by Mikayla Lane
Reven took a quick assessment while Amun tried to calm himself. Jess was being held against the chest of the warrior Atane in the middle of the bridge, with a 9mm held under her chin. Jax and twelve women that he could see, and he had no idea how many he couldn’t see, were surrounding them on both sides of the bridge.
He scanned the area looking for a vantage point that would give them an edge and the only thing that looked promising was a scrawny looking tree on the other side of the bridge. There was no way to get anyone up there with any element of surprise, and he quickly discarded it, looking for other potential areas that could give them an edge.
“It’s nice to see you finally joined us Reven. Atane and I were just going to have a chat.” Reven glanced at Jax, her flippant attitude completely at odds with her rigid stance, her hands steady as she pointed her own weapons at Atane.
Hating the fact that this was her game, knowing she was right from the start and finally fitting the last pieces of the puzzle together, Reven swallowed his own rage and played along.
“Took a little longer than I thought to get through the hallway.” Reven replied, waiting to see what her next move would be and hoping she’d give him some warning first.
“Ah, I thought it was a nice touch myself. Since you’re here, I’m going to assume you got my little… memo, and you did your part right?” Jax asked casually, like she was having a normal conversation in the dining hall, so casually that it took a moment for Reven to realize what she was asking.
“Of course. You didn’t really think that I wouldn’t get it did you?” Reven replied with a cocky grin, mimicking her casual attitude. He could see Atane looking startled and confused at their exchange, nervously shifting his feet.
“Good, let’s get this done then.” Jax whispered quietly to him before giving Amun a reassuring smile and turning back to Atane and Jess.
“So Atane, well not really Atane huh? I’m betting you killed him and took over his image after you tried to kill Ivint at the cabin. Right?” Jax asked him, her voice tinged with anger.
“Took you long enough to figure that out didn’t it girl? But it’s too late.” Atane kept glancing nervously behind him as he addressed Jax, not wanting to take his eyes off the crazy woman for too long. He’d been there long enough to know the woman was seriously dangerous.
“Oh, I’m sorry! Were you waiting for someone? Like the … how many guys did he bring?” Jax turned to look at Reven with a devious gleam in her eyes. Reven wasn’t surprised to see that she was actually enjoying this; he just hoped she was as good at plotting as she thought she was. He spoke quickly into his comm and then forced himself to grin broadly back at her.
“It looks like it was only five of them. They must have thought they’d have a much easier time getting out of here than this.” Reven made a quick motion with his hand and from behind the tree line yards away, one of the tact team members from the ship Adaria dragged an obviously badly wounded Relian out into the open.
“Sorry buddy, looks like we can’t show you the others because I don’t think they made it.” Jax needled Atane as she watched him flash frightened eyes at his comrade bleeding on the ground.
“Look, we don’t want to kill you man. We have too much to do since this place has been compromised. We want our girl back, and you can go on your way. Take your friend with you.” Jax looked at him with a sly grin as she put her weapons back in the holsters strapped to both thighs. Shocked at her careless attitude and unsure if she was truly safe or not without her weapons, Reven took up a protective position around Jax.
“I don’t believe you! I’m not stupid! I know you intend to kill both of us! Now back away or I’ll kill her first!” Atane tightened his arm across Jess’s chest, causing her to gasp as he squeezed the air out of her lungs. Reven caught Amun right before he broke past him.
“Calm yourself or she will die!” Reven hissed at him through gritted teeth. He damn sure didn’t need this right now when he was still figuring out Jax’s plans as they were happening, and he needed to get ahead of this if he was going to help.
“I’m willing to work with you man, but I’m not letting you cross that bridge with her.” Jax shook her head in an exaggerated fashion as if mocking Atane. As Reven tried to understand why she was antagonizing him, she spoke quickly into her own primitive comm, “When you got it… Go!”
