A feminine voice lilted with a Scottish accent whispered beside me, “I got her, Aiden. Give us girls a moment to catch our breath, aye?”
“Take her down the hall, Airen. There’s a kitchen where she can take a few minutes to let it all soak in,” Aiden said, touching me lightly on the shoulder as he added, “It’s good to see you, Paige.”
Airen ushered me into the hallway as the door closed behind us with a soft bump.
Neither of us said anything as we walked the quiet hallway. When we came to the kitchen area, I made my way over to the closest table and sat down, putting my head on my arms and sighing a hot breath that steamed against the cold table.
What the hell had we been dragged into? And why had our best friends kept something so big such a secret?
My head throbbed in time with my erratic heartbeat. My eyes watered, but I refused to allow the tears to come. If I started crying, I’d probably never stop. Instead, I willed myself to think about everything that was said and tried to make sense of it.
Ace and Aiden had been recruited by Jared’s parents. Jared had been kidnapped. How? Why? What the hell could his parents have done that would justify a kidnapping? And then Ace had been involved in a helicopter crash? He didn’t look as if he’d been in something that horrific. Riley had clutched his hand in hers when it had come up, so it had to have been pretty bad… right?
And Riley… Riley had kept all of it from me. I’d wondered for so long why everyone seemed so distant. I thought maybe it was because they were all busy with their schedules. Kind of like the way Mark and I were. I mean, we weren’t the best at keeping in touch either lately, but that was because between the two of us, our jobs kept us really busy. My shifts alone… my shifts! What the hell was I going to do? I was on shift for the next two days, and there was no way I’d make it back to cover them. Would I?
“Do ye take cream and sugar in yer coffee?” Airen asked as something bumped softly against the table.
I lifted my head up from my arm enough to look at her, but found a steaming coffee cup instead and groaned.
“Oh, aye, I woulda made ye tea, but I dinna see any and didna want to poke about,” she said, setting a carton of creamer and a sugar bowl down.
I forced myself to sit up and pulled the coffee toward me as she sat across from me. The heat of the cup warmed my hands, so I linked my fingers around it with a hitched sigh.
“Aiden tells me yer a nurse,” Airen said, picking up the cup and taking a small sip as she waited to see if I’d reply.
I snorted, letting go of my cup to add two large spoonfuls of sugar and a dash of cream. I forced myself to take a long deep breath before I answered her. It wasn’t her fault my life had been turned upside down.
“I’m not a nurse, not yet, but I go to school, and I work at the hospital,” I answered, taking a sip of coffee and holding it in my mouth long enough to enjoy the sugary brew.
“Oh, aye. De ye like it then… taking care of people?” she asked.
Her question kind of caught me off guard. I’d never been asked that. Did I like taking care of people? I must, considering it was what my job entailed. But it wasn’t only the people; it was the job itself if I really thought about it. I liked the hustle and bustle it brought to my life. I liked knowing I could make a difference for some, and be a comfort for others. The paperwork sucked, but it was a necessity. And each day, I learned something new. But what was it that I really liked about the job?
“I started working at the hospital in Opp before I graduated high school… I guess you can say I sort of fell into it and kept going. What do you do?” I asked, turning it back on her since talking about me made me uncomfortable. In all of ten minutes, her one question had me questioning my own life choices. And I didn’t like it one bit.
She chuckled, oddly enough. Setting her cup down, she leaned on the table, lacing her fingers together with a slight shrug. I’d made her just as uncomfortable.
“We’re a pair, huh? Guess I’m not doing a good job at helping ye get through all of this,” she answered with a soft snort. “Listen, I’m probably not the best person to chat with about everything going on here. Hell, I hardly ken it all m’self.” She pushed herself back, straightened up, and held out her hand. “I’m Airen.”
A real smile broke across my lips and I put my hand out, shaking hers. “Paige.”
“It’s nice te meet ye, Paige,” she said with a relieved-sounding sigh.
“So you know Aiden?” I asked.
