by Wade, Maddie
She hugged Reg and then went up on tiptoe to kiss his bristly cheek.
“Morning, Uncle Reg.”
“Morning, sweetheart. I made some breakfast for us all. Sit down and I’ll bring it over.”
Skye nodded and took her coffee from Nate as she went to the breakfast bar to sit down. She smiled when Nate sat next to her and automatically leaned her head on his shoulder. He raised his arm so that she could scoot in closer and he wrapped his arm around her so he could hold her properly. He dropped a kiss on her head then took a sip of coffee.
Reg brought over their food and he and Nate tucked in. Nate ate one-handed so he could continue to hold Skye.
Skye picked at her food, taking a few bites before pushing it away. Nate could see she was anxious to get to Fortis so that she could find her son.
“Have you spoken to Zack, yet?” she asked Nate.
“Not since last night. He texted to say they are all meeting back at Fortis at 8 am, so we will find out any info then. I do have some news, though.” He paused. This was going to be hard and knew this would frighten and upset her.
“You know we went to Joanne’s last night…”
“Oh my god, I completely forgot! What did she say?”
“She didn’t say anything, mi cielo…she’s dead. Someone got there before us and she was didn’t make it.” He turned to face her and gently held her by her biceps. He could feel her tremble for moment before she sucked in a breath, and watched her face transform, as she pulled herself together. She was the most magnificent woman he had ever met.
“Did you find the card?”
“Yes, we did. Zack has it at Fortis. He will run the number and check for any evidence that might have been left.”
She stood, pushing her plate away.
“Come on, we need to go.” She was bouncing on her feet in her need to get going and do something.
“Okay, grab your coat and we’ll go. Reg are you coming?” Reg had been quiet as he watched the exchange.
“Bet your ass I am,” he said, pulling on his old, scuffed leather jacket. They headed out to Nate’s Porsche Cayenne.
~~~
Reg opted to go with Nate and Skye in the Porsche rather than use his beloved Triumph Bont T120. Whilst he’d travelled from Ewyas Harold on it, he didn’t want to ride it in this cold weather more than necessary. Besides, Ewyas Harold was only thirteen miles southwest of town.
He loved that bike, but he wasn’t stupid and didn’t ride it in winter. He wasn’t getting any younger, and he wanted his years on this earth to last a bit longer. Black ice had killed too many of his grip-twisting friends, so now he chose to respect that two wheels and winter didn’t mix.
Anyway, he had a great-nephew to help save. He loved his niece dearly. She had been the only family he’d had since Tilly died. When Noah came along, he healed a little of the pain he had still felt from losing Tilly and their son.
He knew it had cost Skye immensely when she chose to stick by his side when her parents had demanded she cut all ties with him. It saddened him that his own brother could hate him so much. But his ignorance and prejudice about Reg’s abilities were too fundamentally ingrained. They were close once, but the pressure of being the heir apparent to the family fortune had changed William a great deal. He hardly recognised his own brother in the end.
When Skye’s parents, William and Margaret, turned their backs on her for getting pregnant outside of marriage, they further ostracized her for not cutting ties with Reg, He’d vowed to watch over her, as if she were his own.
He was so deep in thought, he hadn’t noticed them turning into the old industrial estate at Rotherwas. This had previously been the site of the old Second World War munitions factory. It was long since derelict, and most of the buildings were either empty or crumbling or were knocked down.
Driving towards the right, to the far end, he was surprised to see two large warehouses had been made into one large building. It had to span at least two-hundred thousand square feet. It looked non-descript from the front, the corrugated metal the same as every other unit on the estate and just a sign that read Fortis Security on the wall. But, the building obviously had work done to it because, compared to the rest, it was like a palace.
There were eight, black SUV’s parked on the right, and a couple other fancy-assed cars to the left, including the bright yellow Mazda. But it was the Harley 48 that caught his eye. The attention to detail was breath-taking and it looked to be in immaculate condition. Reg had previously thought these people might be knuckle-headed macho men but it looked like at least one had some good sense.
