One Good Reason (19 page)

“You
think you’re smarter than me, Price? Think you could hide away without me
knowing what you were really up to?”

Ava’s
breath caught in her throat.

“I
have eyes and ears everywhere. I know about everything going on. When I knew
you’d discovered the truth on why I had Ava, I had no other option except to
have you terminated.”

“You
told
Aun
where we were?”

Stevenson
nodded. “I had hoped he would kill you all,” he said casually waving his hand
at Hayden, Ava, and Mason. “Would have saved me the trouble of having to do it
now.”

Ava
watched as her dad tried to move closer to Stevenson on the ground. She quickly
caught his eye and shook her head at him. He needed to stay quiet. Stevenson
could turn around at any minute and kill him.

She
couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Stevenson had set them up. He’d told
Aun
about the safe house.

“It’s
true, we know about the story. We know that you’ve been selling weapons to
Thornakorn
, a known terrorist. You think by killing all of
us now that the story will just disappear. Well, it’s a little late for that
Stevenson. You see, I knew something wasn’t right about this operation from day
one. It wasn’t like the other’s I’d been on, and my gut instinct told me
something was off. So I did my own digging, and it didn’t take long to discover
why Ava was so important to you, or more to the fact, why Paul Harris was so
important to you.

“What
I want to know is, how could you do that? Not just to Ava and Paul, but to
Australia, to the world. Thousands of innocent people have died because of
you.”

“What
do you want me to say?” Stevenson replied. “Do you want me to say sorry? Sorry
that I’ve made this country millions by selling weapons to
Thornakorn
and his army. Sorry that Paul Harris just couldn’t stop digging and searching
for information, that I had to have his daughter kidnapped to blackmail him
into giving the story up? Is that what you want? An apology?”

“No,”
Hayden replied. “That’s exactly what I needed to hear.”

Stevenson
looked at Hayden confused. Ava watched as Hayden lifted his shirt up to reveal
a hidden wire strapped to his chest.

“Right
now, there are over fifty special force personnel on their way here, about to
take your ass off to prison, you fucking bastard. You really think we would
just come here without a plan?”

Stevenson
looked at one of the suited men in shock. “You said you fucking checked him for
wires”

“Why
would he?” Hayden interrupted. “When he works for me?”

Stevenson’s
face flamed red in anger, as he looked around the room, the suited men now
pointing their guns at Stevenson. He was surrounded and outnumbered. They had
him.

Ava
looked at her father who was now crouched behind the suited men for protection,
and then she looked back at Stevenson with a huge smile of satisfaction on her
face. There was no way he could get away now. He was going to jail for the rest
of his life, and there was nothing he could do or say about it.

Hayden
also looked at Stevenson and smiled. “There’s one thing you need to learn,
Stevenson. I’m better at playing the game than you.”

Ava
smiled at Hayden and placed her hand on his arm.

Stevenson
looked between the two of them in total shock and disgust. Ava couldn’t imagine
what was going through his mind right now, and she didn’t really care. He
deserved to rot in jail for the rest of his life.

The
next two seconds of Ava’s life seemed to slow down into a lifetime though. One
minute, she was smiling knowing they’d finally had Stevenson right where they
wanted him, the next, Stevenson had a gun pointed at Ava.

Shots
fired. Sirens wailed. Voices screamed around her.

Ava
didn’t have any time to react. Hayden must have known what was going to happen,
as he launched himself in front of Ava as Stevenson fired his gun at her.

Hayden’s
body pushed into her like a car hitting her at a hundred kilometres an
hour.  Loud bangs rang through Ava’s ears as Hayden fell on top of her.
She didn’t look up to see what Stevenson or the other men had done, her eyes
were only on Hayden.

She’d
pulled him from her in shock. Looking down at his chest, she screamed his name
as blood poured out of him. He’d been shot. He’d taken a bullet meant for her.
He’d saved her.

She
held Hayden close to her chest, pushing her hands over his chest, trying to
stop the flow of blood. He looked up at her, his eyes glazed over.

“Ava,”
he softly said, and then he was gone…

***

Hayden
could hear the sound of Ava’s voice as his heavy eyelids slowly opened. His
body ached all over.

“Yes,
Dad. I promise. When he is awake, I’ll tell him. I’ll be fine,” Ava’s voice
echoed in his mind as he took in the bright lights that surrounded him.

He
took his time trying to move his fingers and toes. He wanted to open his eyes
and find Ava, but his body had a different idea.

He
tried to remember the last thing that happened to him, explain why he felt so
heavy and lethargic. His mind raced through his memories, collecting and
gathering what he could.

They
made it back to Australia safely… then the warehouse… Stevenson pulled a gun
and fired… Ava.

He
remembered instinctively jumping in front of Ava to stop her from getting shot.
He hadn’t given it more than a millisecond of thought before he acted. He knew
he would do anything for her.  He remembered the bullet shooting through
him, and Ava’s cries before it all went dark. He guessed he must have been out
of it for a while then, as his body had never felt so sore in his life. His
feet ached as if he hadn’t moved them in days. How long he’d been out of it, he
didn’t know.

His
eyes adjusted to light as he looked for Ava’s voice, knowing she was close by.
He spotted her leaning up against the doorframe with Olivia by her side. She
was on the phone.

He
could tell instantly he was in a hospital room. It hadn’t been the first time
he’d woken up in one. The distinct white walls and floors. The smell of
disinfectant.

Olivia
glanced over at Hayden, just in time to see his eyes open. She hit Ava softly,
trying to get her attention. Ava’s eyes darted to Hayden and she smiled. The
smile that let him know that everything was okay now.

