Chapter Three

Ever

T he loud blaring of an alarm drags me from sleep.

“What the fuck is that?” Jensen grumbles, “Someone turn it the fuck off.”

There is some banging and crashing before Peter finally says, “Fuck that’s the alarm.”

“What alarm?” Luc questions, his voice rough with sleep and doing things to me that I really shouldn’t be thinking about right now.

“It means there’s someone in your house,” Peter replies.

“What?” Luc exclaims.

Trick takes over the explanation as Pete taps away at some keys on his keyboard, “There are some sensors set up at your parents’ place so that if anyone steps foot in the place again, we will get notified. Alaric set it up before he headed back to headquarters.”

“Okay, so someone’s tripped them?” Luc asks. “Do we know who? Can we see anything?”

“Yeah, he set up cameras too, just on the perimeter of the house,” Pete replies somewhat distractedly.

“Great, do we know them?” Riot asks.

Pete shakes his head, “I can’t see anything on the feed, but it seems weird. Something must have triggered it, maybe an animal?”

“We’ll go and check it out anyway. If it is one of Hunt’s people, we don’t want to let them slip through our fingers; the more of them we can get off the streets, the better.” Trick replies.

“We don’t all need to go,” Atlas points out with a yawn.

Jensen stands up and stretches, “Me and Ever will go and check it out, I won’t be able to go back to sleep for a while now anyway.”

I nod, “Yeah, I’m up for that.”

Trick nods, “Yeah, that sounds good. It’s not too far from here, so you should be able to check it out and get back pretty quickly. Are you both armed?”

“Always,” I say at the same time as Jensen, and we share a look.

“Good. Keep in contact and let us know if you find anything or on the off chance that you need back up.” Atlas adds.

“Got it,” I reply as I shuffle to the edge of the bed and put my boots back on.

“On the ground floor, down the second corridor to the left, if you press the panel, it should open up to reveal the security room. The house is covered in cameras, and I see no reason why they would not still be operational. It might be a good idea to check them. Especially if the cameras were only placed on the outside of the house.”

“Yeah, we can do that,” Jensen replies, “I’m fairly sure I remember where the security room is.”

I say a quick goodbye to all of the guys and then nod to Jensen, heading out of the door and to the car.

Once we're on the way, Jensen says, “Is it bad that I kind of hope that we’re going to be stepping into some trouble?”

“Is it bad that I kind of agree with you?” I smirk.

“That’s my girl,” Jensen grins. “It is always strange when we come back here, but it’s especially strange going back to Luc’s house. We haven’t been there for a long time, and we didn’t go there very often, so it really is like going back in time.

“Yeah, I can understand that,” I reply.

It’s strange enough for me to come back here, and collectively, I spent a lot less time here than they did; of course, my time here was monumental in my memory, and being here with all of the history always knocks me a little bit. No matter how long it has been, I still feel like the scared kid that was forced to leave my boys. We may all be back together now and have been for years, but I don’t think I will ever fully get over it. Then again, there are a few things that have happened that are going to take a while to heal from.

“The gates are still open,” I comment as Jensen pulls up the driveway.

“Maybe Alaric forgot to shut them?” Jensen suggests with a frown.

“Yeah, maybe, but it would not be like him to forget something like that. I mean, it’s practically inviting people to come up to the house.”

“You’re right. There is a very real chance that it is just kids exploring the house that has been locked up for years.” Jensen replies and then smirks as he parks the car, “I mean, it’s something we would’ve done.”

I grin, “No, we would’ve come to have a look even when it was all locked up out of sheer curiosity.”

“True.” He replies, the headlights shining on the front of the house. “Well, we’ve very definitely let our presence be known, so if it was some kids, they have no doubt been scared off.”

“And if it wasn’t, then the fuckers know we’re here,” I point out.

Jensen shrugs as he pulls out his gun and checks it over, “It’s a good job we love all things dangerous then, isn’t it, Angel?”

I grin, “Oh yeah, we definitely love all things dangerous.” His eyes heat, and I smirk, “We don’t have time for that, maybe later.”

“Deal,” he replies seriously.

“Let’s go,” I reply, “clear the house first and then we can check out the cameras and see if anything really did trip them.”

“I wouldn’t put it past Hunt to send someone else as soon as his first didn’t bring back what he wanted,” Jensen replies.

“Exactly,” I nod.

We waste no more time talking as we both approach the house, checking the perimeter and making sure that we are not about to get ambushed.

Damn, I love this.