“Aye, I met him in Scotland. He worked for my auntie at her coffee shop,” she answered as her eyes glittered and her mouth pulled into a large grin.
“A coffee shop? Aiden?” I couldn’t help keep the humor-laced sarcasm from my voice.
“Aye,” she answered with a full-bodied laugh.
“What was he doing in Scotland working at a coffee shop?”
Her face pulled tight for a moment before she answered. “He was working there to gather intelligence on my uncle.”
“Your uncle?” I had no idea what to say about that.
“It’s sort of a long story. I don’t suppose there’s no better time to tell ye though,” she said, sitting back with a hollowed sort of look on her face.
“You don’t have to tell me, Airen. I understand if it’s personal,” I said, hoping she’d tell me anyway.
“It’s not so much that it’s personal… It’s how everything happened that bothers me,” she answered, putting her hand up to signal she wasn’t done speaking, only gathering her thoughts.
I waited, wondering how the girl sitting across from me ended up getting involved in the same craziness Mark and I found ourselves in.
“It’s my uncles fault really… all of this,” she said, flicking her fingers at the air as if generalizing everything around us. “He was a terrible person. Someone Grant and Nadia had been trying, for a long time, to bring down. Because of that, he targeted Jared and had him kidnapped. Before my uncle could get to Jared in Haiti, Grant’s team found where Jared was being held and sent Ace and Aiden in. They found Jared in a basement in Haiti, and then froze my uncle’s holdings, which sent him into hiding. He turned up in Scotland after Grant, Nadia, and Aiden came over to set up the newest location for Cole Enterprise.”
She continued with her story, leaving me completely dumfounded that all of it happened while Mark and I were living our ordinary lives, unaware how much danger our friends were dealing with.
“So ye see… yer not the only one reeling about all of this. Aiden said, on the way here, that he knew it would be just a matter of time before the rest of ye had to be told. Since all of ye are so close.”
She shrugged, taking another sip of her coffee. “He spent the entire trip worried that all of this would tear yer friendship apart at the same time as trying te explain it all te Josh.”
It made me wonder, “And how did Josh take it?”
“No’ good, but after a while, he stopped cussing at Aiden and finally listened,” she said, smirking. “If it makes ye feel better, ye can curse all ye want too, and I’ll try to explain everything the best I can.”
“The best you can? Aren’t you part of this… whatever this is?” I asked.
“Oh, aye. I’m just like ye in some ways. After what happened in Scotland, there’s no way I can go back to the life I lived before Aiden showed up.”
There was more to what she said, besides the fact that it was her uncle who was the catalyst to everything. There was something else there. Something bigger than having to do something out of necessity. “Are you and Aiden…?”
She smiled, dipping her head briefly before returning her gaze to mine. “Aiden and I… we’ve been through a lot. When everything happened in Scotland, it sort of pulled us together and, in the same breath, almost tore us apart. The only truly good outcome was the threat of my uncle no longer hangs over any of us.”
“He’s dead?” I asked, swallowing thickly.
“Aye. And good riddance to him too,
” she said, crossing her arms and hugging them against her chest. “He almost took everyone I love from me. Had it not been for Grant and Nadia, none of us would have made it. God only kens where I’d be right now.”
She shivered, a full-body shiver that rolled through her, making her clutch her arms harder against her chest.
Under the harsh glow coming from the sterile light fixtures above us, I watched her face go from a rosy hue to something concerning.
“Hey…” I said, slapping my hand against the table to draw her attention back to me and away from whatever memories haunted her. “All of that’s over now, and all we can do is move forward, right?”
She startled, shaking her head as if to clear it. “Aye. Yer right. It’s just hard sometimes. He… he killed my mum, and almost killed my auntie too. He was a madman, Paige. So when they tell you they brought you in for yer safety, you can guarantee it’s not something to take lightly.”
It was my turn to shiver.
"AIREN'S GOT HER. SHE'LL BE all right,” Aiden said, sitting down in Paige’s empty seat.
