Chapter 16

<Gavin Forrester>

The knife is poised in her hand, which thankfully isn't shaking. I draw in a deep breath as she holds it a few inches above my forearm.

"Let's just get this over with." I mutter and narrow my eyes at Ainsley.

"Sorry, I'll try to make this as painless as possible." She bites her lip and then focuses on my forearm, the knife still gripped firmly in her hand.

She brings the extra sharp tip down so that it's just touching my skin. The cold metal adds to my nerves and all I want right now is for her to slit my skin with it because I get the feeling that the first cut will be the worst. Also, I really don't enjoy being operated on by a pre-med ex-assassin, so getting this over with is one of my top concerns at the moment.

"Take in a deep breath," Ainsley instructs, not moving the knife from its position of touching my skin.

My lungs expand with a deep breath and then I close my eyes tightly. I feel the knife in my skin and I let out a pained breath, my eyes opening instantly. I bite my lip hard to keep myself from yelping out in pain and then I watch Ainsley drag the knife along my skin, lengthening the gash. She then goes back and cuts it a bit deeper to make finding the tracker easier. The first thing I notice when she takes the knife away is the amount of blood pouring out of my arm. The crimson liquid stains my skin and the white gloves on her hands. Ainsley motions for Victoria to get the gauze pads and soon enough the gash is shielded from my view. Red soaks through the pristine white of the pad and makes me feel nauseous.

"Are you sure you didn't hit a vein?" I struggle to say between deep breaths.

"Believe me, you'd know if I hit a vein." Ainsley remarks calmly.

She removes the gauze pads and the bleeding has been reduced to nothing more than a large trickle. I watch as she sets the knife down and opts for the pair of tweezers.

"I'm going to have to spread your skin apart a little. I'm not going to lie, it'll hurt like hell." Ainsley gives me a serious look before going back to staring at my arm.

I wipe my sweaty brow with the back of my free arm and then nod at her to continue. She holds my gaze for a few seconds and then begins to spread apart the skin. I make a few pained noises and then go back to biting my lip. Victoria looks like she's about to pass out and her eyes travel all around the room but never once catch mine. I stare at my arm and almost throw up because I can see the inside of it.

I'm not supposed to be able to see that. There is skin covering it for a reason.

I can see the deep, bloody red of my muscle tissue but no sign of the metal blob Ainsley said was in my arm. I'm starting to feel intensely nauseous and I use the table to brace myself from passing out. My head is spinning and the agonizing pain in my arm isn't helping much.

"How much blood have I lost?" I struggle to say as small black spots appear in my vision.

"Ainsley, you can't have him pass out. What's going on with him?" Victoria shouts in a horrified tone.

"Blaze, please get Gavin some water and food. He hasn't lost enough to knock him out but if we don't find this tracker soon, he might." Ainsley admits and then goes back to poking her tweezers around my injured arm.

My eyes bulge out of my head and I lean forward so I'm closer to her.

"I am not going to pass out." I mutter as if it's my decision to make.

"No you won't. As long as we find it soon." Ainsley whispers in a breathless tone.

I back up and watch her continue with her careful work. Ainsley hunches over my arm and uses her tweezers to move around the tissues in it. She hits a particularly tender spot and I flinch unwillingly. She apologizes and then I feel her tweezers actually hit something seemingly metal. Blaze comes back from the kitchen with a bottle of water and some crackers. He hands them to me and takes his seat at the breakfast counter once again.

"So, I have good news and bad news. Which would you like to hear first?" Ainsley asks politely as she backs up from my arm.

"As long as it won't kill me, I'm fine with whatever news you decide to give first." My eyes blink slowly as I await for her news.

"I found the tracker and I'm pretty sure I can tap into the device to gather all the information he has stored on it but the only problem is actually getting it out. It's embedded pretty deep and partially surrounded by a bunch of muscle tissue. Also, Gavin, I don't know if there's an alarm on it or if he'll somehow be alerted once it's been tampered with. I don't want to put you in anymore danger." Ainsley bites her lip and looks at my friends before moving her gaze onto me.

"I'm in a lot of danger anyway; Talon is nobody I can't handle. He already knows where I am and I don't really care what happens; I just want it gone. You've already cut open my arm and I'm not leaving this table until it's out of me." I purse my lips and watch as she picks up the tweezers again.

"This is the least painful part, I hope." Ainsley shakes her head and then clasps her tweezers around something in my arm.

I bite my lip as she twists the tool around inside of my arm. Her brows knit together in concentration and after a considerable effort on her part, Ainsley triumphantly pulls a small piece of metal from inside of me. My friends applaud and watch contently as she places the small device on a piece of paper towel. She begins to mop up the blood that's spewing again from my arm with a gauze pad. I breathe a sigh of relief and then remember that Ainsley now has to sew me back together. I shudder and take a long swig from my water bottle.

