Chapter Twelve

Ever

O f course, that doesn’t mean that he would have lived. He would have either been murdered in prison by Hunt’s contacts, assuming that he talked and told us some of Hunt’s secrets, or he would have been killed the moment that he stepped foot out of the prison when he was released, for the same reason. So, maybe he figured that dying by poison under his own terms was better than probably being tortured and then killed by Hunt or his men.

“Did he say anything?” Jensen asks, “Before he killed himself? Maybe that’s why he decided to do it when he did?”

Trick shrugs, “He said a lot, but at the same time, not much at all. Kind of like when Noel gets caught and throws them off with his talking.”

“No one will be as good at that as Noel is, I have no idea how he manages it,” I reply.

“I think he actually just lets all of his inside thoughts become outside thoughts,” Peter suggests.

Jensen’s eyes widen, “You mean, he’s got all of that going on in his head all of the time.”

Peter nods, “Yeah, at least that is my theory. I think that is why he can do it so easily; he just talks, and it’s all there.”

“You know that would explain a lot,” Cash says.

“Guys, we kind of got off track,” Trick says, an amused look in his eyes.

“So, he didn’t say anything that was useful or that we can use to secure Hunt?” Cash asks, effectively getting us back on track.

Trick shakes his head. “No. It was all either stuff that we already knew or useless information that won’t help us.”

“Right, so what do we do now? What is the next step?” Atlas asks.

Cash’s eyebrows dip, “I think the next thing that we’re waiting for is the file?”

Trick nods, “Yeah.”

“I’m surprised that we haven’t gotten it back yet,” Luc says with a frown.

Rage nods, as he suggests, “There must have been some complications or something that’s delayed it.”

Peter frowns, “Yeah, that’s a possibility and actually most probably likely, but it wouldn’t explain why they couldn’t just take some pictures of it and email them over.”

“You know what it’s like, they have probably found themselves hemmed in by some rule regulation, which means they’ve had to sort the issue out before they can divulge the information.” Cash suggests and then adds, “We may not have to deal with a lot of red tape, but there are some instances where our hands are still tied.”

“I bet you’re right,” Rafe replies. “Hopefully, we are going to get some answers soon though. For some reason, I feel like we are on a time crunch.”

“It’s probably just because we all desperately want to get Hunt out of the picture. He has caused and is continuing to cause a lot of problems, for a lot of people, and we need him gone.” Riot suggests.

“Yeah, Rylie said that I would be really surprised to find out some of the people that have been involved with Hunt,” I say.

“Oh yeah, I forgot that she was pretty much single-handedly going after Hunt’s associates,” Peter adds.

“The most dangerous ones anyway,” I grin. “That reminds me, she asked if I wanted to go with her on one of them, and she said that she was going after someone that she could use some backup with. She is running it past Mr R.”

Trick smirks, “I bet you agreed immediately.”

“Of course I did,” I grin, “she practically dangled a carrot in front of my face, there was no way I was turning that down. Besides, I feel kind of privileged that she asked me; we all know that she doesn’t work with anyone and prefers to do everything alone. It felt nice that even though we have only just come back into each other’s lives, she still trusts me enough to have me come on a job with her and be her backup.”

“Yeah, I can understand that,” Trick replies. “We will have to make sure that it fits around the other job.”

“I warned her about that. This job is my top priority, so if she needs me when we are already dealing with something related to this job, then we are just going to have to leave it this time. she gets it.” I reply with a smile.

As great as it would be to do a job with Rylie, I am sure that we will have more opportunities in the future and this file and what it contains is my number one priority, taking Hunt down needs to come before anything else.

“Okay, that makes sense. Hopefully, there will not be any conflicts, and you will be able to do both.” Trick replies.

“We will see. I don’t think she is in a huge rush, so we might even have Hunt caught by the time she needs me to go with her to go after this target,” I reply, somewhat optimistically.

“I think that may be slightly wishful thinking,” Jensen smirks.

I grin, “Yeah, probably.”

All talk of work stops as everyone instead starts their own conversations while we finish eating, and then help clear the table.

“Pete, do you want to come with me while I get the update? Elijah hasn’t said that he is not able to check in yet so the call should be good to go ahead but just in case they can only make the update and nothing else, if you come with me, you will at least still be able to talk to him.” Trick asks Peter as we are finishing clearing the table.

“Yes please, thanks man,” Peter replies, and then turns to me, “I’ll come and find you if we don’t end up talking for ages.”

