Oracle Saving (The Phoenix Files Book 3)

by Morgan Kelley

  She could get his identity so they could end his reign of terror.

  As her dream began shifting, taking new life, she knew what he found in her head.

  They were in a parking lot.

  Nate was battered and abused on the ground. He was replaying that day where she’d almost lost him to her father and his thugs. Only this time, they were going to kill him.

  Then, this killer was going to end her too.

  Avalon knew the only way out of this was if the team got to the woman and then the killer.

  ‘Hurry’, she sent out to the man she loved. She needed him to pick up the pace.

  Her life depended on it.

  If they failed to kill him, Jagger wouldn’t be the only one who died.

  Because of her risk, she would too.

  * * * O R A C L E * * *

  All the way there, the sheriff drove with lights and sirens. They had the woman’s name. Amelie Schmitz was his next intended victim, and somehow, Avalon had managed to stop the nutjob from killing her.

  As they slammed to a stop in her driveway, the entire team, Luke, Nate, Jagger, Bishop, and the sheriff, raced toward the cabin.

  It wasn’t far from theirs.

  It was another of Karl Conway’s, and Bob Buck likely tended that one too.

  Banging on the door, they heard the woman coming. She was sobbing, and they were grateful to hear her voice.

  She was alive.

  Score one for Avalon and Lucian. Now Nate had to save his fiancée.

  He knew the only way to do it was to end this killer. She wouldn’t be strong enough to fight him off for herself too. This was a race against the clock.

  When she opened the door, she looked like hell.

  “Amelie Schmitz?” Nate asked.

  “Yes?” she sobbed. She couldn’t stop crying. She didn’t know why, but she was filled with so much terror.

  She saw the sheriff.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Who raped your friend Tanya?” Nate asked, blurting it out, much to the chagrin of the rest of the team.

  She began sobbing even harder.

  Luke elbowed his partner. “Come on, Nate. Cut her a break,” he muttered under his breath.

  He was right.

  Still…

  While they were all about taking care of victims and their family, this was important. Lives hung in the balance.

  Nate flashed his badge. “We’re here to find out who killed her, Amelie. I need your help.”

  The gold badge seemed to calm her.

  She wiped her eyes and tried to focus. “I had a horrible dream about her. She was dying. She was telling me it was all my fault. I didn’t help her, so she killed herself,” Amelie whispered. “I feel like she was right.”

  “Honey,” the sheriff stated. “We really need to know who she told you hurt her.”

  His fingers were crossed.

  “She told me not to tell. I promised to take it to my grave, so I can’t tell you.”

  This was getting them nowhere.

  Nate had enough.

  Avalon’s life was on hold and in danger. “If you don’t tell us, he’s going to hurt more women. He has my fiancée,” he stated. “Please help me save her!”

  She stared at him.

  “Don’t tell him I told you. I’m afraid of him. He’s crazy. He’s not right in the head.”

  They made their promises.

  “Please,” Nate pleaded.

  “She told me it was Harold Fry,” she whispered.

  “Bishop, stay here with her,” Nate said, running for the sheriff’s vehicle. “Make sure she’s safe!”

  She did as he asked.

  Bishop escorted her toward the couch so she could soothe the woman’s fears.

  The rest of team took off, heading straight for the general store. They needed to catch Harold Fry. They needed to end him.

  For Avalon.

  For Oracle.

  For the rest of the world.

  * * * O R A C L E * * *

  Avalon was getting weaker.

  Her energy was nearly gone. She couldn’t fight him much longer. As he was talking her into killing herself, she saw his face. She saw his identity.

  She was surprised.

  It gave her the boost she needed. Instead of pointing the gun at her head in her dream, she used all she had to control the nightmare. Slowly, it began moving away from her. In her dream, she created one more character.

  It was Nate.

  He materialized in front of her. As he became less translucent, she could see his serene eyes, and they became her focus.

  “I have you, Avi. I have you,” he promised.

  His voice was the boost she needed to push through the nightmare and regain control.

  “You can’t hurt me or anyone else,” Avalon said, glancing toward the man who wanted her dead. He wasn’t as scary now that she saw him.

  He bellowed in anger. “DIE ALREADY!”

  She focused on him, clearing the shadows around his form so he couldn’t hide. She was back in control.

  “I know who you are.”

  Then she pulled the trigger.

  Avalon sat up with a start. Lucian was right there with her. “I need you to send Maura a text. It’s all wrong. We were off on this one, and this is how Jagger is going to die!”

  He grabbed his phone and started typing. All the while, his heart was pounding in his chest.

  Avalon told him what she needed it to say.

  He was shocked.

  Yeah, they had missed the obvious.

  * * * O R A C L E * * *

  They stormed the store.

  The door was locked, but Jagger busted it in and kept going. They knew Harold and his father were upstairs. They lived above the store.

  Racing up the stairs, the apartment was open, large, and warm. It was filled with furniture, mementos, and the young man sleeping on the couch.

  They all pulled their guns.

  They were about to end this game once and for all, ending the reign of tyranny over the innocent women in Happy.