Without needing to communicate with words, Jensen tries the handle of the door, and we share a look as it clicks open. There is a small chance that Alaric left the gates open but there is absolutely no chance that he left the door unlocked. Even a rookie agent wouldn’t do that.

This means there is definitely someone here, whether that is someone to do with Hunt or someone curious, we will have to find out. We pull our weapons; if it is some kids, then we have our badges on us like we always do, and we will just scare the bejeebus out of them and hopefully deter them from entering any more private properties even if they do seem abandoned.

We go through the house separately, so that we can clear it quicker, and this house is fucking ginormous, it is taking us ages to search the fucker and quite frankly someone could easily have hidden in one of the rooms that we’ve already cleared, hell whoever broke in could be following us. The more we explore, the more I am certain that whoever tripped the cameras wasn’t just an animal or kids; it’s something to do with Hunt, and that means that we need to be extremely careful. I am reasonably certain that the house is empty, even though we cannot be one hundred percent sure. I think the best thing for us to do would be to check the security cameras that Luc told us about and see if we can get an idea of who was in here.

Just to be cautious, I place myself with my back to the corner of the room I am currently in and then I message Jensen.

Me: There is nothing on my side, if you haven’t found anything, meet at the bottom of the stairs and we will go and check out the security cameras that Luc said were installed in the house.

Jensen: I haven’t found anything either. Meet you there in five.

I put my phone back in my pocket and take one last look around the room I am in. Like all the rooms in this house, it is generic, and sterile. There is nothing in here that stands out as personal or even anything with personality, it’s just white and beige with a bit of black thrown in. There aren’t even any pictures up anywhere. Well, there are but it’s paintings of white flowers and weird landscapes that just look dull and dreary.

I can’t even imagine how it must have been to grow up in this place. Although I suppose at least Luc could escape to the guy's houses as often as he could. That had to have helped. I think I would’ve gone insane being trapped in this white nothingness. As I walk through the halls, I can’t help but try and picture Elena here, but then, if my memory serves me correctly, I think she had been thrown out by her parents before they moved here, so she never would have been in this house.

It's got a horrible feeling to it too, I know it’s weird, but I swear I can I feel the misery in this place the longer that I’m here, and I make a mental note to check in with Luc properly, I can’t imagine that he came back here and it just didn’t affect him at all. It’s affecting me and I wasn’t involved in anything that happened here.

There you are,” Jensen says as he spots me walking down the stairs, “I was starting to get worried you got lost. This place is ridiculously big.”

I smile, “No, I didn’t get lost. I can’t imagine living in a place like this; it’s so sterile, even now, after years of no one being here. I want to check in with Luc properly and make sure that being here didn’t affect him.”

Jensen frowns as his gaze moves around the giant entryway, “Yeah, I forgot what it was like in here, and we didn’t really stop to look around when we were here earlier. I am hoping that because we were here so briefly, the effect on Luc will be minimal. It probably helps that he scared the shit out of his father when he fought back for the first time, and he never laid a finger on him after that.”

I nod, “Yeah, that’s true, but sometimes the emotional abuse leaves far bigger scars and takes a lot longer to heal from than the physical shit.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Jensen replies, as we head further into the house, to find the room that Luc told us about, “the guys are all more than aware of how emotional trauma can affect you, they’ll all be keeping an eye on him to make sure that being here hasn’t had any adverse effects for him.”

“I just worry,” I reply, “about all of you.”

“Of course you do,” Jensen replies with a smile, “it would be weird if you didn’t; you are our girlfriend.”

I chuckle, “Yeah, alright you make a good point.” I admit, and then glance around, we have been walking for a while and I can’t help but ask, “Do you know where you’re going? Because I have got to admit I pretty much instantly forgot the directions that Luc gave us as soon as he said them and this place is so confusing I probably would have forgotten the way by now anyway.”

Jensen nods, “Yeah, I remember it should be just up here. Also, I love that you’re so good at all things, when it comes to our job but following directions is something you still struggle with.”

I shrug, “Hey, we can’t all be perfect all the time.”

He chuckles as he presses sections on the paneling at the end of the hallway we have come to. “Keep watch, just in case.”

“Always,” I reply, as I turn, keeping an eye on the hallway and the way we’ve come.

It doesn’t take very long until Jensen taps me on the shoulder and tells me that he has finally got into the room.

“Alright, let's see what we can find. That is assuming that they are still working after all of this time, I mean it has been years since anyone has actually lived in this place.” He says.

