by May, W. J.
Chapter 4
“James!” Beth was up from the table in a rush of speed, darting over the rickety floor boards and throwing herself into Carter’s arms without shame.
Rae gagged silently and returned her attention to the table, and even Carter looked a bit surprised to be on the receiving end of such an embrace.
He rested his hands lightly on Beth’s back, looking like he could finally cross this moment off his bucket list, when Beth pulled back and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“You got her out.” She kissed him again, on the lips. “I knew you would.”
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Gabriel leaned over and whispered in Rae’s ear. “Are Carter and your mom going at it?”
“Ew—no. Shut up, Gabriel,” Rae snapped, rubbing his breath off her neck.
Carter cleared his throat self-consciously, at the same time seeming unwilling to physically let Beth go. He kept one hand on her arm, gently squeezing it as he replied, “Of course I got her out, Beth. I wasn’t going to leave your daughter in jail.”
So much for my daydreams of mom tearing him a new one for letting me be arrested.
Devon, Julian, and Molly seemed to be of a similar mindset.
“But you had no trouble whatsoever letting her get arrested in the first place,” Molly said boldly, putting her hands on her hips.
Carter finally tore his eyes away from Beth and looked at the pint-sized girl in surprise. “I had no choice, Miss Skye. When there was nothing but radio silence from you lot for the better part of a month, certain allowances had to be made.”
“Certain allowances like shutting Rae up in a cell?” Devon’s eyes flashed as he looked his boss up and down. “She’s a fugitive now, Carter. There’s no going back. How could you let something like that happen?”
Carter stared around the little kitchen in alarm. This was obviously not the kind of welcome he had envisioned when he drove out here. “Now wait just one minute—”
“We trusted you,” Molly said accusingly, bringing herself up to her full height. “When you said you couldn’t tell the Privy Council what was really going on, but that we should all go out on this secret mission anyway, we trusted that everything would be okay when we came back.”
“And you were right to do so!” A vein in Carter’s neck started throbbing. “I don’t think you understand the precariousness of the position I’m—”
“How were we right to do so, when the second we got back, Rae went to jail?” Julian asked softly. His dark eyes fixed on Carter’s with a burning intensity that demanded the truth. “And don’t tell me it was some big surprise for you. You’re the damn president! You had to have purposely waited to make any permanent decision until the last second so I wouldn’t see…”
Carter glanced helplessly at Beth, but in the end, he turned his eyes to Rae.
She was perched on the edge of her chair, keeping her eyes trained on the table. In the two days she was kept in holding, she had imagined screaming a great many of these exact things at Carter once she saw him again. But her friends beat her to the punch.
“Rae…” he began tentatively, sensing, or perhaps hoping, that if he got her forgiveness the rest would automatically follow.
She lifted her eyes with a little sigh, locking them on her old boss. She no longer worked for the Privy Council.
The same boss who had sworn to protect her. The same boss who had sent her off on this international goose chase to begin with. The same boss who then screamed at her in the tunnels underground, loudly pronouncing for all the world to hear how she had turned out exactly like her father. How she would spend the rest of her miserable, ‘potentially dangerous’ life in prison.
“Rae…do you understand why I did what I did?”
She stared at him quietly, not saying a word.
“If we want to catch Cromfield,” he continued gently, “that’s something we’re going to have to do ourselves.”
“Why?” she demanded quietly, curling her fingers in frustration. “We take all the risks and we’re penalized for it? I go to prison, and I’m the threat? That’s so unfair.”
Carter sighed. “I know it is. But Rae, you’ve stumbled into the middle of a series of events that started long before you were born. Lanford had been working to undermine the Privy Council for the last three decades, slowly turning their already old-fashioned, conservative mindset to even more radical heights. Jennifer Jones had been passing information to Cromfield and slowly furthering his agenda since you were just a baby, and now I’m beginning to suspect that we may have yet another leak within the organization.”
