Conrad turned to Rowan now and said, “I know you’re not a field agent, but I wanted you to attend this meeting anyway. Ops is vital to a team when they’re in the field and I wanted you to be in the loop on this.”
Rowan nodded his understanding and said, his voice full of fake cheer, “Thanks. I’m super grateful I didn’t get to miss all this awkward tension.” His face broke into an exaggerated smile and he held up both thumbs enthusiastically. Bree knew the situation was serious, but her mouth twitched into a small smile, despite her efforts to prevent it.
Conrad gave a long–suffering sigh and closed his eyes briefly but didn’t respond to Rowan’s remark. Turning his attention back to the entire group he said, “Thank you all. Your help will be invaluable against Ephraim. Gwynn will let you know her plans for a training regimen. You’ll report to her at 1300 hours in the training arena.” He gave a nod to the group, dismissing them and began to walk toward the door.
Corbin stood and quickly walked to catch up to him. “Conrad,” he said. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Conrad stopped and gave Corbin his attention, waiting for the others to exit the room.
Sawyer left last, walking slowly. She heard Corbin’s voice as she closed the door behind her. “This isn’t going to work, Conrad. I need to be able to trust my team.”
Sawyer froze on the other side of the closed door, trying to hear Conrad’s response. His words were low, his tone controlled. “Why do you think I’m ordering team training exercises? You all have to learn to work together. You and Sawyer need to train the new members. You don’t have to like it, but you don’t have a choice in this, Teague. This is the team you’ve got and it’s up to you to make sure they’re ready.”
Corbin’s voice was quieter but no less cold when he said, “Great. Some deserters, a couple of newbs and someone who’s already proven she can’t follow orders. Some team I’ve got. I should have stayed asleep.”
Sawyer turned and ran several feet down the hall to catch up to Rowan before Corbin came through the door. His words hurt her more than she wanted to admit, even to herself. She felt a hollow pain in her chest that had nothing to do with her bruised ribs. She hated herself for feeling so betrayed. He was right. She hadn’t followed orders on their last mission. Tess and Liam were dead because she’d made the choice to ignore Corbin’s order to leave him behind. They’d been her friends and it was her fault they were dead. She lived with that guilt every day. She knew he spoke the truth, but she also knew that if she had a chance to go back to that night, she’d make the same choice again. Even now, knowing how wrong everything had become and seeing the emptiness in Corbin’s eyes, she would still choose him.
Chapter 10
The training arena was a massive room with various areas set up for different exercises. There were foam mats scattered around, punching bags, and training dummies. Bree looked around, taking in the other groups of people. She watched as one man demonstrated a kick on a dummy while others watched and nodded, giving him tips. It hit her all over again that she was entering a whole new universe now. What exactly had she agreed to? How was she supposed to become one of these soldiers? They’d been training their entire lives and she hadn’t even known this world existed until a few months ago. She tried to swallow down the butterflies that were making their way up from her stomach to her throat. Taking a deep breath, she pushed aside her nervous thoughts and focused on the tall red–haired woman approaching them. Gwynn was dressed in what Bree thought of as workout gear, black spandex pants, a racerback tank and sneakers. Her fiery red hair was pulled into a high ponytail on her head, making the thick scar on her neck seem to stand out even more.
Gwynn smiled as she approached them. “Hey everyone,” she said in a pleasant voice. “I know Conrad has told you some, but I wanted to meet with you all today to go over the rest of our plan for your training. Some of you are brand new to all this.” She looked at Bree and Declan with a smile. “Some of you just haven’t been here in a while.” Her gaze skittered across the remainder of the group. “This training period is for all of you. No exceptions.” Her face lost its sweet smile and her eyes became stern. “I don’t care if you’ve been a field agent for 20 years or if you’re brand new. Everyone has room to learn and improve. Plus, you all need to learn one another’s strengths and weaknesses, where you can help each other in the field. It just might be the thing that saves your life one day.” Bree understood why Gwynn was in charge of training. It was easy to imagine her as a drill sergeant for a group of new recruits. She felt her nerves twitch again and fought to press them back down. She hoped she’d be able to meet Gwynn’s standards.