They exited the car and as he walked by the bike, barely resisted the urge to stop and admire it. The warehouse backed onto the open-countryside. Reg idly wondered how much land was attached to this operation, and if, indeed, it was just a security firm, as Skye had told him. He served his time in the military as a young man, and lived through several tours of Northern Ireland. He’d seen some things that still haunted him today. Although, not in the sense that his wife did.
She chose that moment to give him an ear-bashing about his mind wandering from the job at hand. He rolled his eyes at her tirade and ignored her.
Chapter Eight
Skye walked into Fortis beside Nate–her hand clutched tightly in his. A knot the size of a watermelon was currently lodged in her stomach, making her feel nauseous. The anxiety and nerves hearing about what they learned overnight, if anything, was making her feel slightly woozy.
Right now, she should be giving Noah his breakfast and making sure he brushed his teeth properly. Mundane responsibilities, but every one she cherished for the gift they were. She prayed that whoever had him hadn’t hurt him. She felt the few bites of breakfast she had eaten churn in her stomach.
Nate must have sensed her discomfort because he let go of her hand and draped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her flush with his side. She looked up into his beautiful, chocolate brown eyes and took strength from him as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
They walked past the small kitchen and the overnight facilities and into the conference room. It was large with room, big enough for a twenty-person conference table and chairs in the middle. The walls were a pale green–almost white–colour. The florescent lighting was bright and harsh after the dank greyness of the morning light.
A coffee station and fridge with drinks was along the back wall. A large white board and screen to the left of the door and front of the room. The screen was hooked up to two laptops with other technical equipment Skye couldn’t make head-nor-tail of. There were no windows and it gave the room a cave-like feel that for some bizarre reason, made Skye feel safe.
She felt Uncle Reg at her side and turned to see what he made of it all. She was not surprised to see he seemed to be taking it all in his stride. Nothing seemed to faze him, but she guessed when you spoke to the dead, nothing would. She wondered if she should have mentioned her uncles special gift to Nate and her new friends here when news about Lauren and Claire’s abilities had come out. But it hadn’t seemed like the right time and then the opportunity never really arose afterwards.
She startled as the door opened behind her as Zack, Zin, Daniel, Drew, Dane, and Lucy walked in. She got chin lifts from Daniel and Zin, but Dane surprised her when he walked past her and gently squeezed her shoulder as he did. It seemed to impart everything he needed her to know because he didn’t say anything. He was a good guy and will make an excellent dad.
Nate guided her to a chair near the head of the long conference table next to Zack’s chair at the top and sat beside her. They both faced the door so saw when anyone came through. He placed her hand on his thigh and threaded his fingers through hers. She was grateful for the connection and offered him a tentative smile. Lucy, who was wearing black, leather, skin-tight trousers, black heeled knee-high boots, and a black long sleeved tee shirt with a silver skull and purple butterflies on it, came and sat next to them and lent across Nate towards her
.
“How you doing hun?” Lucy asked kindly–compassion and determination in her eyes.
“I’m hanging in there,” Skye replied.
“Good. Don’t worry, we’ll get Noah back, and then I’m personally going to kick the ass of the person or people who took him.” From the look on her face, Skye believed she would not hesitate to kick some ass. She wished she were more like Lucy–confident, sexy, capable of looking out for herself and those around her.
She felt eyes on her and turned to see Zack watching her from the head of the table.
“Morning, Skye. How you holding up?” he asked gently.
“All right. I just want to know what’s going on and help in any way I can.”
Zack nodded, “We have a few updates and some progress.” Just then, Reg started to shout at his Wife.
“Goddamnit, Tilly, give me a break woman. …… fine, I’ll tell them.”
Skye looked around hesitantly at all the faces staring at Uncle Reg. Most were bemused. Dane was openly smiling and Zack looked pissed off at having his meeting hi-jacked.