Oh damn, she was going to engage in some way. He quickly spoke into his own comm. “Hold your fire, no matter what; you do not fire unless I command it!” Whatever the hell she was going to do; he didn’t need his men adding their fire to the mix when no one was sure who all was bad at this point. He’d no sooner had the thought than everything exploded into action at once.
Jax raised her hands into the sky as a flock of birds swooped in over Atane’s head, wings flapping and claws extended, Atane swung wildly with his weapon to force them back. Moments later Atane’s arm holding the weapon was jerked back at an odd angle, the hand still holding the gun dropped to the ground and Amun took off running towards Jess. From under the bridge four women flipped over to the top of the bridge, ran and grabbed Jess and pushed her into Amun’s waiting arms, then turned their weapons on Atane, who was now lying on the ground holding his arm while Jax sauntered casually up to him.
Reven stood back a moment looking for the shooter. Who the hell shot Atane? No one in their positions could have made that shot. It had to be someone from Jax’s team otherwise she wouldn’t be so nonchalant right now. Still scanning the area he walked up beside her as she stood over Atane, who was now lying on the ground crying over his lost hand but still not giving up his pretense of being Atane.
“You and your other buddy over there are now going to be our guests. At least for as long as you prove useful.” Nodding her head at the four women who’d been somehow suspended under the bridge, they stepped forward, grabbed him from off the ground and dragged him crying back into the building.
Reven watched dispassionately as Atane was dragged off, he’d pick at his emotions over the loss of one of his men later, when he was alone. He smiled briefly as Amun held Jess while silent tears streamed down her face, her hands clutching at his shirt. Still his eyes scanned the area as his men mixed with Jax’s team as they came out of hiding.
“Can’t figure it out can you? Admit it!” Jax joked as she laughed at him.
“What are you talking about? And woman! We… we have a lot to talk about later. A lot.” Reven tried to keep the smile off his face as he attempted to be stern with her, shaking his finger at her. It was really hard to do when her face was lit up with happiness; it was as if she was glowing with beauty. The few rare smiles she usually gave did not even come close to the gut punching reality of how beautiful she looked when she truly smiled.
“You’re dying to know where the shooter is! It was the hardest part of this to figure out!” Jax lightly punched him in the arm and smiled brightly at him.
“I do admit to being very curious as to not only the location of the shooter but the full details regarding this interesting plan, which I can’t fail to point out seemed to work quite well; with no casualties among us, other than one which we appear to have lost much earlier than today.” Both Reven and Jax turned embarrassed faces towards Ivint and Banatar, who stood behind them on the bridge.
“I particularly liked the parts where Reven looked like he was always two steps behind everything that was going on. I wonder why that was? Maybe you could point out the shooter to me Reven?” Ivint asked with an indecipherable look on his face.
“Look to the tree Sir.” Jax told them after speaking into her comm and pointing at the scrawny tree not thirty yards in front of them.
Even Reven watched in fascination as the tree appeared to blur before the outline of a man appeared at the bottom and began walking to them. As he drew closer, Amun could see what appeared to be bark and leaves painted on the man’s clothes and skin; even his weapon looked like a part of the tree.
“Sirs, may I pre
sent to you Lt. David Jacobs, former United States Navy Seal.” Reven heard Jax introduce the man, and he didn’t like the way she said his name one bit, as if there was too much admiration in her voice.
“Sirs, it’s a pleasure to meet you. You must be Reven.” Reven felt like choking when the man made it clear to everyone that he had no idea who he was. Ivint shot him an unreadable look at the revelation that he truly had been clueless on at least that part of her plan and Banatar seemed to be fuming.
“We should all be debriefed as quickly as possible since we really need to hit the road to the warehouse district. So how about we get that over with so we can pack up?” Jax seemed to be the only one unconcerned with the suspicious looks being thrown around by the men. Reven couldn’t completely suppress his growl when she took hold of David’s arm and led him into the compound, Gibly close on her heels. He was stopped from storming after her by Ivint’s hand on his arm.
