Herald the Night

Chapter Thirty-One

Everything was wrong, wrong, wrong. Lily understood the why, but it still didn”t feel right. To be honest, nothing had felt right for a long time and she was exhausted. The last thing she wanted to do was socialize and pretend that everything was okay. Even on good days, socializing was generally very low on her list of things to do. Add in the most recent violence against her best friend and she struggled even more. Abriella had been insistent, and she was rarely insistent. Ergo, Lily found herself sitting in the Gendry family backyard at another bonfire while her girlfriend tried to distract Connor from the fact that his boyfriend was in an unknown location for his safety.

There was laughter and conversation and good food, but the air was tense with the looming threat and the weight of the unknown. Her gaze flicked from face to face in the aura of the firelight, setting her even more on edge. The illumination cast the periphery into dark contrast and highlighted the lines of worry etched into everyone’s features. She shivered and scooted her chair closer to the flames, not because she was cold, but because the atmosphere had turned her core to ice.

“You hanging in there, Lil?” Taz materialized beside her and assumed a cross-legged position on the ground beside the lawn chair she had claimed.

“I”m fine. This just feels…”

“Weird as fuck. Yep. We’re trying to keep Golden Boy from going off the rails. I don”t know.” He shrugged and scowled at the fire for a moment before continuing. “It was Luke’s idea. He”s worried about him.”

“I think it”s safe to assume we”re all worried about everything.” Lily reached out and brushed a hand over Taz’ tousled hair. “How are you?”

He leaned into the touch with an audible sigh. “I”m tired. I had almost gotten used to not being on edge all the time, y’know?”

“I do. We haven”t stopped. They haven”t stopped.” She continued brushing her fingers through Taz’ hair in a slow, steady manner. “I don”t know if I can keep going like this.”

“What’s that mean?” His eyes shot toward her in alarm. She scratched his scalp with a slight hint of a giggle.

“Work, Taz. Just with work. If I had to choose one thing to put down, it would be that. Never our family.” She resumed the gentle carding movements as Taz relaxed back into her touch. “Knowing everything going on behind the scenes isn”t helping us deal with this any better. The pressure is a lot. So is the frustration.”

“Okay, fair. I know exactly what you mean. I like knowing, but I can see why it”s not for everyone.” He brought his knees up and set his arms across the top of them. “Feels weird without Theo here.”

“It does. Abriella told me how much Connor is struggling with it. I don”t know how much more he can handle, to be frank.” Her gaze gravitated toward the man she spoke of and the weight in her chest grew heavier. Even in the dim light, she could see the way he clung to Abriella”s hand and how disengaged he was from the animated conversation happening right in front of him. Their gazes locked for a second and he tried for a smile. It was gone before it even fully formed.

“He”s not so bad. I know I talk a lot of shit, but he”s the best thing that ever happened to Theo. And the kids. I kinda need them to work out.” Taz bobbed his shoulders in a half-shrug. “Love’em like family, yeah?”

“I understand, Taz. You don”t need to explain it to me.” Lily leaned forward in her chair and pressed her lips to Taz’ temple. They both loved Theo, and Connor, in their own, unique way. She suspected Taz would always keep space in his heart for Theo and everything they shared. His worry was evident on his face, even when he worked hard to hide it.

They fell into the serenity of shared silence. Theo and Taz understood the power of being present with one another in the quiet. Comfortable, weightless, no expectations. Just peace and companionship. She inhaled the rich scents of the crackling firewood and exhaled the breath even slower. Taz’ head migrated to her lap as he echoed her sigh. The meditative act of brushing her fingertips through his air kept her grounded in the small moment between them. When he tensed beneath her, reality snapped back into focus.

“Lil,” Taz whispered, his head lifting up to stare across the flames licking at the sky.

She followed his gaze and found the object of his growing worry. Connor had stepped out of the circle he was in and held his phone to his ear. His free hand splayed over the top of his head and she saw the moment when his world came crashing down. His massive frame crumbled to the ground, his knees connected with the grass, and his shoulders hunched as a wail cut through the air and brought the entire group to a standstill.

“Connor! Connor, what—” Abriella drew up short as he screamed again and dropped the phone to hold himself up with his palms.

Taz was on his feet in a microsecond. Lily followed immediately behind him. The entire group of people swarmed the devastated man as he choked on his sobs. Lily shifted toward Abriella just as she swiped the phone from the ground.

“Hello? Who is this?”

Lily stepped in closer and invaded Abriella’s space to try and catch the other side of the conversation. Abriella wordlessly angled the phone to make it easier.

