Ramshackle (Raegan of Ruin #3)

15. Raegan

Chapter fifteen

Raegan

Jackson is awake when I emerge, showered and dressed from the bathroom. He’s leaning against the wall next to the door like he’d been listening in. At least he didn’t stand-watch in the bathroom with me this time.

Kellan pushes off the armrest he’d been on across from Jack. “You hungry? We’ve missed breakfast, but lunch will be ready soon.”

“Where are Aiden and Dane?”

I glance to Jack first, who shrugs with a smile, and back to Kellan.

“In his office, probably,” he answers, scratching at his beard. “But they can wait. You need to eat.”

Tossing the duffle bag on the bed, I start toward the door. “I need to talk to everyone first. I’ll eat after.” I open the door and stare out into the unfamiliar hallway. “Um…”

Kellan chuckles and wraps his arm around my shoulders. “I’ve got you, beautiful. It’s this way.” We turn right, passing other rooms identical to this one, so now I know I’ll need help on my way back, too. Jackson smiles at me again when I peek over my shoulder to make sure he’s coming along as well.

This catch-up is for everyone. No more secret missions. No more hiding.

The guys came for me. They had my back.

It changes everything.

The least I can do is try to work with them now and see where it gets us.

My knee begins to ache before long, but I grit my teeth and push through it. I don’t want Aiden, or any of them, to see this weakness and think that I’m not up for the fight anymore.

But the pain brings back the memory of how I got it, of Gordon and Mallory, and I bite the inside of my cheek. No. Don’t think about it.

I still haven’t fully processed everything that happened, but I don’t want to. I shove those thoughts and feelings away into a black box in the corner of my mind and force my thoughts on the future.

We stop, and I realize I missed the entire walk here while lost in my head.

“Ah, there she is. Raegan, it’s so nice to see you again! We’re all relieved that you’re back. How do you feel?” The tall, dark woman standing in front of us smiles warmly. I met her when Aiden brought me around the Guild for some meeting of his. What was her name? Sarah? Serena? Also, we? All? Who is she talking about?

“Oh, uh, thank you. I’m all right.”

She nods and focuses back on Aiden, who’s sitting behind a simple wooden desk. “I’ll come back another time to finish our conversation. I’m sure you have a lot to catch up on.”

“Thank you, Cibrina.” Aiden nods in return, though his eyes are locked on mine.

The door closes, and it’s like all the oxygen has been sucked from the room. There’s so much to say. So many things that have happened. I could start with anything, really, but I’m suddenly at a loss for words now that I’m in a room with all of them again.

“Have you eaten?” Aiden prompts, already lifting the phone on his desk and pressing a key. He looks me up and down as if my appearance will somehow answer that question for him, his brow pinched.

“No, but we need to talk—”

“Yes, she’s awake,” he cuts me off when someone answers the call. “Is the rush there, or is someone able to bring it to my office? Yes. Okay, I appreciate it. Thanks.”

He hangs up, and Kellan snorts on my left. “No food for the little people, huh?”

Dane scoffs from his desk in the corner of the small room. “Who the hell has ever called you little?”

“It’s an expression, Rapunzel. I’m just saying—”

Aiden and I continue to stare at one another in silence through their bickering. As much as I want to be annoyed with him for ordering me food anyway and not even asking what I want, I can’t deny that I’m already beginning to feel a little dizzy. My body might annoyingly need more rest, or maybe I am hungrier than I realize. Either way, I don’t immediately chew him out for it.

“I need a map,” I blurt out. I have so many things to catch them up on, and it all wants to come out in a rush. Anything to keep the attention on our next steps and not on me.

My knee begins to quiver, and Aiden stands just as Jackson wordlessly takes my hand and nudges me to sit in one of the chairs at the mini round table. I drop into it and expel a breath of relief when I’m no longer standing. Aiden pulls out the seat across from me, and Dane joins us to my right.

Kellan falls unceremoniously into the loveseat sofa, spreading his legs out and leaning over them, while Jack stands behind my chair, hands buried in his hoodie pocket.

“A map of what?” Aiden asks smoothly, his voice strangely void of his usual cynicism.

“The Caribbean and the Gulf. One that shows the islands on it.”

