MY MOTHER HAD BEEN RIGHT when she said there was a lot to go over. And the scary part was, there wasn’t just one ‘bad guy’. In my parents’ profession, there were hundreds of them. Picking and choosing what target to go after depended on the seriousness of the crime. The man responsible for my kidnapping wasn’t even one on the top of the list, or hadn’t been until he made the stupid call of messing with the wrong Jackson.
Days after my return, I’d been briefed on everything they could cram inside a full day. My head spun from it all. At night, I’d lie on my bed and pray to every deity possible for Ace’s safe return.
I kept Oliver’s saying of “No news is good news” close at heart.
My parents hadn’t given Lars, Retro, and Licks much of a choice about staying on at Cole Enterprise. Their fate had been cast the minute I signed on with the band. Knowing that angered me. It had been my insistence to go into the music industry, and it had been my insistence to travel around with a band. The only thing my parents could do was make sure I had someone watching my back for the rest of my life, which was why they’d sent Oliver.
All my parents had ever wanted for me was my happiness. They worked tirelessly at keeping themselves to the shadows to not become a target for anyone. They’d pulled themselves from the field and took up command posts, letting the others run missions while they worked from the confines of the compound.
But like anything else, secrets and lies had a way of bubbling to the surface even after you thought the storm had cleared. Targets had long-standing memories. They didn’t forget those who hunted them or their associates. They had vendettas to fulfill and my parents, no matter how careful, were still points of interest to them. The trickle-down effect coated all of us and for that, we were stuck. The only way to keep it from spreading was to take all it affected and lock them away, as if they’d never been there in the first place, and keep them from passing the stigma onto others. Or so my mom said when she explained it to me.
WE WERE GOING ON DAY five for the search for Ace, and the room set up for the rescue mission hummed with activity. Maps were stuck on the wall with areas searched marked in red notations. Reports were posted each day as the team on the ground relayed positions. We were no closer to finding him than before. Something had to give and soon.
I’d built up enough strength to get around on my own. As wobbly as I was, I had the bruises to prove I wasn’t fully back to one hundred percent. I didn’t care about the marks; they at least proved I wasn’t going to wither away in a damn chair.
While we waited for news on Ace, my parents filled me in on who had ordered my kidnapping.
“Most kidnappings don’t go that way, right? Isn’t there some sort of ransom at least?” I asked as I flipped through the file my parents handed me.
My mother settled into the seat across from me as she answered. “Usually, that is the way it happens. And worse things than that too. I closed the file and spread my hand along the folder. “So, the primary target, Robert De Fleur, is a high-ranking player for the Columbian drug cartel, a murderer, a known pirate, and a child trafficker? Why the hell did he not make the top of the list?” I asked, slapping my hand on the file.
My father pulled up a chair beside me, turning it to face me as he sat. “Because, believe it or not, his crimes, while very serious, are the tip of the iceberg for us. Our biggest threat is terrorism, or acts of it. Those cases get pushed to the front because they are the deadliest ones and, if left unchecked, could be the fall of our country.”
Put that way, I understood the need to eliminate those types of threats first. “So why him? Why did he retaliate against you?”
“We’re not—” Mom started to answer, but Dad cut her off.
“We have a leak. Somewhere in one of our departments, someone is talking. And it’s our belief that Robert De Fleur has been dipping his toe into the nuclear bomb area, so your mother put out a special bulletin to our field reps to keep a closer eye on him, which would tip off whoever is leaking the information.” my father answered.
Mom shifted, leaning her elbows on the table as she cocked her head in Dad’s direction. “While your father has a valid point, I don’t think it’s a leak. Last year, when I went out in the field, he made me. I know he did. From there, he set his own people on figuring out who I was.”
Dad leaned back in his chair, his lip poked out as he nodded along with what she said. “Yes, but you’re not in any database. So it leads me to believe someone here is feeding information to the outside.”
Mom’s fingers tapped against the table soft enough that it made no sound as she did it. “We’d have a tough time finding out who. We hire the best people, ones who know how to operate in the shadows, and hack into anything and everything without leaving a trace behind.”
Before my dad could argue back, his phone rang. “It’s Eli.”
We’d hoped to hear from him at some point during the morning. He’d been kept in the loop about Ace so that he could keep an eye out as he traveled with the Red Cross.
My father answered the phone and went into a flurry of activity. Phone against his ear, he snatched a green marker from the table and circled a spot on the map filled with nothing but red.
Red meant no Ace. Green meant he’d been found. He’d been found!
I shot out of my seat, pacing as he wrapped up the call. He ended it by assuring Eli that someone would be dispatched to him within the next thirty minutes. When he pulled the phone away from his ear, he walked over to the table, hit the button to put the phone to speaker, and dialed a series of numbers.
“He made it to Eli’s base camp,” he said, looking between my mom and me.
I all but buckled to the floor as my dad rattled off coordinates to whoever had answered the phone on the other end.
“What about the rest of his team?” my mom asked.
Dad shook his head. “Eli said it was only him. And honestly, we need to keep this between Eli and us for the moment.