"Now comes the hard part." Ainsley mutters and changes her gloves.

She tosses the bloodstained ones on the table and snaps a fresh pair of white rubber gloves onto her hands. The sound of rubber against skin reminds me why I hate hospitals and doctors in general. She picks up the needle and the surgical thread. She threads her needle with an extra-long piece of thread before beginning her work. Ainsley gives me a three second warning before inserting the needle into the skin where my gash begins. I don't make any noise as she continues to sew my skin carefully back together.

"Almost done." She mutters, her tone laced with a tired aching.

"Thanks," I let out a deep breath and watch her facial expressions as she continues her neat line of stitches; it keeps me from looking at the nauseating sight that is my arm.

Once she's done, I look down and see an even line of stitches where there was once a nasty, bloody gash. I close my eyes and silently thank God for letting me come out alive. I open my bloodshot, tired eyes and find Ainsley holding out two blue capsules.

"It's Advil for the pain." She gives me a gentle half-smile and then goes back to packing up the equipment.

Her gloves and the bloody gauze pads are discarded by the edge of the table and now she's quietly putting everything back into Jeffrey's first aid kit. I rub the back of my neck and yawn. The sky outside is light and there are a few rays of sunshine trying poke through the still closed curtains. Ainsley uses a pair of extra sharp scissors to cut apart my duct tape restraint and then helps to pull the rest from my skin.

"Put some antiseptic on the gash every night to keep it from getting infected and I'll cut your stitches out in a couple of weeks. Don't do anything too strenuous." Ainsley advises as she stands up with her pliers in hand.

"Ainsley, please don't do that right now. We all need some sleep. We'll take care of the cameras later." I mumble and stand up.

Blaze, Slick and Jeffrey are headed towards their respective rooms when I notice that Victoria is nowhere to be seen. I figure she must've gone to bed some time while Ainsley was sewing me up. The room is quiet as it's only me and Ainsley left and neither of us are really up to talking at almost six o'clock in the morning.

"I'll go get you some sheets so you can sleep on the couch." I give her a small smile and then stumble tiredly off towards the linen closet in the hallway.

I grab a set of sheets and an extra pillow. I come back to the living and find Ainsley already lying down on the couch. She's staring up at the ceiling, barely awake.

"You know you weren't too bad for a pre-med student." I smirk and hand her the set of sheets.

"How can you smirk at such a God forsaken hour? Either way, thanks for the compliment and letting me stay." Ainsley stands up and begins to make her bed on the couch.

"I don't think you would've made it home in one piece if you tried to drive in this state." I chuckle and help her smooth the sheets out.

"Probably not." She agrees and slips off her shoes.

"But in all seriousness, thank you for everything." I give her a sincere look and then wrap my arms around her.

I feel her arms wrap around me and we just hold each other in this friendly embrace until she decides to talk.

"I'm scared out of my mind, Gavin and I just want it all to be over. I'm tired of Talon and how he snakes his way into every part of you. You never notice how deeply you're effected by him until you step back and realize that half of your life never would've happened had it not been for him. Sometimes I wish there was more I could do to get avenge what I've done but it's hopeless. No matter what good I do, my life is permanently stained by all the evil I did for Talon." Ainsley's voice wavers with guilt and that's when I let go, holding her at arm's length.

"One action doesn't define you. One bad deed doesn't make or break your life. It's how you come back from those deeds and how you move forward. You can't stay stuck in the past if you ever want to move forward, Ainsley. The past already happened but the future is undefined and you have to take that and move on. What you did in Talon's business will stay with you for the rest of your life but don't let it stop you, let it push you forward." I state in a controlled, sympathetic tone.

"Gavin, I just feel terrible that I ever made the decision to join him." Ainsley muffles her cracking voice with her hand as she meets my gaze.

"You can't dwell on that. Remember that while you did choose to join him, you also chose to leave him. Remind yourself that even though you made a bad decision, you still do have the ability to make a good one. Everyone has good in them, some have less than others but it's still there. I've learned that evil only goes as far as you let it and no matter what Talon tries to do to you, he can't take away the nagging voice in your head telling you to do the right thing." I tuck a piece of Ainsley hair behind her ear and watch as a small smile takes shape on her face.

"Thanks, I really need some sleep. Goodnight, Gavin." Ainsley gives me a tight squeeze before collapsing on the couch in exhaustion.

I smile and walk back towards my room where Victoria is already sleeping. The room is still messed up from the break-in earlier but she managed to get the sheets back on the bed properly even in her sleepy stupor. I slip under the sheets next to her and pull her close to me. I press my lips to her forehead and I watch her smile sleepily.

"You're finally back." She mumbles, her eyes still closed.

"And I'm not going to leave any time soon." I whisper as I press my lips to her forehead once again.

"I love you, Gavin." She smiles and snuggles up close to my body, her arms wrapped tightly around me.

