Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

February 11 th

8:08 A.M.

This little taste of domestic bliss was enough to have her craving more.

After Miguel had told her about his childhood and his fears for his future, they’d made love once in the bed, and then again in the shower. Now they were downstairs in her kitchen cooking breakfast.

Nothing fancy, just making a little French toast. They didn't talk much as they bustled about the kitchen, yet they seemed so in sync with one another it was hard not to want more of this. Mornings where they barely had a chance to talk as they both hurried about grabbing bowls of cereal and heading off to start their days. And mornings where they could take their time, make something special, just enjoy being together and soaking up the little moments.

“Syrup?” Miguel asked.

“Are you kidding? Of course I want maple syrup on my French toast,” she informed him.

Chuckling, he grabbed the syrup and set it on the table as she scooped the bread out of the frying pan and divided it up between the two plates. There was already coffee and juice on the table, and she’d cut up some fruit to go on the French toast as well.

Before she could pick up the plates, Miguel nudged her out of the way, shooing her toward the table, then grabbed both of their plates and set them on the placemats. While she’d been cooking, he’d somehow managed to find a couple of candles and set them up on the table and her heart melted at the sight.

Her guy might be unsure about reaching out and taking what he wanted, but he was so sweet and he did the nicest things for her. Ella understood where he was coming from, why he would have the fears he did, and she would do her best not to add any more pressure to him in addition to the pressure he was heaping on himself.

If this is going to work out then it will .

Those were the words she kept whispering to herself. They were true and she was doing her best to believe in them. Just because she wanted Miguel, and just because he wanted her in return, didn't mean they were supposed to be together. There were no guarantees in life, she knew that, had said it to Miguel just a little while ago, and you couldn’t fight against fate.

She just hoped with everything she had that this time fate was on her side.

“What are your plans for the day?” she asked as she took a bite of the fluffy toast, letting it melt on her tongue.

“What are your plans for the day?” Miguel shot back, catching her by surprise.

“Umm, well, I guess going into Prey for a while this morning. I promised to give things an honest try and I intend to do that. I guess we’ll go through files again, see if we can match up the description you gave of the woman you saw yesterday with one of our current or former employees. Then I'm seeing Piper again at two. After that, I’ll probably just come home and hang out. Why?”

“Because you can consider me your shadow until the mole is in custody.”

Even as his words warmed her there was an ominous ending to the sentence. The words he hadn't said affected her just as deeply as the ones he had.

Once the mole was found, Miguel could vanish from her life as quickly as he entered it.

It hurt to think about that, so Ella quickly shoved the thoughts away. They didn't fit in with her live life in the moment plan.

“My shadow, huh?”

“Yep. If the mole is following you around, then they’re not getting to you. If they try they’ll have to get through me.”

“You know I've been thinking,” she said slowly. “It seems like this isn’t just business. At least on the mole’s part. It was for Raul Castillo. He just wanted the drug and didn't want to give up on getting it, he didn't want to be bested by a bunch of girls he couldn’t coerce into doing what he wanted. But it feels different with the mole.”

“How so?”

“Well, they didn't have to get Scarlett kidnapped and tortured. They couldn’t get to the vial without us, and we were careful to protect the formula. The mole sold the drug to Raul, or at least sold the ability to get the drug, but they took it so much further than that. I mean, someone sold out Zander because he and Lucy were kidnapped by his enemies, not Raul and the mole. Someone knew about him and used it almost as a way to punish Lucy. Then with Cassie, they used her fingerprints to program into the bomb on the ship. The only way for it to be disarmed was with her, which meant she had no choice but to head right into danger. That wasn't really productive in terms of getting the formula. In fact, none of the bombs were. Sure the email said it was as motivation, but it really seemed like it was more punishment.”

But why would someone who worked for Prey want to punish them?

Athena Team wasn't a field team, they were lab workers, scientists.

Someone seemed to have a grudge against them specifically, and she was starting to wonder if maybe the Reactivator was just a secondary motivator. Like maybe the idea of selling it to a notorious weapons dealer wasn't so much about the money as it was just a way to make her and her team suffer.

If that was the case, then it changed things. Definitely changed how they should look at the files. All along they’d been looking for someone who might have a need for money as the primary motivator. What if they swapped that around? What if the money was just an extra benefit but the real goal was to destroy Athena Team?

“Whoever it was really doubled down after you guys started falling in love,” Miguel said slowly.

“That’s true,” she agreed. Things had continued to escalate after Scarlett had fallen for Tate, then Lucy for Zander, Cassie for Luis, and now her for Miguel. Just because of all four of them she was the only one whose future with the man she wanted was up in the air didn't change the fact that she had fallen.