“This is Hank. I”m a… a friend of Theo and Connor’s. Look, I just responded to a 911 call. It”s Anna. Theo and Toby are gone. Someone needs to get over here.” The man’s voice on the other end of the phone was thick with strain and emotion. In the background, Lily could just barely make out the screams of a little girl. Anna. Her stomach climbed up her throat and threatened to spill over as realization hit.

“Send the address. We’re coming!” Abriella rattled off her number and then repeated the digits before disconnecting the call and locking eyes with her. It was only a fraction of a second with no words spoken aloud, yet it carried so much between them. With a nod in unison, they jumped into action.

Abriella pushed through the crowd and swept an arm under Connor’s. Luke appeared at his opposite side, and together, they hauled the man to his feet. The cacophony of their voices as they shouted to pull him back to the present was overwhelming to Lily”s senses. It wouldn”t have been her approach to his unfathomable pain, but it seemed to work for him.

The flurry of activity around her reached a fever pitch. The fire went out with an angry hiss and filled the air with smoke and steam. Bodies moved everywhere. She spun in a circle, trying to make sense of her surroundings, and then a hand cinched right around hers.

“Come on, Lil. Ride with me. Connor needs Luke and Bell right now.” Taz gave a tug and pulled her through the yard and toward the house. “Leon and Liam are gearing up. We”re going to follow Bell there.”

“Oh… all of us?” Despite her confusion, she followed Taz into the house and toward the front door. “They”re gone… oh God…”

“I know. We gotta go, Lil.”

The peaceful neighborhood turned into a tactical field as the formerly peaceful group of friends shifted into gear. Commands barked back and forth as Taz dragged her through the front yard toward a Subaru hatchback she hadn”t noticed before. Abriella appeared, disappeared, and reappeared again amidst the bodies moving too fast all around her. Luke”s twin brothers, Liam and Leon, were busy hauling cases, bags, and crates into the back of the Subaru, talking in half sentences and body language only they could understand.

She squeaked in surprise as Taz opened the back door and pushed her in. Rather than joining her, he also disappeared back into the fray. All she could do was watch in stunned shock as the controlled chaos continued outside the vehicle. She caught a glimpse of Connor again and marveled at the complete shift in his demeanor. Where he was once inconsolable and devastated, he now moved with lethal purpose and a hardened edge as he checked the firearm in his hand before tucking it into a holster under his arm. He strode toward Abriella”s SUV and jumped into the driver’s seat. Seconds later, the horn sliced through the night.

She startled again as the back door of the Subaru flew open and Taz jumped in. A tablet landed on her lap and she scrambled to give him space. He was already typing something into the laptop in his grip. The front doors opened simultaneously before the Gendry twins fell into the vehicle. Ahead of them, the rear lights of Abriella’s SUV turned on and washed her world in a sickly shade of crimson.

“Hold on, we”re on the move!” Leon threw the car into gear and Lily hurried to fasten her seatbelt.

The engine roared as the car sped into motion and accelerated to catch up with Abriella”s. She closed her eyes to remain ignorant of the fact that they were driving far too fast and completely ignoring road signs and traffic lights. It was one less thing to worry about when everything was already so utterly wrong.

She reeled and jerked around the backseat, even with the seatbelt holding her down. One hand held the headrest of the seat in front of her as the other gripped the tablet tight. Somehow, Taz had managed to brace himself in such a way that he could rattle off directions while still typing on the keyboard.

“Next left, three blocks, a right.”

“Copy,” Leon barked in response. Lily cracked an eyelid open and caught sight of the red lights growing farther ahead of them. Connor was clearly going even faster than their vehicle was. She braced herself again as the car tires screeched and the vehicle swayed through a sharp left hand turn. Her stomach continued rolling long after the wheels straightened.

By some miracle, their breakneck speeds did not result in a collision. Her nerves didn”t settle, though. Not when the road they turned onto was flooded with police cars, flashing lights, and bodies running in every direction. Leon veered to the right and the car jerked as he rode up the curb to park behind a police cruiser.

“Lil… Lily! You have to stay with me. We”re using my badge to get through this shit show, got it?” Taz tapped her knee with his index finger. “Stay close, don”t speak.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Lily blurted, flapping her hands to try and expel the anxious tremors coursing through her body.

“Atta girl. Let’s go!” Taz tumbled out of his side of the car and left her scrambling to follow. Close and quiet. She could handle this. She had to handle this.