Gwynn said, “I’ll be monitoring your progress as we go. You won’t be assigned to any active missions until I sign off. I need to know you can handle being in the field and working together before I’ll give my recommendation to Conrad. There’s more to this than just the skills. You have to trust one another. That sort of thing only comes with time. I know we all want to stop Ephraim, but I won’t send you out unless I know you’re ready.” Gwynn’s gaze went to each person standing before her, meeting everyone’s eyes. “This isn’t going to be an easy adjustment, I know, but if you all work hard and commit, I think this team can be one of the best.”
Bree, Declan, Sawyer, Corbin, Rylee and Jon stayed silent, nodding their understanding when appropriate. Declan glanced around at the other members of his team, realizing how real everything suddenly was. These five people would be protecting him and he them. He barely knew some of them, but he understood that he needed to learn to trust them all. He looked to Corbin, who seemed to be the most reluctant member of the team. He didn’t know why the other man seemed so hostile where Sawyer was concerned, but it was clear that he didn’t want to be part of this team. He hoped the other man would be able to let it go soon or their team would never be ready.
Gwynn handed them all a printed schedule outlining their training plans for the foreseeable future. Training would begin the following day. Declan cringed inwardly when he saw that their days would begin with 5am workouts. He’d never been much of a morning person, but it looked like he was going to have to become one. With orders to report to the training arena at 0500 the following morning, Gwynn dismissed the team. Corbin immediately stalked away as quickly as he could without appearing to run. Rylee and Jon left in the direction of their quarters. Bree wanted to check out the library. She looked at Declan and said, “Do you want to come with?”
Declan made himself turn down her offer. It was going to be hard enough to keep his distance during their training. He had a feeling they were going to be spending a lot of time together in the coming weeks. Even as part of him knew how hard it would be for him to maintain their platonic friendship, another part of him was excited at the prospect of spending so much time with Bree. He gave her a smile and said something about not sleeping well the night before. She smiled in understanding as they parted ways.
Sawyer stayed behind after everyone else left the arena. She needed to talk to Gwynn. The older woman gave her a smile and said, “Did you need something?”
Sawyer’s brow drew low as she thought about how to say what was on her mind. She cleared her throat. “Gwynn,” she said. “This isn’t going to work. Corbin and I aren’t going to work.”
Gwynn’s smile faded and she looked more serious. “Listen Sawyer,” she said. “I know things are a little weird right now, but you two have always made the best team. You’ll get back there again.”
Sawyer was shaking her head before Gwynn finished speaking. “He’s changed. He’s not the same guy he was before. Hell, I’m not the same person I was before. This isn’t going to work,” she said again. “I don’t think we’ll ever get back to the people we once were, Gwynn. Can you talk to Conrad? He’ll listen to you.”
Now Gwynn was shaking her head, her fiery ponytail swinging back and forth. “No,” she said firmly. Sawyer was taken aback by the finality of her tone. “No, Sawyer,” she said. “I can
’t talk to Conrad. I won’t. It was my recommendation to put you two back on a team together.” Sawyer wasn’t surprised. It was Gwynn’s job to make those recommendations. Still, she wished things were different.
She was suddenly angry. “He won’t work with me, Gwynn,” she said harshly. “He’s different. He doesn’t even look at me. He’s so angry. He hates me.” She was shocked at the words when they left her mouth. The idea that Corbin might actually hate her was something she hadn’t let herself think before, but now she was afraid that it might be true.
Sawyer felt Gwynn’s hand on her cheek, raising her face up to meet her gaze. “He doesn’t hate you, Sawyer,” Gwynn said, her voice gentle. “He’s angry and bitter. He’s still grieving for Tess and Liam. And…Stella.” She dropped her gaze for a moment and cleared her throat. “He might not ever be the same person he was before. Too much has happened for either of you to go back to those people. But he doesn’t hate you. I know it hurts, but I truly believe that you two can get back to being a team. Give it a chance.” Sawyer felt all the fight leave her when Gwynn said Stella’s name. Gwynn so rarely mentioned the daughter she’d lost nearly six months before. It was as though the name was too painful for her to speak aloud.
