Chapter 25 Standing Down – Atticus
STANDING DOWN
ATTICUS
It's dark already when we pull into Boone, traversing the streets to get to the laundromat.
After another ten-hour drive, I'm somehow still wired, and I know without a shadow of doubt that I will not be sleeping tonight.
Not a fucking chance. Not since my contact reached out to let me know that Aurora's sample came through at the testing facility this morning, and he's handling things on his end.
We don't know what happens now. No test has obviously ever come back positive, but this one will.
Elijah glares out the passenger side window with a hollow rage that I'm not used to seeing in him.
He surprised me by listening to every second of Aurora's conversation with Ambrose at dinner.
I thought he'd pass off the headphones to Sev when Ambrose started talking, but he grimaced through the entire hour-and-a-half ordeal, getting more and more pale each minute until it was done.
He spent the rest of the night in the bathroom being sick and didn't want a damn thing from either of us except to leave him alone.
I knew that if Aurora were there with us, she'd have been a comfort to him.
I'm hoping that seeing her now, whole and safe, will set his mind at ease and bring some color back to his face.
I'd half hoped she'd already be here waiting for us, but Sev has been following her tracker from the tablet in the back seat, and we know she went straight back to the apartment to check on Ellie after the driver dropped her off.
And without a car, the bus won't get her here for another ten minutes at least.
I considered letting the others handle this part—the debrief to make sure there wasn't anything she gleaned that we didn't pick up from the mic she wore—but this is my area of expertise, not theirs.
And I have to make her see me at some point. But I'll keep my distance. Give her the space she wants.
We're all silent as we unpack the gear back into the office of the laundromat, and I get things set up how they were before we left.
Seven stretches out, cracking his neck and knuckles from the long drive, while Elijah only waits, seated in a chair with his elbows atop his knees while I work.
I'm thorough, making sure there's nothing new or anything we missed while we were gone.
As soon as we hear her enter, Elijah has the office door open and she is pulled into his arms before she can cross the threshold.
"Are you all right?" He pulls back enough that we can all see the dark hollows beneath her eyes. I can't blame her. I wouldn't have been able to sleep a wink knowing that bastard was right across the hall from me.
"I'm okay," she whispers to Eli, but she looks equally relieved to see him as he is to see her. "I'm fine. Just…really tired."
Something is off about the way she says it, but I don't let myself linger on it. Her gaze flits to Sev, and he comes to take her chin between his fingers and press a kiss to her mouth.
I look away.
When her gaze finds me next, she shifts it away quickly, and I know there's something up. But I also know she's not saying shit about it, whatever it is.
Did something happen? I wonder whether I should ask if—
No.
I won't press her. She can share if she wants to.
"You did really well," I tell her instead, and her brow furrows. "I don't think he suspected a thing."
"You really did," Eli agrees. "I listened to the whole thing. You were amazing."
He's doing a good job of not letting on how he spent his evening, but I know if Aurora looks a little closer, Eli's sleepless night is written all over his face just like it is on hers.
"Told you fuckers she had this," Sev says, and some of the tension eases from the room. "Where's Ellie?"
"I left her at the apartment," Aurora replies. "It's late and I wasn't sure how she'd be on the bus."
I shove down my disappointment. I brought her more duck liver treats, but I guess I can give them to her next time.
"What happens now?" she asks, falling into one of the chairs at the table.
"Before we go through the debrief, there's one thing I want to say, and then you won't hear from me about it again."
Best get it over with.
Aurora lifts her green eyes to me, and I see the bite in them that she's holding back. But it's better than the apathy of the last few weeks. Maybe Sev was right about her getting even with me—even if the way she did it was certifiable—being progress of a sort.
"I want to apologize for the tracker I put on your car, and—"
"Atticus." She puts her face in her hands. "I'm too tired to go five rounds with you right now."
It was the 'and', wasn't it?
Sucking the venom back from my teeth, I try again.
"I should've told you it was there. You'll get nothing but absolute honesty from me from now on, and I'll respect your space."
I've said my piece, and now I'll be nice to the wall—maybe some day I can even make friends with it like Seven suggested. I can be nice. I'll prove it.
She looks up and her lips part, but nothing comes out.
After a beat of silence, my chest heaves. "Okay, well, that's all I wanted to say. Moving on."
This is for the best. Without her clouding my mind, I'll be able to stay sharp. I don't need her to acknowledge me in order to protect her. I've always worked better from the shadows, anyway.
"We weren't able to get a visual in the private room where you had dinner," I start, bringing up the footage I did manage to get my hands on of Ambrose arriving at the hotel.
Of them in the elevator. Some other clips of Linette and Aurora, as well as Ambrose on the phone in the hotel lobby, but without being able to see his mouth fully, I can't figure out what the call was for.
"What we need to know is if there's anything we might've missed with the mic. He got a call at one point during dinner. Were you able to see who it was from?"
She shakes her head.
"Okay, did you check your suite for devices like I asked?"
She nods. "I didn't find any, but it's harder than it sounds to look for devices without looking like you're looking for them in case they're there. I could've missed some."
Now it's my turn to shake my head. "No, I doubt there were any in there. There's no reason for him to suspect you are anyone but who you say you are. He's smart, but I assume he would reserve a modicum of respect for his supposed daughter."
"And the testing?" she asks now. "Did your contact reach out to you?"
See? This is easier. Cordial. Businesslike. This is completely fine. Preferable, even.
My throat bobs. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, he has the samples and will send Ambrose the positive result in the morning."
She tenses. "Will he actually run it?"
"The test? He can't, or it's too hard to pull the false negative from the system."
She nods like this makes sense, but I see her leg start to bounce under the table.
Sev notices too. "It'll work, Ro. Don't worry about it. They didn't call him 'know-a-guy-Atty' in the service for nothing. His contacts always pull through."