What did that mean?

It had to mean something.

Didn't it?

Or was she just clutching at straws here?

A month of living on edge had made them all desperate for any kind of answers, but looking for things where there was nothing wasn't going to help.

Somehow, she had to cling to a little logic.

Was there someone at Prey who might have already disliked Athena Team but then had cause to take that dislike to a new level when they all started falling in love?

Something was prickling the back of her mind only she couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

Falling in love changes everything. Changes you .

Those words whispered through her head only she couldn’t remember where she’d heard them before or who had said them.

“Ella, you got an idea?”

“Maybe. I … I'm not sure … I have this feeling like I'm close to figuring everything out, but I can't quite get there,” she said, frustrated with herself. There was a lot riding on this. They had to figure out the mole’s identity. If they didn't then this would never be over, and she didn't want to keep living her life this way, constantly looking over her shoulder and expecting the worst.

“You’ll get there,” Miguel said confidently.

“What you said before, about them doubling down, it made me think of something I just can't remember the details.”

“Stop pushing yourself, let it happen, the more pressure you put on your shoulders, the harder it will be to get there. Just relax. Take a deep breath. Let go of everything else. Just be.”

Allowing his words to settle over her like a weighted blanket, smoothing out all her anxieties, Ella did as he instructed, drew in a slow breath, and then just let go. Let everything fall away. If the answers were inside her head, they’d come to her.

Love was a crazy thing. Possibly both the best and worst things in the world. It could build you up but it could also tear you down. It picked you up like a tornado and tossed you about until you had no idea what direction you were facing.

It also made people do crazy things.

What wouldn't I do for love?

Those words echoed through her mind, and when she stopped and held onto them, let them shimmer into focus a face came along with them.

One she knew.

One she had trusted.

One that Prey had already looked into and discarded as a possible suspect.

Snapping her gaze to Miguel’s, she reached out blindly, only feeling grounded when he clasped her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I know who it is.”

February 11 th

9:04 A.M.

One hour had changed everything.

Ella’s house was bursting at the seams with people. There were no more chairs left, people lounged against the walls and sat on the floor. The atmosphere in the room was off the charts with excitement. After over a month of sitting around twiddling their thumbs, playing defensive as they tried to cut off the mole’s attacks without ever being able to get on the offensive, the tide had turned.

Prey was in control now.

And it was all thanks to his girl.

She was the one who finally solved the mystery of the mole’s true identity, and apparently, according to her, it was all because of something he had said. Miguel was more than happy to hand over all credit to where it belonged though, and that was squarely on Ella’s shoulders. He might have said something that got her thinking, but she was the one who had managed to put all the pieces together and come up with an answer.

“Okay, we’re going to hand this over to Ella,” Fox announced, and the excited murmuring calmed down as Ella stood in front of her Prey family.

It was obvious she was nervous, the way she swayed slightly from foot to foot gave her away. As did the way she held her hands joined together so tightly that even from there he could see that her knuckles were blanched white.

When her gaze roamed the room and settled on him, Miguel gave her an encouraging smile. She had this. She was the one who put it all together, she deserved this moment to stand proudly before her family and tell them what she had deduced. Then together, they would all come up with a plan that would take the mole down once and for all.

“Well,” Ella began, clearing her throat, then visibly pulling herself together. “It was something Miguel said to me this morning while we were eating breakfast. Something about love and it triggered a memory of a conversation I had. The conversation was with Dora Hibbert.”

Gasps echoed around the room and over a dozen shocked faces stared back at Ella.

After she’d managed to figure everything out, they immediately called Prey. Given that the mole had an in, they hadn't wanted to discuss on the phone what she’d figured out. So all she’d done was ask if Fox could come over because she wanted to discuss the terms of her staying for the next month. Of course, he’d figured out that it was more than that, but she hadn't said the name aloud until he was standing there in her living room.

Now that news had been shared with everyone else, even Miguel—who knew nothing about the ins and outs of Prey and their workplace—could see how shocked everyone was.

“I thought we cleared her,” Spider said.

“We did,” Fox agreed. “She didn't need the money, and she’d been at Prey for years. We even managed to clear her husband’s name when there was some shady stuff going down with his Green Beret team.”

“So what changed?” Night asked.

“For one, Ella figured out a few suspicious things, and two, when I went looking for her this morning she was nowhere to be seen. Hasn’t been back to the office since lunchtime yesterday,” Fox said, looking over to him. “Since Miguel saw someone standing outside the rental where Piper and Arrow are staying while Ella was inside.”

“Why would Dora decide to turn on us?” Scarlett asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. Confusion that was echoed in all the other people in the room.

