Chapter Twenty-Two

Ciaran

Everyone is running on fumes, to the point that our minor victory is barely keeping us afloat. It’s been two months since we made our last descent into New York. Two months of being on our toes, always feeling steps behind the enemy. Rogue has held out, and somehow, by what feels like a miracle, our town and houses have not been exposed. I can’t say the same for Ghost Operatives though. Despite how hard Oliver, Miles, and Nash have tried, their building wasn’t inconspicuous enough. It was demolished. Thankfully, Oliver had the sense to work with Mila and Reed beforehand, so the personal information of the people they have helped was still protected. Their personal information did not have the same outcome, which was how the enemy pulled Ainsley’s name. Nash was currently looking for places for them to disappear underground too once this was all over. And it was almost over.

Silas and Lux had managed to find records on everyone who attended the Aimsworth’s party the night we destroyed them. Who we found was not amongst guests, but one of the few staff members who had managed to escape. She had been serving cocktails, and we had assumed she was there under duress. Turns out she was the apprentice of the Surgeon. Our plan for the night is set, and we’re hoping to capture her alive in order to use her as bait to get the real mastermind, the Chemist.

Even as tired as I am, the thrill of the chase for tonight is giving me an adrenaline boost. Knowing that once this is over we are closer to being able to go home is keeping me awake more than any shot of espresso could. I’m ready to be done here. This war will continue over years, in different states, different countries, always with a new villain. Saylor is in Minnesota. She is my home, and after the way I left things, I can only hope she still wants me as much as I have always wanted her.

The months apart have given me clarity. Her steady presence in the background, her continuous faith in Rogue, even after our break up, and her fight for us when I couldn’t move past the next day, has proven to me how stupid I’ve been. I should have listened to her when she came to see me at the hospital. I should have trusted her the way she’s always trusted me. When I see her again, I’ll hold her hand while we figure out our next steps together, because there is no way that I can live this life without her.

“Are we ready?” Kai asks, joining me in the planning room. My eyes sweep over the maps and the notes from the briefing we had earlier. All we need is for this to go well. The trap is set, literally and figuratively.

“As ready as we ever are,” I tell him, meeting his gaze head on. Kai’s expression is stoney, his eyes darkening while he runs over the odds, and our plans, over and over in his mind.

Silas enters next and scans us both. “We need to move now, if we’re making this work.”

I nod at both of them, running my hands over my sides, feeling the weapons strapped to my sides before moving them to my chest and over the Kevlar vest. “Let’s go.”

We join our team in the different vehicles that look like your average SUV. They have been built for war. Silas and Kai take off in one direction, while Reed and I head in another. Reed’s time in the underbelly of this beast we are fighting is what helped us track down the apprentice. His ability to fool criminals into trusting him, or fearing him, is a major part of our success for this meeting. It’s just us tonight. We’re on our own, hoping we can keep up the image we’ve created for the apprentice to trust us, and not suspect we’re affiliated with Ghost Operatives. Ollie and Nash are appearing to be meeting with a high profile tech company tonight, and Miles secretly slipped off the map with his wife in order to protect her. For the most part, the guys have agreed that Rogue take the lead on this part of the mission, even though it killed Nash to give us control. Not that I blame him. If they came to Minnesota and started taking over a Rogue case, I would feel the same way. In the end, he realized that we still out number his team and we still have the element of surprise that GO lost.

We drive into the city before turning and going down roads that lead to an underground network. If everything has worked out, the apprentice should be there and waiting.

“What’s our plan if the Chemist doesn’t show tonight?” Reed questions while we start to approach our destination.

“The Chemist will have to start looking for a new way to supply the MADAM B. So far, he’s hidden behind everyone else, and just handed over what they needed. The Chemist has never had to branch out on their own to make connections. When it happens, we move in and attack.”

Reed nods in agreement, his knuckles cracking slightly, the only show of discomfort the guy has shown so far. “We can’t stay here forever, or eventually, our presence will compromise Rogue. After we take out the apprentice, someone else will attempt to fill her shoes, while others will try to figure out who took her down in order to avoid the same fate.”

I glance at Reed, while my stomach twists. “I know. As shitty as it is, New York is not our territory. And we can’t put all our targets at risk. We operate reactively. GO has been working proactively.”

“Mila says it feels icky.”

I laugh, imagining the look on Mila’s face as she said it. “It will feel that way. I’m already prepared to leave feeling like we should be doing more, but we can’t. Not now anyway.”

“Yeah,” He mumbles before silence settles upon us once more. We both grow tense the further we go underground. All I can do is hope that Kai and Silas made it to their positions, and that they are ready and set up to manage security while also being our eyes from above.