Everyone in the kitchen shared a quick look of alarm, and he sighed again.
“The point is that Cromfield has been working for countless years, not just to undermine the Council, but to do it from a place of absolute and utter anonymity. Trying to convince them that he’s the one responsible for what’s been happening since you started at school, instead of you—Simon Kerrigan’s daughter—would be absolutely futile. They needed a villain, and you gave them one. To say anything different…I’d be fired on the spot just for suggesting it.”
He saw the obstinate look on Rae’s face and clarified quickly.
“And if I thought that might actually help, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I’m of far more use to everyone if I stay exactly where I am now; keeping a grip on things as best I can.”
Rae’s eyes welled up with angry tears and she lowered them quickly to the table. “Even if it means I can never go home again.”
In a flash, Carter was sitting at her side. He took her hand without seeming to even think about it, speaking with a fervor she had never heard before. “You will go home again. We will clear your name, and we will bring Cromfield to justice. I swear it. But, in the meantime, I’m afraid I have some other rather troubling news that requires our attention.”
Much to Rae’s surprise, he turned to Julian and Devon before continuing.
“It seems that one of the pieces of Simon Kerrigan’s brainwashing device has gone missing.”
The boys reacted with twin looks of shock.
Almost immediately, Julian sank into the nearest chair, his eyes glassing over as he surrendered himself to his visions, trying to get any piece of information he could.
Devon, on the other hand, glared at Carter like all of this was somehow his fault. “How the hell is that even possible?” he demanded, crossing his arms furiously over his chest. “When we scattered them, you assured us that—”
“I assured you that they would have the ongoing protection of the Privy Council,” Carter finished for him. “And now I’m telling you that one of them has gone missing. It’s the single biggest piece of evidence we have to support the theory of another leak.”
“Wait a minute.” Rae leaned forward across the table. “What on earth are you guys talking about? My father’s brainwashing device? I thought the PC had it—”
“They did have it,” Devon explained, still glaring at Carter, “until they ordered Julian and me to spend the better part of last year scattering it throughout Britain. And now…” his eyes flashed, “it appears that they’ve lost a piece. Or all of it…”
As if Cromfield needed anything else to give him the upper hand. Perfect! Let’s give him a freaking brainwashing device…
Rae turned to Carter with a similar accusatory stare. “How many pieces are there?”
Carter rubbed his eyes, looking abruptly tired. “There are four.: Two of them are secure, Cromfield has already obtained one, and the fourth—”
“I can’t deal this right now!”
The entire room turned around in surprise, Rae included, to see Devon pacing across the floor, wringing his hands like he was on the verge of some sort of panic attack.
What the hell?!
Rae pushed back her chair in alarm, trying to get his attention, but he completely ignored her, clutching the back of his neck as his shoulders rose and fell with his shallow breaths.
“Th
is is too much! It’s just too much. Rae was just arrested for following orders, we’re trapped in a Scottish farmhouse, and now you expect us to go out on another mission? You must be out of your mind…” His eyes flicked almost imperceptibly to Julian, before he continued the pacing anew.
Carter’s mouth fell open as his brow furrowed with concern. He shot Beth a bewildered look, but before he had the chance to say anything, Julian suddenly slumped down in his chair.
“I can’t see anything!” He slammed his hands on the table in a most uncharacteristic loss of control. “There’s too much going on. Everything’s clouded! It feels like my skull’s about to split open. I need to step back for a second, clear my head, get some air…”
His dark eyes shot to Molly, and Rae could have sworn he kicked her under the table. She certainly jumped abruptly in her chair before tossing back her long red hair, a sigh worthy of a martyr escaping her.
“Maybe you’d be able to see something if we had a freaking second to rest! Honestly,” she exclaimed at the adults, “how do you expect us to keep going at this pace? I haven’t slept in two days. There’s no coffee. We haven’t had anything to eat. I suffer from cripplingly low blood sugar, did you know that?”
