Chapter Thirty Five

Chapter Thirty Five
Bexley

I woke with a jolt, my eyes snapping open with panic. It took a few seconds to realise that Cruz was standing over me with a mug of coffee in his hand.
“Good morning, princess; it’s almost time to leave,” he announced.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, sitting up to take the mug from him.

I felt tender all over; especially in certain orifices. Cruz chewed on the inside of his cheek as I winced.

“Are you sore, love? I hope we weren’t too rough with you last night,” he said in a contrite tone.

The sex was a bit rampant than usual, but it was nothing that a salt bath won’t soothe. Although, there wouldn’t be time for one of those.

“I’ll survive … unlike my outfit,” I commented, pointing out the ruined garment on the floor.

Cruz crouched to retrieve it and shoved it into a refuse sack. “We’re burning everything we don’t need. It’s better to be safe and destroy the trail of breadcrumbs.”

That was true. Father Fournier had given us refuge and put himself and his housekeeper, Martha, at risk. I would be eternally grateful for their warm hospitality. It felt like a holiday rather than a safe house. I finished my coffee in between gathering my belongings. Then I showered quickly, dressed, then joined my men downstairs in the kitchen.

“Here she is,” Asher chirped brightly. “Good morning, sweetheart.” He stood up to kiss me.

Dominic held out his arms and greeted me with a cuddle. “Are you ready to go, love?”

My stomach flipped over. Was I ready? I would never be ready for what’s out there, but I didn’t have much of a choice.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied.

Emilio, Teddy, and Ulrich talked among themselves. Martha busied herself with the breakfast dishes, and Father Fournier spoke privately with Asher and Braxton.

“What’s going on?” I asked Dominic.

His hold on me slackened and I was able to grab a croissant from the table. Not that I was particularly hungry, but I knew it would be foolish to leave on an empty stomach.

“Teddy and Emilio are flying to the Maldives to join Dad and Uncle Jaxx,” he informed me. “They want to help, and they think they know how.”

Cruz sauntered across the room and leaned against the countertop beside us. “Ulrich is taking us to Norway. His jet can pass through the airspace undetected. He’s the best chance we’ve got,” he told us. “There’s no way we can risk passing through checkpoints. They’ll shoot us on site and take Bexley into custody.”

Martha packed us a hamper full of food and bottled water. She included a bottle of Father Fournier’s finest wine, then winked at me as if she knew I would appreciate it. Father Fournier blessed us all as we made our departure, wishing us God speed, and may the Lord grant us a safe journey. He urged me to take care, and said that he hoped we would return to visit again soon. I hoped so too.

Outside in the gardens, we said goodbye to Teddy and Emilio. They were reluctant to leave us, but there was really nothing more they could do. Dad and Zane needed all the help they could get, and we would need them to pull through for us when we returned from our mission. Everything was balancing on a knife’s edge. One wrong move, and all our effort would be for nothing. We would rot in jail for treason, and would be branded as terrorists. That couldn’t happen. Not when we discover the truth. Maybe the only way to ensure our freedom would be to let the world know the contents of the files. If it was out in the open, then the information would be useless. We could stop running and we could all go home.

Braxton checked my harness, then took the seat on my right. Cruz was sitting to the left of me, with Asher sitting in the adjacent seat. Dominic was sitting in the cockpit with Ulrich, assisting him with the coordinates. Mum had spoken of The Seven Sister’s waterfall in Geiranger, but had never taken me to visit. I had only ever seen images from the internet. It’s lucky that Braxton was familiar with the place because I was in way over my head. At least he would know how to get us out of there when we find what we are looking for.

If this was a commercial flight, it would have taken us hours, but Ulrich’s jet got us there at a mind-blowing speed. Before I had the time to drink in my surroundings, we had reached the fairy tale landscape with its majestic snow-covered mountaintops; lush green vegetation that spread as far as the eye could see, wild and beautiful waterfalls that cascaded down the rock faces and churned the vast lake with frothy white plunge pools. The deep, blue fjord ran proudly between the mountains, and dotted around the landscape the remains of abandoned farms had withstood the test of time.

Braxton leaned over me to point through the small oval window. “If you look over there, you will see a waterfall called Friaren.”

