“Ready to give up?” he asked when I wavered.
I shook my head, smacking the lightweight boxing gloves together and bouncing on my toes. I wasn’t going to give up until they had to carry me out.
“Good. Again,” Oliver said, beckoning Airen forward.
She was winded, too. Her chest heaved as she nodded and then advanced.
“Yes!” Oliver bellowed when a well-aimed jab caught Airen in the side. “Now you’re getting it! If you can land another blow like that I’ll call it a day.”
Airen danced sideways, turning just as my fist shot out. I missed.
I had no idea how long it took me to get another jab in on her. What I did know was when I finally did land a hit, the mat looked like a great place to curl up and go to sleep until the next day.
“Good job, Nova,” Airen said, tapping her gloves against the top of mine.
“Hit the showers. Tomorrow’s another day,” Oliver said as he unlaced our gloves.
My hands felt five pounds lighter with the gloves off, and my waning energy perked back up with the thoughts of a hot shower.
“You’ve come a long way in the last two weeks,” Airen said as we walked down the hallway that led to our rooms.
“Tell that to my body,” I replied, digging my thumb into a sore spot on my shoulder.
She chuckled. “It gets a little easier every day. At least it did for me. I remember my first few training sessions where I fell on the ground and refused to get up.”
“That tired?” I asked, casting a quick glance at her.
“Oh, aye. Felt like a right numpty more often than not. Still, I kept pushing myself. Ye find it… that spot inside of ye, and realize it’s not as impossible as ye once thought.”
There was something about Airen that seemed so open and honest. And then there was her accent, which made her sound melodic no matter what she said.
“How long did it take you to find it?” I asked as we reached her room.
She twisted the doorknob to her room and gave me a smirk. “After I got tired of being knocked down. See ya later.”
I’d almost made it to my room when Paige called my name.
“Hey, wow… you look exhausted,” she said when she caught up.
“Is there a word that means more than exhausted?” I asked, wondering how rude it would look if I just fell over and went to sleep right there.
She chuckled. “Yeah, we call them agents. But I guess that can’t even be true anymore since you’ve decided to tackle both ends and the middle.”
And then some. “I was just about to get a shower. What’s up?” I asked.
“I just wanted to check on you,” she answered.
“Procedure checkup for new recruits?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nope, that’s tomorrow. Today, I’m just coming to check on my friend. So, you’re good?”
My heart squeezed hearing her say that. Hard as it was to wrap my head around the enigma that was the Six, it was harder still knowing they’d accepted me as one of their own. “I’m good. Thanks.”
She touched my arm and then backed up. “If you need anything, I’m just down the hall.”
“Okay.”
I was okay until I was alone. Being alone gave me too much time to think. Eli was never far from my thoughts, and neither was Noni. During the day, I was busy enough to repress everything and put a Band-Aid over my heart. But when I was alone, there was nothing keeping the thoughts at bay. They bled through the temporary fix and danced on my heart.
With Noni, I had closure. A sense of knowing it was final. I’d said my goodbyes to her and honored her final wishes. There was no closure for me as far as Eli was concerned. His body was being taken care of, or at least it was what Jared’s mother told him. And while everyone was dealing with his loss in their own way, I could also see the questions in their eyes. Questions no one was available to answer. Nadia hadn’t talked to anyone other than Jared, and when he’d come back from his talk with her, it hadn’t gone well at all.
Oliver walked around hollow-eyed. They’d rallied together and cornered him, demanding answers until he flipped out. I’d backed against the wall, scared to breathe when all hell broke loose. None of the Six were ready to accept that Eli was gone. That he’d suffered a critical injury that robbed him from their lives. Worse was there was no body to mourn over. And what would come back of him amounted to nothing but an echo of what he once was. Yet, they waited for that moment, unable to truly move on until they could come together and say goodbye.
I didn’t push for answers. No matter how much I wanted to demand to be told what happened. The little time I’d spent with him didn’t hold a candle to those around me. I had no right to feel like I was owed something. All I had was what he’d given me in that small amount of time, and I’d carry it with me for the rest of my life.
All I knew was training. If I focused on that, I wouldn’t fall apart. Oliver met me in the training room and put me through treadmill hell and hours of burpees, crunches, lunges, and squats.
When he called for a halt, I bumped the treadmill down to a slow walk and hoped my legs would keep me upright. It wasn’t until I was off the treadmill that I noticed a younger-looking man in a lab coat standing beside Oliver.
“Nova, this is Cole Franklin,” Oliver said.
I had no idea what protocol was when agents met the mastermind behind the curtain. Did I shake his hand? I was sweaty from head to toe, so I tucked that idea away as he said, “It’s nice to officially meet you, Nova.”
“Thank you, sir,” I answered between labored breaths.
He wasn’t anything like I’d expected. For one, he seemed really young. For another, he was a whole lot smaller in stature than I’d envisioned.
“I wanted to come down and introduce myself to you before we started your medic training,” Cole said.
Oliver’s eyebrows rose, but he kept quiet.
