by Emma Harley
As though summoned, Logan walked back in, still pointedly avoiding glancing in Raina’s direction. Kalen stood up and handed him his glass.
“Back in a minute,” he mumbled, clapping his brother on the back and leaving them alone in the room. A few silent minutes passed.
“I didn’t think you would have told Kalen the truth,” she mumbled. It seemed like it was weeks ago she had woken up in his bed, and despite everything found herself wishing she had spent more time with him that morning. He shrugged and stared out the window.
“You were already gone. I had no reason to lie to him,” he croaked. Raina sneaked a glance in his direction and noticed a familiar-shaped lump in his waistband.
She absent-mindedly wandered around the room, noting her holdall tucked safely down the side of the sofa. He would hear her unzipping it, she told herself. She glanced at the photos of the captain and his buddies again, before sitting down in the seat the captain had just vacated.
“He told me he wouldn’t have fired me. I can come back if I want to,” she rambled, setting her glass on the side table. Logan huffed a sarcastic laugh.
“Honestly Raina I think you should go off on your little mission. You’re blowing hot and cold with me, one minute you can’t get enough of me and the next you want nothing to do with me. I don’t think I could deal with that every day so maybe you shouldn’t come back,” he snapped.
He was still staring out the window when a sudden push from behind made him smack his face off it. His elbow rammed into Raina’s ribs and she yelped, shoving his face harder into the glass. She slid a small handgun out of his waistband and leaped away from him.
“Why the fuck are you packing?” she growled, “This was supposed to be a business meeting and you come armed?” Logan pushed off angrily and snarled at her.
“It’s your damn gun, you left it behind when you ran away,” he hissed, “I could hardly walk in here with it in my hands now could I?” Raina scoffed as she glanced at the revolver.
“Nice try, I took mine with me, and I don’t own a revolver. Now answer me truthfully before I find a reason to use it. Why are you carrying a gun?” Logan looked blankly at her before glancing at the gun.
“Raina it’s your gun, it was lying on your bed when you left,” he insisted. Raina looked over the gun carefully, she didn’t recognise it at all.
“This isn’t mine. And there was no gun on my bed when I left. All mine are in my bag I wasn’t going to leave them behind.” Logan just stared at her in disbelief.
“So what, someone sneaked into your room and put a random gun on your bed for no reason?” Raina backed away before darting out of the room, Logan following after calling her name.
Kalen, the captain and Erik were chatting in the lobby, clearly they had decided to give Logan and Raina an opportunity to talk things over. The captain grinned sheepishly at her.
“So did you two kiss and make up…” he trailed off as he noticed the gun in her hands, “For goodness sake general, no wonder you have relationship problems if you pull a gun on them!”
Raina shook off the dumbstruck expression on her face and turned to Kalen.
“Do you know who owns this?” He examined the revolver and just shook his head.
“I don’t know a lot of people who show me their guns Raina,” he joked, but his smirk died as he seen the concern on their faces, “why what’s so special about it?”
“I found that on her bed after she left. When you and I were done talking I went to her room and it was on the bed, I took it thinking she had forgotten it in a rush and I didn’t want a gun lying around the house,” he scrambled before Raina interrupted him.
“It’s not my gun, I didn’t leave it there. And I don’t know why someone would leave it on my bed. I locked the room and gave Logan the keys when I left,” she said, her tone implying that she was blaming him. He raised an eyebrow and glared at her as the captain took the revolver to examine it.
“Yes Raina of course I went out of my way to find a gun and leave it on your bed. I didn't even know you would be here, I just didn't want one of the cleaners coming across it.”
Raina spun around to him and crossed her arms.
“Fine then I’ll be blunt. I gave you the keys. What were you doing in my room in the first place? You just decided to take a stroll in to do what? I think you just wanted an excuse to talk to me so you made this up,” she snapped, squaring up to him. Logan snorted.