“I miss her,” Sawyer said quietly. Gwynn nodded and gave her a small smile.
“Me too,” she said. Her smile grew a little and she said, “She always knew how to referee you two.” Gwynn tucked a stray hair behind Sawyer’s ear. “If she were here,” she said, “she’d tell you to get your head out of your ass and get back to work. She’d tell you not to let some guy keep you from kicking ass and taking names.”
Sawyer laughed even as she felt her eyes grow damp. “She’d say it a lot sweeter than that,” she said before clearing her throat. Standing straighter, she took a shaky breath and let it out. “Fine,” she said. “You win. I’ll work with him.”
Gwynn gave a big smile. “That’s my girl,” she said. “You know Stella always thought of you like a sister.”
Sawyer nodded. “I know. I felt the same. I spent so much time at your place when we were kids, I’m sure you felt like you had two kids instead of one,” she said with a chuckle.
Gwynn nodded and smiled. “I never minded,” she said. “I love you like you’re mine, you know?” When Sawyer nodded, Gwynn went on. “I’m here if you ever need me. I know she brought us together and she’s gone now, but I’m here.” Sawyer hugged Gwynn, feeling a sense of peace wash over her. Growing up without her mother had been hard, but Gwynn had always made Sawyer feel like a daughter rather than just one of Stella’s friends. She was forever grateful to her for that.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
After the meeting with Gwynn, Bree found her way to the library and was pleased to find that it was just what she’d hoped. The room was large, well–lit and filled with books of all types lined up on tall wooden shelves. She wandered the stacks for a while, trailing her fingers over the spines. She finally chose a book and settled into one of the many chairs scattered throughout the room. She read for nearly an hour in the comfortable library chair, but her mind wouldn’t let her lose herself in the novel she held. She felt like she should be doing something, but she didn’t know what. This place was so foreign to her and she didn’t really know her way around.
After the fifth time she found her mind wandering, she decided to go for a walk and explore the compound. No one had told her she had to stay in any designated area. She wondered how many levels there were and what was on each level. She replaced the book on the shelf where she’d found it and turned to walk back toward the exit. The door swung open as she reached for the handle, so she moved aside to let the person on the other side enter. She was surprised to see that it was Sawyer.
The other girl froze and stared at Bree for a moment before speaking. “Oh, hey. I see you found your way here,” she said.
Bree thought Sawyer looked a little lost, but she just smiled and said. “You know me.”
Sawyer glanced briefly around the library before turning her attention back to Bree. “Where are you heading?” she asked.
Bree shrugged. “I was just going to explore a little. I’m going to have to learn my way around eventually,” she said in a wry tone.
To Bree’s surprise, Sawyer turned back toward the exit and said, “Come on. I’ll show you around.”
Bree raised an eyebrow in confusion, but followed Sawyer through the door and into the hallway. It wasn’t like Sawyer to volunteer for something so mundane as tour guide, but Bree didn’t question it. She thought maybe the other woman was feeling as lost as she was right now. Sawyer’s demeanor since coming here had been different. Bree wanted to ask her about it but she wasn’t sure how to bring it up. Whenever Bree had tried to ask Sawyer about her personal life or her past, she’d been met with stony silence at best and outward hostility at worst. It was clear that Sawyer wasn’t comfortable discussing herself. Bree had eventually given up trying.
She found it hard to reconcile her previous opinions of Sawyer with the woman walking beside her now. She'd seemed so tough and fearless before, concerned with nothing but the mission. She'd always been fierce and untouchable somehow. Bree never doubted Sawyer's capabilities when it came to their protection. She'd been confident and in command. Since coming to the compound, however, Bree questioned her previous opinion.
