Chapter Twenty-One

Ever

W e make it through all of the security gates with no problem, thank god and when we park up outside, Rylie is the one that is waiting for us.

“You look like shit,” she says as soon as I step out of the car.

I burst out laughing at her bluntness, “Thanks, Rylie, I can always count on you to give it to me straight.”

She laughs and pulls me in for a hug, whispering in my ear, “Are you okay, seriously?”

“I’m good,” I reply, surprisingly honestly as I add, “I’m just absolutely exhausted and none of us expected any of that to happen today.”

“No, I imagine not.” She replies.

Emmerson has woken up and gets out of the car, reaching back in to carry her brother.

“Oh no,” Rylie says, “Luc told me about your ribs. You are not carrying him; he can go in the wheelchair, and I'm taking you both to the infirmary, and staying by your sides until you are fighting fit again.”

Emmerson grins, “Thanks, Rylie.”

“Don’t thank me, it makes me uncomfortable," she teases, "let's go." Before they walk off, she turns back to me, “I’ll keep you updated, there’s nothing more that you need to do here, go home and rest, before something else crops up.”

“Thanks, Rylie, you’re the best,” I grin.

“I know.” She starts to walk toward where Emmerson is putting Joe in the wheelchair but stops and turns around, “Shit, I almost forgot, Mr R told me to tell you that the blood is definitely Luc’s mom’s, so you’ve got confirmation of that now, and if you still want to come on that job with me, it will be a while as we’ve got to finalize a few things first.”

I nod, “Yeah, I still want to come. That actually works out better for us. We have got this Hunt lead that we need to follow.”

Rylie nods, “Great, let me know if you need a hand although I’m going to be keeping an eye on these two for a bit.”

I nod and thank her again before I climb back in the truck. I'm surprised when a set of strong arms pulls me along the seat, and I practically melt into Atlas as he holds me tightly and the car starts.

“I needed a cuddle,” he mutters into my hair.

“Me too,” I reply.

“Me three,” Trick adds, making me giggle, “but I’ll get mine when we’re home.”

“Don’t think you’re left out of the cuddles, Pete,” Atlas adds, looking at Peter, who is now in the front seat. “I think we all need cuddles after that.”

“Definitely,” Pete replies. “I’ll be really surprised if I don’t have nightmares of eyes tonight.”

“Me too,” I admit, “that was so fucking freaky. I feel really bad though. I must have scared the crap out of him when I screamed.”

Pete shakes his head, “I screamed too, and I hate to say it, but us screaming is probably the least scary thing that he’s seen in his life.”

“I hate that you’re right,” I reply. “Rylie said she would keep me updated and let me know if they are both okay.”

“Good,” Trick replies.

The drive is a blur. I am so freaking tired, but I still won’t let myself fall asleep not until I'm with all of my men. I may have had a jump scare today, but they then helped open several more crates, and I know that some of those had people who didn’t survive; I want to make sure that they are okay.

When we finally get home, we are all exhausted. We all trudge through the front door, dragging our feet, and having left all of our equipment and the go bags still in the cars, we can deal with them after we have gotten some sleep. Shadow greets us happily, bouncing around, barking, and obviously getting some love from all of us, and apologies for being away for so long; none of us thought that we would be gone that long.

“Wait!” Jensen yells.

The majority of us groan at the loud exclamation, and Trick asks, “What?”

“Sleepover, in the front room, no arguments. Go get your shit now,” Jensen orders.

It is rare that he gives orders, but when he does, the rest of us tend to listen, we are all tired and all want to sleep, but for me, at least, having one of our sleepovers together sounds fucking perfect. It must sound perfect to the others as well because they all do as Jensen has told them to and head off to get their stuff.

It is not long before we are all curled up, watching a show that is a favorite for all of us, and we are curled up together. Runa and Shadow are getting in on the action too.

I fall asleep feeling safe, happy, and content, surrounded by my men and bestie.

**********

I didn’t have any nightmares, which I am surprised but grateful for. I also feel well rested and ready to get on with surveillance at the port. Every new thing that we learn about Hunt and every new thing that we find makes me even more determined to get him out of the picture. Unfortunately, with each new thing, I realize that he has so many connections, and that means that our chance of putting him in a prison and him actually staying there is pretty fucking slim.

He will just use one of his many high profile connections to get him out, most likely on some made up technicality. I mean, we could go in there with an iron clad case, leave absolutely no room for doubt that he should ever see the light of day again, but he would still have someone find something that would mean he could be released or even have someone break him out.