Dane leans toward me over the table. “Wait, you want to jump into that? Are you okay? Do you need to talk about—”

“No, I don’t.” That’s the last thing I want: to share my trauma with them. There’s nothing that happened to me that’s going to help us get rid of GE. I gave myself up, thinking I could hold out long enough to take them down from the inside on my own.

But more time with Gordon put a lot of things into perspective for me. He’s a master manipulator. I was too young, too inexperienced before, but this time I saw it. There was no choice for me or the guys back then. Gordon made sure to create the division between us. To cut me off from them.

I’m not going to let that happen anymore.

And this time, I may have been his prisoner, but I didn’t come back empty-handed.

That’s what’s going to help me move forward more than anything else.

Dane frowns, his expression filled with questions and concern, but Aiden surprisingly intervenes on my behalf. “I don’t have any maps like that here, but I’m not sure it would matter.” He taps his fingers on the table. “When Dane tried to look them up online, the imagery conveniently didn’t show certain islands.”

“I had to use real-time satellite images to find them,” Dane adds, though he doesn’t seem pleased by the topic shift. “But I kept getting kicked out. Vera probably has some sort of alert set up on that satellite when anyone tries to hack in. So, if I try again, she’ll be able to trace back who’s looking and from where.”

Which means we can’t do it from here or else we would lead her and GE right to the Guild.

“If she blocked you last time, how are we supposed to get what we need?” Kellan drawls from the couch.

Dane leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. “She didn’t know it was me last time. There’s a chance she’ll let me in at the opportunity to trace where I am. We would need to be fast enough to get what Rae needs and get out before she and a swarm of GE agents show up.”

“I’m assuming these maps are for locations of specific islands for something?” Aiden queries, and I nod.

“I think they’re other training facilities. We can free a lot of people and take away their source of new agents.” I picture Mallory, recalling her story of why she was there. Even if some of them are freed, do they have a home to go back to? And one that wants them?

“Do we have enough room here for them?” Dane directs to Aiden.

There’s a knock at the door. “No. Not yet, anyway,” Aiden says before he stands. “Come in!”

The door opens, and a cart full of food and drinks rolls in. Aiden thanks the man who delivers it. “We’ll take it from here. Thanks, Jordan.” The man smiles and closes the door behind him.

Aiden piles plates in front of me, filling the small round table with more food than I could ever fit in my stomach in a day, let alone one meal. Pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits with gravy, fruit, muffins, yogurt…

I reach for a strawberry from the dedicated bowl of them. Aiden sets a mug of coffee and a glass of orange juice in front of me, makes himself a coffee, and then returns to his seat.

“You’re all going to help me eat this, right?”

“We already ate,” is Aiden’s answer, though Kellan snorts from behind me.

I turn in my seat. “I’m not going to eat all of this. Eat whatever you want.”

He chuckles and shakes his head. “It’s all yours, beautiful.”

My lips turn down, but a glance at each of them shows me that no one else intends on touching it.

Well, fine. I’ll eat what I can, and maybe once they see how much is left, they’ll dig in for themselves.

“So, where were we again?” I ask, proceeding to stuff myself silly.

“I’ll need time to make room for whomever we rescue. We have a dozen of the quarantine rooms, but that won’t be nearly enough.” Aiden types something out on his phone and pockets it again.

I pause my chewing as what he says sinks in. It’ll take forever to construct more room underground. How did they even build this underground fortress in the first place? Did the bunker get built before the Tower?

Aiden catches my gaze. “Let me worry about it. That aside, we’ll need to go somewhere with computers in a public space. They’ll be less likely to cause a big scene if that place has too many others around.”

Easy. “The University library,” I offer between mouthfuls. “I doubt they’ll attack us freely with all the students and faculty around. A fight there would make headlines.” I wash the food down with hot coffee.

Dane’s face pinches again with concern as he watches me eat. I’d reassure him that I did eat on the island but my mouth’s occupied.

“Slow down before you give yourself an upset stomach,” Aiden chastises.

Kellan laughs and shifts toward the table, his hand out like he’s preparing to pinch some food. “Are you going to bite my hand off if I steal a piece of bacon, beautiful? You’re making it look irresistible.”

I chomp my teeth teasingly at him. He grins and snags himself the nearest piece between his teeth, ripping it in two.