“I got a weird vibe from her after Zander and I got together,” Lucy said thoughtfully. “At the time, I just thought it was because it was a shock, but maybe it was more than that. She didn't seem to like that I would date one of my best friend’s brother.”

“While I was waiting for you guys to get here I did a little digging of my own,” Ella informed them. “I remembered a few things Dora’s said to me over the years that aren't suspicious in and of themselves, but put them altogether and they paint a different picture. There were some rumors about missing weapons and drug smuggling on her husband’s team. He was the prime suspect, but we were able to clear him.” Ella waved her hand to indicate herself and her team.

“So why would she hate us?” Cassie asked.

“Because her husband wasn't completely innocent,” Ella replied. “He wasn't smuggling weapons to Raul Castillo, but he was cheating on her. Apparently, the affairs had been going on most of the marriage. She found out when he died in a car accident with one of his mistresses in the car with him. One of the reasons Dora was never on our list was because she received a huge life insurance payout after his death and a payout from the trucking company the driver of the truck that hit him worked for. She didn't need the money.”

“When she applied for the receptionist job, she said it was because Prey had helped her out by proving her husband’s innocence, and she wanted to be part of what we did. Said even though she had enough money to live comfortably on for the rest of her life she was young and didn't want to just sit around with nothing to do,” Fox added.

“I still don’t get why she’d hate us,” Scarlett said.

“I don’t know why,” Ella said. “Maybe misplaced blame. Maybe she thought we should have discovered the affairs when we were investigating him, maybe she’s just crazy. All I know is she married her childhood best friend’s brother, and it caused a rift between them. She lost contact with her and the whole family. She had no family of her own, a deadbeat dad and a mom who lost custody, so she was a foster system kid. That’s why she wouldn't have liked Lucy and Zander getting together. Her husband might not have been selling weapons, but she still managed to track down the dealer the weapons had been sold to. Raul Castillo. She was in a position to know everything. About the drug, when we were closing in on Raul’s location. She’s probably the one who tipped him off which is why we kept arriving too late. She knows all our addresses, she has access to our things at work, she knew everything we were doing and when we were going to do it.”

“This is crazy,” Chaos exclaimed.

“It is, and we won't have answers until we have her in custody,” Ella agreed. “I want to know why she targeted us, but more than that, I want to know that she can't hurt us again. I want her found and caught.”

That sentiment was echoed by every person in the room.

They all wanted this done and over with.

“If she’s run, and she has enough money to stay hidden, then how will we find her?” Lucy asked.

“Actually, I have an idea on that,” Miguel said, shoving off the wall he’d been leaning against and closing the short distance between himself and Ella.

“You do?” she asked, news to her since he hadn't mentioned it yet. He hadn't mentioned it to anyone, but he was positive that this would work. If he could convince his girl to go along with it. If he could keep a handle on his own fears for her safety to let her go along with it.

“Let’s hear it,” Fox told him.

“Dora Hibbert has been working at Prey for years now, she knows everything about you guys, and we have no way to know what else she’s infected. She could have devices hidden on computer systems, phones, she could be listening in on any plans you make to try to find her,” he said.

“So, we have to keep her out of the loop,” King said.

“We do. Well out of the real loop,” Miguel amended. “We set up a few false attempts to search for her. Keep her distracted. Make her focus be where we want it to be so she doesn’t see the sneak attack coming.”

“What's the sneak attack?” Ella asked, somewhat suspiciously.

“It’s you,” he replied. “She might know that you guys came over here today, I'm sure she knows that Ella said she’d give this a month to work out, but what if we play it up like Ella changed her mind? That she’s quitting now. Ella already has a backup career, and it’s one she’s overdue for a performance for.”

“You want me to pretend I left Prey and put on a concert?” Ella asked, wide green eyes staring up at him.

“A trap in the form of a concert,” he corrected. “I want Dora thinking that you’ve backed away from Prey. That maybe because you did, they’re not watching you as closely as they were. I want her to think that the concert would be the perfect place to try to make contact with you. If she really hates you all then she’s not giving up. She might lay low until an opportunity presents itself to make a move, but she’s not disappearing for good. This gives her that opportunity to strike when she thinks she can blend in and never be spotted. But only if you think you can do this, El.”

It was a big risk, and a big ask. After what she’d just been through, Ella shouldn’t have to play bait, but he was guessing she would if it was the only way to finally be free of the mole once and for all.

He guessed right.

Determination brimmed in those sea-green eyes of hers. “I can do it. If I have you, if I have all of you,” she added, her gaze skimming over the eyes of the people determined to make it up to her for letting her down. “Then I can play bait and lure in Dora Hibbert. We’re Prey, she can't beat us, she’ll never even see it coming.”