“Is that its name?” I replied, squinting to look. “Mum always referred to it as “The suitor” because the sisters never settled. Some married, but they never lasted.”

This caught the attention of Asher and Cruz who seemed interested in the legend of The Seven Sisters. They only knew what I had told them previously, but I wasn’t sure how much of it they remembered.

“Any information you have on Electra will be useful to our mission,” Asher urged.

“There are many different accounts with reference to the Pleiades,” I told them. “They were the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. The most common tale is that they were tossed into the sky as doves and turned into stars by Zeus so they could flee from the giant, Orion. Atlas was forced to hold up the sky for all eternity, so he was unable to protect his daughters when Orion pursued them. The faintest star of the Pleiades was thought to be either Merope, who was ashamed of loving a mortal, or Electra, after grieving the destruction of Troy, the city of Dardanus, who was named after her son with Zeus. Her name also has a connection to the organic gemstone “Amber”. Mum told me that Electra was known as the sun Pleiad. She claimed that Electra’s waterfall shimmers golden beneath the sunlight. So, whatever is hidden can only be found during daylight hours, on a clear bright day, and not when it is raining. The falls are harder to determine during heavy rainfall. We need to find whatever it is and get the hell out of there before sundown,” I advised.

The cockpit door slid to one side and Dominic emerged into the cabin.

“Suit up, guys. It’s time for us to fly,” he announced.

My eyes flared with horror as my husbands began reaching for identical backpacks and thrusted their arms through the straps.

“What’s going on?” I asked, darting my eyes around as they secured the harnesses around their bodies.

“We can’t land the plane on an uneven surface, Bexley. We have to jump from here,” Braxton informed me, much to my distress.

I shook my head frantically. “No, I’m not jumping from the plane,” I whined.

I was shit scared of heights despite having flown around the world on numerous occasions. Being a passenger on board an aircraft was one thing, but free falling was out of the question. Fuck that. No way. I would rather land the plane and take my chances.

Braxton placed his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “Babe, I promised you a skydiving experience, and I aim to deliver.”

That did nothing to alleviate my fear, making me hyperventilate even harder.

“I can’t,” I told him, and I was trembling by this point.

My heart was bouncing between my arsehole and my throat. One way or another, something was bound to come flying out, but from which end, I didn’t know.
“Yes, you can,” Braxton reassured me. “You’re going to be strapped to me. We’re going to do a tandem jump together. I’ll be with you the whole time.”

I choked down the bile that threatened to creep up my throat. Then Cruz opened the door and a strong vortex of air came rushing into the cabin. He pulled his goggles over his eyes and held onto the top of the doorframe as he peered down at the long drop. The landscape looked tiny from up here. My legs turned to jelly. I couldn’t breathe. Cruz winked at me and then jumped before I could blink.

“Argh!” I screamed, covering my mouth.

Asher went next, followed closely by Dominic. Braxton fixed the harness around me and edged us slowly towards the open door. My feet didn’t want to move, they just shuffled an inch at a time. The wind ripped through the cabin, whirling my hair around my face.

“Put on these,” Braxton said, helping me to put on some goggles. He pulled on a pair of his own and eased us closer to the edge. “It’s going to be fine. Just relax and let me take care of things.”

My teeth chattered inside my mouth like a pair of wind-up joke dentures. I have never been so terrified of anything in my life.

“One the count of three,” Braxton forewarned. “One,” he counted, then paused. “Two,” he continued.

But before I got the chance to hear him count to three, he lunged forward and sent us hurtling through the clouds at speed.

“Argh!” I screamed, but stopped because I swallowed too much air, I almost choked on it. It was nearly impossible to make a sound at this altitude. The G-force pulled at my face, manipulating my skin.

We were soaring through the sky like two birds that had taken flight. It went on for several moments. All I could see was the ground getting larger. Braxton checked his wristwatch and as he pulled on the string, I knew we had reached the time to deploy the parachute. One harsh tug on my midriff and we lurched upward on a wind pocket. The fall was over, and now we were gliding down to earth above an incredible view.

“Oh my god,” I uttered, still trembling with adrenaline.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Braxton rasped against my ear.

It sure was. The exhilarating feeling rushed through me, overwhelming me and bringing tears to my eyes. This was living, and I felt more alive than ever.