“Okay, don’t worry too much, we can watch a movie tomorrow instead, tell him I say hi. I’m going to catch up on some reading before we get swamped with work again.” I reply.

Pete nods and, with a smile, says, “Sounds good to me.”

“You want me there?” Cash asks Trick.

Trick immediately nods, “Yeah, man.”

I leave them to it as I try to remember if I put my book on my bedside table or if it is in the truck still I doubt I would have left it in the truck, and the weather is pretty fucking shitty, so I decide to check upstairs instead.

Peter

C ash, Trick, and I all head through the door to the other half of the house. The office where Atlas was working earlier is where we tend to do the update calls as we can use the secure line that we have installed so we can make sure that the signal doesn’t drop as it sometimes does in bad weather, and if we end up doing a video call instead we’ve got a big screen set up in there that’s ready to go and means that we can instantly switch it so that everyone can see and there’s no need to mess about with setting it up or anything like that.

I’m kind of hoping that the planned call switches to a video call. I really miss Eli and seeing his face and knowing for certain that he is okay with my own two eyes would stop this knot of nervous tension that I have had since he left from growing any bigger. It is the same every time that he goes away on a job, and I know that he feels the same when I am on a job.

We actually discussed either him joining our team or me joining his, but we decided in the end that it wouldn’t work for us and, amongst other things, he would miss his team, and I would miss mine. It is something that we have both had to get used to, and neither of us is doing very well with it, even after a few years of it happening.

I’m not sure it will ever get easier, knowing that he is in danger when he goes away and that there is a high possibility that something could happen to him. It’s not like it is a vague possibility, or a maybe, it is more likely than not that he will get hurt; the question is how badly.

It is probably one of the only things about my job that I don’t like. Still, I wouldn’t change it, and I don’t plan on stopping and going into the lab, which is something else that we spoke about and decided against. I like my fieldwork, and as much as I like messing about in the labs and creating stuff with the guys there, I really don’t want that to be my full-time job. Elijah understands that, although he would probably prefer that I wanted to work in the labs where it is considerably safer, just like I would prefer that he found something safer that he would rather do.

It is a complicated path to walk, wanting each other to be safe but completely understanding each other’s love for what we do.

"Are you okay, Pete?” Cash asks, pulling me out of my thoughts as we all take seats in the office.

“Yeah, I’m good. We are beginning to get used to this now. It is still hard being away from each other and not being able to talk to each other.” I explain honestly.

Cash grimaces, “Yeah, I’m not going to lie. I hate it when Ever goes off on her own, and we are usually in contact, and she is with one of the other guys.”

“Yeah, you know what we get like, and if you need a reminder, just wait until she goes on the job with Rylie, we’re all going to be worrying like crazy even though we’re more than aware that she can take care of herself and Rylie if she had to," Trick adds with a smirk.

“Yeah, I think honestly if we didn’t feel like this then we shouldn’t be in relationships, it's because we love them.” I point out.

“Yeah, that’s an excellent point.” Cash grins, “It’s not like it’s a bad thing that we worry about them.”

“Speaking of worrying,” I say, looking at Trick, “what time was he supposed to check in?”

Trick checks his watch, “Any time now, don’t worry, he’s not late.”

“And even if he is late that doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong,” Cash reminds me gently, both of them trying to make me feel better.

I manage to keep it under wraps and just feel mildly worried under normal circumstances, but I always lose it in the minutes leading up to the time he’s supposed to call, it’s like because I’m waiting my mind takes advantage and likes to taunt me with all sorts of scenarios, including telling me that he’s really late in calling which means that he’s not okay and something has gone wrong, even when it’s only really been maybe five minutes if he’s late in calling at all.

“That’s him,” Trick says, and my body instantly relaxes, before tensing again; I won’t fully relax until I hear the words from him that he is okay.

“Hey, Trick,” his familiar voice comes over the speaker, and I smile.

“Hey, I’ve got Cash and Pete with me.” Trick replies.

“Hey, Cash,” he says, and then his voice softens as he adds, “Hi, babe.”

“Hey,” I reply simply because he needs to give the update and if I say anything else I won’t stop talking, which won’t help anyone, and I don’t want Trick to stop me from being involved in these updates because I don’t stop talking. Not that I think that he would do that to me, but I still don’t want to risk it.

Elijah chuckles quietly because, of course, he knows what I'm doing. He questioned me about it once, and I went on a rambling explanation that lasted way longer than it actually needed to. To be fair I should have explained to him that was what I was doing as soon as I started doing it, he thought that there was something or that he kept making me mad or something, there was a big miscommunication.