I follow him into the room, it’s small, and pretty much what you would expect from a security room. It is lined with screens and has a desk chair placed in front of them just in case someone needs to watch footage. Even in here though the money is obvious, although in an entirely different way to everywhere else in the house. The rest of the house is obviously bleak and sterile, white everywhere. In here it’s rich dark wood and carved, almost like you’d expect to find in the office of a headmistress or dean of a college or something. It is a hell of a lot nicer in here than it is anywhere else in this place. It makes me wonder who designed it. It wouldn't surprise me if it were the only part of the house that was left original because they always had it earmarked for the security room.

“Alright, well, the good news is that it’s still running. The slightly less good news is that I am not as up to date on this security system as I should be since it’s older than I’m used to. So, it might take me a moment to find the right way to work it all.” Jensen explains.

“I'm not either. I am sure we can figure it out between us,” I reply as I move over to some of the monitors and start pressing buttons.

In theory it should be fairly easy to figure out but then, technology and I aren’t the best of friends, we fight regularly. Not as often as me and the tape but often enough.

It takes me longer than I would care to admit, but I don’t feel too bad since Jensen hasn’t managed to get anything to work yet either, and I do manage to get something working before he does.

“I think I’m in,” I reply, and Jensen moves to stand behind my chair.

“Thank fuck for that,” he mutters, “I was starting to lose hope and was this close to calling Pete and admitting defeat,” he snickers, “hey, that rhymed.”

I chuckle, “Don’t say it.”

“I’m a poet, and I didn’t know it,” he immediately replies.

I roll my eyes but can’t keep the amused smile off my face as I start clicking through the video feeds, “Do you remember what time Pete said that the cameras were tripped?”

“I don’t think he did say,” Jensen replies, pulling out his phone and pressing a few buttons before holding it up to face.

I am assuming that he’s calling Pete to ask, and I lean back in my chair. There is no point in trying to go through the footage when Pete can tell us exactly when it happened and save us time.

“Did he know?” I ask when he hangs up.

Jensen nods as he leans over me and starts tapping away on the computer, putting in the time that Peter just told us.

“Huh, I wasn’t expecting someone to actually have been here,” I mutter as we watch a woman wander around the house. “She seems familiar with the place though.”

Jensen leans closer to the screen, and I fight the urge to lick him, since his neck is right there, now is not the time.

Frowning he says, “She should know her way around this place, she used to live here, that's Luc’s mom.”

“What?” I ask as I move closer and squint at the screen, “fucking hell, you’re right.”

“Well, of all the people I was expecting, she wasn’t even in the top ten,” Jensen says.

“No.” I agree, “I thought she was on some island somewhere and had been since Luc’s father went to prison?”

“She’s supposed to be,” Jensen replies, and then once again pulls out his phone, “I’ll call Alaric just to double check, but I’d be very surprised if she was in the country and the organization knew about it.”

I nod as my eyebrows dip down into a frown. She shouldn’t be here, as Jensen said; she should still be on an island somewhere, keeping out of the mess that her husband made, but as I watch her move through the house with purpose, she doesn’t turn on any lights, not that she would need to since she knows the house and can walk around with ease without them on but if you weren’t doing anything questionable, you would turn the lights on, wouldn’t you? Not only is that fishy, but the cameras that Alaric set up didn’t pick her up, which means she knew they were there and disabled them somehow.

Which is not something that I was aware that she knew how to do, if anything, I would have expected her to do what we thought she was doing and stay on an island enjoying life and her newly found freedom. The fact that she is here, and she knows things that would be considered out of character for her suggests that we should have looked at Luc’s mother a lot closer.

I would have been inclined to believe that she was just coming back maybe for nostalgia reasons or because there was something left here that she wanted, however unless Alaric confirms otherwise, then we have no record of her being in the country, which means she most likely flew in under the radar and there’s not many reasons why you would do that.

Of course, the other piece of damning evidence that makes it blazingly clear that she isn’t here for a simple trip down memory lane is that I am currently watching her move through the house with purpose and head straight for the room where Luc led us.

The room with the floor safe.

Somehow, I manage to flip through the cameras and find the right one, rewinding it enough that I can see when she enters the room. Someone must have closed the safe after we emptied and bagged everything to be sent to headquarters so that they could test not only the file, which we knew had poison on it but also the other contents just to make sure that none of that was coated in poison either. Without missing a beat, I watch as Luc’s mom moves over to the exact position that the safe is in and then drops to her knees. She carefully runs her hands over the carpet until she finds the edge of the square piece that lifts up and then pulls it.