“Reasonable for the team healer, especially one who was just shot,” Vincent conceded. “But we’ve done dangerous before.”
“Yeah…that’s the point,” Zander said with more heat than she had expected. “Vincent, one day our bosses are going to push us into something stupid, and it’s going to end with more gravestones. They’ve tried before, actively tried. There were no accidents when it came to the Amazon mission with the IMAS.”
“The team wasn’t supposed to go on that,” Quinn reminded him.
“So?” she snapped. “We weren’t going to leave you out there to die for their idiocy.”
“So we all hate our bosses, except maybe Thompson, who is genuinely trying. The only problem is that he’s overruled by the WMC a lot. They make the real decisions.” Elijah groaned.
“I think we can all agree that the WMC sucks and we just need to make it through the case.” She threw her hands up. “And yeah, it sucks that a bunch of you don’t want to stay on the team and do more after this, but I also get it. In the end, it’s safer, healthier. It’s just a better idea to get out while you can.”
“So, there’s no reason to drag all that up?” Jasper watched her carefully. “You’ll be okay?”
“She will be when she figures out what she’s going to do with her life,” Elijah commented, nearly grinning as he called her out on the one thing she hadn’t yet wanted to talk about. She brought this on herself.
“I’m okay. Vincent?”
“The team’s health and happiness is more important than our bosses. Fact. There’s a lot of other things I can do with the IMPO that don’t involve big cases.”
“You would stay in?” Zander exclaimed incredulously. “Really?”
Well, this was interesting. She knew a team meeting would drag some things up. She had silently hoped this was one of them. Would it just be her and Vincent looking for justice now?
“I know all the faults and problems everyone has with them, but none of them change the fact that for me, there’s only two options. Working for the government, trying to be the good guy, living by and upholding the law, or…Well, my other option would be people wondering if I’m always going to walk in my brother’s footsteps. I know that.” Vincent pushed his papers away, reached into a baggy and fed Kaar more seeds. The raven made some weirdly affectionate noise. “Sawyer? Me and you?”
“Yeah, I haven’t thought that far ahead.” She looked away from them.
“Of course you haven’t,” Elijah muttered. “Sawyer Matthews, everyone. Mission oriented to the nth degree.”
“I have to be focused. Fuck, I need all of you focused. Getting this out right now, we can all work to achieve our own goals. If taking down Axel is the only thing between you guys and careers that would make you happy, then work for that. For Vincent and I…”
“He’s the last thing holding us back from burying the past,” Vincent finished. “Can’t have a future until you can let go of the past, not completely.”
“That.” She agreed with every word. There was no future for her and Vincent until this was over. Not even a small possibility of one. Axel would always be a shadow over their lives, their hearts. He fucked them over more than anyone else on the team.
“Yeah, but you two are taking this way too far-” Zander, trying to be the voice of reason. What a strange time the team was in if that was the advice. Zander telling people they were taking it too far.
“There’s no such thing with Axel.” Surprisingly, it was Quinn who said it. Her eyebrows went up. “But you’re right. We can’t become him while we’re trying to beat him. We would fail.”
“He plays his game better than us, that’s certain. He’s got wealth, power, followers so loyal that they would die for him like that.” She snapped her fingers. “You’re right. We can’t beat him at his own game. It’s not working.”
“Elijah said something to me earlier today. About playing a quieter game.” Vincent hummed, motioning at all the papers in front of him. “About trying to regain ground on him without exposing what we’re doing. I think he’s right.”
“And there goes the team meeting, back to the Axel situation,” Zander mumbled, rolling his eyes.
“Forgive me.” Vincent sighed. “It’s hard taking a break.”
“We know,” Zander teased. She was so glad to see the teasing was light. “How about we watch a movie? Why don’t we…really relax? Charlie is still puttering around with nothing to do. Does that old man sleep? We’ll drag him along.”
“No, he doesn’t.” She chuckled. “When was the last time we had a real movie night?”
“After James’ funeral,” Vincent murmured, looking away from them.
“Before that…Georgia, at home. Weeks ago. Shit, maybe back in November?” Jasper stood up. “I like the idea of a movie. And you know, this needs to be said. Sawyer, Vincent, we’re all planning on leaving the IMPO, but don’t worry. Stop worrying even while you tell us you aren’t. We’re committed to this case. For you both. For justice. We’re going to bring Axel down.”
Zander began to clap, Elijah quickly following him. One even hooted as the wolves began to make short howls. Sawyer clapped slowly, watching Jasper’s stormy eyes.
“I was rattled for a moment,” Jasper continued. “And I don’t like the organization we work for, not anymore. Maybe never again. But we’re going to see this through.”
“Finish it,” Zander pressed.
“Because this is the mission this team was made to do.” Jasper smiled.
“Thank you,” Vincent whispered from his seat. “Does this mean I can keep working and not be dragged into a movie night?”
“No. We’re taking the night off,” Zander ordered, reaching out to grab Vincent. “Because I don’t get to fuck with you as much as I used to, and this is a great night for it.”