“Oliver, a moment please?” Cole said. “It was nice to meet you, Nova. Welcome to the team.”
“Looks like you get an easy day,” Oliver said as he gave me a curt nod and then followed Cole out through the door at the other end of the training room.
I moved over to the mini fridge just as the door opened and Ace walked in.
“Done already?” he asked, eyes scanning the room. “Did Oliver leave?”
Caught mid-swallow, I held my finger up. “Cole came and introduced himself to me, then asked to speak to him.”
Ace’s eyes widened briefly. “Huh.”
“Oliver made that face, too, when Cole came… why?” I asked.
“We don’t see him all that often,” he answered as he crossed the room to where the free weights were.
“The guy who created all of this isn’t around much?” I asked.
Ace selected his weights and held them at his sides. “He delegates. Although, you might see him more often like Eli does—”
His words crashed to a halt as he closed his eyes and swore.
“I’m sorry,” I said, seeing the anguish on his face. It stabbed at my own heart.
His eyes snapped open. “Nova, you have nothing to be sorry for. I do… but you don’t.”
I moved to sit against the wall. I couldn’t go back to my room and be alone. No more than I could leave Ace by himself with the guilt he felt hanging so heavy in the air. It shimmered and danced around him like the northern lights that painted the sky at home.
“Have you ever seen the northern lights?” I asked.
“Once,” he said, putting the weights back before he asked, “Why?”
“Eli had never seen them before, so I took him out one night and we sat for hours watching the sky. I’ll never forget it. Not for the rest of my life, because it’s one of the few memories I have with him. But you guys… you guys have years’ worth. A lifetime really. Like the lifetime of memories I have of Noni. It’s never enough though, is it?”
He shook his head. “It’s not, and I don’t know how to dea
l with it. I can’t process it. I keep telling myself he’s only been called out to the field for an emergency. Some days, I can trick myself into truly believing it. At least until I close my eyes. That’s when the truth hits me. They cut all the wiring on the snowmobiles and the snowcat, did you know that?” he asked.
“They?” Was he talking about Eli’s kidnappers?
“Ivanov’s Ukrainian thugs. They set off an explosion not far from where our base of operations was. Aiden and I went out right after the explosion, but Eli stayed to set up the medic room… just in case,” Ace said, explaining, but not fully explaining, everything.
“Was anyone injured?” I asked.
“The scientist we were there to keep tabs on and two of his assistants. One of the assistants didn’t make it. If we’d have made it back five minutes earlier, they never would have taken Eli. And what makes it even worse is that I can’t shake this feeling he’s going to walk through the door one day.
“Aiden’s a mess. He can’t sleep. He hasn’t been in the training room. He stalks the halls looking for Nadia, but she hasn’t shown her face since coming back from Mongolia. Nobody’s saying anything. Why hasn’t anyone come to us? Why hasn’t there been something done for Eli?” Ace bowed forward, fingers laced behind his neck.
His questions stacked on top of my own. They were valid, and knowing how he felt, I was sure everyone felt the same.
“Sorry, Nova, I just… It’s hard to talk to anyone about it. The others either cry or rage, so it’s easier to keep my thoughts to myself.”
“Maybe that’s why Cole wanted to talk to Oliver,” I answered.
Ace snorted. “Maybe, but I doubt it. They don’t tell you anything you want to know unless they want you to know it.”
“Well, that sucks,” I said, resting my head against the wall.
Ace’s hand hovered in front of my face. “Come on, we’re not gonna get anything accomplished in here today.”
I let him help me up, and we left the training room together.
Chapter 19
Nadia
Cole moved around the small surgery on the other side of the glass wall. There were so many instruments in there with him that at some points, I only saw a flash of the white coat he wore.
He checked dials and knobs, marking things off on the clipboard he carried until the pen made it to the bottom of the page. He nodded to himself and then scanned the room. Stopping on the table in the center, he then turned his attention to where I stood.
I touched the barrier as Cole crossed over to the window and met my eyes briefly before the glass went opaque. There wasn’t anything to do but wait. It seemed like it was all I’d been doing since I returned from Mongolia. In reality, it had only been a few weeks, but they’d felt like a lifetime.
“Thought I’d find you here,” Grant said, putting his arm around me.
“This has to work,” I answered, closing my eyes and fighting the wave of emotion threatening to swallow me.
He turned me in his arms and then kissed my forehead. “All we can do is wait and see what happens.”
He was right. No matter how much I wanted to be able to help, I couldn’t. Cole would either succeed, or he wouldn’t.
I’d avoided everyone since returning from Mongolia. Not only did I have my own wounds to tend, and a husband to answer to since I’d taken off without a word when intel handed me the whereabouts of Ivanov, but the truth of it was I just couldn’t face any of them.
Grant had been beside himself with worry. When I called for evac, he was the team that came. Just him. And he had been pissed. He held it together long enough to get us out of Mongolia and back to Chicago before giving me a sound piece of his mind. And then once he’d calmed down, he held me in his arms and we both cried.
“No point in asking you to go rest is there?” Grant said as I pulled back to look at him.