"I love you too, nobody else." I let out a sigh and fall asleep almost instantly.

~~~~~

I wake up and my eyes immediately turn to the red numbers of the alarm clock on my side table. Five o'clock in the evening. I run my fingers through my hair and sit up. I look over to my side and find that Victoria is no longer lying next to me. My fingers find my still tender arm and rub it soothingly. I get up and go on a search for some Advil to alleviate the dull pain in my arm. Luckily, there's some in the bathroom cabinet and I swallow a couple immediately. Afterwards, I walk out of the room and down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"Hey," I mumble when I see Ainsley and Victoria standing by the wall in front of the living room.

Ainsley is holding her drill and a pair of tweezers while Victoria is holding her computer.

"Hey, sleepy head." Victoria chuckles and flashes a smile in my direction. "We have almost all of the cameras out."

"Actually we have them all out. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go find a way to cover up all the holes." Ainsley smirks and practically glides out of the room.

I sit down at the table and notice a pile of little black dot-looking devices.

"Are those all of the cameras?" I ask, pointing towards the pile that's situated in the middle of the table by the fruit bowl.

"Yep, she disabled all of them in case you were wondering. Ainsley is surprisingly thorough." Victoria smirks and sits down on my lap. "You know, I actually feel semi-safe for once since we've arrived here. I know I'm jinxing something, somewhere down the road but right now, I feel like everything's falling into place."

"I do too, babe, I do too." I whisper and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

I lean in close, my lips just millimeters away from hers.

"You know I'd do anything for you, right?" My eyes flick towards hers and then back to her lips.

Victoria nods and wraps her arms around my neck, her head tilting as she does so. I close the distance between us and pull her into me. My arms snake around her waist and rest comfortingly on her lower back. I deepen the kiss and move my hands around her back. I feel her mess with my hair as we continue to kiss until Ainsley comes back.

"You two make me sick." Ainsley shakes her head disappointingly as she sets down her bucket and a few new tools.

"What do you have there?" I say breathlessly as Victoria gets off of my lap.

"Jeffrey had something in one of his closets that he said I could use to fill in the holes in his walls." Ainsley shrugs as she begins to glop the thick substance onto the wall and spread it with a flat tool that resembles a cake server.

A cellphone rings and I watch Victoria pull hers out. Her eyes soften a little and she turns towards me.

"I'm gonna go get some fresh air." Victoria gives me a half-smile before getting up and leaving the room, her ringing phone in hand.

After about fifteen minutes, Victoria comes back in, a look of horror on her face and a letter clutched tightly in her hand.

"You need to read this." She mutters and thrusts it towards me.

I recognize the handwriting immediately and my insides begin to knot up with nerves. I open up the letter and let out a sharp breath.

Dear Gavin,

You thought you'd escaped me but that was just the damn beginning. I always start what I finish and I plan on finishing you. You may think you can take me down, that you can outsmart me but remember this very clearly, if I go down you are going straight down with me. You are fighting a fight you will never win. Try to remember what it was like when you almost lost Victoria and then try to imagine what it would be like if you actually lost her. I swear if you continue with your little idea, I will make her suffer the most painful death possible and I will make sure I'm still around to torture you. Gavin, I am the master of making people disappear and making it look like a bloody accident and I will not hesitate to use those powers even on my own biological daughter. If you want to make off of this island alive you will realize that there are people more powerful than you and you will stay the hell out of my way.

Regards,

Talon James Tenebris

P.S. I have thoroughly enjoyed your files, very beneficial work.

My eyes widen with horror as I re-read the letter. Victoria and Ainsley are standing over my shoulders, most likely reading along with the same looks of horror as me. I crumple up the letter and throw it angrily at the wall.

"I have to get those damn files back. I cannot let it go on like this. He is not allowed to have any advantage over me. I will not let him win." I shout and slam my hand on the table.

"I won't stop you." Ainsley shakes her head as she sinks into the chair across from me.

"Neither will I." Victoria gnaws on her lip as she takes a nervous seat in the chair next to Ainsley.

"Where's Gavin running off to now?" Slick says with a grin as he, Blaze and Jeffrey come down the hallway.

"I have to get my files back." I give them a tight-lipped response and turn around so I can see the three of them.

"Well, you're not going alone." Slick crosses his arms and directs his gaze solely on me.

"Are the three of you up for a little adventure?" I ask in a serious tone. "I'm going to need all the help I can get."

"Is it really safe to leave Victoria here alone?" Jeffrey raises an eyebrow and waits for my answer.

"She can stay with me while you guys are gone." Ainsley pipes in. "My house has an alarm system and I've taken the liberty of installing three new locks on the front and the back door."

"Then it's settled. We need to go pack so we can all leave in an hour." I stand up and walk down the hallway to grab my guns before going back to my bedroom for my duffle bag.

I hear the others disperse and follow my lead, packing anything potentially important and then hiding the rest out of sight from any greedy robbers.