“Reven, I suggest you take your own advice and calm yourself before you do something… out of character.” Ivint suggested sternly before heading inside. With one last look at Jess and Amun, he followed Ivint and Banatar into the compound.
Jess held tightly to Amun, uncaring of anything going on around her but the feel of his arms around her and the sense of safety he always gave her.
“Amalaya, are you alright?” Amun didn’t wait for his hands to stop shaking before he started running them up and down Jess’s arms and back trying to feel for any injuries.
“I’m not hurt. I was just scared. Did you see Lily? Is she ok?” Jess asked, her voice still shaking.
“I didn’t see her on my way to you. She was supposed to be with you.” Amun said with concern, looking around to see if he could see their little girl.
“Jess! Amun!”
They turned towards the door of the compound in time to see Lily come flying towards them. Amun caught her up in his arms when she launched herself at him. Lily hugged him tightly before leaning down and hugging Jess.
Amun looked over at Maggie, who was smiling broadly in the doorway with Tarvok standing behind her looking thunderous. Not wanting to even think about what was wrong with Tarvok and Maggie this time, Amun turned with Lily in his arms and went back to hold his family.
“You really should go inside now. Our location has been compromised, and we need to get out of here and get set up in the warehouse district.” Risk squeezed Amun’s shoulder before walking inside.
Amun looked around and noticed that there were at least eight Valendran warrior’s and women standing guard around the three of them, all with weapons drawn and ready to defend them if necessary.
“We should go inside now Amalaya; we need to pack as well, and I need to make sure you, and Lily are alright before we go.” Amun nodded gratefully at the men and women who had surrounded them, as he led his mate and child inside.
“As soon as we get packed, I’ll come help you with the other children.” Jess said to Maggie as Amun led them through the doorway.
“No need honey, the other girls already had them packed and ready before we even knew we were leaving. You take a few minutes with Amun and Lily, and we’ll let you know when we’re leaving.” Maggie gave Jess’s hand an encouraging squeeze and smiled at the three of them as they passed her.
Even Lily remained silent as Amun led them through the hallways to their rooms. He walked through the living area and headed right to him and Jess’s bedroom; sitting on the bed, he gathered Jess close to his side as Lily settled into his lap. Even now, knowing that they were safe, he was still shaking.
“I love you both, so very much. Thank you for listening and going to get help Lily. You probably saved my life.” Jess thought she would be able to speak by now, but she barely got the last sentence out before she broke down into convulsing sobs.
“Gods baby…” Amun lay back on the bed and dragged Jess up to lay beside him and curled his body around hers as she sobbed into his chest. Lily crawled up behind Jess and put her arms around her waist; Amun put one arm around both of them.
“Why do I have a feeling that when I find out everything that went on today I’m going to be very upset and very proud of both of my girls?” Amun asked, trying to lighten the mood now that he was calming down. He smiled when Jess let out a choking laughter.
“I think maybe you shouldn’t know everything then.” Jess sniffled and tried to pull herself together.
“I did what Jess told me to do, so I don’t think I should be in trouble at all!” Lily piped up.
“Really? I remember telling a certain little girl to go with Maggie. But somehow you ended up back with me anyway…” Jess turned around to smile gently at Lily, who blushed and hid her face behind Jess’s back.
“Oh I definitely want to know what happened today. If it wasn’t so important to get out of here soon, I would be finding out right now.” Amun leaned up and smiled down at his mate and child, his heart clenching at the thought of how close he could have come to losing them both.
“We’re ok, my love. That’s all that matters.” Jess gently ran her hand through Amun’s hair and gave him a wobbly smile.
Amun was going to find out what happened today and would probably be furious… at someone. But right now he is just too happy that they were unharmed and safe with him to care.