  “Harold, wake up!” shouted the sheriff, his gun trained on the man.

  Shit!

  The whole team stared at him as if he was few bricks short of a wall. Apparently, the man didn’t get the memo. This guy was crazy and a killer.

  So much for sneaking up on him. Maybe Nate should have been a little clearer. In fact, Nate had been intending to…

  They heard the creak of the floor.

  It was the telltale sign that someone was approaching them. They all spun, but it was too late.

  There stood Mordechai Fry and he was holding a shotgun in his hands.

  “Not my son! He’s a good boy!”

  He pulled the trigger.

  Jagger was there, his body not fully facing the man with the gun. He was about to take a twelve gauge blast to the side, into the unprotected part of his body.

  Now it was clear. He knew how he died.

  As it registered, he was saying a mental goodbye. Then something hit him. It knocked the wind out of him, as Maura raced in through the door and took Jagger down. They tumbled to the floor.

  Nate, Luke, and the sheriff fired.

  Mordechai hit the ground with a puddle of his blood forming around him.

  Maura moaned, as she rolled off Jagger’s body. Her Kevlar was shot to shit.

  Literally.

  “Jesus!” Jagger said, pulling her body to his as the team handled Mordechai and his son.

  “Are you hit?” she muttered.

  “No, Maura! Are you insane? You jumped in front of a shotgun at close range. That’s crazy!”

  Yeah, she was insane.

  Insanely in love with her brother.

  Jagger wasn’t just a Marine. He was family and that mattered. She’d been outside, stalking his every move when she’d gotten Lucian’s text. She’d had just enough time to get to him to save his life.

  It had been damn close.
>
  “I heard your prayer,” she muttered, trying to breathe through the intense pain.

  He stared down at her. He hadn’t known she’d been out there. Had he…?

  Did it matter now? His prayer’s had been answered.

  They heard Luke heading her way.

  “Jesus! Is she shot?” he asked, dropping to his knees to begin pulling off the destroyed Kevlar.

  “She’s okay,” Jagger stated. He’d already checked beneath. There was no blood.

  They were both alive.

  “Maura.”

  She stopped her husband for a minute. This needed to be done. It needed to be said.

  She stared up at Jagger. “Outside last night, you asked for more time. I wanted to give it to you, Jagger. You’ve always had my back, and this was the least I could do. Oohrah, soldier.”

  Tears filled his eyes. “Maura!”

  He kissed her. It was a wet sloppy kiss on the lips.

  Nate laughed.

  Luke objected.

  They let the sheriff handle the screaming boy.

  “You saved my life!” Jagger said “How do I even repay you for that?” he asked.

  “You promise to be a damn good father to your daughter. You promise to love your wife, and you promise to stick with your family.”

  He hugged her.

  She moaned. “Broken ribs,” she muttered. “Lighten up on the squeezing.”

  “Guys, we have to get the hell out of here,” stated Nate. “We can’t end up on the news.”

  He could hear sirens.

  Luke scooped his wife up. “Go get the ride. We’ll meet you out back,” he stated.

  Nate strode over to the sheriff. “You didn’t see us. You don’t know our names, and if you want to thank us, don’t.”

  Jagger followed Luke, saluting the sheriff as he followed his team out. He was giddy that he was alive.

  Sheriff Joe Gilespie simply stared.

  What the hell?

  How was he supposed to explain this mess?

  The Feds, or whoever the hell they were, had just left him with a steaming pile of shit.

  Happy was going to blow up.

  And no one would believe him if he told the truth. It left him only one option.

  It looked like Harold Fry was going to pay for the rape after all. In the end, he’d be taken down for his crime.

  How?

  Sheriff Joe Gilespie was going to lie.

  Nate met them in the back.

  They climbed in and he made the call, alerting the rest of the team. They had to get out. If the deputies put two and two together, they’d be heading toward the cabin.

  Lucian answered on the first ring.

  “Is Avalon safe?”

  “She’s awake but exhausted.”

  “Grab your things. We’re clearing out. We can’t stick around to read about us in the paper.”

  Lucian got it. “There’s a private airfield not far from here. “I’ll get us on a plane.”

  “Thank you.”

  He hung up and called Bishop. “Ready to roll?” he asked.

  “I am. Amelie is asleep.”

  “We’ll pick you up for extraction,” Jagger stated. “Leave no trace. We’re in the wind.”

  She laughed.

  “Something funny?” Jagger asked.

  “Yeah. I love my damn job.”

  Yeah, so did they.

  And this proved it.

  Epilogue

  They all arrived at the airfield. Jagger had to take a little side trip, as the team gave it a few hours to lay low. There was a certain reporter, who had gotten Avalon’s picture, and it had to disappear.

  IMMEDIATELY.

  After he’d broken into the man’s house, he’d stolen everything he had on his hard drive. He’d checked the cloud, and wiped that too.

  They were in the clear.

  They were now ghosts. If that wasn’t enough, all three cabins mysteriously caught fire.

  Shit like that happened.

  Now it was time to meet up with his team.