“Oh don’t flatter yourself princess, if I wanted to talk to you I wouldn’t have made up some stupid story all right? Excuse me for assuming the random gun on the bed belonged to the girl who was going to shoot me in a hotel room!”
“I thought you were going to kill me first you psycho!” “CHILDREN!” The captain boomed over the shouts of Raina and Logan while Kalen just sat staring dully at them both. He mumbled swear words under his breath before turning to the captain.
“Can I go finish that scotch? I think I’ll need it,” he sighed dejectedly. The captain returned his expression and just nodded, beckoning to the bickering duo to follow him. They closed the door to the lounge as Kalen pinned a glass of scotch and poured another before turning to Logan and Raina.
“Look, I’m not saying this as your brother, boss or anything else. But whatever the hell this” – he waggled his finger between them- “is, you better figure it out. There’s a fine line between love and hate and you two are hopping over that line like a damn kangaroo. Pick a side and stick to it.”
His outburst left them both speechless and gaping as the captain nodded.
“Sorry General, but you didn’t make your way through the ranks by acting like that with every man you didn’t like. You can pretend to hate him but it’s obvious to everyone except you two that you clearly don’t.” Raina blushed as Logan smirked teasingly at her, and the captain narrowed his eyes at him. “Don’t you go acting smug boy, you were drooling at that dinner table and it wasn’t the food you were staring at all night.”
Logan turned his face away, seemingly examining a globe behind him. The captain tossed the gun to Raina. “Check the chamber.” She clicked it open and noticed a single bullet loaded. She looked back at the captain, swallowing heavily as her voice dropped to barely a whisper. “This is a threat.”
Chapter 4
Weeks flew by in a blur. Raina found herself switching around hotel rooms and empty offices more often than she could count. Captain Jonathon had sent the gun off the forensics with barked orders to make the case priority and had made several calls to military contacts. Raina had gone to sleep with a gun underneath her pillow on more than one occasion, dreading what she would hear when she woke up. Her old team had been put on alert, some of them had been overseas when they received a call, and they were covertly transported back to the country under fake names and credentials. She was to meet with them today to discuss the message that had been left in the form of a gun.
Kalen, Elias and Logan had temporarily vacated the manor while forensics scoured her rooms. They were forbidden from contacting her, and she couldn’t speak to them either. They were told that she quit her job when she stormed out, and there was to be no further communication. She had broken down that day in the captain’s office when she realised what message the gun held. Jonathon had been running around like a headless chicken calling in favours and contacts, alerting the necessary people while she had fallen in a heap on his floor. She had even screamed at Logan while Kalen held her back, shrieking at him to tell her the truth, asking where he had found the gun.
She couldn’t tell them what it meant, she couldn’t risk them knowing anything.
Raina lay on her back, staring at the water-stained ceiling of the run-down motel room she was hiding in. The battered wooden clock was ticking away, the only sound in the room except for the creak of bed springs as she shifted when her legs felt numb. She had a very old phone lying beside her, and her holdall sitting in the corner of the room.
The last bit of contact s
he had with the outside world had been three days ago when one of the captain’s contacts had delivered a pizza box to her, containing a classified folder documenting the mission that had gone so wrong a few years ago and a copy of the forensics report, unsurprisingly revealing nothing in her room or on the gun. Dead ends.
Raina had spent all of yesterday building her strength. Her limbs ached today, and she had spent less than three minutes in the nasty motel shower before quickly escaping it. For the first two days in this hovel she had been nauseous, the horrible smells and uncomfortably mysterious stains were turning her stomach. All morning she had pushed past the aching to build her muscle again. She was feeling caged, hiding out in a disgusting room waiting for someone to contact her. She wanted to know if her family was safe. She wanted to get to a gun range and sharpen up her skills. She wanted to be with her team to hunt down the bastard who threatened her. Instead she was stuck in a tiny box of a room unable to do anything.