Sawyer laughed as Vincent was yanked from his chair by the redhead and pulled. He tried to protest and walk himself out, but Zander didn’t let him go. She eyed the papers left behind, wondering what Vincent was looking over. She didn’t have the chance to grab one and see. Elijah wrapped an arm around her waist and lifted her as he stood up.
“Elijah!” she laughed out his name. She didn’t fight, though. Jasper and Quinn were grinning at each other as they walked out behind her and the cowboy. She saw Charlie grinning down the hall. “Save me!” she called out.
“No,” Charlie answered back.
She was glad he didn’t. The team was a fucking disaster, but at least they still could have moments like this and smile. They needed tonight.
Tomorrow she would do something they would hate, but tonight they could reaffirm the bonds of family and team, and everything would be okay.
24
Sawyer
“Hey Vincent?” she said brightly as she walked into his office. “I wanted to run something by you, then head out to do it.”
“Okay, let’s hear it.” Vincent pushed back the papers he was looking over. It was early and she was positive they were the only two awake, which suited her. He wouldn’t give her a hard time for wanting to go.
“I’m thinking about a trip to the prison. Take a look at what happened there while you deal with paperwork here.” She said it innocently enough, but she had no intention of dealing with the things going down there. She had another objective.
“Let’s have breakfast and talk about what everyone wants to do today. We’re all going to be anxious with the last raid tonight, especially since we won’t be there.” Vincent stood up and began to do that thing where someone organizes because they have nothing else to do. “Jasper and I are going through financials. I’m going to place Zander on looking at pictures of Axel lookalikes all day, which is going to drive him mad, but it’s busy work. Quinn has free time. I’m hoping he enjoys the woods more. Elijah might go with you.”
She didn’t like the sound of any of that. She eyed him. “I can go alone. I’m not going to do anything stupid, Vincent.”
“No, but
you yelled at me for going by myself, so you don’t get to.”
“You didn’t tell anyone where you were going. And you’re probably a high value target for Axel.”
“And you aren’t?”
He had her there. She raised her hands in defeat. Fine. She would see how things played out at breakfast and go to the prison with Elijah if she had too.
After breakfast, she realized she should have known better. She really should have known better. Sawyer walked into the prison with the team instead of just alone or with Elijah. They all wanted to see the damage that had been done by the staged riot. It could possibly give them some clues, but really, they wanted something to do until the raid.
Sawyer was the only person in the building with an agenda. She just needed to shake the team for a moment. When she had mentioned making the trip, she hadn’t expected all of them to come with her with this excuse.
“What did you want to do?” Vincent asked her causally.
“Exactly what everyone else wanted to do, but maybe alone.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “You know I like working without all the distraction. Not that having everyone here is a bad thing, but I might wander off, see what I can see.”
“Be safe,” he murmured, kissing her cheek. She smiled at him as he waved her away.
“Thanks,” she told him as she backed away from the group while the rest of them were too busy talking to guards about what happened. Only Vincent was paying attention to her.
It was sweet, completely appropriate, and worrisome. He would be the one to figure out she had a plan that she wasn’t telling them. She was thankful he was letting her lie for the moment. Or maybe he just trusted her enough at this point.
She wasn’t doing anything incredibly stupid. It wasn’t about something dangerous. They would be mad at her about this for principle. Though, as she walked to Naseem’s cell, she knew they hadn’t figured out she’d visited him once before. She didn’t bother having the assassin brought to an interrogation room this time.
And as she walked closer, she grew angrier.
Leonard had known she was coming and his words had thrown her off. He’d been ready. Axel would be as well. He wasn’t going to let her within a hundred feet of him.
And Naseem could tell her how to fix it. She needed to know. Now it was imperative, and she knew the guys wouldn’t like it. It was just another skill for a trade she needed to get out of. But she couldn’t get out of the trade until she was the absolute best, until nothing and no one would see her coming. She knew it, but explaining that to the guys? No, she was going to do this alone, like she had tried once before.
She was feeling bloodthirsty as she made it to his door.
“Guard!” she called. “I need to speak to this one.”
“Coming, ma’am.” The guard walked quickly, punching in the code for the hour. The codes for individual cells changed every hour. A random thing she knew from times when going to prison was her number one concern.
She walked in without announcing herself. Naseem was lying on his bed, reading a book. He moved the book and curiously stared at her.
“I don’t know anything about the riot. I’ve been locked in here since that happened with my meals brought to me. I didn’t participate.” He smiled. “So this must be about something else, since you would have been told if I was involved.”
“Teach me,” she demanded.
“No.” He lifted his book and began to read again.
“Damn it, Naseem. Teach me.” She snarled, grabbing the book and yanking it away from him.
“I’m not going to teach the person who defeated me the one thing I have that she doesn’t.” Naseem sat up. She tossed the book across the room. The temper, the anger she was always hiding strained her control. “And something has obviously upset you.”
She grabbed his jumpsuit and dragged him up, forcing him to stand. “Naseem, I need to know.”
“So you can kill him, because he’ll obviously be on his guard. I’m not stupid.” He tried to pull away, but she had the upper hand and anything she did in the cell would be forgiven.
