Ramshackle (Raegan of Ruin #3)

5. Aiden

Chapter five

Aiden

No one cares to stay up late or hang around while Vera's here. As soon as she gets bored enough to turn in, we quickly retire to our rooms to have some privacy.

Aside from Kellan, who gets drunk as a skunk each night and passes out on the couch. It’s one of the reasons I’m sure Vera decides to go to her own room shortly after dinner. He takes up a good portion of the couch on the long side, sprawling out, and half the time winds up snoring obnoxiously so you couldn’t carry a conversation in the same room if you wanted to.

He’s suspiciously quiet after her door closes, and I have to wonder if he’s faking his drunken state for the very reason of annoying her.

I check my phone for the hundredth time, waiting for a call from Jackson to tell me what information he extracted from our next target on the list. Or news from Cibrina. Evie. Silas. Fabian. Anyone I’ve recruited to track her down. When my notifications are still clear, I sigh and stand from the dining table. There’s no point in me staying out here anyway where Vera could overhear our conversation.

After I found a piece of a radio in my Aston Martin before leaving for the bunker one morning, I haven’t left the firehouse since. If Cibrina needs me for anything, she’ll have to call or send Reid directly to my room so no one even knows I’m gone.

I’m ninety percent certain it was a tracker.

Vera may be trying to play the sweet, misunderstood sister since Jackson threatened her, but we’ve all seen what she’s really like. None of us are fooled. At least, I hope Dane isn’t. He’s been talking with her more, and it seems like they’re getting along. I’ll have to follow up with him to see what that means and make sure his stance hasn’t changed.

If it has, we’ll adjust, but not in a way that would compromise the mission of getting Raegan back.

I can’t get her out of my head.

Not the pain in her voice nor the words she’d shredded me with before she was taken.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to her alone after that, not that I have any idea what I’m going to say yet to fix all I’ve done.

All I can see when I close my eyes at night is the fear on her face when she’d seen Gordon during the attack on the Guild. And then the sinister smile Gordon wore when she’d promised herself to him in order to save us.

It makes me sick.

I almost walk away from Kellan but stop and turn back to reach over the couch and pick up his liquor bottle. I bring it to my nose and take a short whiff.

Nothing.

The label says vodka, so it would be easy for him to swap it out for water. A smile tugs at my lips now that I have confirmation.

Setting the bottle down, I stroll out of the main room and stop a few steps into the hallway. I wait for noise to indicate if Dane or Vera are still awake. It’s past midnight.

Passing my own room, I stop in front of Raegan’s and open the door. I’m careful to close it softly behind me. This is a routine I’ve adopted over the last several weeks that has become a compulsion more than anything. Even if I try to go to my room and sleep, I toss and turn until, inevitably, I wind up in here, anyway.

It starts with me walking around the tiny room, which takes a matter of steps, my fingers grazing over books, clothing, and any random things she had in her room. At first, I would find something new to look at; another piece of her that I missed before that I can learn about now. What she’s reading. What sorts of clothes she wears when she’s not in her vengeful assassin getup.

But it’s barely a week before I’ve seen it all.

And none of the items really tell me more about her. Not in the way I’d hoped they would. She’s an enigma. A mystery that she guards as if her life depends on it. As if, by sharing her secrets, she believes this world, or perhaps just her world, will end with it.

Then, as with all other times, I find myself at her bed. Her sheets are always a mess, because she can’t be bothered to ever make it. I’d considered making it for her one night but couldn’t do it. It looks like she just rolled out of bed and will be back soon. It doesn’t make her being gone look so…permanent.

I kneel by the side of her bed, leaning over it and clenching the sheets in my hands. Her vanilla scent is still there, but it’s faded so much that I have to try hard to find it. Once it disappears completely, I don’t know what I’ll do.

I thought I could let her go again if I had to. I’d done it once before, so why not?

I’d done my damnedest to push her away before it was too late. I threatened her. Insulted her. Yelled at her.

But none of it mattered.

She’s done something to me this time that makes her impossible to forget. She’s like a disease that’s invaded my soul. And even if someone were to hand me the cure, I’d want no part of it.

She’s the fire in my blood. The driving beat of my heart.

I don’t let myself imagine what she’s going through right now. Anything I picture sets my teeth on edge and pushes me to walk out the door and start doing as Jackson is right now until I find her. Fortunately, I’m not as impulsive as he and Kellan are. I can’t let emotions rule the decisions we make when time is of the essence.

I tell myself that whatever happens, we’ll figure it out. I can’t stress over what I don’t know yet.

I suck in another lungful of her diminishing scent and whisper her name like a promise on my lips. I push myself up from the sheets, stroking them, and then stand. I will make it all work out. We just have to get her back first.

The doorknob creaks, and I move to stand behind the door. It opens slowly as whoever is intruding peeks around to make sure it’s clear. Everywhere except where I’ve hidden.