Hours ticked by as Raina used the doorframe to pull up and burn off some of the frustrated energy she had overflowing. She wanted to see Logan. Before she had been whisked away by two undercover agents, he had held her in front of everyone and kissed her gently. The last thing she had done was scream and shout at him and she missed him horribly now. The ancient phone buzzed to life and she dived to answer it.
“Where can I find the diamond?”
“In a sea of glass,” she stated clearly.
“Good, meet me at point firebird now. You have a car out front.”
Raina slipped a gun into the holster at her waist and slipped her mother’s athame into her boot. It was ornamental so she had never sharpened it before, keeping it solely for aesthetics and sentimentality. But Raina had spent a few days making it sharp enough to slash if it was needed. She jammed another gun into her coat pocket and crept out of the motel room with her holdall. Raina noticed the little blue car parked off to the side and felt on top of the wheels to find a set of keys. She dumped her bag in the back seats and drove off.
Raina pulled into a half empty car park and checked around before getting out. A familiar face across the lot made her heart leap but she didn’t acknowledge them, instead heading straight for the café at the side of a supermarket. She sat down at an outdoor table and pulled out a book to read. A waitress brought her a coffee which she discreetly poured into the planter next to her. A man was handing out leaflets to patrons and slipped her one with a sticky note attached. She threw down ten marks for the waitress and left, sliding into a white transit van with a cleaning company logo on the side.
“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” crooned a voice in the dim light. As Raina’s eyes adjusted, she beamed a smile at the woman sitting opposite her.
“Hello Alicia,” she purred, before wrapping the woman in a hug. A tap on her shoulder made her turn to see two men sitting with their backs to the dirty panel that filtered dim light into the back.
“Davin,” she greeted the man closest as he hugged her tightly before she turned to the other shadowed figure, “I’m surprised you’re still alive Izak, last I heard you pissed off a few higher-ups and someone tried to shoot you.” He chuckled and tapped his leg.
“No he shot me. And I uncovered his role in a smuggling ring. He just didn’t appreciate me announcing it in front of his colleagues.” Davin handed her a crumpled folder.
“They won’t let us investigate, but I have a contact keeping me in the loop. Apparently the intelligence factions had teamed up a month ago when facial recognition caught this at Stalward airport,” he explained. Raina’s breath caught in her throat as she looked through the pictures.
“The Raven. So she was spotted a month ago, and we weren’t told until now?”
The others nodded grimly.
Alicia coughed pointedly at Izak. He sighed and Raina’s glare darted between them.
“What is it?” They looked at each other cautiously.
“Have you heard from anyone?” Davin asked quietly, leaning forward to cup her hands in his own. Even in the dim light, his dark skin was jarringly stark against her own anaemic tone. Hiding out didn’t provide much opportunity for healthy eating, and it showed.
“Not much, what are you talking about?” Panic was rising in her chest while they silently argued among themselves with strange looks. Alicia leaned forward, her emerald eyes shining in the dim light.
“Ray, they can’t find your aunt.” Raina’s chest exploded with pain and panic and she started hyperventilating.
“No, that’s impossible, I made sure she would be safe,” she wheezed. Alicia rubbed her back as Davin pushed her head between her knees.
“Pull yourself together Phoenix,” he ordered, kneeling in front of her, “we’re going to find her ourselves.” Raina jolted up to look at him in shock.
“You know you’re risking your lives on this, we’re in protection for a reason.” Alicia grinned and slid the top off the box she had been sitting on. It was packed full of gear and weapons. Raina leaned back and closed her eyes, counting her breaths.
“Are we waiting on the others?”
“Yeah,” Izak’s voice sounded from her side, “They’ll be here soon. And your friend Captain Green decided to repay that debt he owed you. He’s sending over all the intel he has on the case.” Raina’s eyes shot open.
“Before you guys go rushing into this again, you’re aware what you’re getting into? She’ll go after your families for helping me. She’s out for revenge and she wants me dead,” Raina explained. Davin flicked her playfully on the nose as Izak chuckled. Alicia grinned devilishly at her and threw her arm over her shoulder. “We’re a team Phoenix. If she’s after you she’s after all of us. And we’ve taken out tougher targets than her.”