When we get to our position, Reed fixes the suit he’s wearing, making sure that his own bullet proof vest is secure under his shirt. I follow him out of the vehicle, acting as his bodyguard. My steps slow when a woman I barely recognize steps into view. My memory of all the faces we passed that day is not the best. But I do remember her, and the peek I caught of her face before she resecured the bag over her head that was a required part of her uniform. I’m thankful that I did everything I could to try and mask my own appearance, from the change of eye color due to contacts, and coloring my facial hair to make it appear black rather than the light brown it could be.

“You look different than what I expected,” She speaks, keeping her eyes trained on Reed, only casting glances at me.

Reed picks an imaginary piece of lint off his jacket. “And you look like you’re dispensable. Which probably isn’t a good thing for your associate.”

Her lips thin out and her gaze turns murderous. This woman finally looks like the devil she really is. She looks like evil incarnate, and when she giggles out loud, it sends shivers over my skin. I fight the urge to attack, to protect Reed, to end this all here now. We need her captive and alive in order for the Chemist to make their next move.

“Thankfully, I’m more of a girl who works better alone,” She looks down at her fingernails, examining them, and I catch the faint stain of blood on the tips.

“Taking out your competition, or the one I really need for this deal to work?” Reed asks. I have to give it to him. His voice sounds like a true serial killer. Blank and bored, as if this whole altercation is playtime to him.

“If I’m not alive the supply doesn’t move.” She responds. Blinking at Reed like a doll.

Reed shifts and draws his hand across his lips. I watch closely, as this was the sign he was going to give me in order to find out if we have the true apprentice, or if we’re being set up. My hand tightens on my weapon, and I brace.

“The supply off the coast of the island, or what you have hidden in the canyon here?”

Her eyes narrow on Reed, and for the first time since she showed herself, her body seems to shrink back, as if she’s unsure. Or perhaps it’s been so long since someone was one step ahead of her and she couldn’t hide. Reed glances at the ceiling before rubbing fake dirt off his left shoulder. That’s our sign.

I hit my chest and activate my communication system open. “Confirmation.”

“Go,” Silas’s voice crackles in my ear, and I am finally able to break character. Between Reed and myself, and the other dozen or so hidden men we have inside, we’re able to grab the apprentice. Her scream is shrill in my ears when she realizes she’s been set up. I’m quicker though, and before the noise can reach outside our protective circle, I jab the needle into her neck. The serum works in record speed, and soon her body collapses, her eyes roll back, and anything else she would say dies on her tongue.

Reed and one of our guys manage to carry her out. I lead the way, paying attention to every command and turn that Kai tells me, until we get to our vehicles. The woman is dropped between us, her hands bound, and a bag over her head. I take her hands and quickly press her fingers to our computer screen hoping we can get a hit on her fingerprints soon. We need a name and identity for this woman in order to find out how she could possibly be affiliated with the Chemist.

No sooner do we break the surface, driving out into the night and the fresh air, than a woman employee of Ghost Operatives slips in and takes on the role of the apprentice, acting as her to help them catch the Chemist next. We continue following the route that Silas mapped for us until we reach the underground prison where the real apprentice will be held. Everyone exits the vehicle, and we make sure she is secured and has no chance of escape.

A few hours later, after making sure our security is not compromised, Reed heads back to Arizona. Kai arrives with food, and we wait for Oliver and Nash to return to start their interviews.

“Glad it wasn’t a disaster of a mess to clean up this time,” Nash says as he breezes in, not a hair out of place, and his suit looking impeccably clean.

I grunt, rubbing my hands on my dusty pant legs. “Our jobs are always clean when we don’t have outliers trying to outdo us.” I remind him, enjoying the mark I hit because his jaw clenches.

Oliver joins us then and he bites off a laugh at his friend’s expense. “The job was done impeccably well,” he gives us praise and shrugs at his best friend when he scowls.

It takes a few more hours before my nerves start to calm. Our security is still going strong, there have been zero breeches. Reed has not reported any disturbances or rumbles from the underground tipping anyone off that we have the apprentice. It almost seems too good to be true.

“Drugs wearing off,” I lift my chin towards the woman whose eyes flutter and body shifts. Even with the limited lighting where I’m sitting I can see her flex her hands, trying to figure out her surroundings. Nash stands and walks towards her.

“You’re alive. I can’t say you’re safe, but if you give me the information I need, I could help you with that.” He tells her. His lie rolls off his tongue so smoothly, that even I believed it for a second.