Josh walked around the table and took the seat next to Grant. His eyes were hollow, almost empty, as he rubbed the back of his neck.
“Aiden, I’m to assume you’ve filled Josh in on what’s happening?” Grant asked.
“I’ve filled him in as much as I could, but can’t really tell him what’s going on right now because Oliver’s call was pretty cryptic,” Aiden answered, swiveling the chair to look down the table where Oliver sat.
“What? Nadia just told me to call you in,” Oliver answered, tipping his head in her direction.
“And now that everyone is here, we can get down to the real reason,” Nadia said, sitting ramrod straight in her chair.
“But we’re not all here,” I answered. When Paige walked out, I wanted to get up and follow her, but I knew she needed a minute to collect her thoughts. There was too much being thrown at us… and none of it made sense. Her brain didn’t work like that. She needed time to process what they’d said, and not said. She’d categorize it and adjust herself to take in more. Where I wanted to hear all of it, and then process it.
“I’ll go get her if you want,” Aiden said. Pushing out of his chair before I could answer, he slipped out the door.
Grant watched him go, saying, “We’ll wait for him to come back, but in the meantime, I want to go over something with you. Intel reports started coming in last week that are somewhat concerning. After the termination of Robert de Fleur, we’ve noticed a spike in chatter. It’s not uncommon for that to happen when a high-profile target has been taken out, but it’s still concerning. To us anyway. I have Retro and Licks working on it, but so far, it seems to be general talk. That being said, we’re not going to stop listening in on it just yet, because there’s been a few things said that have raised some flags.”
The door opened and closed as Aiden walked back in without Paige or the other girl, Airen. “I think it’s best to just go on ahead without them. Airen’s doing a better job at explaining it to Paige than any of us could.”
Grant nodded, “Mark?”
I nodded. As long as Paige was doing okay, I’d leave her where she was and fill her in the best I could later.
“Okay,” he said as he walked over to a projector and flipped the switch. An image of the front of my apartment sprang to life on the wall.
“What the hell?” The question popped out as a chill rolled through me.
“This is surveillance footage we’ve captured over the last week. Ever since the breach of our personal files, we’ve pulled security tighter. The primary focus has been Mark, Paige, and Josh. Aiden was moved into place for Josh, and Nadia pulled someone from our Colorado location to monitor Mark and Paige.”
“Why not use one of us?” Eli asked.
“We wanted someone not connected to the rest of you. Someone who wouldn’t draw any interest so to speak. The operative in place was moved into the neighborhood approximately three weeks ago. Since then, that same operative has been keeping tabs on both Mark and Paige. Up until last week, there wasn’t much to report, but that all changed last week when we were sent surveillance footage of someone tailing Paige.”
My stomach clenched. “Excuse me? What do you mean someone was tailing Paige?”
“We’re still running a cross scan of the person our operative took pictures of. So far, nothing is flagging in the system, but it’s not uncommon for an unknown person to pop up. It happens more often than not in our line of work. Finding out who they are and who they're tied to can be tricky. And sometimes before we can tie the two together, they end up in the morgue.”
Grant shrugged as if what he said was a common occurrence.
“The fact is, we’re not taking any more chances when it comes to all of you,” Nadia said, gesturing for Grant to click over to the next photo.
“As you can see, we’ve had several instances where it’s been observed and documented that it’s the same person of interest,” Grant said, clicking image after image of Paige. Each picture that flashed up on the wall made my stomach twist more, and then more. Whoever it had been wore the same thick winter jacket with a scarf pulled up high, covering the bridge of his nose. Heavy winter gloves covered his hands, painting his figure a muted shade of black that blended whoever he was into the wintery landscape surroundings. There was no mistaking whoever it was for a man—his stocky shape could never be confused with a woman.
The next image popped up, showing Paige and me coming out of the movie theater together. She was tucked up under my arm, a smile on her face as she looked up at me. Neither one of us even aware of the threat stalking us.