  Once at the airstrip, they hustled and loaded up their gear. As it was time to get on the plane, Jagger stopped them.

  “I’m not coming.”

  That stopped them all in their tracks. Everyone stared at him, waiting for him to explain.

  “What?” Maura said, holding her busted up ribs. “I’ll freaking shoot you myself.”

  He laughed. “No, I have to do something. I have to say goodbye to my sister. I can’t…”

  They got it.

  If they could, they’d all be making the same trip to say goodbye to their families.

  “I need to leave her a sign,” he said, when Nate looked like he was going to object.

  He had to do that one thing.

  “Then I’m taking my wife away on a honeymoon. I have a hidey-hole that I use to escape when I need a break. We’ll be safe. It’s on an island where I can hide in plain sight. I’ll get us there and then I’ll find you. Avalon can find me.”

  Roxy smiled. “I need a vacation. Your family is exhausting,” she said, teasing him. “The in-laws ran me through the ringer.”

  He grinned at her.

  “You swear, Jagger?” Maura said. “You’re coming back, right?”

  He laughed and hugged her. “Damn right I am, Major. I won’t go AWOL. I just need a honeymoon with my beautiful wife. Oh, and by the way,” he said, touching her face. “I wanted to tell you all what we’re naming our daughter.”

  They waited for it.

  His hand went to Roxy’s midsection. “Dianna Maura Armstrong. We picked it in honor of my mother, and my sister.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “You’re an asshole to make me cry after I saved your bacon.”

  He kissed her again and then hugged her.

  “One more time, and I’ll shoot you, Jagger,” Luke warned. “I swear to God, I’ll kick your ass.”

  Nate laughed.

  Until Jagger kissed Avalon.

  “HEY!”

  He ignored him. “Thank you for saving me. I don’t know how you did it, but you did.”

  She smiled. “You’re welcome, Jagger. We’ll see you soon. I’ll get you the location.”

  He ruffled her blonde hair.

  Then for the hell of it, he kissed Nate and Luke too.

  They stared at him as if he was freaking possessed. Jagger didn’t like to shake hands, let alone kiss the same sex.

  “Jesus! He’s lost his mind,” Nate said. “We might have to put him down.”

  That amused Jagger. What could he say? The married life was good for him.

  The team loaded up, and Jagger and Roxy hit the road. As the plane took off, he saluted his friends.

  “Are we really meeting up with them?” she asked, staring over at her husband.

  Jagger dropped his sunglasses onto his face, grinned wickedly, and popped his gum.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  She laughed.

  Her husband was predictable if anything.

  “Oohrah, Marine. Oohrah.”

  * * * O R A C L E * * *

  Washington, DC

  It was an ass chewing of epic proportions.

  The President of the United States was having Elizabeth and Ethan Blackhawk for dinner, and Gabriel Rothschild was dessert.

  He was pissed that Avalon Miller hadn’t died months ago, like they had believed, but instead had survived and was now really dead.

  That was months of him being able to get ahead of their enemies, and he’d lost valuable ground.

  He held them responsible.

  Elizabeth stood there as she was torn three new ones by the leader of the free world. He called her incompetent, a slacker, and a few more names that were a bitch to swallow, but she somehow managed to keep her mouth shut.

  A few times, Ethan went to intercede, but she stopped him. Let POTUS get this off his chest.

  Who gave a flying fuck?

  Avalon and her team were free, an
d that was the end goal for this game. The president bought it, and they were safe. She’d take a dressing down by this man in order to do that.

  Screw her ego.

  She was protecting Spooks and her family.

  “I can’t believe this.”

  “I am sorry, Sir,” she stated.

  He paced the Oval Office.

  Then he stopped. “I want this on your record. They conned you. That must mean you’re a damn shitty investigator.”

  Okay, well, so much for swallowing it. There was only so much Elizabeth could take, and she was officially at her limit.

  She moved toward him.

  Secret service put their hands on their hips.

  “I’m a damn good investigator. The issue isn’t me, sir, respectfully, but you. I didn’t have the previous president, or yourself, lock an innocent girl away and use her to find out military secrets.”

  He stared at her.

  “You did. You lost her—not me. If you think I’ll let you disparage any of us, you’re wrong. Did I screw up? Yes. Am I sorry? Yes. I can’t go back and change time. Let’s move forward.”

  “She was useful. She helped me keep this country ahead of our enemies. You risked us all by your incompetence.”

  She could see this was going to be THAT kind of discussion. Oh well, here it came.

  “The media might not see it that way,” she stated.

  He stared at her. “Did you just threaten me?” he asked. “Are you insane?”

  Elizabeth didn’t bat an eye. “No, sir, but I will say that all of this is documented. Before you purged the files, I made copies. I have them hidden. If I ‘disappear’ or anything happens to any of us in this room, they’ll leak. I’ll make WikiLeaks look like a party that you want to go to for shits and giggles.”

  He crossed his arms.

  “I’ll take the mark on my record, but I won’t take all the blame for this mess. Oracle never should have been caged. I just hope she’s free in the afterlife.”