Devon grimaced painfully at her performance, before he sank into a chair and turned to Beth and Carter in supplication. “Give us some time, alright? Some space. Beth, do you think we could get something for lunch? And it’s freezing in here. Can’t we turn on the stove?”
Beth’s eyes widened in surprise while Rae discreetly bit back a smile. She didn’t think Devon had ever asked Beth for anything. And as for the trio’s little outburst?
Molly peeked at Rae from between her fingers and Rae took her cue. “I think I’m going to throw up. Or faint.” She shuddered dramatically and lay her head down on the table. “Maybe both.”
The entire room lapsed into stunned silence. The adults and Gabriel didn’t know what to make of it. To see the Privy Council’s four most independent, capable agents crumbling under the pressure like a bunch of, well, teenagers? It would have been comical if it weren’t so damn serious.
Beth automatically sank down beside Rae, rubbing calming circles on her back, Carter was staring at Devon like his favorite toy had begun to backfire, and Gabriel was looking at the lot of them like they were crazy.
“Are you guys…are you serious right now?” he murmured, his green eyes sweeping over their defeated, crumbled posture in amazement. “What the hell happened to you all last month?”
“Beth, please,” Devon groaned, covering his face with his hands, “can we get a little heat in here? I can’t even focus. It’s freezing.”
“And some food?” Molly whimpered. “I feel like I’m going to pass out…”
“Of course!” Beth exclaimed, pushing to her feet and rushing across the room to the refrigerator.
“Bethany… Now?” Carter asked hesitantly. “I mean, we really need to talk about this—”
“Yes, now, James,” she said through her teeth, re-diverting her worry into rage. “Can’t you see we’ve been pushing them too hard?” She pulled out the contents for sandwiches and slammed them down on the counter. “Or should I say, you’ve been pushing them too hard. The most significant thing I’ve done in the last few years was get kidnapped and end up brainwashed.”
With a mild nod of submission, Carter sank into the nearest chair, reaching tentatively towards Julian like he was going to pat him on the shoulder, but rethinking it and waiting silently for whatever was coming next. Beth was a blur around the kitchen, pulling things out of cupboards and yanking out plates before she suddenly whirled around on Gabriel with the same ‘mother tone’ she’d used on Carter moments before.
“And you! There’s some scattered firewood on the far side of the barn. Go bring in an armful, would you?” She patted Molly soothingly on the head as she rushed by. “We’re going to get this place heated and sort some things out, alright? No more mission talk. In fact, I’ll put on some hot chocolate.”
Gabriel backed away with wide eyes. “Yeah, I’ll bring in the firewood, but…” His gaze swept once more over the kitchen before he shook his head. “You guys have fun with the…uh…talking about your feelings part, alright? I’ll be in the car, catching up on some sleep.”
A frigid gust of air swept into the room as he opened and closed the door, pulling up his hood as he marched across the frozen yard to the barn.
The second he was gone, the room transformed.
Devon sat down at the table as if nothing had happened. Julian yanked his phone out of his pocket and began casually texting, while Molly and Rae lifted their heads off the table and began calmly smoothing down their hair.
“Thank the Maker,” Molly murmured. “I thought he’d never leave. But, uh…” she glanced curiously at Devon, “why did we do that again?”
“Yeah,” Rae swept her hair up into a ponytail, “I’m up for a good nervous breakdown as much as the next girl, but why Gabriel?”
Devon purposefully ignored their questions, folding his hands instead neatly in front of him in an abruptly professional manner. “Back to business. We hid three of the four pieces on the west coast of Ireland, Wales, and—”
“Wait just a bloody minute!” Carter exclaimed, staring at the four of them like they’d gone mad. “What the hell’s going on here?”
“We found our second wind?” Rae joked under her breath.
“I don’t trust him,” Devon said seriously, staring into Carter’s eyes. “I never have, not from the moment he joined up with the Privy Council. Now, if we’re going to be—”
“Hang on,” Molly interrupted with a wide grin, “that’s what this is all about? I thought you just didn’t like the way he was looking at Rae.”