“Would someone like to introduce us?” Zack asked, openly glaring at Nate.
“This is Skye’s uncle, Reg. He’s offered to help us keep an eye on Skye and help get Noah back.” Nate said calmly holding Zack’s gaze.
Skye held her breath, waiting for Zack’s reaction. She let out an audible breath when Zack looked down and blew out a sigh as if trying to control his temper.
Skye decided she needed to step up and tell everyone about Uncle Reg’s quirk. He wouldn’t mind, he never did and he never tried to hide it–hence the loud conversations with Tilly.
“Umm, I feel I need to explain a few things to you all.” Dane openly started to chuckle now, but tried to shut it down when Zack cut him a look that would freeze the balls off an Eskimo. “Uncle Reg has some quirky abilities…” she paused to let that sink in.
“Go on, Skye,” Nate said gently, squeezing her hand.
“Uncle Reg can talk to the dead. It’s not some weird, dark thing,” she said quickly, “but he does talk to his dead wife, Tilly, a lot.”
“That is the shit,” stated Lucy excitedly, leaning back in her chair and towards Reg.
Reg smiled widely, his eyes crinkled at the corners, showing the handsome man he still was despite his funky purple beard.
“Up top, babe,” he said to Lucy, holding his hand up for a high-five. Lucy happily obliged. Skye watched this and then cast her eyes around the silent table. Well, silent except for a still chuckling Dane. Lauren was good for him, she thought. He had really loosened up.
Her gaze skittered to Zin, whose intelligent eyes were smiling. She then caught Zack’s eyes. He looked pissed and resigned at the same time. But, not one of them looked like they didn’t believe him or thought he was crazy.
“Nate, can I have a word outside?” Zack said as he stood and walked to the hall.
“Sure,” Nate replied, before turning to drop a light kiss on her head before following him out.
~~~
Nate walked out, knowing that he was going to have to stand up to his boss to defend his woman. He didn’t like it, but there was no way he was allowing Zack to sideline Reg and make this any harder on Skye. Zack turned to Nate, hands on hips.
“Care to elaborate?” Zack asked.
“Look, boss, he turned up at Skye’s last night while I was at Joanne’s place. He was sitting with a shotgun across his lap, having an argument with his dead wife. I talked to him about what’s expected and he agreed. I know this is not how we operate, but this is not a normal case for us, either.” Nate huffed out a breath and shook his head. He could totally see why Zack would have reservations, but he had also seen Reg`s genuine love for Skye and would not allow that support to be taken away from her. “Look, despite his strange ability, he seems like a good guy and he loves Skye and Noah.”
“Fuck,” Zack said, shaking his head. “We don’t need him fucking anything up, Nate.”
“Do you think I don’t know that? Fuck, man, that’s my woman’s son who`s missing. I held her while she cried her eyes out this morning, so don’t tell me what’s at stake. I know.” Nate was annoyed now. He paced, hands on hips, waiting to see what Zack would do.
“Fine. He stays, but you are in charge of making sure he does as he is told, and I want Lucy to run a background check on him.”
“Fine. I can do that,” Nate said, relieved that he wasn’t going to have to go up against Zack. “Can we get things started now? This is not helping to find Noah.”
“Sure, come on, lets go,” Zack said, and then shocked Nate by slapping him on the shoulder good-naturedly. They turned and walked back into the conference room. Skye looked up at him anxiously. He gave her a wink and smiled to reassure her. He slipped into the seat beside her and grabbed her hand.
“It’s all good, mi cielo.” He ran the backs of his fingers along her upper arm, and despite everything that was going on, he felt her react to his touch with a tremor. He liked how responsive she was to him–he liked it a lot.
Nate and Skye focused on Zack as he began to bring everyone up to speed on developments.