Aiden’s voice crackled over the speaker.
“Aiden, he’s with Eli. Tell no one he’s been found. In fact, tell them I’ve called off the search, and that you’re to arrange for the other part of your team to fly out immediately. Inform them that you’re being stationed on standby to collect the remains.”
“Copy that, Sir. Standby transport helo is for what time, Sir?”
“Evac troupes out by truck. Flight orders will be waiting for them at the airfield. You are to remain with Ace and Eli for three days. I’ll call you with further instructions then.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Oh and Aiden?”
“Sir?”
“Destroy Eli’s SAT phone.”
“Yes, Sir.”
I grabbed my dad’s arm too late to stop him from disconnecting the call. “Damn it, Dad. How will we get a hold of Eli now?”
“We don’t need to get a hold of Eli now. He and Ace are in Aiden’s care until they hit Chicago.”
He turned to my mom. “Take him off the grid.”
My mom sat down in front of a laptop, and I watched in horror as she opened Ace’s file and marked him deceased.
“Is that necessary?” My question came out sounding more like a demand.
“If whoever blew up the helicopter finds out he’s still alive, they’ll hunt him down to finish the job. It’s better this way.
I swallowed hard, realizing she was doing what had to be done in order to get him back to us. Back to Chicago.
FOR THREE DAYS, I PACED the floors, waiting for Ace, Aiden, and Eli to return. Murphy had been moved from beginner’s combat training to the intel room to see how well she did there. Mom said they wanted to get an idea of what her strengths and weaknesses were before they placed her within the company. It worried me where they’d put her, making me wonder if it was my mom’s way of keeping us apart.
It just so happened that she’d been given the morning off, so she followed along with me to the room I’d spent the better part of a we
ek living in. She wandered around looking at the maps, shaking her head as she tapped her finger against her lips.
My father had been making phone calls all morning to get a plane out for Aiden, Ace, and Eli, but he was having no luck with it because of a storm brewing off the coast. Murphy listened with half an ear as she studied the map in front of her.
Dad, cursing whoever was on the other end of the phone, slammed it down and leaned back in his chair with his hands laced behind his head. “At this fucking rate, they’ll have to wait another five days to fly out.”
My mom walked up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders, digging her thumbs into the bunched muscles of his neck. “There’s a way. There’s always a way.”
“Actually,” Murphy piped up from the other side of the room, “you could have Eli hire a boat headed for Jamaica. You could have a plane ready for them there. Right?”
“No one would expect it, especially going so far out of the way. Jamaica would also mean De Fleur would have to send his people into enemy cartel territory, which he won’t do on a hunch that Ace might be alive. The records are wiped, so there’s no way a leak would put it all together,” my mom said, as if giving it some thought.
“It would take them longer to get home,” my dad fired back.
“Yeah, but it’s better than them staying in Haiti any longer. You’ve already taken too many risks making Aiden sit around like he’s waiting for Ace’s body to be released.”
He sighed. “And how do we get Ace out then? Parade him around in the open in order to get a boat?”
“Have Eli do it. He’s been around the locals enough that he could secure a fishing boat and get both Aiden and Ace out without being seen,” Murphy said, jumping into the discussion again. “Like you said, it’s better they get out before someone realizes Ace isn’t dead and they try to finish him off and take Aiden and Eli out too. A fishing boat captain wouldn’t even think twice if you offered him enough money.”
“Do it,” my mom said, picking up the phone and handing it to my dad.
Dad looked at Murphy, his eyes scanning her face as if reading her for the first time. I shifted uncomfortably, watching him size her up. “Just so you know, I would have come up with this idea too.”
She nodded to him. “That’s because you’re a smart man.”
He snorted a laugh with a toss of his hand, gesturing for my mom to dial.
“Guess she really is one of us,” he told my mom. “Better get her ready to live in the shadows.”
Murphy’s eyes shot to mine as if asking me what my dad meant.
“Aiden…” My dad’s voice pulled our eyes to him as he rattled off the information.
THE FOLLOWING MORINING, MURPHY AND I took a few extra minutes to ourselves. I’d woken to her hand gliding down my chest to settle on my hip. Little did she know, I’d been awake since she’d put her hands on my shoulder.
I caught her hand in mine and brought her fingers up to my lips. “Good morning.”
“I thought you’d never wake up,” she said with a sleepy smile.
“Oh, I’m awake. Every inch of me. Now, what do you plan to do about it?” In the dim lighting of the room, I could see the curve of her shoulder, the swell of her breast. My finger swept out and trailed over her soft skin.
“I spent many hours doing this in my head. Remembering the feel of your skin was one of the few things that kept me from losing my sanity.”
Her head tipped back as I slid my finger down the center of her chest, blazing a path that made her breath catch. And all I could think was that she looked like some sort of goddess offering herself up to my touch. I rolled her over to settle between the softness of her thighs.
I ached for her, lying in the same bed night after night. At first, I was too weak to even roll myself over, and she’d curl up in my arms, content to lie beside me. Then, as I became stronger, she’d started martial arts training. Most nights, she’d practically fall asleep brushing her teeth.
