He could see it in her eyes.
It was coming.
Driving into her body, he did battle with the demons in them both. He took love, life, and ecstasy and poured it into her. As her mouth tore at his control, her lower body destroyed him. He was on the edge.
“Fall with me, Avi. Fall with me,” he begged.
She shook, tumbling from the edge just as he exploded in release.
Their shouts filled the silence of the cave, and then there was quiet once more.
Breathing calmed.
Silence ensued.
“Avalon?”
She could barely speak. “Nathaniel?”
“Promise me that when you get to the other side, where ever it is, you’ll wait for me. Promise me that when we meet again, you’ll remember what we shared. You’ll remember we loved.”
The fact that he knew what was coming proved one thing. This man was meant to be hers. Avalon struggled to put the words together.
“I’ll always wait for you, Nathaniel. You’re the only man who will ever own my heart.”
His skipped as he kept her trapped beneath him. “Then that’s all that matters.”
With that, she wept.
And helplessly, he could only watch.
Time slipped slowly by, and she wasn’t quite sure what had happened. One minute she was wrapped around Nate, and the next she was fast asleep. As she opened up her eyes, there was the distinct glow of a fire. She couldn’t see it, but she could tell it was there.
Then she could hear him moving around.
The room smelled like cooking fish.
So, she stirred.
He heard when she was coming awake. The slow even breaths changed, and the jacket he’d placed over her to keep her warm rustled.
When she’d wept herself to sleep, he wanted to do something to save her from the pain, but he couldn’t. Until this was all over, he was trapped in the nightmare with her.
Instead of getting angry and losing focus, he worked it out in his head. If she stayed right there, she couldn’t die. If they didn't let her leave the mine, there could be no one to kill her.
So, under no circumstances was she to leave.
That was his final decision.
He was going to lock Avalon down so no one could get near her. Let fate try to steal her away.
“I made you something to eat,” he stated.
“It smells wonderful.”
“Do you need me to help you get dressed?” Nate asked.
“No, I should be good. Just tell me where my clothes are.” She noticed that he’d covered her with his hoodie, and it smelled like him. “Then I can give this back,” she offered.
He glanced over at her wearing nothing but it draped over her, and he didn't want it back. She looked beautiful all rumpled and wearing his clothes.
“They’re to your right, and keep the hoodie on. I don’t want you to catch a chill.”
Avalon began dressing, and she could feel him watching her. While it should make her nervous, it didn't. “Nathaniel?”
“I need something from you, Avi. I need you to make me another promise.”
She dressed and moved toward him, awkwardly trying to navigate the new space. Before she could trip, he was at her side, tucking her under his arm.
“Okay, what?”
Nate sat her down beside the fire so she could stay warm. While it wasn’t cold out, the dampness made a chill fill the air. “I don’t want you to leave this mine. I’m going to call Maura and Luke to come back, and we’re going to lock you down.”
“Nate.”
He stared at her. “I need you to promise me that you won’t leave here. No matter what, you’ll stay. I don’t know what you’ve seen to make you feel like our time is coming to the end, but I’m going to fight it.”
She listened to him.
“If you leave here, you’ll die. So, don’t leave. I don’t care what the reason, but you stay right here.”
She opened her mouth, but he cut her off.
“Promise me that, Avalon. I need to know you’re safe, so I can find this asshole and end his life.”
She touched his cheek. “I promise.”
He relaxed. “Thank you.”
Avalon thought back to the visions, and how Nate tried to save her. She could hear him screaming her name. Maybe if she didn't leave, she would have a chance. At least he wouldn’t be hurt.
“I can smell dinner. What can I do to help you?” she offered, wanting to change the subject.
“You could give me a kiss. I worked hard catching these fish. Tomorrow, I hope to have Luke and Maura back here. Then we can feast on Power Bars and jerky.”
She leaned into Nate to give him a kiss. “Yay! Power Bars.”
He grinned. “Let’s talk about more pleasant things.”
“Like?”
“Have you ever been outside the country? I want to see the world with you, and I think we should do it.”
Avalon took the fish he was offering her and carefully blew on it. The smell was heavenly. “I’ve been all over,” she stated. “I get moved a lot, and sometimes I would head to summits to help the government when things came up.”
“Well, I still want us to see some amazing things. I want to take you to the Louver and describe every painting to you. It’s going to take days, but we’ll have fun.”
She turned to face him. “I want to go on a rollercoaster.”
He smiled. “There’s a woman after my own heart. Did you know there’s a whole town that smells like chocolate? They have a huge park there. We’ll do that too.”
“Really? That exists?”
“Yep. It’s back east.”
Her face lit up, and he fell in love all over again. Her beauty and childlike innocence appealed to him. After all the ugliness, he wanted her to have some peace.
“We’ll probably have to take Luke. He’s like a big kid and anytime he can hang upside down or get freaked out, he’s all over it.”
“You’re close, aren’t you?”
