Had Sydney been focused on anything else but Jack, she would have noticed that there was also someone closing some distance on her. As she geared up to call after Jack again, she felt a firm hand around her upper bicep.
“Sydney! Hold on.” She whirled around to see Alex standing slightly breathless behind her. She noticed he was sweating and in his other hand was a gun.
“Alex, let me go! I’m going to lose him.”
“It’s dangerous. We don’t know where Ethan is going. Let me handle this.”
“That’s not Ethan!” she screamed. Alex stood back, giving her a look you’d give a crazy person.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s Jack! Jack is alive. He found me last night after the rehearsal dinner. I was going to tell you, I just—”
“So you spent the night with him?”
“No, no that’s not what happened. He drugged me and tied me up in his room.” Alex made a face as if he was not convinced. “Trust me, I’m telling the truth.”
Alex sighed. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I was worried they’d gotten to you.”
“I’m fine.” She was touched by his concern, but the sentiment would have to wait. “But we need to catch Jack. He’s getting away.”
“Wait, so that was Jack at the altar, not Ethan?”
“Yes,” she said, trying to pull him in the direction Jack had been walking. She could almost see the news settle into his mind as he processed what she was saying.
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out the truth. Please, let’s go.”
“Okay, but stay close to me.” Alex pulled a gun from underneath his jacket. He was wearing a khaki linen suit with a skinny tie, apparently dressed for the wedding. Sydney wondered why she hadn’t seen him there. He grabbed Sydney’s hand, and they began to run into the thick foliage, following the path Jack had been walking on just moments earlier.
As the path led deeper into the junglelike brush and farther away from the resort, Sydney began to get even more nervous. Alex had pulled his weapon, and the emotions of the situation were running high. What would Alex do to Jack once they reached him?
She was about to find out because when they rounded the next corner there was a sudden break in the trees and Jack was walking just about twenty feet in front of them.
“Jack!” Sydney yelled out to him. He kept walking.
“FBI,” cried Alex. “Don’t move.”
Jack came to a dead stop.
Thirty-Seven
Ethan
With his heart racing, Ethan ran down the hallway of the resort. He could hear the sound of his own breathing and his heavy footsteps as he clattered down the hallway but little else. The hotel was unusually quiet, devoid of the busy guests typically milling around hallways.
As he made his way clear of the white stucco buildings, he could see the wedding setup spread out over the edge of the beach. Hundreds of white chairs in long rows with chattering guests. He squinted in the bright sun, trying to see if he could make out Jack at the altar. A pair of sunglasses would have come in handy. Then he realized that many of the guests were looking at each other instead of facing the altar and talking in hushed tones. Something must have happened to Jack. Of course, he thought, surely Marissa would know it wasn’t me.
He took two more steps in the direction of the wedding circus and then stopped. He saw Sydney running north toward the pathway that led into the lush jungle surrounding the complex. He could see Alex running after her, just a few steps away from reaching her.
Ethan had a fairly good idea of where they were going. The dense jungle had a path that led north, away from the resort, to another private beach area. If Jack needed to make a quiet exit from the hotel without being seen, that was the way to go.
Ethan quickly stepped behind a massive palm tree that had been wrapped in twinkling lights. He didn’t want to be seen. Placing his hand on his gun, as if to reassure himself, he waited at least thirty seconds before tailing them.
He tried to stay calm as the adrenaline ripped through his body. He stepped onto the gravel pathway and tried to focus on what his options were. He was furious with Jack. How could he do this to him, his own brother? It was actually difficult to think, as his head was still throbbing from the glass bottle that Jack had struck him in the head with. The intense heat and humidity from the trees caused him to start sweating profusely, which didn’t help either.
Jack had managed to screw up every part of Ethan’s plan. Once Estavez found out Jack was alive, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill them both, the first chance he got. And to make matters worse, Ethan had now blown any chance he had of working with the FBI. Even if he cut a deal with them to bring down Estavez, he knew there was no way they’d let him keep his business. He’d lost his best chance at leverage.
As he wiped the sweat from his eyes and picked up his pace, one thing become clear: he was going to kill Jack, if Estavez didn’t get to him first.
Thirty-Eight
Sydney
There was an eerie silence among the three of them, as Sydney watched Jack standing with his back to her and Alex. The space where they had caught up with Jack was densely lined with palm trees and tropical green shrubs that reached out over the pathway as if trying to grab hold of the passersby. The sun was filtering through the palm branches above them, which gave them some respite from the Caribbean heat. She glanced sideways at Alex, wondering what his next move was.
Alex had his gun drawn and was pointing it at Jack. He was laser-focused, breathing slowly. “Please turn around.”
Hands still held in the air, Jack slowly turned his body toward the two of them. When he had managed to position himself facing them, Sydney caught sight of his expression. She obviously didn’t know Jack like she thought she did, but she knew enough to recognize his emotional state. Anger, bordering on rage.
He had managed to undo the his bow tie. It now dangled from his neck, which was red and wet from the heat. He managed to change his expression and gave Alex a half smile. He refused to look at Sydney. “Have I done something wrong?”
Alex kept his gaze steady, unflinching. “That depends. Can you tell me what your name is?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Jack Evans.”
Alex took a deep breath and slightly shifted his weight from one leg to another but kept his arm extended toward Jack. “Mr. Evans, my name is Alex Birch. I am an agent with the FBI. Are you aware you’ve broken a host of laws by faking your own death?”
“If I remember correctly, it’s not illegal to fake your own death. And anyway, I wasn’t faking my death. I was lost and no one has been looking for me. I couldn’t find my way back to the U.S.”
“You’re lying, Jack,” said Sydney. She couldn’t bear to stay silent another moment. She took several steps toward him, nearly stumbling over her gown—somewhere in the path behind her she had kicked off her nude pumps, leaving the hemline too long in the front. “When will you stop lying? You can’t run away and hide like you did before. You need to face your problems.”