Half an hour later, the van door opened and two men slipped in wearing hi-vis vests and work helmets. They tossed them off and grinned at the team.
“Trust you bastards to be pulling us into shite again,” the dark-haired one chuckled, throwing his arm around Alicia in a swift hug.
“Take your time fellas, we don’t have a target on our backs or anything,” Davin jeered, rolling his eyes. The newcomer spotted Raina and grinned as she bumped her fist off his outstretched knuckles.
“Long time no see JJ,” she turned to the other newcomer who had sat down quietly, “what’s up Nick?”
“Hey Phoenix,” he sighed, “someone want to explain why we’ve been dragged under protection?”
Raina handed him the folder as Davin brought them up to speed. When Davin finished his brief, JJ turned to Raina.
“How are you coping?” Raina shrugged and slipped the photo she had been staring at back into the folder.
“I’ll be better once I’ve put a bullet between this bitch’s eyes,” she snarled. The door flew open again, sending everyone reaching for the various weapons they had hidden in their clothing. Captain Green strained to pull himself up into the van with a large box in his hands. JJ helped him in as Nick took the box from him and sat it on the dusty floor. He looked at Raina sympathetically.
“This is everything we have to work with,” he addressed Davin and pushed the box towards him before turning to Raina, “I assume they’ve told you about your family?” Raina’s voice caught in her throat as she slowly bobbed her head. Jonathon sighed and watched the others pull out various files and packets.
“We’re doing everything we can, but right now there is no proof that she has them. One of your cousins was still in his university dorm room, we have him safe now. But when officers got to your aunts house, no one was home, but there was no sign of a struggle. They left freely, and no one has been able to contact them for weeks. Right now we have to assume they’re still alive.” Raina tucked her head onto her knees while Jonathon handed Nick a small box with earpieces for the team. It was taking all of her willpower not to gear up and go on the attack, but she had to remain rational. She didn’t even know where she was going in the first place.
Her attention was
diverted by a hushed argument between Alicia and Izak and she looked up to see her shaking her head at him and snatching a file from him.
“What are you two fighting about?”
Alicia swallowed heavily and glanced between her and the file.
“This is everything about the murder,” she stuttered, clamping it tightly between her elbows and knees. Raina shrugged.
“So what? We did the hit we know what’s in there.” The team went still as realisation dawned on Raina’s face.
Davin put a hand on her arm comfortingly. “You don’t have to see it Phoenix, no one should put themselves through that.” Raina’s mouth went dry as she reached towards the file with shaking hands.
“No,” she croaked out, “I uh… I’ll know better than you guys if something stands out.” Jonathon checked his watch.
“Look I’ve called in another favour for you,” he said quietly. He handed JJ a slip of paper with an address. “You can hide out here while you’re investigating this. It’s not traceable back to anyone, so you’ll be safe here. I have to go before I’m missed,” he reached over and patted Raina’s knee, “Take care of yourself girl, come home safe.”
Jonathon crept out of the van and disappeared. JJ passed the address around to everyone before setting the slip of paper alight. “We can’t take this van there,” he stated, stamping the embers into the floor. Who drove here?” Raina, Izak and Alicia raised their hands. He thought carefully for a moment before Raina piped up.
“JJ you drive the van and follow me, we’ll swap the weapons out somewhere more discreet. Nick, you and Izak head to the safe house in his car, Alicia, you and Davin follow the van until we hit the motorway, you circle back in case we were followed, if we’re clear, head on to the house. JJ and I will meet you all there.” They nodded and everyone started adjusting their weapons, one by one slipping out of the van to follow her orders.
Raina clutched the file under her coat as she made her way to the blue car. She dropped her keys on the ground as a cover to check for anything suspicious under the car. She tucked the file under the passenger seat and pulled out, checking her mirror to see JJ following in the cleaner’s van.