“Yes. He’s like my brother. My sister Callie and I are all he has left.”
“She’s having a girl.”
Nate stopped eating. It shocked him a little that she knew his sister was pregnant and the sex of the baby. He’d never mentioned it.
“Sorry. Things like that slip out. Elizabeth Blackhawk tried to teach me how to filter them, but I’m bad at it.”
“Did you spend time with her?” he asked.
“Yes. She was my escort for two months. So was Jagger. They kept me safe. I like Elizabeth. She’s a big softie.”
He started laughing. “Are we talking about the same woman?”
“Yes, I think so. She’s the one with the southern accent and the two men in her bed. Lucky her.”
Nate began choking. “Okay, let’s not go there. She’s my boss and hates me.”
Avalon tipped her head. “Why do you think that? She actually likes you a lot. In fact, she thinks that you’re a very good director.”
“She told you that?”
She tapped her head. “Nope. I just know.”
He wasn’t sure if he could buy that or not. Elizabeth rode him pretty hard, and that was on a good day.
“She knows your potential. You’ll see.”
On that note, he decided to make a call. He needed to get his partner back there. Their mission was to keep Avalon safe, and they had to get back to it.
“I’ll be right back.”
She listened as he walked away. As soon as he was gone, the fake happy veneer slipped away. The edginess was back, and Avalon had to admit that despite Nate’s plan, she was worried.
No...make that scared.
* * * C a r t e r - G a i n e s * * *
They backed away from the house to give themselves some privacy. The last thing they needed was to give their location away. Maura needed to make a call to check in with the Blackhawks, and she was sure there were going to be fireworks.
She could
tell by how tense Luke was, and that was odd. He was scanning the area and pacing.
“You’re making me nervous,” she stated.
“I feel off.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just feel…jumpy.”
“She pointed toward their bag. “Candy bars, babe. Sugar will kill you.”
He rolled his eyes. “For that, I’m not going to share.”
She laughed as she dialed the phone. As soon as it began ringing, she went serious.
“Blackhawk.”
“It’s me.”
There was a pause.
“Are you calling to report in?” she asked.
“We laid the trap, and two hours into it, we had a bite. Two military men showed up, and they weren’t here to ask if we wanted to buy cookies. They were scouting the location.”
There was a tirade of profanities that would make any sailor proud. Maura let Elizabeth get it off her chest.
“I’m going to take off his balls for this,” she stated.
Maura didn't blame her for being angry. It was a bitch that someone that high up was playing a game.
“What do you want us to do?”
“Watch the place for a while and see what they do. I’m going to handle this situation. Hopefully, I can get more information to help you out. What we have isn't pretty.”
“Spill it.”
“We found only one person named Greene who could be our man. We were looking at people who could possibly get their claws in a Fed, and have enough money to play the game. He’s buying commandos, and they don’t come cheap.”
“What do you have?” She grabbed Luke’s phone from his pocket and began typing in notes so he could read over her shoulder.
“We have a W. Greene. He’s a power player in Washington. He owns a company that does military contracts in warzones. He has an ample stash of ex-soldiers.”
Maura gave her some of the names of the men she encountered in the woods, and Elizabeth found them on the list Callen had printed out. “Yep, they work for Greene.”
“Okay, so he’s a power player. What do we have on him?”
“He’s got no past. We can’t find jack shit. The man is a ghost. Since his business is built on a million shell companies, none use a social security number. We can’t get any details on him.”
“If he’s doing military contracts for the US Government, he had to have a background check,” Maura stated.
“Oh, he did. Unfortunately, it was so long ago, that no one’s ever checked up on it. We pulled the file, and it was empty. We have a picture, and nothing more.”
“Nothing?”
“You know how the government is. Some pencil pusher was probably bribed to yank the data. It’s wiped. When I accessed it in our system, it set off some flags. I figured that was coming, so I made a call to tech support first. They isolated it so when I opened it, the person who flagged it wouldn’t be alerted.”
“Who flagged it?” she asked.
“Gabriel Rothschild.”
Maura knew that the shit was going to hit the fan.
“We have Greene’s face. I’ll send the picture to you and to the team in Fredricksville. If he’s floating around, at least you’ll see him coming.”
“So you want us to keep an eye on the place?”
“Yes, but just until I contact you. I want to make sure no one is suspicious that I’m on the move.”
“We can do that.”
“I’m sorry you’ve had to clean up this mess, Maura. I can promise you that this will get resolved.”
“You know, for a while, I thought you’d toss our asses to the wolves.”
Elizabeth didn't say anything.
“I was wrong. Luke said you were a good boss, and I want you to know that I trust you. I’ll comply with whatever order you hand out, Director.”
“Thank you for that, Major Gaines. I want you to assure that Oracle is safe. Use whatever methods you have to at this point. She’s our priority.”
“I agree.”
“I’ll talk to you later. I have a rat to flush from the hole.”