Footsteps thundered behind her as the Gendry twins pulled up the rear, and together they caught up with Abriella, Luke, and Connor. Police officers scrambled out of the way as a cry of “FBI!” carried through the air around them. She boggled over just how easily their massive group managed to infiltrate the police cordon when only three of them actually carried the credentials to do so. That was a worry best left for another day.

“Connor! Over here!” A man’s voice called out even louder and their group shifted like a murmuration of birds toward the sound. All together, all at once.

“Connor!” Anna’s shriek pierced the air. In a flash, her body appeared before promptly disappearing in Connor”s arms as he caught her midair. The little girl’s wailing cry would forever be lodged amongst Lily’s most horrific memories. Instinct took over immediately and pulled Lily toward the child.

“He… they… a gun… gone. Connor, save them!” Anna tripped over her words, barely managing a half gasp between each as tears flooded her cheeks.

“Bug, I”m here. We’re gonna get’em. Breathe, sweetie. Please breathe.” Connor”s voice cracked as he clung tighter to the tiny body in his arms. “Please breathe, baby girl. You gotta breathe.”

Lily pressed her palm to Anna’s quaking back and rubbed slow, soothing circles over her tiny shoulder blades. “Anna, sweetie. You did good. We’re here. We’re all here.”

“The best we could get from her was that a new agent came in with dinner. Theo was showering. She didn”t realize the agent was still in the house until he appeared behind Theo with a gun and knife. He said something about playing a game of Simon Says. Theo told her to run, and she managed to escape through the front door. She ran a full quarter mile before a car nearly took her out at an intersection. The driver called 911. They recognized her from the news.” Lily recognized the officer’s voice as the one on the phone. He was young, lean, and had a deep tan complexion.

“Thanks, Hank. Is that the safe house?” Connor jerked his chin toward a little bungalow where uniformed bodies swarmed in and out.

“It is. Anna helped us trace her route back.” Hank glanced at the little girl as he paused. Lily could read the unspoken words and reached her hands out toward Anna. Connor nodded with a grim expression and carefully eased the little body from its iron grip around his.

“Bug… go with Lil. I need to talk to Hank, okay?”

“You gotta save them!” The sobs returned with renewed vigor as Anna latched onto Lily’s body and buried her face against Lily’s neck. “Save them!”

Without thinking about it too much, Lily began humming a quiet lullaby into the soft blonde curls of Anna’s hair. Gentle to and fro swaying began as she stroked the little girl’s back in a soothing motion. The utter insanity playing out around them gradually dissipated as she honed her entire focus on consoling the child in her arms. Unfortunately, it was only the eye of the storm.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Her initial inclination was to ignore it but it continued vibrating again after the first call timed out. Hefting the girl to her hip, she pulled it out and blinked at the screen. Dr. Anand Desai. She hurried to answer it before it could go to voicemail again.

“Lily, thank God. I have already called the Director of the FBI, but I thought you might wish to hear. We got the news already about the children.” His lyrical accent was thicker than usual in his rush to get all the words out.

“Anand, what is it?” Lily searched the crowd and moved to rejoin her friends when she spied them.

“The cigarette you gave me. We got a match to a sealed record. I got a friend from higher up to bypass it for me.”

“Who, Anand?!” Her nerves skyrocketed as she ducked around a swiftly moving officer.

“Former Director Luke Fields.”

Her feet instantly froze. The world tilted on its axis and she pulled the phone from her ear to wrap her arm back around Anna. She huffed out a swear under her breath and then took off at a sprint toward her target.

“Bell! Connor!” She skittered to a halt and pushed the words out despite her panicked breathing. “It was Luke!”

“What?!” Both of them squawked in unison as their eyes whipped toward Taz’ partner Luke.

“No! No, not that Luke!” Lily pushed her phone toward Abriella. “Luke Fields! The dead Luke!”

Abriella grabbed the phone and stepped away for privacy as everyone boggled at her. She searched their faces and found a mixture of confusion, disbelief, and shock. Anna shifted in her arms and whispered quietly in her ear.

“I saw him. The man. Do you have a picture?”

Taz whistled from where he sat just out of view on the trunk of a patrol car. Lily hadn”t even seen him, but he was clearly listening the entire time. Seconds later, he spun his laptop around to reveal an official FBI personnel photo. Anna tensed from head to toe and burst into tears yet again.

“That”s him! He had the gun! It”s him, it”s him!” Anna”s cries echoed over the din around them and Lily’s stomach dropped. She”d thought fighting the unknown was their worst nightmare. It wasn”t. Turns out, the real nightmare was fighting against an enemy that wasn”t supposed to exist.