Her jaw clenches and eyes narrow on him. They stare at each other for what feels like minutes before she starts laughing. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. My fingers instinctively reach for my piece.

“Are you sure you’re confident?” Her voice sounds playful, as if she has a secret and we’re playing a guessing game.

“I’m not the one cuffed to a cement wall, so yeah,” Nash shrugs and rolls up his sleeves, arrogance drips from his voice.

She hates that. Her eyes turn cold and deadly while she stares him down again, trying to make him squirm and falter. Nash crouches to the ground, almost at eye level, but he’s still a head taller than her. “You can give me what I want, or we can play this the hard way.”

“I think I would check on them.” She replies, leaning back. Except this time her gaze dances around Nash, and lands on me. “You’d hate to be wrong about them wouldn’t you?”

My chest jolts, and my breathing stops. She couldn’t know about Rogue? I want to believe she’s bluffing, that she’s trying to get a rise out of me. Obviously, she’s put it together that I’m not in the same operation as Nash, who looks like he came from a board meeting, while I’m dressed like a soldier for battle.

I flick my eyes to Silas, silently begging him to reach out to our home bases and find out what he can. He slips out of the room and Kai turns on his comms so we can communicate with him. I focus on breathing in and out, working to not let her affect me. I can’t let her suspect I have more people that I’m protecting. Nash glances back at me, and then to her, and he chuckles.

“My right hand man is never wrong. Trying to appeal to him is about as easy as snuggling a cactus. I’d be careful, Ivina.”

Her head whips up and her eyes widen. “You–”

“Know who you are? Almost. Except there seems to be some discrepancy on who actually perished in that fire when you were a teen. You, or your sister. Ivina was younger…seems less likely she got out on her own. But then again, Lucille was wanted by the police for possibly starting the fire.” Nash runs through information on the woman we suspect of being the apprentice, and how she got her start. The woman flinches when she hears the name Lucille.

“So who are you, really?” He smirks at her. A flush is creeping up her neck to her face with every word he speaks.

I’m trying to focus, but I can’t because Silas is taking a really long time to check in. As much as I appreciate Nash distracting the woman, my heart is in a vice grip waiting for news. I’m about to have Kai go check when Silas’s voice crackles in my ear.

“You need to get out of there.”

Kai glances at me the same time I glance at him. Fear burns in his eyes that matches the sudden pitch in my stomach. Tamping down my panic, I force my voice to sound bored and roll my head towards Oliver, then Nash.

“If you’re going to play for a while, I need to take a piss.”

Nash side- eyes me and forces a laugh that doesn’t match the worry in his eyes. “I guess even guard dogs need a break.”

In any other situation I might punch him in the face for that one. As it is, I just want out of this room. I get to my feet, pretending to stretch and groan while Nash keeps talking to our prisoner, distracting her with information he’s found about her childhood. Kai and I are able to slip out and meet up with Silas in our rooms.

“What is happening?”

He pulls out his laptop, Matt and Oaklynn fill the screen. I don’t miss the tears on Oaklynn’s face. “Tell me.”

Matt runs a hand over his face. “I’m not sure. None of the perimeters are breached. There isn’t a malfunction or virus to our systems. Everyone had been accounted for, except…except Saylor.”

Everything inside my body is in pain. My heart stops. Time freezes and Matt’s voice seems far away. You’d hate to be wrong about them wouldn’t you? Her voice echoes in my head. She looked at me when she said it. Did she know? Does she know about Rogue? Does she know that Saylor is the most important person in my life and to lose her would be worse than death to me?

“Track her,” I finally clip out.

“Ciaran.” Matt huffs and crosses his arms. “You know that’s a last resort, and she’s asked us not to do that unless absolutely necessary.”

“She’s fucking missing. It’s necessary,” I practically growl. Matt hesitates with his next words while Oaklynn silently cries next to him.

“Her phone is being tracked. Everyone is out looking for her vehicle,” Matt answers.

“Turn her tracker on,” I demand again, my jaw clenching hard. I can’t lose her. I haven’t even told her that I still love her. I want to work on all our broken pieces together. Saylor wouldn’t just disappear. Not when we’re in the situation we’re in with Rogue.

I’m grabbing my things and I send a text to our team letting them know to get the plane ready. I’m heading home.

“We’re finished here,” Kai shrugs and grabs a bag. “We’ll head back home and help before activating her tracker.”

“Even if we wanted to, we can’t turn it on,” Matt finally says, and I halt.

“What do you mean?” I narrow my eyes at my uncle, who for all intents and purposes, has been the only father figure in my life.

“It’s password protected and we can’t figure it out,” Oaklynn jumps in.