I spin the ring on my finger, a nervous gesture that I have picked up since Eli gave it to me, as I wait to hear the words that will let me relax. Eli knows me well; he knows that I am going to be worrying which is why that is how he starts his update.

“We’re all okay, not even a scratch on us as we’re still doing surveillance,” Elijah starts.

“Still?” Cash asks. “What happened? The surveillance was only supposed to last a few days.”

“Trust me, we know,” Callan’s voice comes over the speaker. “Nothing has gone right with this case so far. It is taking far longer than it’s supposed to.”

“Okay, fill me in,” Trick says and then adds before anyone can answer him, “are you safe to fill us in properly now?”

“Yeah, we are. As I said, we are still doing surveillance, Callan’s actually the only one with me, the others are doing their shift.” Elijah replies.

“Good,” Trick replies and then adds, “okay, fill me in then.”

Elijah spends a while filling us in while Trick takes notes, and both he and Cash ask the relevant questions. I pretty much just sit there, grateful that he is okay and that the case looks to be fairly mundane.

“How much longer do you think it’s going to take?” Cash asks.

I instantly perk up, hoping that he is going to say soon, but I also know that probably isn’t likely since they are still only doing surveillance.

“I honestly have no idea. We thought the whole case was only going to take a couple of weeks, and we have gone over that now, and we are still only on surveillance. Once we have got the information that we need, we then have to make a plan and then execute it. As you know, the situation is quite delicate, and new things have come to light that we were not aware of, like the children. We need to extract them safely before we can take down the parents, it has gotten decidedly messy.” Elijah explains.

“I understand,” Trick replies, “you have hit quite a few speed bumps that we had not planned for. Do you need back up from any of us? I know you have got a few teams on standby ready for the extraction, but do you have the manpower to extract the kids when the time comes?”

Callan is the one that replies this time, “We shouldn’t need any of you. We are so far away that you wouldn’t be able to get us very quickly anyway. We have already briefed the teams that we have got up here with us, so they know that there is a change of plans. We will work on the logistics of it when we have got all the information we need from the surveillance teams. Hopefully, it all goes off without a hitch.”

“Good,” Cash replies, “it sounds like you have got everything under control there. Have you got a plan for the children after you have got them out of the situation? Are they likely to fight you? Do they understand anything?”

“Unfortunately, they are probably more aware than most that their parents are monsters. I imagine that they will be glad to be free once they are aware that they are safe.” Elijah says, and I can hear the anger barely contained in his voice. I have a feeling that he is going to struggle when he gets back from this job. From his words, it's pretty easy to guess that he and the guys have witnessed some horrible things, and they probably feel guilty as fuck that they haven’t done anything about it yet, despite knowing full well that if they were to charge in there now, they would be putting those kids in so much more danger and risking their lives.

The safest thing for those children is for Elijah and the guys to make a proper plan that ensures their safety and although I know for a fact that they are going as quickly as they possibly can, a good plan that can guarantee that they are safe will take time.

Even though I know that Cash and Trick know that, hell, Elijah and the guys all know that, they are still going to hate that they haven’t immediately gotten the children out of that situation, and that’s going to stay with Elijah, and is something that I need to be aware of when he comes home. We are always acutely aware of each other and the jobs that we have been doing, and we are also always entirely honest with each other; it helps to stop miscommunications and misunderstandings when the other one is quiet or snappy.

It is really important with the job that we have and the things that we see and go through that we communicate, even if it’s just to say that something happened that we aren’t ready to talk about, but we will when we are ready, or if it’s something that really affects us that we’ll talk about it with one of the organization's therapists and the other person has to be okay with that and respect it.

It has probably only happened once, right at the beginning of us doing this job, and I honestly found it really difficult that he would speak to a therapist but wouldn’t talk to me. Ever was actually the one that pointed out that it actually had nothing to do with me and whether I was a good boyfriend or not and all to do with the effect that it had on Elijah. She made me realize that I was making something that was about Elijah about me and that wasn’t fair. Elijah and I had a really good talk after that, and it has not been a problem since, both of us realising that we can rely on each other but also that if we need to talk to someone else, then that is okay too.

“Thank you for the update,” Trick says, “since you’ve got the time and aren’t in danger, you and Pete can catch up.”

“Thank fuck,” Elijah says, and then adds, “Pete babe, I’m face-timing you now.”

His response makes me smile as he instantly hangs up and my phone rings. I leave the room with a giant smile on my face, heading to mine while I talk to Eli.