Rae wrinkled her nose in distaste. “What way? There was no way.”
“There was a way.”
Julian chuckled, tracing his long fingers against the table. “That’s pretty weak, Dev. You’ve got to stand your ground and fight—you can’t just send him outside.”
Devon’s cheeks turned pink. “I’m not just sending him out—”
“You literally asked him to go fetch some wood.”
“Beth did!” Devon said defensively. “That’s not the point—”
“What is the point, Mr. Wardell?” Carter cut in, ending their little squabble. “Because, although I respect your judgement, we’re running dangerously low on time, and I need to know what’s going on.”
Devon took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “Cromfield’s coming after Rae. That’s his end game. Everything he does between now and then, he’s doing for that sole purpose. Now you say he’s after a brainwashing device? A piece of which just mysteriously went missing?”
“Devon,” Carter said more gently, “I completely understand your nerves, and at this point you have every right to be a bit paranoid, but Gabriel risked his life to get Rae out of prison. To imply that he had something to do with—”
“I’m not implying that,” Devon said quickly. “I understand the magnitude of the risk he took, and I’m sincerely grateful. I am.” He shot a look at Molly and Julian, who were still grinning away. “But the fact remains: we don’t know him. We don’t know whose radar he unintentionally put himself on by helping Rae—we don’t know the kinds of things he’d be forced to say if he was interrogated: No matter which way you cut it—the less he knows, the better; for his sake as well as ours.” His eyes flicked ever so briefly to Rae before locking on Carter without compromise. “And in the end, this is Rae’s safety we’re talking about, and I’m not taking any chances.”
There was a fierce determination in his voice that no one in the room could question. It went abruptly quiet as the light banter suddenly vanished, and the stakes they were playing with fell heavily into place.
“We don’t need to involve him further,” Julian finally agreed, passing his phone to Molly as she held out her hand for it. “He’s already done more than enough to he
lp. Send him back to London—he can keep an eye on things from the inside.”
“And in the meantime,” Molly muttered, her fingers texting at the speed of light, “I’m going to get started trying to figure out this new leak…”
“I’m sorry,” Beth had stopped making sandwiches and was standing at the head of the table, a loaf of bread and a butter knife still in her hands, “I’m still stuck on the fact that I just saw a fully-coordinated teenage meltdown.” She shook her head incredulously, glancing outside to where Gabriel was assumedly stacking wood. “That whole time, you were all just—”
Devon flashed an apologetic grin. “I’m afraid we’re not as delicate as all that.”
She and Carter exchanged an unreadable glance before Carter shook his head, bringing his fingers up to his temples. “Now you see what I have to deal with every day. Teenagers.”
“That hot chocolate does sound great though, Mrs. K.” Julian leaned back in his chair with a charming smile.
“And the sandwiches, Mom!” Rae added. “We’re starved!”
Bethany burst out laughing and walked slowly back to the counter, shaking her head as she began plopping the sliders onto plates.
There was a little buzz, followed by a triumphant grin as Molly handed Julian back his phone.
While none of the rest of the teenagers seemed to think this was at all strange, Carter slapped the table hard to get Molly’s attention. “Circling back—what exactly were you saying, Miss Skye? You’re going to get started figuring out the leak?” His voice took on a hint of condescension. “I can assure you that I have my best people already working on the issue from within the Council itself. If there’s a leak there, I’ll find it. I don’t know what little scheme you had in mind, but—”
“It’s not a little scheme,” she bristled defensively. “I’m just getting my boyfriend in on it as well, that’s all.” Her face turned almost smug. “You’d be surprised what he can accomplish when he sets his mind to it…”
Rae gagged again silently, but the whole thing went right over Carter’s head.
“You’re passing your boyfriend sensitive information?” He looked at her like she just might have gone mad after all. “What on earth would make you do such a thing?!”