. My head was swimming.

"I'll do it!" I shouted. "Just get him out." He scanned my expression carefully, slowly. The ticking sound was gaining momentum. Finally, he ordered one of his men to unlock the bomb with little time to spare.

Gio wilted like a flower in the chair. "Cutting a little close, aren't you?" Then I heard him mutter 'as always' under his breath.

I gazed at Plymouth. Inside I was almost shaking with happiness that Gio was safe and that Austin was likely still alive. But I was sure now he knew about his double-crossing uncle.

Once Gio was free I ran into his arms. "I'm so sorry." I sobbed into his chest. He smiled down at me. I never thought I would be so unbelievably happy to see those smiling crinkles next to his bright green eyes.

"Oh, you shouldn't have worried about me. I've been in a scrape or two, but I've always managed." He held out his arm to Will.

"I took good care of her for you." Will's eyes moved from Gio's to mine. "As I promised I would."

"Good man."

Plymouth grumbled and stalked back over to his chair, tapping his foot twice. Before I realized what was happening the floor beneath him opened like a steel panel, exposing a narrow square opening. The three of us stood dumbfounded. What about Yvonne's plan?

"Come on, I'm not waiting all day." We hesitated, but finally obeyed. The hole below us was dark and narrow. I could feel claustrophobia coming on. Will offered to go after several of Plymouth's men. Biding time, I stood by the mouth of the depths with my hands settled firmly on my hips.

"What are you looking for anyway? In the poem?" I finally asked what had been eating me for days. Plymouth smiled. "What your Father stole from me. A long time ago." His gaze settled on my neck, where my necklace was hiding beneath my black jacket. I gasped, an instant flashback from the night of the charity event hitting me like a train. It's beautiful. It was part of a larger collection that was stolen from me.

"Diamonds!"

Will's head popped back up from the hole. "Diamonds?"

Plymouth nodded.

"Yes, they had been in my family for centuries, until my bastard mother and father gave them to your Father as a gift for saving my life." I was stunned.

"Diamonds? You mean all of this-" I waved my hand at the warehouse, my furry growing. "Is for stupid diamonds?"

"Watch your tone!" He snapped, his shaking intensifying. He looked at me like I was stupid. Then burst out into full-blown laughter. At first, I thought he was going to fall over he was laughing so loud.

"You, girl, are so simple-minded." He continued laughing. I was still trying to connect my Father to stolen diamonds. "You think your Father manufactured nuclear weapons?"

I was growing more irked by the minute. "Well he's dead, so I guess it doesn't matter now, does it?"

His laughter faded.

"But-" Will was still halfway through the dark opening before saying, "If yourparents gave the diamonds to him, he didn't steal them."

"Well he never told me about them. So as far as that is concerned, he stole them." He pulled a revolver from his pocket, pointing it towards me, the resounding and crisp clicking sound sending chills down my spine. "And I intend to have them back." He growled.

Swallowing my fear, I stepped down into the blackness in front of Will. We reached the end and someone flipped on a light switch, revealing a massive underground tunnel that grew with every flickering light. Some sort of locomotive track ran through the center. Gio came closer to me. He still looked like he'd been to hell and back.

"We have been building this place for years. Pity you mistook it for my new mansion when you were snooping around my house." All eyes were on Plymouth as he spoke, proudly admiring the place.

"You—you knew?" Of course, he knew we had been to his office, the thought didn't even surprise me.

"I've been watching you for as long as I knew you existed."

He indicated that his men lead the way and I grabbed onto Gio's arm tightly. "He wasn't building a place in the islands!"

"Yes." Gio looked down. "That's what I was trying to tell you on the phone. This maze of tunnels is that blueprint, underground."

"Yvonne and the others don't know we're down here." It would take her a long time to find out Plymouth had started taking us back to Greece, probably after it was too late.

"We're going to get through this." Gio's weak smile lit my heart. "If anyone can, it's your Father's daughter."

We passed through several passageways and came to a large metal door. The whole feeling of being in the heart of an un-known underground passage-way was surreal, but the only thing I had guaranteeing my survival was my knowledge of the safe's location. Or the knowledge Plymouth thought I had. As he opened the metal door, I realized how relieved I was to see the outdoors again, except this time we weren't at the hill or the gate surrounded by familiar faces. We were somewhere much farther away with a pack of strangers.

"Tie them up." He ordered. My heart sank deeper as they yanked my arms back unmercifully and wrapped them with some sort of zip-tie with jagged edges, causing me to cry out. Gio, weak from the events of the past few days, nearly crumbled as they seized him.

"Please!" I begged. "Let him go. You don't need him."

"And let him go tell your little friends where I've taken you? I don't think so—move!" We were pushed onto the bed of a Chevy truck. All of his men crawled aboard and the engine roared to life. Will let out a sharp expletive as he laid uncomfortably on the truck bed.

"Your arm!" I yelled.

"It's fine." He practically seethed through gritted teeth. "It's nowhere near the worst I've had."

I was so angry, I could feel the heat coursing through my veins. I glared over at one of the men, who sat with us, hugging his weapon.

We passed fields and trees as we traveled for miles in the darkness, taking us farther from home and from help.