And his voice!
She would recognize his voice anywhere.
“Thank God you’re still alive,” Josh said, taking a step toward her until she could see his face in a sliver of moonlight. He picked up Danny’s rifle from the ground, then pulled out Danny’s sidearm and tossed both weapons into the woods. “This whole thing has been a real mess. Everyone’s shooting at everyone; no one’s following orders. I was even hoping you’d gotten on that yacht, just so you’d be safe.”
Somehow, she knew it would be him to lead this invasion. Somehow, just as Will could never escape Kate, she knew she would never be rid of Josh.
Gaby took the opportunity to glance down at Danny and Lara again. Lara was kneeling, with Danny lying on his back on the cobblestone floor, his head resting in her lap. Danny’s body was very still, and Lara was moving her hands frantically around his midsection.
She looked back at Josh, her forefinger never leaving her rifle’s trigger. She thought she’d know what to say when this moment came, but staring at him now, she didn’t have a clue. All she could remember was what she had told Lara back at the hotel, hours ago.
“He’s gone. He’s not a boy anymore. You can’t think of him as the same boy who you met in Lancing. If you get the chance — if you see him tonight — don’t hesitate. Shoot him, because he’ll shoot you.”
And she was right. Josh had done exactly that — shot Danny.
So why didn’t she pull the trigger? Why didn’t she do what she told Lara to do? Why was she hesitating?
“You shot Danny,” she said. “Jesus, you shot Danny.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know it was Danny. It’s dark…”
“You shot him.”
“I had to stop you from getting to the beach. I knew you’d come down here.” He gave her that cocky smile that she was so familiar with. “The yacht’s gone. The only place with any boats left is the beach. I knew any survivors would come down here sooner or later. It was easier than going into the hotel after you.” He was beaming, looking so very young at the moment. “I’m glad you’re alive, Gaby. I was really worried. Things have spiraled out of control so fast…”
“Let us go, Josh.”
The word came out a lot calmer than she had expected. She thought her voice would crack, maybe quiver slightly, but there was none of that. She was so still, and she wasn’t even breathing hard. Maybe it was because somehow she always knew it would end this way, with Josh in front of her and the two of them holding weapons on each other.
Josh frowned. “I can’t do that, Gaby.”
He took another step forward, then another, leaving the other four behind. They didn’t follow but stood obediently in the background, though Gaby detected a slight movement from one of them — the shortest of the four — almost as if the figure wanted to follow Josh but somehow managed to restrain itself, if just barely.
“Put the rifle down, Gaby,” Josh said. “I’m sorry about Danny. That was a mistake. An accident. Don’t do anything crazy—” He stopped and his eyes darted down to Lara. “What are you doing?”
“Saving his life,” Lara said. She had pulled a roll of gauze out of one of her pouches and was wrapping it around Danny’s waist. His shirt was pulled up, exposing his blood-slicked stomach. He groaned against her, but Gaby couldn’t tell if he was still conscious.
“Stop that,” Josh said.
“No,” Lara said.
“What?”
“I said no.”
Josh looked confused, and for a moment he reminded her of the old Josh — young and inexperienced and awkward. Then the gun in his hand started to move…
“Don’t, Josh,” she said.
Josh looked at her, then back at Lara, who hadn’t stopped treating Danny’s bleeding wound despite the threat. The four behind Josh fidgeted — the shortest of the four even more prominently — as they moved their rifles from Lara to Gaby and back again.
A part of her wanted all of this to end right here, right now. After all the bloodshed of tonight, this would be poetic. Now, while standing with all those poor souls on the beach behind them, in a burst of gunfire. Wasn’t that how all violent men’s lives ended in the history books? Bonnie and Clyde? John Dillinger? Every bank robber she had seen on TV caught in the act by the police?
“Gaby, put down the rifle,” Josh said. “It’s over.”
“I almost died ten times tonight, Josh,” Gaby said through clenched teeth. “If you came here to save me, you’re not doing a very good job.”
He sighed. “You don’t understand. It would have been worse if I hadn’t been leading the attack. Kate would have sent someone else, someone worse. And believe me, there are worse people than me out there. That’s how badly she wants this island.”
“She can have it,” Lara said. “Let us go.”
He shook his head. “I can’t do that. She doesn’t just want the island, she wants you too, Lara. But it’s not for the same reason she wants Will. I’m sorry. This is the end of the line for you and Danny.”
“Josh, don’t,” Gaby said.
He turned back to her, and she thought he looked almost apologetic. “It’s not my decision. You have to know that. It’s Kate’s. It’s always been Kate’s.”
“She’s not here. You are.”
“She’s everywhere. You don’t understand. She’s everywhere,” he said, almost whispering the word “everywhere” as if he was afraid someone (Kate) might hear it.
She could see it in his eyes: Josh was scared. Not just him, but the four behind him blocking their path onto the beach. Gaby had very clearly seen a couple of them shifting their feet nervously at the sound of Kate’s name.
No one wants to say the devil’s name out loud.
“I’m sorry,” Josh said again. “It has to be this way.”
“If you get the chance — if you see him tonight — don’t hesitate. Shoot him, because he’ll shoot you,” she had told Lara earlier.
So why couldn’t she do it now?
Because he was Josh. No matter what he had become, or what she told others he had become, when she looked at him she still saw the eighteen-year-old boy who spent nearly a year trying to keep her safe. As much as he had changed, as much as he had done, he was still Josh.
And as she stood there watching Lara trying desperately to save Danny’s life, working diligently despite the presence of the man who had just shot him standing close to her on the verge of shooting her too, Gaby realized she couldn’t have loved Lara and Danny any more than she already did.
And she didn’t want it to end. Not for her, and not for them. Not even for Josh. But most of all, not for her friends.
She wanted Danny to run into Carly’s arms again, the way she had earlier today at the pier. She wanted Lara to finally see Will one more time after being apart for so long. She wanted the two of them to take little Claire and Milly to someplace better and start all over. Even if she couldn’t go with them, she wanted that for these people, her family.
No, she didn’t want it to end tonight after all. Not this way.
It can’t end this way.
“Lara,” Gaby said. “How is he?”
Lara looked back at her and shook her head.
It shouldn’t end this way.
Gaby lowered her rifle and placed it on the ground, then did the same with her Glock. Josh sighed with relief at the sight. Even the four behind him seemed to relax a bit.
“Gaby,” Josh said, “you’re doing the right thing.”
“Let them go,” she said.
“What?”
“Let them go, and I’ll come with you.”