Of course she would do that. I want to laugh and smile, but the feelings are opposite to how I am feeling, which is murderous. I need to get home. I need Saylor safe and in my arms. “We’re leaving,” I tell them before slamming the laptop shut and grabbing my bag.

“What about Nash?” Silas sighs and rubs a hand over his jaw.

“He can fucking fix the rest of this mess by himself,” I tell him, before heading out the door. I don’t wait for my best friends. I have one goal, one reason to live. I need to get home to my girl.

“Hiking?” My brow lifts at what Lux has just told me.

She rolls her eyes. “Yes. She picked up the hobby to clear her mind when you guys broke up. I spoke to the owner of the piece of land where she mentioned she goes, but he hasn’t seen anything. She could be anywhere over that way and it’s over a couple hundred acres.”

I push the information into the back of my brain, hating that my girl has been hiking in the woods for months, alone, and no one knew about it. What the hell was she thinking?

“Show me the passcode,” I turn to Matt who huffs.

“Think about this before you do it. Once it’s activated a new one has to be put in. She might kill you this time.”

She won’t. I’ll make sure she doesn’t feel it, just like that last time. A little sedative in her wine after dinner, and Saylor slept through the whole process. It was almost a year later before she found out and we fought about it. My eyes take in the dashes. Six. As long as a cell phone password. My mind filters through all the dates and combinations.

“I tried her birthday, your birthday, your anniversary, Mila’s birthday and Niko’s. One more try before it locks and burns,” Oaklynn whispers. She’s wrapped in Kai’s arms, her body racked with nerves.

One more date stands out to me. One they may not have guessed because we had held it to ourselves. Our plan to share the date with everyone died when I got hurt and we broke up. I wasn’t even sure if she told Oaklynn, but she must not have. Saylor had wanted to do it together, but we were busy with Rogue, and she was losing hope that we would make it.

My fingers hover over the keyboard. Twelve. Zero. Four. Twenty four.

I hold my breath until the word Active lights up in green. A second later a green dot appears on the map, deep in the woods between Savage Lakes and a nearby township.

“Send me the coordinates.” I yell to Silas, but I’m already on my way. I hop in my truck, and drive through town as fast as I can. We didn’t stop anywhere else when we landed and went right to Rogue. My clip is still loaded on my gun, and I’m still dressed from the mission.

The whole drive takes longer than I would like. I don’t breathe easier until I’m on the dirt path where her car sits on the side of the road. I’m getting closer to her, her tracker giving me miles and time away like a little GPS. Eventually I have to park and start walking. I easily find the trail and run through the trees. What I see next makes my heart stop.

“Say.”

The tent window goes down and purple hair pokes out, followed by startled eyes, the color of chocolate. “Ciaran?”

I charge her, my hands grabbing her arms and bringing her to her feet. Her eyes are startled and she grips me. “What are you doing?”

She’s fine. She’s alive. There’s no blood, no kidnapper, she’s not in danger. My heart races and I react, doing what I’ve wanted to do since she walked away from me the last time. My hands slide around her face and my lips crash down on hers. Everything inside of my heart, my mind, body and my soul, aligns. Her lips feel like home. She tastes like mine. I put everything into this kiss, all the nights without her, the days I spent thinking about her, and how I could convince her to stay. She’s shaking in my arms when she pulls back, her breathing ragged and her lips puffy and red.

“How did you find me?”

My hands grip her face and I tilt her gaze to meet mine. “No one could find you. We were in New York when Silas went to initiate a call down. You didn’t answer.”

She bites her lip and her cheeks turn pink. “I’m sorry. I forgot my phone when I left this morning. I didn’t plan to be here for so long, but I sort of fell asleep in the tent.”

My brow rises. “You fell asleep in a fucking tent?”

“Yeah,” She lifts her shoulders. “I haven’t been sleeping well, but out here in the fresh air…I was thinking about the future and I just fell asleep.”

“Fuck, baby,” My forehead rests on hers, her hands circle my wrists. Finally I pull back, brushing her hair out of her face. “I was so scared, Say. The person we were interrogating, she said something, and I thought she meant about our targets, but then we couldn’t trace you. I panicked. I’ve never felt like this before, thinking I lost you. That day you walked away from my apartment, I should have stopped you then. I’m sorry, Say. I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you.”

A sob rips from her throat and then her hand is in my hair, bringing my lips back down to hers. “I love you too. Can we just be together again? I can’t not be with you, Ciaran, it hurts too much.”

I walk her backwards towards her tent with my body. I’m on the brink of madness, when she says those words. I just want all of her. “Oh, baby we’re back together. I don’t even think we really let each other go.”