Her quiet reserve before had looked like confidence, even cockiness. Now though, she seemed unsure of herself. Her eyes held a sad, lost expression, especially when Corbin was around. Bree didn’t know the details of that relationship, but it didn’t take a genius to see that there was something there. She was curious, but didn’t think Sawyer would want to open up to her.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, Sawyer leading the way. Bree was struck again by the size of the place. “How big is this place?” she finally asked. Sawyer smiled briefly before she answered.
“Surprised?” she asked.
Bree nodded. “Very,” she said. “I’m not sure what I expected but this place is way bigger than I thought.”
Sawyer seemed to brighten a bit as she spoke. “It was built in the 1950s. You know, back when fallout shelters were totally acceptable because the Russians were going to nuke us any minute?” Bree smiled and nodded. “Anyway,” Sawyer went on, “a group of Praetors settled on this place thinking it would be secure. This was one of the first places that any group of Praetorians gathered after Ephraim started his war against us. Before this place, we were scattered all over. Everyone figured it was safer to keep to themselves and avoid drawing any sort of attention. It’s officially called Sigma. Someone had the idea to use letters from the Greek alphabet to name the different groups. I guess we had to call ourselves something.”
Bree nodded. That made sense. She’d noticed the symbol here and there throughout the compound and wondered about it. Sometimes it was paired with a scorpion, which her research had told her was the symbol for the original Praetorian Guard in ancient Rome. Sometimes it was still hard to believe that this group she was a part of stemmed from so long ago.
She studied the compound as they walked. The walls were painted in light colors and the floors were a rich dark wood. The lighting was warm and comforting. It was a far cry from Bree’s idea of an underground bunker. She’d expected concrete and steel and fluorescent lighting. Instead of the impersonal industrial feel, the place felt warm and inviting. If it weren’t so large and empty, it might have felt like a home.
“The underground portion of the compound goes 8 floors down,” Sawyer went on. “There’s also the three–story building above us. That’s really just a front for the underground portion. We can’t have people coming and going through a manhole or something. The actual underground compound was built five stories below the building’s foundation.” Bree was shocked at the idea that there was so much earth, concrete and steel between her and the outside world. She tried not to dwell on it.
Two men turned a corner ahead of th
em and began walking down the hallway toward them. When they looked up and saw Sawyer, both men smiled widely. “Hey!” the taller of the men said. “Welcome back, Williams. You’ve been gone long enough.” Sawyer returned the smile as the men approached.
“Pax! Cole! Hey.” Sawyer said, her eyes widening as the two men ran the last few yards toward her and charged her. She let out a little shriek when one of the men scooped her up and hugged her close. He spun her around in a circle before setting her back on her feet. Bree couldn’t help smiling at seeing Sawyer look happy. Her face was transformed. The worry was gone, replaced by a broad smile. Her eyes, normally so devoid of emotion were sparkling with humor. The second man was a little more reserved and bent down to give Sawyer a brief hug.
“I’m glad you’re home safe,” he said quietly.
“Thanks,” she said. “Me too.”
“Bree,” she said turning toward her. “This is Scott Paxton and Richard Cole. They act like a couple of overgrown children, but they’re mostly harmless.” Bree smiled at the two men. “Guys, this is Bree Warren. Be nice.” Sawyer pointed back and forth between the two of them with an expression of false severity on her face. Her eyes still held a spark of amusement.
Scott was the taller of the two men and had close–cropped golden–brown hair and hazel eyes. He had a rangy build and carried himself with a confidence that was evident to Bree. He flashed Bree a wide smile and reached out to shake her hand. “Everyone calls me Pax,” he said. “Nice to meet you, Bree.”
She smiled as she shook his hand. “Pax,” she repeated. “Nice to meet you.” She turned to face the other man.
Richard Cole was only a few inches taller than Bree herself and extremely muscular. The two men couldn’t have looked more like opposites if they’d tried. Cole had dark brown hair that was slightly wavy and combed back away from his face. His eyes were a pale, ice blue that was difficult to look away from. He was a bit more reserved and gave Bree a small smile as she shook his hand. “Call me Cole,” he said, his voice warm and friendly. “Welcome.” Bree nodded her thanks.
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