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Unfortunately, I didn’t have a silencer on h I currently had a clear shot I also didn’t have anyany racket He wasn’t as big as Caht At the first sound of struggle, I knew Travis or the guards would co

So it had to be me

I had to do this

Very slowly, very carefully, I pulled the knife out fro hands and I held onto it as tight as I could, channeling h my hand

I stayed crouched, stayed low, and eased ot close

Really close

Hoped he couldn’t hear how loud htened up

Knife out

Hand shaking

The

I was right behind him

I raised my arms, one ready to put over his mouth, the other to draw the blade across his throat

A tear leaked out of my eye

He suddenly stepped backward, into me, and turned around in surprise Wide, dark eyes met mine

He probably expected to see Travis

Not me

And before either of us could even react, Ca the knife out ofme out of the way

He put his hand over the man’s mouth and pushed the e

Camden took the knife with one swift motion, slit the man’s throat

Theout of him and down his white shirt Camden held the man there until he was certain he was dead Then he took the et me to open the door

I couldn’tinside of me froze Blood pooled toward ed to open the pantry and put the body inside, closing the door quietly behind him Then he came over to the sink, took paper towels from the dispenser and quickly wiped up the blood at my feet He shoved the reddened towels under the sink, closed the fridge door and grabbed my shoulders I looked down at his hands, covered in blood, leaving bloody prints onme "Ellie Look at me Look at me"

I raised my head and looked at his eyes They ild, pupils completely dilated, but they were faod, what had he done?

What had I been about to do?

I openedcaain, his voice hoarser now "I couldn’t let you do it, you’d never forgive yourself I’d rather this be on oing to do whatever I can to make that happen" He reached into his back pocket and pulled out another gun "I found this on him Do you want it or should I?"

I licked ed to say, "You have it"

"I’ you safe," he said and quickly kissed rabbed my hand and led me out of the kitchen back to the hallway

As sick with shock and horror at e had just done, I felt a twinge of relief deep inside The man, ould have no doubt killed us, was dead We didn’t have to worry about him And I no, I saw, that Ca to keep et back to his son I could only hope that he’d et out of this on our oo feet The human heart had the capacity to take on only so much and I knew Camden’s heart was overburdened as it was

We continued down the hall, pausing every few steps to listen There was so from one of the rooms at the very end The door was open and the roo into it It seemed like a place that Travis would sit and have breakfast, perhaps a sunroom where he could sit and think about all the , people he was killing

I wondered if Caht to Travis, kill him and have it all over with

But so in Spanish Travis answered hiure out what they were talking about, the news perhaps, some event in Honduras Unfortunately, that made two of theo in the room the ere and take the toward the voices, he carefully tried the handle on the first door to our left

Locked

And locked for a reason

He looked to ly Could I do this?

I nodded and brought out the lock picker with fu how close ere to hih it took longer than nored to pick the lock We carefully pushed the door open and I heldfor it creak loudly It didn’t

And there were a set of stairs leading down into the dark

We had found it

Cao first, the stairs were lit by a bare bulb, and he ever-so-carefully closed the door behind us We went down slowly, step by step,weak, my jaw clenched hard

We had found it but I was afraid to see what it was

I stepped off the last step, my boots on hard concrete There was darkness all around us, the light fro very far

Suddenly a flashback ca down the stairs to Travis’s base forthe chee the course of my entire life