A faint smile wobbled on my lips as I shook my head.
“I just saw Flint a few minutes ago,” he said. “He said she’s doing better than Cole anticipated.”
“Does she have a name?” I asked.
“Not that she remembers. I’m guessing that’s either a side effect, or normal. Cole doesn’t seem to be too concerned, though. You know how he gets when he’s in mad-scientist mode.” Grant chuckled. “It’s like you can see equations, hypotheses, and diagrams all dancing in his eyes when an idea strikes.”
I snorted. “Some would call it playing God.”
He shrugged. “And some would call it cutting-edge science. Good thing our thinking falls on the same side as his, so we can just label it a miracle.”
“Two miracles,” I added.
“Nova seems to be doing really well. Cole was right about bringing her in,” he said, changing the subject.
“Good. That’s really good to hear.” It made me feel a bit better knowing she was all right after dealing with two heavy blows. It told me that she was strong enough to handle whatever came at her from here on out.
“Cole signed off on the plans for the facility in Nome. Construction will start in the spring, so we’ll need to pick who will oversee the project and field off any unwanted visitors,” he said, catching me up on everything he’d taken on since I couldn’t pull my thoughts together to be much help.
I shifted and flinched.
“Side bothering you?” he asked.
“Just a twinge.” Actually, it ached like a fiend; healing bullet wounds usually did. As far as I was concerned, it was my penance.
He lifted my chin with the crook of his finger. “You’re a terrible liar. I’ll let it slide for now. But there’s only so much I’m going to let slide, because I can’t stand back and watch you flog yourself for things that can’t be changed.”
“Grant, you have a few minutes?” Roman Flint called from down the hall.
Grant sighed. “I’ll be back to check on you.”
When standing became too much, I moved to sit with my back braced against the wall. My backside had fallen asleep hours before, but I wasn’t going to give up my vigil. Exhaustion sank its claws in deep, and I found myself fighting to keep my eyes open with every passing second.
I woke with a start to someone shaking my shoulder enough to rouse me.
“You stayed out here this entire time?” Cole asked, eyebrows climbing up his forehead.
I tried to sit up on my own and failed.
Cole muttered something under his breath about stubborn women before helping me into a sitting position.
“What?” I asked, hissing when he ran his hand over my side.
“I said, you aren’t doing yourself any favors by refusing to rest like I told you to.”
I came fully awake and grabbed Cole’s wrist. “If you’re out here, that means—”
“That means I’ve done all I can do for right now,” he finished.
“I have to see,” I said, putting both hands out so Cole could help me up.
He sighed. “I suppose you do or else you’ll probably take up permanent residence right here on the floor.”
Not only did he help me stand, but he looped his arm around me and kept me on my feet as we slowly made our way over to the door.
A door that would only open when Cole pressed his thumb to the fingerprint scanner beside it.
Once we were inside, I closed my eyes, pinching them as tight as they would go while Cole led me across the room. Worry, fear, anxiety… all of it washed over me. I was scared to open my eyes and find I’d been dreaming all along.
When Cole released me, my eyes popped open.
A sob caught in my throat and my hands clapped over my mouth as tears I could no longer hold back rolled one after another down my cheeks.
Cole had done it. Eli was breathing.
“He’s holding his own right now, but I can’t make any promises, Nadia.”
I nodded, unable to say anything as I reached out and gave his hand a gentle squeeze, hoping that somewhere behind his closed eyes, deep inside his mind, he w
ould know I was there. His hand tightened against mine, and I felt the last of my composure slip.
Cole had done it. Eli was alive and I could finally rest.
Chapter 20
Nova
My head hit the table, and I jerked upright. I’d been sitting in front of a computer for so long my eyes felt like a desert had replaced them. It even hurt to blink. And there was still so much more to do before I could shut the computer off and go to sleep.
Between training with Oliver during the mornings and then switching it up to sit in front of a computer while I watched lectures compiled to teach me everything from basic first aid to setting a broken finger, I was exhausted. The easy stuff, Paige had said, would only last for so long. The training would step up after every module I tested on and passed. I was, for the most part, learning at my own pace, but at some point, I would be working one on one with a senior medic.
What I did know was that I had no room in my head for anything but training and more training because each night, when I finally made it to bed and closed my eyes, I slept without dreaming.
“Hey, Nova,” Murphy called as she stuck her head in my room.
“Mmm?” I said, head tipping past my screen so I could look at her.
“Pack your bags. We’re going to Scotland for two weeks,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Scotland? What for?” I asked, confused by the turn of events.
She shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care. So long as it gets us out of here for a while, I’m game for just about anything.”
“Who else is going?” I asked.
“All of us are,” she answered. “Pack warm clothes; it’ll be cold there.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re speaking to the girl who has that covered.”
“It’s good to be home,” Airen said as we were practically blown into the church on a burst of wind.
“Ouch, shit, that hurt,” Jared said as he rubbed the side of his face.
“Watch your mouth. In case you didn’t notice the big cross out front, we’re in a church,” Paige scolded.
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