Wiping my hands on a napkin, I push my seat back.

All eyes are on me in that instant. Even if I can’t see them all in my field of view, I can feel it. “What?”

“Where do you think you’re going?” Aiden asks, his voice smooth and dangerous. “And the answer better be your room to rest.”

I scoff. “I’ve rested plenty. I thought we were going to the library.”

Dane and Kellan both speak at once.

“The hell you have, beautiful.”

“You’ve only been awake a couple days!”

I check in with Jackson behind me to see if I have at least one person on my side. He lifts his eyebrows when our eyes connect, but he stays silent.

Traitor.

I stand anyway. Kell and Dane jump up while Aiden’s eyes narrow. “I need to show you the islands before I forget where they were. And I can’t stay cooped up in that room anymore.”

“Are we supposed to pretend like we didn’t see you almost collapse when you walked in here?” Dane demands, his finger jabbing at where my knee gave out.

“That wasn’t because I’m tired!”

“Right. It was your knee hurting, though, wasn’t it?” he counters. I snap my mouth closed before admitting anything, but he doesn’t stop. “What did he do to it?!” His fist slams down on the table, and all the dishes jump with a clatter. “What happened?!”

I recoil from his anger. I know it’s not directed at me, but my body reacts involuntarily anyway.

“Don’t yell at her!” Kellan snarls at Dane.

I feel Jackson hovering closer behind me, offering me his strength and support.

“Enough. Both of you,” Aiden orders before Dane has a chance to respond to Kell. His dark gaze pins me beneath his stare, and my breathing suspends itself to wait for what he’ll demand from me.

He’s always been the one to push me for my secrets. The one who doesn’t trust me because I won’t share this part of me. What will he do to find out what happened between Gordon and me this time? Will he lock me up again? Does he think it was some ruse for me to work with Gordon or something horrible like that?

“Dane has a point about your knee. It’s not safe for you to leave the bunker if it’s still in too much pain. We can go in a week after you’ve had more time to rest.”

That’s…not at all what I expected.

It’s also not the answer I’m looking for.

My knee won’t get better with time. It’s permanently damaged, and it was healed wrong, so too much physical activity will always aggravate it. One week won’t make a difference.

But I can’t admit that to them.

“One day,” I argue, hoping he’ll agree to a compromise. I’ll just pretend it’s better tomorrow and work on masking the pain and weakness.

“A week,” Aiden responds, and I frown.

“That’s not how a negotiation works. You have to at least lower yours.”

Aiden’s stoic expression doesn’t budge. “This isn’t a negotiation. One. Week.”

Our eyes lock in a stand-off. I debate leaving on my own before his timeline, but there are two problems with that. One, I swore I would do better at working with them this time around. I can’t hack into the satellite by myself anyway, and Dane will side with Aiden. Two, it might take me the week to learn the layout of the bunker. I have no idea where the exit is, even if I wanted to leave.

I break the staring contest with a huff and plop down. Kellan reclines back on the sofa, but Dane doesn’t move. His arms pulse with tension as he glares at the table. It’s as if he’s taking my injury personally. But he had nothing to do with it. Or my being there. It was my choice. He never asked me to give myself up to get Vera back. This is all on me.

No. This is all on Gordon.

My hand idly swipes over my injured knee.

“Dane,” Aiden prods when he still hasn’t moved.

The muscle in Dane’s jaw ticks. Finally, he closes his eyes and inhales deeply, then sits.

“He shot it.” The words fall from my lips before I even realize I’ve decided to give him something. I know I don’t owe any of them an explanation for what happened to me, but I can’t stand to see him so upset on my behalf.

He jerks his head up to look at me with surprise.

“That’s all I’m going to say about it, okay?” I pick up another strawberry to nibble on as a distraction.

Dane nods and leans an elbow on the table, his hand burying itself in his hair. “Sorry. I didn’t mean…I shouldn’t have…”

“It’s fine.” I reach over and touch my hand to his arm. He releases his hair to take my hand, pressing it to his forehead with his eyes closed and expels a breath.

“I’m so sorry, Rae. It’s my fault. I don’t fucking deserve you in my life,” he whispers so low that I’m not even sure I heard it right.