Vera lets the door fall closed behind her without bothering to shut it all the way or even look. She starts pulling open drawers and moving things aside, then sweeping through the items on the floor or on the dresser surface.

“Yes!” she whispers excitedly as her hand closes around something in one of the drawers. She lifts it out, and it’s none other than the gift-muting cuffs that I’d last used on Raegan. But how…?

It clicks. The congressman. She’d been at the warehouse when he’d used the original cuff on Raegan. Was she the one who had given it to him?

I wait to see what she plans to do next, but then my phone rings in my pocket and gives me up. She twirls around as I pull the phone out to see if it’s Jackson.

It’s not.

Why Elias is calling me at this time of night is a question for later. I hit the side button to mute his call.

“What are you doing?! You scared me!” Vera hisses to keep from waking anyone else.

I sidestep in front of the door before she can think to escape through it with the cuffs. “I should be asking you that, although I think I know the answer.” I nod to indicate the cuffs in her hands and then hold my palm out. “I’ll have those back now.”

She frowns and clutches them tighter. “These don’t belong to you.”

“No, they belong to Raegan after she acquired them from the late congressman.”

I’m already working my gift, twisting and reshaping the metal on my arm, around my neck and chest, with my thoughts alone, until it’s a living, moving thing that joins together to form the image I’m impressing on it in my mind. I haven’t found a limit when it comes to what I can do with my gift. So long as I can think it, touch it, and have enough metal for it, I can do it.

It moves to my hand, settling the handle in my grip and pointing the tip of the sword at Vera’s neck. I have a second twin sword in my other hand that I use to pluck the cuffs from her grasp.

She gasps at the first sword, too distracted by it to notice the second when I relieve her of the cuffs. I catch them against the pommel of the second sword with a few fingers.

Vera raises her hands in submission. I’ve been careful of what technology she has access to, particularly since finding that chip in my car, but even with limited access, I wouldn’t be surprised for her to have an ace up her sleeve.

I don’t drop the first sword yet. “I’m curious. What did you plan to do with them?”

“Nothing bad,” she says with a small shrug, trying to play innocent now that she’s been caught. “A piece of my brother’s in there. I thought it was only right for me to give it back to him.”

My brows raise. “Oh? That’s all? So, if I tell you that he’s already said he wants nothing to do with them, you’d be fine letting them stay with their current owner?”

“Their current owner isn’t here anymore. What use does she have for them?”

“What other use would you have for them?”

Vera sighs loudly. “Fine. Whatever. Are you going to let me go? I don’t appreciate you pointing that thing at me.”

I’m not sure of anyone who does, but I choose to keep that to myself. Once the sword is lowered, I step out of the way so she can leave. She does like her ass is on fire.

It feels like we’re running out of time.

Like there’s a clock looming over us the longer we take to find Raegan, and Vera keeps sneaking around with whatever she’s been up to. She hasn’t left the firehouse. Of that, I’m positive. But has she found a way to communicate with GE still? Is she just trying to find the rest of the Guild members, or does she have some other goal for being here?

For someone who is still sided with Gifted Enterprise, she didn’t put up much of a fight leaving them.

My phone rings again, and I pull it out just enough to view the caller ID. Elias. He’s not usually so persistent, or such a late caller, so I exit Raegan’s room, locking and closing the door behind me, before stalking all the way to the locker room. I answer before the last ring.

“Adams?”

“Yes, Thorton, I’m here. What’s so urgent?”

“I can’t reach Raegan on her phone. Get her for me.”

The smile on my face is nothing short of malevolent at the implication that I’m some messenger dog who will do his bidding. “You can give your message to me.”

There’s silence on the other end.

“Why can’t I reach her?” he asks slowly, and I can practically hear the cogs in his head turning. “What happened?”

My immediate reaction is to lie to him. This is family business. But I remember the way Raegan defended him and how Elias seems to care about her. While he isn’t my favorite person in the world, he’s also not a terrible ally to have around.

“GE has her.”

Silence.

Again, it’s Elias processing this information. “…Are you trying to get her back?”

I tighten my grip on the phone. “Of course we are.”

He sighs in relief. As if he actually thought—no, assumed —that we would let them have her. We, the ones who are actively fighting against GE rather than him, would let them take Raegan, whom we’ve known most of our childhoods. Yes, we’ve been back and forth since seeing her again, but it’s only because we all care about her so much that we fight.

“I’ve found Portia, but…things are complicated. I’m not able to make it back for a while still.” There’s a darkness to his tone that’s not usually present, even with me, that I file for later. Most likely it’s related to Portia’s returned memories that prompted her to run away a few months ago.

“I wasn’t expecting you to. This is our problem, and we’re handling it.”

“Well, if you need anything; money, planes, boats…anything, let me know, and you’ll have it.”