“So, first things first. We think we know who took Noah,” Zack said, addressing the room, but zeroing in on Skye. “It’s a man named Kanan Harrison who works for SIS. He and I have a chequered history that I won’t go into, but I will say this…he would not hurt a child. Whatever his reasons for doing this, hurting Noah is not one of them.” Nate felt Skye tremble beside him and ignored his own need to go tearing out of the room after this Kanan guy, and concentrated on Skye.
“He called me last night out of the blue and called in a favour. He asked that I look out for his sister, who incidentally, knows nothing of his existence. I agreed and Zin is going to talk to her in a bit. We’ll be offering her the receptionist job. I ran checks on her, myself, and she is as clean as a whistle.” Zack looked everyone in the eye as he spoke–his calm authority reassured Skye that they were the right people to handle this.
“I’m using other channels to try and get a lock on Kanan. Other than that, we also have the Joanne lead to run down, which Dane and Drew are going to do. Lucy, I want you to check for any chatter about her murder, and lets not rule out this being connected The Divine Watchers. Look into Redcast and any other connections that lead back to Skye or Noah. Nate and I are going to talk Noah’s father. I have dealt with him and his family in the past.” Nate nodded his assent. “Daniel, we have the five new recruits coming in tomorrow for induction. I know you’ve met them, but I want you to spend tomorrow getting to know them and showing them the facility. The new training course is set up but can you spend today checking the outdoor range is ready to go?”
“Sure, no problem,” Daniel said amenably.
“What can I do? I need to do something,” Skye said.
“Yeah, we can help,” Reg said gruffly.
Zack nodded, “Okay, I need you to watch the house, Reg. And Skye, I need you to stay by the phone.” He held up his hand before she could speak. “I know you want to be more hands-on, but they might try to get in touch and I need them to be able to get hold of you. While you are home, make a list of anything that has seemed off in the last six months.”
“Fine, I’ll do it.” She turned to Nate, “Will you keep in touch, please?”
He reached for her and cupped the back of her neck, not caring what anyone thought. “Mi cielo, I will keep you in the loop at every turn, I promise. You just need to keep safe.”
Skye nodded. “Okay,” she whispered, reaching out to grip his forearm tightly.
“Lucy,” Zack said, breaking them out of their moment, “go with Skye and set up trace equipment on her home phone. And do her mobile before she leaves.”
“Yes, Sir, boss man, Sir.” Lucy answered with a salute, causing Zack to roll his eyes as if he was dealing with an errant child.
“Right, that’s it. You all have your missions. Keep checking in with me regularly, and
I don’t have to tell you to stay frosty–we don’t know exactly who we’re up against, and this is personal. Briefing at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.
Everyone started to get up, ready to go about their jobs. They looked focused and determined, and Nate was proud to call them all friends.
“Umm, before you go, I just wanted to pass on a message from the missus,” Reg said, getting everyone’s attention. “Now, I don’t know any more about this than you, but she said, and I quote, ‘Watch for the people from your past.’ I don’t know more than that, but she thinks it’s connected to Noah.
“I know you are all probably sceptical and think I’m a flake, and you might be half-right, but do not ignore this. It may not make sense, but keep it in the back of your mind. You have nothing to lose.” He shuffled his feet as he stood and put his arm around Skye. “This little girl and her boy are all the family I have, and I will do everything to protect them,” he said the last turning to Nate. “I won’t let any of you down.”
Nate looked at him and dipped his head, “I believe you, Reg, and we’re glad for the help.” Reg’s chest puffed up with pride and nodded his head. “Thank you, son.” He then spoilt his cool demeanour by turning and yelling at his wife again. “Tilly, will you please stop yammering in my ear. Now pipe down about cakes. I don’t do no cake making…I don’t care about bloody icing, for Christ sake. Stick a sock in it woman.” He turned back to the openly bemused and amused gazes of the room.
“Right, everyone go,” said Zack, shaking his head. Everyone filed out with a grin on their faces. Nate grabbed Skye’s hand to stop her from following.