“We’re going to have to kill him,” I say, around a mouthful of cereal.

The guys all stop what they are doing and look at me.

Jensen grins, “Okay, let's do it.”

Riot rolls his eyes, “Dude, you don’t even know who we’re going to kill.”

Jensen shrugs, “So?”

Cash chuckles, “He has a point. Does it really matter? You know that we are all on board anyway.”

“That’s kind of really sweet in a disturbing sort of way,” Peter says, eating his toast.

My men just shrug.

“What I meant,” I interrupt before the conversation can deteriorate any more, “is that we’re going to need to kill Hunt.”

Atlas nods, “Yeah, I think we most likely are. He is going to wriggle his way out even if we catch him.”

“I agree with you both, but as always, I will have to clear it with Mr R. I will send him a message now, I don’t see why he wouldn’t agree, not with the amount of shit that he has caused and the horrors that he has committed.” Trick replies.

Cash interrupts, “It might be a better idea to ring him, Ever, Jensen and I have to leave in a minute to go and get Ezra and Quinn and go to do the surviallence. If we see him while we are there and we are given the clearance before we go, then we can take him out. With him gone, it should be easier to disband and pull apart his remaining operations, and they will be scrambling with the boss gone too, which will make it even easier.”

Trick nods, “Alright, give me a moment.”

We watch as Trick gets up and leaves the room, most likely going to his office so he can make the call.

It’s early, the sun is only just starting to peak over the horizon, Cash, Jensen and I needed to get an early start since we lost a day, and we need to watch the shipping yard and port when it’s at it’s busiest to ensure that we see as many people as we possibly can so we can identify any links to Hunt, and anything that shows that he’s still using it.

If we can also get the clearance to take him down if we see him, then that adds another layer to the whole situation.

I'm not going to lie; I am hoping that he is there and that we get to end his life. Prison is too good for him and there will always be a chance that he can get out, escape, or even carry on running his empire from inside the prison. We don’t want that. No one fucking wants that, and we need to make sure that he is out for good; as I said earlier, it has become increasingly clear that there is only one way to do that, and that is to kill him.

This is what we do. We take out the problem before it becomes a bigger problem, whereas the normal, mainstream law enforcers are bound by red tape and, well, laws, so they can’t decide that someone is still going to cause them a lot of trouble so the best course of action is to end them.

I’m pulled from my thoughts as Trick walks back into the room.

“What did he say?” Jensen asks.

“He gave us the go-ahead and said if we had a clear shot, then we should take it, but only if there’s no chance of getting caught and no civilian involvement whatsoever.” Trick says, “He also said that in this instance, he does not want you to go after him, only take the shot if the opportunity arises, don’t try to create the opportunity. He is too dangerous, and there will be other opportunities to take him down.”

I nod, “That makes sense, he’s proven himself to be one step ahead of us the majority of the time, it would be foolish to go after him, without a proper plan in place and plenty of back up, we don’t have that right now and we don’t have time to arrange it before we have to go.”

“Exactly,” Trick replies.

“Alright, I guess we are off then. We will fill Quinn and Ezra in on the way,” Cash says as he drains the last of his coffee and gets up.

“Hang on, I’ve got some subs and brownies for you to take with you,” Rafe says as he gets up and heads for the kitchen.

“You made brownies!” Jensen practically screeches, and there is a moment of silence before we all burst out laughing.

Jensen isn’t bothered in the slightest as he rushes after Rafe, practically skipping with how excited he is for the brownies. They have remained his favorite for years, and I don’t think that will ever change.

While Jensen is bribing Rafe to give him extras, and being loud enough about it that I can hear him, I go around to all of my men and kiss them goodbye. We are only going to be gone for a few days but I’m absolutely going to miss them like crazy. I always do when only some of us go on a job, not all of us are needed for every job, which makes sense, there are a lot of us after all.

“Let us know if Jynx gets in contact with you and needs back up,” Trick says.

I nod, “I’ve actually messaged her this morning and given her a heads up that Cash, Jensen, and I are going on a surveillance job, so if she needs us to message you guys instead.”

Trick smiles, “In that case, we will let you know. Don’t forget to take two go bags with you in case we need to head straight for Jynx.”

I nod, “They are already in the car; I saw Cash take them out before breakfast.”

He doesn’t say anything else; he just pulls me in closer and kisses me. There is nothing gentle about this kiss as I move toward him, trying to get impossibly closer, my arms wrapping around his neck as he lifts me with ease, my feet dangling.

When he pulls back, his face is serious as he puts both hands on my cheeks and says, “Stay safe and come the fuck home, Ever.”