Hanging up, Maura was about to fill Luke in when his cell went off. Answering it, he found his partner on the other end.
“What’s up?”
“I need you to get back here, and soon. I don’t feel right leaving Avalon alone, even for a second. I need backup.”
“Is something going on?”
“I just feel edgy, and she’s told me that she’s going to die. If we let her, Luke, I’m fucked.”
He heard it in his partner’s voice. “Hang in there. We won’t let her get hurt. We’re going to be heading that way. Just lay low, and keep your eyes open, man.”
Maura was watching him.
“She’s not going to die. We’ve got this.”
“I can’t lose her. I don’t think you understand. If she’s gone, I’m gone. I’m slipping, and she’s the only one who’s holding me to this life. I love her, and I can’t lose her. Help me, Luke. I need your help. Please save the woman I love.”
“We’re coming now. Hang in there.”
He hung up.
“What’s wrong?” Maura asked.
“Avalon must have told him she’s going to die. Nate is on the edge, and he needs us back there to keep her locked down. We have to help him, Maura.”
She weighed her options.
Elizabeth told her to stay there and watch the house, but Oracle was her priority.
“Okay, we’re bugging out. We’ll grab our gear and head to the location. I know a way to get there so we can leave a vehicle if we have to make a break for it. The next safe house is across the county.”
He started packing.
“We have to help him. I’ve never, in my entire life, heard Nate sound so worried. He’s generally a rock.”
Maura knew they were close. “We’ll be there within the hour. Then, we’ll make sure no one hurts her. I promise.”
They headed toward their vehicle.
Only, they weren’t alone.
The men who scouted the house had heard Luke’s phone, and it brought them right to them.
They watched.
“What do we do?” the one asked.
“We follow and call the boss. He wants us to bring him one of them. When we do, we get paid.”
“Then we better do this right.”
The other man nodded. “I don’t want to be the one he kills because he’s flipped his shit.”
“Yeah, me either.”
With that, they began stalking their prey.
* * * C a r t e r - G a i n e s * * *
He received two calls.
Everything was looking up.
Melissa Miller was on her way and would be landing just after midnight. The second she reached her mother’s house, he was going to be waiting for her.
Oh, he wouldn’t kill her right off.
No, he needed her. She was going to be bait. Once he got her, everything would be smooth sailing.
If that wasn’t good enough, he’d received another call. Since switching up his strategy, he’d gotten lucky. Two of his men had found the woman making his life miserable.
Major Maura Gaines now had a name and face.
That pleased him.
Once you knew your enemy, you could cage them in, and then lock them down.
He was in the process of doing just that. His hired guns had finally done what he asked. Soon, he would have one more bargaining chip.
It was all coming to fruition. Once he had Avalon’s mother, and one of her protection detail, he’d be able to do what he wanted with them.
Use them.
Break them.
Kill them.
To him, they were collateral damage. He was in the business of selling war, and he knew how to do that the right way. No one could stop him.
Not the FBI.
Not the government, and certainly not his daughter, Oracle.
It was time to play his hand. His gre
atest sin, like the rest of her family, was about to be cleansed.
It could only be done by one person.
Him…
CHAPTER Twenty-Four
Friday Late Afternoon
T he trip to the bar had been a total wash. The woman didn't know anything more than Polly Carmichael Lawrence had told them, and that was frustrating. For now, they’d head back to the hotel and try and regroup. Jagger had been out wandering all morning, and they wanted an update. Just knowing that the bad guys weren’t that far away was unnerving.
It made Quinn edgy as hell.
At the hotel, they found the Marine crashing on the couch. He was flipping through files and making notes.
“What’s up?” he asked as they walked in.
“Same shit. We can’t get a line on Avalon’s father, or why someone is playing this sick game,” Callie stated, getting frustrated.
“Well, I can tell you that our muscle is getting ready to move. Something is coming. They’re loading up their gear, but not leaving. That means that at any moment they’re going to be moving out.”
“That’s curious,” Quinn stated.
“Yeah, and it worries me. I don’t like not knowing what’s going on around me.”
“Maybe you should head back there and watch them,” Callie suggested. “If they move, they might lead us somewhere.”
She had a point.
“Yeah, that works for me. I just needed a food break and to brief you. I’ve got a few more hours in me.”
As the Marine prepared to head back out, Callie’s cell phone chimed. An email arrived, and it was tagged ‘URGENT’. “The boss sent something,” she said, opening the email. Inside there was a note and a picture.
Callie read it to the two men.
‘We’ve got a new lead on W. Greene. He’s in the FBI files, but someone stripped them clean. We’re working on finding out more about him, but until then, I can share the photo that was attached to his file. If you see him in town, watch but do not approach. We’re not sure how to handle this. Update Jagger and have him stay alert.’
Callie opened up the photo attachment and checked out the man that was suspected to be behind all this mess. He was a handsome man, and for some reason, he looked familiar.
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