Her arms wrap around my neck and I pull her body up to mine, forcing her legs to hook on my sides. My hand slides around the back of her thighs, gripping her hard enough to leave bruises and my dick hardens just thinking of my marks all over her. I toss her down to the pile of mats and blankets, and grab my cell phone. I quickly send Kai a message that I found her, and for everyone to leave us alone for now. I don’t wait for his reply because my girl is watching me, her eyes hooded, and she’s biting her lip again. Groaning, I sink to my knees, and unbuckle all my gear before taking my black, long sleeve shirt off. Saylor’s eyes roam over my bare skin, and the few scars I’ve acquired over the years. Her cheeks just flush a deeper shade of red and her lips part.

“I can’t take it,” I growl, my hands grabbing the waistband of her leggings and yanking them down her legs. I need to see her.

“Ci!” She calls my name, a breathless sounding plea on her lips. Her hands move to her sweatshirt and she takes it off, followed by her t-shirt and sports bra. Saylor is on display before me, naked, breathing deeply, her eyes begging me to put us both out of our misery.

My hands slide between her legs, pushing them far apart before dragging my tongue through her pink folds, licking deep inside of her. I missed her taste on my tongue, and the raspy noises she makes when I’m driving her wild. My hands grip her waist, holding her still while I devour her, worshipping her while she soaked my face. I couldn’t take my eyes off how beautiful she looked. Purple hair splayed over the pillow, her eyes dark, her lips parted, panting my name. I knew every part of Saylor’s body and what she liked, what she needed, and it was time I reminded her of that. Her inner muscles squeezed as my tongue pushed deeply inside and I let my fingers ghost over her clit until her body arched off the ground. My name was a chant on her lips, and I chased every drop of her sweet slickness as she came.

Getting to my feet, I finish undressing before leaning back over her, one of my hands braced above her head while I use the other to drag the head of my cock between her folds. She gasps with the motion, and my lips drop to hers, swallowing her moans. I let her taste herself on my tongue before pushing inside of her. It has been so long since I was inside of her that she cries out, her chest rising to press against mine.

“Oh, Ci, yes,” She chants, her hands gripping my back, her legs hitching around my sides. I grip her leg over my arm, angling her body in order to thrust deep.

All I can think about is burying myself inside of her, painting her insides with my cum so she knows that she’s mine. I want this forever with her, only her. I was a fucking idiot thinking I could ever spend another day of my life without Saylor.

“You feel so good, baby. You’re mine. I’m never letting you go again,” I growl, fiercely, desperate for her to believe me.

Her little fingernails pierce my skin, and her body meets mine thrust for thrust. I shift again, pushing her into the makeshift bed, my thrusts becoming harder, more forceful.

“Yes, Ciaran. You feel so good,” She cries, her lips catching mine and her teeth sinking into my bottom lip. I grunt from the little pain she causes, my tongue sliding back inside her mouth, caressing hers.

“You ruin me, Say. You’re so fucking perfect, you’re taking me so well. You feel so fucking good, baby,” I pull back, sliding my hand between our bodies to play with her clit again. She moans loudly this time, her body feels on fire underneath mine. “Come on my cock, princess. Come all over me.”

My words send her over the edge, her walls suck me in deeper, squeezing my cock, pulsing from her release. My name falls from her lips and I can’t hold back anymore. My head dips to her shoulder, my own pleasure fills her, coating her inside until it’s leaking out of her.

We’re both breathing hard, and I roll us to our sides, but keep my arm looped around her. I need her close, desperate to never let this feeling go again. My free hand reaches for my vest, finding the hidden little pocket in the front and my fingers touch the cold band.

“Is that—” Her voice trails off. Her eyes are wide when they meet mine, and a sheen of tears soon fills them.

“Marry me, Say. I’m nothing without you. You’re the most important person in the world to me, and I vow to never let you forget that again. I’ll never give up on us, or stop fighting for our dreams. I’m so sorry, baby. Please, be my wife.”

Her lips curve up in a smile even as tears fall down her cheeks. “I love you too. I never want to be without you again. Your dreams are my dreams, Ciaran.”

“Is that a yes?”

She nods, and I waste no time sliding her ring back on her finger. It’s never coming off again for as long as I live. I need to make her mine as soon as we can. I’ve lost too much time with the girl of my dreams.

“Let’s pick a new date as soon as we get back. Or fuck it, let’s go to Vegas. I just need you to be mine in all the ways that count.”

Her eyes glitter and she leans back, taking my face between her hands. “Umm, well I have something to tell you…”