And she strongly considered testing that, so she shoved him back.
“I was noticed by my last target,” she explained. “I refuse to get noticed before I have him. I need to know how you do it. I’m willing to make a deal.”
“Parole? Commuting my sentence?”
She bared her teeth. She couldn’t do either of those, not for any reason.
“Thought so,” Naseem snapped. “There’s nothing you can give me that is going to convince me to teach you.”
She glared at him, trying to resist crossing the line. She was already toeing it.
“And if you fail to kill him, oh well. It’s really not my place or problem. I’m not getting involved between you and your old sugar daddy.”
The callous comment snapped something. She roared, grabbing him again and forcing him to the bed. Before she could even think about what she was doing, she swung downwards, slamming her fist into his face.
It was like every comment about her being Axel’s whore came back. It was like every moment someone disregarded her, not knowing what she could do, who she was.
And once Axel was dead, it would all be behind her. She was nobody’s whore. She didn’t need a sugar daddy. She didn’t need anything except the one skill to help her bury all of it.
“Teach me!” she demanded, a roar of pain and anger.
“Fuck you,” he growled, trying to shove her off. She was so enraged that he didn’t have much of a chance. She slammed another fist down, busting his nose open, blood pouring everywhere.
“FIGHT!” someone screamed beyond the door.
“SAWYER! Someone get this fucking door open!”
“Teach me!” She had to know and she didn’t honestly give a fuck about Naseem anymore. Not that she ever really had, but she didn’t know how to stop now. He had no right to say anything like that. No right.
Someone grabbed her and she sublimated out of the hold when she was ripped off Naseem. She reformed to tackle the beaten-up assassin back on to his bed, since he was trying to get up.
More hands grabbed her, yanking and trying to pull. They were screaming something but she was only focused on the man her hands were on. Finally, something snapped on one of her wrists and when she was pulled away from her target, she couldn’t sublimate.
Naseem began to laugh. “And even if I wanted to teach you, you’re a lost cause. This just proves it.”
“FUCK YOU!” she roared, fighting against the large hands dragging her from the room.
Her back slammed into the far wall and the door to Naseem’s cell shut with a resounding thud. Flaming red hair blocked her view.
“What the fuck!” Zander roared. “What are you doing?”
She tried to breathe and quickly realized what had just happened. Looking down at her hands, she felt lost for a moment. She hadn’t just crossed a line, she had blown through it like it never existed. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry? You’re sorry? You just beat a defenseless man!” It was Jasper yelling now. “What the hell were you even doing here?”
“I…” Oh shit. She knew they would find out. She would have had to tell them eventually, but she hadn’t thought it would be like this. There must have been something strange about the way she looked, because when she looked at Jasper, he stepped back. “I’m sorry.”
“Why. Were. You. Here?” Elijah enunciated every word. “A guard let us know you came by this way. We didn’t like it, but we didn’t expect a fight when we arrived. Sawyer, what’s going on?”
“I…wanted him to teach me,” she admitted, pulling her hands to her chest. Her right knuckles were covered in Naseem’s blood. She hadn’t hit more than a few times, she was certain of it. She had still done damage, enough damage.
Too much damage.
“Teach…” Zander backed away from her now. “Sawyer…”
“I asked h
im when I came…to see Missy, after the funeral.” She looked away from all of them, unable to handle it. “He can do one thing I can’t. Disappear. I melt into the night, but I’m still a Magi. I can still be sensed. Leonard caught me before I made it into his office. It made the fight so much worse than it needed to be. And Axel? Axel is never going to let me within a hundred feet of him. I can’t…” She turned so her shoulder would be on the wall. Wrapping her arms around herself, she continued. “Naseem made a comment and…something snapped.”
“We’re leaving,” Elijah declared. “Let’s go. You’re not coming back here. We’re going to have a talk about this at home.”
“I’ve got her,” Vincent said from the back of the group. “I’ll drive her home.”
For some reason, everyone seemed uneasy about that. She nodded. She would go with Vincent. He would understand, she hoped. She knew the guys would be mad, she knew it. That wasn’t what she was upset about.
She had lost control. She had just beaten a prisoner who had no one protecting him. She had known she could legally get away with it. No one would arrest her. The handcuff was only on her wrist, a dangling reminder, because they had to inhibit her magic to make her stop.
She hadn’t lost control like that in a very long time.
“Come on, Sawyer.” Vincent gently grabbed her elbow and pulled her out of the center of the group. Her hands were shaking now, so she just held herself tighter.
“I don’t-”
“I know what happened. We’ll talk about it in the car.” He kept leading her. Out of the hallway, past the front desks, out into the parking lot. He had brought his own car for the trip and opened the passenger’s side door for her. He helped her in and waited for her to have her seat belt on before he went to the other side. When he was in, he turned the car on before fishing in his pocket. “Those are Elijah’s. Here.” He pointed out a specific key on a small keyring. “This one.”
She took it and undid the cuff on her wrist as he put his seatbelt on. She held onto all of it as he pulled them out of the parking spot and left the prison behind them.
The Redemption Saga Box Set Page 156