I nod, “You got it, Sir.”

He growls, his eyes immediately heating as he picks me back up so suddenly it makes me squeal; my laughter at his reaction comes to an abrupt end as he slants his mouth over mine, kissing me deeply and making me forget my own damn name.

A throat clears, but I am so wrapped up in Trick that I just ignore it.

“Guys, we really need to go, and if you carry on, we’re all going to end up naked, and I’m not sure Pete’s going to appreciate that,” Riot says loudly, the heat evident in his voice.

“Ew, definitely not, I love y’all, but we’re family and I do not need to see any of that, thank you very much,” Pete replies.

His words are so indignant that I can’t help but burst out laughing, effectively ending the moment between Trick and me.

“Whoops,” I say as Trick puts me down.

“See you guys later,” I add as I decide it is probably a good idea just to leave now rather than stay around any longer. I'm only likely to get distracted again.

The guys all followed us out and stand on the porch waving goodbye.

I am so fucking lucky.

Peter obviously thinks so too because he mouths ‘lucky bitch’ at me as he waves goodbye, making me laugh and making Cash and Jensen give me questioning looks, which I just shrug in reply to.

Rage

W e all head back inside. Some of the guys are going to write up reports on what happened yesterday, and some are going back to the breakfast table to get a second cup of coffee. We have actually got a fairly relaxed few days unless Jynx calls, of course.

Also, none of us are ever really that relaxed when we are missing people. I always prefer it when we go on jobs as a team, even if it means that the jobs are more dangerous; I am damn glad that we all went yesterday, it wasn’t supposed to be that big of a job, and usually, in that instance, we wouldn’t all go.

Thank fuck we did.

“How often are they checking in?” Rafe asks.

“Every day.” Trick replies, “The same as usual.”

“Do you think they’ll get the chance to take Hunt down?” Atlas asks.

Luc shrugs, “We don’t even know if he is still using it. He clearly knew that Drake had kept some things about him that he shouldn’t have, or he wouldn’t have sent people to the house to look for it.”

“Do we know how he knew that?” I ask.

Luc frowns, “I think we can assume that since my mom’s there, she most likely had a hand in it.”

“Yeah, I think for now we go with that assumption; I know that Mr R has people looking into it since we’re busy with the stake out and the shipping yard,” Trick replies, looking down at something on his phone and frowning.

“What’s up?” Riot asks before I do, obviously noticing the same thing.

“Huh?” Trick asks and looks up, “Oh, nothing, there's supposed to be a big storm coming in next week sometime, we just need to be aware of it. They aren’t sure exactly how bad it is going to be yet.”

“Got it,” Rafe replies, and then adds, “I’ll get a few extra supplies in just in case we end up stuck up here, and I’ll check the torches, batteries, and the generator as well.”

“I’ll come and help you,” Riot says as he gets up as well.

“Is it alright if I come with you guys?” Pete asks.

“Of course, we could use an extra set of eyes anyway, just in case we miss something,” Rafe replies with a smile.

Trick get’s up as well, “I’m going to check all the shutters are in good order and don’t need repairing, and anything else on the outside of the house.”

“I think I’ll head up to the stables and do the same thing; the last thing we need is the storm to come early; I don’t want the horses to get spooked,” I add, and look at Atlas, “want to come?”

He nods, “Sure, it beats having to write the report up for yesterday.”

I chuckle, as Trick gives him a look but chooses to let it go, since he is the one that started this conversation and got us all preparing for a storm that may not happen.

Atlas and I head to get our boots and coats, since it is still pretty cold, although thankfully not raining or snowing yet, and then we head out to get the four-wheelers and take them up to the stables.

“Want to race?” Atlas asks, smirking.

“Fuck yeah,” I agree, as I floor it. I have been racing Atlas for as long as I can remember, and he always cheats, leaving before you can properly agree, so either way, he wins.

“You cheated,” he yells after me.

I chuckle, “Like you weren’t about to.”

It doesn’t take us very long at all to get up to the stables, and we are pretty neck and neck for a while, but Atlas takes a risk and whips around me, narrowly missing a tree and making me curse.

When we pull up at the stables, I say, “You nearly hit the tree.”

“But I didn’t,” he grins and then adds, “okay, tell me what to do?”

I shake my head, amused despite myself, as I say, “We need to check that everything is sealed properly, and there’s no loose boards or anything that, and that the generator up here is still working in case the power gets knocked it’s still pretty fucking cold and we don’t want the heat going out before we can get up here.”