Now it’s my turn to pause. I’ve always wondered but pushed it aside. “What’s your interest in her?”

“What do you mean?”

“Raegan. Why do you care so much about her? You barely know her.”

He’s quiet, and then there’s beeping in my ear. I check the screen to see Jackson’s name. The call I’ve been waiting all night for.

“Never mind,” I say tersely. “I’ve got to take this call. I’ll give Raegan your message about Portia once we have her back safely.”

I hang up on him before I hear his response so I can answer Jack. “What’ve you got?”

“A list of coordinates,” his scratchy voice comes through the speaker. I can tell he hasn’t slept. I doubt he’s eaten much, either. But we’ve already gone weeks chasing down leads that dry up faster than rain in a desert.

We’re getting desperate, and this lead is the closest we’ve come to any answers.

“How many?” Hope swells in my chest, but I anchor it down before it can take off.

“Three.”

Three. Three possible locations where she could be. Or where she might not be and we’ll be back at square one. But the guy Jackson just interviewed has a science background where he disappeared for a stretch of years before he suddenly returned with a lot of money and a higher position in the GE ranks.

“Let me get the others.”

Striding to the living room, I knock Kellan’s foot down and pat his face to make him wake quietly. Normally, I’d just push him off the couch, but the last thing I need is to make a loud enough noise to bring Vera out of her room.

Hopefully, she’s so embarrassed from being caught that she won’t poke her head out for anything else tonight.

Kell groans, and I slap my hand over his mouth.

“Quiet,” I warn, leaning forward so he can clearly see me. He licks my hand, and I huff my irritation before wiping it on my pants. Disgusting.

He grins and sits up.

“Come on,” I snap, then head to Dane’s room. At last, it clicks with him that something’s up, and he follows as we sneak inside. “Wake him up.”

I flick on the light and then switch my phone on speaker so that Jack can hear us better, but I lower the volume so he’s not too loud after Kell’s gotten Dane up. He sits up against the headboard, rubbing his eyes.

Kellan leans against the door to guard it and keep an ear out for an unwanted visitor. Thankfully, Vera’s room is two rooms down, so as long as we keep our voices down, she won’t hear anything.

I use my gift to unlock the bottom drawer of Dane’s dresser and pull out his laptop, which we’d stored for safekeeping there. I hand it to Dane, and he starts logging in without further direction.

“Alright, Jack. We’re all here. Do you have the coordinates handy?”

“Got ’em,” he replies evenly. The sound in the background has quieted. I can’t say if that means the lead is just passed out, better gagged, or dead, but I don't care. If Jack pulled all the information this man has out of him, then there’s no more use for him. I’ve grown callous in the weeks we’ve been hunting for information. The fewer people who know what we’re up to, the better. So, for once, I’m not opposed to Jackson killing and disposing of them to keep our secret safe.

Dane nods at me when he’s ready on the computer.

“Give us the first one.”

Jackson reads it out twice so we can double-check that it’s correct. He then goes through the other two in the same way.

“They’re all tiny islands in or around Key West,” Dane reports once they’re all in. His head pops up over the screen to look at me. “Did we find her?”

“We won’t know definitively until we get there. There’s always the chance that she’s being kept somewhere else, but the lead Jack’s with was supposedly involved as a scientist on the islands like Gordon. He likely still has open communication with him and should know where he is.” I glance at the phone. “Jack, how long would it take for you to get back here? Without running yourself ragged? We need you able to fight when you get here, not worn out.”

“Two days,” he answers evenly.

“Then take three. Clean up where you’re at, find somewhere to eat and sleep, and then start heading back. We’ll leave as soon as you’re here, so long as you don’t look dead on your feet.” Next, I turn to Dane. “You know what this means.”

His lips thin, and his expression turns serious. “Vera.”

I nod in agreement. “Vera.”

“What do you want me to do?”

I expect him to fight for her. To tell me that she’s changed or they’ve come to some understanding over the last several weeks. But there’s nothing aside from determination etched on his face. Whatever he’s thinking, I can count on him to do this. We won’t miss this opportunity to find and bring Raegan home.

“We’ll use the locker room. I’ll start putting together what I need tomorrow, and then the day after, you’ll need to get her there. Try and see if you can get any information on Raegan from her. It can’t hurt at that point. I know she’s hiding things from us. If she can somehow narrow down the islands, that would be the best outcome. If not, we’ll trap her there until we come back with Raegan. Then we’ll figure out what to do from there.”

Dane tilts his head forward in understanding, his expression solemn.

“Need anything from me?” Kellan asks from behind me.

“Keep acting the way you have been and stay a distraction so she doesn’t notice when I’m not around as much.”

“My pleasure.”

I turn to look back at the phone, even though I’m speaking to all of us. “Three days.”

And then we would bring her home.

We’re coming .