“Why, Grant? Why us?” I asked. Anger bubbled up, popping waves of heat along my skin as I waited for him to tell me it was all just a misunderstanding.
“I don’t know, Mark. I wish I did, but there it is. Until we can figure out who hacked our confidential files, every one of you could become an intended target. Nadia’s done what she could by bringing the system down and encrypting a new network before the entire companies files were stolen, but we don’t know whose files were breached.”
The last image of Paige walking up the steps of our apartment filled me with dread. Because across the road, leaning against a tree, was the same man, dressed in his black winter garb, face turned watching her.
“What are we supposed to do now? Both of us have lives outside of this… this room,” I asked when Grant shut the projector off.
“There hasn’t been any official threat. That’s not to say one isn’t coming. We didn’t want to upset your lives unless it was absolutely necessary. And well, now it’s necessary. It was only a matter of time before whoever that was showed up on your doorstep. We took it in hand, and we decided to do what we thought best in order to keep you safe. As far as what happens next…” He stopped, tipping his head in Nadia’s direction.
“We’ve had a team of people hard at work over the last couple of months getting things ready at the cabin. Tomorrow, we’re flying everyone home,” Nadia said as the room went completely silent until she was done speaking.
“The cabin? We can go back to the cabin?” Jared asked. He shoved himself away from the table, pulled the girl sitting beside him up, and then hugged her to his chest with something like a gasp. “Please don’t play with my emotions and tell me you’re kidding.”
I couldn’t help but agree with Jared. It felt like forever since we’d been back home. Hell, since we’d all been together.
Nadia rose from her seat and walked over to stand beside Grant as she answered him. “No. I’m not joking, Jared. We thought it best for everyone to be together in one place where other operatives, like Oliver, can be put in place to keep tabs on things while Grant and I figure out where the leak is coming from. Everyone not in this room will be told you’re going to a safe house elsewhere. We’re hoping to flush out whoever our traitor is.”
“How long?” I asked. My voice, hardly a whisper, quieted the r
oom as everyone’s attention shifted over to me.
“How long for what, Mark?” Grant asked.
“Until Paige and I can go back to our normal lives? Because we both have jobs, responsibilities and…” Words failed me. They’d thrown an entire world full of secrets and danger in my lap. Could there ever be a time when we could go back to anything close to normal?
Before Grant could answer, Ace did. “None of us know, Mark. I wish we could tell you that… I really do, but—”
“But the fact is that all of this was bound to happen,” Eli added.
“As much as it pains me to say it, you’re right, Eli,” Nadia interjected.
“Still doesn’t make it right,” Jared said.
“Right or not, there’s nothing we can do about it now. As I’ve said before—your safety is the only thing that matters right now. We’ve done everything we could to keep you from it. Everything. And we’ll keep doing everything we can. I don’t know when your life will get back to normal, Mark. Or if it ever will. I’m sorry,” Grant said.
“We’re going to let you all get settled in. If you need anything, just let Oliver know and he’ll take care of it for you,” Nadia said, sure to look at each of us before she and Grant swept out of the room.
Oliver followed them out, leaving us alone for the first time in over a year.
The silence lasted all of ten seconds before Ace practically jumped out of his seat, pacing the floor with clenched fist and a snarl on his face.
“If I would have known back when Grant offered me this job, I never would have taken it. I don’t even know what to say to you now. How did things get so screwed up? How—”
Jared cut him off. “Dude, it wasn’t your fault. You took a job offered to you. And not even that… you only did it because of me. So if anyone’s looking for a fall guy… just look right here. It’s my fault we’re all sitting in this room. It’s because of me that all of you became targets.”
“It wasn’t just you, Jared. Grant came to both Ace and me, probably thinking if he hired us on, at least he’d still have some sort of way to protect us. You heard them earlier. They’ve been watching over us for most of our lives,” Aiden said, giving a half shrug.
The Vows We Make (The Six Series Book 4) Page 3
