Chapter 45

CHAPTER

FORTY-FIVE

Two weeks later, Larchmont called everyone for a meeting at his house in Tennessee.

It turned out the place didn't belong to him but to Cynthia. It had been easier for him to come here to recover than to go back to his home in Wyoming.

The whole gang had gathered. Gage. Austin. Trevor. Kai. Several other operatives Stephen hadn't met until today.

Stephen and Heidi were also there.

He was anxious to hear what Larchmont had to say.

Stephen was surprised he'd even been invited since he wasn't part of the original crew at the Shadow Agency. But apparently after everything that had happened, Larchmont considered Stephen an honorary member.

The past couple of weeks had been a whirlwind.

Stephen wished he could say all his time had been spent simply being with Heidi and getting to know her on a more personal level.

Unfortunately, his time had been filled with more questioning and developments. Heidi had especially been busy since she'd been Rafferty's assistant.

As far as Stephen could tell, the scales of justice appeared to be moving forward. Rafferty was still behind bars. Several of his men who were involved in the assassination attempt were also in jail awaiting trial.

Monarch had also been arrested. He'd been playing both sides. As a result, he'd made multiple enemies.

Rafferty had caught onto him and cut off contact. Then Monarch had realized the commander wanted to permanently silence him. In a panic, he'd tried to hire Blackstone.

He'd also tried to flee the country but had been stopped.

Commander Davis and Senator Wagner were also being questioned about their role in all this. So far, it didn't appear they'd done anything wrong.

Stephen had wondered if any of the past missions he'd done for Rafferty would land him behind bars. He'd wondered about the outcomes. About hidden motives and secret agendas. Maybe everything hadn't been on the up-and-up. But he'd been cleared.

He glanced at Heidi on the couch beside him. She stole a glance at him before reaching over and lacing her fingers between his.

Such a small action, yet her touch made him feel like he could conquer the world.

"Thank you to everyone for coming here today." Larchmont stood in front of them as they lounged on the couches and chairs in the massive living room.

Cynthia sat in a white leather chair up at the front also, her legs crossed in a demure fashion as she looked up at her husband and listened to everything he said.

The man was already so much stronger, and his face wasn't as pale. He was recovering nicely.

"I know things have been crazy here recently, and I know you all have a lot of questions," Larchmont continued. "But I thought that rather than addressing you each individually, we should have a meeting where I can tell everyone at once."

Everyone waited for him to continue.

He drew in several breaths, a tortured look in his eyes. "I know I didn't tell you everything that was going on with Project Elevate. I suppose I thought I was protecting you by not disclosing everything, but I can clearly see now I was wrong. Rafferty and I had different visions for what Project Elevate should be, and Rafferty eventually went off the deep end. When he left, I tried to keep as many of the men with me as I could. But some chose to go with Rafferty."

He looked at Stephen, who nodded. His assessment was correct. Rafferty had claimed the military didn't care about them. That leaders were going to ship the guys from Project Elevate off on impossible missions they were sure not to survive.

He'd insisted that coming with him was the better, more sensible choice. The man had become a father figure to some of them—a poor representation of a father, but they'd had no one else.

Rafferty had been very convincing. He'd painted the program and Larchmont in a bad light.

"I tried to shape the program into what it was originally supposed to be," Larchmont paused, his voice becoming garbled with emotion. Cynthia nodded at him, urging him to go on. After gathering himself another moment, he did. "But then I began to see the error of our ways. I saw how taking people, no matter how broken, and trying to make them into a machine-like soldier was wrong. I urged the government to shut the program down. And they did. That was when I took you guys with me and started the Shadow Agency. I didn't want to leave you guys hanging out to dry."

"Are we sure it's been shut down?" Gage asked.

A shadow passed over Larchmont's eyes. "From everything I've been told, it has been. As of right now, I have no reason to believe Project Elevate is still in operation."

But Stephen knew that no one knew about the original program either. If the government was continuing this program, they wouldn't tell anyone about it.

The thought left him unsettled.

"If I could go back and do things differently, I would," Larchmont said. "I suppose hindsight is always twenty-twenty."

Stephen agreed with that assessment. If only he'd known what Rafferty had been up to, he wouldn't have stayed with him for as long as he did.

"The good news is that Rafferty and Commander Billings will be going away for a long time. The commander knew if Rafferty were to spill the beans about his involvement in Project Elevate then his senate campaign would be over. That's why he decided to try to eliminate Rafferty and anyone affiliated with him." Larchmont glanced at Heidi. "That's where you came in. That's why Beau and Donald were both killed. That's why Billings sent those men to kill you as well."

Heidi cast a grateful smile at Stephen. "If you hadn't been there, then I would be dead."

Stephen squeezed her hand harder, not liking that thought.

"Rafferty found out about what was going on and decided to get revenge," Larchmont said. "He arranged the assassination attempt on the commander, and he was going to flee the country."

"And leave the rest of his guys behind," Stephen added.

"Rafferty tends to only think about himself." Larchmont paused and drew in another breath as if shifting his thoughts. "And that leaves us where we are now. With everything that's happened, I understand if you all want to leave the Shadow Agency."

"Is there anything else we need to know?" Austin asked.

Larchmont shook his head. "I've told you everything I know. No more secrets."

Silence stretched a moment.

Then Gage said, "I'm still in. As long as we aren't left in the dark anymore."

"You won't be," Larchmont assured them.

One by one, the rest of the operatives agreed.

Larchmont's gaze stopped on Stephen. "I know you're our newest member. What are you thinking?"

Stephen didn't have to think long. "I'd be honored to serve alongside all of you."

Relief swept across Larchmont's face.

Then he turned toward Heidi. "And I understand that you're going to be looking for a job also."

She nodded. "I will be."

"You'll always have one here if you'd like one. As you know, we're usually based out of Michigan. But we could arrange for you to have an office wherever you're comfortable. We just opened the satellite office in DC as well. I generally split my time between Wyoming and Michigan." He glanced around the spacious ranch-style home. "This is where I come when I need to get away from it all."

"I think I could do that." Heidi squeezed Stephen's hand as if to let him know that wherever he was that was where she would be also.

Maybe this nightmare was over.

And now they would all have a new start.

~~~

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