I pull my hand from his. “That’s not true.” My thoughts immediately bring up Vera, and I gasp when I remember something. “Oh! I almost forgot. Thorne’s back.” I twist around to gaze at Jack. “He’s looking more like one of the zombies in Kellan’s video game now, but his head is reattached.”

Jackson pushes his hood back. “We need to get the person bringing him back, then.”

“Just get me a flamethrower. I’ll turn him to ash,” Kellan jokes.

“Did you say his head was reattached ? When was it…not…attached?” Dane looks over my head to Jack and pales. “Never mind. Don’t answer that.”

“His name is Royce,” I continue, my attention still on Jack before I swing it around to Aiden. “And the guy sounds like he’s close to GE’s president. He could be our way in to the people in charge. His gift is controlling souls.”

“Of course, GE has someone who can raise a zombie army. Why the hell not?” Kellan mutters.

“Thorne wants Jack to help him capture Royce, so that his soul can get moved to a board member’s body. That gives him power, and his current body is…well, last I saw him it was falling apart. But Royce said something about using other souls to fix him up, so that may have changed things. He’s sent Thorne back here to find the Guild,” I add.

“Damn, he can do that?” Kellan asks in disbelief.

“Wait,” Dane cuts in. “Is that…is Vera like Thorne?”

I move slowly in my seat to look at him. “I don’t know for sure, but that’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“So, does he bring people back to life, or are they still dead? Does he control what they do or how they act? Is he the reason she’s working for GE?” he asks, and I can see his thoughts beginning to spiral from the look in his eyes.

“I don’t know. Thorne didn’t really go into that much detail.” The hope in his expression feels like a stab to the chest. We have no idea what any of this means yet. Would killing Royce kill Vera? Or is his work done once he’s locked her soul back in her body? Does he have any control over her? Or is she acting on her own?

I know Dane is wishing for an excuse to explain why Vera’s been acting the way she has since she came back, but what if it has nothing to do with Royce?

“Jack! Go pretend to help Thorne again so we can get to that guy,” Dane exclaims.

“What? No!” I balk.

Jackson angles his head to the side while regarding Dane. “It won’t be that simple.”

“Why not? It didn’t seem that hard for you last time,” Dane snarks.

“Dane!” I scold, then look back at Jackson, who smirks coldly.

Aiden’s mug taps against the table as he sets it down, drawing all our attention to him. “We’re not trusting Thorne to get us to Royce. Or even pretending to trust him.” His gaze meets Jackson’s. “Do you think you could follow him without him knowing?”

Jack holds his stare for a few beats and then nods.

“Good,” Aiden replies. “Then here’s what we’ll do. Jackson will find and keep an eye on Thorne to get his routine. Where he goes, what he’s doing, when he’s alone…we’ll pick the best chance for us to trap him. Then see what answers we can get out of him about Royce—” Dane opens his mouth. “—and how his gift works.”

Dane’s mouth closes.

Kellan chuckles in the background. “Right. No problem. We’ll just trap the undead wind master and make him tell us all his secrets.”

He has some good points.

Oh! “The cuffs in my room—”

Kell shakes his head, but it’s Aiden who speaks up. “Taken by Vera.”

Damn. Does that mean Vera was at Old Red? Is that why we’re here and not there?

“We have time to figure it out. Jack still has to find and follow him long enough that we know his routines,” Aiden remarks, unperturbed by the obstacles Kellan mentioned.

I’ve already moved on from that conversation, though. It’s a problem for future me. The me right now is stuck on if I’m living underground for the foreseeable future. “Are we going back to Old Red or…”

“No, we’ll be here from now on,” Aiden replies, and my heart sinks.

Kellan’s eyes slide to mine. To read my reaction, I think. I try to force a look of indifference, even though I’m disappointed not to have our own space anymore. Old Red was really growing on me. It started to feel like a place I could call home.

I’d even accumulated stuff while living there.

Wait.

Portia’s butterfly hair clip. It’s still at Old Red, and it was her favorite .

Ugh. This better not be a fight.

I point my finger at Aiden. “Don’t get mad,” I start, and his eyebrows raise. “But I need to go back there. I left something important. I can be quick, I swear, I just need someone to show me the way out of the bunker.”

Three of the four begin to protest or give reasons why that’s not a good idea, and I sigh.

A fight it is.