Chapter Sixteen
“Does someone want to tell me what the hell just happened here? And when did we approve the use of a human outsider?” Banatar thundered at Jax and Reven as soon as the conference room door closed behind them. Reven assumed that either Banatar didn’t care or had forgotten that his loud voice was carrying through the closed door to the human sitting right outside.
“Well, as I tried to tell you from the beginning, and you wouldn’t listen, the enemy within was one of them. The only way we were going to draw him out was to use a few extreme techniques. Which we did. At no point was anyone in danger. Reven and I had it covered at all times.” Jax was unconcerned with Banatar’s anger. This was pretty minor compared to some of the things she’d done before so she didn’t really expect too many hassles from it. Ivint’s small smile and silence had her worried though; there was never a clue as to what that man was thinking until he opened his mouth. She hoped that if Reven wasn’t too angry at her that he would try to run interference with his boss the way she was with Banatar.
“At what point, did Reven have anything covered? It looked to me like he was chasing you all over the damn place trying to figure out what the hell you were doing! You were told to work with him, not leave him in the dark while you did whatever the hell you wanted to do!” Banatar paced the floor of the conference room, his face glowing red in his anger.
“Sir, with all due respect, Jax is right. The traitor was one of our own. Our options of catching him were very slim considering the fact that we had no clues as to who it was. I don’t know about you Ivint, but I knew Atane. I helped train him when he first became a warrior. I never expected it to be him, and I would have continued not to believe one of ours was responsible if she hadn’t planned this to go exactly how it did.”
“I knew what Jax was doing, and I agreed that there were things that even I didn’t need to know so that there could be no chance of the information being compromised. And this may surprise you, but we communicated quite well together. It may have been unconventional, but as you said, no one was harmed. We have two in custody, including the Relian, who killed Atane and took over his form, which is more than we had yesterday. And we have a team recovering the real Atane’s body from the woods around the cabin so that his family can give him a proper burial.” Reven told them, trying his best to protect Jax from their anger. Why he didn’t know. He was so mad at her; he wanted to strangle her.
“The human is my fault. I brought him here.” Gibly announced with what could only be described as a grin on his face.
“What were you thinking? He could have compromised the safety of everyone here.” Ivint looked sternly at Gibly.
“
He would not! He good man and we need him.” Gibly replied indignantly while Jax jumped to his defense.
“I investigated and vetted him myself! Yes, we took a chance, one we’ve made many times before and just like when we’ve done it before this is another time when it was the right thing to do at the right time!”
“That man was in that tree for four days! Four days he waited until he had the perfect chance and the perfect shot! All to help out a bunch of ungrateful alien jerks! He saved Jess’s life, and I won’t let you sit here and tear him apart because you didn’t get to meet him first! He’s a decorated hero who deserves more respect than this.” Jax was livid. How dare the Valendran leader question her ability and judgment?
“Jax, you better tone your attitude down right now! You disobeyed an order, and you aren’t going to stand there and talk your way out of it just because it turned out alright!” Banatar was obviously really pissed off at Jax. Reven assumed it had to be from Jax doing similarly dangerous and unapproved actions before now. However, he still couldn’t stand there and let her take all the anger; he was just as responsible for not confronting her when he knew that she was doing things behind his back.
“If you had wanted a babysitter for her, maybe you should have said that instead of ordering us to work together.” Reven didn't realize he’d said it out loud until he heard the sharp intake of breath from Banatar and Ivint.
“Hell yeah!” Jax agreed enthusiastically.
“Reven! Watch your tongue as well,” Ivint gently reprimanded. It was Ivint’s leniency that gave him the courage to take it further.
“No, this is enough. You both sat there and watched us go over this plan! You both said you had no ideas to offer, nothing to add to our conversation. You both told us to work together and get the traitor. And we did. And this is what we get for it? Ivint, when did we start reprimanding our officers for doing a hell of a job? From where I sit, we have one traitor and one Relian in custody and ready for interrogation, and every single person is not only accounted for but uninjured.”