The arch of her body against mine told me that she was done waiting. That she wanted me inside her as much as I wanted to be there. We trembled together as our skin brushed with every move. Neither of us giving any room between our tangled limbs. Sighing in and out with something building so heavy between us that it threatened to take the very breath we shared.
LYING TOGETHER AS OUR BODIES cooled, I knew without a doubt I loved Murphy. I loved her to the very marrow of my bones, and I wanted her to know it.
Rolling over, I propped myself up and tucked a piece of wayward hair behind her ear. Her eyes fluttered open, still heavily filled with passion.
“Murphy?” I said, running my thumb over her bottom lip.
She rolled over to face me, putting her hand under her head to look at me. “Yes, Jared?”
“I love you.” My hand went to the back of her neck, wanting to pull her against me. But I waited, not sure how she’d react to what I’d said.
Her eyes pooled with tears, and she put her hand on my face. “I love you too, Jared.”
I pulled her against my chest and hugged her as she draped her leg over mine. We lay like that for a while until I knew that if we took any longer someone would come looking for us.
THE REST OF THE DAY, we sat in the small room that had been covered in maps the day before, both geographical and topographical, marked with lines of red. There wasn’t much to do but sit around and wait.
My phone rang, and I winced when I saw who it was. I lifted it carefully to my ear as if it would explode and answered.
“Hey Riles,” I said, putting every ounce of happiness in my voice that I could muster.
Seconds ticked by, making me think our call had been dropped. “Riley… you there?”
“Jared…” Her voice was strained, as if she were on the verge of crying.
“What happened? What’s wrong?”
“Jared… it’s Ace.”
“Just stay put, Riley. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I disconnected the phone without saying goodbye, meeting my mom’s questioning gaze.
“How did Riley find out about Ace?”
She closed her eyes briefly, and then turned to the laptop. Her fingers moved nimbly along the keys as screens flashed from one to the next. A low hiss escaped her, and she punched a button on the phone.
The stigma had spread to Riley.
“Nadia.” Cole’s voice carried over the room.
“We have a breach of files,” she said, rubbing her forehead.
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“You know what to do.”
“Also, we’ll need clearance for Riley Clifton.”
“I’ll key her in myself. Anything else?” Cole’s reply was brisk.
“No, I can take care of the rest. Thanks, Cole.”
Murphy, silent through the entire exchange, clutched my hand in hers. When my mom hung up the phone, I stood, bringing her with me. “When can I leave?”
“I’ll send Oliver.”
“And I’m going with him.”
“No, Jared. You’re not.”
“Yes, Mom, I am, and I’m taking Murphy with me.”
“You’d put yourself in danger again? And what about Murphy? If you care about her as much as you say you do, why would you even think about taking her from here?”
I turned it around on her. “How serious is a breach of files?”
Caught off guard, she hugged her arms to her chest. “It’s really serious. Someone has access to our files, or at least Ace’s file. They’re all separately encrypted, but if they hacked one, they can hack them all.”
I shot off my next question. “And who handles these situations?”
My mother’s hands fluttered in front of her—a gesture I’d never seen from her before. “We’ve never had a breach like this. I have to isolate the cases and then bring down the system in order to run a different encryption program. It could take a couple of days, maybe even a week. Once I know how many files have been
hacked, I’ll need to contact those whose cover is blown and… it’s gonna be a mess, Jared.”
I caught one of her hands in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. “So you’re gonna have your hands full. Let me handle this. You trust Oliver, right?”
She snorted. “Of course I do. He’s one of our best.”
I let go of her hand and took a step back. Murphy’s hand slipped into mine as I said, “Well then, I don’t see the problem.”
“Jared, this isn’t a game.”
I jerked in response as if she’d hit me. “You don’t think I know that? If there’s a chance that Riley’s in danger, there’s nothing you can do or say to make me stay here. I promised Ace I’d take care of her. I don’t intend to break that promise.”
Murphy squeezed my hand, adding in her thoughts. “We can be there and back within a day and a half.”
My mom was far from swayed. By the pinched look of her face, and her pursed lips, I could tell she was gearing up to lay down the law.
Oliver walked in about the same time as her mouth opened. He took one look at her and chuckled. “He’s not a baby anymore, Nadia. You brought him into this; now let’s see what he’s got.”
Mom spun around on him. “I know what he’s got; I used to change his diapers.”
Oliver laughed a deep booming sound that came from his toes and walked over to put his hand on Mom’s shoulder. “Well, then you know he has what it takes to pull off a simple pick-up and delivery.”
She shoved at his arm, but he held firm. “I’m taking him with me, and I’ll bring them all back in one piece. So long as he doesn’t go off half-cocked again, we’ll be back here tomorrow.”
I felt my face heat up. I’d never live down my mistake of running off because I hadn’t got my way. It had been a childish move. One I’d never forget.
Oliver moved his hand from Mom’s shoulder. In a blur of movement, my mom had Oliver bent over with his arm behind his back in an odd angle. “So help me, Oliver, if he comes back with so much as a scratch on him, there will be no place you can hide.”
End Note Page 28