“I’ve
got to go, Dad… I love you too. Talk soon,” Ava said, hanging up the phone and
running to Hayden. 

She
flung her arms around Hayden and held him tightly. “I was so worried, Hayden,”
she whispered into his ear.

Hayden
went to respond but his throat was dry and sore.

Ava
looked down at him. “How are you feeling? Does it hurt?”

Hayden
lifted his hand sluggishly to his throat. “Water,” he said with a croaky voice.

“Oh,
of course,” Ava said, quickly grabbing a nearby cup of water and holding it up
to Hayden’s mouth.

Hayden
drank the water, feeling a sense of soothing as it glided down his throat.

When
he finished the cup of water, Ava placed it down and asked, “Better?”

“Yes,”
he replied, his throat already feeling a hundred times better. “Much better.”

“You’ve
been out of it for a few days,” Ava said, holding his hand tightly. “Do you
remember what happened?”

Hayden
nodded.

Ava
looked down at his hand and squeezed it. When she looked back at Hayden, a tear
fell down her cheek.

“Hey,”
Hayden said, reaching up and wiping the tear from her cheek. “Don’t cry. I’m
okay.”

Ava
pushed her cheek into his hand and closed her eyes. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“You
have to give me more credit than that, Ava. It will take a lot more to lose me
than that, I promise you.”

Hayden
smiled at Ava.

“Just
don’t do that to me again.”

“I’d
do it a million times over, if I knew it would keep you safe,” Hayden replied.

Olivia
cleared her throat.

Hayden
looked up at Olivia. “Olivia,” he said with a smile.

“Hayden,”
she said, smiling back at him. “Who knew the next time I’d be seeing you two
together, you’d be like this, all Romeo and Juliet.”

Hayden
chuckled. “Yes, who knew?”

“It
seems that island did you both some good.”

 “Olivia,”
Ava warned as she looked at her seriously.

“What?”
Olivia said innocently. “Just an observation. Anyway, I’m going to go and wait
outside, I just wanted to say thanks, Hayden. Thanks for looking after her and
keeping her safe.”

“Anytime,”
Hayden replied.

Ava
watched as Olivia left the room smiling. She waited until she’d left and then
looked at Hayden. “So you’re feeling okay?”

“Bit
sore, but I’ll be fine. Is everyone else okay? Your Dad? Mason?”

“They
are both safe and well. After you were shot, the rest of your team arrived and
took Stevenson down. He tried to fight back, injured one of your men, but it
was only minor. Stevenson was shot a couple times in the leg and shoulder, but
he’ll live. He has already been shipped off to prison and his trial will begin
in the next few weeks. Although, I think we both know that there is no way he
is getting away with what he’s done.”

Hayden
nodded; thankful Stevenson was going to be punished for his crimes.

“Dad
was pretty beaten up, but no major injuries. He did come to see you, he
actually wanted to thank you for everything, but he had a press conference he
needed to be at today.”

“And
you’re okay with that? Last time, you were pretty upset about your Dad and his
work.”

 Ava
smiled. “I’m okay with it. We are working things through. As crazy as it is,
this whole thing has brought us closer. He wasn’t going to do the conference at
first, but I twisted his arm and leg into doing it. I wanted the world to know
what Stevenson did, and dad was the best person to tell the story. This is his
last story though. He has quit his job and is moving back to the country to be
closer to me.”

“So
you’re going back home then?” Hayden said with a touch of disappointment in his
voice that he tried not to show.

They
hadn’t talked about what would happen with their relationship yet. They’d been
so focused on trying to make it through each day; they hadn’t talked about what
it all meant for them.

“I
don’t know yet. It depends…”

“Depends
on…?”

“What
you’re doing,” Ava replied smiling. “I want to be with you, Hayden. You make me
feel like I’ve never felt before. You make me feel alive. I don’t know how we
will make this work, with your work and everything, but I’m willing to give it
a try if you are.”

Hayden
reached up and stroked Ava’s jaw, then pulled her head down to his and kissed
her lips softly. “I told you, Ava, I’ll do anything for you. I’ll move to the
damn country if I have to, just to be with you. Anything, Ava. You just tell me
what to do,” he whispered against her lips.

Ava
kissed him again and smiled. “Just love me.”

“Done.”

Hayden
pressed his lips to hers once again, knowing that he’d finally found his peace.

They’d both suffered in their lifetime. They’d known pain and the
hardships that life could bring. Hayden had endured a war many would never see,
and Ava had been in the middle of it. Together they’d managed to find a love
within each other. Ava no longer was the girl stuck in the past, forever
blaming herself and living in regret.  She loved her mum and would
remember her for the life she lived, not the life with the sadness and guilt,
she felt over her death.

Her
Dad was back in her life and she wouldn’t waste the time she had with him. Life
had given her another chance, another reason for living and this time, she
wasn’t going to let it pass her by. This time she was going to give it her all
and live the life she’d always dreamed.

It
was her time now. Her time to live. To learn, and to
love
…

Playlist

·
        
Someday-
Flipsyde

·
        
We Must Be Killers-
Mikky
Ekko

·
        
Skin- Zola Jesus

·
        
Bottled Up Tight- Luke
Sital
-Singh

·
        
Search and Destroy- Sanders
Bohlke

·
        
Cascades- Horse Feathers

·
        
Learn To Love Again- Lawson

·
        
Young And Beautiful- Lana Del Ray

·
        
Fire In The Water-
Feist

·
        
With or Without You- The Walls

·
        
Sail- AWOLNATION

·
        
Happiness- The Fray

·
        
Be Still- The Fray

·
        
Hurt- Johnny Cash