Her restless leg settles, and her throat bobs. "I know it'll work. I guess I just don't know what happens when it does."
"None of us do, which is why we need to be ready for anything."
Eli gives me a look. "Well, what would you do if you found a long-lost member of your family?"
It's not hard to imagine. Even if my own mother left me by choice when I was still in fucking diapers, I spent a lot of my childhood wondering what it'd be like to have her come back.
I can tell Eli's already thought this all the way through, so I don't answer, knowing he'll fill in the blank for me.
"He'll want to get to know her," Eli says.
"Spend time with her. Right? I mean, we have to assume that.
And if the media catches wind of it, they'll be all over her.
It won't be safe for the long-lost daughter of a billionaire casino mogul to continue to attend university. Can you imagine the press?"
"Would he actually let this get out, though?" Sev asks.
I shake my head. "I don't think so. He's a private person. I don't see him letting it leak."
"We'd better hope so, or else meetings like this will become almost impossible."
Then he's really not going to like the new intel I found out while they were twiddling their thumbs waiting for Aurora to get here.
"About that, it's already going to be more difficult and we're going to have to proceed with a little more caution."
"Why?" Sev demands. "What do you know?"
"A black sedan rolled up down the street from Aurora's apartment shortly after she left to head over here. I cross-checked every vehicle I know of that's been parked there since we moved her in and this one hasn't ever been there before."
Aurora looks surprised, but she shouldn't be. This is the kind of man we're dealing with.
"No one exited the vehicle," I continue, and spin around a second to check if there's been movement since I looked last. "They're still there. Sitting in the car."
I zoom in on the street view camera to show them.
"Did you run the plates?" Sev asks.
"Am I an amateur? Of course I ran the plates. They're clean. Which means this is not some retired cop hired to watch over her apartment. It could be one of Ambrose's men. Likely ex-military."
Sev bites his lower lip, focusing hard on the blurry image of the man sitting behind the wheel. "He sure moved fast."
"He must really think she's it or else he wouldn't have done this before even getting the test results back."
Aurora's throat bobs.
"We could take care of it," Seven offers. "I could make it look like an accident."
I stifle my annoyance, shaking my head.
"He would only send another one and obviously that would breed suspicion. This is good, actually. We know he's taking this—Aurora—seriously. And we know he's there, so we may be able to use that to our advantage."
Eli has been too quiet for too long.
"E, you good?"
His jaw shifts as he grinds his teeth and relaxes his hands from where they're squeezed together between his legs. He nods.
"Okay, so, Trou—Aurora." I clear my throat.
"Try to be a little more aware when leaving the apartment for a while.
From what I can tell, it doesn't look like this guy is using any form of long-range listening devices, but that could change.
For now it looks like a simple protection detail.
He could follow you, though, and if he does, you shouldn't be coming here more than once a week. "
"Okay, yeah. Got it."
Does she look more pale than she did a minute ago? She catches me staring and I drop my gaze.
"We should go over where it leaves us if it becomes too dangerous to meet here," I continue, checking to see that everyone is still following me.
"This is where Céline and the city buses will become useful, so I guess we can thank you for destroying your car and giving us the added opportunity to meet if necessary. "
Didn't mean to say it like that.
She purses her lips and I mentally slap myself.
Get back on track, Atticus. "So, uh, between campus, the bus, and Céline, we should always be able to remain in some sort of semi-constant contact."
"And if she has to leave the university because of the press?" Eli presses.
"She can't."
This is when I look at her.
"You'll need to be firm in demanding to finish your studies. If you allow him to convince you to quit school and travel back to Europe with him, it'll be near impossible for me to keep consistent tabs on your whereabouts."
"But wouldn't that be good, though?" she argues. "If I go along with him wherever he wants to take me, won't that lead exactly where we want it to?"
When I don't answer right away because she has a point, Eli glowers at me.
"No, Angel," he says firmly. "The plan is for you to integrate into his life, but not like that. Not all at once where we can't reach you."
Sev nods his agreement. "It's better if we do this slowly."
Aurora and I share a look, and I wonder if she's thinking what I'm thinking. That the sooner we get this over with, the better. But it would be risky, and imaging having no means of contacting her—of tracking her—while she's with him? My skin itches thinking about it.
"Right, Atticus?" Seven says with pointed malice in his tone.
I clear my throat. "Right. They're right. Slow and steady. No rush. That way, we can shift and adapt to whatever comes and make sure we're always within reach of you."
"This is precautionary, anyway," Eli adds.
"Like Atticus said, he'll probably keep it from leaking and won't want to push you too hard in the beginning.
We'll have a lot more meetings like this, and then there's your break coming up next week.
Atty already said he'd work on a cover so you can be with us that weekend.
Make it look like you went to visit your adoptive parents or something. "
I note how she flinches at the suggestion and wonder when the last time she spoke to them was. I haven't been checking her phone since I found that text message from Chris—trying to give her the privacy she wanted. I hope she was able to smooth things over.
"That would be good." She manages a weak grin for Eli, and I can see how much she needs it—to be at home with them. Even if it's only for a couple of days. If she's anything like me, those dark circles under her eyes will only grow the more nights she's forced to spend alone with her thoughts.
She smiles sadly when Sev wraps an arm around her. "I know Ellie is really missing you guys, too."
"I'll make it happen," I decide. Even knowing the logistics might change in the next couple of weeks, if there's one thing Julian taught me in all his lessons, it was if you want to do something bad enough, there is always a way. And this? I can do this for her. "You have my word."
Aurora looks at me then—really looks—and for the first time in weeks, there’s no ice in her stare. Just exhaustion. And maybe I’m hallucinating, but underneath it I think I see the smallest flicker of trust.
I won’t waste it.